The Guardian Revealed Wayne Madsen NSA Scoop - Business ...

The Guardian/Screenshot

A screenshot of the article, which has now been deleted.

The Guardian released another shocking NSA scoop on Saturday,?revealing collusion and mass harvesting of personal communications among the United States and at least six European Union countries?? only to delete it from their website hours after publication.

The article, titled "Revealed: secret European deals to hand over private data to America," was?written by Jamie Doward, who reported information from Wayne Madsen, a former Navy Lt. and NSA employee for 12 years.

Doward wrote:

Madsen said the countries had "formal second and third party status" under signal intelligence (sigint) agreements that compels them to hand over data, including mobile phone and internet information to the NSA if requested.

Under international intelligence agreements, confirmed by declassified documents, nations are categorised by the US according to their trust level. The US is first party while the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand enjoy second party relationships. Germany and France have third party relationships.

He went on to say that seven European countries and the U.S. have access to a fiberoptic cable network, intercepting phone calls, emails, and user logs from websites.?The article describes Madsen as having "been attacked for holding controversial views on espionage issues."

That's a light way of putting it.?

Some of Madsen's controversial views include the belief that President Obama is secretly a homosexual?and that the Boston bombing suspects were government agents. He's also?reported on a "former CIA agent" alleging the 2000 USS Cole bombing was perpetrated not by al Qaeda terrorists, but by a missile fired from an Israeli submarine.

John Schindler, a professor at the Naval War College and intelligence expert, called Madsen?"batsh-- crazy, to use the technical term."

The pulled article now bears the message, "this article has been taken down pending an investigation" but appears to still be on tomorrow's front page of the print edition.?It was originally published in The Observer, a Sunday newspaper owned by The Guardian and hosted on their website.

Here's a partial screenshot:

The Guardian/Screenshot

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-guardian-wayne-madsen-nsa-scoop-2013-6

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On a technicality, Hong Kong and China extradite themselves from Snowden

The case of NSA leaker Edward Snowden was one that neither Hong Kong nor Beijing wanted to get involved in. With a stalling maneuver, Hong Kong let Mr. Snowden flee US extradition.

By Peter Ford,?Staff Writer / June 23, 2013

A giant screen at a Hong Kong shopping mall shows Edward Snowden, the former contractor accused of leaking information about NSA surveillance programs. He left Hong Kong on Sunday.

Vincent Yu/AP

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By allowing Edward Snowden to leave Hong Kong Sunday, hours after the United States sought to extradite him, the government there has rid itself ? and Beijing ? of an awkward diplomatic and legal problem.

Skip to next paragraph Peter Ford

Beijing Bureau Chief

Peter Ford is The Christian Science Monitor?s Beijing Bureau Chief. He covers news and features throughout China and also makes reporting trips to Japan and the Korean peninsula.

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Indeed there are strong suspicions in the former British colony that the Hong Kong authorities deliberately gave the fugitive NSA whistleblower time to get out.

The US extradition request, filed on Saturday, ?did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law,? the Hong Kong government said on Sunday, so it had asked Washington for ?additional information.?

In the meantime, there was ?no legal basis to restrict Mr. Snowden from leaving Hong Kong,? the statement added. On Sunday morning, Snowden boarded a plane bound for Moscow, accompanied by legal advisors from the anti-secrecy group Wikileaks according to a post on the group?s Twitter account.

His final destination was unclear.

?I suspect it was ?wink, wink, nudge, nudge, you?ve got 48 hours to get out of Dodge City?,? says Kevin Egan, a Hong Kong lawyer with experience of extradition cases. ?When the government got the clarification it had sought, it might not have been able to let him go.?

?Snowden managed to get away because Hong Kong decided to stall,? adds Claudia Mo, a lawmaker with the pro-democracy Civic Party. ?The matter was too tricky for Sino-American relations ? so Beijing gave instructions he should be given time to leave.?

Snowden had said he planned to challenge any US extradition attempt in Hong Kong courts, declaring his faith in the city?s rule of law. But he faced the possibility of having to stay in jail throughout the court proceedings, which could have taken several years according to local lawyers.

His case was a thorny one for Beijing, anxious to improve relations with the United States and embarrassed by the US fugitive?s presence in Hong Kong, but unable to intervene openly in Hong Kong?s judicial process under the ?one country, two systems? principle that safeguards Hong Kong?s courts.

Hong Kong?s top official, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying had promised that the case would be handled ?in accordance with the laws and established procedures of Hong Kong.? But the politically sensitive case ?would have been quite a test for our rule of law,? says Ms. Mo. ?It would have been a very thorny issue and it is all for the best for both Hong Kong and Beijing that he has gone.?

?This was not a case that Hong Kong or Beijing ever wanted to get involved in,? agrees Mr. Egan. ?The best thing for both of them was for Snowden to leave.??

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/DTvJw4WYO4c/On-a-technicality-Hong-Kong-and-China-extradite-themselves-from-Snowden

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Ecuador president: Snowden can't leave Moscow

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, speaks during a interview with The Associated Press in Portoviejo, Ecuador, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Correa said he had no idea Snowden?s intended destination was Ecuador when he fled Hong Kong for Russia last week. He said the Ecuadorean consul in London committed ?a serious error? without consulting any officials in the capital, Quito, when the consul issued a letter of safe passage for Snowden.(AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, speaks during a interview with The Associated Press in Portoviejo, Ecuador, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Correa said he had no idea Snowden?s intended destination was Ecuador when he fled Hong Kong for Russia last week. He said the Ecuadorean consul in London committed ?a serious error? without consulting any officials in the capital, Quito, when the consul issued a letter of safe passage for Snowden.(AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, center, jokes as he prepares before an interview with The Associated Press in Portoviejo, Ecuador, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Correa said he had no idea Snowden?s intended destination was Ecuador when he fled Hong Kong for Russia last week. He said the Ecuadorean consul in London committed ?a serious error? without consulting any officials in the capital, Quito, when the consul issued a letter of safe passage for Snowden. At left AP reporter Michael Weinssenstein, at right Gonzalo Solano. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, laughs during a interview with The Associated Press in Portoviejo, Ecuador, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Correa said he had no idea Snowden?s intended destination was Ecuador when he fled Hong Kong for Russia last week. He said the Ecuadorean consul in London committed ?a serious error? without consulting any officials in the capital, Quito, when the consul issued a letter of safe passage for Snowden.(AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, speaks during a interview with The Associated Press in Portoviejo, Ecuador, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Correa said he had no idea Snowden?s intended destination was Ecuador when he fled Hong Kong for Russia last week. He said the Ecuadorean consul in London committed ?a serious error? without consulting any officials in the capital, Quito, when the consul issued a letter of safe passage for Snowden. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa sings during his weekly live broadcast "Enlace Ciudadano," or "Citizen Link," in Manta, Ecuador, Saturday, June 29, 2013. While the Ecuadorean government appeared angry over U.S. threats of punishment if it accepts U.S. National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, there were also mixed signals about how eager it was to grant asylum. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

PORTOVIEJO, Ecuador (AP) ? Edward Snowden is "under the care of the Russian authorities" and can't leave Moscow's international airport without their consent, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa told The Associated Press Sunday in an interview telegraphing the slim and diminishing possibility that the National Security Agency leaker will end up in Ecuador.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has distanced himself from the case since Snowden arrived in Russia last week. But Correa portrayed Russia as entirely the masters of Snowden's fate while speaking in this Pacific coast city.

Putin insists the 30-year-old former NSA contractor remains in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport and that as long as he has not legally entered Russia, he is out of the Kremlin's control.

However, the Kremlin also said Sunday that it will take public opinion and the views of human rights activists into account when considering Snowden's case, a move that could lay the groundwork for him to seek asylum in Russia.

"This is the decision of Russian authorities," Correa told the AP. "He doesn't have a passport. I don't know the Russian laws, I don't know if he can leave the airport, but I understand that he can't. At this moment he's under the care of the Russian authorities. If he arrives at an Ecuadorean Embassy we'll analyze his request for asylum."

Last week, several members of Russia's Presidential Council for Human Rights spoke out in support of Snowden, saying he deserved to receive political asylum in the country of his choice and should not be handed over to the United States. And a handful of protesters picketed outside the Moscow airport in what appeared to be an orchestrated demonstration on Friday, holding signs reading "Edward, Russia is your second motherland" and "Russia is behind Snowden."

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Ekho Moskvy radio that while Snowden is not Russia's concern, the Kremlin is aware of the viewpoints of Russian experts and representatives of human rights organizations.

"Public opinion on the subject is very rich," Peskov said in the radio interview. "We are aware of this and are taking it into account."

Correa said he had no idea Snowden's intended destination was Ecuador when he fled Hong Kong for Russia last week. He said the Ecuadorean consul in London committed "a serious error" by not consulting officials in Ecuador's capital when the consul issued a letter of safe passage for Snowden. He said the consul would be punished, although he didn't specify how.

Correa said Snowden must assume responsibility if he broke U.S. laws, but added the broader legitimacy of Snowden's action must be taken into consideration. He said Ecuador would still consider an asylum request but only if Snowden is able to make it to Ecuador or an Ecuadorean Embassy to apply.

The U.S. is seeking the former NSA contractor's extradition for leaking secret documents that, among other things, detail U.S. surveillance of international online activity. On Sunday, German magazine Der Spiegel reported that classified documents taken by Snowden also revealed U.S. spies had allegedly bugged European Union offices.

Without entirely closing the door to Snowden, whom Ecuadorean authorities strongly praised earlier in the week, Correa appeared to be sending the message that it is unlikely Snowden will ever end up in Ecuador. He repeatedly emphasized the importance of the U.S. legal process and praised Vice President Joe Biden for what he described as a courteous and appreciated half-hour call about the Snowden case on Friday.

He similarly declined to reject an important set of U.S. trade benefits for Ecuadorean exports, again a contrast with his government's unilateral renunciation of a separate set of tariff benefits earlier in the week.

"If he really could have broken North American laws, I am very respectful of other countries and their laws and I believe that someone who breaks the law must assume his responsibilities," Correa said. "But we also believe in human rights and due process."

He said Biden had asked him to send Snowden back to the United States immediately because he faces criminal charges, is a fugitive from justice and has had his passport revoked.

"I told him that we would analyze his opinion, which is very important to us," Correa said, adding that he had demanded the return of several Ecuadoreans who are in the United States but face criminal charges at home.

"I greatly appreciated the call," he said, contrasting it with threats made by a small group of U.S. senators to revoke Ecuadorean trade privileges. "When I received the call from Vice President Biden, which was with great cordiality and a different vision, we really welcomed it a lot."

Ecuadorean officials believe Russian authorities stymied the country's efforts to approve a political asylum application from the former NSA systems analyst, according to government officials with direct knowledge of the case.

Those officials said Ecuador had been making detailed plans to receive and host Snowden. One of the officials said Russia's refusal to let Snowden leave or be picked up by Ecuadorean officials had thwarted the plans. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the case by name.

One of the officials said Snowden had intended to travel from Moscow to the Ecuadorean capital of Quito. The official said Ecuador had also asked Russia to let Snowden take a commercial flight to meet Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino in Vietnam or Singapore, where Patino was on an official trip.

The Russians rejected all of Ecuador's requests to let Snowden leave Moscow, or to let an Ecuadorean government plane pick him up there, the official said.

Asked Sunday about those accounts, Correa responded, without elaborating, "We don't have long-range aircraft. It's a joke."

Snowden's path to Ecuador would have gone through Cuba, which said little about the case all week, including whether it would have allowed him to use its territory to transit.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro praised Correa's rejection of U.S. trade pressure, expressing his "sympathies" for the Ecuadorean leader in a Sunday editorial in the state press.

_______ Lynn Berry in Moscow and Gonzalo Solano in Quito, Ecuador, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-06-30-LT-NSA-Surveillance-Interview-Correa/id-64b45ec48fc743ae85a5c3eeb12ba96f

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Pre-existing insomnia linked to PTSD and other mental disorders after military deployment

June 28, 2013 ? A new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Naval Health Research Center has shown Military service members who have trouble sleeping prior to deployments may be at greater risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety once they return home. The new study, published in the July 2013 issue of the journal SLEEP, found that pre-existing insomnia symptoms conferred almost as a large of a risk for those mental disorders as combat exposure.

"Understanding environmental and behavioral risk factors associated with the onset of common major mental disorders is of great importance in a military occupational setting," said lead study author Philip Gehrman, PhD, assistant professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry, member of the Penn Sleep Center, and the Philadelphia VA Medical Center. "This study is the first prospective investigation of the relationship between sleep disturbance and development of newly identified positive screens for mental disorders in a large military cohort who have been deployed in support of the recent operations in Iraq or Afghanistan."

Using self-reported data from the Millennium Cohort Study, the research team evaluated the association of pre-deployment sleep duration and insomnia symptoms on the development of new-onset mental disorders among deployers. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of developing PTSD, depression, and anxiety, while adjusting for relevant covariates including combat-related trauma.

They analyzed data from 15,204 service members, including only those servicemen and women on the timing of their first deployment across all branches and components of military service. They identified 522 people with new-onset PTSD, 151 with anxiety, and 303 with depression following deployment. In adjusted models, combat-related trauma and pre-deployment insomnia symptoms were significantly associated with higher odds of developing posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety.

"One of the more interesting findings of this study is not only the degree of risk conferred by pre-deployment insomnia symptoms, but also the relative magnitude of this risk compared with combat-related trauma," says Gehrman. "The risk conferred by insomnia symptoms was almost as strong as our measure of combat exposure in adjusted models."

The researchers also found that short sleep duration (less than six hours of sleep per night), separate from general insomnia, was associated with new-onset PTSD symptoms.

"We found that insomnia is both a symptom and a risk factor for mental illness and may present a modifiable target for intervention among military personnel," says Gehrman. "We hope that by early identification of those most vulnerable, the potential exists for the designing and testing of preventive strategies that may reduce the occurrence of PTSD, anxiety, and depression."

The research team says that additional study is needed to investigate whether routine inquiry about insomnia symptoms and application of appropriate early, effective interventions reduces subsequent morbidity from mental disorders. They note that in a military population, assessment of insomnia symptoms could easily be incorporated into routine pre-deployment screening.

The Millennium Cohort Study is funded through the Military Operational Medicine Research Program of the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, Fort Detrick, Maryland.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/ViXmrIgljJc/130628160829.htm

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Judge: Hobby Lobby won't have to pay fines

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) ? Hobby Lobby and a sister company will not be subject to $1.3 million in daily fines beginning Monday for failing to provide access to certain forms of birth control through its employees' health care plans, a judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton set a hearing for July 19 to address claims by the owners of Hobby Lobby and the Mardel Christian bookstore chains that their religious beliefs are so deeply rooted that having to provide every form of birth control would violate their conscience.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had said Thursday the companies were likely to prevail, comparing the companies to a kosher butcher unwilling to adopt non-kosher practices as part of a government order.

Until the hearing, the government cannot impose fines against Hobby Lobby or Mardel for failing to comply with all of the Affordable Care Act. The companies' owners oppose birth control methods that can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus, such as an intrauterine device or the morning-after pill, but are willing to offer the 16 other forms of birth control mentioned in the federal health care law.

"The opinion makes it very clear what is a valid religious belief and what is not," said Emily Hardman, spokeswoman for The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. The group is representing the companies and their owners, the Green family.

Heaton asked the government and companies to seek some sort of solution before the hearing, given that the 10th Circuit has already cleared the way for the companies to challenge the law on religious grounds. While not binding beyond the states in the 10th Circuit, Thursday's ruling could benefit others that oppose all forms of birth control, Hardman said, such as Catholic hospitals.

"We got a fantastic opinion from the 10th Circuit, which will impact all the cases," she said.

The companies had faced fines totaling $1.3 million daily beginning Monday. Had they dropped its health care plan altogether, they could have been fined $26 million. The only alternative would be to pay for birth control that violates its religious beliefs, the companies' owners said.

The appeals court on Thursday had suggested the companies shouldn't have to pay the fines, but there were unaddressed questions pending at the lower court. Heaton resolved those Friday in the companies' favor: Hobby Lobby had shown they would suffer financial or spiritual consequences, and that an injunction was in the public interest.

In fighting Hobby Lobby and other companies that oppose some or all forms of birth control, government lawyers had said companies cannot pick which portions of the Affordable Care Act with which they will comply.

Spokesmen for the Department of Health and Human Services have repeatedly declined to comment on pending lawsuits over birth control coverage.

Electronic court filings did not show any response from the government to Hobby Lobby's latest injunction request, but Heaton said in his order that lawyers from both sides had weighed in.

Hobby Lobby's lawyers have said the U.S. Department of Human Services has granted exemptions from portions of the health care law for plans that cover tens of millions of people and that allowing the companies an injunction would be no great burden to the government at the expense of the Greens' religious freedoms.

The companies' lawyers calculated potential losses at $475 million in a year ? $100 per day for 13,000 workers ? while harms to the government are "minimal and temporary."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/judge-hobby-lobby-wont-pay-fines-205227917.html

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How Chupa Chups Put Salvador Dal? in the Candy Store

The Chupa Chups packaging is uncanny?you could spot the swirly, colorful wrapper from a mile away, and you'd instantly know it was the most famous Spanish lollipop in the world. David Airey, an Ireland-based graphic designer, put together this illustration that shows the evolution of the Chupa Chups logo since it first arrived on the scene in 1958.

Read more...

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Tokyo-Based Conyac Offers Fast And Cost-Effective Social Translation Services

Social translation services have helped the world become a smaller and more manageable place, even for companies with limited financial resources. Based in Tokyo, Conyac has two goals: to replace traditional translation agencies with a quicker and cheaper alternative, and to help Japanese startups expand globally.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/7jov_5zCIPE/

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EastGroup Properties - Latin Business Today

27 Jun, 2013

JACKSON, Miss., June 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ ? ;EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE: EGP) announced today that its Southridge Commerce Park in Orlando, Florida, was recently honored by the commercial real estate industry with The Outstanding Building of the Year? (TOBY) Award in the Industrial Office Building category. The award was presented at the 2013 Every Building Conference & Expo, June 23-25, 2013, in San Diego, California.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20030519/EGPLOGO )

Southridge Commerce Park contains over 1.2 million square feet and twelve buildings and is located in Orlando Central Park along the Beachline Expressway between John Young Parkway and the Florida Turnpike.

EastGroup?s World Houston International Business Center 23 in Houston, Texas, won the Southwest Region TOBY competition and was also a contender for the coveted International Award.

The BOMA International TOBY? Awards recognize excellence in office building management and operations worldwide. To win the international award, the office building first won both local and regional competitions. Judging was based on community impact, tenant/employee relations programs, energy management systems, accessibility for disabled people, emergency evacuation procedures, building personnel training programs, and overall quality indicators. A team of industry professionals also conducted a comprehensive building inspection.

The Outstanding Building of the Year (TOBY) Awards are sponsored by Kimberly-Clark Professional.

About BOMA International
The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International is a federation of 93 BOMA U.S. associations, BOMA Canada and its 11 regional associations and 13 BOMA international affiliates. ; Founded in 1907, BOMA represents the owners and managers of all commercial property types including nearly 10 billion square feet of U.S. office space that supports 3.7 million jobs and contributes $205 billion to the U.S. GDP. Its mission is to advance the interests of the entire commercial real estate industry through advocacy, education, research, standards and information. ; Find BOMA online at www.boma.org. ;

EastGroup Properties, Inc. is a self-administered equity real estate investment trust focused on the development, acquisition and operation of industrial properties in major Sunbelt markets throughout the United States with an emphasis in the states of Florida, Texas, Arizona, California and North Carolina. ; Its strategy for growth is based on its property portfolio orientation toward premier business distribution facilities clustered near major transportation features. ; EastGroup?s portfolio currently includes over 33 million square feet. ; ; ;

EastGroup Properties, Inc. press releases are available at www.eastgroup.net.

SOURCE EastGroup Properties, Inc.

Source: http://latinbusinesstoday.com/2013/06/eastgroup-properties-southridge-commerce-park-wins-commercial-real-estates-top-honor/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=eastgroup-properties-southridge-commerce-park-wins-commercial-real-estates-top-honor

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Why gorillas can't throw fastballs

A team of researchers has found that some 2 million years ago,?early humans evolved the ability to aim and throw, skills not shared by our closest living relatives.?

By Chris Gorski,?Inside Science News Service / June 26, 2013

In 2012 multiple exposure image, Boston Red Sox's Jon Lester pitches in the third inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers in Boston. A new study suggests the ability to throw hard and accurately first appeared in an early human some 2 million years ago.

Michael Dwyer/AP/File

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It's completely ordinary to see today's athletes throw a javelin hundreds of feet in the air or fire baseballs accurately and in excess of 90 mph dozens of times during a game. However, not every close human relative has that ability to throw, despite the great strength that many possess. Researchers say they traced that ability back to three changes to the waist, shoulder and upper arm that happened about 2 million years ago in the early human?Homo erectus.

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Making a strong, accurate throw requires the different parts of the body to work together in what biomechanics researchers call a kinetic chain -- the rapid and sequential activation of different muscles. The motion that launches a throw begins with the legs, moves through the hips, torso, shoulder, and through the arm to the hand. Throwing projectiles fast and with high accuracy requires coordination, and also the anatomical features that first appeared together in?Homo erectus.

A team of researchers, reporting in?Nature, found that the three key traits can be found in humans, but not our closest relatives, chimpanzees. Each feature allows the body to store more energy before a quick rotation that releases it: tall and mobile waists that permit torso rotation; the way the elbow and the bone in the upper arm, the humerus, join together and rotate; and the placement of the shoulders. Each trait has "a major role in storing and releasing elastic energy during throwing," the researchers wrote.

The change to the shoulder is crucial, explained Neil Roach, a biological anthropologist at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. While chimpanzee shoulders sit very high and close to the neck, almost as if the animal is permanently shrugging its shoulders, human shoulders are much more relaxed.

"That change in the shoulder really brings all of those things together and that didn't happen until 2 million years ago," said Roach. "That allows us to essentially use the arm like a catapult, to store energy as we cock our arm or rotate our arm away from the target before we rapidly rotate it toward the target."

The rotation of the humerus is the fastest motion the human body produces, said Roach, at over 9,000 degrees per second.

Sending Modern Baseball Players Back in Time

The researchers studied both the fossil record and Harvard University baseball players in order to develop their insights. They used motion capture technology to track the way experienced throwers launch the ball.

The researchers also studied restricted motion using braces, Roach said. They prevented subjects from relaxing their shoulders and restricted the motion of the arm.

"What that did was give us the ability to at least mimic what the ancestral anatomy would have been like," said Roach.

The resulting observations allowed the researchers to zero in on the most important features for throwing: the elbow, shoulder and waist. The fossil record showed that when?Homo erectus?developed these features together, it made them the first of our relatives that could throw like modern humans.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/z1xuFI-Tzyg/Why-gorillas-can-t-throw-fastballs

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S?o Miguel scops owl was wiped out after arrival of humans in the Azores

June 27, 2013 ? On S?o Miguel Island in the Azores, there used to exist a small, nocturnal bird of prey, related to the European scops owl, named Otus frutuosoi, which was very probably driven to extinction with the arrival of the first settlers in the 15th century. An international study, in which Spanish researchers participated, has for the first time identified fossils of this species endemic to the island.

On 28 August 2011 researchers Juan Carlos Rando, from the University of La Laguna (Tenerife), and Josep Antoni Alcover from the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies in Mallorca unearthed some small fossil bones buried not far below the ground of the ?gua de Pau cave (S?o Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal).

Two years later, an article published by the journal Zootaxa has revealed that the remains found belong to an extinct species of scops owl which has been given the name Otus frutuosoi in honour of the 16th-century Azorean historian Gaspar Frutuoso.

Carbon dating the fossils indicates that they are from 1,970 years ago. The hypothesis entertained by the researchers is that the arrival of human beings to the archipelago in the 15th century changed its ecosystem and caused the extinction of the species.

"Humans have a history of changing island ecosystems. When humans arrived on the island mice started to appear and laurisilva -- a type of humid forest -- was destroyed. This surely played a large part in the extinction of the S?o Miguel scops owl," Alcover explains.

Scops owls are nocturnal birds of prey, and this new species in particular is phylogenetically related to the Otus scops, or European scops owl, which with a length of 20 cm is the smallest nocturnal bird of prey on the Iberian Peninsular.

It is calculated that the wing surface of the Otus frutuosoi measured a maximum of 114 cm2, at least 33% less than the European scops owl, and although its legs were 11.6% longer, "the appearance of its body was more squat," according to the experts.

"The body of the extinct scops owl of the Azores was shorter and wider than that of its modern-day European relatives. Its beak was short and small, similar to that of the nightjar. Having long legs and very short wings, it must have been a very poor flyer and thus more of a land-dwelling bird," the scientist points out.

The second extinct scops owl on North Atlantic islands

A year ago, the same team of scientists documented another extinct bird of the same genus, although bigger, in Madeira: the Otus mauli.

Due to its anatomical features, the scientists believe that the Otus frutuosoi was an insectivore and must have lived on the ground of the laurisilva, where it would have found food and protection.

Otus frutuosoi remains have only been found on S?o Miguel Island in the Azores, therefore it is considered endemic to the island, although the authors do not discount the possibility of finding more fossils of the same species or other similar ones in various parts of the archipelago.

"The discovery of endemic scops owls in Azores and Madeira indicates that on occasions atmospheric conditions have occurred that have dragged these birds with them. Some reached safe land, where they survived and developed in isolated conditions, and new species formed," concludes Alcover.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/phbEXUJ2L_8/130627083044.htm

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Willy Wonka wows, but critics less impressed by Mendes musical

LONDON (Reuters) - Director Sam Mendes earned grudging critical acclaim for a stage musical of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" but was always going to struggle in comparison to much-loved past productions of Roald Dahl's work.

The glitzy new staging of Dahl's children's novel, which opened in London on Tuesday, battles universal acclaim for an earlier production of his "Matilda", Gene Wilder's whimsical Willy Wonka in the 1971 film and Johnny Depp's turn in 2005 - not to mention the audience's memories of the book.

Acquiring the rights was a two-decade personal quest by the 47-year-old Mendes, best known for directing the hugely successful 2012 James Bond film "Skyfall" and winning a Best Director Oscar for "American Beauty".

"I spent 25 years trying to get the rights for 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' to do on stage," Mendes told Reuters from the red carpet at the play's premiere on Tuesday.

Critics praised Mendes for the sleek technical wizardry of the lavish show, which zips along in the second half using intricate sets, puppetry and ingenious costumes.

However, Act One drags in its telling of how impoverished Charlie Bucket wins the golden ticket that will allow him to tour Wonka's chocolate factory alongside the greedy Augustus Gloop, gum-chewing Violet Beauregarde, spoiled brat Veruca Salt and the terrifying videogame addict Mike Teavee.

Musically, critics had little time for the songs of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.

"Marc Shaiman's music is mainly unmemorable and the lyrics are hard to make out in the ensemble numbers," wrote Libby Purves in a three-star Times review on Wednesday.

"TWITCHY HINT OF THE PSYCHO"

However, the eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka - played by Douglas Hodge in electric green trousers, purple frock coat, spats and a top hat - won cheers for originality.

"Douglas Hodge is a splendidly charismatic and disconcerting Willy Wonka, brilliantly combining jokes with a twitchy hint of the psycho," wrote the Telegraph's Charles Spencer in a three-star review.

Critics also enjoyed the efforts of the child actors, with Jack Costello's performance as Charlie singled out.

"Jack Costello's adorable portrayal of Charlie suffused the proceedings with a lovely sense of the boy's pining purity," wrote the Independent's Paul Taylor in a four-star review.

The Guardian called Mark Thompson's sets, including Charlie's home and the brilliant chocolate room - complete with chocolate waterfall - a "sumptuous feast".

Noted highlights were the special effects and costumes that allowed adults to play the diminutive Ooompah-Loompah factory workers, turned Veruca into a Blueberry and shrunk Mike Teavee.

"On the positive side we can enter clever special effects (a good gag with a shrunken child) and a much better second half," wrote the Daily Mail's Quentin Letts in a three star review headlined: "Choc horror!"

Most reviewers compared the Mendes production unfavorably with Tim Minchin's Tony award-winning musical version of Dahl's "Matilda" for the Royal Shakespeare Company which won a host of awards in 2012. But Financial Times reviewer Ian Shuttleworth gave Mendes four stars for creating warmth and beauty.

"It is flavorsome yet familiar, and above all it won't rot your teeth."

(Reporting by Paul Casciato, additional reporting by Rollo Ross; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/willy-wonka-wows-critics-less-impressed-mendes-musical-164949152.html

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U.N. chemical weapons team in Turkey to investigate Syria claims

By Anthony Deutsch and Parisa Hafezi

AMSTERDAM/ANKARA (Reuters) - U.N.-appointed inspectors, blocked from entering Syria, are in Turkey to gather information about possible use of chemical weapons in the civil war, officials said on Thursday.

The Syrian government and rebels fighting it have accused each other of using lethal chemical agents, including sarin gas, in the two-year-old conflict in which the death toll is estimated at more than 100,000.

The United States and its European allies have concluded that the Syrian government used chemical weapons, which Washington called a "red line" that justified providing military aid to the rebels.

Members of the team assembled by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had been on standby in Cyprus since April, unable to enter Syria as Western governments accused President Bashar al-Assad's forces of chemical weapons attacks.

The team went to Turkey this week and its head, Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom, met Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday, a senior Turkish official told Reuters.

Sellstrom is expected to deliver an interim report in July, which U.N. diplomats said may just be oral and is expected to be inconclusive since it is impossible for him to make definite pronouncements about the chain of custody of the samples he has received from Britain, France and the United States.

One senior Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Britain and the United States alone have notified U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of 10 separate incidents of the use of chemical weapons by Assad's forces.

The diplomat also said Sellstrom would be visiting Berlin soon to discuss his investigation.

FRUSTRATED

More than 100,000 people have been killed since fighting began in March 2011 in what is the longest and most violent of the recent Arab uprisings, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Western governments have grown frustrated that the U.N. mission has been unable to make progress on investigating the chemical weapons claims, a diplomat told Reuters.

From Turkey, the team will be unable to gather soil samples or scientific evidence needed to prove chemical use, but could compile intelligence and interviews or take blood samples from witnesses or victims of alleged attacks.

"As he cannot travel to Syria, Sellstrom visits countries like Turkey, France and Britain that have some information about possible use of chemical weapons in Syria," said the Turkish official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Sellstrom visited the Turkey-Syria border area and talked to officials who shared data on chemical weapons use, the official said.

Syria is one of seven countries that has not joined the 1997 convention banning chemical weapons. Western countries believe it has stockpiles of undeclared mustard gas, sarin and VX nerve agents.

Assad's government says accusations by the United States, Britain and France that it used chemical weapons are an attempt to justify foreign military intervention.

(Additional reporting by Lou Charbonneau in New York; Editing by Peter Graff)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-n-chemical-weapons-team-turkey-investigate-syria-154003201.html

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Was first curveball thrown 2 million years ago?

FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012 file photo made with a multiple exposure, Boston Red Sox's Jon Lester pitches in the third inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers in Boston. A new study suggests the ability to throw hard and accurately first appeared in a human ancestor 2 million years ago. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012 file photo made with a multiple exposure, Boston Red Sox's Jon Lester pitches in the third inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers in Boston. A new study suggests the ability to throw hard and accurately first appeared in a human ancestor 2 million years ago. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? It's a big year for throwing. The greatest closer in baseball history, Mariano Rivera of the Yankees, is retiring. Aroldis Chapman, the overpowering Cincinnati Reds reliever, continues to fire fastballs beyond 100 mph.

And now some scientists say they've figured out when our human ancestors first started throwing with accuracy and fire power, as only people can: Nearly 2 million years ago.

That's what researchers conclude in a study released Wednesday by the journal Nature. There's plenty of skepticism about their conclusion. But the new paper contends that this throwing ability probably helped our ancient ancestor Homo erectus hunt, allowing him to toss weapons ? probably rocks and sharpened wooden spears.

The human throwing ability is unique. Not even a chimp, our closest living relative and a creature noted for strength, can throw nearly as fast as a 12-year-old Little Leaguer, says lead study author Neil Roach of George Washington University.

To find out how humans developed this ability, Roach and co-authors analyzed the throwing motions of 20 collegiate baseball players. Sometimes the players wore braces to mimic the anatomy of human ancestors, to see how anatomical changes affected throwing ability.

The human secret to throwing, the researchers propose, is that when the arm is cocked, it stores energy by stretching tendons, ligaments and muscles crossing the shoulder. It's like pulling back on a slingshot. Releasing that "elastic energy" makes the arm whip forward to make the throw.

That trick, in turn, was made possible by three anatomical changes in human evolution that affected the waist, shoulders and arms, the researchers concluded. And Homo erectus, which appeared about 2 million years ago, is the first ancient relative to combine those three changes, they said.

But others think the throwing ability must have appeared sometime later in human evolution.

Susan Larson, an anatomist at Stony Brook University in New York who didn't participate in the study, said the paper is the first to claim that elastic energy storage occurs in arms, rather than just in legs. The bouncing gait of a kangaroo is due to that phenomenon, she said, and the human Achilles tendon stores energy to help people walk.

The new analysis offers good evidence that the shoulder is storing elastic energy, even though the shoulder doesn't have the long tendons that do that job in legs, she said. So maybe other tissues can do it too, she said.

But Larson, an expert on evolution of the human shoulder, said she does not think Homo erectus could throw like a modern human. She said she believes its shoulders were too narrow and that the orientation of the shoulder joint on the body would make overhand throwing "more or less impossible."

Rick Potts, director of the human origins program at the Smithsonian Institution, said he is "not at all convinced" by the paper's argument about when and why throwing appeared.

The authors did not present any data to counter Larson's published work that indicates the erectus shoulder was ill-suited for throwing, he said.

And it is "a stretch" to say that throwing would give erectus an advantage in hunting, Potts said. Large animals have to be pierced in specific spots for a kill, which would seem to require more accuracy than one could expect erectus to achieve from a distance, he said.

Potts noted that the earliest known spears, which date from about 400,000 years ago, were used for thrusting rather than throwing.

___ Online:

Nature: http://www.nature.com/nature

___

Malcolm Ritter can be followed at http://www.twitter.com/malcolmritter

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-06-26-Throwing%20Arm/id-7a703efec63540ec941b295e44c70252

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Prop 8 Plaintiffs Congratulated By President Obama on Live TV

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/prop-8-plaintiffs-congratulated-by-president-obama-on-live-tv/

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Qatar's emir hands power to son in unusual Gulf abdication

By Regan Doherty

DOHA (Reuters) - Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani handed power on Tuesday to his son, Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim, in a rare abdication by a hereditary Gulf Arab ruler to try to ensure a smooth succession.

The U.S.-allied state is small, with 2 million people, but is the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, a global investment powerhouse and heavy hitter in Middle East diplomacy and international media.

Qatar has also been a high-profile supporter of Arab Spring uprisings but remains an absolutist monarchy itself, a system unchallenged by a population that enjoys great affluence.

Thousands of Qatari citizens thronged the emiri court in the capital Doha to pledge allegiance to the 33-year-old new head of state after the emir, 61, announced the handover.

"The time has come to turn a new page in the journey of our nation and have a new generation carry out responsibilities ... with their innovative ideas," Sheikh Hamad said in a seven-minute speech broadcast on state television.

"I address you today to inform you that I will transfer power to Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. I am fully confident that he is qualified for the responsibility and is trustworthy," he added, seated beside Qatar's red-and-white flag.

Sheikh Hamad made no mention of Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim, the veteran prime minister and foreign minister who is the public face of Qatar's assertive foreign policy and had been expected to step down as well.

Gulf political analysts said they anticipated no significant changes to foreign or domestic policy after the handover, noting that Sheikh Tamim was already involved in running the peninsular state under his father's direction.

A Qatari official said earlier that the transition of power, once announced, would take immediate force.

State television later showed Qataris lining up to shake hands and rub noses in the traditional Gulf Arab greeting style with the new emir and his father. Outside, a queue of black Mercedes cars snaked their way to the royal court.

POLLS POSTPONED

On the eve of the power transfer, Sheikh Hamad issued a decree extending the term of the advisory shura council, in effect indefinitely postponing elections that had been tentatively scheduled for the second half of the year.

Diplomats had said earlier that Sheikh Hamad, who overthrew his father in a bloodless coup in 1995, had long planned to abdicate in favor of the Crown Prince.

Tuesday was a national holiday in the country of 2 million, ruled by the al-Thani family for more than 130 years.

Regional governments, including Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, were swift to welcome the new ruler. An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said Tehran regarded "tranquility and stability" in Qatar as very important.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement that he looked forward to even stronger ties with Qatar, which gained independence from Britain in 1971.

ELEVATING QATAR'S PROFILE

Sheikh Hamad has elevated Qatar's global profile through the development of the Al Jazeera television network, as well as its successful bid to host the 2022 soccer World Cup tournament.

Qatari state media said Sheikh Hamad had formally told family members and top decision makers of his decision at a meeting in Doha on Monday.

Arab and Western diplomats said they understood the motive was the emir's desire to effect a smooth transition to a younger generation. Such a transition would be unusual for Gulf Arab states, where leaders usually die in office.

"As Tamim's succession is very much the outcome of a longer process rather than the enforced product of any sudden upheaval, there will be less sensitivity attached to the change of leadership than might otherwise be the case," said Gulf expert Kristian Ulrichsen at the Baker Institute for Public Policy.

"If anything, the decision to hand power to a younger generation confirms Qatar as the regional outlier, as a state that does things differently, meaning there is less direct comparison with other Gulf States," he said.

BIG ROLE IN "ARAB SPRING"

Qatar has loomed large in promoting Arab Spring protests, lending significant support to rebels who toppled and killed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and to a continuing uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Doha has established strong links with moderate Islamists, especially Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood group. State television showed Youssef al-Qaradawi, a prominent Egyptian preacher based in Qatar, greeting the outgoing emir and his son.

Qatar has also played host to a delegation of the Afghan Taliban, which opened an office in Doha last week in preparation for possible talks with the United States about how to end a 12-year-old conflict in Afghanistan.

Other crises and wars that Qatar has tackled include Yemen, Somalia, Lebanon, Darfur and the Palestinian territories. Doha has often arranged for peace talks on its own soil to show it can punch above its weight in international diplomacy.

But although he has strongly supported uprisings against veteran autocracies in other Arab states, Sheikh Hamad cracked down on dissent at home, restricting freedom of expression.

In February this year a Qatari poet was jailed for 15 years for criticizing the emir and attempting to incite revolt.

But Arab Spring sentiment has scarcely figured in Qatar, which has one of the world's highest per capita incomes and whose citizens have cradle-to-grave welfare.

Still, Qatar and other Gulf ruling dynasties have worked harder to provide more jobs and better social services to Internet-savvy populations increasingly outspoken online.

Qataris said Sheikh Tamim had a big task upon his shoulders.

"He told us he would do his best to continue the development in the country. He looked happy," Khalid Rashid Mohammed, a 34-year-old well-wisher, said after he shook hands with the new ruler. "It's not easy work. It's a heavy responsibility."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/qatars-emir-hands-power-son-unusual-gulf-abdication-123343247.html

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News Summary: Stocks fall on Monday

THE CAUSE: A big sell-off in China and continuing re-assessments of where to invest as the Federal Reserve gets closer to winding down its easy-money policies.

THE EFFECT: Another down day on Wall Street. Stocks have fallen for three of the last four days. The big indices are clinging to tiny gains for the second quarter, which is almost over.

WHAT'S NEXT: Reports on durable goods orders, home prices, and consumer confidence are due Tuesday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/news-summary-stocks-fall-monday-213040376.html

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Clearing up confusion on future of Colorado River flows

June 25, 2013 ? The Colorado River provides water for more than 30 million people, including those in the fast-growing cities of Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles. Increasing demand for that water combined with reduced flow and the looming threat of climate change have prompted concern about how to manage the basin's water in coming decades.

In the past five years, scientific studies estimated declines of future flows ranging from 6 percent to 45 percent by 2050. A paper by University of Washington researchers and co-authors at eight institutions across the West aims to explain this wide range, and provide policymakers and the public with a framework for comparison. The study is published this week in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

"The different estimates have led to a lot of frustration," said lead author Julie Vano, who recently earned a UW doctorate in civil and environmental engineering. "This paper puts all the studies in a single framework and identifies how they are connected."

Besides analyzing the uncertainty, the authors establish what is known about the river's future. Warmer temperatures will lead to more evaporation and thus less flow. Changes to precipitation are less certain, since the headwaters are at the northern edge of a band of projected drying, but climate change will likely decrease the rain and snow that drains into the Colorado basin.

It also turns out that the early 20^th century, which is the basis for water allocation in the basin, was a period of unusually high flow. The tree ring record suggests that the Colorado has experienced severe droughts in the past and will do so again, even without any human-caused climate change.

"The Colorado River is kind of ground zero for drying in the southwestern U.S.," said co-author Dennis Lettenmaier, a UW professor of civil and environmental engineering. "We hope this paper sheds some light on how to interpret results from the new generation of climate models, and why there's an expectation that there will be a range of values, even when analyzing output from the same models."

The authors include leaders in Western water issues, ranging from specialists in atmospheric sciences to hydrology to paleoclimate. Other co-authors are Bradley Udall at the University of Colorado in Boulder; Daniel Cayan, Tapash Das and Hugo Hidalgo at the University of California, San Diego; Jonathan Overpeck, Holly Hartmann and Kiyomi Morino at the University of Arizona in Tucson; Levi Brekke at the federal Bureau of Reclamation; Gregory McCabe at the U.S. Geological Survey in Denver; Robert Webb and Martin Hoerling at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder; and Kevin Werner at the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City.

The authors compared the array of flow projections for the Colorado River and came up with four main reasons for the differences. In decreasing order of importance, predictions of future flows vary because of:

• Which climate models and future emissions scenarios were used to generate the estimates.
• The models' spatial resolution, which is important for capturing topography and its effect on the distribution of snow in the Colorado River's mountainous headwaters.
• Representation of land surface hydrology, which determines how precipitation and temperature changes will affect the land's ability to absorb, evaporate or transport water.
• Methods used to downscale from the roughly 200-kilometer resolution used by global climate models to the 10- to 20-kilometer resolution used by regional hydrology models.

While the paper does not determine a new estimate for future flows, it provides context for evaluating the current numbers. The 6 percent reduction estimate, for example, did not include some of the fourth-generation climate model runs that tend to predict a dryer West. And the 45 percent decrease estimate relied on models with a coarse spatial resolution that could not capture the effects of topography in the headwater regions. The analysis thus supports more moderate estimates of changes in future flows.

"Drought and climate change are a one-two punch for our water supply," said Overpeck, a professor of geosciences and of atmospheric sciences at the University of Arizona.

The new paper is intended to be used by scientists, policymakers and stakeholders to judge future estimates.

"I hope people will be able to look at this paper and say, 'OK, here's the context in which this new study is claiming these new results,'" Vano said.

The research was funded by NOAA through its Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments program and its National Integrated Drought Information System.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/N-yLNmokoG4/130625120929.htm

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Latest bird flu strain 'kills more than a third'

LONDON (AP) ? More than a third of patients infected with a new strain of bird flu died after being admitted to the hospital earlier this year, Chinese researchers report in a new study.

Since the new H7N9 bird flu first broke out in China in late March, the strain has sickened more than 130 people and killed 37. The World Health Organization has previously described H7N9 as "one of the most lethal influenza viruses" it has ever seen and said it appeared to spread faster than the last bird flu strain, H5N1, that threatened to unleash a pandemic.

After making some adjustments for missing data, the Chinese scientists estimated the overall death rate to be 36 percent. The outbreak was stopped after China closed many of its live animal markets ? scientists had assumed the virus was infecting people through exposure to live birds.

That makes the new strain less deadly than H5N1, which kills about 70 percent of the people it infects. Still, H7N9 is more lethal than the swine flu that caused a 2009 global epidemic. That had a death rate of less than one percent.

The results were released in two papers on the H7N9 strain, published online Monday in the journal Lancet.

"The good news is that numbers of (H7N9) cases have stalled," Cecile Viboud and Lone Simonsen of the U.S. National Institutes of Health wrote in a commentary accompanying the article.

However, they warned that the threat of the virus still "persists" and predicted that the strain might return in the winter, when flu viruses are typically most active.

That assessment echoes the WHO, which earlier this month also warned of the virus adapting.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/latest-bird-flu-strain-kills-more-third-044031270.html

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Disney renames Mouseketeer stage for Funicello

BURBANK, Calif. (AP) ? The stage at Walt Disney Studios where "The Mickey Mouse Club" was filmed is now officially the Annette Funicello Stage.

Disney chief Bob Iger led a ceremony Monday dedicating the soundstage to Funicello, the Mouseketeer-turned-movie star who died in April at age 70.

Iger confessed to having a crush on Funicello when he was growing up, as many who watched the perky brunette on TV did.

Former Mouseketeers, Funicello's family and colleagues and Mickey Mouse himself also participated in Monday's dedication. Frankie Avalon, Richard Sherman and Leonard Maltin were among those honoring the late actress.

Julie Andrews is the only other entertainer to have a namesake stage at Disney studios.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/disney-renames-mouseketeer-stage-funicello-005521197.html

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Real Estate Market 'Fundamentally Different,' Top Investor Says ...

By Paul Toscano

Marc Nemer, the CEO of Cole Real Estate Investments, one of the largest publicly traded REITs, said that a recovery is under way with fundamentals noticeably improving in the market.

"It's fundamentally different out there," Nemer told "Squawk on the Street" Friday, when asked how the market today compares with the period six months prior.

Nemer said that his company focuses on "necessity-based" properties, which are less subject to discretionary spending at the consumer level. "The kind of properties we're focused on are doing very well right now."

According to the company, Cole invests primarily in single-tenant commercial real estate, leasing the properties under long-term leases. Cole's portfolio of tenants includes such companies as Walgreen, Dr. Pepper Snapple, PetSmart, Microsoft, Apollo Group's University of Phoenix and more. In 2012, Cole's portfolio topped $10 billion.

"Development is coming back a little bit, which is an indication that things are improving, but that is slow," he said. "Being one of the most active investors, we are able to take advantage of opportunities in the market right now."

With a dividend yield of nearly 6.5 percent, Nemer said that the payouts are backed up by a strong portfolio of income-generating collateral. "It's very compelling right now," he said.

With markets that are sensitive to a looming rise in interest rates, Nemer said that his company is "relatively isolated from a fundamental standpoint" for the eventuality of higher rates. "We've been taking advantage of historically low interest rates for some time, locking in long-term fixed-rate debt."

More on CNBC:
From Recovery to Bubble Already?
Rising Home Prices Are 'Unsustainable'
Billionaire's Real Estate Playbook

More on AOL Real Estate:
Find out how to calculate mortgage payments.
Find homes for sale in your area.
Find foreclosures in your area.
Find homes for rent.

Follow us on Twitter at @AOLRealEstate or connect with AOL Real Estate on Facebook.

Source: http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/06/24/real-estate-market-fundamentally-different-top-investor-says/

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Welcome to the Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential speculation sweepstakes (Washington Post)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

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Brazil: 150K protest against govt corruption

A protester trying to open a barrier, left, is kicked by another protester asking for peace near a police line as they protest outside Minerao stadium where a Confederations Cup soccer match takes place between Japan and Mexico in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Saturday, June 22, 2013. Demonstrators once again took to the streets of Brazil on Saturday, continuing a wave of protests that have shaken the nation and pushed the government to promise a crackdown on corruption and greater spending on social services. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

A protester trying to open a barrier, left, is kicked by another protester asking for peace near a police line as they protest outside Minerao stadium where a Confederations Cup soccer match takes place between Japan and Mexico in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Saturday, June 22, 2013. Demonstrators once again took to the streets of Brazil on Saturday, continuing a wave of protests that have shaken the nation and pushed the government to promise a crackdown on corruption and greater spending on social services. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

A man holds a brazilian flag near a burning barricade during a protest outside the Minerao stadium during a soccer Confederations Cup match between Japan and Mexico in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Saturday, June 22, 2013. Thousands of anti-government demonstrators again took to streets in several Brazilian cities Saturday after the president broke a long silence to promise reforms, but the early protests were smaller than those of recent days and with only scattered reports of violence.(AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

People shout anti-government slogans during a protest in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Saturday, June 22, 2013. Demonstrators once again took to the streets of Brazil on Saturday, continuing a wave of protests that have shaken the nation and pushed the government to promise a crackdown on corruption and greater spending on social services. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

A sound grenade explodes next to a man who was already laying on the ground injured during a protest outside the Minerao stadium during a match between Japan and Mexico in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Saturday, June 22, 2013. Thousands of anti-government demonstrators again took to streets in several Brazilian cities Saturday after the president broke a long silence to promise reforms.(AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

A man hit with a projectile fired by police during a protest is taken away by a military policeman and fellow demonstrators outside the Minerao stadium during a soccer Confederations Cup match between Japan and Mexico in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Saturday, June 22, 2013. Thousands of anti-government demonstrators again took to streets in several Brazilian cities Saturday after the president broke a long silence to promise reforms.(AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

SAO PAULO (AP) ? About 150,000 anti-government demonstrators again took to streets in several Brazilian cities Saturday and engaged police in some isolated, intense conflicts. Anger over political corruption emerged as the unifying issue for the demonstrators, who vowed to stay in the streets until concrete steps are taken to reform the political system.

Across Brazil, protesters gathered to denounce legislation, known as PEC 37, that would limit the power of federal prosecutors to investigate crimes ? which many fear would hinder attempts to jail corrupt politicians.

Federal prosecutors were behind the investigation into the biggest corruption case in Brazil's history, the so-called "mensalao" cash-for-votes scheme that came to light in 2005 and involved top aides of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva buying off members of congress to vote for their legislation.

Last year, the supreme court condemned two dozen people in connection to the case, which was hailed as a watershed moment in Brazil's fight against corruption. However, those condemned have yet to be jailed because of appeals, a delay that has enraged Brazilians.

The protests continued despite a prime-time speech the night before from President Dilma Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla who was tortured during Brazil's military dictatorship. She tried to appease demonstrators by reiterating that peaceful protests were a welcome, democratic action and emphasizing that she would not condone corruption in her government.

"Dilma is underestimating the resolve of the people on the corruption issue," said Mayara Fernandes, a medical student who took part in a march Saturday in Sao Paulo. "She talked and talked and said nothing. Nobody can take the corruption of this country anymore."

The wave of protests began as opposition to transportation fare hikes, then became a laundry list of causes including anger at high taxes, poor services and high World Cup spending, before coalescing around the issue of rampant government corruption. They have become the largest public demonstrations Latin America's biggest nation has seen in two decades.

Across Brazil, police estimated that about 60,000 demonstrators gathered in a central square in the city of Belo Horizonte, 30,000 shut down a main business avenue in Sao Paulo, and another 30,000 gathered in the city in southern Brazil where a nightclub fire killed over 240 mostly university students, deaths many argued could have been avoided with better government oversight of fire laws. Thousands more protested in dozens of Brazilian cities.

In Belo Horizonte, police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters who tried to pass through a barrier and hurled rocks at a car dealership. Salvador also saw protests turn violent.

During her pre-recorded TV speech, Rousseff promised that she would always battle corruption and that she would meet with peaceful protesters, governors and the mayors of big cities to create a national plan to improve urban transportation and use oil royalties for investments in education.

Many Brazilians, shocked by a week of protests and violence, hoped that Rousseff's words after several days of silence from the leader would soothe tensions and help avoid more violence, but not all were convinced by her promises of action.

Victoria Villela, a 21-year-old university who joined the crowd, said she was "frustrated and exhausted by the endless corruption of our government."

"It was good Dilma spoke, but this movement has moved too far, there was not much she could really say. All my friends were talking on Facebook about how she said nothing that satisfied them. I think the protests are going to continue for a long time and the crowds will still be huge."

Around her, fathers held young boys aloft on their shoulders, older women gathered in clusters with their faces bearing yellow and green stripes, the colors of Brazil's flag.

In the northeastern city of Salvador, where Brazil's national football team played Italy and won 4-2 in a Confederations Cup match, some 5,000 protesters gathered about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the stadium, shouting demands for better schools and transportation and denouncing heavy spending on next year's World Cup.

They blocked a main road and clashed with riot police who moved in to clear the street. Protesters said police used rubber bullets and even tossed tear gas canisters from a helicopter hovering overhead. The protesters scattered and fled to a nearby shopping mall, where they tried to take shelter in an underground parking garage.

"We sat down and the police came and asked us to free up one lane for traffic. As we were organizing our group to do just that, the police lost their patience and began to shoot at us and throw (tear gas) canisters," said Rodrigo Dorado.

That was exactly the type of conflict Rousseff said needed to end, not just so Brazilians could begin a peaceful national discussion about corruption but because much of the violence is taking place in cities hosting foreign tourists attending the Confederations Cup.

Brazil's news media, which had blasted Rousseff in recent days for her lack of response to the protests, seemed largely unimpressed with her careful speech, but noted the difficult situation facing a government trying to understand a mass movement with no central leaders and a flood of demands.

With "no objective information about the nature of the organization of the protests," wrote Igor Gielow in a column for Brazil's biggest newspaper, Folha de S. Paulo, "Dilma resorted to an innocuous speech to cool down spirits."

At its height, some 1 million anti-government demonstrators took to the streets nationwide on Thursday night with grievances ranging from public services to the billions of dollars spent preparing for international sports events.

Outside the stadium in Belo Horizonte where Mexico and Japan met in a Confederations Cup game, Dadiana Gamaleliel, a 32-year-old physiotherapist, held up a banner that read: "Not against the games, in favor of the nation."

"I am protesting on behalf of the whole nation because this must be a nation where people have a voice ... we don't have a voice anymore," she said.

She said Rousseff's speech wouldn't "change anything."

"She spoke in a general way and didn't say what she would do," she said. "We will continue this until we are heard."

___

Associated press writers Tales Azzoni and Ricardo Zuniga in Salvador, Stan Lehman in Sao Paulo and Rob Harris in Belo Horizonte contributed to this report

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-06-22-Brazil-Protests/id-812f35d9d0434076951b45475f3ed2f4

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