Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Linagliptin: Once again, no proof of added benefit

Linagliptin: Once again, no proof of added benefit [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 30-Jan-2013
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Contact: Anna-Sabine Ernst
presse@iqwig.de
49-221-356-850
Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care

Even from the new dossier, no added benefit can be derived/No suitable studies submitted

Linagliptin (trade name Trajenta) has been approved since August 2011 to improve blood glucose control in adults with type 2 diabetes. The assessment of the new dossier according to the German Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG) again showed that no added benefit of the drug over the appropriate comparator therapy (ACT) can be determined, because the pharmaceutical company has not submitted any relevant studies. This is the conclusion of the report by the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) published on 3rd December 2012.

First assessment negative because the comparator therapy deviated from the one specified

In its first early benefit assessment dated January 2012, IQWiG was unable to determine any added benefit because the pharmaceutical company (Boehringer Ingelheim) had chosen sitagliptin as comparator therapy in its first dossier instead of the ACT (a sulfonylurea) specified by the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA). A decision based on the IQWiG report was made by the G-BA on 29th March 2012.

Company can submit a new dossier in the transitional period

On the basis of an exemption clause since enshrined in the German Social Code Book V (35a Paragraph 5b), during a transitional period up to the end of 2012, companies are allowed to apply for a new assessment at any time if the added benefit is considered unproven due to incomplete evidence. The G-BA decided to allow a corresponding application for linagliptin and commissioned IQWiG to assess the new dossier submitted by the company. Linagliptin is the first drug to be re-assessed according to this rule.

Approval status distinguishes between three treatment situations

The ACT (the sulfonylureas glibenclamide and glimepiride) specified by the G-BA differs according to which of three treatment situations applies: firstly, where linagliptin is given alone (monotherapy) as a substitute for metformin if the latter is not tolerated by patients or should not be taken because of impaired kidney function. In this case of monotherapy, the G-BA states that linagliptin is to be compared with a drug from the sulfonylurea class.

The second situation is dual therapy in which linagliptin is combined with metformin. This combination is indicated if treatment with metformin alone is insufficient to control blood glucose levels. In the case of such dual therapy with linagliptin, the added benefit is to be assessed in comparison with the combination of metformin and a sulfonylurea (glibenclamide or glimepiride).

The third situation is triple therapy in which a combination of linagliptin, metformin and a sulfonylurea is given. This is indicated if dual therapy of metformin and a sulfonylurea does not provide adequate treatment. The ACT for triple therapy was specified by the G-BA as a combination of human insulin and metformin.

Direct comparison with placebo is not sufficient

For monotherapy and triple therapy, the company did not submit any studies that tested linagliptin against the ACT. Although it presented the results of placebo-controlled studies in its dossier as supplementary information, in this case, however, the direct comparison with a dummy drug (placebo) is not suitable for proving an added benefit of one drug over another treatment.

Furthermore, the company also did not cite any studies that could be used for an indirect comparison. For methodological reasons, it did not consider that an indirect comparison could be carried out for the triple therapy.

The only study on dual therapy compared two treatment strategies

The company listed one study on dual therapy in which glimepiride and linagliptin - each combined with metformin - were tested against each other. In principle, this study could have been relevant. However, it did not simply compare two drugs with each other, but two different treatment strategies as well: whereas the glimepiride dose in the first phase of the study was to be adjusted (i.e. increased) until a near-normal level of blood glucose (HbA1c) was reached, no definite target value was specified in the linagliptin group. It is therefore unclear whether possible differences in the treatment results are attributable to the drugs or the treatment strategy, i.e. the unilateral specification of a target value. This study is therefore also unsuitable for deriving an added benefit.

Intensive reduction in blood glucose can increase the risk of strokes

Although it is not relevant for the assessment of the added benefit of linagliptin, this study nevertheless provided important information: in the first phase of the study, in which the blood glucose levels in the glimepiride group were rapidly reduced to the desired near-normal range, not only was the number of hypoglycaemic episodes (times when blood glucose was too low) increased, but also the number of serious cerebral events, i.e. strokes, was far higher than in the comparator group, in which no target blood glucose value was specified.

"The results show once again that an intensive reduction in blood glucose values is achieved at the expense of substantial risks to health", commented Jrgen Windeler, the Director of IQWiG. "Furthermore, this result is to be attributed to the different treatment strategies rather than the drugs".

G-BA decides on the extent of added benefit

The dossier assessment is part of the overall procedure for early benefit assessments supervised by the G-BA. After publication of the manufacturer's dossier and IQWiG's assessment, the G-BA conducts a commenting procedure, which may provide further information and result in a change to the benefit assessment. The G-BA then decides on the extent of the added benefit, thus completing the early benefit assessment.

###

The website informedhealthonline.org, published by IQWiG, provides easily understandable and brief English-language information.

The G-BA website contains both general English-language information on benefit assessments pursuant to 35a Social Code Book V and specific German-language information on the assessment of linagliptin.


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?


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.


Linagliptin: Once again, no proof of added benefit [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 30-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Anna-Sabine Ernst
presse@iqwig.de
49-221-356-850
Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care

Even from the new dossier, no added benefit can be derived/No suitable studies submitted

Linagliptin (trade name Trajenta) has been approved since August 2011 to improve blood glucose control in adults with type 2 diabetes. The assessment of the new dossier according to the German Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG) again showed that no added benefit of the drug over the appropriate comparator therapy (ACT) can be determined, because the pharmaceutical company has not submitted any relevant studies. This is the conclusion of the report by the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) published on 3rd December 2012.

First assessment negative because the comparator therapy deviated from the one specified

In its first early benefit assessment dated January 2012, IQWiG was unable to determine any added benefit because the pharmaceutical company (Boehringer Ingelheim) had chosen sitagliptin as comparator therapy in its first dossier instead of the ACT (a sulfonylurea) specified by the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA). A decision based on the IQWiG report was made by the G-BA on 29th March 2012.

Company can submit a new dossier in the transitional period

On the basis of an exemption clause since enshrined in the German Social Code Book V (35a Paragraph 5b), during a transitional period up to the end of 2012, companies are allowed to apply for a new assessment at any time if the added benefit is considered unproven due to incomplete evidence. The G-BA decided to allow a corresponding application for linagliptin and commissioned IQWiG to assess the new dossier submitted by the company. Linagliptin is the first drug to be re-assessed according to this rule.

Approval status distinguishes between three treatment situations

The ACT (the sulfonylureas glibenclamide and glimepiride) specified by the G-BA differs according to which of three treatment situations applies: firstly, where linagliptin is given alone (monotherapy) as a substitute for metformin if the latter is not tolerated by patients or should not be taken because of impaired kidney function. In this case of monotherapy, the G-BA states that linagliptin is to be compared with a drug from the sulfonylurea class.

The second situation is dual therapy in which linagliptin is combined with metformin. This combination is indicated if treatment with metformin alone is insufficient to control blood glucose levels. In the case of such dual therapy with linagliptin, the added benefit is to be assessed in comparison with the combination of metformin and a sulfonylurea (glibenclamide or glimepiride).

The third situation is triple therapy in which a combination of linagliptin, metformin and a sulfonylurea is given. This is indicated if dual therapy of metformin and a sulfonylurea does not provide adequate treatment. The ACT for triple therapy was specified by the G-BA as a combination of human insulin and metformin.

Direct comparison with placebo is not sufficient

For monotherapy and triple therapy, the company did not submit any studies that tested linagliptin against the ACT. Although it presented the results of placebo-controlled studies in its dossier as supplementary information, in this case, however, the direct comparison with a dummy drug (placebo) is not suitable for proving an added benefit of one drug over another treatment.

Furthermore, the company also did not cite any studies that could be used for an indirect comparison. For methodological reasons, it did not consider that an indirect comparison could be carried out for the triple therapy.

The only study on dual therapy compared two treatment strategies

The company listed one study on dual therapy in which glimepiride and linagliptin - each combined with metformin - were tested against each other. In principle, this study could have been relevant. However, it did not simply compare two drugs with each other, but two different treatment strategies as well: whereas the glimepiride dose in the first phase of the study was to be adjusted (i.e. increased) until a near-normal level of blood glucose (HbA1c) was reached, no definite target value was specified in the linagliptin group. It is therefore unclear whether possible differences in the treatment results are attributable to the drugs or the treatment strategy, i.e. the unilateral specification of a target value. This study is therefore also unsuitable for deriving an added benefit.

Intensive reduction in blood glucose can increase the risk of strokes

Although it is not relevant for the assessment of the added benefit of linagliptin, this study nevertheless provided important information: in the first phase of the study, in which the blood glucose levels in the glimepiride group were rapidly reduced to the desired near-normal range, not only was the number of hypoglycaemic episodes (times when blood glucose was too low) increased, but also the number of serious cerebral events, i.e. strokes, was far higher than in the comparator group, in which no target blood glucose value was specified.

"The results show once again that an intensive reduction in blood glucose values is achieved at the expense of substantial risks to health", commented Jrgen Windeler, the Director of IQWiG. "Furthermore, this result is to be attributed to the different treatment strategies rather than the drugs".

G-BA decides on the extent of added benefit

The dossier assessment is part of the overall procedure for early benefit assessments supervised by the G-BA. After publication of the manufacturer's dossier and IQWiG's assessment, the G-BA conducts a commenting procedure, which may provide further information and result in a change to the benefit assessment. The G-BA then decides on the extent of the added benefit, thus completing the early benefit assessment.

###

The website informedhealthonline.org, published by IQWiG, provides easily understandable and brief English-language information.

The G-BA website contains both general English-language information on benefit assessments pursuant to 35a Social Code Book V and specific German-language information on the assessment of linagliptin.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/ifqa-loa013013.php

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Nokia's Venture Capital Division Nokia Growth Partners Announces ...

NGP

Nokia?s venture capital division known as Nokia Growth Partners (NGP) today announced a additional fund of $250 million for investing in start-ups. NGP will focus on improving mobile ecosystem in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Some of the successful start-ups invested by NGP includes the IPOs of Morpho and Inside Secure and sales of Swype, Summit Microelectronics and Netmagic.

Read full press release after the break.

Press Release:
SUNNYVALE, CA and ESPOO, FINLAND, Jan 29, 2013 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) ? Nokia Growth Partners expands presence in China with two senior hires

Nokia Growth Partners (NGP), a global venture firm, today announced the launch of its third fund with a further US$250 million long term commitment from Nokia.

Nokia Growth Partners will continue to invest in high potential businesses within the mobile ecosystem in the U.S., Europe and Asia. NGP also announced its expanded presence in China with the appointments of David Tang as managing director and Lu Guo as principal.

?Over the past decade, Nokia has developed an innovative venturing strategy,? said Timo Ihamuotila, Nokia executive vice president & chief financial officer. ?Our ongoing commitment to Nokia Growth Partners reinforces Nokia?s support for a vibrant mobile ecosystem and our determination to collaborate with industry innovators to build great mobile products.?

?Nokia Growth Partners is delighted with Nokia?s continuing commitment, which recognizes strong financial performance since our formation in 2005,? said John Gardner, managing partner of Nokia Growth Partners. ?What sets NGP apart from pure financial investors are the partnerships and insights our invested companies get from their close association with Nokia. In the past year, NGP has also realized several successful exits, including the IPOs of Morpho and Inside Secure and sales of Swype, Summit Microelectronics and Netmagic. We are excited about our existing strong portfolio of companies and their potential impact globally.?

?We are pleased to welcome David Tang and Lu Guo to the NGP team and look forward to their contributions to our ongoing investment activities in China, an important market for Nokia,? said Paul Asel, managing partner of Nokia Growth Partners. ?David Tang is well known in the Chinese venture community as an advisor to leading mobile businesses such as UCWeb and Ganji. NGP has enjoyed a long relationship with Mr. Tang during his earlier tenure as vice chairman of Nokia China.?

David Tang and Lu Guo together have over 35 years global technology and investment experience. David Tang joins Nokia Growth Partners from AMD where he was Corporate Senior Vice President and President of AMD China. Lu Guo joins from Keytone Ventures where he was Vice President responsible for mobile and Internet investments. They will be based in Beijing.

1

About Pradeep Viswav

Pradeep is a Computer Science and Engineering Graduate. He was also a Microsoft Student Partner. He is currently working in a leading IT company. Follow him at twitter.com/pradeepviswav

Source: http://wmpoweruser.com/nokias-venture-capital-division-nokia-growth-partners-announces-its-third-fund-of-us250-million/

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Crucial, long-overdue BlackBerry makeover arrives

FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2008, file photo, the logo on a BlackBerry smartphone is shows in Bochum, Germany. The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is promising a speedy browser, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone, the fruit of a crucial, long-overdue makeover for the Canadian company. (AP Photo/dapd, Volker Hartmann)

FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2008, file photo, the logo on a BlackBerry smartphone is shows in Bochum, Germany. The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is promising a speedy browser, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone, the fruit of a crucial, long-overdue makeover for the Canadian company. (AP Photo/dapd, Volker Hartmann)

(AP) ? The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is promising a speedier device, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone. It's the fruit of a crucial, long-overdue makeover for the Canadian company.

Thorsten Heins, chief executive of Research In Motion Ltd., will show off the first phone with the new BlackBerry 10 system in New York on Wednesday. A marketing campaign that includes a Super Bowl ad will accompany the long-anticipated debut. Repeated delays have left the once-pioneering BlackBerry an afterthought in the shadow of Apple's trend-setting iPhone and Google's Android-driven devices.

Now, there's some optimism. Previews of the software have gotten favorable reviews on blogs. Financial analysts are starting to see some slight room for a comeback. RIM's stock has nearly tripled to $16.18 from a nine-year low in September, though it's still nearly 90 percent below its 2008 peak of $147.

Most analysts consider a BlackBerry 10 success to be crucial for the company's long-term viability.

"The old models are becoming obsolete quickly," BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis said. "There is still a big user base but it's going to rotate off. The question is: Where do they rotate to?"

The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, has been the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people. Corporate information-technology managers like the phones because they're relatively secure and easy to manage. Many employees loved them because of physical keyboards that were easier to type on than the touch-screen iPhone. President Barack Obama couldn't bear to part with it when he took office. Oprah Winfrey declared it one of her "favorite things." People got so addicted that the device was nicknamed "the CrackBerry."

The BlackBerry began to cross over to consumers. But when the iPhone came out in 2007, it showed that phones can do much more than email and phone calls. They can play games, music and movies. Android came along to offer even more choices. Though IT managers still love BlackBerrys, employees were bringing their own devices to the workplace ? a trend Heins acknowledged RIM was slow to adapt to.

Suddenly, the BlackBerry looked ancient.

Even as BlackBerry sales continued to grow in many parts of the world, many BlackBerry users in North America switched to iPhones and Android devices. BlackBerry's worldwide subscriber based peaked at 80 million in the quarter that ended Sept. 1, before dropping to 79 million in the most-recent quarter. In the U.S., according to research firm IDC, shipments of BlackBerry phones plummeted from 46 percent of the market in 2008 to 2 percent in 2012. Most phones in use today are either iPhones or Android devices.

RIM promised a new system to catch up, using technology it got through its 2010 purchase of QNX Software Systems. RIM initially said BlackBerry 10 would come by early 2012, but then the company changed that to late 2012. A few months later, that date was pushed further, to early 2013, missing the lucrative holiday season. The holdup helped wipe out more than $70 billion in shareholder wealth and 5,000 jobs.

Although executives have been providing a glimpse at some of BlackBerry 10's new features for months, Heins will finally showcase a complete system at Wednesday's event. Devices will go on sale soon after that. The exact date and prices are expected Wednesday.

RIM redesigned the system to embrace the multimedia, apps and touch-screen experience prevalent today.

"Historically there have been areas that have not been our strongest points," Rick Costanzo, RIM's executive vice president of global sales, said in an interview. "Not only have we caught up, but we may even be better than some of the competition now."

Costanzo said "no one else can touch" what RIM's new system offers.

The new operating system promises better multitasking than either the iPhone or Android. Simply swipe a finger across the phone's display screen to switch to another program.

All emails and notifications from such applications as Twitter and Facebook go to the BlackBerry Hub, a nerve center accessible with a finger swipe even if you have another application open. One can peek into it and open an email, or return to the previous application without opening the email.

"You are not going in and out of applications; you're flowing through applications with one simple gesture of your finger," Costanzo said. "You can leave applications running. You can effortlessly flow between them. So that's completely unique to us."

That said, multitasking will still be limited. If you're watching a video, it will still run while you check for email. But it will pause if you decide to open an email and resume when you are done.

The BlackBerry's touch-screen keyboard promises to learn a user's writing style and suggest words and phrases to complete, going beyond typo corrections offered by rivals. See the one you want, and flick it up to the message area. Costanzo said that "BlackBerry offers the best keyboard, period."

Gus Papageorgiou, a Scotiabank financial analyst who has tried it out, agreed with that assessment and said the keyboard even learns and adjusts to your thumb placements.

The first BlackBerry 10 phone will have only a touch screen. RIM has said it will release a version with a physical keyboard soon after that. That's an area RIM has excelled at, and it's one reason many BlackBerry users have remained loyal despite temptations to switch.

Another distinguishing feature will be the BlackBerry Balance, which allows two personas on the same device. Businesses can keep their data secure without forcing employees to get a second device for personal use. For instance, IT managers can prevent personal apps from running inside corporate firewalls, but those managers won't have access to personal data on the device.

With Balance, "you can just switch from work to personal mode," Papageorgiou said. "I think that is something that will attract a lot of people."

RIM is also claiming that the BlackBerry 10's browser will be speedy, even faster than browsers for laptop and desktop computers. According to Papageorgiou, early, independent tests between the BlackBerry 10 and the iPhone support that claim.

Regardless of BlackBerry 10's advances, though, the new system will face a key shortcoming: It won't have as many apps written by outside companies and individuals as the iPhone and Android. RIM has said it plans to launch BlackBerry 10 with more than 70,000 apps, including those developed for RIM's PlayBook tablet, first released in 2011. Even so, that's just a tenth of what the iPhone and Android offer. Papageorgiou said the initial group will include the most popular ones such as Twitter and Facebook. But RIM will have to persuade others to make a BlackBerry version, when they are already struggling to keep up with both the iPhone and Android.

Like many analysts, Papageorgiou recently upgraded RIM's stock, but cautioned that longtime BlackBerry users will have to get used to a whole new operating system.

He said RIM can be successful if about a third of current subscribers upgrade and if the company can get 4 million new users overseas, especially in countries where the BlackBerry has remained popular. IDC said smartphone shipments grew 44 percent in 2012. If those trends continue, it will be possible for the BlackBerry to grow even if iPhone and Android users don't switch.

"This doesn't have to be the best smartphone on the planet to be a success for RIM," he said. "I think the big question though is, if it fails, is it just too late? Are the other two ecosystems just so advanced that no one can catch up? That's a big risk."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-01-29-RIM-BlackBerry%20Makeover/id-5d101a2fa19249818f494fb450922c35

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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Rights group: 65 found shot in head in Syria

Thomas Rassloff/EPA

Locals gather at the banks of a small canal containg the bodies of dozens of people on Jan. 29 in Aleppo, Syria.

By Alexander Dziadosz and Oliver Holmes, Reuters

BEIRUT ? At least 65 people, apparently shot in the head, were found dead with their hands bound in a district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Tuesday, a pro-opposition monitoring group said.

The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll could rise as high as 80 in what it called a "new massacre."

It was not clear who carried out the killings.


Photos posted online by activists showed the muddied bodies of about a dozen men lying by a small river in what they said was the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood of Aleppo.

Close-up shots of some of the corpses showed they had what appeared to be gunshot wounds to the head.

Government forces and rebels in Syria have both been accused by human rights groups of carrying out summary executions in the 22-month-old conflict, which has claimed more than 60,000 lives.

Rebels pushed into Aleppo, Syria's most populous city, over the summer, but have been stuck in a stalemate with government forces. The city is divided roughly in half between the two sides.

Related:

PhotoBlog: Syrian rebels take fight into Damascus

Syrian refugees: 'We escaped death'

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/29/16752712-rights-group-at-least-65-people-found-bound-shot-in-head-in-syria-massacre?lite

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Bomb explodes in southern district of Lebanese capital

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A bomb planted under a car exploded in a southern suburb of Beirut late on Monday, a Lebanese security source said, rocking a Shi'ite Muslim area that is a stronghold of the militant group Hezbollah.

The bomb destroyed the car and damaged buildings in the residential area of Hay al-Sellom but there were no casualties, the source said.

It was not immediately clear what the target of the bomb was but the car was parked near a office for Shi'ite Hezbollah-aligned Amal political group.

Lebanon is still recovering from an October car bomb which killed Wissam al-Hassan, a security official who was leading an investigation that implicated Syria and Hezbollah in the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, a Sunni.

During the country's 15-year civil war which ended in 1990, tit-for-tat assassinations of prominent political figures were common and many fear sensitivities around the war in neighbouring Syria could lead to further instability in Lebanon.

(Reporting by Laila Bassam; Writing by Oliver Holmes; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bomb-explodes-southern-district-lebanese-capital-203655099.html

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Wash. vows to try to keep weed in state _ but how?

This Jan. 26, 2013 photo shows a a bar code attached to the pots growing marijuana plants at a grow house in Denver. The bar codes are assigned to each plant and follow it through the growing and distribution process. Washington state is considering the use of a similar tracking system. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

This Jan. 26, 2013 photo shows a a bar code attached to the pots growing marijuana plants at a grow house in Denver. The bar codes are assigned to each plant and follow it through the growing and distribution process. Washington state is considering the use of a similar tracking system. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

This Jan. 26, 2013 photo shows bar codes attached containers of processed marijuana at a grow house in Denver. The bar codes are assigned to each plant and follow it through the growing and distribution process. Washington state is considering the use of a similar tracking system. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

This Jan. 26, 2013 photo taken at a grow house in Denver shows a marijuana plants ready to be harvested. Last fall, voters made Washington and Colorado the first states to pass laws legalizing the recreational use of marijuana and setting up systems of state-licensed growers, processors and retail stores where adults over 21 can walk in and buy up to an ounce of heavily taxed cannabis. Both states are working to develop rules for the emerging recreational pot industry, with sales set to begin later this year.(AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

In this Jan. 26, 2013 photo a worker at a grow house in Denver examines a marijuana plant ready to be harvested. Last fall, voters made Washington and Colorado the first states to pass laws legalizing the recreational use of marijuana and setting up systems of state-licensed growers, processors and retail stores where adults over 21 can walk in and buy up to an ounce of heavily taxed cannabis. Both states are working to develop rules for the emerging recreational pot industry, with sales set to begin later this year.(AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

This Jan. 26, 2013 photo shows a a bar code attached to a marijuana plant at a grow house in Denver. The bar codes are assigned to each plant and follow it through the growing and distribution process. Washington state is considering the use of a similar tracking system. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

(AP) ? So far, no one is suggesting checkpoints or fences to keep Washington state's legal pot within its borders.

But Gov. Jay Inslee insists there are ways to prevent the bulk smuggling of the state's newest cash crop into the black market, including digitally tracking weed to ensure that it goes from where it is grown to the stores where it is sold.

With sales set to begin later this year, he hopes to be a good neighbor and keep vanloads of premium, legal bud from cruising into Idaho, Oregon and other states that don't want people getting stoned for fun.

It's not just about generating goodwill with fellow governors. Inslee is trying to persuade U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder not to sue to block Washington from licensing pot growers, processors and sellers. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

"I am going to be personally committed to have a well regulated, well disciplined, well tracked, well inventory-controlled, well law-enforcement-coordinated approach," said Inslee, who is due to give Holder more details this week.

Keeping a lid on the weed is just one of the numerous challenges Washington state authorities and their counterparts in Colorado ? where voters also legalized pot use ? will face in the coming months.

The potential of regulatory schemes to keep pot from being diverted isn't clear. Colorado already has intensive rules aimed at keeping its medical marijuana market in line, including the digital tracking of cannabis, bar codes on every plant, surveillance video and manifests of all legal pot shipments.

But law enforcement officials say marijuana from Colorado's dispensaries often makes its way to the black market, and even the head of the Colorado agency charged with tracking the medical pot industry suggests no one should copy its measures.

The agency has been beset by money woes and had to cut many of its investigators. Even if the agency had all the money it wanted, the state's medical pot rules are "a model of regulatory overreach," too cumbersome and expensive to enforce, Laura Harris said in a statement.

Last fall, voters made Washington and Colorado the first states to pass laws legalizing the recreational use of marijuana and setting up systems of state-licensed growers, processors and retail stores where adults over 21 can walk in and buy up to an ounce of heavily taxed cannabis.

Both states are working to develop rules for the emerging pot industry.

The Obama administration could sue to block the legal markets from operating, on the grounds that actively regulating an illegal substance conflicts with federal drug law. The DOJ is reviewing the laws but has given no signals about its plans.

It has never sued states like Colorado that have regulated medical marijuana, even though it could under the same legal principles.

Part of the DOJ's political calculus in deciding whether to sue is likely to be how well the department believes the two states can keep the legal weed within their borders. During a meeting with Inslee last week, Holder asked a lot of questions about diversion, Inslee said.

Alison Holcomb, who led Washington's legal pot campaign, said it's important to respect states that haven't legalized weed by not flooding their black markets. The first step, she said, is for the state to figure out how much pot should be produced, and then grant licenses accordingly.

"Excess supply creates incentive to divert outside the state," she said.

Washington's Liquor Control Board is planning a comprehensive survey to estimate how much marijuana is consumed in the state.

Inslee has boasted about the effectiveness of the State Patrol's highway interdiction program in stopping drug trafficking. Traditional police work, combined with inventory controls, will be key to clamping down on diversion, he said.

Digital tracking of the weights of marijuana shipments between processors and retailers would help make sure there isn't "10- to 20-percent shrinkage that's going to the black market," he said.

But even if the state can prevent bulk pot from being diverted, there's nothing to keep customers from walking into multiple stores, or returning to the same store, to collect more than their 1-ounce limit. Some traffickers could recruit many people to buy weed for them.

Tom Gorman, head of the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug-Trafficking Area, said efforts to keep a lid on legal marijuana simply don't work.

Pot from Colorado's medical marijuana system ? often described as the most closely regulated in the world ? routinely makes its way into Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming and points east, often from dispensaries that have sold out the back door, he said.

A brief law enforcement survey the organization conducted last summer turned up numerous cases in which suspects had made purchases at Colorado dispensaries before being busted in other states.

In the past two years, Colorado's medical pot regulators have levied 54 fines against licensed businesses, but have never revoked or suspended a license.

Matt Cook, the former director of Colorado's Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division, defended the "seed-to-store" regulations in the state.

Cook, who is applying for a job as a consultant to Washington's marijuana regulators, noted that at any time officials could check the digital records, pull the surveillance video or drop in for an inspection ? and the fear of getting busted keeps people in line.

Bob Hoban, whose law firm represents nearly 100 medical marijuana businesses in Colorado, agreed, and noted another incentive for dispensaries to behave.

"It's a cutthroat business," he said. "If somebody sees something unusual, they're going to provide a tip. ... There's just about as good of a safeguard as you can have for diversion in the state of Colorado, and a lot of that is Big Brother watching you."

___

Associated Press writer Kristen Wyatt in Denver contributed to this report.

___

Johnson can be reached at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-01-29-Legalizing%20Marijuana/id-d8824678a19b4b168e5164c016ccb03f

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ITU approves the H.265 video format, takes us closer to high-quality mobile video

ITU approves the H265 video format, takes us closer to highquality mobile video

Any smartphone owner who's ever watched a streaming HD video buffer... and buffer... and buffer on even LTE connections will appreciate the ITU's speediness today. Just months after MPEG proposed the extra-miserly H.265 video codec, the ITU has approved it as an official standard. As it's greenlit so far, the format (also known as High Efficiency Video Coding) includes 8-bit, 10-bit and photo-oriented profiles that should cover most 2D capture and playback. Pros are promised 12-bit and chroma profiles in the future, while there's work on 3D for all of us. We'll have to wait for both software support and hardware acceleration to reap the rewards, but there should be many: the halved bandwidth requirements have obvious benefits for cellular devices as well as 4K media delivery for that rash of giant TVs about to hit the market. Let's hope that camera and mobile device makers are just as impatient as we are.

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Comments

Via: TechCrunch

Source: ITU

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/27/itu-approves-h265-video-format/

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Monday, January 28, 2013

Epic Drives: Cheating Death Valley in a Ford ... - Automotive Blogs

For those of us that live in Los Angeles, the madness and crush of the city, the sensory overload of any city, can be too much. On the latest episode of Epic Drives, the crew escape the city to the wild and desolate Mojave Dessert. But the question remains, what vehicle is suited to tackle such a feral environment? The Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, of course. With off-road capability as extensive as its name, the Raptor extracts power from its massive 6.2-liter V-8 engine, good for 411 horsepower.

The crew encounters snow, sand dunes, mountains, elevation changes and desolate landscape. From old mining country, to old native American trails and lands, this is one truly Epic Drive. ?You can catch all the action and the beautiful scenery in the video below.

Source: Epic Drives

Source: http://blogs.automotive.com/epic-drives-cheating-death-valley-in-a-ford-svt-raptor-125777.html

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In breast cancer metastasis, researchers identify possible drug target

In breast cancer metastasis, researchers identify possible drug target [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 27-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Jeffrey Norris
jeff.norris@ucsf.edu
415-502-6397
University of California - San Francisco

The spread of breast cancer to distant organs within the body, an event that often leads to death, appears in many cases to involve the loss of a key protein, according to UC San Francisco researchers, whose new discoveries point to possible targets for therapy.

In the January 27, 2013 online edition of Nature Cell Biology, UCSF scientists describe for the first time how the protein, known as GATA3 which is abnormal or absent in many cases of human breast cancer normally acts downstream in biochemical pathways to prevent the distant spread of cancer, an event called metastasis.

The discovery points to a biochemical control point that simultaneously holds in check several key events required for tumor cells to successfully spread.

"When GATA3 is present, it turns off many genes that are active in metastasis," said Zena Werb, PhD, a UCSF professor of anatomy who led the research. "We now have identified the molecular mechanisms involved."

The key finding of the new study is that GATA3 acts downstream biochemically to activate a molecule obscure until now called microRNA29b. MicroRNA29b in turn stops protein production from other genes that play vital roles in metastasis.

The absence or loss of GATA3 can free cancerous cells to break free from their defined roles and tethers within a tumor, to move away from the tumor mass, to induce cancer-promoting inflammation, and to stimulate the development of new blood vessels that can help spreading cancerous cells regrow as tumors in new locations.

"People knew that some of these genes were turned on in some cancers, but they did not know they were turned on because GATA3 and microRNA29b were turned off," Werb said. "If you have 20 genes that are becoming less active all at once due to microRNA29b, it could have a profound effect."

Working with mice, the researchers found that restoring microRNA29b to one of the most deadly types of breast cancer stopped metastasis. But the researchers also found that if they knocked out the microRNA29b, tumors spread even in the presence of GATA3, suggesting that microRNA29b can be the driver of metastasis.

In the mouse models of breast cancer studied by Werb's team, GATA3 normally restrains cancerous cells from breaking away from the main tumor and migrating to other organs.

It might be possible, Werb said, to develop drugs that inhibit breast cancer metastasis by re-activating these controls in cancerous cells that have lost the normal protein.

Many researchers who study early stages of cancer focus on abnormal genes and proteins that cause cells to expand their numbers rapidly, a hallmark of cancer.

However, the ability to spread to distant places and to eventually cause lethal complications requires not only cell division and tumor growth, but also changes in how the cancerous cell negotiates with its surroundings. This relationship must be altered to permit cancer to spread, according to earlier research findings by Werb and others.

"Many of the key processes in cancer that GATA3 suppresses take place outside the cell, in the surrounding environment," she said.

GATA3 is a master control for luminal cells, which line the milk-carrying ducts of the breast. In essence, GATA3 dictates the defining characteristics of a normal breast cell, Werb said.

Luminal breast cancers are the most common form of the disease, and the hormones estrogen and progesterone drive their growth. Loss of the normal GATA3 protein as luminal breast cancers evolve is associated with a greater risk of death, Werb said, and occurs in roughly 10 percent of luminal breast cancer cases.

But, along with many other proteins, GATA3 also is absent in "triple negative," breast cancers, which are more often fatal. Triple negative breast cancers, which disproportionately affect black women and younger women, do not depend on the hormones, nor do they require a third growth factor, called HER2.

Triple negative breast cancers, which account for roughly one-in-five breast cancers, have been more difficult to target successfully with newer treatments.

"The targeting we would like to do is to give back microRNA29b specifically to breast tumor cells to prevent metastasis," Werb said.

###

UCSF Co-authors who contributed to the research include medical student Jonathan Chou, PhD, technician Jeffrey Lin, research specialist Audrey Brenot, PhD, and postdoctoral fellows Jung-whan Kim, PhD, and Sylvain Provot, PhD.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense.

UCSF is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care.

Follow UCSF
UCSF.edu | Facebook.com/ucsf | Twitter.com/ucsf | YouTube.com/ucsf


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


In breast cancer metastasis, researchers identify possible drug target [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 27-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Jeffrey Norris
jeff.norris@ucsf.edu
415-502-6397
University of California - San Francisco

The spread of breast cancer to distant organs within the body, an event that often leads to death, appears in many cases to involve the loss of a key protein, according to UC San Francisco researchers, whose new discoveries point to possible targets for therapy.

In the January 27, 2013 online edition of Nature Cell Biology, UCSF scientists describe for the first time how the protein, known as GATA3 which is abnormal or absent in many cases of human breast cancer normally acts downstream in biochemical pathways to prevent the distant spread of cancer, an event called metastasis.

The discovery points to a biochemical control point that simultaneously holds in check several key events required for tumor cells to successfully spread.

"When GATA3 is present, it turns off many genes that are active in metastasis," said Zena Werb, PhD, a UCSF professor of anatomy who led the research. "We now have identified the molecular mechanisms involved."

The key finding of the new study is that GATA3 acts downstream biochemically to activate a molecule obscure until now called microRNA29b. MicroRNA29b in turn stops protein production from other genes that play vital roles in metastasis.

The absence or loss of GATA3 can free cancerous cells to break free from their defined roles and tethers within a tumor, to move away from the tumor mass, to induce cancer-promoting inflammation, and to stimulate the development of new blood vessels that can help spreading cancerous cells regrow as tumors in new locations.

"People knew that some of these genes were turned on in some cancers, but they did not know they were turned on because GATA3 and microRNA29b were turned off," Werb said. "If you have 20 genes that are becoming less active all at once due to microRNA29b, it could have a profound effect."

Working with mice, the researchers found that restoring microRNA29b to one of the most deadly types of breast cancer stopped metastasis. But the researchers also found that if they knocked out the microRNA29b, tumors spread even in the presence of GATA3, suggesting that microRNA29b can be the driver of metastasis.

In the mouse models of breast cancer studied by Werb's team, GATA3 normally restrains cancerous cells from breaking away from the main tumor and migrating to other organs.

It might be possible, Werb said, to develop drugs that inhibit breast cancer metastasis by re-activating these controls in cancerous cells that have lost the normal protein.

Many researchers who study early stages of cancer focus on abnormal genes and proteins that cause cells to expand their numbers rapidly, a hallmark of cancer.

However, the ability to spread to distant places and to eventually cause lethal complications requires not only cell division and tumor growth, but also changes in how the cancerous cell negotiates with its surroundings. This relationship must be altered to permit cancer to spread, according to earlier research findings by Werb and others.

"Many of the key processes in cancer that GATA3 suppresses take place outside the cell, in the surrounding environment," she said.

GATA3 is a master control for luminal cells, which line the milk-carrying ducts of the breast. In essence, GATA3 dictates the defining characteristics of a normal breast cell, Werb said.

Luminal breast cancers are the most common form of the disease, and the hormones estrogen and progesterone drive their growth. Loss of the normal GATA3 protein as luminal breast cancers evolve is associated with a greater risk of death, Werb said, and occurs in roughly 10 percent of luminal breast cancer cases.

But, along with many other proteins, GATA3 also is absent in "triple negative," breast cancers, which are more often fatal. Triple negative breast cancers, which disproportionately affect black women and younger women, do not depend on the hormones, nor do they require a third growth factor, called HER2.

Triple negative breast cancers, which account for roughly one-in-five breast cancers, have been more difficult to target successfully with newer treatments.

"The targeting we would like to do is to give back microRNA29b specifically to breast tumor cells to prevent metastasis," Werb said.

###

UCSF Co-authors who contributed to the research include medical student Jonathan Chou, PhD, technician Jeffrey Lin, research specialist Audrey Brenot, PhD, and postdoctoral fellows Jung-whan Kim, PhD, and Sylvain Provot, PhD.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense.

UCSF is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care.

Follow UCSF
UCSF.edu | Facebook.com/ucsf | Twitter.com/ucsf | YouTube.com/ucsf


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/uoc--ibc012513.php

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Obama lauds Clinton as she prepares to leave

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama lauded Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as one of his closest advisers and said their shared vision for America's role in the world persuaded his one-time rival ? and potential successor ? to be his top diplomat while he dealt with the shattered economy at home.

During a joint interview that aired Sunday, Obama and Clinton chuckled as they described their partnership and stoked speculation that Obama may prefer Clinton to succeed him in the White House after the 2016 elections. Clinton is leaving Obama's Cabinet soon, and speculation about the former first lady and senator has only grown more intense after a heated appearance last week on Capitol Hill.

Both Obama and Clinton batted away questions about future campaigns, but the joint interview ? the president's first with anyone other than first lady Michelle Obama ? was only likely to increase the fascination with Clinton's future.

"The president and I care deeply about what's going to happen for our country in the future," Clinton said. "And I don't think, you know, either he or I can make predictions about what's going to happen tomorrow or the next year."

Obama, who suggested the joint interview as Clinton prepared her exit from the State Department, lavished praise on his rival for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. He called her a friend and an extraordinary talent, and praised "her discipline, her stamina, her thoughtfulness, her ability to project."

It teetered on an endorsement of a 2016 presidential bid that is still an open question. Clinton advisers say she has not made a decision about a run, while Democratic officials suggest Clinton would be an early favorite if she decided to mount another campaign.

Obama and Clinton laughed when asked about the political future.

"You guys in the press are incorrigible," Obama said when pressed on another Clinton presidency. "I was literally inaugurated four days ago. And you're talking about elections four years from now."

The possibility of a presidential campaign for Vice President Joe Biden did not come up during the interview, taped Friday at the White House.

Obama described why he insisted Clinton become his secretary of state.

"She also was already a world figure," Obama said. "To have somebody who could serve as that effective ambassador in her own right without having to earn her stripes, so to speak, on the international stage, I thought, would be hugely important."

It was a job she initially refused. But Obama kept pushing, Clinton said.

"The one thing he did mention was he basically said: 'You know, we've got this major economic crisis that may push us into a depression. I'm not going to be able to do a lot to satisfy the built-up expectations for our role around the world. So you're going to have to get out there and, you know, really represent us while I deal with, you know, the economic catastrophe I inherited."

It's a job she embraced during the last four years. She arrived on the job with a global brand she quickly lent to promoting U.S. interests. In return, the public rewarded her with high approval ratings that could come in handy if she runs in 2016.

But her tenure has had its blemishes. For example, the United States did not directly intervene in the civil war in Syria, where the United Nations says more than 60,000 people have been killed and more than 2 million people have been internally displaced since the start of the conflict in March 2011.

"There are transitions and transformations taking place all around the world. We are not going to be able to control every aspect of every transition and transformation," Obama said, saying his jobs are to protect the United States and engage where the U.S. can make a difference.

In a separate interview with The New Republic, also released Sunday, Obama said, "As I wrestle with those decisions, I am more mindful probably than most of not only our incredible strengths and capabilities, but also our limitations."

On "60 Minutes," he praised Clinton's State Department for helping him sort out what the United States can ? and cannot ? accomplish.

"It has been a great collaboration over the last four years. I'm going to miss her. Wish she was sticking around. But she has logged in so many miles, I can't begrudge her wanting to take it easy for a little bit," Obama said.

It's something of a turnaround from 2007 and 2008, as the two raced through Iowa and New Hampshire and onward. In increasingly bracing language, the two excoriated the other. At one point, a visibly angry Clinton seethed, "Shame on you, Barack Obama."

Obama now jokes about the rivalry.

"Made for tough debates, by the way, because we could never figure out what we were different on," the president said.

Both acknowledged disagreements continue but said they had common goals.

"Are there going to be differences? Yeah. Deep differences? Of course," Clinton said. "You had a lot of strong-willed, -minded people. But the president deserves our best judgment, our advice and then he deserves us to stand with him and to execute."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-lauds-clinton-she-prepares-leave-000119075--politics.html

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Sunday, January 27, 2013

French take airport in Mali Islamist stronghold

By James Regan and David Lewis, Reuters

KONNA, Mali - French forces in Mali have seized the airport and the bridge over the Niger River at the Islamist rebel-held stronghold of Gao, the French Defence Ministry said Saturday.

French and Malian forces have advanced rapidly against Islamist militant fighters holding the Saharan north of the West African state after France intervened earlier this month at the request of the Malian government.

On Friday, al-Qaida-allied fighters were forced to pull back under relentless French air strikes and the town of Hombori, about 100miles southwest of Gao, was recaptured.


French and Malian troops have been pushing forward on either side of the Niger River, securing several farming towns recaptured over the last week.

Gao, with the other Saharan desert towns of Timbuktu and Kidal, has been occupied since last year by an Islamist alliance that includes AQIM, the north African franchise of al-Qaida.

NBC's Richard Engel expects a support role for the U.S. in the current conflict in Mali with no "boots on the ground." Engel talks to MSNBC's Craig Melvin about the ongoing conflict.

Mali's national radio said Hombori's inhabitants turned out to cheer the government soldiers.

Western and African leaders say the U.N.-backed intervention in Mali is necessary to stop the country's north - a vast, lawless tract of desert and mountains that juts into the Sahara - from becoming a safe haven for radical Islamist jihadists seeking to launch international attacks.

A Malian officer and residents living in the area south of Gao reported Thursday that the militants had blown up a bridge at Tassiga, south of Ansongo, on the road following the Niger River down to Niger.

Two civilians were reported killed when their vehicle drove off the destroyed bridge, the same sources said.?

Related:

Malians praise French troops: 'If they leave, I will leave'

Jihadists leave trail of destruction, brutality

Analysis: Why France is taking on Mali extremists

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/26/16710830-french-troops-take-airport-bridge-in-mali-islamist-stronghold?lite

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Egypt deploys troops in Suez; 9 dead from clashes

Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

A protester opposing Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi carries national flags the flames from Molotov cocktails thrown during clashes with riot police near Tahrir Square in Cairo on Friday.

By Marwa Awad and Ali Abdelaty , Reuters

CAIRO/ISMAILIA, Egypt ? Egypt's armed forces deployed troops in the city of Suez early on Saturday after nine people were shot dead during nationwide protests against President Mohamed Morsi, underlining the country's deep divisions as it marked the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

Eight of the dead, including a policeman, were shot dead in Suez, and another was shot and killed in the city of Ismailia, medics said. Another 456 people were injured across Egypt, officials said, in unrest on Friday fueled by anger at Morsi and his Islamist allies over what the protesters see as their betrayal of the revolution.


Morsi said the state would not hesitate in "pursuing the criminals and delivering them to justice." In a statement, he also called on Egyptians to respect the principles of the revolution by expressing their views peacefully.

The troops were deployed in Suez after the head of the state security police in the city asked for reinforcements. The army distributed pamphlets to residents assuring them the deployment was temporary and meant to secure the city.

"We have asked the armed forces to send reinforcements on the ground until we pass this difficult period," Adel Refaat, head of state security in Suez, told state television.

Friday's anniversary laid bare the divide between the Islamists and their secular rivals.

The schism is hindering the efforts of Morsi, elected in June, to revive an economy in crisis and reverse a plunge in Egypt's currency by enticing back investors and tourists.

Inspired by the popular uprising in Tunisia, Egypt's revolution spurred further revolts across the Arab world. But the sense of common purpose that united Egyptians two years ago has given way to internal strife that already triggered bloody street battles last month.

Return to Tahrir Square
Thousands of opponents of Morsi massed on Friday in Cairo's Tahrir Square ? the cradle of the revolt against Mubarak ? to rekindle the demands of a revolution they say has been hijacked by the Muslim Brotherhood, the group from which Morsi emerged.

In Suez, the military deployed armoured vehicles to guard state buildings, witnesses and security sources said, as symbols of government were targeted across the country.

Street battles erupted in cities including Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and Port Said. Arsonists attacked at least two state-owned buildings. An office used by the Muslim Brotherhood's political party was also torched.

"Our revolution is continuing. We reject the domination of any party over this state. We say no to the Brotherhood state," Hamdeen Sabahy, a popular leftist leader, told Reuters.

The Brotherhood decided against mobilizing for the anniversary, wary of the scope for more conflict after December's violence, stoked by Mursi's decision to fast-track an Islamist-tinged constitution rejected by his opponents.

The Brotherhood denies accusations that it is seeking to dominate Egypt, labelling them a smear campaign by its rivals.

There were conflicting accounts of the lethal shooting in Suez. Some witnesses said security forces had opened fire in response to gunfire from masked men.

News of the deaths capped a day of violence that started in the early hours of Friday. Before dawn in Cairo, police battled protesters who threw petrol bombs and firecrackers as they approached a wall blocking access to government buildings near Tahrir Square.

Clouds of teargas filled the air. At one point, riot police used one of the incendiaries thrown at them to set ablaze at least two tents erected by youths, a Reuters witness said.

Skirmishes between stone-throwing youths and the police continued in streets around the square into the day.?

Ambulances ferried away a steady stream of casualties.

Protesters echoed the chants of 2011's historic 18-day uprising.

'We are not here to celebrate'
"The people want to bring down the regime," they chanted. "Leave! Leave! Leave!'' chanted others as they marched towards the square.

"We are not here to celebrate but to force those in power to submit to the will of the people. Egypt now must never be like Egypt during Mubarak's rule," said Mohamed Fahmy, an activist.

There were similar scenes in Suez and Alexandria, where protesters and riot police clashed near local government offices. Black smoke billowed from tyres set ablaze by youths.

In Cairo, police fired teargas to disperse a few dozen protesters trying to remove barbed-wire barriers protecting the presidential palace, witnesses said. A few masked men got as far as the gates before they were beaten back.

Teargas was also fired at protesters who tried to remove metal barriers outside the state television building.

Outside Cairo, protesters broke into the offices of provincial governors in Ismailia and Kafr el-Sheikhin the Nile Delta. A local government building was torched in the Nile Delta city of al-Mahalla al-Kubra.

With an eye on parliamentary elections likely to begin in April, the Brotherhood marked the anniversary with a charity drive across the nation. It plans to deliver medical aid to one million people and distribute affordable basic foodstuffs.

Writing in Al-Ahram, Egypt's flagship state-run daily, Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie said the country was in need of "practical, serious competition'' to reform the corrupt state left by the Mubarak era.

"The differences of opinion and vision that Egypt is passing through is a characteristic at the core of transitions from dictatorship to democracy, and clearly expresses the variety of Egyptian culture," he wrote.

Mursi's opponents say he and his group are seeking to dominate the post-Mubarak order. They accuse him of showing some of the autocratic impulses of the deposed leader by, for example, driving through the new constitution last month.

The Brotherhood says its rivals are failing to respect the rules of the new democracy that put the Islamists in the driving seat via free elections.

?

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/26/16705250-egypt-deploys-troops-in-suez-9-killed-on-uprising-anniversary?lite

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Saturday, January 26, 2013

Video: Preview: 'A Sister's Search'

Dateline NBC

'Dateline NBC,' the signature broadcast for NBC News in primetime, premiered in 1992. Since then, it has been pioneering a new approach to primetime news programming. The multi-night franchise, supplemented by frequent specials, allows NBC to consistently and comprehensively present the highest-quality reporting, investigative features, breaking news coverage and newsmaker profiles.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/vp/50593820#50593820

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The Five Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts

List price: $ 11.24

The Five Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts

Marriage should be based on love, right? But does it seem as though you and your spouse are speaking two different languages? #1 New York Times bestselling author Dr. Gary Chapman guides couples in identifying, understanding, and speaking their spouse?s primary love language-quality time, words of affirmation, gifts, acts of service, or physical touch.

By learning the five love languages, you and your spouse will discover your unique love languages and learn practical steps in truly loving each other. Chapters are categorized by love language for easy reference, and each one ends with simple steps to express a specific language to your spouse and guide your marriage in the right direction. A newly designed love languages assessment will help you understand and strengthen your relationship. You can build a lasting, loving marriage together.

Gary Chapman hosts a nationally syndicated daily radio program called A Love Language Minute that can be heard on more than 150 radio

Source: http://atixi.com/the-five-love-languages-the-secret-to-love-that-lasts/

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Lincoln Steven Spielberg film review | Stuff.co.nz

lincoln

Southern charms: Sally Field and Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln.

LINCOLN (M) 153 mins ???

Up against 12 Oscar nominations, mine may be a lonely cry in the wilderness. Because frankly I found Lincoln interminably boring. Well, it does eventually end after two-and-a-half hours of talk and swirling John Williams' music - but aside from the occasional scene where superb acting distracts you from writing a mental shopping list, it's disappointingly dull.

Without doubt, Daniel Day-Lewis will, and should, win Best Actor for his portrayal of slave-trade-liberator Abraham Lincoln. His performance is simply astounding, effortlessly conveying the great president's unrelenting commitment to the noble cause, the avuncular influence with a warm twinkle in his eye. Despite not having seen footage of the real Lincoln, Day-Lewis has us believe he is the man.

Granted, there are other strong performances, though we've seen Tommy Lee Jones' fist-thumping southernness before. Sally Field has been lauded as Lincoln's erratic and ultimately (sym) pathetic wife, but she comes across shrill and old, and not at all a match for the great man (neither actor nor president).

The main problem is the film lacks tension (save the ultimate scene of vote-counting), suffering perhaps from being a story to which we know the ending. Spoiler alert: Slavery was abolished!, although 2006s comparatively lighter, yet more moving, Amazing Grace, proved much more engaging with the same outcome.

Otherwise Lincoln is just scene after scene of almost exclusively male famous faces spouting complicated and oft-witty lines. It is a veritable Live Aid of a cast, sporting James Spader, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Hal Holbrook - not quite everybody who's anybody, but a lot who used to be somebody.

Perhaps Lincoln resonates with American audiences because slavery is a scar on their past which continues to itch. Whatever, director Steven Spielberg has made many a true story interesting and exciting. But here we are given no identification character to care about, so it's hard to feel what's really at stake.

Those swayed by the Academy's enthusiasm will, and should, make up their own minds. But I'm afraid this is one super-hero story that couldn't make me care.

- ? Fairfax NZ News

Comments

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/film-reviews/8218190/Lincoln-lacks-magic-touch

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