Supermarket tomatoes were bred to all turn light green at the same time, but what came along for that ride was a reduction in the ability to produce sugar. Cynthia Graber reports.
June 28, 2012?|
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For many people summer equals tomatoes. That?s when folks can get their hands on gorgeous heirloom and traditional varieties, full of tomatoey flavor. Such tomatoes provide a stark contrast to year-round supermarket ones, famous for tasting like, well, nothing. They?ve been bred for uniform color and ripening ? not for taste.
Now scientists have determined just what?s genetically missing in store-bought tomatoes.
The researchers honed in on two transcription factors. Transcription factors are proteins that control the expression of genes ? in this case they?re necessary for the production of chloroplasts, which allow sunlight to generate sugars and other compounds.
Darker green tomato fruit expresses genes that make possible increased photosynthesis?and so the fruits are able to produce more sugars for a tastier end product. But typical supermarket tomatoes, which had been bred to all turn light green at the same time, were also accidentally bred with reduced chloroplasts?and thus reduced sugar content. The research was published in the journal Science. [Ann L.T. Powell et al, Uniform ripening Encodes a Golden 2-like Transcription Factor Regulating Tomato Fruit Chloroplast Development]
The scientists say understanding the genes involved in better flavor could enable growers to offer tastier supermarket varieties. So that when you say tomato, I can say tomato or tomahto instead of blech.
VENTURE capital group 3i is cutting more than 160 jobs as part of plans to save up to ?45 million a year in costs.
The group, which owns companies including the Agent Provocateur lingerie chain, said it would reduce global staff by a third as part of a major turnaround plan.
Its office in Birmingham will be closed within six months under the restructure.
Recently appointed chief executive Simon Borrows said a further five offices overseas will be shut, reducing the number to 13. The company declined to say how many of the 160 job losses will come from the UK, but it is understood some support staff in its head office in London are at risk.
3i, which also owns fashion chain Hobbs, retailer Go Outdoors and restaurant business Giraffe, has seen its share price almost halve in recent months and previous boss Michael Queen stepped down earlier this year. Borrows said his plans would get 3i back on track by removing complexity and making it more dynamic.
He added: ?The business today is too decentralised and lacks focus and consistency. 3i will be a fitter and more focused organisation.?
Jonathan Jackson, head of equities at stockbroker Killik Co, said the announcement ?should be well received by shareholders?.
?The big issue of misalignment between low external fee income and high operating costs is being addressed,? he said. Shares in 3i, which has backed household names such as Interflora and Pinewood film studios, closed up 5.8p at 197.1p last night.
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BRUSSELS (AP) ? Europe's leaders finally rose to the challenge Friday, backing bold ideas to help weak countries and frail banks ravaged by a debt crisis that has crippled economic growth and threatened the global financial system.
Markets roared their approval after leaders of the 27 European Union countries agreed on an aggressive plan to fix the financial crisis.
For the first time in 19 summits since the start of the crisis, the EU leaders declared they would:
? Centralize regulation of European banks and, if necessary, bail them out directly, instead of funneling loans through governments that already have too much debt.
? Ease borrowing costs on Italy and Spain, the euro region's third- and fourth-largest economies.
? Stop mandating painful budget cuts to every country in need of emergency financial aid.
?Tie their budgets, currency and governments more tightly.
The decisions made at the EU summit in Brussels won't end the crisis that has gripped Europe for nearly three years. Plenty of questions remain about how the bank bailouts would work, whether there's enough money committed to rescue banks and governments and whether impoverished, indebted Greece will be forced out of the 17-nation euro club.
But for EU leaders who have consistently underwhelmed their exasperated publics and nervous financial markets, Friday's efforts marked a breakthrough.
The prime minister of Ireland ? one of the five eurozone countries that have required emergency funds ? said the plans marked a "seismic shift in European policy." British Prime Minister David Cameron said that "for the first time in some time we have actually seen steps ... to get ahead of the game."
There was an immediate sign that Europe's latest plan was easing fear in financial markets: The cost for the troubled government of Spain to borrow fell dramatically. The interest rate, or yield, on the country's 10-year bonds fell by more than half a percentage point, to 6.34 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average recorded its second-biggest gain of the year, and stocks advanced even further in Europe ? in strong and weak countries alike. The benchmark stock index in Germany rose 4.3 percent, by far its best performance this year. Germany has the biggest economy in Europe, and a warm reaction there was a crucial sign of approval for the plan. Prices for oil and other commodities shot higher, another sign that the plan may remove a big barrier to a healthier economy.
At first it looked like the summit would produce little more than a modest plan to stimulate growth in Europe. But Italy and Spain, whose borrowing costs have soared to dangerous levels, refused to sign off on the $150 billion spending plan unless something was done to ease their financial burdens.
After an all-night standoff, the leaders agreed to expand the use of Europe's bailout funds ? and do so without imposing strict austerity measures on countries that are meeting existing pledges to control spending. The bailout money could be used to buy bonds to drive down a country's borrowing costs. Or it could be loaned directly to troubled banks, which EU leaders said would help break "the vicious cycle" in which weak banks and weak governments threaten to drag each other down.
Previously, European leaders insisted that the two bailout funds be used only to rescue governments ? like Ireland, Portugal and Greece. If money was going to be used for troubled banks, it had to first go to a government. But that added to the debt on a government's books because it was responsible for repaying the money.
The bids to rescue banks ended up raising fears about the ailing governments; Spain's borrowing costs rose dramatically two weeks ago after the eurozone countries agreed to lend it $125 billion to rescue its banks.
The EU also called for a single regulator ? probably the European Central Bank ? to oversee Europe's banks. Currently, banks are regulated by their national governments and some countries have been slow to recognize loan problems and shut down their worst banks.
As part of a broad "banking union," the new regulator will likely get power to close failing banks if their national regulators won't do it. The plan is also expected to include deposit insurance across Europe. Individual European countries now insure bank deposits within their borders. But bank failures could overwhelm those national funds.
The bank overhaul is supposed to be completed by the end of the year.
The leaders said they were committed to linking their countries closer together economically and politically, but didn't discuss how. Such integration would likely require countries to give up some of their taxing and spending powers to a European budget authority.
Most analysts cheered the EU plans but worried about the questions left unanswered. And they said the bailout funds are too small to handle the tasks that could be thrown at them.
Europe's two bailout funds have a combined $625 billion in lending power; up to $125 billion of that is already committed to helping Spain bail out its banks. The remaining $500 billion looks small compared with $3.1 trillion in Spanish and Italian bonds outstanding.
The solution hovering in the background, say some economists, is the European Central Bank. The ECB could buy any amount of government bonds, backed if need be by the bank's theoretically limitless power to create money. So far the bank has been unwilling to take this step, which could violate its mandate to fight inflation and a ban on central bank financing of national governments. The ECB's next policy meeting is Thursday in Frankfurt.
The summit deal leaves out crucial details of just how any bank bailouts would work. Would bank creditors have to take a loss on their investments, or would taxpayers foot the whole bill? The deal didn't specify.
If the banking regulator and a rescue fund take ownership stakes in failed banks, manage those stakes in the taxpayer interest while forcing losses on shareholders and creditors, it could be positive, said Clemens Fuest, an expert in public finance at Oxford University's Said Business School.
Otherwise, simply charging taxpayers could be "a huge burden on growth in Europe for a very long time," Clemens said.
___
McHugh contributed from Frankfurt, Germany. Shawn Pogatchnik in Dublin, David Springer in London and Robert Wielaard in Brussels contributed to this report.
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, joined by other House GOP leaders, meets with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 27, 2012, following a political strategy session. Boehner defended the contempt of Congress vote against Attorney General Eric Holder, commented on the looming Supreme Court decision on the health care, and updated progress on student loans and the transportation bill. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, joined by other House GOP leaders, meets with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 27, 2012, following a political strategy session. Boehner defended the contempt of Congress vote against Attorney General Eric Holder, commented on the looming Supreme Court decision on the health care, and updated progress on student loans and the transportation bill. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Finding rare political accommodation on the cusp of a holiday recess, Congress passed legislation Friday designed to salvage 2.8 million jobs and shield students from a sharp increase in loan interest rates.
The legislation, which also revamps highway and transit programs and shores up the federal flood insurance program, now goes to the White House for President Barack Obama's signatures.
Lawmakers trying to leave town for a weeklong Fourth of July recess had been facing twin deadlines: Federal highway and transit aid programs and the government's authority to levy federal fuel taxes were expiring Saturday. And interest rates on new student loans were set to double on Sunday.
The burst of legislating came just four months before the November elections, giving lawmakers achievements to show off to voters who have increasingly held Congress in low esteem while the economy continues to flounder.
"We have a bill that will boost this economy. We have a bill that is supported by conservatives and liberals, progressives and moderates. I think it's a great day," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who led Senate negotiations on the transportation portion of the package.
Boxer estimated the bill would save about 1.8 million jobs by keeping aid for highway and transit construction flowing to states and create another 1 million jobs by using federal loan guarantees to leverage private sector investment in infrastructure projects.
Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said: "Probably millions would have been put out of work if we hadn't acted."
Not all lawmakers were happy.
"At least it's not as bad as our Republican colleagues wanted," complained Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., who has championed bike and pedestrian programs that the measure would squeeze. "But make no mistake, it is not a bill to be proud of."
In the bargaining that led up to an agreement on the package earlier this week, House Republicans gave up their demands that the bill require approval of the contentious Keystone XL oil pipeline and block federal regulation of toxic waste generated by coal-fired power plants. Democrats gave ground on environmental protections and biking, pedestrian and safety programs.
The bill consolidates various transportation programs and reduces the number of programs by two-thirds. States would have more flexibility on how they spend transportation aid. It also revamps rules on environmental studies of the potential impact of highway projects, with an aim toward cutting in half the time it takes to complete construction projects. And the measure contains an array of safety initiatives, including requirements that would make it more likely passengers would survive a tour bus crash.
"It doesn't have everything," Mica said. But "we were able to do more with less and move transportation for the nation forward."
The bill would spend about $100 billion on federal highway programs over two years, but puts off the politically tricky decision on how to pay for them after that.
The federal 18.4 cent-a-gallon gasoline tax and 24.4 cent-a-gallon diesel tax are no longer enough to pay for current spending on highway and transit programs. And two commissions and an array of private sector experts have said the U.S. should be spending about twice as much or more on its transportation infrastructure as it does now.
But Congress and the White House have refused to discuss raising fuel taxes or an alternative long-term source of money. The federal trust funds that pay for highway and transit programs are forecast to be nearly broke by the time the bill expires.
"When the bill expires we face a high cliff from which the program could fall," said Erich Zimmerman, a policy analyst with Taxpayers for Common Sense.
The fuel taxes are not indexed for inflation and haven't been increased since 1993, so their buying power has steadily eroded. Also, cars and trucks today are more fuel-efficient and the number of miles driven has flattened, resulting in less gas tax revenue. Since 2008, Congress has three times dipped into the national general treasury to borrow a total of $34.5 billion to keep transportation programs going.
Congressional bargainers reached an agreement earlier this week on the $6 billion college loan portion of the bill that would avert a doubling of interest rates beginning Sunday on federal loans to 7.4 million students. The current 3.4 percent interest rate on subsidized Stafford loans would balloon back to 6.8 percent on Sunday under a cost-saving maneuver contained in a 2007 law.
About $20 billion of the measure's cost is paid for by making changes in companies' pension calculations that will reduce their tax deductions, and increasing the payments businesses must make to insure their pension programs.
The bill also extends the federal flood insurance program to protect 5.6 million households and businesses. It addresses a shortfall arising from claims after 2005's Hurricane Katrina by reducing insurance subsidies for vacation homes and allowing for increases in premiums.
The measure also requires that 80 percent of fines for violations of the Clean Water Act as a result of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will go to a trust fund for Gulf Coast states damaged by the spill.
____
Follow Joan Lowy at http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy
Computing advances vital to sustainability efforts; new report recommends problem-focused, iterative approach to researchPublic release date: 29-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lorin Hancock news@nas.edu 202-334-2138 National Academy of Sciences
WASHINGTON Innovation in computing will be essential to finding real-world solutions to sustainability challenges in such areas as electricity production and delivery, global food production, and climate change. The immense scale, numerous interconnected effects of actions over time, and diverse scope of these challenges require the ability to collect, structure, and analyze vast amounts of data. A new report from the National Research Council says that advances in computing -- such as ones that allow us to make trade-offs, understand complex systems and their connections, and account for uncertainty -- will be critical to meeting sustainability challenges.
"These problems are as complex as they are important; we need to engage deeply across disciplines to have any hope of meeting global sustainability challenges," said Deborah Estrin, professor of computer science at the University of California, Los Angeles, and chair of the committee that wrote the report. "The urgency of these problems means that we must begin to deploy our 'best-of-breed' approaches immediately to put our critical societal infrastructures on a digital plane. This will give us a chance to start creating opportunities for transformative efficiency gains, deep scientific understanding, and informed evolution of the associated political and economic systems."
The report uses smart energy grids, sustainable agriculture, and resilient infrastructure as examples to illustrate the potential impact of advances in computing. In each example, the report shows how information, data management, and computational approaches can be used to weigh costs and benefits of alternative approaches, minimize the risks of failures and disaster, and cut waste and unnecessary redundancy. For instance, in the case of a smarter energy grid, better data management will enhance understanding of the energy supply and demand chain in ways that could foster substantial reductions in overall demand and more use of renewable energy sources.
The report recommends working toward these complex and challenging sustainability goals from the bottom up. By solving particular pressing problems, researchers can identify and improve approaches that can then be applied broadly. Past efforts in computer science research, such as Internet protocols, machine learning, and databases are successful examples of this problem-focused, iterative approach that can stimulate dramatic change.
An ultimate goal of applying computer science to sustainability is to inform, support, facilitate, and even automate decision making, the report says. Four broad research areas in computer science are crucial to attaining this goal: measurement and instrumentation; information-intensive systems; modeling, simulation, and optimization; and human-centered systems. Efforts in each will be needed, often in tandem. Since these areas correspond to established research areas in computer science, the research community is well-positioned to make progress.
The report stresses that computer science research in sustainability must be an interdisciplinary effort, with experts in the various fields of sustainability being equal partners in research. To further that end, undergraduate and graduate education in computer sciences should provide experience across disciplinary boundaries. Programs should include tracks that offer course work in areas such as life-cycle analysis, agriculture, ecology, natural resource management, economics, and urban planning.
The committee was encouraged by the establishment of Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) as a National Science Foundation area of investment. With an emphasis on interdisciplinary efforts, the program provides an opportunity to put the recommended principles of this report into practice at NSF and can be used as a model for computer scientists who wish to further their research in a sustainability-oriented problem space.
###
The study was sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies. They are private, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under a congressional charter. The Research Council is the principal operating agency of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. For more information, visit http://national-academies.org. A committee roster follows.
Contacts:
Lorin Hancock, Media Relations Officer
Luwam Yeibio, Media Relations Assistant
Office of News and Public Information
202-334-2138; e-mail news@nas.edu
Pre-publication copies of Computing Research for Sustainability are available from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at http://www.nap.edu. Reporters may obtain a copy from the Office of News and Public Information (contacts listed above).
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences
Computer Science and Telecommunications Board
Committee on Computing Research for Environmental and Societal Sustainability
Deborah L. Estrin* (chair)
Professor of Computer Science
University of California
Los Angeles
Alan Borning
Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
University of Washington
Seattle
David E. Culler*
Professor and Chair
Computer Science Division
University of California
Berkeley
Thomas G. Dietterich
Professor and
Director of Intelligent Systems Research
School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Oregon State University
Corvallis
Daniel M. Kammen
Professor
Energy and Resources Group
University of California
Berkeley
Jennifer Mankoff
Associate Professor
Human Computer Interaction Institute
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh
Roger D. Peng
Associate Professor
Department of Biostatistics
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Baltimore
Andreas Vogel
Vice President
Global Business Incubator
SAP Labs
Palo Alto, Calif.
RESEARCH COUNCIL STAFF
Lynette I. Millett
Study Director
* Member, National Academy of Engineering
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Computing advances vital to sustainability efforts; new report recommends problem-focused, iterative approach to researchPublic release date: 29-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lorin Hancock news@nas.edu 202-334-2138 National Academy of Sciences
WASHINGTON Innovation in computing will be essential to finding real-world solutions to sustainability challenges in such areas as electricity production and delivery, global food production, and climate change. The immense scale, numerous interconnected effects of actions over time, and diverse scope of these challenges require the ability to collect, structure, and analyze vast amounts of data. A new report from the National Research Council says that advances in computing -- such as ones that allow us to make trade-offs, understand complex systems and their connections, and account for uncertainty -- will be critical to meeting sustainability challenges.
"These problems are as complex as they are important; we need to engage deeply across disciplines to have any hope of meeting global sustainability challenges," said Deborah Estrin, professor of computer science at the University of California, Los Angeles, and chair of the committee that wrote the report. "The urgency of these problems means that we must begin to deploy our 'best-of-breed' approaches immediately to put our critical societal infrastructures on a digital plane. This will give us a chance to start creating opportunities for transformative efficiency gains, deep scientific understanding, and informed evolution of the associated political and economic systems."
The report uses smart energy grids, sustainable agriculture, and resilient infrastructure as examples to illustrate the potential impact of advances in computing. In each example, the report shows how information, data management, and computational approaches can be used to weigh costs and benefits of alternative approaches, minimize the risks of failures and disaster, and cut waste and unnecessary redundancy. For instance, in the case of a smarter energy grid, better data management will enhance understanding of the energy supply and demand chain in ways that could foster substantial reductions in overall demand and more use of renewable energy sources.
The report recommends working toward these complex and challenging sustainability goals from the bottom up. By solving particular pressing problems, researchers can identify and improve approaches that can then be applied broadly. Past efforts in computer science research, such as Internet protocols, machine learning, and databases are successful examples of this problem-focused, iterative approach that can stimulate dramatic change.
An ultimate goal of applying computer science to sustainability is to inform, support, facilitate, and even automate decision making, the report says. Four broad research areas in computer science are crucial to attaining this goal: measurement and instrumentation; information-intensive systems; modeling, simulation, and optimization; and human-centered systems. Efforts in each will be needed, often in tandem. Since these areas correspond to established research areas in computer science, the research community is well-positioned to make progress.
The report stresses that computer science research in sustainability must be an interdisciplinary effort, with experts in the various fields of sustainability being equal partners in research. To further that end, undergraduate and graduate education in computer sciences should provide experience across disciplinary boundaries. Programs should include tracks that offer course work in areas such as life-cycle analysis, agriculture, ecology, natural resource management, economics, and urban planning.
The committee was encouraged by the establishment of Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) as a National Science Foundation area of investment. With an emphasis on interdisciplinary efforts, the program provides an opportunity to put the recommended principles of this report into practice at NSF and can be used as a model for computer scientists who wish to further their research in a sustainability-oriented problem space.
###
The study was sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies. They are private, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under a congressional charter. The Research Council is the principal operating agency of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. For more information, visit http://national-academies.org. A committee roster follows.
Contacts:
Lorin Hancock, Media Relations Officer
Luwam Yeibio, Media Relations Assistant
Office of News and Public Information
202-334-2138; e-mail news@nas.edu
Pre-publication copies of Computing Research for Sustainability are available from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at http://www.nap.edu. Reporters may obtain a copy from the Office of News and Public Information (contacts listed above).
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences
Computer Science and Telecommunications Board
Committee on Computing Research for Environmental and Societal Sustainability
Deborah L. Estrin* (chair)
Professor of Computer Science
University of California
Los Angeles
Alan Borning
Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
University of Washington
Seattle
David E. Culler*
Professor and Chair
Computer Science Division
University of California
Berkeley
Thomas G. Dietterich
Professor and
Director of Intelligent Systems Research
School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Oregon State University
Corvallis
Daniel M. Kammen
Professor
Energy and Resources Group
University of California
Berkeley
Jennifer Mankoff
Associate Professor
Human Computer Interaction Institute
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh
Roger D. Peng
Associate Professor
Department of Biostatistics
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Baltimore
Andreas Vogel
Vice President
Global Business Incubator
SAP Labs
Palo Alto, Calif.
RESEARCH COUNCIL STAFF
Lynette I. Millett
Study Director
* Member, National Academy of Engineering
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
FILE This Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009 file photo shows England's David Beckham applauding the crowd after their World Cup group 6 qualifying soccer match against Belarus at Wembley Stadium, London. Former England captain David Beckham has failed to make the British football team for the London Olympics. The Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder made Britain coach Stuart Pearce's shortlist of 35 but wasn't selected for the final 18-man squad as one of three players over the age of 23 allowed to compete in the games. "Everyone knows how much playing for my country has always meant to me, so I would have been honored to have been part of this unique Team GB squad," the 37-year-old Beckham said Thursday June 28, 2012 in a statement to The Associated Press.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
FILE This Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009 file photo shows England's David Beckham applauding the crowd after their World Cup group 6 qualifying soccer match against Belarus at Wembley Stadium, London. Former England captain David Beckham has failed to make the British football team for the London Olympics. The Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder made Britain coach Stuart Pearce's shortlist of 35 but wasn't selected for the final 18-man squad as one of three players over the age of 23 allowed to compete in the games. "Everyone knows how much playing for my country has always meant to me, so I would have been honored to have been part of this unique Team GB squad," the 37-year-old Beckham said Thursday June 28, 2012 in a statement to The Associated Press.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
FILE This file photo of Friday May 18, 2012 shows Britain's David Beckham holding the Olympic torch during the ceremony to mark the arrival of the Olympic flame to Britain from Greece, at RNAS Culdrose, in Cornwall, England. Former England captain David Beckham has failed to make the British football team for the London Olympics. The Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder made Britain coach Stuart Pearce's shortlist of 35 but wasn't selected for the final 18-man squad as one of three players over the age of 23 allowed to compete in the games. "Everyone knows how much playing for my country has always meant to me, so I would have been honored to have been part of this unique Team GB squad," the 37-year-old Beckham said Thursday June 28, 2012 in a statement to The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
FILE This Saturday, June 2, 2012 file photo shows England's David Beckham in a special half-time ceremony to honor the five players that have played for England over 100 times each during the international friendly soccer match between England and Belgium at Wembley Stadium in London. Former England captain David Beckham has failed to make the British football team for the London Olympics. The Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder made Britain coach Stuart Pearce's shortlist of 35 but wasn't selected for the final 18-man squad as one of three players over the age of 23 allowed to compete in the games. "Everyone knows how much playing for my country has always meant to me, so I would have been honored to have been part of this unique Team GB squad," the 37-year-old Beckham said Thursday June 28, 2012 in a statement to The Associated Press.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
LONDON (AP) ? Bending free kicks. Hollywood looks. National hero.
David Beckham ? Britain's most famous sportsman ? seemed destined to be a headliner at the London Olympics.
Not on the soccer field.
The former England captain failed to make the British Olympic team, a surprise snub for a local lad who helped secure the games for his city and worked tirelessly to promote them.
"Naturally, I am very disappointed," Beckham said Thursday after being notified that he hadn't been selected for the final 18-man squad. "But there will be no bigger supporter of the team than me."
The Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder had made Britain's 35-man preliminary shortlist and seemed certain to win one of the three places allowed for players over the age of 23. Instead, he was informed by coach Stuart Pearce that he hadn't made the final squad.
"Everyone knows how much playing for my country has always meant to me, so I would have been honored to have been part of this unique Team GB squad," the 37-year-old Beckham said in a statement Thursday.
Beckham's ties to the Olympics go back to 2005 when he joined the bid team run by Sebastian Coe for the competition against Paris, Madrid, New York and Moscow. He was with the team in Singapore when London beat Paris in the final round of voting, adding credibility not just as a celebrity but as an east London native.
Since then, Beckham has taken part in countless Olympic activities. He even accompanied the Olympic flame on a flight from Greece to England last month and lit a cauldron signaling the start of the British torch relay.
"David has been an extraordinary supporter, probably our No. 1 supporter, of the games from the very beginning and is keen to continue his enthusiastic support right to the end," Coe said.
He indicated there could still be a role for Beckham, though not in a sporting capacity.
"He really gets this," Coe said. "He is from east London and knows how important the games and sport are to young people. He is a great role model and we are lucky to have such an advocate. I will be talking to him about a games-time role."
British bookmaker Ladbrokes slashed the odds on Beckham being given the honor of lighting the Olympic flame at the July 27 opening ceremony, making him 5-1. Five-time rowing gold medalist Steve Redgrave is the 1-2 favorite. The Olympic Stadium is located near Leytonstone, where Beckham was born.
For his part, Beckham has so far only said he hopes to attend the Olympics and support Britain's athletes.
"As a Londoner, I will have been really proud to have played a small part in bringing the Olympics to my home town as part of Seb's team, and I can't wait for the games to begin and enjoy every moment along with the rest of Great Britain," Beckham said.
Beckham's absence from the team will come as a big disappointment to his fans around the world.
Laura Robson, who lost a first-round doubles match at Wimbledon on Thursday with fellow British partner Heather Watson, said: "Obviously, I'm disappointed that he's not going to be joining myself and Heather in the Olympic Village."
Then she jokingly added: "Won't be able to stalk him."
The decision by Pearce to omit Beckham almost certainly spells the end of his career representing his country. He has made 115 England appearances, with the last coming in 2009.
Former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, who made a record 125 appearances for the national team, backed Pearce's decision to omit Beckham.
"He's been a fantastic player over the years, certainly when he was at his peak, but he's nowhere the player he was," Shilton said on British television. "It would have been great from a publicity point of view, but Stuart Pearce obviously feels he'd struggle in that type of tournament."
The Olympics would have provided Beckham with a last chance to win an international trophy, the only triumph to elude a player who has won domestic league titles in England and Spain, the Champions League and the MLS Cup.
Despite Beckham's best efforts, including a prolonged spell as captain, England remains without a trophy since winning the 1966 World Cup on home soil.
Being dropped from the team means Beckham won't get a chance to reunite with former Manchester United teammate Ryan Giggs on the international stage when Britain fields its first Olympic soccer team since 1960.
Giggs, fellow Welshman Craig Bellamy and English defender Micah Richards will be the overage players in the squad, a person familiar with the situation said. He spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because details of the squad haven't been publicly released.
It appears that Beckham lost his place to the 24-year-old Richards, who plays for Manchester City and will provide extra defensive cover after missing out on England's European Championship squad.
The 32-year-old Bellamy is a forward at Liverpool who, like Giggs and Richards, has never appeared at a major international soccer tournament.
The British Olympic Association said it had not yet been informed by the English Football Association, which is running the team, that Beckham had been overlooked by Pearce. The coach had traveled to the United States to assess Beckham's form and fitness in Major League Soccer.
"We are expecting the list no later than the early part of next week," the BOA said in a statement.
Britain plays its opening match on July 26 against Senegal at Old Trafford, where Beckham spent his 10-year career with United before joining Real Madrid in 2003. He moved to the Galaxy four years later.
Britain then faces the United Arab Emirates three days later at Wembley and Uruguay on Aug. 1 at the Millennium Stadium.
Britain has not fielded an Olympic soccer team since 1960 because Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland feared losing their independence within FIFA. The world body has assured the federations that their status won't be affected by participating in the 16-team competition at the London Games.
___
Huggins reported from Warsaw, Poland. AP Sports Writers Steve Douglas and Howard Fendrich in Wimbledon, England, contributed to this report.
Are you presently a newbie in terms of physical fitness? If you are dropped in regards of how to start to learn how to do it, then you usually are not on your own in whatever way. That is a completely logical sensation to get, although the solution is under. Go through these tips to learn how to go into exercise.
You must make your exercises to your small beneath an hour. Right after sixty a few minutes the entire body will begin to make a hormone known as cortisol which may have a testosterone preventing result. This hormone will lessen the potency of your workout for every second spent doing exercises more than 1 hour. Save time and obtain a similar outcomes.
Placing targets is a sensible way to measure private accomplishment inside your fitness plan. Would you like to be involved in a marathon, exercise five days per week or perhaps move round the neighborhood without having collapsing? After you satisfy your goal, then set up yet another objective to satisfy. You may be so amazed how straightforward it is to accomplish them. It is not as hard when you consider.
Exercise isn?t a thing that actually must be done at the gym. Fitness is all about regularity! A very good thing to perform to obtain in shape and not overwhelm on your own, is an every day 1 hour move. For those in the bulkier end from the range, you?ll be surprised by the amount difference a 1 60 minutes stroll daily can make.
Invest in an Music player to use in the course of workouts. By doing this you will almost always be in a position to track to tunes that motivates you. You might not be in to the audio that they engage in in your health club, but when you have your MP3player and earphones, there is definitely not a challenge.
When instruction with weight loads, you should not use a weight raising buckle. Using a weight buckle will, over time, gradually damage your lower-back and abdominal muscles. Instruction without a buckle will raise the power of your back again and abdominal muscles and force you to elevate with appropriate technique and kind.
You can actually trick your system into convinced that it offers picked up more weight than you truly have. This can be done by changing your emphasis entirely to your master hands. This by some means results in an attitude you are much stronger so you can raise more weight. Convinced that way can force you to basically have the ability to lift excess fat to help you boost some great benefits of your workout.
Whatever exercise regimen you select, make sure you consist of cardiovascular-vascular workout. Staying cardiovascular system and lung healthier is very important, and a cardio exercise exercise is going to do exactly that for your health. Attempt to do 30 minutes of cardiovascular or cardio exercise a minimum of three times every week. This could get the sort of working, bicycling, utilizing a treadmill or elliptical machine, or swimming. Remember never to overdo it. If you locate yourself short of inhale, you ought to have a break till your pulse rate decelerates.
Fitness is not really as complicated as it is made to be. Certain it could be completely competitive, however it doesn?t need to be. It may in fact be a private process. Since you now understand a bit more of methods to make it happen and where to start, go give it a go.
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[ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]
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Google has announced its first venture into the competitive tablet market, with the launch of its first device, the Nexus 7.
The new tablet was unveiled by Google during an event at the search engine giant?s developer conference, held in San Francisco this week.
With a high definition seven-inch screen, a super fast ?quad-core? processor, the latest Android operating system and nine hours of continuous video playback, the Nexus 7 is an impressive debut into the tablet market from Google.
It is clear that Google are aiming to usurp their tablet rivals with this device, particularly Apple and their ever popular iPad. The 8GB model of the Google Nexus 7 will be retailing in Britain for just ?159, compared to the ?399 you would have to shell out for a 16GB iPad, the lowest spec in the range.
However, Google will also have to do battle with a number of other tablet devices, most notably the Amazon Fire, which has been on the market for a while without making too many waves, and the Microsoft Surface, also unveiled this week and seen as a viable contender to challenge Apple?s tablet domination.
Google?s Hugo Berra said at the launch: ?It has always been a goal of the Nexus programme to provide the best experience. We wanted to design a ?Best of Google? experience. The Nexus 7 is made for Google Play, your content is front and centre.?
Director and actor Woody Allen's new film is sweet but not particularly memorable.
By Peter Rainer,?Film critic / June 27, 2012
'To Rome with Love' boasts a star-studded cast that includes actors Alec Baldwin (l.) and Jesse Eisenberg (r.), among others.
Philippe Antonello/Sony Pictures Classics/AP
Enlarge
Woody Allen has been globe-hopping for a while now; and in ?To Rome with Love,? he?s alighted upon the Eternal City ? with very mixed results. He himself plays a role in the film as an uncomfortably retired opera director who flies with his wife (Judy Davis) to Rome to meet his future son-in-law and discovers that the boy?s undertaker father (Fabio Armiliato) has a great singing voice ? but only when he?s singing in the shower.
Allen interweaves a complicated cross section of stories into the mix, including one involving Jesse Eisenberg as a budding architect smitten by the seductive friend (Ellen Page) of his girlfriend, played by Greta Gerwig. (The actresses should have swapped roles.) Pen?lope Cruz is amusing, in an early Sophia Loren kind of way, as a hooker with a heart of fool?s gold. It?s all rather sweet but instantly evanescent. Grade: B- (Rated R for some sexual references.)
Forget patches: gene therapy could suppress cigarette cravings by preventing the brain from receiving nicotine. The treatment is effective in mice, but with gene therapy still not fully tested in people, human trials and treatments are a long way off.
For drug users who really can't quit, vaccination might one day be an option, and several groups have attempted to develop such treatments.
But nicotine vaccines have mostly flopped. This is because nicotine is a very small molecule, so the immune system has difficulty recognising the drug and making antibodies that bind it. Physicians can inject antibodies directly into a patient, but this treatment quickly becomes expensive because the antibodies don't last long.
Ronald Crystal of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York and his team decided to bypass that problem by putting the gene for a nicotine antibody right into the body.
They selected the strongest antibody against nicotine from a mouse and isolated the gene that produced it. They then placed this gene into a carrier called adeno-associated virus (AAV), which is widely used for gene therapy.
When the researchers injected the virus and its cargo into nicotine-addicted mice, the rodents' livers took up the virus, began making antibodies and pumped them into the bloodstream. The researchers injected two cigarettes' worth of nicotine into AAV-infected mice. The antibodies were able to bind 83 per cent of the drug before it reached the brain.
Different response
Without their drug, the mice's behaviour changed. Nicotine usually causes mice to "chill out", Crystal says, but the researchers found that the treated mice stayed active and their heart rates stayed normal when they received nicotine.
Eighteen weeks later, the mice's livers were still making the antibody, suggesting that the therapy might render nicotine useless to smokers for long periods.
Jude Samulski at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who was part of the team that developed AAV as a gene therapy vector, says he's "ecstatic" that the vector has come so far. He calls the research "a gorgeous piece of work" that has "leapfrogged" the difficulties faced by vaccines.
But he has doubts about whether gene therapy is well-tested enough to be used to treat nicotine addiction. So far, AAV has been clinically tested in people with HIV or terminal cancer where potential benefits far outweigh the risks. "It's ahead of its time. In 10 years there may be enough safety data," he says. "Quitting smoking might be easier."
Thomas Kosten of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, shares those doubts. Unlike patients with terminal diseases, "smokers are normal people with decades of life ahead of them", he says, and gene therapy can be risky. He believes that a better, safer vaccine will be developed by the time this system passes safety tests.
Crystal agrees that human studies are many years away: the next step is to test the vector in primates. In the meantime, he says, the same model could be useful to develop gene therapies for methamphetamine, cocaine or any addictive drug.
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Moksha Amber Lager Beer is currently distributed at Indian restaurants in San Francisco and should be expanding to other markets by the end of the year. I think you all will really like what this beer is about and what the company is trying to do. Trying to help bring up the image of India and Indian beer worldwide. Would appreciate your support by checking out the Facebook fan page and liking it. Be sure to spread the word to all your friends! THX
So what do you your marketing plans look like for the next year? If you?re like the majority of small- to medium-sized businesses, they include putting together a mobile marketing campaign and making your move onto those smaller (but increasingly profitable) screens. And if they don?t, well, maybe they should!
Earlier this week, eMarketer commented on a survey from Strongmail which found that 75 percent of marketers without a current mobile strategy have plans to develop one within the next year. Strongmail?s 2012 Mobile Marketing survey found that 14 percent of business owners plan to dive into mobile within the next six months, 29 percent in the next 6-12 months, and 32 percent will do it in the next year or more.
It?s worth noting that even the marketers currently putting off mobile know they have only have a short window where they?ll be able to ignore this trend. The world and the market are becoming increasingly mobile-reliant. If you want your customers to be able to find you, your business must go where they are. And they?re on the move.
There?s no getting around it.
For businesses already investing in the mobile revolution, 70 percent are doing so with mobile Web sites; 55 percent are building mobile applications; and surprisingly, nearly 50 percent have experimented with QR codes.
While just 40 percent of respondents said they?re using paid mobile advertising today, you can expect this area to grow significantly over the next year, especially if Google and Facebook have anything to say about it.
Earlier this month, Google announced it would finally be integrating AdMob?s mobile display ads, which appear in more than 300,000 apps on phones, into its AdWords platform. The new integration will make it considerably easier for SMBs to purchase mobile ads since they?ll be to do it directly within AdWords, the same place they?re purchasing other types of paid advertising.
Facebook has also automated mobile-ad buying to make it easier and faster for businesses to purchase mobile ad inventory.
Of course, the Strongmail data has now been corroborated by multiple other sources.
For example, the Small Business Mobile Survey, released in May, indicated that while 69 percent of SMBs view mobile as a significant growth source for the future, only 26 percent currently have a mobile-friendly Web site today and just 14 percent having a standalone mobile site. Interestingly, however, of those that do have a standalone site, 84 percent said they had seen an increase in new business due to these mobile marketing efforts.
But, again, even these business owners know they can?t ignore mobile forever, with 64 percent saying they plan to spend more in mobile marketing this year. They?re motivated to get involved by the ability to provide better service to existing customers, attract more local customers, and gain a competitive advantage.
It truly is the time for mobile. If you haven?t dove into the mobile waters yet, now?s the time to jump. The water?s just heating up.
Image credit: stockbroker / 123RF Stock Photo
About the Author
Lisa Barone is a noted writer, content marketer and social strategist. She has been a trusted voice in the search world since 2006 and is most known for her brutally honest search observations. She has been featured on sites like The New York Times, Inc. Magazine, PBS, Duct Tape Marketing, Copyblogger and many others. Lisa blogs irregularly at VoiceInterrupted.
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Lisa Barone is a noted writer, content marketer and social strategist. She has been a trusted voice in the search world since 2006 and is most known for her brutally honest search observations. She has been featured on sites like The New York Times, Inc. Magazine, PBS, Duct Tape Marketing, Copyblogger and many others. Lisa blogs irregularly at VoiceInterrupted. 
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