TORONTO (Reuters) ? BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has moved next month's Asian developer conference from Bangkok to Singapore due to flooding in the Thai capital.
The company said on Tuesday it would relocate the conference, part of a global push to get more apps onto its smartphones and PlayBook tablet, and offer refunds to attendees who could not attend the Singapore event.
The Bangkok conference was due to take place on December 7 and 8, and the Singapore event is planned for the same dates.
"RIM is committed to the developer community in Asia," the Canadian smartphone company said in a statement on a website for the event. "RIM apologizes to all current registrants for the late notice and inconvenience this may have caused."
Thailand's worst floods in half a century have killed more than 500 people, damaged millions of tons of rice, and forced a series of industrial estates to close.
RIM held a similar developer event in San Francisco in October and plans another in Amsterdam in February. It said it plans to return to Bangkok for future Asian events.
(Reporting by Alastair Sharp; editing by Rob Wilson)
CAIRO ? Egypt's ruling military moved up the date for transferring power to a civilian government to July next year and consulted Tuesday with political parties on forming a new Cabinet. But the major concessions were immediately rejected by tens of thousands of protesters in Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square threatening a "second revolution."
"We are not leaving, he leaves," chanted the protesters, demanding that military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi and his council of generals immediately give up power to a civilian transitional authority. "The people want to bring down the field marshal," they shouted in scenes starkly reminiscent of the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak nine months ago.
Aboul-Ela Madi and Mohammed Selim el-Awa, two politicians who attended a five-hour crisis meeting with the military rulers, said the generals accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's government and will form a "national salvation" Cabinet to replace it.
Previously, the military rulers had floated late next year or early 2013 as the timetable for transferring power.
The military's concession came less than a week before the first parliamentary election since the ouster nine months ago of longtime authoritarian ruler Mubarak. The elections are staggered over three months.
"Our demands are clear. We want the military council to step down and hand over authority to a national salvation government with full authority," said Khaled El-Sayed, a member of the Youth Revolution Coalition and a candidate in the upcoming parliamentary election. The commander of the Military Police and the Interior Minister, who is in charge of the police, must be tried for the "horrific crimes" of the past few days, he added.
"This is the maximum we can reach. The (Tahrir) square is something and the politics is something else," Madi told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. He and Al-Awa were among 12 political party representatives and presidential hopefuls who attended the meeting with the military council. Not all parties were represented.
Madi and el-Awa also said the military agreed to release all protesters detained since Saturday and to put on trial police and army officers responsible for protesters' deaths. Nearly 30 protesters have been killed since Saturday.
They said the military agreed to hold presidential elections before the end of June 2012, a vote the ruling council has deemed the final stage necessary for transferring power.
___
Associated Press writers Aya Batrawy, Hadeel al-Shalchi contributed to this report.
All Critics (114) | Top Critics (39) | Fresh (103) | Rotten (11)
It's a lovely, heartfelt character study of common, everyday people trapped on the horns of an uncommon but not unheard-of dilemma.
The latest exhibit in Payne's careful dissection of the beached male, which runs from Matthew Broderick's character in "Election" to Jack Nicholson's in "About Schmidt" and Paul Giamatti's in "Sideways."
This mature, well-acted dramatic comedy is deeply satisfying, maybe even cathartic.
A tough, tender, observant, exquisitely nuanced portrait of mixed emotions at their most confounding and profound -- all at play within a deliciously damp, un-touristy Hawaii that's at once lush and lovely to look at.
A splendid comedy-drama about a father coping with his comatose wife and difficult daughters represents high points for George Clooney and Alexander Payne.
Payne has always tended to look at society from the perspective of a curious, puzzled alien, but now the alien has grown moist-eyed and affectionate.
A family drama whose distinction comes primarily from its nuances and subtleties.
Director and co-writer Alexander Payne again shows the most acute and perceptive understanding of the American psyche of any current director.
Flawless in the still manner it approaches crippling encounters with grief and disgust, dryly expressing the necessary unraveling of a distracted man. The Descendents is simply terrific, profound yet understated.
Payne has a particular skill for making movie stars seem like normal people, and the resolute normalcy of the cast helps to show Hawaii not as a resort paradise, but as a place like any other where people live, work, love, and die.
Even as Payne's weakest film, The Descendants is still worth seeing
I understand Clooney is playing a detached father and husband, but there's no explanation why a financially well-off man basically without a job has no clue about his wife and children.
Clooney will most definitely be getting an Oscar nod for his touching, open and honest work.
"The Descendants" has all the qualities of a special story. And it should be on the short list of Oscar's favorites.
The Descendants has a jaunty, energetic air about it. It's just the thing to lure you into the heart of a family tragedy.
Its pace is as leisurely as a day in its Hawaiian setting, which makes the lovely parts lovelier but its angsty moments even more torturous and uncomfortable.
It has been over seven years since Payne's last film, "Sideways," was released and the man has not lost his touch.
YANGON (Reuters) ? Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will run in a parliamentary by-election expected by the end of the year, a top party official said on Monday, giving legitimacy to moves toward democracy after decades of military rule.
It will be the first time the Nobel Peace Prize laureate contests a seat herself, having not stood as a candidate in her National League for Democracy's (NLD) 1990 election landslide, which was ignored by the then military regime and led to her lengthy incarceration.
"Aung San Suu Kyi intends to stand for the by-election but it's a bit early to say from which constituency she will run," Nyan Win, a member of the NLD's executive committee, told Reuters.
There are 48 seats available in Myanmar's new senate and lower house.
The NLD was officially dissolved by the military junta for refusing to take part in last year's parliamentary polls because of "unfair and unjust" laws that would have prevented hundreds of its members from becoming lawmakers.
But the party voted unanimously on Friday to re-enter the political fray following an amendment to the constitution allowing those who have served sentences for crimes to take part in elections. Many NLD members, including Suu Kyi, are current or former political prisoners.
Suu Kyi is the daughter of late independence hero Aung San and was a staunch opponent of the military during its 49 years of totalitarian rule. However, she has shown willingness to meet with the new civilian government, even though it is run by former junta generals.
Aung Naing Oo, a Myanmar expert with the Thailand-based Vahu development institute, said her decision to take part in the much-criticized political system would mark the beginning of an "irreversible democratic transition."
"Aung San Suu Kyi has realized that she needs to work with the government to move the country forward and she'll be in a position to say and do a lot more. She'll bring a lot of things to the game," he said.
"She can make a big difference. Even if we have only a little bit of democracy, something here is happening that no one has seen before. For the country to change, this needed to happen."
Since the annulled 1990 polls, Suu Kyi, 66, has spent most of the time in detention. She was released a year ago and still chooses to live in the lakeside house that was her prison on and off for 15 years.
U.S. ENDORSEMENT
She had earlier given no indication she was interested in becoming a lawmaker but has always referred to herself as a politician.
Her decision comes after Myanmar won a powerful endorsement on Friday, with U.S. President Barack Obama announcing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would visit the resource-rich country neighboring China next month, citing "flickers of progress."
For sanctions to be eased, Clinton has said the release of more political prisoners and a peace deal with ethnic minorities would be necessary. Suu Kyi and the NLD would be expected to pursue these issues aggressively in parliament.
The legislature convened in February and is Myanmar's first since the late 1980s, when a unicameral "People's Assembly" controlled by the military's Burma Socialist Program Party was scrapped.
Myanmar has so far released about 280 political prisoners this year and another amnesty is expected in the coming months.
The NLD, Myanmar's biggest opposition force, would have dominated parliament had the 1990 result been accepted by the junta. The regime annulled the 1990 result only last year, arguing that the NLD's win could not be recognized because it was in breach of a constitution drafted 18 years later.
Suu Kyi commands considerable influence over the party and Ko Ko Hlaing, a senior adviser to President Thein Sein, said on the sidelines of a regional summit in Bali last week that the NLD's decision to re-register was a "significant step."
The presence of Suu Kyi in a parliament that was criticized initially as a rubber stamp with limited scope for debate would be another dramatic sign of the openness that could give more legitimacy to the retired generals in control of the country, who are seeking acceptance, engagement, support and investment from the international community.
The NLD's Nyan Win said the party would change its structure and would prioritize younger members and those from Myanmar's multitude of ethnic groups when choosing candidates for the by-elections.
(Writing by Jason Szep and Martin Petty; Editing by Paul Tait)
LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Britain ordered its financial institutions on Monday to halt all business with Iranian counterparts, including the central bank, and the United States is also expected to tighten sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program.
The British move however will not target trade in Iranian oil, a source familiar with the sanctions said. It also appeared unlikely that the U.S. Treasury would try to cut off the Iranian banking system entirely, a move that could disrupt global energy markets and harm the U.S. economic recovery.
Britain said the sanctions were in response to the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) latest report on Iran, which highlighted fresh concerns about the possible military dimensions of Tehran's nuclear program.
"We believe that the Iranian regime's actions pose a significant threat to the UK's national security and the international community. Today's announcement is a further step to preventing the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear weapons," said finance minister George Osborne.
In Washington, a U.S. official said the Treasury Department planned to designate Iran as an area of "primary money laundering concern" on Monday, a move allowing it to take steps to isolate the Iranian financial sector further.
PRACTICAL DIFFERENCE?
Henry Smith, Middle East analyst at the Control Risks consultancy in London, said the British move may not significantly affect Iran's major oil customers.
"It essentially delegitimizes the country's financial system but in reality it may not make that much practical difference. The Chinese, Indians and others will continue to engage, while many Western multinationals have already pulled out," he said.
Smith said tighter sanctions had appeared more likely than any Western attack to knock out Iran's nuclear facilities. "We wouldn't regard Israel or indeed the U.S. as having the wherewithal to pursue the kind of military action required to destroy Iranian nuclear facilities," he said.
U.S. sanctions have already made it extremely difficult for many global oil companies and traders to obtain bank financing to trade Iranian crude, of which less than a third goes to Europe with the rest flowing to China and India.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that the U.S. Treasury would not formally sanction Iran's central bank, in part to avoid causing a sudden shock to oil prices.
UNCLEAR STEPS
It was unclear what exact steps the U.S. Treasury planned. However, the decision, which the official said was to be announced by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, appeared designed as a warning about the risks of dealing with Iran's financial institutions.
It follows a November 8 report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog that presented intelligence suggesting that Iran had worked on designing an atomic bomb and may still be secretly carrying out related research.
The U.S. administration suspects Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons capability under cover of its civilian atomic energy program. Tehran denies this, saying it has no interest in nuclear arms and its atomic program is purely peaceful.
In Tehran, trade minister Mehdi Ghazanfari said sanctions were hitting the Iranian economy but warned Western countries threatening to tighten the measures they were harming their own interests.
"Sanctions are a lose-lose game in which both sides make a loss. If they don't invest in our oil projects, they will lose an appealing market," Ghazanfari told a news conference before the British announcement.
The comments from Ghazanfari, who is Minister of Industry, Mine and Commerce, marked a change of tone from Tehran's usual line that sanctions have not damaged the economy.
The United States is also expected to unveil sanctions against Iran's petrochemical sector on Monday, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has often said sanctions are having little effect on the economy and in some cases have made it stronger by making Iran find domestic solutions to economic challenges.
Ghazanfari reiterated the stance that Iran had found alternatives to Western imports and investments, but did not deny the downside.
"Facing hardship in a fight is inevitable. I admit projects will get harder as our trading costs will go up, delays will hit projects and money transfer will get harder," he said.
U.S. officials say there has been a debate within the Obama administration about whether to sanction formally the Iranian central bank, which many importers of Iranian crude oil use to clear their transactions.
Despite calls for such sanctions by Democratic and Republican lawmakers, U.S. officials have been reluctant to do so because of the fear that this could cause oil prices to jump, potentially impairing the U.S. economic recovery.
There is also a concern that importers of Iranian oil, including China and India, could be hurt by such a move, thereby antagonizing nations whose support Washington needs if it is to pursue wider sanctions on Iran.
The U.S. decision to take unilateral steps to sanction Iran reflects the difficulty of persuading Russia and China to punish Tehran further at the U.N. Security Council, where they hold vetoes and have supported four previous sanctions resolutions.
Several European firms including Italy's Eni, France's Total, Greece's Hellenic and Royal Dutch Shell are still trading Iranian crude often as part of long-standing credit and other agreements.
Traders with several companies said they would need to see the new terms before taking any decision. "I will need to speak to my risk and finance department," one trader said.
(Additional reporting by Peter Apps and Dmitry Zhdannikov in London and Ramin Mostafavi in Tehran; writing by David Stamp)
Read?more: Local, Crime, Legal, News, Culver Stockton College, Stolen Money Investigation, Lewis County Sheriff's Office, James Crenshaw Canton, Culver Stockton Theft, Culver Stockton Embezzlement
James Crenshaw, 41, of Canton, Mo.
CANTON, MO. -- A now-former college employee is accused of stealing from his school.
The Lewis County Sheriff's Office arrested James Crenshaw, 41, of Canton on Thursday.
He is charged with one count of felony stealing.
Investigators allege that Crenshaw, who used to work for Culver-Stockton College in Canton, stole at least $25,000 from the school over a period of several years.
Authorities claim he made purchases for himself using a Culver-Stockton credit card.
Crenshaw is being held in the Lewis County Jail on $25,000 cash only bond.
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Steve Wozniak, considered by many to be the real brains behind Apple's early success in the desktop computer business and an all-around cool fellow, is seen leaving some mysterious Google campus building today. Word is he received a Galaxy Nexus and an Ice Cream Sandwich T-shirt from the boys and girls in Mountain View, and it looks like he's ready to defend them from fans and press with a short right hook to the chin if need be. Woz is Woz, so we'll know soon how much he likes his new toy. I'm betting he gives it a big nerdly thumbs-up.
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MICH. -- On Nov. 11, the Cranbrook Art Museum opened its doors to the public after two years of renovations.
Every piece in Cranbrook's collection is now accessible to the public, and pieces are stored in such a way that they resonate with each other even sitting in orderly rows on shelves. But what really makes Cranbrook advanced in the "open storage movement" is that the collections wing is designed with several teaching areas, including a seminar room that was specifically designed to hold the maximum class size in Detroit Public Schools.
"I do not know if any other museum in the nation has designed their most sacred vault as a space you can teach in," said Greg Wittkopp, director of the museum.
An institution both for southeast Michigan and the Arts and Crafts movement, the Cranbrook Art Museum was founded by Henry Booth and designed by the Finnish midcentury modernist architect Eliel Saarinen, opening in its current building in 1942.
But its now 6,000-work collection outgrew the available exhibition space, which couldn't hold more than 100 pieces. Many pieces have only been on display once or twice in the last decade.
The museum raised $22 million for an innovative 20,000 sq. ft. Collection Wing designed to work in harmony with Saarinen's building. The Collection Wing is designed with space for the continuously expanding collection, with 25 to 30 percent growth anticipated in the next 25 years.
Wittkop was inspired by the Schaulager, an extensive private contemporary art collection in Basel, Switzerland where each room contains all the acquired works from a single year. Each piece is displayed exactly as it was intended to be seen by the artists, including individual screening rooms for video and film works.
Wittkop wanted to take the Schaulager's innovative combination of storage and museum and apply it to his public teaching institution.
With multiple classroom settings, the Collection Wing will be an invaluable resource for researchers, students at the Cranbrook Art Academy and Cranbrook students at lower levels.
The museum is currently searching for an Education Curator, so the full extent of educational programs has yet to be realized. "We haven?t added on the staff we need quickly enough," Wittkopp said.
But several educational ideas are in development. Wittkopp and the museum are working with Cranbrook Kingswood Upper School to develop lessons for a Memoir in 20th Century Literature class to be held every two weeks in the Collections Wing. A pilot version is being created for a class at Cranbrook, with plans to export it to other schools in the metro Detroit area.
The museum also received a Masco Corporation grant to develop a program that will use a collection of Detroit-based material with third graders from the city of Detroit. It is being designed to meet educational benchmarks and be integrated into their regional history lesson plans. The museum is in the process of raising money for buses to bring Detroit students to the museum, a program planned to start in the spring of 2012.
Cranbrook Art Museum kicked off its reopening with the exhibition "No Object is an Island: New Dialogues with the Cranbrook Collection," co-curated by Wittkopp and Sarah Margolis-Pineo, the museum?s Jeanne and Ralph Graham Collections Fellow.
"I can honestly say that I'm enthusiastic about each and every object in the show," Wittkop said. "Each piece in the show is a killer object."
"No Object is an Island" features 50 pieces from the collection paired with 50 contemporary art pieces, many created specifically for the show, and includes work from Cranbrook Academy of Art professors. The works are arranged to play off each other and grouped in six thematic categories: Craft, Site, Comfort, Resistance, Process, and Fiction.
"We wanted to do a show that demonstrated the exceptional quality of the collection by showing a selection of it," said Reed Kroloff, director of Cranbrook Academy of Art. "But more importantly for us, we wanted to be able to demonstrate how the collection becomes even more powerful when it's put in the context of continuing to make art and design, continuing to inspire new generations."
Check out some of Wittkopp's favorite pieces in the Cranbrook permanent collection below.
No Object is an Island runs through March 25, 2012. To celebrate the opening, Cranbrook has had ongoing events and tours of the Collection Wing for the first 11 days, ending on Monday, Nov. 21 with Closing Dialogue: Cranbrook Academy of Art's Ten Artists-in-Residence at 5 p.m.
'The Three Perfumes'
1?of?7
The Three Perfumes by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh is watercolor on velum. "It has a very translucent quality to it, the watercolor itself. You really feel like you are seeing through it to the surface beyond," Wittkop said.
"What's thrilling about this piece is to be able to document the career of this remarkable artist who is often lost in the shadows of her better known husband [Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh]."
The Three Perfumes hasn't been on view at Cranbrook since 2004. It is now stored in the Stoner Print Study Room.
Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, English, 1864-1933
1912, Watercolor and pencil on vellum
Collection of Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Gift of George Gough Booth and Helen Scripps Booth
Photographer: R. H. Hensleigh
The Three Perfumes by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh is watercolor on velum. "It has a very translucent quality to it, the watercolor itself. You really feel like you are seeing through it to the surface beyond," Wittkop said.
"What's thrilling about this piece is to be able to document the career of this remarkable artist who is often lost in the shadows of her better known husband [Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh]."
The Three Perfumes hasn't been on view at Cranbrook since 2004. It is now stored in the Stoner Print Study Room.
Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, English, 1864-1933
1912, Watercolor and pencil on vellum
Collection of Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Gift of George Gough Booth and Helen Scripps Booth
Photographer: R. H. Hensleigh
MORE SLIDESHOWSNEXT?>??|??<?PREV
'The Three Perfumes'
The Three Perfumes by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh is watercolor on velum. "It has a very translucent quality to it, the watercolor itself. You really feel like you are seeing through it to the surface beyond," Wittkop said.
"What's thrilling about this piece is to be able to document the career of this remarkable artist who is often lost in the shadows of her better known husband [Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh]."
The Three Perfumes hasn't been on view at Cranbrook since 2004. It is now stored in the Stoner Print Study Room.
Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, English, 1864-1933
1912, Watercolor and pencil on vellum
Collection of Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Gift of George Gough Booth and Helen Scripps Booth
Photographer: R. H. Hensleigh
WASHINGTON?? The blockbuster drug Avastin should no longer be used in advanced breast cancer patients because there's no proof that it extends their lives and it presents dangerous side effects, the government declared Friday.
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The ruling by the Food and Drug Administration was long expected, but it was certain to disappoint women who say they've run out of other options as their breast cancer spread through their bodies. Impassioned patients had lobbied furiously to preserve Avastin as a last shot.
"This was a difficult decision," said FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg. But, she added that "it is clear that women who take Avastin for metastatic breast cancer risk potentially life-threatening side effects without proof that the use of Avastin will provide a benefit, in terms of delay in tumor growth, that would justify those risks."
Those risks include severe high blood pressure, massive bleeding, heart attack or heart failure, and perforations in parts of the body such as the stomach and intestines, she said.
Avastin is the world's best-selling cancer drug, and also is used to treat certain forms of colon, lung, kidney and brain cancers. So even though FDA formally revoked its approval of the drug to treat breast cancer, doctors still could prescribe it ? but insurers may not pay for it. Including infusion fees, a year's treatment with Avastin can cost $100,000.
Some insurers already had quit covering the drug's use in breast cancer after FDA's advisers twice, once last year and once last summer, urged revoking the approval.
But Medicare said Friday that it will keep paying for now.
"Medicare will continue to cover Avastin," Don McLeod, spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, or CMS, said on Friday.
"CMS will monitor the issue and evaluate coverage options as a result of action by the FDA but has no immediate plans to change coverage policies."
The statement from the U.S. healthcare program could mitigate concerns that patients using the drug would lose insurance coverage should the FDA revoke approval for its use in breast cancer.
In 2008, the FDA allowed Avastin to be marketed as a treatment for breast cancer that has spread, or metastasized, to other parts of the body and is generally considered incurable. The approval came under a special program that allows patients access to promising treatments while their makers finish the studies needed for final proof that they really work as promised.
But when Avastin manufacturer Genentech did those studies, the data showed only a small effect on patients' tumor growth, not that they were living longer or had a better quality of life and not enough benefit to outweigh such severe side effects, FDA concluded.
Genentech, part of Swiss drugmaker Roche Group, had argued that Avastin should remain available while it conducts more research to see if certain groups of patients might benefit from the drug.
Hamburg encouraged Genentech do those studies
Roche and Genentech did not immediately comment Friday.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
More than two dozen current and former waiters and their associates from some of the city's top steakhouses have been arrested in an alleged identity theft ring, accused of stealing credit card numbers from wealthy customers, authorities said Friday.
The Manhattan district attorney, police and the U.S. Secret Service announced the arrests Friday involving a 28-person ring that operated at top metro-area restaurants like Smith & Wollensky, Capital Grille and Wolfgang Steak, as well as Morton?s in Stamford, Conn. and the Bicycle Club in New Jersey.
The story was first reported Thursday by NBC New York.
The alleged scam targeted customers who often paid with American Express Black cards and other high-limit credit cards.
Prosecutors said restaurant workers used handheld scanners to copy the credit card information as they walked away to process the bill. Later, that information would be sent to leaders of the alleged fraud ring, who would forge new credit cards with the stolen information and test them out on taxis.
If the cards worked, the suspects would go on major shopping sprees, buying up expensive goods like Chanel goods and Jimmy Choo shoes. The thieves would then re-sell the luxury brand items for cash.
Officials estimate profits totaled at least $1 million, sources said.
?The high-end targets of this case make it notable, but disturbingly this case is far from unique,? said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. ?Every day, hardworking New Yorkers find themselves the victims of identity theft -- their financial information stolen from ATMs, from internet transactions, from financial institutions and from retailers."
In all, seven waiters were charged, plus their associates. Many of the suspects were to be arraigned in Manhattan criminal court on Friday.
The Capital Grille said in a statement it had not been contacted by authorities about the arrests, but said it was likely connected to an incident in January "involving a single former employee" of the restaurant.
"We have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to something like this," the restaurant said.
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Managers at Smith & Wollensky and the Bicycle Club restaurants declined to comment.
A manager at one Wolfgang?s restaurant said he believed all workers on the schedule Thursday had arrived and was unaware of any law enforcement allegations against any worker.
Read the original story at NBCNewYork.com
A manager at Morton's also referred calls to its corporate headquarters.
Officials stress restaurant operators had no knowledge of the alleged crimes by the few employees.
The U.S. Army hypersonic weapon prototype streaked across the Pacific Ocean at several times the speed of sound today (Nov. 17) in a flawless maiden test flight. The success could pave the way for a new military capability to strike targets anywhere on Earth in as little as an hour.
Such a hypersonic weapon concept flies at a relatively flat trajectory within the atmosphere, rather than soaring up toward space like a ballistic missile and eventually coming back down. Hypersonic speed is defined as being at least five times the speed of sound (3,805 mph, or 6,124 kph, at sea level).
The Army's success today built upon lessons learned from two hypersonic test flights carried out by the Pentagon's research arm, called DARPA, in April 2010 and August 2011. The flight took less than half an hour, Army officials said.
The Army's Advanced Hypersonic Weapon launched aboard a three-stage booster system from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on the island of Kauai in Hawaii at 6:30 AM ET, deployed for its hypersonic glide, and eventually splashed down in the Reagan Test Site located near the Kwajalein Atoll.
Pentagon officials kept a careful watch on the flight test from space, air, sea and ground. That allowed them to collect data about aerodynamics, navigation, guidance, and control performance, as well as thermal protection technologies meant to shrug off intense heat during hypersonic flight.
Such success may provide some consolation to DARPA, given that its Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) experienced problems its two test flights that led to early crashes. HTV-2 reached a speed of Mach 20 during its latest test in August.
The Air Force has also tested its own X-51A Waverider vehicle, most recently on June 13, as an experimental platform for an air-breathing scramjet engine. During the latest test, the X-51A Waverider reached hypersonic speeds of at least Mach 5 before it failed to switch over to its main fuel source.
Having several hypersonic projects resembles the early days of U.S. rocket and missile development, when the Army and Air Force competed to get their rockets off the ground. But any success in the hypersonic realm seems likely to benefit the U.S. military's unified goal for a "Conventional Prompt Global Strike" weapon designed to speedily attack targets around the world.
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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) ? Mexico picked the head of the national intelligence agency as the country's new interior minister on Thursday, beefing up the job's security profile as the government attempts to bring violent drug cartels to heel.
Alejandro Poire, director of the Center for Research and National Security (CISEN), succeeds Francisco Blake, who was killed in a helicopter crash on Friday.
Poire, 40, has never held elected office, and spent more than a year staunchly defending President Felipe Calderon's army-led crackdown on the drug gangs as national security spokesman before he moved to the CISEN in September.
The bloody conflict against the gangs has dominated Calderon's presidency, damaging support for his conservative National Action Party and eroding his own popularity.
"Crime is the biggest threat to our society and our citizens," Calderon said in a televised address, noting that he had chosen Poire "because of his profound knowledge and his vast experience in security matters."
More than 45,000 lives have been lost in drug-related violence since Calderon sent in the army to crush the gangs shortly after he took power in December 2006.
Calderon has staked his reputation on restoring security to Mexico and analysts say he needs to make clear progress to give his conservative National Action Party (PAN) a chance of retaining the presidency when elections are held in July 2012.
Calderon is barred by Mexican law from running again.
As interior minister, Poire will also play a key role in ensuring the 2012 elections run smoothly. The trained political scientist is an expert on the Mexican electoral process.
Latest surveys show Calderon's PAN polling around half as much support nationally as the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The centrist PRI ruled Mexico for 71 years until being ousted in 2000.
PLACING BETS
Poire, 40, will be Calderon's fifth interior minister. Blake, who died with seven other people in the helicopter, was the second interior minister to die in an aircraft crash.
The interior minister was for years viewed as the number two to the president, though Blake, who took the job in July 2010, had a lower profile than many previous incumbents.
A loyal supporter of Calderon, Poire steadfastly backed the drug war strategy during some of the conflict's most testing moments as national security spokesman.
Jose Luis Pineyro, a security expert at Mexico's Autonomous Metropolitan University, said the appointment of Poire showed Calderon was placing his bets firmly on being able to convince voters his drive against the cartels was paying off.
"He has no other option. He's failed to live up to the other two major pledges he made as president: generating more jobs and cutting poverty. Poverty has risen," said Pineyro. "Poire will act as a kind of public face (on security)."
A Harvard graduate who later worked as an academic, Poire was an adviser to Calderon early in his presidency.
Poire blamed lax U.S. gun laws for allowing high-powered weaponry to reach Mexico and arm the cartels. The entry of U.S. arms into Mexico has been a regular bone of contention between Mexico and Washington during Calderon's presidency.
WASHINGTON ? Energy Secretary Steven Chu says a half-billion dollar loan to failed solar panel maker Solyndra was subject to "rigorous scrutiny and healthy debate" before it was approved in 2009.
The Energy Department released excerpts of prepared testimony Chu will give to a House committee on Thursday.
Chu said he was disappointed at Solyndra's bankruptcy, but believes the U.S. must continue to offer financial support to develop innovative technologies in clean energy.
Chu is scheduled to testify Thursday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is investigating a $528 million federal loan received by Solyndra. The California company closed its doors on Aug. 31 and laid off its 1,100 workers.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
The Obama administration wanted the failing solar energy company Solyndra to delay announcing an early round of employee layoffs until after the 2010 midterm elections, according to newly released emails.
An October 2010 email from a Solyndra investment adviser to a colleague said Energy Department officials were pushing "very hard" to delay making the layoffs ? an early sign of the company's financial woes ? public until Nov. 3, 2010 ? the day after the midterm elections.
"Oddly they didn't give a reason for that date," the email states. The email was released Wednesday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, along with dozens of other emails related to the Solyndra investigation.
Last week, the White House said congressional Republicans were using the Solyndra investigation as a partisan "political football." Spokesman Jay Carney said at the time that GOP lawmakers have "cherry-picked" certain documents trying to create controversy over a decision-making process that the White House insists involved no political influence.
Solyndra announced dozens of layoffs on Nov. 3, 2010, after the election, but continued to receive federal assistance. The company, which received a $528 million federal loan in 2009, closed its doors on Aug. 31, 2011 and laid off its 1,100 workers.
The Oct. 30, 2010, email was from Steve Mitchell, managing director of Argonaut Private Equity, a major Solyndra investor, to George Kaiser, an Oklahoma billionaire who founded Argonaut and other firms. Kaiser was a "bundler" for President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign and a frequent White House visitor in 2009 and 2010. Argonaut invested $400 million in the solar company. Mitchell also served on Solyndra's board of directors.
Ken Levit, executive director of the George Kaiser Family Foundation, also received the email.
Energy Department spokesman Damien LaVera on Tuesday declined to confirm events described in the emails or to identify who at the Energy department may have urged the delay in the layoff announcement. He said "decisions about this loan were made on the merits."
Energy Secretary Steven Chu is scheduled to testify before the House energy panel on Thursday.
Solyndra's implosion and revelations that administration officials rushed to complete the loan in time for a September 2009 groundbreaking have become an embarrassment for Obama and a rallying cry for GOP critics of his green energy program.
The Republican-controlled energy panel has subpoenaed White House communications on Solyndra and has released thousands of pages of emails related to the company.
The emails released Wednesday show that then-Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison warned the Energy Department on Oct. 25, 2010 that he intended to announce layoffs in three days. He wrote that reporters were asking about rumored layoffs and the possible closure of one of its two factories.
Five days later, Mitchell wrote his email to Kaiser and Levit, the Kaiser foundation executive.
Kaiser has said he played no part in helping Solyndra win the 2009 loan, but emails released last week show that he discussed Solyndra with the White House on at least one occasion. Kaiser also directed Mitchell and others how to approach the White House and Energy Department to help Solyndra deal with its financial problems.
In the fall of 2010, Solyndra executives and investors warned the Energy Department that they needed emergency financing to keep the company operating past December.
In the Oct. 25 email, Harrison said news of the company's financial problems "is starting to leak outside Solyndra."
Harrison's email was forwarded to Jonathan Silver, then-director of the Energy Department's loan program. The email was then forwarded to Chu's chief of staff, Rod O'Connor, and then to White House energy adviser Carol Browner and Ron Klain, chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden.
Emails released last week show that top officials at the White House circulated a plan calling for Chu's ouster as the administration braced for a political storm brewing over Solyndra.
An email from a clean-energy activist and former official in Obama's 2008 campaign said that Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, was a brilliant man but "not perfect" for other critical DOE missions, including creating jobs.
A White House spokesman said the plan to oust Chu was not taken very seriously.
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Matthew Daly can be reached at http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC
Middle school and high school students are preparing to help conserve recently exposed shipwrecks from the last major battle of the Revolutionary War in Virginia's York River.
The Virginia students ? from Point Option High School in Newport News, the Williamsburg Montessori Middle School and Peasley Middle School in Gloucester ? are traveling to the Waterman's Museum in Yorktown, near the shipwrecks, on field trips.
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Students to help preserve 1781 shipwrecks
Their training will culminate when they deploy unmanned robotic submarines designed to gather data using sonar and high-definition video, which they will collect on an ongoing basis.
The information gathered by the robotic subs is expected to help monitor the conservation status of two recently discovered shipwrecks scuttled by the British commander Lord Cornwallis during the Battle of Yorktown in 1781.
Marine archaeologist John Broadwater discovered the two new wrecks a little more than a year ago, in 2010, and researchers believe they were exposed by strong currents during tropical storms. They worry that exposure to the elements may cause the shipwrecks to degrade rapidly. Previous work has revealed 10 other shipwrecks in the area, although Cornwallis is known to have sunk many more.
By mapping the outlines of the two newly discovered wrecks, the students will help conservators monitor the ships' condition and take preventive measures if necessary, according to a press release by Virginia Institute of Marine Science, which is partnering with the Watermen's Museum to create this opportunity for students.
The project is funded by a one-year grant from the National Science Foundation.
You can follow LiveSciencesenior writer Wynne Parry on Twitter @Wynne_Parry. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience? and on Facebook.
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. ? Police did not have the right to stop a car being driven by President Barack Obama's uncle before his drunken-driving arrest, his lawyer said in court Thursday.
Attorney P. Scott Bratton said during a brief appearance in Framingham District Court that he plans next month to file a motion to suppress the traffic stop that led Onyango Obama's arrest in August.
"He wasn't committing any motor vehicle violations at the time. That's our position," Bratton said.
Obama, the 67-year-old half brother of the president's late father, has pleaded not guilty to charges of operating under the influence of alcohol, negligent operation of a motor vehicle and failure to yield the right of way.
Obama did not speak in court Thursday. A hearing on his lawyer's suppression request is scheduled for Jan. 12.
Obama was arrested in Framingham, about 20 miles west of Boston, after police said he rolled through a stop sign and nearly caused a cruiser to strike his SUV. Police said Obama, an illegal immigrant, failed several sobriety tests and blew a reading of 0.14 percent on a blood-alcohol breath test, above the state's legal driving limit of 0.08 percent.
After being booked at the police station, police said Obama was asked whether he wanted to make a telephone call to arrange for bail.
"I think I will call the White House," he stated, according to a police report.
Obama initially was held without bail on a detainer from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on allegations he violated an order to return to Kenya 20 years ago. He was subsequently released and ordered to regularly check in with immigration officials.
In the book "Dreams from My Father," the president writes about retracing his roots and his 1988 trip to Kenya. In that section, he refers to an Uncle Omar, who matches Obama's background and has the same date of birth.
The White House has said it expects the arrest of Onyango Obama to be handled like any other case.
phaedrus5001 wrote in with a story about an unusual plan to regulate the temperature of Ulan Bator, the capital city of Mongolia. The article reads: "The city of Ulan Bator will attempt to capture some of the cool winter temperatures in huge ice blocks that will slowly melt over the summer and cool down the city. The aim is to build artificial ice shields ? or 'naleds' ? that occur naturally in far northern climates and can grow to be more than seven meters thick. They grow when river water pushes through cracks in the surface of the ice during the day and then freezes to add an extra layer of ice when night falls. Engineering consortium EMI-ECOS will try to replicate this process by creating holes in the ice that is forming over the Tuul river. This will be repeated over and over again until the ice is much thicker than it would be if left alone."
Hope Solo -- whose partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, has been going head-to-head with the judges all season -- was the lowest scorer from Monday night, and the soccer star was sent packing.
"This competition is one of the toughest competitions I've ever been a part of," Hope said. "Instead of trying to win a mirror-ball trophy, I'm going to try to win a gold medal this summer at the Olympics."
Her partner then told her, "I'm sorry. I wish I could have done better for you. But it is what it is."
The night before, the Olympian had failed to channel her sexy the way the judges had been chiding her to do all season long. Her first-round performance was the paso doble, and the judges gave her a paltry 21/30, saying it was too aggressive. Her second dance was a tango, and they said she improved, but not by much. She earned 24/30.
The final three is now set for a good showdown next week. Former talk-show hostess Ricki Lake and her partner Derek Hough, war veteran J.R. Martinez and Karina Smirnoff and reality-TV star Rob Kardashian and Cheryl Burke will all duke it out next week.
Who are you hoping wins season 13 of "Dancing With the Stars"? Share your picks in the comments below!
PORTLAND, Ore. ? In a tense escalation of the Occupy Portland protest, police in riot gear Sunday surrounded demonstrators in a downtown park area after hundreds of people defied the mayor's order to leave the park by midnight.
By early afternoon, officers had mostly surrounded the camp where the protesters were holding a "general assembly" meeting to discuss their next moves following the eviction order.
Some officers used nightsticks to push people away from the encampment and used loudspeakers to warn that anyone who resisted risked arrest and "may also be subject to chemical agents and impact weapons." Demonstrators chanted "we are a peaceful protest."
Police could be seen carrying at least one protester away from the park. Another man was taken away on a stretcher; he was alert and talking to paramedics, and raised a peace sign to fellow protesters, who responded with cheers. There was no immediate word on arrests.
"We were talking about what we were going to do and then they just started hitting people. Seems like a waste of resources to me," protester Mike Swain, 27, told The Associated Press.
Choya Adkison, 30, said police moved in after giving demonstrators a false sense of calm. They thought they had time to rest, relax and regroup, she said
"Camp was completely vulnerable, completely defenseless" when police moved in, she said. "I'm disappointed that they created a sense of trust by walking away and then completely trampled it."
Mayor Sam Adams had ordered the camp shut down Saturday at midnight, citing unhealthy conditions and the encampment's attraction of drug users and thieves.
The anti-Wall Street protesters and their supporters had flooded the park area even as authorities in other cities stepped up pressure against demonstrators, arresting dozens of people.
At one point overnight, the Portland crowd swelled to thousands. As dawn arrived, riot police had retreated and most of the crowds had gone home, but protesters who have been at the two parks since Oct. 6 were still there.
One of the organizers, Jim Oliver, said the night had been a victory for Occupy Portland.
"We stood up to state power," Oliver told the AP, standing on a corner opposite the camp.
Still, the camp was a shadow of what it was before Saturday. A large segment of the campers consisted of homeless people who had been drawn to the free food and shelter offered by Occupy Portland. They are gone, after outreach workers went through the camp to help them find shelter elsewhere.
And as the Saturday midnight eviction deadline neared, protesters themselves began dismantling tents.
Around 4 a.m., dozens of police formed a line across from demonstrators who had poured into the street. Protesters facing them appeared to be in festive spirits with some banging on drums and plastic pails, another clanging a cowbell while others danced in the streets as a man juggled nearby.
Other demonstrators used pallets and old furniture, wood debris and even a bicycle to set up two makeshift barricades on a street that runs through the encampment, apparently in an attempt to block traffic.
Protesters ultimately got off the street after the police asked them to and also cleared away the barricades.
On Sunday at an impromptu news conference, the mayor defended his order to clear the park, saying it is his job to enforce the law and keep the peace. "This is not a game," Adams said.
He also noted that implementing the eviction order may require more patience.
"Giving the order that the parks will be closed to the public is putting my foot down. Enforcing will take time," he said.
Officials said that one officer suffered minor injuries when he was hit by some kind of projectile in the leg. Police had prepared for a possible clash, warning that dozens of anarchists may be planning a confrontation with authorities. Officers seized pieces of cement blocks Friday, saying they were told some demonstrators had plans to use them as weapons against police. They said they believe some demonstrators were building shields and trying to collect gas masks.
Also Sunday, for the third time in three days, Oakland city officials warned protesters that they do not have the right to camp in the plaza in front of City Hall and face immediate arrest. Police did not respond to requests for comment on whether officers were preparing to forcibly clear the camp.
The eviction notices come as officials across the country urged an end to similar gatherings in the wake of three deaths in different cities, including two by gunfire. Demands for Oakland protesters to pack up increased after a man was shot and killed Thursday near the encampment site.
Police officials have said a preliminary investigation suggested the shooting resulted from a fight between two groups of men at or near the encampment. Investigators do not know if the men in the fight were associated with Occupy Oakland, but protesters said there was no connection between the shooting and the camp.
The shooting occurred the same day a 35-year-old military veteran apparently committed suicide in a tent at a Burlington, Vt., Occupy encampment. Police said a preliminary investigation showed the veteran fatally shot himself in the head. They said the death raised questions about whether the protest would be allowed to continue.
In other cities over the weekend:
? In Salt Lake City, police arrested 19 people Saturday when protesters refused to leave a park a day after a man as found dead inside his tent at the encampment. The arrests came after police moved into the park early in the evening where protesters had been ordered to leave by the end of the day. About 150 people had been living in the camp there for weeks.
? In Albany, N.Y., police arrested 24 Occupy Albany protesters after they defied an 11 p.m. curfew in a state-owned park. State police officials hauled away the protesters after warning them with megaphones that they were breaking the law in Lafayette Park. They were charged with trespassing.
? In Denver, authorities forced protesters to leave a downtown encampment and arrested four people for interfering with officers who removed illegally pitched tents, said police spokesman Sonny Jackson.
? In San Francisco, violence marked the protest Saturday where police said two demonstrators attacked two police officers in separate incidents during a march. Police spokesman Carlos Manfredi said a protester slashed an officer's hand with a pen knife while another protester shoved an officer, causing facial cuts. He said neither officer was seriously hurt, and the assailants couldn't be located.
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Associated Press writers Terry Collins in Oakland, Josh Loftin in Salt Lake City, Jim Anderson in Denver and Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Fujitsu's cloud store is open for business, beginning with customer relationship management. The company said earlier this week that its new, cloud-based Business Solutions Store will offer new subscription-based business services in a single platform marketplace.
For independent software vendors (ISVs), said cloud business vice president Andre Kiehne in a statement, "partnering with Fujitsu is the equivalent of a 'backstage' pass, since it provides them with easy access to a growing and truly global cloud solutions marketplace."
'Standard Feature Set'
The Business Solutions Store will include offerings from both Fujitsu and its partners, provided as software-as-a-service. A single interface will be available to set up new applications in the cloud-based Store.
This platform marketplace is the latest in Fujitsu's growing cloud environment. The company started recruiting ISVs last year to participate in a revenue-sharing model, in order to increase the number of business apps it could provide in the cloud. The company has been pushing its Global Cloud Platform as a way for ISVs to jump-start their ability to offer cloud-based services, without any initial investment. The revenue split with partners has not been disclosed.
With its CRM Cloud Services, Fujitsu is offering the first of its business apps, alongside those of partners. CRM Cloud Services, based on open source technology, provides what the company described as a "standard feature set" but at a "more affordable entry point," although the exact features are not yet detailed.
Both the Business Solutions Store and the CRM Cloud Services will be rolled out into various global markets early next year.
Pricing, Small Vendors
The CRM app was originally an in-house app for the company, which Fujitsu decided to build after it surveyed the prices and functionalities of others. Some observers have questioned whether Fujitsu, which is better known as a service provider in Japan than in other countries, will be able to compete in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere with the likes of Salesforce, SAP, and Microsoft.
Until it is better known in the more developed markets outside Japan, the company may first target lesser advanced markets, such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China, the so-called BRIC area.
A related issue is whether Fujitsu's cloud-based CRM services will be competitive, in terms of what it can do. But the company has indicated that, while it might not yet be able to compete in terms of visibility and functionality, it might be able to do so on price.
Another competitive factor could be the aggregation of applications from smaller software vendors, who find the platform and little-or-no upfront cost attractive. This, plus an emphasis on open-source software, could help keep the cost structure low. Traditionally, Fujitsu has not been a partner to small- to medium-sized software vendors, but this marketplace could provide the differentiation it needs to get a foothold.
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