Philippines faces Japan in opener of Fiba Asia second round

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Source: www.philippinesnews.net --- Sunday, August 04, 2013
MANILA, Philippines ? A clash with Japan kicks off Smart Gilas Pilipinas? second round campaign in 27th Fiba Asia men?s Championships starting on Monday. The Filipinos, who wound up second after the opening round, are set to face the Japanese at 8:30 p.m. at the Mall of Asia Arena as the tournament resumes after a one-day break. The Philippines, meanwhile, tangles with Qatar ... ...

Source: http://www.philippinesnews.net/index.php/sid/216227594/scat/3e5bbccc730d258c

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Japan's Abe vows to help Philippines amid China row

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to strengthen the Philippines' maritime defence capabilities on Saturday, while reassuring neighbours about Tokyo's intentions amid growing territorial disputes with regional rival China.

"For Japan, the Philippines is a strategic partner with whom we share fundamental values and many strategic interests," Abe told a joint news conference with Philippine president Benigno Aquino after their meeting in Manila.

Speaking through an interpreter, Abe said his visit was intended "to strengthen the relations with the Philippines in all areas", including politics, security, and the economy.

As part of Japan's commitment, Abe said there would be "continued assistance to the capacity-building of the Philippine coastguard".

As an example of this, he cited 10 patrol boats that Japan is providing to the poorly-equipped Philippine coast guard.

The Filipino coastguard and navy have been at the forefront of tense encounters with navy and maritime surveillance vessels from China, which claims most of the South China Sea including areas close to the Filipino coast.

China seized the Scarborough Shoal, a South China Sea outcrop just 230 kilometres (140 miles) east of the main Philippine island of Luzon, last year after Manila backed down from a lengthy stand-off.

This year the Philippines has complained about the presence of Chinese navy vessels near Filipino-held Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly islands.

Japan earlier this year announced it would make loans to the Philippines to purchase the 10 Japanese patrol vessels for its coastguard.

"The Prime Minister and I agreed to strengthen maritime cooperation which is a pillar of our strategic partnership," Aquino said Saturday.

Abe's visit came as tensions have also steadily risen between China and Japan over Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea.

He reiterated a call for a leaders' summit with China to discuss their territorial dispute, and assured the rest of Asia that his vision for a more robust Japanese armed forces would not threaten the region's peace and security.

Abe said Saturday his party's decisive victory in the upper house of the Japanese parliament would help him pursue his vision of Tokyo's role in the region, many parts of which were under brutal Japanese occupation in World War II.

"Against this backdrop I intend to further proceed with strategic diplomacy which will contribute to regional and global peace and security," he said.

Abe has pledged to loosen limits on the military in Japan's pacifist, post-war constitution and stand up to China over their East China Sea dispute.

He acknowledged at a separate news conference, after he appeared with Aquino, that a more assertive Japanese military was a sensitive issue in the region.

"I intend to explain politely so that the countries in the region will not have any misunderstanding," he said.

Abe said problems with China were "inevitable" being neighbours, but stressed that peaceful coexistence between the two regional powers was crucial for Asian peace and prosperity.

"It is important that we have frank and candid discussions. I have given instructions so that the foreign affairs authorities (can) proceed with dialogue without any conditions attached. Foreign ministers-level and leaders-level meetings should be promptly held."

As Abe and Aquino met at the presidential palace, about 80 protesters including elderly ladies who said they were former comfort women staged a rally nearby, holding signs demanding reparations from Japan.

Japan diplomat visits China amid strained ties
Tokyo (AFP) July 29, 2013 - Japan's vice foreign minister on Monday set off for a two-day visit to China, Tokyo said, the latest chapter in a bid by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to hold high-level talks with Beijing.

The trip comes as territorial tensions and maritime skirmishes have all but frozen relations between the Asian giants.

Akitaka Saiki, the top bureaucrat in Japan's foreign ministry, was expected to meet with his Chinese counterpart Zhang Yesui and other senior Chinese officials, Jiji Press news agency and other Japanese media reported Monday.

"We coordinated the trip as Mr Saiki has hoped to visit China as soon as possible since he assumed his post" last month, a foreign ministry official told AFP.

On Saturday, Abe told reporters in Manila that he hoped to hold top-level talks with China.

One of his closest advisers also said at the weekend that the testy neighbours could soon hold a meeting.

"I think a summit will be held in the not-so-distant future," Isao Iijima was quoted by Japan's Kyodo news agency as saying.

The diplomatic overtures come on the back of a long-running dispute between Tokyo and Beijing over ownership of an East China Sea island chain.

Since the row flare anew last year, China has become increasingly active in the seas around the disputed archipelago, while it has cancelled diplomatic and cultural events involving Japan.

On Friday, the Chinese coastguard entered disputed waters surrounding the islets for the first time, straining an already tense situation as Tokyo mulled plans to establish a US Marines-style force to protect its claim on the islands.

Although Chinese government ships have been in and out of the waters for many months, this was the first time they have ventured there since Beijing combined several agencies under the coastguard flag last week.

Source: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Japans_Abe_vows_to_help_Philippines_amid_China_row_999.html

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Internet Explorer 11: Daily Browsing with Many Tabs and Side-by-Side Windows

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/IE/Internet-Explorer-11-Daily-Browsing-with-Many-Tabs-and-Side-by-Side-Windows

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Star Trek Galileo Shuttlecraft Displayed in Texas

Hundreds of Star Trek fans were on hand at Space Center Houston for the unveiling of the Galileo spaceship exhibit.

Fans well remember seeing the ship in episodes of the original Star Trek show.

The Galileo that fans saw Wednesday (7/21) was a mock up.

But to one fan, the ship she saw was more than just a prop. Star Trek fan Megan Martin said the show inspired people to pursue careers in science.

Also at the unveiling was actress Tracy Scoggins, who played a Cardassian science officer on Star Trek. Scoggins is from nearby Galveston.

Scoggins was among a dozen or so actors from iconic science fiction shows who posed for photographs in front of the Galileo prop.

Source: http://www.wtvy.com/news/headlines/Star-Trek-Galileo-Shuttlecraft-Displayed-in-Texas-217878451.html

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New Coe College President Wants to Boost Enrollment, Visibility

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Increasing Coe College's visibility and growing the enrollment go hand in hand, new President David McInally said, and those two goals are among his top priorities for the school.

McInally said he had the fortune of coming to Coe at a time when a lot of significant challenges have already been addressed, including the growth of the campus footprint and the college endowment, so he takes the helm when Coe has "a lot of positive momentum."

"The challenge for us is to be clear about our mission, know exactly who we are, who we serve and communicate that effectively," he said.

McInally, 53, started as Coe's 15th president on July 1, succeeding James Phifer, who recently retired after 18 years leading the college. McInally came from Allegheny College in Meadville, Penn., where he served in many administrative roles, most recently as executive vice president and treasurer.

In his first month getting to know people on campus and in the Cedar Rapids area, McInally said he found strong affection for Coe. He hopes to translate that into more visibility, including among potential students in the state and outside of Iowa.

McInally wants to build Coe's enrollment from the current 1,300 range to 1,500 in the next three to five years and possibly even more after that, in the long term.

Developing a long-range plan that maps growth in coordination with housing, dining, classroom and campus recreation needs will be a priority in his first year, McInally said. Multi-year staffing and budget plans also will be needed to support growth, he said.

"The type of education that happens here, the quality of interaction between faculty and students and that genuine dedication to teaching, in the classroom and outside the classroom -- we don't want to compromise that for any reason," he said. "The growth has to be deliberate to hold onto that culture."

The future of traditional liberal arts education has been the subject of discussion and hang-wringing in higher education circles. McInally said he's a strong believer that residential liberal arts education will survive and thrive because it continues to be the best fit for many students, with a lot of personal attention and low student-to-faculty ratios.

"I think there is a place for colleges like Coe," he said.

Maintaining affordability is key to that, McInally said, aided by continued fundraising and finding outside sources to help boost financial aid to students, so their actual costs remain well below the sticker price, he said.

"Affordability for students is essential to our mission, to serve the region, to serve the nation by providing this kind of top-quality education that is expensive to deliver," he said.

Source: http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/New-Coe-College-President-Wants-to-Boost-Enrollment-Visibility--217846791.html

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Tony Bennett steps down as Florida education commissioner; third in Scott's tenure to leave

TALLAHASSEE | For the third time during Gov. Rick Scott's administration, Florida is without a top education official.

Education Commissioner Tony Bennett resigned Thursday amid a grade inflation scandal stemming from his time as Indiana?s education chief.

The resignation, effective immediately, comes two days after the Associated Press reported he helped boost the grade of a school run by a GOP donor when he was Indiana?s Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Bennett, became education commissioner in January, said he did not want to be a distraction to Gov. Rick Scott or Gary Chartrand, a St. Augustine resident who is chairman of the Florida Board of Education. Bennett said both encouraged him to stay on the job.

Bennett said he would like Pam Stewart, the department?s chancellor of public schools, to take over as interim commissioner until the state Board of Education selects a permanent replacement. Stewart, the former deputy superintendent with the St. Johns County School District, served as interim commissioner when former Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson resigned in July 2012.

Emails obtained by the Associated Press show that changes made to Indiana?s grading system boosted the grade of a charter school operated by Christel DeHaan, who had given Bennett $130,000 in campaign contributions, from a ?C? to an ?A.?

The school, Christel House, had been used as a poster child for Indiana?s school reforms, which were modeled after those pushed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

?They need to understand that anything less than an A for Christel House compromises all of our accountability work,? Bennett wrote in an email to his chief-of-staff.

During a news conference, Bennett called the stories ?malicious? and ?unfounded,? and defended the decisions he made while in Indiana. Though the emails show that Bennett and his staff spent a lot of time discussing Christel House, he emphasized the change impacted more than one school.

?What we did in Indiana was very simple,? he said during a Thursday news conference. ?We found a statistical anomaly that did not allow 13 schools ? to have their grade truly reflect their performance because they were unfairly penalized for kids they did not have in their school.?

Bennett?s resignation comes as Florida?s own school grades are being debated.

Last month, the state Board of Education voted 4-3 to add a ?safety net? that would not allow a school?s grade to drop more than one letter grade this year. The Bennett-crafted proposal was suggested after superintendents said this year?s grades would not reflect student performance as Florida implements tougher standards.

In a statement, Chartrand thanked Bennett for his service. He is calling a board meeting Friday to recommend Stewart get the interim post.

Bennett said he spoke with Bush prior to making his decision. The two remain close friends, and Bennett serves on Bush?s ?Chief?s for Change,? an education reform group.

?His opinion was that I stay,? Bennett said.

In a statement, Bush praised Bennett?s time in Indiana. ?The data is clear; thanks to Tony?s leadership children are better prepared for success,? read the statement, which was issued through Foundation for Florida?s Future, a Bush-led education reform group.

Bennett?s departure is another blow to the Department of Education, which has had three commissioners under Scott?s administration.

Former commissioner Eric Smith, who served for three years, resigned in March 2011 amid rumors that Scott was elbowing him out. ?Robinson resigned 16 months later over the handling of state testing and school-accountability systems.

Matt Dixon: (352) 233-0777

Breakout

During Tony Bennett's brief seven months as education commissioner, he has faced a handful of controversial issues.

Common core: Bennett has been working to implement a new testing system tied to national standards known as common core. The system has been hammered by conservatives, who view it as federal overreach. Legislative leaders have not asked the state to pull out of common core, but penned a letter to Bennett asking him to drop out of a consortium of state's developing a uniform test. They want Florida to develop its own test.

School grades: To avoid hundreds of schools getting "F" grades, Bennett pushed to extend a plan that would not let a school's grade drop more than one letter grade. The extension was requested by superintendents concerned school grades would be misleading as Florida implements tougher standards. Last month, the state Board of Education passed the plan on a 4-3 vote.

Reorganization: Bennett proposed to reorganize the Department of Education. Among the proposed changes was the creation of an "Innovation and Technology" division. The plan, which was in its infancy, did not include sweeping changes because state law limits how Bennett could change the department's organizational chart. The state Board of Education had urged Bennett to seek changes in law if needed.

Source: http://feeds.jacksonville.com/~r/JacksonvillecomsNewsSportsAndEntertainment/~3/f6FninzimWI/tony-bennett-steps-down-florida-education-commissioner-third-scotts

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Gold-diamond duo takes temperature of single cell

TALK about bling. Miniature diamonds more usually found in quantum computers, combined with fragments of gold, can be used to measure the temperature of individual cells. That could lead to a more accurate way to kill cancers while sparing healthy tissue ? and a new way to explore cell behaviour.

There are already ways to take a cell's temperature, using glowing proteins or carbon nanotubes. However, these lack sensitivity and accuracy because their components can react with substances inside the cell.

So Mikhail Lukin at Harvard University and colleagues turned to nanodiamonds, which have defects in their structure that mean they sometimes contain extra electrons. The tendency of these electrons to exist in many states at once, a superposition, makes nanodiamonds promising as the bits, or qubits, of a quantum computer, where superposition enables multiple calculations in parallel. However, these states vary with temperature, which is troublesome for computing.

Lukin's team wondered if this temperature dependence could instead be exploited to build a thermometer, particularly as diamonds are inert, so wouldn't interfere with a cell's chemistry.

The team used nanowires to insert diamonds about 100 nanometres across, along with gold nanoparticles, into a human cell in a dish. Shining a laser onto the cell heats it and the gold particles. The diamond, in turn, changes shape, squeezing the defect electrons and rearranging their energy levels.

Shining a different type of laser on the cell causes the electrons to absorb and then emit light with a brightness that depends on the new energy-level arrangement. The team used this light to deduce the cell's temperature.

They found they could detect temperature differences of just o.oo18 ?C inside the cell, a sensitivity record. And when they placed two diamonds in the cell, they could detect temperature variations between them, caused by their varying closeness to the gold. This should be possible even when the diamonds are just 200 nanometres apart.

The team also used the set-up to heat a cell enough to kill it, and recorded a temperature upon death. Lukin presented the work on 22 July at the Second International Conference on Quantum Technologies in Moscow, Russia, and this week in Nature (DOI: 10.1038/nature12373).

If such thermometers can be used in the body, they might improve cancer therapy, says Lukin's colleague Norman Yao. The temperatures of cancerous cells and their healthy neighbours could be monitored, and just enough heat applied to kill the cancer but not the healthy cells.

"In certain cases, particularly near critical structures such as great vessels, arteries or nerve bundles, an accurate read-out of local cellular temperature would be advantageous in the sparing of those structures," says Glenn Goodrich of Nanospectra Biosciences in Houston, Texas, a company carrying out human trials of cancer therapy based on gold nanoparticles.

Diamond thermometers could also explore cellular mysteries. "If a cell is unhappy, if it's in contact with a virus, a chemical reaction starts and it locally starts producing heat," says Lukin. "How this occurs no one understands in detail. Perhaps we can answer this question."

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AstraZeneca warns of higher costs as drug sales slide

By Ben Hirschler

LONDON (Reuters) - British drugmaker AstraZeneca warned on Thursday of higher costs in 2013 as it invests through a slump in sales caused by a wave of patent expiries on key medicines.

The prediction that operating costs will now increase by a low-to-mid single digit percentage rate this year amounts to an effective cut in earnings guidance, analysts at Jefferies said.

Deutsche Bank said consensus full-year earnings forecasts could fall by a couple of percent.

New Chief Executive Pascal Soriot is striving to turn around the business after a series of setbacks in research and a wave of patent expiries. He has warned that fixing Britain's second-biggest drugmaker will take several years.

Sales in the second quarter fell by a slightly greater-than-expected 6 percent to $6.23 billion, while earnings tumbled by nearly a quarter due to a higher tax rate.

There were, however, some bright spots, with lung drug Symbicort doing well in the United States and demand picking up for new heart drug Brilinta.

Shares in the company slipped 0.7 percent by 0825 GMT (4.25 a.m. ET), underperforming a wider London benchmark index that was up 0.2 percent.

Soriot has set out a strategy of revamping research, accelerating certain development projects and striking deals, both to acquire smaller biotech companies and license in promising new medicines.

He added the latest asset to the company's pipeline on Wednesday through a tie-up with U.S. biotech firm FibroGen potentially worth more than $815 million for rights to an experimental anaemia drug.

Sales were hit in the latest quarter by falling revenue from off-patent antipsychotic drug Seroquel, as well as growing competition to top-selling cholesterol fighter Crestor, which has lost patent protection in some countries and faces pricing pressure in the United States.

Sales of Crestor in Canada, for example, were down 77 percent after loss of exclusivity there in April 2012, although overall sales of Crestor at $1.48 billion held up better than some analysts had feared.

$500 MLN PATENT HIT

Overall, the revenue impact from products which have recently lost exclusivity amounted to around $500 million.

The group reiterated its expectation for a mid-to-high single digit percentage fall in revenue this year but said operating costs are now seen increasing by a low-to-mid single digit rate, whereas previously it had forecast costs would only be "slightly higher" than 2012.

Earnings are expected to decline significantly more than revenue in 2013, it said.

Pre-tax profit on a "core" basis, which excludes certain items, fell 12 percent to $1.94 billion, generating earnings per share down 23 percent at $1.20 a share, AstraZeneca said.

Analysts had, on average, forecast sales of $6.25 billion and earnings pre share of $1.20, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Demand for Brilinta - a new heart drug for which AstraZeneca has high hopes - picked up to $65 million from $51 million in the first quarter of 2012.

Emerging markets sales were up 12 percent, with nearly half of the improvement coming from a 21 percent increase in China.

China has been a strong growth market for AstraZeneca for many years, although prospects for Western drug companies in the country have been clouded by a recent high-profile bribery scandal involving GlaxoSmithKline.

AstraZeneca said on July 22 that police in Shanghai were questioning one of its sales representatives in what it believed was a local case involving one individual.

(Editing by Kate Holton and Tom Pfeiffer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/astrazeneca-drug-sales-fall-patent-expiries-second-quarter-062314338.html

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EA loses ruling over 'NCAA Football' likenesses

A group of former college football players can sue Redwood City company Electronic Arts over the use of their images in video games, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The company can't escape litigation by seeking protection under the First Amendment, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

The 2-1 decision upheld a federal judge's ruling in a lawsuit filed by Danville native Sam Keller, who played football at Arizona State University and the University of Nebraska from 2003 to 2007.

The court said Electronic Arts' "NCAA Football" video game uses avatars that are exact replicas of real players, down to their jersey number, build, skin tone and hair color. The game does not use the players' names.

"EA's use does not qualify for First Amendment protection as a matter of law because it literally recreates Keller in the very setting in which he has received renown," Judge Jay Bybee said in the majority opinion. "Given that 'NCAA Football' realistically portrays college football players in the context of college football games, the district court was correct in concluding that EA cannot prevail as a matter of law."

Steve Berman, an attorney for Keller, said, "We expect that when we appear before the trial court again this fall, the defendants will have a very difficult time mounting a new defense for their blatant exploitation of student-athletes."

Electronic Arts spokesman John Reseburg said the company was disappointed with the ruling and would "seek further court review."

Bybee dismissed Electronic Arts' assertions that it was protected by free speech in using publicly available biographical information about players, saying the company's case is "considerably weakened" by the fact that the games don't include players' names.

"EA can hardly be considered to be 'reporting' on Keller's career at Arizona State and Nebraska when it is not even using Keller's name," Bybee wrote.

Dissenting Judge Sidney Thomas said the ruling would jeopardize the creative use of historic figures in movies, books and sound recordings.

"Absent the use of actual footage, the motion picture 'Forrest Gump' might as well be just a box of chocolates," Thomas wrote. "Without its historical characters, 'Midnight in Paris' would be reduced to a pedestrian domestic squabble."

Source: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/EA-loses-ruling-in-NCAA-Football-suit-4699346.php

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