Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/UemtIDc2H1c/130731122948.htm
Kaepernick Eddie Vanderdoes puppy bowl national pancake day bar refaeli Paul Harvey ihop
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Cross-country collaboration leads to new leukemia model
[unable to retrieve full-text content]They were postdocs at Stanford when they first began considering the problem. Eight years later, and a continent apart, they found the answer.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Borneo's orangutans are coming down from the trees; Behavior may show adaptation to habitat change
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Orangutans might be the king of the swingers, but primatologists in Borneo have found that the great apes spend a surprising amount of time walking on the ground. The research found that it is common for orangutans to come down from the trees to forage or to travel, a discovery which may have implications for conservation efforts.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/Tq1OQVhrjAI/130729083300.htm
bay news 9 George Karl Shannon Rogers Guess Richardson Leslie Van Houten paris jackson paris jackson Tropical Storm Andrea
Israeli-Palestinian aim: A peace deal in 9 months
From left, Secretary of State John Kerry, Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat leave the West Wing of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, July 30, 2013, after a meeting with President Obama. President Barack Obama on Tuesday delicately waded into the first round of Middle East peace talks in years, meeting privately at the White House with lead negotiators for the Israeli and Palestinian delegations. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
From left, Secretary of State John Kerry, Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat leave the West Wing of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, July 30, 2013, after a meeting with President Obama. President Barack Obama on Tuesday delicately waded into the first round of Middle East peace talks in years, meeting privately at the White House with lead negotiators for the Israeli and Palestinian delegations. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Secretary of State John Kerry stands between Israel's Justice Minister and chief negotiator Tzipi Livni, right, and Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, as they shake hands after the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Tuesday, July 30, 2013, at the State Department in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Israel's Justice Minister and chief negotiator Tzipi Livni, left, looks towards Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat during statements to reporters after their meeting together with Secretary of State John Kerry on the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Tuesday, July 30, 2013, at the State Department in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Secretary of State John Kerry stands with Israel's Justice Minister and chief negotiator Tzipi Livni, right, and Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, after the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Tuesday, July 30, 2013, at the State Department in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
A Palestinian woman holds a poster of Ahmed Saadat, a leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, imprisoned by Israeli during a protest in the town of Nablus in the West Bank on Tuesday, July 30, 2013. PFLP supporters protested against the resumption of of the peace talks with Israel. Arabic on the poster reads, "wherever I am, we will always continue to be against Zionism, prisoner and friend Ahmed Saadat."(AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Pressing ahead in a new U.S.-backed push for Middle East peace, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators agreed Tuesday to meet again within two weeks to start substantive talks in hopes of reaching a long-elusive settlement within nine months.
Speaking after the two sides wrapped up an initial two days of talks at the State Department and visited President Barack Obama at the White House, Secretary of State John Kerry said Israel and the Palestinians were committed to sustained and serious negotiations on the "core issues" that divide them. The next round will take place in either Israel or the Palestinian territories before mid-August, he said.
Kerry said he was aware of the deep doubts surrounding the new peace effort and acknowledged that the road would be difficult. Yet, he said, "While I understand the skepticism, I don't share it. And I don't think we have time for it."
All issues, including contentious disputes over the status of the territories and Jerusalem, are "on the table for negotiation, and they are on the table with one simple goal: a view to ending the conflict," Kerry said.
The U.S. had already said the negotiations would continue for at least nine months ? roughly until the end of April 2014 ? but that had not been set as a timeframe for reaching a deal. Kerry and both sides agreed that neither would walk away from the talks or take actions that could disrupt them for that period, two senior U.S. officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss diplomatic talks.
However, the officials also said they expect that the Israelis, over U.S. objections, will continue constructing housing for Jewish settlers on land claimed by the Palestinians over the course of the negotiations, an indication the Palestinians are serious about dropping their longstanding demand for a settlement freeze before returning to talks. The officials said the U.S. believes the Palestinians also will not attempt to win further international recognition as a state until a peace deal is completed, an effort that one official likened to a potential "train wreck."
Kerry said that Israel, which agreed on Sunday to release more than 100 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture, would also take unspecified steps in the coming days to ease harsh living conditions in the West Bank and Gaza. The two senior officials said those measures complement a $4 billion private sector economic program that Kerry is trying put in place to assist the Palestinians.
After Tuesday's conclusion of preliminary talks, Kerry said, "I firmly believe the leaders, the negotiators and citizens invested in this effort can make peace for one simple reason: because they must." He said, "A viable two-state solution is the only way this conflict can end. And there is not much time to achieve it."
Kerry said the negotiations, to be mediated on a day-to-day basis by his new Mideast peace envoy, Martin Indyk, would be cloaked in secrecy and that the parties had agreed that he would be the only person to comment on them. He quickly added that he would not comment on them now, leaving unclear the framework for the talks that he struggled for six months to get back on track.
Despite the secrecy, the broad outlines of an agreement are well known: The Palestinians want a state based on the borders, with agreed land swaps, that existed before the 1967 war in which Israel seized east Jerusalem and occupied the West Bank and Gaza. Israel wants security assurances and a recognition that it is and will remain a Jewish state.
Obama laid out those parameters as U.S. policy for any negotiations in a May 2011 speech, but neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians have publicly signed off on them. The two senior U.S. officials would not say if either side had even tacitly agreed to proceed on that basis.
The main issues on the table for negotiation include security, borders, the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees and water, all of which have been responsible for cratering multiple U.S.-brokered peace efforts over the past two decades.
Earlier Tuesday, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden met with the lead negotiators ? Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat ? for about 30 minutes. White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama called the meeting to "directly express his personal support for final status negotiations." Obama pledged full U.S. support to the process, Carney said.
At the State Department ceremony later, Kerry was flanked by Livni and Erekat ? who each spoke briefly about the need to resolve the longstanding conflict.
"It's time for the Palestinian people to have an independent sovereign state of their own," said Erekat. "It's time for the Palestinians to live in peace, freedom and dignity within their own independent, sovereign state."
Livni allowed that she and Erekat had been involved in failed negotiations before, notably the Annapolis Process that President George W. Bush initiated in 2008, but she said this time could be different.
"You know, Saeb," she said to Erekat, "we all spent some time in the negotiations room ... but we didn't complete our mission. And this is something that we need to do now, in these negotiations that we will launch today. And the opportunity has been created for us, for all of us, and we cannot afford to waste it."
"I believe that history is not made by cynics; it is made by realists who are not afraid to dream," Livni added. "Let us be these people."
___
AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.
Associated Pressrondo morris claiborne clippers lisa lampanelli lisa lampanelli bronx zoo bronx zoo crash
Egypt's Morsi is in good health, says top EU diplomat after meeting
Mayhem in Cairo as tensions over former Mohammed Morsi supporters spill into the streets. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
By Ayman Mohyeldin, Correspondent, NBC News
CAIRO ? Egypt's Mohammed Morsi is in good health and sends his best wishes to the outside world, European Union diplomat Catherine Ashton said Tuesday after a two-hour meeting with the deposed president.
The meeting, held at an undisclosed location, was Morsi's first known contact with foreign officials after his July 3 overthrow by the country's military.?
Islamist Morsi, who was elected by a narrow margin in June 2012 in the country?s first democratic vote, has been hidden from the public since he was removed in what his supporters - including the prime minister of Turkey - regard as a coup.?
His supporters in the Muslim Brotherhood movement have held numerous protests that have at times led to deadly clashes -- at least 100 people were killed on Saturday alone.
The U.S. Embassy in Cairo issued an "emergency message" that said more demonstrations were planned Tuesday, including a march on the area containing the embassy itself. There were violent clashes near the embassy -- protected by police and soldiers as well as cement block walls -- on July 22 between supporters and opponents of Morsi.
Ashton went to Egypt in an attempt?to mediate a resolution to the impasse?between Morsi's supporters and the interim government installed by the military.
She said the deposed leader had access to television and newspapers when she visited him and was aware of developments in the country.?
?I've tried to make sure that his family know he is well,'' Ashton?told journalists following the meeting held Monday night.
She said she had a open and frank conversation with Morsi.
The officials said Ashton was also allowed to see Morsi's chief of staff Rafaa el Tahtawy and was able to walk around the facility.
"I will come back," she said at the end of her visit, according to Reuters, but she added it was up to Egyptian politicians to "make the right decisions."?
On Monday, she met Egypt's army chief and Defense Minister Abdel Fattah Sissi.
European Union via EPA
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Baroness Catherine Ashton, meets with Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah Sissi on Monday.
On Friday, Mena news agency reported Morsi would be detained for 15 days while a judge investigated allegations against him.?
Morsi?s family have accused the country?s military of ?kidnapping? him and said they would seek help from the International Criminal Court.
The army is responsible for Morsi?s "safety and security," his daughter Shaimaa told a news conference in Cairo.
Reuters contributed to this report.?
Related:
?
This story was originally published on Tue Jul 30, 2013 7:11 AM EDT
illuminati illuminati ricin Google Fiber Boston Strong Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev Boston Bombing Suspect
Monday, July 29, 2013
GOP donor's school grade changed
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - INDIANAPOLIS (AP) ? Former Indiana and current Florida schools chief Tony Bennett built his national star by promising to hold "failing" schools accountable. But when it appeared an Indianapolis charter school run by a prominent Republican donor might receive a poor grade, Bennett's education team frantically overhauled his signature "A-F" school grading system to improve the school's marks.
Emails obtained by The Associated Press show Bennett and his staff scrambled last fall to ensure influential donor Christel DeHaan's school received an "A," despite poor test scores in algebra that initially earned it a "C."
"They need to understand that anything less than an A for Christel House compromises all of our accountability work," Bennett wrote in a Sept. 12 email to then-chief of staff Heather Neal, who is now Gov. Mike Pence's chief lobbyist.
The emails, which also show Bennett discussed with staff the legality of changing just DeHaan's grade, raise unsettling questions about the validity of a grading system that has broad implications. Indiana uses the A-F grades to determine which schools get taken over by the state and whether students seeking state-funded vouchers to attend private school need to first spend a year in public school. They also help determine how much state funding schools receive.
A low grade also can detract from a neighborhood and drive homebuyers elsewhere.
Bennett, who now is reworking Florida's grading system as that state's education commissioner, reviewed the emails Monday morning and denied that DeHaan's school received special treatment. He said discovering that the charter would receive a low grade raised broader concerns with grades for other "combined" schools ? those that included multiple grade levels ? across the state.
"There was not a secret about this," he said. "This wasn't just to give Christel House an A. It was to make sure the system was right to make sure the system was face valid."
However, the emails clearly show Bennett's staff was intensely focused on Christel House, whose founder has given more than $2.8 million to Republicans since 1998, including $130,000 to Bennett and thousands more to state legislative leaders.
Other schools saw their grades change, but the emails show DeHaan's charter was the catalyst for any changes.
Bennett rocketed to prominence with the help of former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and a national network of Republican leaders and donors, such as DeHaan. Bennett is a co-founder of Bush's Chiefs for Change, a group consisting mostly of Republican state school superintendents pushing school vouchers, teacher merit pay and many other policies enacted by Bennett in Indiana.
Though Indiana had had a school ranking system since 1999, Bennett switched to the A-F system and made it a signature item of his education agenda, raising the stakes for schools statewide.
Bennett consistently cited Christel House as a top-performing school as he secured support for the measure from business groups and lawmakers, including House Speaker Brian Bosma and Senate President Pro Tem David Long.
But trouble loomed when Indiana's then-grading director, Jon Gubera, first alerted Bennett on Sept. 12 that the Christel House Academy had scored less than an A.
"This will be a HUGE problem for us," Bennett wrote in a Sept. 12, 2012 email to Neal.
Neal fired back a few minutes later, "Oh, crap. We cannot release until this is resolved."
By Sept. 13, Gubera unveiled it was a 2.9, or a "C."
A weeklong behind-the-scenes scramble ensued among Bennett, assistant superintendent Dale Chu, Gubera, Neal and other top staff at the Indiana Department of Education. They examined ways to lift Christel House from a "C'' to an "A," including adjusting the presentation of color charts to make a high "B'' look like an "A'' and changing the grade just for Christel House.
It's not clear from the emails exactly how Gubera changed the grading formula, but they do show DeHaan's grade jumping twice.
"That's like parting the Red Sea to get numbers to move that significantly," Jeff Butts, superintendent of Wayne Township schools in Indianapolis, said in an interview with The Associated Press.
DeHaan, who opened the Christel House Academy charter school in Indianapolis in 2002 and has since opened schools in India, Mexico and South Africa, said in a statement Monday that no one from the school ever made any requests that would affect Christel House's grades.
Current Indiana schools chief Glenda Ritz's office declined comment on the emails.
Ritz, a Democrat, defeated Bennett in November with a grass-roots campaign driven by teachers angered by Bennett's education agenda.
Bennett said Monday he felt no special pressure to deliver an "A'' for DeHaan. Instead, he argued, if he had paid more attention to politics he would have won re-election in Indiana.
Yet Bennett wrote to staff twice in four days, directly inquiring about DeHaan's status. Gubera broke
the news after the second note that "terrible" 10th grade algebra results had "dragged down their entire school."
Bennett called the situation "very frustrating and disappointing" in an email that day.
"I am more than a little miffed about this," Bennett wrote. "I hope we come to the meeting today with solutions and not excuses and/or explanations for me to wiggle myself out of the repeated lies I have told over the past six months."
Bennett said Monday that email expressed his frustration at having assured top-performing schools like DeHaan's would be recognized in the grading system, but coming away with a flawed formula that would undo his promises.
When requested a status update Sept. 14, his staff alerted him that the new school grade, a 3.50, was painfully close to an "A." Then-deputy chief of staff Marcie Brown wrote that the state might not be able to "legally" change the cutoff for an "A."
"We can revise the rule," Bennett responded.
Over the next week, his top staff worked arduously to get Christel House its "A." By Sept. 21, Christel House had jumped to a 3.75. Gubera resigned shortly afterward.
He declined comment Monday.
The emails don't detail what Gubera changed in the school formula or how many schools were affected. Indiana education experts consulted for this article said they weren't aware the formula had been changed.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WISHTV_News/~3/oDmi9BCNaZk/gop-donors-school-grade-changed
lunar eclipse Sunil Tripathi Tavon Austin Ella Fitzgerald Kenny Vaccaro Kate McKinnon gwyneth paltrow
Easton Lantern Parade set for Aug. 17
Easton?s Lantern Parade will be held Saturday, Aug. 17 and will meet at 6 p.m. at the Historical Society (the old railroad building) on Sullivan Street.
Bring your decorated lanterns and march from the Station to the back of the Ames Library. In case of bad weather, head to the Oakes Ames Memorial Hall.
There will be music, popcorn, soda, cookies, face painters, and it is all free.
There will also be lantern making workshops around town in the weeks before the event where children will find everything needed to decorate their lantern. Bring an empty two-liter plastic soda bottle to decorate.
The Ames Free Library will host a workshop Wednesday, July 31 at 1:30 p.m. The Village Toy Store will host a workshop Tuesday, Aug. 13, 1-3 p.m. and the NRT will have ongoing workshops during camp sessions.
Look for more upcoming workshops on posters around tow
Source: http://www.wickedlocal.com/easton/news/x1580232399/Easton-Lantern-Parade-set-for-Aug-17?rssfeed=true
NBC Olympics NBC Olympics schedule 2012 Olympics Chad Everett London Olympics Kristen Stewart Rupert Sanders Photos 2016 Olympics
Yahoo! News - Latest News & Headlines
Source: http://rss.news.yahoo.com/rss/democrats
outside lands 2012 lineup beloved ufc results water for elephants old school nick swisher jaco
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)