UK “X Factor” winner regains top chart spot






LONDON (Reuters) – James Arthur, winner of this year’s British version of the “X Factor” TV talent show, saw his debut single climb back to number one in the British pop charts on Sunday.


Arthur’s “Impossible” shot straight to the top earlier this month but was overtaken last week by a tribute song to the victims of the 1989 Hillsborough football stadium disaster, “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”, a version of the ballad that was a worldwide hit for The Hollies.






That song has now slipped to fifth position, according to the Official Charts Company listings.


“Scream and Shout” by will.i.am, featuring Britney Spears, stayed at two while Psy’s monster video hit “Gangnam Style” was up three places to third.


In the album charts, British singer Emeli Sande stayed top with “Our Version Of Events”, with Olly Murs‘ “Right Place, Right Time” unchanged at two.


Rihanna was up three places to third with “Unapologetic”.


(Reporting by Stephen Addison; Editing by Alison Williams)


Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: UK “X Factor” winner regains top chart spot
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

A blood clot’s danger depends on where it is






Blood clots like the one that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is being treated for following her recent concussion can occur for a host of reasons. How serious a clot is depends on where it is and why it formed, doctors say. A Clinton aide would not say where hers is located.


WHAT THEY ARE: Blood pools and thickens into a clot after an injury or because of a heart problem, clogged arteries or other condition. Clots also can break off and travel to another part of the body.






WHERE THEY OCCUR: In leg veins (called deep vein thrombosis) or in blood vessels in the neck, brain or lungs. Leg clots are a common risk after someone has been bedridden. Clots are most dangerous when they travel to the lungs, a potentially life-threatening situation, or to the brain, where they can cause a stroke.


RISK FACTORS: High blood pressure, diabetes, birth control pills, pregnancy, stroke, recent surgery, prolonged sitting, circulation problems and heart problems — especially an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation — raise the chances of developing a blood clot.


TREATMENT: Sometimes a blood thinner such as warfarin (Coumadin) is prescribed to allow the clot to dissolve by itself over time and prevent new ones from forming.


___


Online:


Concussion information: http://www.cdc.gov/concussion/


Blood clots: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/blood-clots/MY00109/DSECTION=causes


Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: A blood clot’s danger depends on where it is
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Behind the Bidding War For a Gene Sequencing Firm






In June, Complete Genomics (GNOM), the struggling maker of the world’s most accurate gene-sequencing machine, put itself up for sale. Nothing happened initially. Analysts predicted the company would soon need to wind down operations.


Cut to December. A pair of genomics superpowers, China’s BGI and San Diego-based Illumina (ILMN), have suddenly made competing bids to buy Complete, and politicians and regulators want to weigh in on its future. The question is whether foreign ownership might create a national security threat to the U.S. “This budding research area has the opportunity to really advance the development of bioweapons,” says Michael Wessel, a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which reports to Congress. He’s concerned that Complete will “advance China’s capabilities in that area beyond what they already have.”






Founded in 2005, Complete has offices in a sedate office park across the street from Google (GOOG) in Mountain View, Calif. It makes a machine that can decode strands of DNA, but unlike most of its rivals offers a sequencing service instead of selling the machine to customers. In its most recent quarter, Complete posted revenue of $ 7.3 million and a net loss of $ 18 million.


Complete’s machines stand out for their ability to accurately sequence entire human genomes, instead of just portions of a person’s DNA. That’s much needed in clinical settings where physicians want to know for sure whether a patient has a particular illness. Complete also has been able to amass a large database of precise genomic information. Finding patterns among that data, comprising thousands of DNA sequences, could be useful in developing novel therapies.


The unique properties of Complete’s sequencers, which have been used for studies of cancer, aging, and disease traits, make them a good fit for BGI. Backed by loans from government-run banks, BGI has spent more than a decade creating a huge DNA database. Believed to be the world’s largest purchaser of sequencing machines, it’s been opening offices worldwide to offer services that complement its research. But BGI lacks the know-how to build its own sequencer, an area in which the U.S. remains far ahead of other countries.


In September, BGI offered $ 118 million to acquire Complete, and Complete’s board approved. Together the companies would have a database of 30,000 whole human genomes—about 10 times larger than that of their nearest competitor, says George Church, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School. With such a vast trove of data, BGI could gain a leg up in the race to create therapies and diagnostic tools using sequencing information. “I think this is a very big deal,” says Church, who advises dozens of companies in the industry including BGI, Illumina, and Complete.


The possibility of BGI and Complete uniting has not been lost on Illumina, the world’s biggest seller of sequencing machines, which counts BGI as a top customer. In November, Illumina offered a $ 123.5 million counterbid for Complete, which the company’s board rejected, saying regulators would not approve the deal because of Illumina’s market dominance. (Illumina claims its machines produce 90 percent of the world’s sequencing data.)


This in turn prompted Illumina Chief Executive Officer Jay Flatley to raise national security and privacy concerns about BGI’s bid in a letter to Complete’s board that the board later made public. An Illumina spokesperson declined to comment. In a statement, Complete CEO Cliff Reid said, “There’s no risk to U.S. national security raised by Complete Genomics merging with BGI.” Church and others have speculated that the real reason Illumina wants to keep BGI from acquiring sequencing machine technology is that it wants to avoid losing the company as a customer.


Both the Federal Trade Commission and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), which weighs national security issues, are reviewing BGI’s bid and will make a recommendation that will likely determine if the deal goes through. Last year, Huawei Technologies, a Chinese maker of telecommunications equipment, abandoned its acquisition of hardware startup 3Leaf Systems, when CFIUS recommended rejecting the deal before it was reviewed by President Obama.


It’s hard to find a genomics expert who sees real national security concerns in a BGI-Complete deal. DNA sequencing machines are readily available, and Complete’s technology isn’t considered uniquely capable of some uniquely nefarious use. Several startups around the world are developing a new generation of sequencing machines that could soon make today’s obsolete. Church, though, says the Complete kerfuffle has provided U.S. regulators with “a good wake-up call” about the potential for this technology and the need for the U.S. to keep investing in its DNA sequencing lead. “Our politicians don’t follow technology as well as they should,” he says.


The bottom line: A BGI-Complete deal could lead to one entity owning 30,000 human genomes, 10 times more than its nearest competitor.


Businessweek.com — Top News





Title Post: Behind the Bidding War For a Gene Sequencing Firm
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Arab League chief says Palestinians to petition UN






RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby says two decades of talks with Israel have been “a waste of time” and that Palestinians will soon take a new statehood bid to the U.N.


“We will return to the U.N. Security Council,” he said in Ramallah Saturday after meeting Palestinian officials. “Palestine will be cooperating with Arab and EU countries to change the equation (in the peace process) that prevailed over the past 20 years, which was a waste of time.”






The U.N. last month endorsed a de facto Palestinian state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza, areas Israel won in a 1967 war.


Talks collapsed in 2008 after Palestinians demanded Israel stop building in areas they want for a future state. Israel insists settlements and other issues should be negotiated.


Middle East News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Arab League chief says Palestinians to petition UN
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Facebook’s SnapChat Intimidator Was Great for SnapChat’s Business






This probably isn’t the outcome Facebook was hoping for. After Facebook created Poke, its very obvious SnapChat intimidator, the rival app saw a big boost in numbers. 


RELATED: Facebook’s SnapChat-Style Sexting App Is Called Poke (Seriously)






The people over at Bloomberg Businessweek looked at the hard numbers and concluded (with charts!) that SnapChat saw a huge uptick in attention after Facebook created Poke. What we initially thought was a clone war was not meant to be. Facebook helped SnapChat rocket to the top of the app charts. SnapChat, to its credit, was ready for the challenge as soon as the gauntlet was laid down by Facebook. SnapChat’s CEO had an Apple-IBM inspired response to Poke’s existence: he told The Verge, “Welcome, Facebook. Seriously.”


RELATED: When SnapChat Videos Don’t Disappear


It was clear from the start that the big boys in blue were big fans of the independent creation: Mark Zuckerberg himself helped code the copycat. But just because the app was touched by the hand of Zuck doesn’t necessarily mean success is guaranteed. Poke’s greatest success so far is helping royally piss off Zuckerberg’s sister. Whether or not Poke, or SnapChat for that matter, is a long-term success remains to be seen. We need to watch the success theater play out before our eyes. 


RELATED: Facebook to Launch Its Own SnapChat as Social-Network Clone Wars Live on


Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Facebook’s SnapChat Intimidator Was Great for SnapChat’s Business
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Praying Hitler in ex-Warsaw ghetto sparks emotion






WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A statue of Adolf Hitler praying on his knees is on display in the former Warsaw Ghetto, the place where so many Jews were killed or sent to their deaths by Hitler’s regime, and it is provoking mixed reactions.


The work, “HIM” by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, has drawn many visitors since it was installed last month. It is visible only from a distance, and the artist doesn’t make explicit what Hitler is praying for, but the broader point, organizers say, is to make people reflect on the nature of evil.






In any case, some are angered by the statue’s presence in such a sensitive site.


One Jewish advocacy group, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, this week called the statue’s placement “a senseless provocation which insults the memory of the Nazis’ Jewish victims.”


“As far as the Jews were concerned, Hitler’s only ‘prayer’ was that they be wiped off the face of the earth,” the group’s Israel director, Efraim Zuroff, said in a statement.


However, many others are praising the artwork, saying it has a strong emotional impact. And organizers defend putting it on display in the former ghetto.


Fabio Cavallucci, director of the Center for Contemporary Art, which oversaw the installation, said, “There is no intention from the side of the artist or the center to insult Jewish memory.”


“It’s an artwork that tries to speak about the situation of hidden evil everywhere,” he said.


The Warsaw ghetto was an area of the city which the Nazis sealed off after they invaded Poland. They forced Jews to live in cramped, inhuman conditions there as they awaited deportation to death camps. Many died from hunger or disease or were shot by the Germans before they could be transported to the camps.


The Hitler installation is just one object in a retrospective of Cattelan’s work titled “Amen,” a show that explores life, death, good and evil. The other works are on display at the center itself, which is housed in the Ujazdowski Castle.


The Hitler representation is visible from a hole in a wooden gate across town on Prozna Street. Viewers only see the back of the small figure praying in a courtyard. Because of its small size, it appears to be a harmless schoolboy.


“Every criminal was once a tender, innocent and defenseless child,” the center said in a commentary on the work.


Poland’s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, said he was consulted on the installation’s placement ahead of time and did not oppose it because he saw value in the artist’s attempt to try to raise moral questions by provoking viewers.


He said he was reassured by curators who told him there was no intention of rehabilitating Hitler but rather of showing that evil can present itself in the guise of a “sweet praying child.”


“I felt there could be educational value to it,” said Schudrich, who also wrote an introduction to the exhibition’s catalogue in which he says art can “force us to face the evil of the world.”


On Friday, a stream of people walked by to view the work, and many praised it.


“It had a big emotional impact on me. It’s provocative, but it’s not offensive,” said Zofia Jablonska, a 30-year-old lawyer. “Having him pray in the place where he would kill people — this was the best place to put it.”


Cattelan caused controversy in Warsaw in 2000 when another gallery showed his work “La Nona Ora” — or “The Ninth Hour” — which depicts the late Pope John Paul II being crushed by a meteorite. That offended many in Poland, which is both deeply Catholic and was John Paul’s homeland.


Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Praying Hitler in ex-Warsaw ghetto sparks emotion
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Analysis: After “fiscal cliff” dive, more battles, new cliffs






WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Whether or not the “fiscal cliff” impasse is broken before the New Year’s Eve deadline, there will be no post-cliff peace in Washington.


With the political climate toxic in Congress as the cliff’s steep tax hikes and spending cuts approach, other partisan fights loom, all over the issue that has paralyzed the capital for the past two years: federal spending.






The first will come in late February when the Treasury Department runs out of borrowing authority and has to come to Congress to get the debt ceiling raised.


The next is likely in late March, when a temporary bill to fund the government runs out, confronting Congress with a deadline to act or face a government shutdown. The third will possibly be whenever the temporary bill replacing the temporary bill expires.


While Congress is supposed to pass annual spending bills before the start of each fiscal year, it has failed to complete that process since 1996, resorting to stopgap funding ever since.


Influential anti-tax activist Grover Norquist predicted in an interview with Reuters that conservatives would wage repeated battles with President Barack Obama to demand budget savings every time the government needs a temporary funding bill or more borrowing capacity.


The so-called “continuing resolutions” to which a divided Congress has increasingly resorted to keep the government operating, provide a “very powerful tool” to pry out spending cuts, said Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.


Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee said he will not be satisfied until there are substantial cuts to federal retirement and healthcare benefits known as entitlements, producing savings in the $ 4.5 trillion to $ 5 trillion range.


“Unfortunately for America,” said Corker, “the next line in the sand will be the debt ceiling.”


Most observers see the $ 16.4 trillion debt limit as the true fiscal cliff in the new year because if not increased, it would eventually lead to a default on U.S. Treasury debt, an event that could prove cataclysmic for financial markets.


The Treasury Department said on Wednesday it would start taking extraordinary measures by December 31 to extend its borrowing capacity for about two more months.


‘POISONOUS CLIMATE’


It was a deadlock over raising the debt ceiling in August 2011 that prompted a deficit reduction deal that led to a key fiscal cliff component, the $ 109 billion in automatic spending cuts on military and domestic programs.


If the fiscal cliff’s spending cuts or tax increases are left even partly unresolved on December 31, the political combat over them will carry over into the new Congress, possibly simultaneously with the debt ceiling debate.


“We would be pessimistic of a quick fix” if the deadline is missed, Sean West, head U.S. analyst at Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy, said in a note to clients. “The political climate will be poisoned. The new Congress will need time to settle in.”


“We are concluding one of the most unsuccessful Congresses in history,” Democratic Representative John Dingell of Michigan declared in a statement on Saturday, “noteworthy not only for its failure to accomplish anything of importance, but also for the poisonous climate of the institution.”


Dingell, 86, is the longest serving member of the House, elected first in 1955.


Historically, bitter struggles in Congress like that over the fiscal cliff lead to further resentment and strife in a cycle of cumulative grudges that now spans nearly 30 years.


Many analysts and lobbyists in Washington believe the strife could get even worse because the new Congress convening on January 3 will include fewer members from moderate or swing districts and more from districts tilted heavily to the left or the right.


Republicans in particular are likely to face their most serious re-election challenges in 2014 not from Democrats but from conservative Republicans challenging them in primary elections.


“Ironically,” said a post-election analysis published by the law firm Patton Boggs, “the voters have elected a 113th Congress that may be even more partisan than the 112th.”


(Reporting by David Lawder and Fred Barbash; Editing by Eric Beech)


Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Analysis: After “fiscal cliff” dive, more battles, new cliffs
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Starbucks expands cup campaign aimed at U.S. fiscal deal






(Reuters) – Starbucks Corp is expanding its campaign of using messages written on coffee cups to inspire U.S. lawmakers to reach a deal and avoid going over the “fiscal cliff” of automatic tax hikes and government spending cuts.


As President Barack Obama and congressional leaders were in a final effort to reach a budget agreement before year’s end, Starbucks this week began urging workers in its roughly 120 Washington, D.C.-area shops to write the words “come together” on customers’ cups.






A spokesman for the world’s largest coffee chain said the company would expand the effort to all U.S. stores, continuing through next week.


“Stores from across the country have been asking if they could join in and we have been saying absolutely yes,” Starbucks spokesman Jim Olson said in an email late Friday.


“Based on this unprecedented response, we are inviting all of our partners at U.S. stores to start signing their customers’ cups with Come Together through next Friday,” Olson said.


Starbucks’ cup campaign aims to send a message to sharply divided politicians and serve as a rallying cry for the public in the days leading up to the January 1 deadline to avert harsh across-the-board government spending reductions and tax increases that could send the U.S. economy back into recession.


“We believe the (Washington) DC effort caught on so swiftly because they Come Together message is such a simple and respectful gesture that expresses the optimism that is core to our country’s heritage and to Starbucks mission,” Olson said.


“This is an important moment for Starbucks to use its scale for good and give Come Together an even louder voice – as we move from signing tens of thousands of cups in DC to tens of millions of cups across the U.S. over the course of next week.”


(Reporting by Julie Ingwersen; Editing by Vicki Allen)


Business News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Starbucks expands cup campaign aimed at U.S. fiscal deal
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

2 arrested after Guinea treasury chief killed






CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Officials in the West African nation of Guinea say they’ve arrested two suspects in the case of the killing of the country’s treasury chief, who was shot to death nearly two months ago.


Authorities paraded the pair in front of journalists Friday. Aissatou Boiro was killed as she was driving home. She had launched an investigation into the loss of 13 million francs ($ 1.8 million) which went missing from the state coffers.






The government says the suspects were found with Boiro‘s computer memory stick and mobile telephone.


The men denied any involvement in her slaying and said a friend had given them the items.


Boiro’s colleagues say she had zero tolerance for corruption and was intent on putting an end to the mismanagement of state funds.


Africa News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: 2 arrested after Guinea treasury chief killed
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

It’s Easy to Save Videos From Facebook Poke Permanently






Apps like Snapchat and Facebook Poke let users send short messages, photos or videos that automatically self-destruct after a few seconds. However, it’s actually very easy for a recipient to save some of those messages permanently — and without the sender knowing.


Both apps will alert the sender if the recipient takes a screengrab of whatever was sent, of course, but by connecting your phone to a PC or Mac, the messages can be secretly offloaded without the sender knowing — a possibility first reported by BuzzFeed. For an iPhone, all you’ll need is a third-party file manager like iExplorer.






[More from Mashable: Facebook in 2013: More Growing Pains Ahead]


For Poke, only videos can be permanently stored in this manner, and only videos that you haven’t already viewed. But it’s very easy. Once you’ve installed your file manager, connect your iPhone and you should see a list of your apps. Select the Poke folder, then navigate to Library>Caches>FBStore>315_14_>MediaCache. There you should see every Poke video that you haven’t yet watched. (See screencap below.)


[More from Mashable: NYC Releases App to Tell You When the Next Subway Is Coming]


From there, all you need to do is drag and drop the files to any other folder on your computer to copy and store them. After that, you can open the file in Poke, let it self-destruct, and the sender will be none the wiser.


Although permanent storage only works for videos in Poke, performing similar steps for Snapchat will let you save both videos and photos.


While it’s a bit surprising that it’s so easy to save messages that are ostensibly deleted permanently, it may be a stretch to characterize this file caching as a “vulnerability” of the apps, which are generally intended for casual use. Facebook‘s official statement on the matter appears to take this stance:



“Poke is a fun and easy way to communicate with your friends and is not designed to be a secure messaging system. While Pokes disappear after they are read, there are still ways that people can potentially save them. For example, you could take a screenshot of a photo, in which case the sender is notified. People could also take a photo of a photo you sent them, or a video of a video, with another camera. Because of this, people should think about what they are sending and share responsibly.”



What do you think of the potential for someone to save a Facebook Poke or Snapchat message? Let us know in the comments.


Top image courtesy of iStockphoto, JimmyAnderson


Facebook Poke: Startup Screen


Poke, the new iPhone app from Facebook, lets you send short messages, photos and videos to friends that automatically self destruct after a few seconds. If you have the Facebook app on your phone already, logging in is effortless.


Click here to view this gallery.


This story originally published on Mashable here.


Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: It’s Easy to Save Videos From Facebook Poke Permanently
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..