New effective treatment for tinnitus?

ScienceDaily (May 28, 2012) ? A team of researchers from Maastricht, Leuven, Bristol and Cambridge demonstrated the effectiveness of a new tinnitus treatment approach in the journal The Lancet. Tinnitus is the perception of a noxious disabling internal sound without an external source. Roughly fifteen percent of the population suffers from this disorder in varying degrees along with the associated concentration problems, sleep disturbances, anxiety, depression and extreme fatigue.

Sometimes this disorder is so disruptive it seriously impairs their daily functioning and, unfortunately, there is no cure.

The research conducted by Rilana Cima and her colleagues, however, indicates that cognitive behavioural therapy can help improve the daily functioning of tinnitus patients.

The study, conducted at Adelante Audiology & Communication, followed 492 adult tinnitus patients for a period of twelve months. The effectiveness of an innovative tinnitus treatment protocol was compared to the standard treatment methods offered throughout the Netherlands. The ground-breaking, stepped treatment plan consists of cognitive behavioural therapy and combines elements from psychology and audiology. The therapy aims at reducing the negative thoughts and feelings surrounding tinnitus, symptoms through exposure techniques, movement and relaxation exercises, and mindfulness-based elements.

This is supplemented with elements from the so-called tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT), which examines the problems on a sound perception level. The treatment is offered by a multidisciplinary team of audiologists, psychologists, speech and movement therapists, physical therapists and social workers. The project was funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMW), and directed by Johan Vlaeyen, professor behavioural medicine at KU Leuven and Maastricht University.

The results offer compelling evidence to support the effectiveness of this innovative and specialised tinnitus therapy over more traditional forms of treatment. The overall health of the tinnitus patient improves and the severity of their symptoms and perceived impairment decreases after therapy. Moreover, the new treatment is far more effective in reducing negative mood, dysfunctional beliefs and tinnitus-related fear). The specialised tinnitus treatment is effective for both milder and more severe forms of the disorder. The researchers are therefore advocating a widespread implementation of this new treatment protocol.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Maastricht University.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Rilana FF Cima, Iris H Maes, Manuela A Joore, Dyon JWM Scheyen, Amr El Refaie, David M Baguley, Lucien JC Anteunis, Gerard JP van Breukelen, Johan WS Vlaeyen. Specialised treatment based on cognitive behaviour therapy versus usual care for tinnitus: a randomised controlled trial. The Lancet, 2012; 379 (9830): 1951 DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60469-3

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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The World Ends With You / ??? ????? ???? ???? ???
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???? / Plot

??????? / Setting

The game takes place in a fictional version of the Shibuya shopping district in Tokyo, Japan. While everyday life goes on in the Realground (RG), the chosen dead are brought to an alternate plane of existence called the Underground (UG). The UG is also the venue for the Reapers' Game. By offering their most treasured possession to enter the Game, the dead (players) gain the chance to contest for the prize: to be brought back to life or to transcend to a higher form of spiritual existence. Most of those who choose to transcend become Reapers, the opponents of players in future Games. Lasting a week, each Game is a contest to judge the worth of humanity. Players set out to accomplish objectives under the rules created by the Composer, who is a god-like entity who maintains Shibuya. Another Reaper, the Conductor, tasks other Reapers to obstruct the players' efforts. Failure to complete a mission will disperse the mind and spirit of the player or Reaper, thus erasing his or her existence.

A player in the UG is invisible to the living in the RG, though one can sometimes read and influence their thoughts. The UG is frequented by creatures called "Noise", which are attracted by the negative feelings of the living. To progress in the Reapers' Game, players are often required to defeat Noise by killing or "erasing" them. However, each Noise exists in two "zones" simultaneously, and can only be defeated by two players fighting the Noise from separate zones; Players are therefore required to form a pact with another player to survive the Noise. Players receive assignments via text messages sent to their cell phones, and their right hands are imprinted with a countdown indicating the time left in the mission. After a day's mission is complete, the remaining players find themselves at the start of the next day's mission, having no sense of the intervening time in between.

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Dallas cops in standoff with man in crane

Tim Sharp / Reuters

A robbery suspect sits in the cab of a construction crane on the SMU campus after climbing the crane in a standoff with police in Dallas, Texas May 28.

By NBC News and msnbc.com staff

DALLAS --?Police were in a standoff Monday with?a robbery suspect who climbed up a construction crane?about 150?feet above Southern Methodist University?s campus and threatened to shoot officers trying to talk him down.

Officials with the Dallas Police Department said they received a call from Southern Methodist University about a man on a crane who said he?had a?gun.

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Police SWAT units were called in to establish communication with the man. Police have not confirmed whether the man was armed.

Witnesses told NBCDFW.com?they saw a man wearing a red shirt perched?inside the control box of the crane, located on the south side of the campus.

The man has not moved the crane, which is powerless. The machinery?was being used to build student housing.

View NBCDFW.com's story on SWAT called to SMU campus

Dallas Police Department spokesperson Melinda Gutierrez said since the crane doesn?t have any power, it means the cab doesn?t have air conditioning. ?That would help in our favor,? Gutierrez told the Dallas Morning News.

Witnesses said they were evacuated from campus buildings on the SMU campus. A nearby gym was also evacuated.

University officials?told NBC News classes were not in session on Monday because of the federal holiday. School is also between its May and June sessions.?

Streets from U.S. 75 toward the SMU campus on Mockingbird Lane were shut down.

Police said the?man was a suspect in an?overnight aggravated robbery of a vehicle in the area just before 2:30 a.m. Monday.

NBCDFW.com contributed to this report.

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Energy development in the Arctic: the good and the bad

As Shell makes preparations to send offshore drilling rigs into the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas north of Alaska, it's important to walk through the history of energy exploration in the Arctic.

By Andrew Holland,?Guest blogger / May 27, 2012

A Greenpeace environmental activist in a polar bear costume holds up a banner at a Shell gas station in Prague in this May 2012 file photo. The activists are protesting against Shell's Arctic oil drilling project in the north of Alaska.

David W Cerny/Reuters/File

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One of the most contentious domestic political issues in the debate between energy development and environmental policy for over 20 years has been how to develop America?s energy resources in the Arctic. As Shell makes preparations to send offshore drilling rigs into the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas north of Alaska, I thought it would be important to walk through the history of energy exploration in Alaska.

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?Two weeks ago, I spoke as a part of a lecture series by the Massachusetts-based Manomet Center about energy development and ecosystems in the Arctic. Manomet is a conservation sciences organization that was founded to study migratory shorebirds; I was paired in the lecture with Stephen Brown, one of Manomet?s foremost experts on Alaskan shorebirds. The event was very interesting because it allowed a frank and open discussion of the threats and opportunities in the Arctic. The discussion below is adapted from my presentation.

Long History of Arctic Energy Exploration

Since the 1920s, Americans have known that there were vast reserves of oil in the North Slope of Alaska, when the Navy was given the territory now known as the National Petroleum Reserve as reserve for oil production to supply the fleet as it transformed from coal to oil. The reserve was never tapped, however, because of new finds in more accessible areas like Texas, California, and Oklahoma.

In 1968, a vast reserve of oil, the largest single field in the U.S., was discovered in Prudhoe Bay. However, the oil field could not begin commercial production until there was a way to deliver the oil to markets in the Continental U.S. or around the world. First, an icebreaking oil tanker, the Manhattan?was sent through the Northwest Passage to test the feasibility of such a commercial route. When that proved too difficult, it was decided that the only possible route to market for Alaska?s oil was a pipeline from the North Slope.

This was a contentious debate, as landowners and native people wrestled with the environmental impact of such a pipeline. However, with the onset of the first Arab oil crisis in 1973, Congress authorized the expedited building of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS). Completed in 1977 at a cost of $8 billion (about $32 billion in today?s dollars), the pipeline marked a significant infrastructure investment. It transports crude oil from Alaska?s North Slope, across 800 miles of tundra, rugged mountains and rivers to Valdez, North America?s northernmost ice-free port.

TAPS carries approximately 15 percent of the nation?s domestic oil production and has transported more than 15 billion barrels of crude oil in its lifetime. Importantly, it has a maximum daily capacity of 2.136 million barrels of oil, although it has never transported its full capacity.

In 2011, Alaska?s North Slope oil production was 562,000 barrels of oil per day. That means that the pipeline is only operating at about ? capacity. At its peak production in 1989, Prudhoe Bay was producing about 2 million barrels per day ? almost at the TAPS capacity. I don?t know exactly why the field has seen a 71% drop in production over the last 22 years, but I would suspect that it can be attributed to a natural declining field.

ANWR: Trying to Find New Oil Production to Fill the Pipeline

The Arctic National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR) is the largest?protected?wilderness?in the United States and was created by?Congress?under the?Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act?of 1980. However, unlike other Wilderness areas that are protected from development in perpetuity, under this act, a 1.5 million acre sector of ANWR, the so-called 1002 Area, was designated for study of its hydrocarbon reserves. The Act left it up to a later Congress to open the Area to exploration.

A 1998 report by the?U.S. Geological Survey?estimated that there was between 5.7 billion barrels and 16.0 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil in the 1002 Area. However, we simply cannot know the actual production potential of the area because exploration wells have never been drilled. The USGS estimates are based on the geologic formations of adjacent lands, not actual exploration within ANWR.

In 1989, Congress was preparing legislation that would open the 1002 Area of ANWR to oil exploration, and it was predicted to ?sail through?. However, the Exxon Valdez disaster in March of that year quickly stopped consideration of the legislation. The return of Republicans to power in Congress after the 1994 election saw the issue return in Congress. President Clinton vetoed an effort to open ANWR to drilling in 1996, and the early years of the Bush Administration saw several close votes on opening the refuge to drilling. Ultimately, however, the environmentalists won the argument, and ANWR has remained closed.

By the time I was working on staff in the Senate, in 2006, the issue had become ritualized. Everyone knew how each Senator was going to vote on an annual vote, Senator Ted Stevens would get very angry, but the legislation would ultimately fail. Since the 2010 mid-term elections, House Republicans have included an opening of ANWR in their drilling bills, but the Democratic Senate has not even taken them up, and President Obama would veto them.

Offshore Drilling in Alaska?s North Slope

Since 2007, a warming Arctic sea has seen dramatic reductions in summer sea ice. This has allowed energy companies like Shell to contemplate how to extract some of the 22% of the world?s undiscovered energy resources that the US Geological Survey estimates are under the Arctic Sea.

Shell is preparing to send exploration ships to the Chuckchi and Beaufort Seas this summer to explore for oil. They have received permission from the EPA and Department of Interior, and are awaiting permits from the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service. While these are expected to go through, we should expect to see some significant litigation between now and then. Shell plans to bring about 30 ships and over 500 people to handle the exploration operations. The U.S. Coast Guard, too, will operate a full-time presence in the Arctic this summer for the first time, with a Cutter on patrol at each of the drilling sites. There will be more people off that stretch of beachfront ? over 1000 miles from the nearest deepwater port ? than probably has ever been there.

I understand that the sea floor in this area is fairly shallow, so the technical problems of drilling at high depth that we all became familiar with during the Deepwater Horizon disaster will not be there. Instead, we will see entirely different threats, like surface ice and severe storms. Shell has experience operating in Russia?s Sea of Okhotsk, but this will remain an extreme environment.

If all goes well, Shell anticipates that the first production of oil will begin in less than ten years, and peak production will be about 1.7 million barrels of oil per day.

Blocking ANWR Production led to Offshore Drilling

Notably, that production figure for offshore oil will be just enough to bring the TAPS back up to full capacity. I believe that if exploration in ANWR had not been blocked, there would not be a push to drill offshore. With new oil pumping through the pipeline, there would not have been enough capacity to accommodate offshore drilling as well. However, as it is now, offshore drilling is the only way to increase capacity to meet the capacity limits of the pipeline. So long as this already existing infrastructure is not fully utilized, there will be pressure, both from oil companies and from Alaska?s politicians, to fill the pipeline.

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger,?click here. This post originally ran on?www.consumerenergyreport.com.

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Facebook's Cheap Wedding Ring

Facebook's Cheap Wedding Ring

Priscilla Chan married into serious money in Mark Zuckerberg?s back garden over the weekend. She seems happy with her husband?s custom designed ruby wedding ring, but Facebook?s owner has been slammed for being cheap.

Grazia Daily reported the ring is estimated to be worth a ?measly? $25, 000. My God, what a pathetic ring that must be. What a poor bride.?

It?s not just the ring being slammed. The couple?s honeymoon, or lack of it, has been questioned. Psychologists have even scrutinized their wedding photo, because it ?lacks emotional intimacy.?

What happened to just being happy? ?

Why do all wedding photos have to be monochrome snaps of newlyweds gazing at each other? Why do rich people need to be married on the Hawaiian island they own? ?Why do the press have to be invited?

Forgive my ignorance. It must be one of those ?unwritten? wedding rules that commoners know nothing about.

Zuckerberg?s probably more concerned with the plummeting price of Facebook shares to be worrying if his wife?s ring finger is feeling left out. Surely the effort he put personally designing the ring is worth more than dollar signs?

Do you think Mark Zuckerberg is being cheap? Would you expect a massive rock on your finger? Is it true that the thought put in is worth more than the money spent?

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Menallen students, community embrace recycling programs

By Marilyn Forbes
Daily Courier

Published: Saturday, May 26, 2012, 3:25?p.m.
Updated 10 hours ago

The students at Menallen Elementary have learned many things throughout the school year, including the benefits of recycling.

The students take part in two recycling programs, within the school and at home.

The newer of the two programs is called Greenopolis, an initiative that helps to educate children on the benefits of recycling.

Volunteer Janet Gallagher visits the school twice every week to weigh donated recyclables, which include plastic, aluminum and tin.

Since it was introduced in January, the school has collected about 4,000 pounds of recyclable materials for the Greenopolis project.

"They are doing a great job," school media specialist/librarian and project coordinator Christa Sabatula said. "It just keeps getting bigger and bigger."

Sabatula said that the recycling was welcomed not only in the school, but in the community.

"We don't have recycling here in Menallen Township, so there were people who were happy about this," Sabatula said.

The school was recently informed that is it is now 36th in the nation for recycling with the Greenopolis program.

"I think that is pretty impressive," Gallagher said. "We are just this little school and we are up against big high schools. It's amazing what these students are doing."

The children are also taking part in another recycling program, called Terracycle which recycles previously nonrecyclable or hard-to-recycle items from juice box pouches to toothpaste tubes.

Working with items taken from the cafeteria, classrooms and brought from home, a group of students who help to oversee the programs spend time every day on the process of sorting and packaging the items to recycle.

"Our recycling team is doing a great job," Principal Paula Work said. "We have the seven students who do it daily and also a few parent volunteers who help."

Work added that many students are now bringing items into the school for the project.

"It's amazing to see the students getting off the buses and dragging a garbage bag behind them with recyclables," Work said. "These kids are working together for a common good."

Students are not only enjoying the recycling, but feel thrilled to be a part of a project that is geared toward the environment.

"Recycling is important to me because it saves the planet," student Sadie Huhn said.

"Recycling is a good thing and it is also helping us to raise money for the school," student Kali Ternitsky said.

The money raised from the recycling will go to the purchases of new playground equipment that will include handicapped-accessible items for the students.

In addition to the recycling money, the committee that is raising the funds for the playground equipment, led by Sabatula, have raised $16,000 to date through fundraising and grants.

"Our goal is $20,000, and we'll get there," Sabatula said.

For now, the students will concentrate on what they can reuse, recycle or collect for the programs.

"The children are learning what they can do for the planet," Work said. "They are learning how to keep the planet healthy."

And they are keeping hundreds of pounds of items from hitting the area landfills by spending time on their programs.

"Everyone's garbage is our treasure," Sabatula said. "and everyone here is learning to recycle. That is what we want to teach the kids. We want them to learn this and continue to do is."

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Wisconsin Democrats Face Hurdles Ahead Of Recall

With just under two weeks to go until the recall election in Wisconsin, Democrats appear to be facing rising odds in their quest to unseat Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

The race is still competitive, but Walker, 44, appears to have an edge in fundraising, recent polls and party enthusiasm in his challenge from Democratic candidate Tom Barrett.

"I think it's still competitive, I think there's still a chance for Barrett to win. But right now most of the forces are pushing in favor of Walker," said Barry Burden, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Democrats face a large fundraising disadvantage in the state, as Walker has pulled in over $25 million in fundraising since the recall efforts first began.

The reason for Walker's fundraising advantage is two-fold. First, Walker benefited from a quirk in Wisconsin state election law which allowed him to raise unlimited funds beginning in early November when a recall committee first registered with the state's accountability board, through the time when the board certified the recall election on March 30. Second, Democratic fundraising was split as a result of a hard fought primary between top officials in the state.

The Democratic primary was mostly contained to Barrett and former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk. Although Barrett, 58, eventually defeated Falk by more than 20 points in the primary, Falk was seen as the preferred candidate for many labor unions, the original driving force behind the recall. Barrett and Falk split the fundraising support, with Falk receiving the majority of union donations.

Walker had the backing of the Republican Governor's Association, the committee which oversees gubernatorial races, since the signatures were first turned in back in January. The Democratic Governor's Association stayed neutral during their party's primary.

By the time Barrett won the nomination, Walker enjoyed a 25 to 1 fundraising advantage over the Milwaukee mayor, with just four weeks until the election, according to figures from the non-partisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. The party has since rallied around Barrett, and the DGA is running ads on his behalf (they've spent about $2 million in the state, compared to the RGA's $5 million) but time is simply not on the Democrats side.

Another development in the race which likely has not helped the Barrett campaign's wallet is Democratic National Committee's apparent absence in the recall. The committee only recently announced its plans to get involved.

Last week, DNC Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced her plans to visit Wisconsin and assist in Barrett's guberntorial bid.

The announcement came after reports emerged that the state Democratic Party was upset with the national committee's? lack of involvement, and a petition had been launched calling on the DNC to provide financial support to Democrats in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Democrats point to the large ground operation they have been putting into place, which they hope will help to balance out the fundraising advantage on the Republican side.

"We have been building a massive get out the vote operation," said Mike Tate, chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. "We're going to be putting together a get out the vote operation that rivals what the Obama campaign did here in 2008."

The? latest polling?from Marquette Law School showed Walker with a six point lead among likely voters over Barrett- 50 percent to 44 percent- outside of the polls margin of error of +/- 3.8 percent.

Republicans appear to have an enthusiasm advantage over Democrats in the recall as well, polling indicates. According to Marquette Law School polling, 91 percent of Republicans say they're "absolutely certain" to vote on June 5, while only 83 percent of Democrats and Independents responded the same way.

Democratic officials in the state point out that the polling was conducted May 9-12, just days after Barrett won his party's nomination on May 8. In the time since the primary, Barrett has gained ground in fundraising and spending.

"The public polls that came out last week were actually from two weeks ago. A lot has happened since that time," said Tate. "Last week was the first time when we'd been at spending parity with Walker and his allies."

Republicans are also focused on their ground strategy.

"We're not taking anything for granted, and we're focused on running an aggressive grassroots campaign," said Ben Sparks, spokesman for the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

The election is likely to come down to turnout.

"There are a small number of truly undecided voters who will vote in June and so both campaigns will bid for them as they should. But there aren't many of those voters," said Burden. "This is primarily going to be a test of the turnout machine that both parties are able to put together."

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Baby Boomers & house prices - Leith van Onselen - MacroBusiness ...

Posted by Unconventional Economist in Global Housing on May 24th, 2012 | 88 comments

By Leith van Onselen

Earlier in the week, the Daily Mail published an interesting article on the impacts of retiring baby boomers on the UK housing market.

According to the article, baby boomers transitioning into retirement are increasingly seeking to downsize in order to free-up cash to fund their lifestyles, which is in turn crimping house price growth:

Trading down from a large family house is now the single biggest reason given for selling by? homeowners approaching estate agents, says property market expert Rightmove.

Some 40 per cent of sellers say they are looking to trade down, compared with 25 per cent who hope to trade up to a larger more expensive property?

Rightmove said those trading down are generally from the baby boom generation, who have seen a sharp rise in the value of their homes in previous years, but are short of easily available cash.

The high cost of living, coupled with rock-bottom interest rates on savings and poor returns on personal pension investments, has left many retired people struggling to pay the bills?

These people are rich on paper ? in terms of property wealth ? but they are short of the cash they need to fund their lifestyles and family commitments.

Rightmove said the trend in downsizing is putting a cap on house price rises..

The expected impact of the baby boomers? retirement on home prices is a topic that I have tackled previously (for example, here, here and here).

In a nutshell, my hypothesis is that Australia?s baby boomer generation ? which comprises roughly one-quarter of the Australian population but owns nearly half of the nation?s housing assets ? will gradually become net sellers of Australian housing as they enter retirement, thereby acting to push down home prices in the process.

The baby boomers were key players in the rapid house price appreciation experienced in Australia in the decade to 2008. As the baby boomers reached peak earnings age in the 1990s, they began buying up investment properties en masse as a way of both minimising their tax (via negative gearing) and ?saving? for retirement. They were also likely to have significantly increased demand (and prices) for owner?occupier homes, since many in this demographic would have traded-up to their most expensive (?peak?) home over this period.

However, with the baby boomers gradually entering retirement, it follows that their appetite for investment properties will shrink, at the same time as they are downsizing into smaller homes. As such, one of the key demand-drivers of house price growth over the past 15 years will disappear.

Further, because higher investment yields can currently be earned by placing their funds in a bank term deposit than can be earned via rent, it is also likely that many baby boomers will sell their property investments to fund their retirements. And this process of property divestment is more likely to accelerate once the baby boomers realise that there is little prospect of continued high capital appreciation.

As mentioned previously, my hypothesis is supported by a 2010 Working Paper published by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), which examined how demographics are likely to affect asset prices, in particular housing, in 22 advanced nations over the next 40 years. The results suggested that ageing will lower real house prices compared to neutral demographics (i.e. where the age profile of the population remains constant) over the next 40 years in all 22 countries in the sample (see below chart).

According to the BIS, as the baby boomers reached working age and started buying housing from 1970, they helped to push-up property prices throughout the world. In Australia, over the past 40 years the boomers increased real house prices by around 30% compared with what would have occurred had our age structure remained neutral. However, the ageing of the baby boomers is projected to reduce Australia?s real house price growth by around 30% over the next 40 years compared to neutral demographics. This is because the baby boomers will reduce their housing stock as they enter retirement by liquidating their investment property holdings and downsizing, thereby depressing house prices.

The tailwind that was the baby boomers? insatiable demand for housing ? both owner-occupier and investment ? has dissipated and threatens to become a stiff headwind that places significant downward pressure on Australian home values for the foreseeable future.

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First wiretap played at Gupta insider-trading trial

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Savvy, Successful or Scared of Social Media? | Big Dreams and ...

By Gail Z. Martin

Where are you on the social media scale?? Savvy?? Successful?? Or scared?

If you put yourself in the third category, you?re in good company.? So many of the business owners and solo professionals I meet confide that they are afraid of social media.? That fear is holding them back from using a valuable tool that could help them grow their business.? And here?s the good news:? you don?t have to be afraid.

Fear #1: Social Media is Unfamiliar. One way to look at social media that takes some of the fear away is to think of it as a tool like your telephone, mailbox or email.? None of those are very scary, right?? They?re all tools we use to connect with other people, and to have other people connect with us.? Used improperly, we get telemarketer phone calls, junk mail and spam.? But used correctly, we hear from friends, family and clients, receive valuable materials, and reach people around the world.

Social media is one more way to make that connection, to deliver or receive valuable information, and to reach people around the block and around the world.

Fear #2: Social Media Will Take Up All My Time.? Not if you plan your work and work your plan.? Think of it this way: if you walk into a store to browse, you could wander around for an hour.? But if you go in knowing exactly what you want to buy, you can be in and out in 15 minutes.? It?s the same with social media.? Before you log on, have one or two strategic actions you want to accomplish, go do them, and log off.? If there are things that catch your eye that aren?t business-related, save them for your lunch hour or evening.

?

Fear #3: I Might Meet Weird Strangers on Social Media.? Well, you might meet weird strangers at the supermarket, too.? However, on social media, you can choose whose invitations to accept, and if someone you?ve followed or friended turns out not be someone you want to associate with, you can easily unfriend them.? Imagine social media as a huge conference.? You go to meet new people, but if you meet someone you don?t like, you can throw out their business card.? Social media is a big, global conference where you can meet amazing new people, and if you don?t like someone, you don?t have to remain in contact with them.

Fear #4: I Don?t Know What to Say on Social Media.? Social media is a fantastic way to encourage, educate, motivate, inspire, inform and support other people. ?If you focus on sharing helpful information, suggesting resources, sharing inspiring or motivating quotes/photos, and throwing in the occasional link to an interesting article, or funny G-rated video or book title, you?ve gone a long way toward offering useful, helpful, and connection-building content.

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At NATO summit on Afghanistan, few women's voices heard

Afghan women and international rights advocates are growing increasingly concerned that a decade-long focus on expanding Afghan women?s rights will go when US and NATO forces leave.

By Howard LaFranchi,?Staff writer / May 20, 2012

President Barack Obama shakes hands with Afghan President Hamid Karzai during their meeting at the NATO Summit in Chicago, Sunday.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

Enlarge

With the US and NATO planning the departure of their forces from Afghanistan by December 2014, some Afghan women and international rights advocates are growing increasingly concerned that a decade-long focus on expanding Afghan women?s rights will go with them.

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As NATO leaders ? mostly men, it?s fair to say ? assembled in Chicago to plan the transition to a fully Afghan-led security effort next year, another gathering ? this one of Afghan and American women ? focused on the need to protect Afghan women?s educational, social, and political gains over the last decade.

?We have to ensure that our commitment to Afghan women does not end as our troops come home,? said US Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D) of Illinois, at a conference Sunday that laid out an eight-point plan for safeguarding and strengthening Afghan women?s rights.

RECOMMENDED:?How well do you know Afghanistan? Take our quiz.

Amnesty International, which sponsored Sunday?s conference, called it a ?shadow summit? in part because women, and Afghan women in particular, are largely absent from the NATO gathering taking place at the same time.

The Afghan delegation to the NATO summit led by President Hamid Karzai originally included no women, according to Frank Januzzi, director of Amnesty International?s Washington office. But at least two women were added, including one female member of the Afghan Parliament, when prominent Afghan women protested the absence.

?We were told the Chicago [NATO] summit has nothing to do with us women,? said Mahbouba Seraj, an Afghan women?s and children?s advocate, describing the explanation the Afghan presidential palace originally offered when asked about the all-male Chicago delegation. But she said she and other members of the Afghan Women?s Network considered it crucial that ?we bring the voices of the voiceless women of Afghanistan.?

The eight steps called for by Amnesty International and endorsed in an open letter sent to President Obama and Mr. Karzai include significant participation by women in peace talks with the Taliban, institutionalized guarantees of women?s rights in any reconciliation agreements with the Taliban, creation of a fund targeted at sustaining and enhancing women?s rights, and specific training of security forces to protect women against violence, including domestic violence.

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Sony Xperia U goes on sale at Three UK

We've been twiddling our thumbs waiting patiently for the littlest of Sony's new-look smartphone lineup, the Xperia U, to arrive in earnest. It's a bit of a relief then to see the Android 2.3 phone go on sale at Three UK. You'll be getting what we saw back in Barcelona, including Sony's Timescape interface and the trick color light-up strip. We're guessing that most will see the cheap-as-chips price as the real selling point: the Xperia U costs £170 ($269) without a plan, and it's free as in beer on a two-year contract for £23 ($36) per month. O2, Orange and T-Mobile will expand UK carrier choices soon, but if you're looking for a fresh entry point into Android, Three can take care of you today.

Sony Xperia U goes on sale at Three UK originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 May 2012 04:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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10 gadgets you'd be a fool to buy right now

20 hrs.

Avram Piltch , Laptop

They say patience is a virtue, but like temperance and chastity, it?s not much fun. Unfortunately, if you want to reach a state of true techstasy, you may need to repress your desire to buy a new gadget today and wait for the next version to come out.

To be fair, sometimes now is the best time to buy a particular device and sometimes you drop your phone into a public toilet and have to replace it right away.?But when you buy that 3G phone a month before its hot new 4G replacement comes out, you might as well buy an ?I?m with stupid? T-shirt for your friends to wear when you go out together.

Here are 10 products you?d be a fool to buy today.

The iPhone

If you have your heart set on purchasing a new iPhone, don't do it yet. Every rumor points to the arrival of a much-improved product arriving by fall. We don't know what exact specs the iPhone 5 will have. We don't even know if it'll be called the iPhone 5 (my money's on "the Brand Spanking New iPhone"), but we can be pretty certain it will have 4G LTE, a faster processor, a better camera and a larger and sharper screen.?

While four or five months may seem like a long time to wait, most iPhone owners are on two-year phone contracts that usually won't allow them to upgrade until after 20 months. Do you really want to spend 2013 being known as the loser who has to "take a grenade" with Siri's older, slower moving sister while your friends cozy up to the new model?

More: What You Need to Know About the iPhone 5

Windows Tablets

Let's face the facts. If you want to buy a Windows 7 tablet, you're either a multitouch masochist or a sadistic CTO, looking to pinch-zoom in on employee suffering. ?Though Windows 7 runs all the applications you could ever want, its touch-unfriendly interface makes it really difficult to use with adult-sized fingers. Ever try tapping the X widget to close a window? You'll need to stick your index finger in a pencil sharpener first, so you can make sure it's thin enough.

Coming this fall, Windows 8 offers a very touch-friendly Metro UI and a host of touch-friendly apps on top of it. Even better, Windows 8 will run on ARM-based tablets, allowing for thinner, lighter and longer-lasting designs. A slew of new convertible notebooks that run Windows 8 will arrive this fall too. ?I can't wait for the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga, which bends its hinge back 180 degrees to become a slate. Even Kanye West would sit in his seat long enough to wait for Windows 8.

More: 10 Ways Windows 8 Beats the iPad

Ultrabooks

The first generation of Ultrabooks ? a new category of uber-thin, fast-booting notebooks?? arrived last fall with prominent entries from all the PC vendors. However, though notebooks like the ASUS Zenbook UX31 and Toshiba Portege Z835 have a lot going for them, a new generation of much-improved Ultrabooks will arrive this summer. These notebooks will sport Intel's faster, more efficient third-generation Core Series processors (aka Ivy Bridge), and many will offer higher-resolution displays.

A couple of models stand out to us. The ASUS ZenBook Prime will offer a generous 1920 x 1080 screen that will let you watch HD movies at their native resolution, while viewing more of your favorite web pages and documents without scrolling. Meanwhile, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon could be the ultimate productivity notebook when it launches this summer. It will pack a gorgeous 14-inch, 1600 x 900 matte display into a .75-inch-thick chassis that weighs just 3 pounds. Plus, you'll get the industry's best keyboard.

More: 10 Most-Anticipated Notebooks

Sprint Phones

Sprint likes to call itself "the Now Network," but it really should be named "the Promise Network," because right now all it is selling is the promise of 4G LTE at some point in the future. The carrier recently announced that it is dumping its mediocre 4G WiMAX network in favor of LTE on new handsets. That's the right move long-term, but it leaves current Sprint customers in a bind.

The company is selling 4G LTE phones such as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and LG Viper 4G LTE, but they'll only get a 3G signal until Sprint launches its new network. The carrier plans to roll out LTE this summer to just six cities ? Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City and San Antonio ? with no ETA for other cities apart from 123 million people covered by the end of the year.? Even if you live in one of the designated six markets, there's no guarantee that Sprint's implementation of LTE will be as fast as AT&T and Verizon's; we just don't know.

Whether you are already a Sprint customer or are just thinking of becoming one, you should wait to see how quickly the company's version of LTE is coming to your area and whether it actually lives up to the hype. You don't want to buy that Evo 4G LTE today, only to be stuck with 2007-era 3G speeds while your friends on Verizon and AT&T are cruising along at 4G.

More: 4G Reality Check -- Beware of These Cons and Lies

MacBook Pros

If you have your heart set on an Apple MacBook Pro, tell your heart to go on without one for just a little longer. Everyone expects Apple to announce a new lineup of MacBook Pros in June and these new notebooks will reportedly weigh less, feature high-resolution "Retina" displays and provide USB 3.0 ports in addition to running Ivy Bridge CPUs. These notebooks will also be running Apple's new OS X Mountain Lion software, which brings more iPad-like functionality to Macs along with stronger security.

Unless a pack of rabid Windows fanboys breaks into your house and smashes your current MacBook Pro with a Metro-UI styled hammer, you can hold on for another few weeks. The Retina display, which should show more content on the screen at once, is reason enough to wait.

More: The Next MacBook Pro: 6 Things You Need to Know

Android Tablets

Apple enthusiasts don't have anything to wait for when it comes to tablets. The "new" iPad just came out in March and has an incredible, high-res screen paired with a powerful processor. However, if you want to consider an Android tablet, now is not the time to buy.

Though we've seen some speedy quad-core tablets like the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime, we're still waiting for Android tablet makers to come out with screens that have higher than 1280 x 800 resolution. Both ASUS and Acer have announced 1920 x 1200 tablets, but neither one has hit the market yet. If you plunk down $500 on a tablet now, you'll feel silly when the new HD models arrive within the next couple of months.

More: ASUS Transformer Prime TF700T Hands-On

Smart TVs

Apple can play coy all it wants, but many industry insiders believe that the Cupertino company plans to launch its own TV later this year. There's no question that the Apple TV will have deep iTunes integration, a gorgeous screen (Apple is known for that) and some kind of Siri-based voice control.?

When it comes to launching new Smart TVs, Apple won't be alone. LG recently showed off its G2 Smart TV, which uses the Google TV 2.0 interface, supports voice commands and comes with a gesture-controlled "Magic" remote. Lenovo just began shipping its ?Android 4.0- powered K55 ?Smart TV in China and it may come here at some point as well. If you wait, the additional competition from these new products will force down prices on existing Smart TVs as well.

More: What Are Smart TVs?

Windows Phones

The Nokia Lumia 900 has a gorgeous design and the HTC Titan II has an awesome 16-MP camera. However, when it comes to specs, apps and basic multitasking, Windows Phones still lag behind their Android and iPhone counterparts.?

With Windows Phone 8 due out this fall, Microsoft could finally start to close the feature gap with Apple and Google. According to some reports, the new mobile operating system will support higher resolution screens, dual-core CPUs, NFC payments and apps that can control other apps, a necessity for true multitasking.

Microsoft has issued some conflicting statements about whether current Windows Phones would get an OS upgrade so I wouldn't count on the Lumia you buy today running Windows 8 tomorrow. If you're attracted to Windows Phone, delay your purchase until fall. Otherwise, you'll be living with a single-core, low-res handset for two years.

More: 8 Awesome Features of Windows Phone 8

eReaders

There are several great eReader options on the market right now, from the tablet-like Amazon Kindle Fire to the E Ink-powered Nook Simple Touch. However, as strong as the eReader offerings are today, they're about to get much better. Barnes & Noble just released its Simple Touch with GlowLight and rumor has it that Amazon is set to release its own backlit E Ink-based Kindle this summer.

However, backlit E Ink is just the tip of this innovative ice berg. Expect Amazon to launch the second-generation Kindle Fire 2 this fall, complete with higher-res screen options and possibly larger form factors like 8.9 inches. Flush with investment money from Microsoft and not content to stand still, Barnes & Noble is sure to release a new Nook Tablet sometime later this year as well. We'd expect the next Nook to also have a higher resolution than 1024 x 600.?

There's also a persistent rumor that Amazon will release Kindles using color E Ink later this year. We just reviewed the color E Ink-powered Ectaco Jetbook Color so the technology is already out there. How bad would you feel if you bought an old-school grayscale Kindle today, only to see one with a backlight or a color screen come out within a few months?

More: eReader Guide

BlackBerrys

Research in Motion, the company that makes Blackberry phones, seems to be stuck in a time warp, offering phones that have the best specs of 2009, including single-core 800-MHz CPUs, tiny 2.4-inch screens and an ?outmoded BlackBerry 7 OS. Fortunately, most people aren't foolish enough to buy phones that you'd expect to find in the bargain bin at a garage sale rather than the shelf at a Verizon store.?

RIM seems to understand the problem, too, and it plans to release an entirely new line of phones running its new BlackBerry 10 OS later this year. The new touch-friendly BlackBerry London phone, complete with a bigger screen and faster processor than we've seen on a BlackBerry before, should arrive by fall. If you must have a BlackBerry, this is the one to wait for.

More: RIM Demos Upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS

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Obama snubs Pakistan head over supply routes

CHICAGO (AP) ? In an unmistakable snub, President Barack Obama left Pakistan off a list of nations he thanked Monday for help getting war supplies into Afghanistan.

The omission speaks to the prolonged slump in U.S. relations with Pakistan that clouded a NATO summit where nations were eyeing the exits in Afghanistan.

Tensions that Obama readily acknowledged raise questions about whether Pakistan will help or hurt the goal of a stable Afghanistan. Continued mistrust between the United States and Pakistan also threaten cooperation to eliminate al-Qaida sanctuaries and could undermine U.S. confidence in the security of Pakistan's growing nuclear arsenal.

"We need to work through some of the tensions that have inevitably arisen after 10 years of our military presence in that region," Obama said later. "I don't want to paper over real challenges there."

Pakistan is not a NATO member but was invited to the summit Sunday and Monday because of its influence in next-door Afghanistan and its role until last year as the major supply route to landlocked NATO forces there. Pakistan closed those routes after a U.S. attack on the Pakistani side of the border killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.

The last-minute invitation from NATO to join the Chicago talks was a sign of hope that the rift had healed.

But it hasn't. And Obama's dealings with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari made that clear on Monday.

Zardari came to Obama's home town expecting a separate meeting with the U.S. leader like the one accorded to Afghan President Hamid Karzai. But without a final deal to reopen the supply lines, no such meeting was to occur.

Obama, along with Karzai, did speak briefly with Zardari on the sidelines of a large group meeting Monday. Karzai dismissed the encounter in an interview with CNN as a "three-way photograph taking...just a photo opportunity."

That was after Zardari had to sit by as Obama opened Monday's session with public thanks only to the nations north of Afghanistan who allowed expanded supply shipments to transit their territory to compensate for the closed Pakistani border gates.

"I want to welcome the presence of President Karzai, as well as officials from central Asia and Russia ? nations that have an important perspective and that continue to provide critical transit for ISAF supplies," Obama said, referring to the International Security Assistance Force that is fighting the war.

Pakistani officials played down the snub.

"The supply route on Pakistan's side has been suspended for the last six months," Zardari's spokesman Farhatullah Babar told reporters. "There was really no expectation from our side that the U.S. president would appreciate and admire the suspension of the NATO supply lines."

The border crossing dispute is stuck over how much the U.S. will pay Pakistan to allow trucks to transit its territory. Before the airstrike, the U.S. paid about $250 per truck. Now, two U.S. officials said, Pakistan wants $5,000 a truck and an apology for the deaths in the airstrike. The Obama administration has said it was willing to pay as much as $500 per vehicle and has expressed condolences and regret, but no apology. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations were being conducted in private.

The prospects for reaching a deal were unclear, even as the stakes grow larger.

Babar said the government had asked negotiators to expedite an agreement, but that "no timeline can be given."

Obama told reporters at the close of the summit that he knew beforehand that there would be no deal on the supply routes now.

"President Zardari shared with me his belief that these issues can get worked through," Obama said. "We're actually making diligent progress on it."

Zardari also met with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday and made a beeline across a meeting hall to grasp her hand again on Monday morning. The State Department said Clinton and Zardari "discussed the importance of reopening the NATO supply lines," and of cooperating to fight terrorist threats.

The U.S. and Pakistan have a history of troubled relations that started well before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The road has grown only rockier since then. Despite giving Pakistan billions of dollars in aid over the past decade, anti-Americanism is widespread in Pakistan. And after years of sometimes meaningful cooperation in hunting down al-Qaida figures, Pakistan is still seen by many U.S. officials as double-dealing and unreliable.

The transit route issue was a distraction and an embarrassment for the United States at the summit, and Obama's cool arm's length treatment of Zardari made it look even worse for the Pakistani president.

"Pakistan has to be part of the solution in Afghanistan, and it is in our national interests that to see a Pakistan that is democratic, that is prosperous and that is stable," Obama said.

The quarrel over supply routes is intertwined with several other disputes, including Pakistan's opposition to U.S. drone strikes against terrorist targets inside its borders.

In addition to closing the border crossings in response to the November attack, Pakistan ordered the U.S. to vacate Shamsi air base, which the U.S. was using to launch drone strikes at al-Qaida and Taliban militants.

The top allied commander in Afghanistan, Marine Gen. John Allen, has tried to cast the supply route problem in the best possible light, while acknowledging that he'd like to see the border crossings reopened as soon as possible. Allen said Sunday that by some measure, war stocks are higher now than when the crossings were closed.

That is thanks to an increased ? and much more costly ? use of alternative routes, including a network of northern routes that connect Baltic and Caspian Sea ports with Afghanistan through Russia and Central Asia and the Caucasus. And they combine sea, rail and truck transport and are more costly than crossing Pakistan by land.

U.S. officials have offered a range of estimates on how much the closing of the Pakistani land routes have added to the overall supply costs, but it apparently is at least two or three times more expensive to move supplies by air and via the northern route.

To underline the value of those alternative supply routes from the north, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta met Monday in Chicago with his counterparts from the central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. He expressed his "deep appreciation for their support" of the northern supply route, Pentagon press secretary George Little said.

At least as troublesome as being forced to use alternative supply routes into Afghanistan is the issue of how to get war materiel out of the country as Allen begins the withdrawal of thousands of U.S. troops this summer. That's because the withdrawal includes shipment of vehicles and other equipment that would be costly and time consuming to remove by air.

The NATO alliance needs Pakistan's cooperation to ensure Afghanistan's long-term stability and security, NATO's top officer told reporters. That was a mild way of saying that Pakistan can play the spoiler at will and holds cards the fighting force does not. Pakistan shares history, culture and language with Afghanistan's restive southern swath, and maintains support for Taliban-led insurgents who cross the border to kill U.S. and NATO forces.

___

Burns reported from Washington.

___

Associated Press writer Desmond Butler contributed to this report.

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Service held for nurse who died during Skype chat | News - Home

ADDISON, Mich. -

More than 400 people attended a Michigan memorial service Saturday for a U.S. Army nurse who died suddenly in Afghanistan while video chatting with his wife.

Capt. Bruce Kevin Clark's family and friends gathered in the Addison Middle School gym and shared memories of the 43-year-old. They described him as a devoted husband and father, and as a loyal friend who dedicated his life to public service.

The Daily Telegram in Adrian reported the service started with a silent tribute from uniformed fire department and military veterans. They paused at a display in Clark's honor as they marched in.

Clark was a native of Addison and former member of the Addison Fire Department.

"What a beautiful tribute. A silent tribute can say more than words," said Sister Helen Walling who served as pastor at Clark's former church, St. Mary's on the Lake Catholic Church at Devils Lake.

She recalled Clark as a caring person, saying, "He knew about sharing his talents and gifts, and he did it."

Clark was assigned to a medical center in El Paso, Texas, and then deployed to Afghanistan in March. His wife, Susan Orellana-Clark was in Texas chatting with him via Skype on April 30 when he collapsed at his base in Tarin Kot, Afghanistan.

For two hours, Orellana-Clark tried to get help for her dying husband, before finally seeing military officials enter the room where he lay still.

Initially, Clark's family said they believed he had been shot, and that after he fell his wife could see a bullet hole in the closet behind him. But the Army has said there was no bullet wound on his body and no evidence of foul play. The death remains under investigation.

Although it was the night of April 30 in Texas, Clark's death is officially listed as occurring on May 1, the date in Afghanistan at the time.

A funeral was held Tuesday in Spencerport in western New York. Clark's wife is from Spencerport, and they lived there for six years before he joined the Army in 2006.

During Saturday's service at the Addison school, about 70 miles southwest of Detroit, Jack Clark expressed appreciation for the support shown to his nephew by those who attended.

"I will forever be grateful that God gave him to us," he said. "Thank you from the depths of our hearts to be here to pay tribute to Kevin."

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G8 leaders back Greece amid tensions

G8 leaders said they want debt-stricken Greece to stay in the eurozone at a Camp David summit as the group papered over deep-seated divisions about how best to tackle the eurozone crisis.

With the future of Europe's currency union in doubt, leaders of the world's largest economies called on Greece on Saturday to stick to the terms of a massive EU-IMF cash-for-reforms bailout, which is hanging by a thread.

"We agree on the importance of a strong and cohesive eurozone for global stability and recovery," a final G8 joint communique stated. "We affirm our interest in Greece remaining in the eurozone while respecting its commitments."

May 6 polls saw Greek anti-austerity parties on top, casting doubt on Athens' commitment to reforms and raising the question for its partners of whether to ease up on austerity or turn off the bailout spigot.

The latter course would almost certainly lead to a Greek default and exit from the eurozone, sparking global panic, and tensions are rising ahead of new polls June 17 which are not guaranteed to produce a viable government.

The latest opinion poll on Sunday in Greece gave the radical left Syriza party, opposed to the bailout, 28 percent of the vote, with the conservative New Democracy, which supported the deal, on 24 percent.

A poll Friday put Syriza in second with 21 percent, behind New Democracy on 23.1 percent, but sentiment is volatile as most Greeks want to keep the euro but cannot stomach endless austerity after years in recession.

Syriza head Alexis Tsipras is meanwhile due to visit Paris and Berlin next week for talks with leftist European leaders, including Jean-Luc Melanchon, who polled strongly in the French presidential elections which brought Francois Hollande to power earlier this month on a pledge to support growth.

The drama in Greece and growing voter unease in European powerhouses France and Germany pushed the eurozone crisis right to the top of the G8 summit agenda.

Obama noted leaders' agreement that growth and jobs must take precedence over austerity.

"As all of the leaders here today agree, growth and jobs must be our top priority," Obama said at the conclusion of the meeting.

"The direction the debate has taken recently should give us confidence that Europe is taking significant steps to manage the crisis," he said.

Ahead of the meeting, Obama came out in favour of French and Italian efforts to put the focus on growth, rather on German-favoured austerity policies.

Critics say two years of single-minded focus on debt reduction have fuelled rampant unemployment, brought Greece to the verge of bankruptcy and stoked crises in Italy and Spain.

Any further deterioration could have costly repercussions for the US economy and Obama's chances of re-election in November, factors that perhaps spurred him to wade into European political waters.

Inevitably that brought tensions with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that were evident throughout the summit but she insisted by the close that there were no differences with France.

"Otherwise we would not have been able to agree on a statement," she said.

The statement, however, noted "the right measures are not the same for each of us."

After a meeting between Obama and Merkel, the White House was at pains to point out the president "understands just how much of a leadership role" the chancellor plays in Europe.

It also stressed that growth measures would not take the place of fiscal reform but would work in tandem.

Looking to the longer-term, there appeared to be broad agreement about specific European stimulus spending, funded by common European bonds -- another controversial step opposed by Berlin -- and by the European Investment Bank.

"We should not just wait for structural reforms and the reduction of deficits to generate growth," said Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.

"The European Union Council (meeting on May 23) should identify concrete paths, like reinforcing the capital of the European Investment Bank, project bonds and an evolution towards eurobonds."

The summit at the retreat's rustic collection of cabins in the wooded Catoctin Mountains also focused heavily on Iran and the bloodshed in Syria.

G8 leaders sent a strong message to the Islamic Republic that tough energy sanctions would be firmly applied, vowing to ensure oil markets were adequately supplied and to prevent soaring energy prices.

The move came days before the next round of nuclear talks between global powers and Iran in Baghdad on Wednesday.

Obama said he was "hopeful" the negotiations would be productive and stressed that major powers were "unified" against Iran.

The G8 also called for a "political transition" in Syria and for the end to violence that has claimed an estimated 12,000 lives.

The group -- which includes long-time Syrian-ally Russia -- called for a "Syrian-led, inclusive political transition leading to a democratic, plural political system."

The G8 club of developed nations includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

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Mixed Roots Foundation Raffling 23andMe and Family Tree DNA ...

The non-profit Mixed Roots Foundation is sponsoring an Adoptee Comedy Show on May 21st - this Monday night - in San Francisco. As part of their raffle, they are including two Family Tree DNA kits and three 23andMe kits. These kits were generously donated by the respective companies. Anyone can participate and you don't have to be present to win. A portion of the proceeds from this raffle will benefit the Filling in the GAGP Fund which will help to offset the costs of DNA testing for adoptees.

ADOPTEE COMEDY SHOW RAFFLE
Raffle Items:

-2 DNA Testing Kits from Family Tree DNA

-3 DNA Testing Kits from 23andMe

-6 Jeff Dunham Merchandise (3 Puppets/Dolls, 3 T-Shirts)
-2 Pair of SF Giants Adoptee Night Tickets
-1 Yoga Month Pass
-1 Stella & Dot Gift Basket

Steps to Participate:

1.???? LIKE Mixed Roots Foundation on Facebook
www.facebook.com/mixedrootsfoundation

2.???? Donate - $2 for 1 Ticket
?????????? ????????? $5 for 3 Tickets
www.mixedrootsfoundation.org/donate

3.???? Email events@mixedrootsfoundation.org with
Name, Number of Tickets and Phone Number

You can watch the show live tomorrow night here.
Good luck!

[Full disclosure - I am a new member of the Mixed Roots Foundation Advisory Board and have been appointed the Co-director of the new Global Adoptee Genealogy Project with Richard Hill.]

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