Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/193410120?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Ill. nuclear reactor loses power, venting steam (AP)
BYRON, Ill. ? A nuclear reactor at a northern Illinois plant shut down Monday after losing power, and steam was being vented to reduce pressure, according to officials from Exelon Nuclear and federal regulators.
Unit 2 at Byron Generating Station shut down around 10:18 a.m., after losing power from an off-site source, Exelon officials said. Diesel generators began supplying power to the plant equipment and operators began releasing steam from the non-nuclear side of the plant to help cool the reactor, officials said.
Even though the turbine is not turning to produce electricity, "you still need to cool the equipment." said U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokeswoman Viktoria Mitlyng. Releasing steam helps "take away some of that energy still being produced by nuclear reaction but that doesn't have anywhere to go now."
The steam contains low levels of radioactive tritium, but the levels are safe for workers and the public, federal and plant officials said.
Unit 1 was operating normally while engineers investigate why Unit 2 lost power, which comes into the plant from the outside power grid, Mitlyng said. Smoke was seen from an onsite station transformer, she said, but no evidence of a fire was found when the plant's fire brigade responded.
Exelon spokesman Paul Dempsey said there is "no reason we can pinpoint right now" for the power loss.
Mitlyng said Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors were in the control room at Byron and in constant contact with the agency's incident response center in Lisle, Ill.
Byron Generating Station is in Ogle County, about 95 miles northwest of Chicago.
In March 2008, federal officials said they were investigating a problem with electrical transformers at the plant after outside power to a unit was interrupted.
In an unrelated issue last April, the commission said it was conducting special inspections of backup water pumps at the Byron and Braidwood generating stations after the agency's inspectors raised concerns about whether the pumps would be able to cool the reactors if the normal system wasn't working. The plants' operator, Exelon Corp., initially said the pumps would work but later concluded they wouldn't.
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Monday, January 30, 2012
Daniel A. Bell: Memo from Davos: Elites Within Elites
Davos is supposed to be the gathering ground for the global elite. I was reminded the first day, when I went to register for the forum. I entered a tent and submitted my passport to an elderly Swiss woman at the front desk and she could not find my name among the group of registered participants. Then she checked further and said I was a "media leader." I immediately said no, I'm not a leader. She insisted, however, noting that I went to the wrong tent; she is supposed to register representatives of the media, and media leaders are supposed to go to a different tent. I wanted to explain that my own father was a journalist, some of my best friends are journalists, I learn as much from talking to them as they learn from me, it's not a question of leading anybody, but I could tell she was getting impatient. So I went to the bigger tent next door to register as a "leader." I soon found out, however, that not all leaders are equal.
The "Summer Davos" is held in China every year, and it alternates between Dalian and Tianjin. I had been to the Dalian forum on a couple of occasions and it is indeed a smoothly run operation. All participants are flown in business class, and we are whisked from our five-star hotels to the conference site along wide boulevards with lanes blocked off just for the forum participants. In Beijing, I'd be upset at traffic jams caused by lanes blocked off for high-level government officials, but I confess it felt good to be on the other end of the hierarchical system. Of course I realized the whole thing was artificial and that the Cinderella-like ball would end at midnight (in my case), but I never did get a sense that I was a less-than-equal member of the "global elite" during the ball itself.
In Davos, it's a different story. Most academics stay in a three-star hotel. The most telltale sign that we are not so important is that there is no security at the door. Political leaders and CEOs stay at five-star hotels with security guards outside, and an airport like scanner at the entrance. Those without electronic World Economic Forum badges are refused entrance. I once forgot my badge and was refused entry for a dinner talk I had signed up for at one of the hotels. I tried to talk my way in, but the burly policeman waved me off and told his mate, in French, that I was annoying him. I switched to French and he seemed to lighten up a bit. Finally, he let me phone a WEF staff member who sorted out the problem.
Davos is a bigger deal, with more state leaders and CEOs than "regional" WEF meetings. The initial invitation letter noted that the forum includes political leaders from "G20 and other important countries." I felt bad for the not-so-important countries. Which ones did they have in mind, I wonder? Azerbaijian, perhaps? Turns out that my guess was wrong. My hotel room included gifts from Azerbaijian, which meant that they must have a delegation here.
The town itself is crawling with security forces. There are over 40 state leaders and they obviously need to be protected. But some countries seem to perfect the gangster look, with state leaders surrounded by seven-foot tall bodyguards with dark sunglasses (worn indoors), and one guesses it must be countries like Azerbaijian. After one session in an exclusive hotel, I was about to step into an elevator when a huge guy blocked my way. He told me, in broken English, it's the president, make way for him. I did not argue.
Davos is perhaps the only global forum where state leaders are not keynote speakers. This time, only Angela Merkel delivered a keynote address. Other leaders are put in rooms that vary in size, depending on perceptions of the country's power. The leader of Singapore was put in a small room for a half hour interview with Fareed Zakaria. The leader of Mexico was put in a huge room that was filled to capacity, but I guessed that the real draw was Bill Gates, who interviewed the president.
My guess proved to be correct, because the Mexican leader was followed by the Canadian Prime Minister, and the room emptied. The Canadian leader is a right-wing conservative and I'm not supposed to like him, but my nationalist feelings kicked in. I really felt horrible, and his uninspired speech did not lift my spirits. The next day, the (Toronto-based) Globe and Mail reported on his speech with the headline "Prime Minister Harper unveils grand plan to reshape Canada" and I was reminded of the infamous award-winning entry for the most boring headline contest, "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative." The article itself didn't mention the sparse crowd.
Still, at least I could take comfort from the fact that other countries seemed to be even lower down in the global pecking order. The president of Azerbaijian was put on a panel with three other not-so-important countries. I didn't go to that panel.
Of course, such feelings of superiority are not justified from a moral point of view, and last night Azerbaijian took its revenge. I dreamt I was lost in a tall building in Davos, and I had forgotten my WEF badge. A mammoth of a man from Azerbaijian blocked my way. I tried to explain I was a participant at Davos, but he ignored my pleas. He brought me to the edge of the building and was about to throw me over. I woke up, bathed in sweat.
?
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-a-bell/davos-2012_b_1240089.html
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House mice serenade mates with 'bird' song
Most people are familiar with the telltale squeak of a mouse scurrying out of their pantry, but scientists have long known that these aren?t the only noises house mice make. During courtship, the rodents also communicate in the ultrasonic frequency range, which sits beyond human hearing. Now, new research shows that these mating vocalizations are more than just your typical squeaks ? they?re songs, not unlike those you?d expect to hear from courting birds.
?It seems as though house mice might provide a new model organism for the study of song in animals," lead researcher Dustin Penn, an evolutionary biologist at the Veterinary University of Vienna in Austria, said in a statement. "Who would have thought that?"
Over the last few years, Penn and his colleagues conducted a series of studies on the courtship vocalizations of house mice. In their initial research, published in the journal Animal Behavior in 2010, they caught wild male and female house mice and looked at the vocal nature of their courtship routines.
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More science news from msnbc.com
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Library?putting the 3-D back into century-old photos
In a cool new undertaking, the ever-forward-thinking New York Public Library has pulled together a vast collection of roughly 100-year-old archival images for a very clever proto-3-D project.
- Deep-sea fish recordings reveal grunts and quacks
- Mesopotamian riddles of sex, beer and politics
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Library?putting the 3-D back into century-old photos
They found that most of the male mice would start their ultrasonic calls the moment they caught the urine scent of a sexually mature female. When the researchers played these calls back to the females, they learned that the females could somehow tell the difference between the calls of their siblings and the calls of unrelated males ? the females showed little interest in the squeaks of their brothers.
More recently, the researchers began analyzing several audio parameters, including duration, pitch and frequency, of the mating calls of wild-caught house mice. To their surprise, they found that the squeaks are quite complex and contain several features seen in bird songs, such as variations in duration and frequency of call syllables (units of sounds separated by silence).
When they compared the songs with one another, they saw that the vocalizations contained signatures of individuality and kinship. They also found that the songs of siblings were more similar to one anther than the songs of unrelated males.
The researchers now plan to look at how song quality affects mate choice ? in some bird species, males with the most complex songs win all the females. Future studies will also focus on figuring out how related mice have such similar songs.
"The familial effects we found might be explained by imprinting (social learning), as with bird song, genetic differences, or both," they write in their most recent study, published in the January issue of the journal Physiology & Behavior.
? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46184222/ns/technology_and_science-science/
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Clashes erupt in Cairo during anti-army protest (Reuters)
CAIRO (Reuters) ? Hundreds of Egyptian protesters demanding an immediate end to military rule clashed on Sunday with rivals in civilian clothes outside central Cairo's state media building, the same place where 25 people were killed in a demonstration in October.
"Down with military rule," protesters chanted. The sound of gunshots rang through the air but it was unclear who was firing.
"Tell me council, who chose you? It's Mubarak's gang that appointed you," the crowd chanted, referring to the army council which has ruled Egypt since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted on February 11.
Dozens of protesters clashed with a group of people protesters described as "thugs" brought out to attack them, hurling stones at each other. There was no sign of police or troops intervening or securing the media building.
"We were protesting here peacefully, and all of a sudden a group of around 50 thugs came from side streets surrounding the building and attacked us with stones and glass bottles, and we responded by throwing stones back at them. They tore down our tents," said Mohamed Abdo, 45, an elevator worker.
State radio said residents in a poor area next to Maspero, the site of the demonstration, had challenged the protesters because they were disrupting shops and businesses in the area.
Protesters often say such "thugs," usually youths in plain clothes and sometimes members of the police force, have been hired by the authorities to disrupt demonstrations.
The October violence at Maspero in which 25 people died erupted when troops tried to break up a protest sparked by what Christians said was an attack on a church in southern Egypt.
Egyptians have become increasingly frustrated by military rule, though many still see the army as a vital force for stability after months of political turmoil.
"The country cannot continue like this. Things are getting worse. They have to transfer power now. The country cannot stay like this any longer," said Waleed Kamal, 25.
He was not among the protesters, but lives nearby. "If we get civilian rule, the country will get back on its feet, the economic wheel will turn," he added.
Egyptians on January 25 marked the first anniversary of mass demonstrations against Mubarak in Tahrir Square, near the Maspero site of Sunday's protest.
(Writing by Edmund Blair; editing by Tim Pearce)
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Prejudices? Quite normal!
Friday, January 27, 2012
Girls are not as good at playing football as boys, and they do not have a clue about cars. Instead they know better how to dance and do not get into mischief as often as boys. Prejudices like these are cultivated from early childhood onwards by everyone. "Approximately at the age of three to four years children start to prefer children of the same sex, and later the same ethnic group or nationality," Prof. Dr. Andreas Beelmann of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany) states. This is part of an entirely normal personality development, the director of the Institute for Psychology explains. "It only gets problematic when the more positive evaluation of the own social group, which is adopted automatically in the course of identity formation, at some point reverts into bias and discrimination against others," Beelmann continues.
To prevent this, the Jena psychologist and his team have been working on a prevention programme for children. It is designed to reduce prejudice and to encourage tolerance for others. But when is the right time to start? Jena psychologists Dr. Tobias Raabe and Prof. Dr. Andreas Beelmann systematically summarise scientific studies on that topic and published the results of their research in the science journal Child Development (DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01668.x.).
According to this, the development of prejudice increases steadily at pre-school age and reaches its highest level between five and seven years of age. With increasing age this development is reversed and the prejudices decline. "This reflects normal cognitive development of children," Prof. Beelmann explains. "At first they adopt the social categories from their social environment, mainly the parents. Then they start to build up their own social identity according to social groups, before they finally learn to differentiate and individual evaluations of others will prevail over stereotypes." Therefore the psychologists reckon this age is the ideal time to start well-designed prevention programmes against prejudice. "Prevention starting at that age supports the normal course of development," Beelmann says. As the new study and the experience of the Jena psychologists with their prevention programme so far show, the prejudices are strongly diminished at primary school age, when children get in touch with members of so-called social out groups like, for instance children of a different nationality or skin colour. "This also works when they don't even get in touch with real people but learn it instead via books or told stories."
But at the same time the primary school age is a critical time for prejudices to consolidate. "If there is no or only a few contact to members of social out groups, there is no personal experience to be made and generalising negative evaluations stick longer." In this, scientists see an explanation for the particularly strong xenophobia in regions with a very low percentage of foreigners or migrants.
Moreover the Jena psychologists noticed that social ideas and prejudices are formed differently in children of social minorities. They do not have a negative attitude towards the majority to start with, more often it is even a positive one. The reason is the higher social status of the majority, which is being regarded as a role model. Only later, after having experienced discrimination, they develop prejudices, that then sticks with them much more persistently than with other children. "In this case prevention has to start earlier so it doesn't even get that far," Beelmann is convinced.
Generally, the psychologist of the Jena University stresses, the results of the new study don't imply that the children's and youths attitudes towards different social groups can't be changed at a later age. But this would then less depend on the individual development and very much more on the social environment like for instance changing social norms in our society. Tolerance on the other hand could be encouraged at any age. The psychologists' "prescription": As many diverse contacts to individuals belonging to different social groups as possible. "People who can identify with many groups will be less inclined to make sweeping generalisations in the evaluation of individuals belonging to different social groups or even to discriminate against them," Prof. Beelmann says.
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Raabe T, Beelmann A.: Development of ethnic, racial, and national prejudice in childhood and adolescence: A multinational meta-analysis of age differences. Child Development. 2011; 82(6):1715-37. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01668.x.
Friedrich-Schiller-Universitaet Jena: http://www.uni-jena.de
Thanks to Friedrich-Schiller-Universitaet Jena for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117152/Prejudices__Quite_normal_
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
IMF chief presses for more cash to fight crisis
International Monetary Fund, IMF, managing director Christine Lagarde shows her bag as she speaks during a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
International Monetary Fund, IMF, managing director Christine Lagarde shows her bag as she speaks during a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde, right, gestures next t Donald Tsang, left, Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region during a plenary session at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Keystone/Laurent Gillieron)
International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde gestures during during a plenary session at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/keystone/Laurent Gillieron)
International Monetary Fund, IMF, managing director, Christine Lagarde, attends a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
International Monetary Fund, IMF, managing director Christine Lagarde gestures as she speaks during a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) ? The head of the International Monetary Fund appeared to be making headway Saturday in her drive to boost the institution's financial firepower so that it can help Europe prevent its crippling debt crisis from further damaging the global economy.
Christine Lagarde, who replaced Dominique Strauss-Kahn as managing director of the fund six months ago, is trying to ramp up the IMF's resources by $500 billion so it can help if more lending is needed in Europe or elsewhere. The IMF is the world's traditional lender-of-last-resort and has been involved in the bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
Insisting that the IMF is a "safe bet" and that no country had ever lost money by lending to the IMF, Lagarde argued that increasing the size of the IMF's resources would help improve confidence in the global financial system. If enough money is in the fund the markets will be reassured and it won't be used, she said, using arguments similar to those that France has made about increasing Europe's own rescue fund.
"It's for that reason that I am here, with my little bag, to actually collect a bit of money," she said at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alps town of Davos.
Her plea appeared to find a measure of support from ministers of Britain and Japan, sizable IMF shareholders that would be expected to contribute to any money-raising exercise.
George Osborne, Britain's finance minister, said there is "a case for increasing IMF resources and ... demonstrating that the world wants to help together to solve the world's problems," provided the 17 countries that use the euro show the "color of their money."
European countries have said they're prepared to give the IMF $150 billion, meaning that the rest of the world will have to contribute $350 billion. However, many countries, such as Britain and the U.S., want Europe to do more, notably by boosting its own rescue fund.
Osborne said he would be willing to argue in Parliament for a new British contribution, though he may encounter opposition from some members from his own Conservative Party.
Japan's economy minister, Motohisa Furukawa, said his country would help the eurozone via the IMF, too, even though Japan's own debt burden is massive. Unlike Europe's debt-ridden economies, Japan doesn't face sky-high borrowing rates, partly because there's a very liquid domestic market that continues to support the country's bonds.
Europe once again dominated discussions on the final full day of the forum in Davos. Despite some optimism about Europe's latest attempts to stem the crisis, fears remain that turmoil could return.
Whether the markets remain stable could rest for now on if Greece, the epicenter of the crisis, manages to conclude crucial debt-reduction discussions with its private creditors. It's also seeking to placate demands from its European partners and the IMF for deeper reforms.
A failure on either front could force the country, which is now in its fifth year of recession, to default on its debt and leave the euro, potentially triggering another wave of mayhem in financial markets that could hit the global economy hard.
One German official even said Saturday that Greece should temporarily cede sovereignty over tax and spending decisions to a powerful eurozone budget commissioner to secure further bailouts. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because talks on the idea are confidential.
"The fact that we're still, at the start of 2012, talking about Greece again is a sign that this problem has not been dealt with," Britain's Osborne said.
For Donald Tsang, the chief executive of Hong Kong, efforts to deal with the 2-year-old debt crisis have fallen short of what is required. The failure to properly deal with the Greek situation quickly has meant the ultimate cost to Europe has been higher, he said.
"I have never been as scared as now about the world," he said.
Most economic forecasters predict that the global economy will continue to grow this year, but at a fairly slow rate. The IMF recently reduced its forecasts for global growth in 2012 to 3.3 percent, from the 4 percent pace that the IMF projected in September.
Lagarde sought to encourage some countries that use the euro to boost growth to help shore up the ailing eurozone economy, which is widely expected to sink back into recession, adding that it would be counterproductive if all euro countries cut their budgets aggressively at the same time.
"Some countries have to go full-speed ahead to do this fiscal consolidation ... but other countries have space and room," Lagarde said.
Though conceding that there aren't many such countries, Lagarde said it is important that those that have the headroom explore how they can boost growth. She carefully avoided naming any countries, but likely had in mind Germany, Europe's largest economy and a major world exporter. She didn't specify how to boost growth or how one eurozone country could help others grow.
Lagarde said members of the eurozone should continue the drive to tie their economies closer together. On Monday, European leaders gather in Brussels in the hopes of agreeing on a treaty that will force member countries to put deficit limits into their national laws.
Britain's Osborne said eurozone leaders should be praised for the "courage" they have shown over the past few months in enacting austerity and setting in place closer fiscal ties, but said more will have to be done if the single currency is to get on a surer footing.
Fiscal transfers from rich economies to poorer ones will become a "permanent feature" of the eurozone, Osborne predicted.
While politicians and business people were discussing the state of the global economy within the confines of the conference center, protesters questioned the purpose of the event as income inequalities grow worldwide.
Protesters from the Occupy movement that started on Wall Street have camped out in igloos at Davos and were demonstrating in front of City Hall to call attention to the needs of the poor and unemployed.
In a separate protest, three Ukrainian women were arrested when they stripped off their tops ? despite temperatures around freezing ? and tried to climb a fence surrounding the invitation-only gathering of international CEOs and political leaders.
"Crisis! Made in Davos," read one message painted across a protester's torso.
Davos police spokesman Thomas Hobi said the three women were taken to the police station and told they weren't allowed to demonstrate. He said they would be released later in the day.
___
Frank Jordans and Edith M. Lederer in Davos, and Juergen Baetz in Berlin contributed to this report.
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Friday, January 27, 2012
Huliq: Antiperspirants and deodorants linked to breast cancer http://t.co/cM7EP9jX
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Automotive Crash Pieces OEM As opposed to AM
When you have wrecked your vehicle a short while ago chances are you?ll have already faced this ordeal. This short article can help educate you for a customer over the variances of automotive crash substitute elements. I hope it will make it easier to make a more informed resolution when faced with this particular.
With the car system restore firm there are actually a few alternatives for substitute elements in the market currently. First you?ve got OEM ( Genuine Devices Producer ), they are elements made the vehicle?s authentic manufacturer and therefore are bought at neighborhood dealerships. These elements meet factory specifications regarding match, end and corrosion protection also as crash worthiness. They?re the very same elements which were set up in your vehicle when it was created with the classiques pari turf factory. In addition they carry the vehicle?s manufacturer?s guarantee.
Next you?ve got A/M or aftermarket elements. They?re frequently termed offshore elements. The vast majority of these elements appear from Asian nations. These elements are not made with the vehicle?s authentic manufacturer, meaning they do not go below the very same rigorous testing, nor do they carry the very same guarantee. Non-OEM elements were revealed in lots of circumstances to get diminished tolerances for match and end, corrode faster and supply you with lower crash resistance than factory approved elements. Moreover, the use of these elements may perhaps void your vehicle?s guarantee in locations that may be impacted by their use. These elements will not restore your vehicle back again to it can be pre-accident condition meaning a possible reducing of the vehicle?s price.
Lastly you?ve got used, salvage, or LKQ elements. The expression LKQ stands for Like, Variety, Outstanding. This expression was coined with the insurance policies trade. If, and that is a large if, the LKQ component has no prior damage, plus the restore store de-trims the component for painting, then treats the component with corrosion protection , chances are you?ll have got a component which will restore your vehicle back again to it can be pre-accident condition. A very good salvage garden will supply you with a guarantee on LKQ elements. LKQ elements really are a more inexpensive option to repairs for the vehicle operator. Some LKQ elements might never be used. For example, any suspension or welded on component mustn?t be used if LKQ. Cutting a welded component from a salvage vehicle plus the subsequent operations needed to set up claimed component will weaken the steel. Suspension elements have bearing and joints that have on may perhaps not be visible, but does exist.
With all this in intellect, the ideal elements to implement undoubtedly are OEM. Some insurers will use them on motor vehicles that are destroyed inside of two years of manufacture. People insist over the cheaper, inferior offshore elements basically to lower the cost of the loss, regardless of maintaining the vehicle?s price. A simple alternative could be to offer the insured a rider on their policy to insure the use of OEM elements by pick of the vehicle operator. I?m not mindful of this as an option now.
The author of this post has become inside car system firm considering 1977 and now owns an automotive system store.
Source: http://www.londonsportscouncil.org/general/automotive-crash-pieces-oem-as-opposed-to-am/
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Mint Competitor And Personal Finance Platform HelloWallet Raises ...
Leena Rao currently works as a writer for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney???s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where she was... ? Learn More
HelloWallet, a personal finance software, has raised $12 million in Series B funding from Morningstar and TD Fund. The startup previously raised $9 million in Series A funding, from Grotech Ventures and AOL co-founder Steve Case?s VC fund Revolution Ventures.
HelloWallet, which launched last year, helps users track and proactively manage their personal finances from both the web and mobile. But HelloWallet aims to be a full-service financial advisor, and looks forward to proactively uncover savings opportunities and potential threats for its members.
Additionally, HelloWallet does not allow banks to advertise or promote products, so its recommendations claim to be untouched by any business interests. The startup plans to use the fund to further product development and build out its businesses development team.
HelloWallet?s team of consumer finance experts have developed a platform that helps users set and reach specific financial short- and long-term goals for important life milestones including buying a home, saving for retirement, reducing debt safely, and saving for college.
For example, HelloWallet stores tuition information for nearly every college and university across the country, and models the tuition out to a users? expected enrollment date. The service is then able to make specific recommendations for the best approach to educational savings, on an individual basis.
The company has sold more than 300,000 subscriptions since it launched its enterprise application in mid-2011. During this same period, HelloWallet?s personalized financial guidance has helped its average members increase their monthly savings contributions by more than 80 percent, creating about $350 in extra savings contributions every month per person.
The new funding will be used to expand its client base.
HelloWallet is an independent, online financial guidance service for workers founded by former Brookings Institution scholar Matt Fellowes. HelloWallet is primarily distributed through Fortune 500 and other employers as a workplace benefit. HelloWallet helps workers improve their overall household finances by ???finding the money??? to boost their contributions to retirement savings and reduce debt. Retirement plan providers also provide the service to help workers improve their personal finances. HelloWallet???s independence comes from the fact that it receives no commissions...
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How Do Scientists Classify Solar Flares? (SPACE.com)
The sun is a violent place, one that seethes with solar flares that blast radiation, heat and charged particles out into space.
A whopper of a flare occurred late Jan. 22, unleashing a gigantic burst of material that caused the strongest radiation storm since 2005. But while powerful, the flare wasn't the biggest solar storm the sun can unleash.
Astronomers rank solar flares in a classification system of five categories: A, B, C, M, and X. Class A flares are the weakest, while class X solar flares are the biggest, and can wallop the Earth with radiation that interferes with radio, GPS systems, and power grids.
The classification system, designed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes, in that each category is 10 times stronger than the one before it.
Thus, a B-class solar flare releases 10 times more energy than an A-class flare, while a C-class eruption releases 10 times more than a class B flare (and 100 times more than class A).
The scales are further divided into subcategories ranked from 1 to 9. The flare of Jan. 23 registered as an M8.7 on solar flare classification system.
While class A flares are pretty puny, stronger solar flares can pack a punch.
"The biggest X-class flares are by far the largest explosions in the solar system and are awesome to watch," NASA officials wrote in a statement. "Loops tens of times the size of Earth leap up off the sun's surface when the sun's magnetic fields cross over each other and reconnect. In the biggest events, this reconnection process can produce as much energy as a billion hydrogen bombs."
When aimed at Earth, powerful X-class solar flares can pose a threat to astronauts and satellites in space, disrupt satellites in orbit and even damage power grids on the planet's surface.
The strongest solar flare ever recorded occurred in 2003, and was so powerful it maxed out the sensors measuring it, which topped out at class X15. Scientists think this flare was probably closer to class X28, in reality.
Solar activity varies on an 11-year cycle, with the sun going through quiet and rowdy times periodically. The current solar cycle is known as Solar Cycle 24. Feb. 15, 2011 saw the first X-class flare of the current solar cycle, with more following over the summer.
With the sun recently coming out of a lull and gearing up for a solar maximum expected in 2013, this should bring many more strong solar flares, NASA scientists have said.
This story was provided by?Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to SPACE.com. Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter @llmysteries, then join us on?Facebook.
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Adipose stem cell heart attack trial data published in JACC
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Public release date: 24-Jan-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Megan McCormick
mmccormick@cytori.com
858-875-5279
Cytori Therapeutics
Cytori's APOLLO trial demonstrated safety and feasibility and improvements in cardiac function
San Diego Cytori Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CYTX) announced today the publication of previously reported six-month outcomes from APOLLO, the Company's European clinical trial evaluating adipose-derived stem and regenerative cells (ADRCs) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (heart attack or AMI), as Research Correspondence in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The APOLLO trial was a 14-patient, prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, feasibility trial (Phase I/IIA) evaluating autologous ADRCs extracted with the Company's proprietary Celution System for the treatment of patients suffering from acute myocardial infarction.
In the APOLLO trial all patients were treated with standard-of-care and subsequently underwent an abdominal liposuction. Each patient's adipose tissue was processed by the Celution System where ADRCs were extracted, washed and concentrated into a syringe of clinical grade cells. Within 36 hours of the myocardial infarction and no longer than 24 hours after undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention, patients received an injection of either 20 million ADRCs (n=10) or a placebo (n=4).
The publication reported:
- Safety
- The procedure could be safely performed in an acute setting
- No side effects from ADRC delivery, processed using Celution
- No increase in arrhythmias
- Feasibility
- Improvement in cardiac function by SPECT
- Improvement in blood flow into the heart muscle (perfusion defect)
- Reduction in scar formation (infarct size)
"Based on both the six and 18-month outcomes, which showed continued safety and sustained long-term benefits, we initiated ADVANCE, a pivotal, prospective, randomized, double-blind, European heart attack trial in up to 360 patients," said Christopher J. Calhoun, CEO for Cytori. "The goal of our ADRC therapy is to reduce scarring, preserve heart muscle beyond what can be salvaged with current treatments, minimize harmful remodeling, and ultimately protect patients from advancing into heart failure."
The publication, co-authored by trial investigators Drs. Henricus J. Duckers, Patrick W. Serruys, Jaco H. Houtgraaf at Thoraxcenter, Erasmus University Hospital and others, reported the following:
- The percentage of left ventricle (LV) infarcted was reduced by 52% (31.6 5.3% to 15.3 2.6% at six-month follow-up, p=0.002) in the ADRC-treated patients, as opposed to no change in the placebo-treated AMI patients (24.7 9.2 % vs. 24.7 4.1%). The difference between the groups was not statistically significant.
- There was a significant improvement of the perfusion defect in ADRC-treated patients from 16.9 2.1% to 10.9 2.4% at six-month follow-up (change of 6.0%, p=0.004) as compared to a deterioration in the placebo group by 1.8% (15.0 4.9% to 16.8 4.3%).
- Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), measured by SPECT, improved with an absolute difference of +5.7% (p=0.114). In ADRC treated patients, LVEF improved by 4% (52.1% to 56.1%), as compared to a deterioration of 1.7% in the placebo group (52.0% to 50.3%).
"The advantage of adipose tissue as a cell source is that it allows physicians to get a meaningful dose of a patient's own cells at the point-of-care when using the Celution System without cell culture or use of donor cells," said Dr. Duckers, lead author of the paper. "We believe delivering cells within the first 24 to 36 hours takes advantage of the body's signaling and initiates the repair process before irreparable damage occurs."
Cytori is currently preparing the full 18 month data set for publication.
###
About Cytori
Cytori is a leader in providing patients and physicians around the world with medical technologies that harness the potential of adult regenerative cells from adipose tissue. The Celution System family of medical devices and instruments is being sold into the European and Asian cosmetic and reconstructive surgery markets but is not yet available in the United States. Our StemSource product line is sold globally for cell banking and research applications. Our PureGraft products are available in North America and Europe for fat grafting procedures. www.cytori.com
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements regarding events, trends, business prospects and particularly relating to mechanisms and effectiveness of our ADRC therapy and our APOLLO and ADVANCE clinical trial, which may affect our future operating results and financial position. Such statements, including, but not limited to, those regarding improvements in patient outcomes, the significance of the physiological and functional effects from the pilot APOLLO trial, and the mechanisms and effectiveness of the design of the ADVANCE trial, are all subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the results of the more comprehensive ADVANCE trial to differ materially from those presented above. Some of these risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks related to the statistical power of the APOLLO trial, the inherent risk and uncertainty in the costs and potential variability of outcomes of a pivotal heart attack trial, uncertainties regarding the collection and results of clinical data, and dependence on third party performance, as well as other risks and uncertainties described under the "Risk Factors" in Cytori's Securities and Exchange Commission Filings on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. We assume no responsibility to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events, trends or circumstances after the date they are made.
[ | 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.
Public release date: 24-Jan-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Megan McCormick
mmccormick@cytori.com
858-875-5279
Cytori Therapeutics
Cytori's APOLLO trial demonstrated safety and feasibility and improvements in cardiac function
San Diego Cytori Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CYTX) announced today the publication of previously reported six-month outcomes from APOLLO, the Company's European clinical trial evaluating adipose-derived stem and regenerative cells (ADRCs) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (heart attack or AMI), as Research Correspondence in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The APOLLO trial was a 14-patient, prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, feasibility trial (Phase I/IIA) evaluating autologous ADRCs extracted with the Company's proprietary Celution System for the treatment of patients suffering from acute myocardial infarction.
In the APOLLO trial all patients were treated with standard-of-care and subsequently underwent an abdominal liposuction. Each patient's adipose tissue was processed by the Celution System where ADRCs were extracted, washed and concentrated into a syringe of clinical grade cells. Within 36 hours of the myocardial infarction and no longer than 24 hours after undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention, patients received an injection of either 20 million ADRCs (n=10) or a placebo (n=4).
The publication reported:
- Safety
- The procedure could be safely performed in an acute setting
- No side effects from ADRC delivery, processed using Celution
- No increase in arrhythmias
- Feasibility
- Improvement in cardiac function by SPECT
- Improvement in blood flow into the heart muscle (perfusion defect)
- Reduction in scar formation (infarct size)
"Based on both the six and 18-month outcomes, which showed continued safety and sustained long-term benefits, we initiated ADVANCE, a pivotal, prospective, randomized, double-blind, European heart attack trial in up to 360 patients," said Christopher J. Calhoun, CEO for Cytori. "The goal of our ADRC therapy is to reduce scarring, preserve heart muscle beyond what can be salvaged with current treatments, minimize harmful remodeling, and ultimately protect patients from advancing into heart failure."
The publication, co-authored by trial investigators Drs. Henricus J. Duckers, Patrick W. Serruys, Jaco H. Houtgraaf at Thoraxcenter, Erasmus University Hospital and others, reported the following:
- The percentage of left ventricle (LV) infarcted was reduced by 52% (31.6 5.3% to 15.3 2.6% at six-month follow-up, p=0.002) in the ADRC-treated patients, as opposed to no change in the placebo-treated AMI patients (24.7 9.2 % vs. 24.7 4.1%). The difference between the groups was not statistically significant.
- There was a significant improvement of the perfusion defect in ADRC-treated patients from 16.9 2.1% to 10.9 2.4% at six-month follow-up (change of 6.0%, p=0.004) as compared to a deterioration in the placebo group by 1.8% (15.0 4.9% to 16.8 4.3%).
- Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), measured by SPECT, improved with an absolute difference of +5.7% (p=0.114). In ADRC treated patients, LVEF improved by 4% (52.1% to 56.1%), as compared to a deterioration of 1.7% in the placebo group (52.0% to 50.3%).
"The advantage of adipose tissue as a cell source is that it allows physicians to get a meaningful dose of a patient's own cells at the point-of-care when using the Celution System without cell culture or use of donor cells," said Dr. Duckers, lead author of the paper. "We believe delivering cells within the first 24 to 36 hours takes advantage of the body's signaling and initiates the repair process before irreparable damage occurs."
Cytori is currently preparing the full 18 month data set for publication.
###
About Cytori
Cytori is a leader in providing patients and physicians around the world with medical technologies that harness the potential of adult regenerative cells from adipose tissue. The Celution System family of medical devices and instruments is being sold into the European and Asian cosmetic and reconstructive surgery markets but is not yet available in the United States. Our StemSource product line is sold globally for cell banking and research applications. Our PureGraft products are available in North America and Europe for fat grafting procedures. www.cytori.com
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements regarding events, trends, business prospects and particularly relating to mechanisms and effectiveness of our ADRC therapy and our APOLLO and ADVANCE clinical trial, which may affect our future operating results and financial position. Such statements, including, but not limited to, those regarding improvements in patient outcomes, the significance of the physiological and functional effects from the pilot APOLLO trial, and the mechanisms and effectiveness of the design of the ADVANCE trial, are all subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the results of the more comprehensive ADVANCE trial to differ materially from those presented above. Some of these risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks related to the statistical power of the APOLLO trial, the inherent risk and uncertainty in the costs and potential variability of outcomes of a pivotal heart attack trial, uncertainties regarding the collection and results of clinical data, and dependence on third party performance, as well as other risks and uncertainties described under the "Risk Factors" in Cytori's Securities and Exchange Commission Filings on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. We assume no responsibility to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events, trends or circumstances after the date they are made.
[ | 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.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/ct-asc012412.php
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Obama Makes 'Spilled Milk' Joke During 2012 State Of The Union (VIDEO)
Few would say that President Obama's State of the Union address was funny. But he did, at one point, try to make a joke:
We've already announced over 500 reforms, and just a fraction of them will save business and citizens more than $10 billion over the next five years. We got rid of one rule from 40 years ago that could have forced some dairy farmers to spend $10,000 a year proving that they could contain a spill -- because milk was somehow classified as an oil. With a rule like that, I guess it was worth crying over spilled milk.
The joke wasn't really a hit. The audience let out a very audible groan, and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) was caught on the C-SPAN camera doing the rimshot gesture.
WATCH:
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/obama-bad-joke-state-of-the-union-2012_n_1229850.html
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Click.to
One of the more interesting consequences of the touch screen revolution is the way that developments in smartphones and tablets are bleeding into more traditional hardware and software. Click.to?(free) is a program designed to mimic in standard PCs (and Macs) the ease with which people can share content from tablets, like the iPad, and touch-screen smartphones. In practically any mobile app for touch-screen devices, you can press a single button to share something on Facebook, or email a photo, or otherwise copy and paste content from one application to another. Another example: Surf the Web for a business phone number from an iPhone, and pressing on the number will automatically initiate the call.
Why shouldn't we have this functionality on our plain old laptops and desktops? That's precisely what Axonic, the company that made Click.to, thought.
Time-Saving Shortcut
Click.to is a small downloadable program that works on both Windows (XP, Vista, 7) and Mac computers. After you install and launch it, Click.to will work in any application the moment you try to use the "copy function," whether you press Ctrl+C, Apple-command+C, or right-click and select "copy." A string of icons representing various programs?Microsoft Word, Skype, Twitter, Google, Amazon, Evernote, Bing, and many, many more?appears near the text. Select whichever one you want, and Click.to launches the program and takes the appropriate action. Often, the action is "copy and paste," but other workflows are supported, too. For example, if you select the button for Outlook, Click.to creates a new message and pastes the copied content into the body of the email. Let's say you're reading a PDF and you highlight a term and use Click.to to search Wikipedia. The app pulls the most concise definition Wikipedia has for the selected text and displays it in a bubble right on screen, so you never have to leave the PDF viewer. Try using the Skype function by highlighting a phone number you find online and then picking the Skype icon. Click.to will launch Skype and dial the number.
Depending on what application you choose, Click.to can automatically fill in other appropriate information, such as the subject line of an email (it will use the file name from which the text or image is pulled). Paste into a Word doc, and the source of the pasted info is given at the top of the file.
You can customize which icons appear from an Options menu, and, if Click.to doesn't support an application you want to use, you can add it, although the process might seem slightly complicated for less technical users. To add a new program, you have to be able to identify the executable file for the program on your hard drive.
Getting the Hang of Click.to
The number of clicks that Click.to saves you depends on what kind of workflows you normally do. For sharing to social networks and drafting emails, it's very handy, and the Wikipedia tie-in is brilliant.
I tried to get a lot of mileage out of it for copying and pasting text and found that it does take a little bit of time, maybe a day or two, to configure the app appropriately for your needs and then learn how to use the actions in a way that saves time and increases productivity in the long run.
There are times when Click.to becomes distracting for certain applications or tasks, and thankfully, you can always it off or turn it off only for specified applications, which is a nice touch.
Additionally, if your ultimate goal is to cut down on repetitive motions, you might want to train yourself to use Click.to via the keyboard rather than the mouse. Mac users may also be interested in a productivity tool called Alfred (for Mac), which lets you search for and launch applications and files using a very simple keyboard shortcut. With Alfred, you can also create keyboard shortcuts for some workflows. However, Alfred tries to get you to stick to the keyboard and rely less on the mouse (which can be preferable for some users), whereas Click.to focuses on cutting down the number of keyboard strokes and mouse clicks.
Fewer Clicks With Click.to
Productivity and efficiency experts have long studied the number of clicks and keystrokes the average office worker completes in a day. Click.to tries to decrease that total by removing several steps in the various kinds of information age workflows. The free product is worth downloading if you are looking for a way to reduce the number of times you click your mouse.
More Productivity Reviews:
??? Click.to
??? Dragon Dictate for Mac
??? Adaptu Wallet for iPhone
??? Bento 4 (for Mac)
??? Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 Premium
?? more
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/1H4_pfLKXjQ/0,2817,2395207,00.asp
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Anonymous Just Deleted CBS.com and Took Down Universal [Hackers]
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/3XoHlIGG5-A/anonymous-deleted-cbscom
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Monday, January 23, 2012
Seal, Heidi Klum announce separation (omg!)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Seal and Heidi Klum have announced that their storybook marriage is coming to the end of the runway.
In a statement Sunday night, the power couple announced their separation after rumors swirled over the weekend that a divorce was imminent.
"While we have enjoyed seven very loving, loyal and happy years of marriage, after much soul searching we have decided to separate," the joint statement read. "We have had the deepest respect for one another throughout our relationship and continue to love each other very much, but we have grown apart. This is an amicable process and protecting the well-being of our children remains our top priority, especially during this time of transition. We thank our family, friends, and fans for their kind words of support. And for our children's sake, we appreciate you respecting our privacy."
The couple married in 2005 and has four children together, including the supermodel's daughter from a previous relationship.
They were one of Hollywood's most high-profile couples, and seemed to have the relationship everyone should envy. They two starred together in the music video "Secret," they renewed their wedding vows each anniversary, boasted of their love in the media, and threw Halloween bashes together where they dressed in outrageous outfits, most recently last year in New York City, where the two engaged in their typical public display of affection for the cameras.
In an interview with The Associated Press in 2007, the "Kiss from A Rose" singer described his wife, who has a tattoo of his name on her arm, as his best friend.
"It is really important that we have that understanding because apart from anything else it is really healthy," he said of the "Project Runway" host. "People often talk about the most important thing in a relationship. They say it is really important that you are turned on by your partner and you love each other, which is all really true.I often think that the most important thing or certainly up there with love is respect."
TMZ first reported on Saturday that the two planned to divorce this week.
His announcement comes as he releases his new album, "Soul 2," on Tuesday, which has songs like "Love T.K.O," ''Let's Stay Together" and "Love Don't Live Here Anymore."
___
AP Entertainment Writer Alicia Quarles contributed to this report.
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Colo. girl escapes apparent kidnapper, calls 911 (AP)
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. ? A missing 9-year-old girl escaped an apparent kidnapper and called 911 herself from a convenience store in Colorado Springs on Friday, police said.
The Pueblo girl was reported missing Thursday night after she failed to return home from school.
The car of the man accused of kidnapping the girl broke down Friday morning in Colorado Springs, and a passerby gave them a ride to a Circle K, police said.
The girl ran into the store and asked to use the phone to call her uncle but instead called 911, which prompted the man to take off, authorities said.
Police identified the suspect as Jose Garcia, 29, but haven't said how they connected him to the kidnapping. Colorado Springs police spokeswoman Barbara Miller said he was in custody Friday afternoon.
Pueblo County court records said Garcia was wanted on suspicion of kidnapping and sex assault on a child. Pueblo police did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the potential charges.
Efren Vialpando told The Gazette ( http://bit.ly/Ao9LgD) he saw the girl come in the Circle K with two black eyes and a bruise on her lip and face. She had refused to leave the store with the man, saying, "I ain't going nowhere. I'm waiting for my momma." He said the suspect fled after that.
A Circle K employee declined to comment, citing store policy.
The girl was taken to a hospital Friday morning. Police spokeswoman Barbara Miller said details of the girl's condition won't be released because of her age.
The FBI helped with the investigation.
___
Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazette.com
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
Murdoch to pay Jude Law, 36 others for hacking (AP)
LONDON ? Rupert Murdoch's media empire apologized and agreed to cash payouts Thursday to 37 people ? including a movie star, a soccer player, a top British politician and the son of a serial killer ? who were harassed and phone-hacked by his tabloid press.
The four ? Jude Law, Ashley Cole, John Prescott and Chris Shipman ? were among three dozen victims who received financial damages from Murdoch's British newspaper company for illegal eavesdropping and other intrusions, including email snooping.
Lawyers for the claimants said the settlements vindicated their accusation that senior Murdoch executives had long known about the scale of illegal phone hacking and had tried to cover it up.
News International, the parent company of Murdoch's News Group Newspapers, said it did not admit that senior staff knew of the wrongdoing and tried to cover it up ? but it said that "for the purpose of reaching these settlements only, News Group Newspapers agreed that the damages to be paid to claimants should be assessed as if this was the case."
Financial details of 15 of the payouts, totaling more than 640,000 pounds (about $1 million), were made public at a court hearing Thursday. The amounts generally ran into the tens of thousands of pounds ? although Law received 130,000 pounds (about $200,000), plus legal costs, to settle claims against the now-shuttered News of the World tabloid and its sister tabloid, The Sun.
Law was one of 60 people who have sued News Group Newspapers, claiming their mobile phone voicemails were hacked. Others whose settlements were announced Thursday at London's High Court included former government ministers Chris Bryant and Tessa Jowell, rugby player Gavin Henson, Princess Diana's former lover James Hewitt, singer Dannii Minogue and Sara Payne, the mother of a murdered girl.
It was the largest group of settlements announced yet in the long-running hacking scandal, which has shaken Murdoch's global empire, spurred the resignations of several of his top executives and reverberated through Britain's political, police and media elite.
Law, the star of "Sherlock Holmes" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley," said he was "truly appalled" at the scale of surveillance and privacy invasion that his case had exposed.
"No aspect of my private life was safe from intrusion by News Group Newspapers, including the lives of my children and the people who work for me," he said in a statement. "It was not just that my phone messages were listened to. News Group also paid people to watch me and my house for days at a time and to follow me and those close to me, both in this country and abroad."
News Group Newspapers admitted that 16 articles about Law published in the News of the World between 2003 and 2006 had been obtained by phone hacking, and that the actor had also been placed under "repeated and sustained physical surveillance." The company also admitted that articles in The Sun had misused Law's private information ? although it didn't go as far as to admit hacking by that paper.
Law said Murdoch's tabloids had been "prepared to do anything to sell their newspapers and to make money, irrespective of the impact it had on people's lives."
"I changed my phones, I had my house swept for bugs but still the information kept being published," Law said. "I started to become distrustful of people close to me."
The slew of settlements is one consequence of the revelations of phone-hacking and other illegal tactics at the News of the World, where journalists routinely intercepted voicemails of those in the public eye in a relentless search for scoops.
Murdoch closed the 168-year-old paper in July amid a wave of public revulsion over its hacking of the voicemails of missing 13-year-old Milly Dowler, who was later found murdered. More than a dozen ex-Murdoch employees have been arrested by police investigating phone hacking and bribery.
British politicians and police have also been ensnared in the scandal, which exposed the cozy relationship between senior officers, top lawmakers and Murdoch newspaper executives. A government-commissioned inquiry set up in the wake of the scandal is currently investigating the ethics of Britain's media and its links to police and politicians.
Law's ex-wife and actress Sadie Frost received 50,000 pounds (about $77,000) in damages for phone hacking and deceit by the News of the World. Bryant received 30,000 pounds (about $46,000), while Prescott ? a prominent member of the Labour Party who was Britain's former deputy prime minister ? accepted 40,000 pounds (about $62,000).
After each statement, News Group lawyer Michael Silverleaf stood to express the news company's "sincere apologies" for the damage and distress its illegal activity had caused.
Many of the statements ended with victims saying they felt vindicated after years in which Murdoch's company denied phone hacking had been widespread at the News of the World. The company had initially vowed to fight the claims in court.
"Today's court decision at long last brings clarity, apology and compensation for the years of hacking into my telephone messages by Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers," Prescott told his local newspaper, the Hull Daily Mail. "It follows years of aggressive denials and a cavalier approach to private information and the law."
In a statement, the claimants' lawyers said that "News Group has agreed to compensation being assessed on the basis that senior employees and directors ... knew about the wrongdoing and sought to conceal it by deliberately deceiving investigators and destroying evidence."
The claimants described feeling mistrust, fear and paranoia as phone messages went missing, journalists knew their movements in advance or private information appeared in the media.
Frost said the paper's activity had caused her and Law to suspect one another. Henson said he accused the family of his then-wife, singer Charlotte Church, of leaking stories to the press.
Other claimants included Guy Pelly, a friend of Prince William who was awarded 40,000 pounds (about $62,000), and Tom Rowland, a journalist who wrote for one of Murdoch's own newspapers, the Sunday Times. He received 25,000 pounds ($39,000) after News Group admitted hacking his phone.
In a handful of cases the company admitted hacking into emails, as well as telephone voice mails. Christopher Shipman, whose father, Dr. Harold Shipman, was a notorious serial killer thought to have murdered more than 200 of his patients, had emails containing sensitive legal and medical information intercepted by the News of the Word. He was awarded "substantial" undisclosed damages.
The settlements announced Thursday amount to more than half of the phone-hacking lawsuits facing Murdoch's company, but the number of victims is estimated to be in the hundreds.
Mark Lewis, a lawyer for many victims, said in an email that the fight against Murdoch's media empire wasn't over.
"Fewer than 1 percent of the people who were hacked have settled their cases," he said. "There are many more cases in the pipeline. ... This is too early to celebrate, we're not even at the end of the beginning."
Many victims had earlier settled with the company, including actress Sienna Miller ? whose on-again, off-again romance with Law generated widespread press interest ? and the parents of murdered teenager Dowler, who were awarded 2 million pounds (about $3.1 million) in compensation.
Ten further cases are due to go to court next month, though lawyers said more settlements are likely.
___
Raphael Satter contributed to this report.
___
Jill Lawless can be reached at: http://twitter.com/JillLawless
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