Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/280411376?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Could Vine get pulled from the App Store for featuring porn?
The video-sharing app released by Twitter on Thursday is off to a bumpy start for hosting pornographic content. Vine could get the boot from the App Store if it does not clean up its content.
Twitter launched a Vine app today.
Vine
EnlargeJust days ago, Vine was getting praise from the Apple App Store as an Editor?s Choice pick. Now the mobile video-sharing app released by Twitter could get taken down for its plethora of pornographic content.
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Vine, which launched Thursday, hosts six-second videos, similar to Twitter?s 140-character-long tweets. Since its release, the app has come under scrutiny for allowing pornographic videos, many of them under hashtags like #porn, #nsfw, and #porno.
One risqu? video briefly made the Editor?s Picks list on Vine early Monday morning, according to CNET. It was quickly taken down, but the damage was done.?
A statement released by Twitter attributes the incident to human error.
?A human error resulted in a video with adult content becoming one of the videos in Editor?s Picks, and upon realizing this mistake we removed the video immediately,? the statement reads. ?We apologize to our users for the error.?
In response to concerns regarding sexual content, Twitter states it will remove all content that is flagged as inappropriate.
?Users can report videos as inappropriate within the product if they believe the content to be sensitive or inappropriate (e.g. nudity, violence, or medical procedures). Videos that have been reported as inappropriate have a warning message that a viewer must click through before viewing the video. Uploaded videos that are reported and determine to violate our guidelines will be removed from the site, and the user that posted the video may be terminated.?
The incident comes just days after the app received praise from Apple.?The App Store tweeted?on Friday that Vine was an Editor?s Choice app, mainly because of its ability to share six-second looping videos.
But Apple could remove Vine from the App Store if the app continues to feature sexual content. At least that is what happened to 500px, a photo-sharing startup based in Toronto. TechCrunch reported last week that the app was removed from the App Store due to concerns over nudity being featured in some of its images.
Rebecca Jeschke, a digital rights analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says she is not totally comfortable with Apple being the gatekeeper of her applications.
"Some people do want a highly curated environment on their phone,? she says. ?On the other hand, if you did a quick Google search for ridiculous app removals from the store, you?ll see unbelievable stuff.?
One instance Jeschke points to is the App Store?s ban of Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Mark Fiore?s app, which featured cartoons satirizing public figures. Apple?s reasoning? Fiore violated rules that prohibit making fun of public figures, according to Wire.
While Apple has the right to curate the products in the App Store, Jeschke says, users have the right to use another phone or to jailbreak the device. She also says it is another example of why the jailbreak exemption, which allows people to jailbreak their phones without violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, should be renewed.
?One of the reasons why that exemption is so important is because if you are in Apple?s nice, safe universe, they get to decide which apps you put on your phone and you should decide which apps you put on phone,? she says.
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Iran says it successfully sent a monkey into space
In this undated image taken from AP Television, scientists in Iran surround a monkey ahead of a space launch. Iran said it had successfully sent the monkey into space on Monday, Jan. 28, 2013, describing the launch as another step toward Tehran's goal of a manned space flight. According to a brief report on state TV, the monkey was sent up to a height of 120 kilometers (72 miles) on board a rocket dubbed Pishgam, or Pioneer in Farsi. (AP Photo/AP Video)
In this undated image taken from AP Television, scientists in Iran surround a monkey ahead of a space launch. Iran said it had successfully sent the monkey into space on Monday, Jan. 28, 2013, describing the launch as another step toward Tehran's goal of a manned space flight. According to a brief report on state TV, the monkey was sent up to a height of 120 kilometers (72 miles) on board a rocket dubbed Pishgam, or Pioneer in Farsi. (AP Photo/AP Video)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? A gray-tufted monkey strapped in a pod resembling an infant's car seat rode an Iranian rocket into space and returned safely, officials said Monday in what was described as a step toward Tehran's goal of a manned space flight.
The mission also touched on concerns that advances in Iran's rocket expertise could be channeled into military use for long-range weapons that might one day carry nuclear warheads. Iran says it does not seek atomic weapons.
Launching a live animal into space ? as the U.S. and the Soviet Union did more than a half-century ago in the infancy of their programs ? may boost a country's stature. But John Logsden, a space policy professor emeritus at George Washington University, said Iran's achievement should draw no concern.
"A slight monkey on a suborbital flight is nothing to get too excited about," he said. "They already had the capability to launch warheads in their region."
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. had no way to confirm the monkey's voyage, but that it was concerned by the reports because "any space launch vehicle capable of placing an object in orbit is directly relevant to the development of long-range ballistic missiles."
The U.N. Security Council has expressly forbidden Iran from such ballistic missile activity, Nuland added.
In June 2010, the Security Council banned Iran from pursuing "any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons."
With its ambitious aerospace program, Iran has said it wants to become a technological leader for the Islamic world.
It's not the first time Iran has announced it had rocketed a live creature out of the Earth's atmosphere. The country sent a mouse, a turtle and some worms into space in 2010, officials said.
But the purported successful voyage of the small monkey, shown wearing a protective vest, put Iran among just a handful of nations that have sent a primate into space in a mission seen as a precursor of human spaceflight. No name was given for the monkey.
Earlier this month, the director of Iran's space agency, Hamid Fazeli, said Iran wanted to launch its first manned space mission in as soon as five years ? a goal that stretches back to the shah's fascination with NASA years before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
"Iran is on its way to send a man into space," said Iran's Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi in comments posted on the ministry's website.
He added that the capsule "returned to Earth safely at the expected speed, together with the monkey inside," without giving further details.
According to state TV, the rocket dubbed "Pishgam," or "Pioneer" in Farsi, reached a height of 120 kilometers (72 miles), pushing into the threshold of space.
Iran's state TV broadcast its first video pictures showing Iranian scientists fixing the seated monkey into the rocket before the launch. It did not give any details on the timing or location of the launch.
Still images also showed the monkey wearing a type of molded body protection and being strapped tightly into a red plastic seat. The monkey was shown immobilized with straps and his face poked through a purple shield that covered his head and upper body.
Fazel said the monkey parachuted safely with the remaining last stage of the rocket. The TV also showed experts walking to the site in the middle of a desert where the monkey landed.
Fazel told the state TV that Iran will launch a bigger rocket together with a larger animal to obtain greater safety assurances before sending a man into space.
For Iran, its aerospace program is a source of national pride at a time of slumping economic fortunes from Western sanctions. It's also one of the pillars of Iran's aspirations to be seen as the technological hub for Islamic and developing countries.
Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and others repeatedly describe scientific progress ? including Iran's uranium enrichment labs ? as a patriotic duty in response to Western economic and diplomatic pressures.
Iran's rocket technology alarms the West as giving it intercontinental reach for a possible arsenal. Already, conventional Iranian missiles are capable of reaching Israel and U.S. military bases in the Persian Gulf.
Iran insists it only seeks nuclear reactors for energy and medical applications. But authorities also say there can be no retreat from homegrown technological development in all fields ? from peaceful nuclear research to military surveillance drones.
Tehran has announced several successful launches of satellites, dating back to 2005 in a joint project with Russia.
In November, the head of Iran's powerful parliamentary committee on security and foreign policy, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, warned that "no power can prevent Iran's progress in scientific and nuclear science fields."
Similar statements were made last year when Iran announced plans for a new space center.
Few details have emerged on the new facility, but Iran already has a major satellite launch complex near Semnan, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) east of Tehran. A satellite monitoring facility is located outside Mahdasht, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) west of the Iranian capital.
Iran says it wants to put its own satellites into orbit to monitor natural disasters in the earthquake-prone nation, improve telecommunications and expand military surveillance in the region.
The mission involving the monkey drew historical links to the earliest years of the space race in the 1950s when both the U.S. and the Soviet Union tested rockets with animals on board, including American capsules carrying monkeys and Moscow's holding dogs. Many of the animals on the early flights perished because of equipment failure or technology unable to cope with re-entry from sub-orbit.
Later in the 1960s, the U.S. and Soviets sent animals into orbit for further biological tests on space flight and other nations, including France and China, sent animals on rocket flights.
"They're following the path that we followed more than half a century ago," Logsdon said, adding that Iran is probably ahead of India in terms of space ability, but behind its arch foe Israel.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said it was "appalled" by photos of what it described as a "visibly terrified monkey crudely strapped into a restraint device."
It said it had urged Iran in 2011 not to send a primate into space.
"Iran is repeating the wasteful and cruel mistakes that marked the darkest days of the space race," PETA said in a statement.
____
Science Writer Seth Borenstein and Bradley Klapper in Washington contributed to this report.
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Saturday, January 26, 2013
Samsung may cut expenses as Apple shops elsewhere for chips
SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co, due to report record earnings on Friday, may cut capital spending by as much as a fifth this year - a first reduction since the global financial crisis - as demand for computer chips weakens and rival Apple Inc looks set to buy fewer of its microprocessors used in the iPhone and iPad.
The South Korean firm, one of the technology industry's most aggressive spenders, has already seen Apple scale back buying Samsung flat screens and memory chips. Analysts predict the world's biggest maker of TVs, smartphones and DRAM memory chips could trim annual capex by 4-20 percent after investing a record 25 trillion won ($23.5 billion) last year.
By comparison, Taiwan's TSMC raised its capital spending to $9 billion this year, aimed in part at winning Apple orders away from Samsung.
"There are two key factors to watch in Samsung's earnings - capex plans and any guidance on smartphone sales, for this quarter or for all of 2013," said Jin Sunghye, an analyst at KTB Securities. "With a bleak PC sales outlook and growing prospects that Apple won't increase its chip purchases, Samsung is very likely to take a disciplined capacity expansion approach."
Samsung, valued at $220 billion, has said October-December operating profit will likely be a record 8.8 trillion won ($8.3 billion), up 89 percent from a year ago.
Quarterly revenue is expected to have risen around 19 percent to 56.2 trillion won ($52.7 billion) - around $565 million a day - and just behind Apple's $54.5 billion.
Samsung declined to comment on its capex plan.
SEASONAL BLIP
Samsung's run of five record quarters may see a blip in January-March on weaker seasonal demand before picking up again later in the year, boosted by the expected launch of the new Galaxy S4- which is generating the kind of anticipatory buzz normally reserved for Apple products.
Analysts bet Samsung will get through any seasonal weakness better than rivals as it offers a broader range of smartphones - from the very cheap to the very expensive - and is seeing strong sales of its Note phone-cum-tablet, or 'phablet'.
"Samsung is likely to show a less severe seasonal earnings swing than its peers as it's got the Galaxy Note II, which is in the early stage of its life cycle and selling well. It will make up for any slowdown in the (Galaxy) SIII," said Park Young, an analyst at Woori Investment & Securities.
Apple shipped 47.8 million iPhones in the December quarter, a record that nonetheless disappointed many analysts accustomed to years of outperformance. Samsung is estimated to have sold around 63 million smartphones in the quarter, including 15 million Galaxy S IIIs and 7 million Note IIs, propelling its mobile business profit to around 6 trillion won, or 70 percent of total profit.
"When the new Galaxy will be launched is a key earnings swing factor," said Greg Noh, an analyst at HMC Investment Securities, noting that a late-March launch would boost Samsung's smartphone shipments by 3 million in the current quarter, bumping up earnings that are currently seen dipping by 4.6 percent to 8.4 trillion won, according to Thomson Reuters SmartEstimates.
CHANGING FORTUNES
Cupertino, California-based Apple missed Wall Street's revenue forecast for a third straight quarter on Wednesday as iPhone sales lagged expectations, driving Apple shares down more than 10 percent early on Thursday.
Apple shares have dropped by around a third since mid-September as investors fret that its days of hyper growth are over and its devices are no longer as 'must-have' as they were.
Over the same period shares in Samsung have risen 12 percent as a company once seen as quick to copy others' ideas now sets the pace in innovation. At the world's biggest electronics show in Las Vegas this month, Samsung unveiled a prototype phone with a flexible display that can be folded almost like paper, and a microchip with 8 processing cores, creating a buzz that these may be used in the next Galaxy range.
"It's very probable to us that the Exynos 5 Octa (processor) will find its way into the Galaxy S4," UBS analyst Nicolas Gaudois wrote in a recent note. "It also looked as if the curved display is close enough to finished product. We came away even more convinced that displays will provide significant differentiation to Samsung devices, and application processors will materially grow over time."
Samsung's component business is also benefitting from a rebound in memory chip prices after major suppliers such as Toshiba Corp cut production last year.
The commodity chip supply balance has also improved sharply, after chipmakers cut output of PC memory chips and increased production of the more profitable mobile chips to ride the boom in smartphones and tablets.
Global PC shipments are set to rise 8 percent this year, after declining for the first time in more than a decade, and this could drive DRAM chip revenue up by 14 percent to $30 billion, according to research firm IHS iSuppli.
Samsung's flat screen business, which last year lost 220 billion won, is also recovering on the back of demand for high-end screens for Galaxy smartphones and as demand for TV screens increased during the year-end holiday season.
($1 = 1066.2000 Korean won)
(Reporting by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/samsung-may-cut-expenses-apple-shops-elsewhere-chips-205546557--finance.html
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Thursday, January 24, 2013
Researchers map emotional intelligence in the brain
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
A new study of 152 Vietnam veterans with combat-related brain injuries offers the first detailed map of the brain regions that contribute to emotional intelligence ? the ability to process emotional information and navigate the social world.
The study found significant overlap between general intelligence and emotional intelligence, both in terms of behavior and in the brain. Higher scores on general intelligence tests corresponded significantly with higher performance on measures of emotional intelligence, and many of the same brain regions were found to be important to both. (Watch a video about the research.)
The study appears in the journal Social Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience.
"This was a remarkable group of patients to study, mainly because it allowed us to determine the degree to which damage to specific brain areas was related to impairment in specific aspects of general and emotional intelligence," said study leader Aron K. Barbey, a professor of neuroscience, of psychology and of speech and hearing science at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois.
A previous study led by Barbey mapped the neural basis of general intelligence by analyzing how specific brain injuries (in a larger sample of Vietnam veterans) impaired performance on tests of fundamental cognitive processes.
In both studies, researchers pooled data from CT scans of participants' brains to produce a collective, three-dimensional map of the cerebral cortex. They divided this composite brain into 3-D units called voxels. They compared the cognitive abilities of patients with damage to a particular voxel or cluster of voxels with those of patients without injuries in those brain regions. This allowed the researchers to identify brain areas essential to specific cognitive abilities, and those that contribute significantly to general intelligence, emotional intelligence, or both.
They found that specific regions in the frontal cortex (behind the forehead) and parietal cortex (top of the brain near the back of the skull) were important to both general and emotional intelligence. The frontal cortex is known to be involved in regulating behavior. It also processes feelings of reward and plays a role in attention, planning and memory. The parietal cortex helps integrate sensory information, and contributes to bodily coordination and language processing.
"Historically, general intelligence has been thought to be distinct from social and emotional intelligence," Barbey said. The most widely used measures of human intelligence focus on tasks such as verbal reasoning or the ability to remember and efficiently manipulate information, he said.
"Intelligence, to a large extent, does depend on basic cognitive abilities, like attention and perception and memory and language," Barbey said. "But it also depends on interacting with other people. We're fundamentally social beings and our understanding not only involves basic cognitive abilities but also involves productively applying those abilities to social situations so that we can navigate the social world and understand others."
The new findings will help scientists and clinicians understand and respond to brain injuries in their patients, Barbey said, but the results also are of broader interest because they illustrate the interdependence of general and emotional intelligence in the healthy mind.
###
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: http://www.uiuc.edu
Thanks to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for this article.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126414/Researchers_map_emotional_intelligence_in_the_brain
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Verizon adds 'record-high' 2.1 million subscribers in Q4 2012, but still makes a loss
Verizon has just announced that the last quarter was its best yet -- in regard to subscriber numbers. Those 2.1 million new additions mean that Verizon can now lay claim to 98.2 million customers in total, while smartphones have now claimed an additional 5 percent of this base, up to 58 percent. Since its last report, Q4 consolidated revenues totaled $30 billion for the first time, although profits were hit by $135 million in damages from Hurricane Sandy as well as a one-time pension cost that meant the company took a charge of between $9 and 10 billion for the quarter. This made up a $1.93 billion loss for the carrier, which remained, unsurprisingly, upbeat. According to Verizon, its LTE network is now available to 273 million people and CEO Lowell McAdam is calling the last twelve months "a year of solid progress."
Earnings Impacted by Previously Announced Non-Operational Charges
4Q 2012 HIGHLIGHTS
Wireless
8.5 percent year-over-year increase in service revenues in 4Q 2012; 8.4 percent year-over-year increase in retail service revenues.
2.2 million retail net additions, excluding acquisitions and adjustments, including a record-high 2.1 million retail postpaid net connections; low retail postpaid churn of 0.95 percent; 98.2 million total retail connections, 92.5 million total retail postpaid connections.
4G LTE service now available to more than 273 million people in 476 markets across the U.S.
Wireline
4.1 percent year-over-year increase in consumer revenues; consumer ARPU (average revenue per user) up 9.5 percent year over year, to $105.63.
144,000 FiOS Internet and 134,000 FiOS Video net additions, with continued increased sales penetration for both services; 5.4 million total FiOS Internet, 4.7 million total FiOS Video customers.
Consolidated Earnings
A loss of $1.48 in earnings per share (EPS), compared with a loss of 71 cents per share in 4Q 2011, impacted by non-cash pension items in both quarters and additional non-operational debt retirement and other restructuring items in 4Q 2012.
A 7-cent-per-share impact due to Superstorm Sandy yielded 38 cents per share in adjusted EPS (non-GAAP), compared with 52 cents in adjusted EPS in 4Q 2011.
NEW YORK - Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) today reported strong customer and revenue growth in Verizon Wireless and Verizon FiOS services in fourth-quarter 2012 -- positioning the company well for 2013.
Verizon Wireless reported record-setting customer additions in the quarter, while Verizon FiOS customer additions were higher in fourth-quarter 2012 than in the prior two quarters, despite the impact of Superstorm Sandy.
"Verizon seized growth opportunities in the fourth quarter to cap a year of solid progress across the entire business," said Lowell McAdam, Verizon chairman and CEO. "We delivered a total return of 13.2 percent to shareholders in 2012, and we enter 2013 ready to accelerate the momentum we've achieved and create significant shareholder value in the years to come."
4Q and Full-Year Earnings Results
Due to the impact of non-operational items announced earlier this month, Verizon reported a loss of $1.48 in EPS in fourth-quarter 2012, compared with a fourth-quarter 2011 loss of 71 cents per share.
A reduction of 7 cents per share due to impacts from Superstorm Sandy yielded a total of 38 cents per share in adjusted fourth-quarter 2012 earnings (non-GAAP). Fourth-quarter 2012 charges totaled $1.86 per share: $1.55 per share related to severance, pension and benefit charges primarily for the annual actuarial valuation of Verizon's benefit plans as well as the annuitization of various pension liabilities during the quarter, and 31 cents per share related to the early retirement of debt and other restructuring activities.
Comparable adjusted fourth-quarter 2011 earnings of 52 cents per share excluded charges of $1.23 per share, primarily related to the valuation of pension plans.
On an annual basis, Verizon reported 31 cents in 2012 EPS, compared with 85 cents per share in 2011. Adjusted annual EPS (non-GAAP) was $2.24 in 2012, compared with $2.15 in 2011.
Revenue Growth Across All Strategic Areas; Continued Strong Cash Flow
In fourth-quarter 2012, Verizon's consolidated quarterly operating revenues exceeded $30.0 billion for the first time in company history. This represented a 5.7 percent increase compared with fourth-quarter 2011 and was the company's highest year-over-year quarterly growth rate in 2012.
For full-year 2012, Verizon's revenues totaled $115.8 billion, an increase of 4.5 percent, or $5.0 billion, compared with 2011. In fourth-quarter 2012, Verizon saw year-over-year revenue increases across all strategic growth areas: 8.5 percent for Verizon Wireless service revenues, 15.7 percent for FiOS revenues and 5.3 percent for strategic enterprise services.
Cash flow from operating activities totaled $31.5 billion in 2012, an increase of 5.7 percent compared with $29.8 billion in 2011.
Capital expenditures were $16.2 billion in 2012, including $135 million in companywide capital related to Superstorm Sandy recovery efforts, and totaled about $70 million less than in 2011. Free cash flow (non-GAAP, cash flow from operations less capex) was $15.3 billion for the year, an increase of 13.1 percent compared with $13.5 billion in 2011.
Verizon maintained a strong balance sheet, with year-end 2012 total debt of $52.0 billion, down from $55.2 billion at year-end 2011.
Verizon Wireless Delivers Record-High Customer Additions and Strong Revenue Growth
In fourth-quarter 2012, Verizon Wireless delivered the highest number of retail postpaid net additions of any quarter in its history, strong growth in revenues, an increase in smartphone penetration, and continued low retail postpaid churn.
Wireless Financial Highlights
Total revenues were $20.0 billion in fourth-quarter 2012, up 9.5 percent year over year. Service revenues in the quarter totaled $16.4 billion, up 8.5 percent year over year. Retail service revenues grew 8.4 percent year over year, to $15.8 billion.
For full-year 2012, total revenues were $75.9 billion, up 8.1 percent over full-year 2011, and service revenues were $63.7 billion in 2012, up 7.7 percent year over year.
Retail postpaid ARPA (average revenue per account) grew 6.6 percent over fourth-quarter 2011, to $146.80 per month. As customers continue to add multiple devices to accounts following the introduction of the Share Everything Plan in June, Verizon Wireless now reports ARPA instead of ARPU since customers can share data among multiple devices.
In fourth-quarter 2012, wireless operating income margin was 24.0 percent and segment EBITDA margin on service revenues (non-GAAP) was 41.4 percent, down 80 basis points from fourth-quarter 2011. For full-year 2012, operating income margin was 28.7 percent, up 230 basis points from full-year 2011; segment EBITDA margin was 46.6 percent, up 180 basis points year over year.
Wireless Operational Highlights
Verizon Wireless added 2.2 million net retail connections in the fourth quarter, including a record-high 2.1 million retail postpaid net connections. The company added 5.0 million net retail postpaid connections in 2012, the most in four years. These additions exclude acquisitions and adjustments.
At the end of 2012, the company had 98.2 million retail connections, a 6.6 percent increase year over year -- including 92.5 million retail postpaid connections.
Verizon Wireless had 35.1 million retail postpaid accounts at the end of the fourth quarter, a 1.4 percent increase over the fourth quarter 2011, and an average of 2.6 connections per account, up 4.3 percent year over year.
At year-end 2012, smartphones accounted for more than 58 percent of the Verizon Wireless retail postpaid customer phone base, up from 53 percent at the end of third-quarter 2012.
Retail postpaid churn was 0.95 percent in the fourth quarter and retail churn was 1.24 percent, both up 1 basis point year over year.
Verizon Wireless continued to roll out its 4G LTE mobile broadband network, the largest 4G LTE network in the U.S. As of today (Jan. 22), Verizon Wireless 4G LTE service is available to more than 273 million people -- close to 89 percent of the population -- in 476 markets across the U.S.
The company continued to enhance its device lineup with new smartphones and tablets. In the fourth quarter, Verizon Wireless launched eight 4G LTE smartphones: the DROID RAZR HD and DROID RAZR MAXX HD by Motorola; Windows Phone 8X by HTC; Nokia Lumia 822; Samsung Galaxy Note II; Spectrum 2 by LG; Samsung Galaxy Stratosphere II; and the DROID DNA by HTC. In addition, Verizon Wireless launched three tablets in the quarter: the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, Apple iPad with Retina display and Apple iPad mini.
Verizon Wireless announced it will begin offering shared data plans for business on Jan. 24, 2013, with the Share Everything Plan for Small Business and the Nationwide for Business Data Packages and Plans.
Wireline Reports Continued Strong FiOS Customer and Revenue Growth
In the Wireline segment, FiOS customer growth in fourth-quarter 2012 was greater than in the prior two quarters, despite the disruption caused by Superstorm Sandy. In global enterprise and wholesale, increased sales of strategic services continued to help mitigate lower revenues resulting from secular and global economic impacts.
Wireline Financial Highlights
Fourth-quarter 2012 operating revenues were $10.0 billion, a decline of 1.5 percent compared with fourth-quarter 2011. Consumer revenues grew 4.1 percent compared with fourth-quarter 2011. On an annual basis, 2012 consumer revenues totaled $14.0 billion, an increase of 3.2 percent compared with 2011 and Verizon's highest annual revenue growth rate in consumer wireline in 10 years.
Consumer ARPU for wireline services increased to $105.63 in fourth-quarter 2012, up 9.5 percent compared with fourth-quarter 2011.
ARPU for FiOS customers continues to be more than $150. FiOS services produced about 68 percent of consumer wireline revenues in fourth-quarter 2012. About two-thirds of FiOS consumer customers have purchased a "triple play" of phone, Internet and video services.
Global enterprise revenues totaled $3.8 billion in the quarter, down 2.1 percent compared with fourth-quarter 2011. Sales of strategic services increased 5.3 percent compared with fourth-quarter 2011 and represented 54 percent of global enterprise revenues. Strategic services include Verizon Terremark cloud and data center services, security and IT solutions, advanced communications, and strategic networking.
For 2012, wireline operating income margin was 0.2 percent and wireline EBITDA margin (non-GAAP) was 21.3 percent, including the negative impact of fourth-quarter storm recovery. Excluding identifiable storm impacts (non-GAAP), wireline operating income margin was 1.0 percent and wireline EBITDA margin was 22.1 percent.
Wireline Operational Highlights
Verizon added 144,000 net new FiOS Internet connections and 134,000 net new FiOS Video connections in fourth-quarter 2012. Verizon had a total of 5.4 million FiOS Internet and 4.7 million FiOS Video connections at the end of the quarter, representing year-over-year increases of 12.6 percent and 13.3 percent, respectively.
FiOS penetration (subscribers as a percentage of potential subscribers) continued to increase. FiOS Internet penetration was 37.3 percent at the end of fourth-quarter 2012, compared with 35.5 percent at the end of fourth-quarter 2011. In the same periods, FiOS Video penetration was 33.3 percent, compared with 31.5 percent. The FiOS network passed 17.6 million premises at year-end 2012.
Broadband connections totaled 8.8 million at year-end 2012, a 1.4 percent year-over-year increase. Revenues from broadband connections grew 3.1 percent -- to $3.5 billion for full-year 2012 -- over the same period, driven by customer purchases of higher-speed FiOS services.
Verizon has been replacing high-maintenance portions of its residential copper network with fiber optics to provide enhanced services and to reduce ongoing repair costs. In 2012, Verizon migrated 223,000 homes to fiber, which contributed to an 11 percent improvement in trouble reports across Verizon's entire copper network for the year. The company has a target of 300,000 additional migrations within FiOS markets in 2013.
To meet rapidly growing customer-traffic demands, Verizon deployed additional 100G (gigabits per second) technology on network routes in the U.S. and Europe in fourth-quarter 2012. In the U.S., these high-capacity routes included Atlanta to Tampa, Kansas City to Dallas and Salt Lake City to Seattle. During 2012, the company added 13,000 miles to its 100G network in the U.S.
Verizon Enterprise Solutions completed agreements with multinational and U.S. corporations The Coca-Cola Company, Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels Ltd., Bridgestone Americas, CME Group, Redbox and Shred-It for advanced business technology solutions.
Verizon Enterprise Solutions launched a comprehensive cloud and data center infrastructure portfolio specifically designed to help the health care industry meet the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements for safeguarding electronic protected health information.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Verizon
Source: Verizon
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/KD64grdmI7c/
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Monday, January 21, 2013
Senior Democrat says Senate will finally pass a budget this year (reuters)
Warmer soils release additional CO2 into atmosphere; Effect stabilizes over longer term
Jan. 20, 2013 ? Warmer temperatures due to climate change could cause soils to release additional carbon into the atmosphere, thereby enhancing climate change - but that effect diminishes over the long term, finds a new study in the journal Nature Climate Change. The study, from UNH professor Serita Frey and co-authors from the University of California-Davis and the Marine Biological Laboratory, sheds new light on how soil microorganisms respond to temperature and could improve predictions of how climate warming will affect the carbon dioxide flux from soils.
The activities of soil microorganisms release 10 times the carbon dioxide that human activities do on a yearly basis. Historically, this release of carbon dioxide has been kept in check by plants' uptake of the gas from the atmosphere. However, human activities are potentially upsetting this balance.
Frey and co-authors Johan Six and Juhwan Lee of UC-Davis and Jerry Melillo of the Marine Biological Laboratory were curious how increased temperatures due to climate change might alter the amount of carbon released from soils. "While they're low on the charisma scale, soil microorganisms are so critically important to the carbon balance of the atmosphere," Frey says.
"If we warm the soil due to climate warming, are we going to fundamentally alter the flux of carbon into the atmosphere in a way that is going to feed back to enhance climate change?"
Yes, the researchers found. And no.
The study examined the efficiency of soil organisms - how completely they utilize food sources to maintain their cellular machinery - depending upon the food source and the temperature under two different scenarios. In the first short-term scenario, these researchers found that warming temperatures had little effect on soils' ability to use glucose, a simple food source released from the roots of plants. For phenol, a more complex food source common in decomposing wood or leaves, soils showed a 60 percent drop in efficiency at higher temperatures.
"As you increase temperature, you decrease the efficiency - soil microorganisms release more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere - but only for the more complex food sources," Frey explains. "You could infer that as the soil warms, more carbon dioxide will be released into the atmosphere, exacerbating the climate problem."
That effect diminishes, however, in the second scenario, in which soils were warmed to 5 degrees Celsius above the ambient temperature for 18 years. "When the soil was heated to simulate climate warming, we saw a change in the community to be more efficient in the longer term," Frey says, lessening the amount of carbon dioxide the soils release into the atmosphere and, in turn, their impact on the climate. "The positive feedback response may not be as strong as we originally predicted."
The research team also examined how changes in soil microorganism efficiency might influence long term storage of carbon in soils as predicted by a commonly used ecosystem model. Models of this type are used to simulate ecosystem carbon dynamics in response to different perturbations, such as land-use change and climate warming. These models generally assume that efficiency is fixed and that it does not change with temperature or other environmental conditions. The team found a large effect on long-term soil carbon storage as predicted by the model when they varied carbon use efficiency in a fashion comparable to what they observed in their experiments. "There is clearly a need for new models that incorporate an efficiency parameter that is allowed to fluctuate in response to temperature and other environmental variables," Six says.
The researchers hypothesize that long-term warming may change the community of soil microorganisms so that it becomes more efficient. Organism adaptation, change in the species that comprise the soils, and/or changes in the availability of various nutrients could result in this increased efficiency.
This study was based on work done at the Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research site in Petersham, Mass., where Frey and Melillo have been warming two sites - one 9 meters square, the other 36 meters square -- with underground cables for two versus 18 years. "It's like having a heating blanket under the forest floor," Frey says, "allowing us to examine how this particular environmental change -- long-term soil warming -- is altering how the soil functions."
This work was supported by an NSF Faculty Early Career Development Award, the NSF Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) Program, a DOE National Institute for Climatic Change Research (NICCR) grant, and a Harvard Forest Bullard Fellowship to Frey.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of New Hampshire. The original article was written by Beth Potier.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Serita D. Frey, Juhwan Lee, Jerry M. Melillo, Johan Six. The temperature response of soil microbial efficiency and its feedback to climate. Nature Climate Change, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/NCLIMATE1796
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/9gjzRphqMlw/130120150029.htm
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Monday, January 14, 2013
2000 Ford Ranger
All prices exclude state and local taxes, tags, registration, $149 dealer documentation fee, title and license fees. All pricing and details are believed to be accurate, but we do not warrant or guarantee such accuracy. The prices shown above, may vary from region to region, as will incentives, and are subject to change. College grad and military rebates are not included. Vehicle information is based off standard equipment and may vary from vehicle to vehicle. Call or email for complete vehicle specific information.
[*] Based on 2009 EPA mileage estimates, reflecting new EPA fuel economy methods beginning with 2008 models. Use for comparison purposes only. Do not compare to models before 2008. Your actual mileage will vary depending on how you drive and maintain your vehicle.
Source: http://www.royalsouthtoyota.com/vehicle-details/2000-ford-ranger--bloomington-in-id-4054751
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Wednesday, January 9, 2013
The ferret: Pet or pest?
Ferrets, owners say, are full of personality. But depending on where you live, state officials concerned about the effects of released ferrets on native species have banned ownership and lawbreakers risk up to three years in jail.
Ferret fans argue that the foot-long domesticated creatures make excellent pets and shouldn?t be regulated by wildlife agencies as such. Pat Wright, a La Mesa, Calif. advocate for legalizing ferret ownership, gets a kiss from one his three ferrets.
Associated Press
EnlargeThe difference between owning a ferret in Hawaii and one in Pennsylvania can be up to three years in jail ? and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.
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That's the penalty for ferret fans in the Aloha State, where the 3-pound members of the weasel and polecat family are banned amid concerns of the animals escaping and wreaking havoc on the islands' delicate ecosystems. Similar fears are behind a decades-old ban in California, which has one of the nation's most diverse ecosystems.
"The concern is that if these animals were released, like other non-native species have been, they would adapt and thrive and out-compete native species for food, and prey on native species," said Adrianna Shea, deputy director of California's Fish and Game Commission.
States have had problems with feral animals in nonnative environments, creating problems for native species by eating them or ravaging their food supply. Feral cats, for example, have decimated bird populations. In Hawaii, the introduction of the mongoose to combat a rat problem "was a very poor idea. Rats are nocturnal and mongooses are diurnal. They only saw each other for a short period between dusk and dawn," said Minami Keevin, a land vertebrate specialist with the Hawaii Department of Agriculture.
But ferret fans argue that the foot-long domesticated creatures make excellent pets and shouldn't be regulated by wildlife agencies.
"Ferrets are really wonderful animals for those of us who are so inclined. They are messy, and they're expensive, and they're demanding, but they are full of personality, full of love and full of joy," said Pat Wright, who lives in La Mesa, near San Diego, and has been fighting California's ban for nearly 20 years.
Keeping a ferret as a pet takes more time, care and money than owning a dog or cat. The American Veterinary Medical Association in Schaumburg, Ill., which recently posted a YouTube video on pet ferrets, noted that they need to be caged most of the time, require hours of exercise and emit a musky odor that many people find unpleasant. Large cages are expensive, but on the other hand, ferrets don't require as much medical or dental care as cats or dogs.
"They are wonderful little clowns that not only steal your heart but they will steal anything they deem is theirs. This includes your shoes, socks, pens, pencils, hairbrushes, potatoes, car keys, wallets and clothing. I had two ferrets that tried to take my notebook computer to what is called their hidey-hole," said AmyJo Casner of Harrisville, Pa., who legally owns ferrets Manny, Marcuz, and Marylin.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/O28mMAIJEWM/The-ferret-Pet-or-pest
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Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Analysis: In war against cancer, progress is in the eye of the beholder
NEW YORK (Reuters) - As the United States enters the fifth decade of its "war on cancer," deaths continue to decline, according to an exhaustive report based on official data released on Monday.
But that doesn't tell the whole story, say experts not involved in the report from the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society and other groups on progress against cancer since the 1970s. The improvements reflect such lifestyle changes as not smoking more than they do the billions of dollars spent to discover and implement advanced cancer treatments.
"We don't look at this as progress," said Fran Visco, president of the National Breast Cancer Coalition, of the new numbers. "This is such incremental improvement, when you look at the decades of investments, the cost of treatments, the number of researchers and journals, and then at the number of people who die ... well, we are clearly doing something wrong," said Visco, who was not involved in the study.
The decrease in deaths from all cancers - 1.8 percent a year for men and 1.5 percent for women from 2005 to 2009, the last year with enough data to analyze - while steady, is disappointing to many experts because it is no greater in the most recent five-year period than in the previous one, and because it has hardly been affected by supposed advances in detection and treatment.
"The decrease in cancer mortality is driven largely by the decrease in cancer incidence, which is mostly because of the decrease in smoking," said Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical and scientific officer of the American Cancer Society (ACS).
Smoking can cause more than a dozen cancers, including lung, head, neck, bladder and mouth.
Although improvements in treatment for breast and some other cancers have cut death rates, Brawley said, headline-making new drugs have contributed little. "Most of the expensive new drugs prolong survival for no more than three or four months," on average, he said.
INCIDENCE OF CANCER FALLS
At first glance, the findings in the report, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, are worth cheering.
In men, the incidence of cancer fell an average 0.6 percent a year from 2000 to 2009, find the researchers, who include scientists from the NCI, ACS and other federal agencies and private groups. In women, cancer incidence was flat for those years but rose 0.6 percent a year from 2005 to 2009. (The statistics are adjusted to account for the aging of the population, since cancer is largely a disease of the elderly.)
Cancer incidence among women fell when fewer post-menopausal women opted for hormone-replacement therapy following a 2002 report that linked it to breast cancer and other disease, said NCI's Brenda Edwards, the lead author of the report.
But no other factor occurred to cause another dip after the mid-2000s. Instead, although the incidence of breast cancer fell from 2000 to 2009 by an average 0.7 percent a year, it rose 0.9 percent a year from 2005 to 2009.
The trend in childhood cancer is also going in the wrong direction. From 2000 to 2009, cancer incidence among children 19 and younger rose 0.7 percent per year, on average.
Experts are not sure why the numbers are rising. But one reason may be, paradoxically, greater access to health insurance.
An uninsured child who developed flu-like symptoms in the 1990s might have died from what was actually leukemia, but without medical care his death certificate said pneumonia, explained ACS's Brawley. With insurance, that child now is more likely to see a doctor and get correctly diagnosed.
Experts note that cancer incidence can be affected by such changes as how many people are screened for the disease, such as through mammography or prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests. That may account for the recent increase in cases of thyroid and kidney cancers.
Incidence is therefore less accurate an indicator of progress against the disease than mortality. By this measure, too, progress has been halting at best, the report finds.
Death rates from cancer - the percentage of all deaths due to any form of this disease - have been declining since the early 1990s, by about 1.8 percent per year in men and 1.4 percent per year in women. But the decrease was also 1.8 percent per year from 2005 to 2009 for men, and 1.5 percent for women. So even as expensive new treatments were introduced, progress is not accelerating.
"We're all wondering why there hasn't been an acceleration in the rate of decrease" in mortality, said report co-author Edgar Simard, an epidemiologist at ACS.
One reason is that "cancer cells are wily foes," said Massachusetts Institute of Technology cancer biologist Robert Weinberg. "What is most frustrating is the ability of cancer cells that are under attack and being decimated by one therapy to invent a way of circumventing the therapy and finding a new way to thrive and proliferate."
Although the drop in smoking is responsible much of the decline in cancer death rates - 42 percent of adults smoked in the mid-1960s, compared with about 21 percent now - some of the credit goes to improved screening.
Colorectal screening can find and remove polyps before they become malignant, for instance. "So stage one never gets to stage two or three or four, and you have less mortality," said Dr. Maurie Markman, senior vice president for clinical affairs at Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Deaths from colorectal cancer fell 2.9 percent a year from 2000 to 2009 among men and 1.9 percent among women.
The 1.9 percent annual decline in deaths from breast cancer over the same period probably reflects some improvements in treatment. But "a huge driver of the decrease is what we call breast awareness," said Brawley. "It's not monthly breast exams" that do not decrease deaths "but women being aware of their body and asking, what is this change in my breast?"
The rise in liver cancer may be the result of a high prevalence of chronic hepatitis C infection resulting from drug use decades ago, the report says. Obesity may be raising the incidence of liver, pancreatic and uterine cancers.
"If the American public really wants fewer people to die from cancer, then there will need to be major changes in lifestyle," said MIT's Weinberg, such as declines in tobacco use and obesity. The biggest reductions in cancer mortality "will come from prevention rather than treatment."
(Reporting by Sharon Begley; Editing by Jilian Mincer and Douglas Royalty)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-war-against-cancer-progress-eye-beholder-211020246.html
Pro Football Hall of Famers Team Up to Fight Prostate Cancer ...
As football fans get excited for the run-up to the Super Bowl, Silver Cross Hospital, Advanced Urology Associates, the American Urological Association (AUA) Foundation and the National Football League are encouraging men to ?Know Your Stats About Prostate Cancer?.?
Over 45,000 men in Illinois are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year, making it the second-leading cause of cancer death in American men.
A sponsored article by Silver Cross Hospital
Led by Pro Football Hall of Fame player and prostate cancer survivor Mike Haynes, fans and NFL players across the country can join the team at www.KnowYourStats.org to help spread the word about prostate cancer and the importance of knowing your risk factors.?The national campaign is focused on turning awareness into action by encouraging men to talk with their doctors about their risk for prostate cancer.?
Now in its fourth year, the campaign is bringing the message to fans across the country, educating men and their loved ones about prostate health.
Dan Hampton to Speak at Lincoln-Way West
Know Your Stats has joined Silver Cross Hospital and Advanced Urology Associates to host a Free Men?s Prostate Health Event on Tuesday, Jan. 22, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Lincoln Way West High School Performing Arts Center, 21701 S. Gougar Rd., New Lenox.? Bears legend and Hall of Famer Dan Hampton and Dr. Thai Nguyen, Urologist and Medical Director of the Robotic Surgery Program at Silver Cross Hospital, will provide critical health information to men ages 40 and older, encouraging them to talk to their doctors about their urologic health and prostate cancer risk.
Hampton will be available to sign memorabilia and pose for photos after the program. There also will be a door prize drawing for a signed Dan Hampton Throwback No. 99 Jersey and Chicago Bears Tailgating package.?Men also can sign up that night for a free prostate cancer screening, which will be held at a later date inside the NEW University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center at Silver Cross Hospital.?
Screenings will be performed by physicians from Advanced Urology Associates. Men and women who register to attend this event before Jan. 20, 2013 will be entered in a drawing to win Bears tickets for a 2013 season game. All winners must be present on Jan. 22 to receive prizes. Register to attend at www.silvercross.org or call 1-888-600-HEAL (4325).
Prostate Screening Saved Mike Haynes' Life
NFL great Haynes is one of the many men who has benefitted from early detection due to prostate cancer testing. Before his diagnosis in 2008, prostate cancer was the last thing on his mind.
"I was shocked to learn that one in six American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime, and that African-American men are at a higher risk for developing prostate cancer and more than twice as likely to die from the disease," Haynes said.? "I?m pleased that we can be part of the Silver Cross event to urge men to get off the sidelines, take charge of their health and stay in the game for life." ?
In 2007, the AUA Foundation joined forces with the NFL Player Care Foundation, an organization focused on the health issues of retired players, to educate retired players about their prostate cancer risk. The NFL Player Care Foundation was created to address health and quality of life issues encountered by retired players. ?
Prostate cancer is most treatable when caught early. The American Urological Association recommends men get a baseline prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test at age 40 and talk with their doctors to create a prostate health plan based on lifestyle and family history. PSA helps detect prostate cancer; men who are screened at age 40 establish a baseline score that can be tracked over time.
Men who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer should know that not all prostate cancers require treatment, and that not every treatment is perfect for every man. If you are diagnosed with prostate cancer, talk to your doctor about what your treatment options are and which one may be best for you.
Source: http://frankfort.patch.com/articles/pro-football-hall-of-famers-team-up-to-fight-prostate-cancer
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Light hits near infinite speed in silver-coated glass
A nano-sized bar of glass encased in silver allows visible light to pass through at near infinite speed. The technique may spur advances in optical computing.
Metamaterials are synthetic materials with properties not found in nature. Metal and glass have been combined in previous metamaterials to bend light backwards or to make invisibility cloaks. These materials achieve their bizarre effects by manipulating the refractive index, a measure of how much a substance alters light's course and speed.
In a vacuum the refractive index is 1, and the speed of light cannot break Einstein's universal limit of 300,000 kilometres per second. Normal materials have positive indexes, and they transmit at the speed of light in a vacuum divided by their refractive index. Ordinary glass, for instance, has an index of about 1.5, so light moves through it at about 200,000 kilometres per second.
No threat to Einstein
The new material contains a nano-scale structure that guides light waves through the metal-coated glass. It is the first with a refractive index below 0.1, which means that light passes through it at almost infinite speed, says Albert Polman at the FOM Institute AMOLF in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. But the
As a feat of pure research, Polman's group did a great job in demonstrating the exotic features of low-index materials, says Wenshan Cai of the Georgia Institute of Technology, who was not involved in the work.
Practical applications might also be in the offing. The metal component that reduces the refractive index also increases absorption, so the light can't travel far, says Polman. Still, the material could be used to transmit light rapidly over the very short distances in optical integrated circuits, he says.
Journal reference: Physical Review Letters, doi.org/j5x
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Monday, January 7, 2013
Report: Syrian journalist dies of wounds
BEIRUT (AP) ? A Syrian journalist for a pro-government television station died of wounds sustained in a shooting attack in the suburbs of Damascus, state media said Saturday, as rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad pressed ahead with an offensive on the capital.
The SANA state news agency said that Suheil al-Ali, who worked for the private, pro-regime Dunya TV station, died Friday, four days after he was shot while returning home from work. The agency blamed a "terrorist," the term the government uses for those trying to topple Assad.
Al-Ali is the latest of several journalists working for pro-government media in Syria to have been killed. A cameraman for Syrian state TV and a reporter for the state newspaper Tishrin were among others slain in recent months in killings the Assad regime has blamed on rebels.
Fighting has raged for weeks in the neighborhoods and towns around Damascus that have been opposition strongholds since the Syrian uprising began in March 2011. The revolt started with peaceful protests but morphed into a civil war that has killed more than 60,000 people, according to a recent United Nations recent estimate.
Rebels are trying to push through the government's heavy defenses in Damascus, the seat of Assad's power. The regime has responded with a withering assault including barrages by artillery and warplanes.
Rebels and government troops clashed Saturday in suburbs south of Damascus, including Harasta and Daraya, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Fighting in Daraya alone left 10 dead, including six rebels, according to the Observatory, which relies on reports by activists on the ground.
The army sent new reinforcements in to Daraya, part of an offensive aimed at dislodging rebels from the district, located just a few kilometers (miles) from a strategic military air base west of the capital, the Observatory said.
Regaining control of Daraya would provide a boost to the regime's defense of Damascus.
Government troops had arrested several residents in raids in the suburb of Qatana, the Observatory said. Fighting was also heavy in the central province of Hama, Idlib, and in the southern part of the country, in Daraa, the birthplace of the Syrian uprising. Besides the deaths in Daraya, 35 people were killed around the country, the group said.
Fighting was also reported on the road to the Damascus International Airport, the Observatory said. The airport has not been functioning since last month when clashes erupted on the airport road, and international airlines have not yet resumed flights to the Syrian capital. Airport officials have said the facility is open, but have not said which flights are operating.
Rebels frequently target government officials for assassination, and have killed several regime figures. The most dramatic attack took place in July when they detonated explosives inside a crisis meeting in Damascus, killing four senior officials including Assad's brother-in-law and the defense minister.
Large bombings have been a trademark of Islamic radicals fighting alongside the Syrian rebels, raising concerns about the extremists' role in the civil war.
Last month, a suicide bomber wounded Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar in an attack on his ministry building. After the Dec. 12 attack, al-Shaar was secretly sent to neighboring Lebanon for treatment of a back injury, but was rushed out of a Beirut hospital and back home two weeks later for fear of being arrested by Lebanese authorities.
On Saturday, SANA denied reports that al-Shaar had died, saying the minister is "in good health and recovering."
In Tehran, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad discussed the conflict and ways to end it with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, Iranian State TV said. Iran is one of Syria's strongest allies. Tehran has backed the Assad regime in its brutal crackdown on dissent that turned into a civil war after some opposition supporters took up arms to fight the military.
The conflict has increasingly taken sectarian overtones, with predominantly Sunni Muslim rebels fighting the ruling regime that is dominated by Alawites, an offshoot group of Shiite Islam.
In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said the Assad regime has lost legitimacy "at home and abroad."
Speaking at a press conference after a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart, Mohammed Kamel Amr, al-Faisal said called for an immediate end to the bloodshed in Syria and a peaceful political transition.
Saudi Arabia and Egypt have both called on Assad to step down, and Riyadh has also been an outspoken supporter of the rebels.
Also on Saturday, an Arab League official said the group's foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting in the coming days in Cairo to discuss ways to assist Syrian refugees in Lebanon. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
More than half a million Syrian fled violence and sought shelter in neighboring countries, including some 130,000 to Lebanon. The country's government has requested $180 million from international donors to help its efforts with refugees.
___
Associated Press Writers Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, Aya Batrawy in Cairo, Abdullah Shihri in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/report-syrian-journalist-dies-wounds-104934880.html
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