(Reuters) - Authorities were searching on Sunday for a man suspected of stabbing an 8-year-old girl to death at a home in a northern California suburb, officials said.
Residents of Valley Springs, California, 60 miles southeast of Sacramento, were warned to stay inside their homes with their doors locked as investigators fanned out across the region, hunting for the girl's attacker.
Detectives interviewed potential witnesses, family members and collected fingerprints and possible DNA from the home where the girl was killed on Saturday, but had no specific suspect, the Calaveras County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
The sheriff's office identified the girl as Leila Fowler, 8, and said it expected an autopsy to be performed on Monday. They had previously said she was 9 years old.
Authorities said the girl's 12-year-old brother encountered an intruder in his home on Saturday afternoon and the suspect fled, according to KCRA, a local television news station. The boy then went to check on his sister and found her stabbed. She was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, KCRA reported.
The sheriff said the suspect was considered armed and dangerous and described him as a "muscular" white or Hispanic man, about 6-feet (1.83-meters) tall with longish gray hair. They said he was last seen wearing a long-sleeved black shirt and blue pants.
The sheriff's office said it had notified the local school district about the case and planned to have an increased presence at the schools and bus stops on Monday.
(Reporting by Chris Francescani and David Bailey; Editing by Barbara Goldberg, Jackie Frank and Paul Simao)
1 in 3 stroke emergencies don't use EMSPublic release date: 30-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Cathy Lewis cathy.lewis@heart.org 214-706-1324 American Heart Association
American Heart Association Rapid Access Journal Report
More than a third of stroke patients don't get to the hospital by ambulance, even though that's the fastest way to get there, according to new research in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal.
Researchers studied records on more than 204,000 stroke patients arriving at emergency rooms at 1,563 hospitals participating in the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's Get With The Guidelines-Stroke quality improvement program in 2003-10.
Emergency medical services (EMS) transported 63.7 percent of the patients, with the rest arriving in various other ways, researchers said.
During a stoke emergency, quick treatment is critical. EMS transported 79 percent of those who got to the hospital within two hours of the start of their symptoms. That resulted in earlier arrival, quicker evaluation and faster treatment, said the researchers who found:
Almost 61 percent of people transported by EMS got to the hospital within three hours of the first symptoms, compared to 40 percent who didn't use EMS;
Almost 55 percent using EMS had a brain scan within 25 minutes of hospital arrival, compared to 35.6 percent who didn't use EMS;
Of patients eligible for a clot-busting drug, 67.3 percent using EMS received it within three hours of symptom onset, compared to 44.1 percent who didn't use EMS.
"EMS are able to give the hospital a heads up, and that grabs the attention of the emergency room staff to be ready to act as soon as the patient arrives," said Jeffrey L. Saver, M.D., senior author of the study and director of the UCLA Comprehensive Stroke Center in Los Angeles, Calif. "The ambulance crew also knows which hospitals in the area have qualified stroke centers. Patients don't lose time going to one hospital only to be referred to another that can provide more advanced care if needed, whether that's drugs to bust up the clot or device procedures to remove it."
Minorities and rural residents were less likely to call for EMS at the signs of a stroke, researchers found.
"A number of factors can fuel the reluctance to call 9-1-1," said James Ekundayo, M.D., Dr.P.H., lead author of the study and assistant professor in the
Department of Family and Community Medicine at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn. "People may not recognize symptoms and may delay seeking medical care or call their doctor instead.
We hear people say they just didn't want to be a bother, but many times there could have been a better outcome if EMS had been called."
About 795,000 Americans experience a new or recurrent stroke each year a stroke every 40 seconds or a related death every four minutes.
Boosting public awareness efforts and education is critical to improving stroke outcomes in the short- and long-term, researchers said.
The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's Together to End Stroke, sponsored nationally by healthcare products leader Covidien, raises stroke awareness and educates Americans that stroke is largely preventable, treatable and beatable. The campaign now includes a free mobile app that highlights the acronym F.A.S.T. to help people recognize a stroke:
Face Drooping Does one side of the face droop or is it numb? Ask the person to smile.
Arm Weakness Is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
Speech Difficulty Is speech slurred, are they unable to speak, or are they hard to understand? Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence, like "The sky is blue." Is the sentence repeated correctly?
Time to call 9-1-1 If the person shows any of these symptoms, even if the symptoms go away, call 9-1-1 and get them to the hospital immediately.
"Your life, your brain, depends on calling 9-1-1," Saver said. "Know the signs and act fast if you or someone you're with is having stroke symptoms."
###
The American Stroke Association has more information about stroke.
Other co-authors are: Gregg C. Fonarow, M.D.; Lee H. Schwamm, M.D.; Ying Xian, M.D., Ph.D.; Xin Zhao, M.S.; Adrian F. Hernandez, M.D.; Eric D. Peterson, M.D.; and Eric M. Cheng, M.D. Author disclosures and funding are noted on the manuscript.
Statements and conclusions of study authors published in American Heart Association scientific journals are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the association's policy or position. The association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. The association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific association programs and events. The association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and device corporations are available at http://www.heart.org/corporatefunding.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
1 in 3 stroke emergencies don't use EMSPublic release date: 30-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Cathy Lewis cathy.lewis@heart.org 214-706-1324 American Heart Association
American Heart Association Rapid Access Journal Report
More than a third of stroke patients don't get to the hospital by ambulance, even though that's the fastest way to get there, according to new research in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal.
Researchers studied records on more than 204,000 stroke patients arriving at emergency rooms at 1,563 hospitals participating in the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's Get With The Guidelines-Stroke quality improvement program in 2003-10.
Emergency medical services (EMS) transported 63.7 percent of the patients, with the rest arriving in various other ways, researchers said.
During a stoke emergency, quick treatment is critical. EMS transported 79 percent of those who got to the hospital within two hours of the start of their symptoms. That resulted in earlier arrival, quicker evaluation and faster treatment, said the researchers who found:
Almost 61 percent of people transported by EMS got to the hospital within three hours of the first symptoms, compared to 40 percent who didn't use EMS;
Almost 55 percent using EMS had a brain scan within 25 minutes of hospital arrival, compared to 35.6 percent who didn't use EMS;
Of patients eligible for a clot-busting drug, 67.3 percent using EMS received it within three hours of symptom onset, compared to 44.1 percent who didn't use EMS.
"EMS are able to give the hospital a heads up, and that grabs the attention of the emergency room staff to be ready to act as soon as the patient arrives," said Jeffrey L. Saver, M.D., senior author of the study and director of the UCLA Comprehensive Stroke Center in Los Angeles, Calif. "The ambulance crew also knows which hospitals in the area have qualified stroke centers. Patients don't lose time going to one hospital only to be referred to another that can provide more advanced care if needed, whether that's drugs to bust up the clot or device procedures to remove it."
Minorities and rural residents were less likely to call for EMS at the signs of a stroke, researchers found.
"A number of factors can fuel the reluctance to call 9-1-1," said James Ekundayo, M.D., Dr.P.H., lead author of the study and assistant professor in the
Department of Family and Community Medicine at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn. "People may not recognize symptoms and may delay seeking medical care or call their doctor instead.
We hear people say they just didn't want to be a bother, but many times there could have been a better outcome if EMS had been called."
About 795,000 Americans experience a new or recurrent stroke each year a stroke every 40 seconds or a related death every four minutes.
Boosting public awareness efforts and education is critical to improving stroke outcomes in the short- and long-term, researchers said.
The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's Together to End Stroke, sponsored nationally by healthcare products leader Covidien, raises stroke awareness and educates Americans that stroke is largely preventable, treatable and beatable. The campaign now includes a free mobile app that highlights the acronym F.A.S.T. to help people recognize a stroke:
Face Drooping Does one side of the face droop or is it numb? Ask the person to smile.
Arm Weakness Is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
Speech Difficulty Is speech slurred, are they unable to speak, or are they hard to understand? Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence, like "The sky is blue." Is the sentence repeated correctly?
Time to call 9-1-1 If the person shows any of these symptoms, even if the symptoms go away, call 9-1-1 and get them to the hospital immediately.
"Your life, your brain, depends on calling 9-1-1," Saver said. "Know the signs and act fast if you or someone you're with is having stroke symptoms."
###
The American Stroke Association has more information about stroke.
Other co-authors are: Gregg C. Fonarow, M.D.; Lee H. Schwamm, M.D.; Ying Xian, M.D., Ph.D.; Xin Zhao, M.S.; Adrian F. Hernandez, M.D.; Eric D. Peterson, M.D.; and Eric M. Cheng, M.D. Author disclosures and funding are noted on the manuscript.
Statements and conclusions of study authors published in American Heart Association scientific journals are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the association's policy or position. The association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. The association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific association programs and events. The association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and device corporations are available at http://www.heart.org/corporatefunding.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
In March last year Yahoo?s SVP of the Europe, the Middle East and Africa region abruptly quit his role in the rejuvenation of Yahoo, supposedly to be closer to family in Sunnyvale. However, after an orderly departure he's now joined Shazam, the mobile music discovery app as CEO. Longtime CEO Andrew Fisher (since 2005) will become executive chairman. The London-based Shazam says it now has 300 million users in 200 countries, with 90 million of them in the U.S. and calls itself a "media engagement company."
For example, if x86 chips were more competitive with ARM processors from a performance-per-watt perspective, then Microsoft wouldn't be as reliant on Metro-style apps for functionality. And if more developers were creating Metro-style apps, then consumers wouldn't have to go to the legacy desktop mode as much to get things done. (Until the company releases a Metro-style Office, Microsoft really can't wag its finger too much at third parties.)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Elderly survivors of the Holocaust and the veterans who helped liberate them are gathering for what could be their last big reunion at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Some 1,000 survivors and World War II vets are coming together with President Bill Clinton and Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust activist and writer, on Monday when the museum marks its 20th anniversary. Organizers chose not to wait for the 25th milestone because many survivors and vets may not be alive in another five years.
Clinton and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wiesel, who both dedicated the museum at its opening in 1993, will deliver keynote speeches. On Sunday night, the museum presented its highest honor to World War II veterans who ended the Holocaust. Susan Eisenhower accepted the award on behalf of her grandfather, U.S. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, and all veterans of the era.
The museum also launched a campaign to raise $540 million by 2018 to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive and to combat anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and contemporary genocide. It has already secured gifts totaling $258.7 million. The campaign will double the size of the museum's endowment by its 25th anniversary. Also, a $15 million gift from Holocaust survivors David and Fela Shapell will help build a new Collections and Conservation Center.
Museum Director Sara Bloomfield said organizers wanted to show Holocaust survivors, veterans and rescuers the effort will continue to honor the memory of 6 million murdered Jews, in part by saving lives and preventing genocide in the future.
"We felt it was important, while that generation is still with us in fairly substantial numbers, to bring them together," Bloomfield said, "to not only honor them, but in their presence make a commitment to them that not only this institution but the people we reach will carry forward this legacy."
The museum continues collecting objects, photographs and other evidence of the Holocaust from survivors, veterans and archives located as far away as China and Argentina. Curators expect the collection to double in size over the next decade.
This week, the museum is opening a special, long-term exhibit titled "Some Were Neighbors: Collaboration and Complicity During the Holocaust." It includes interviews with perpetrators that have never been shown before, as well as details of mass killings in the former Soviet Union that were only uncovered in more recent years.
Curator Susan Bachrach said the exhibit and its research challenge the idea that the Holocaust was primarily about Hitler and other Nazi leaders. Surveys at the museum show that's what most visitors believe.
"That's very comforting to people, because it puts distance between the visitors and who was involved," Bachrach said.
So, the museum set out to look at ordinary people who looked on and were complicit in the killing and persecution of millions of Jews through greed, a desire for career advancement, peer pressure or other factors. It examines influences "beyond hatred and anti-Semitism," Bachrach said.
Focusing only on fanatical Nazis would be a serious misunderstanding of the Holocaust, Bloomfield said.
"The Holocaust wouldn't have been possible, first of all, without enormous indifference throughout Germany and German-occupied Europe, but also thousands of people who were, say, just doing their jobs," she said, such as a tax official who collected special taxes levied against Jews.
In an opening film, some survivors recall being turned over to Nazi authorities in front of witnesses who did nothing. "The whole town was assembled ... looking at the Jews leaving," one survivor recalls.
Steven Fenves was a boy at the time. He recalled how in 1944, Hungary, allied with Nazi Germany, forced his family out of their apartment. The family was deported to Auschwitz, where Fenves' mother was gassed.
"One of the nastiest memories I have is going on that journey and people were lined up, up the stairs, up to the door of the apartment, waiting to ransack whatever we left behind, cursing at us, yelling at us, spitting at us as we left," he said in an interview with the museum.
The museum located images of bystanders looking on as Jews were detained, humiliated and taken away.
Non-Jews were also punished for violating German policies against the mixing of ethnic groups. For the first time, the museum is showing striking, rare footage of a ritualistic shaming of a Polish girl and a German boy for having a relationship. They are marched through the streets of a town in Poland, where the film was located in an attic. Dozens of people look on as Nazi officers cut the hair of the two teenagers. They are forced to look at their nearly bald heads in a mirror before their hair is burned.
"It's hard not to focus on the cruelty that's being perpetrated on this young couple," Bachrach said. "But what we really want people to look at ... is all the other people who are standing around watching this."
Other items displayed include dozens of bullets excavated from the site of a mass grave in former Soviet territory and registration cards from city offices in Western and Southern Europe labeling people with a "J'' for Jew.
The federally funded museum's theme for its 20th anniversary is "Never Again: What You Do Matters." The museum devotes part of its work and research to stopping current and preventing future genocides. A study released by the museum last month found that the longer the current conflict in Syria continues, the greater the danger that mass sectarian violence results in genocide.
Much more is still being learned about the Holocaust, as well, Bloomfield said. The museum is compiling an encyclopedia of all incarceration sites throughout Europe. When the project began, scholars expected to list 10,000 such sites. Now the number stands at 42,000.
The museum opened in 1993 as a living memorial to the Holocaust to inspire people worldwide to prevent genocide. A presidential commission called for such a museum in 1979. Since opening, it has counted more than 30 million visitors. The museum also provides resources for survivors. It has partnered with Ancestry.com to begin making the museum's 170 million documents searchable online through the World Memory Project.
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http://www.ushmm.org
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Follow Brett Zongker on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DCArtBeat .
Both President Barack Obama and Conan O'Brien decided to cast Hollywood versions of D.C. at the White House Correspondents' Dinner this year. Obama's version was directed by Steven Spielberg, O'Brien's starred "Tan Mom" as John Boehner.
With the celebrities having walked the White House Correspondents' Dinner red carpet and the crowd in the Washington Hilton having eaten and schmoozed, it came time for the key parts of the evening: remarks from President Obama and Conan O'Brien. Of particular interest was how the president was going to address the recent bombings in Boston, and, along those same lines, what tone O'Brien will take.
Obama came out swinging with jokes at the ready. One of his opening lines joked about his age: ?I?m not the strapping young Muslim socialist I used to be.? He made light of the frenzy over Michelle Obama's bangs, by explaining his strategy for a second term burst of energy showing a series of pictures with his new hairstyle:
He riffed on topics ranging from his Jay-Z's trip to Cuba ("I?ve got 99 problems and now Jay-Z is one of them") to BuzzFeed ("I remember when Buzzfeed was just something I did at college around 2 a.m.") He even took aim at the much maligned NBC when he talked about how he made only two shots at the Easter Egg Roll: "The executives at NBC asked ?what?s your secret?" But his highlight was a video with Steven Spielberg, about Spielberg's new project: "Obama." Spielberg cast Daniel Day-Lewis as Obama, but in the video shown Obama played Daniel Day-Lewis playing Obama. Tracy Morgan played Joe Biden. Here's that clip:
?
But Obama closed on a more serious note. "These have been some very hard days for too many of our citizens," he said. He also complimented the work of journalists during these days, specifically calling out the Boston Globe and NBC's Pete Williams.
Following Obama Conan O'Brien got his fair share of groans?both in the room and on Twitter?when he took aim at a variety of topics ranging from the Hilton, to dying print media, to Kim Jong-Un. He joked that Arianna Huffington made him watch a 30 second ad before he could say hello to her, and that Matt Drudge wasn't there because he had a "he had a prior commitment to teach a web design class in 1997." There were CNN jokes a plenty, including one about how they ?they replaced the popular Larry King with one of the scheming footman from Downton Abbey.? (That's Piers Morgan, of course.) He explained that the media landscape was like a high school cafeteria with NPR as the table for "kids with peanut allergies." There was also a joke about the time Al Roker soiled himself at the White House.
O'Brien then turned his attention to Republicans, saying that the party refers to Marco Rubio as "our black guy" and joking about Reince Priebus' name. (He was sitting between brothers "Lather Priebus and Repeat Priebus.") He went fairly easy on the president, asking why he was still asking for money, and joking about how old he looks.
Before his final joke he took a moment to address Boston, his hometown, and thank the president for going there, but he ended by casting his version of a dramatized version of the Beltway. There Joe Biden will be played by Bob Barker, Paul Ryan by Mr. Bean, and John Kerry by an Easter Island Head:
O'Brien's performance?in which he talked very loudly into the microphone and occasionally banged a gavel?did not go over entirely well on Twitter.
Note to #WHCD: Maybe we just forget about a "headliner" for the next couple years?
SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) ? The fugitive owner of an illegally-constructed building that collapsed in Bangladesh in a deadly heap last week was captured Sunday at a border crossing with India by members of a commando force.
Mohammed Sohel Rana was arrested in Benapole in western Bangladesh, just as he was about to flee into India's West Bengal state, said Jahangir Kabir Nanak, junior minister for local government. Rana was brought back by helicopter to the capital Dhaka where he faced charges of negligence.
Rana's capture by the Rapid Action Battalion brought cheers and applause when it was announced on a loudspeaker at the site of the collapsed building in the Dhaka suburb of Savar, where search and rescue operations were continuing through the night.
At least 377 people are confirmed to have died in the collapse of the 8-story building on Wednesday. Three of its floors were built illegally. The death toll is expected to rise but it is already the deadliest tragedy to hit Bangladesh's garment industry, which is worth $20 billion annually and is a mainstay of the economy. The collapse and previous disasters in garment factories have focused attention on the poor working conditions of workers who toil for as little as $38 a month to produce clothing for top international brands.
Rana was presented before the media briefly at the commando force's headquarters in Dhaka. Wearing a printed shirt, an exhausted and disheveled Rana was sweating as two security officers held him by his arms. A security official helped him to drink water after he gestured he was thirsty. He did not speak to the media during the 10-minute appearance after which he was taken away. He is likely to be handed over to local police who will have to charge him and produce him in court within 24 hours.
A small-time politician from the ruling party, Rana had been on the run since Wednesday. He last appeared in public in front of his Rana Plaza on Tuesday after huge cracks appeared in the building. However, he assured tenants, including five garment factories, that the building was safe, according to witnesses.
A bank and some shops on the first floor shut their premises on Wednesday after police ordered an evacuation, but managers of the garment factories on the upper floor told workers to continue their shifts.
Hours later, Rana Plaza was reduced to rubble, crushing most victims under massive blocks of concrete and mortar. A garment manufacturers' group said the factories in the building employed 3,122 workers, but it was not clear how many were inside it when it collapsed. About 2,500 survivors have been accounted for.
On Sunday, rescuers were supposed to start using heavy equipment to drill a central hole from the top to look for survivors and dead bodies. But the operation was delayed after rescuers located a woman inside the building, and were trying to pull her out.
Army Maj. Gen. Chowdhury Hasan Suhrawardy, the coordinator of the rescue operations, said so far rescuers have been manually shifting concrete blocks with the help of light equipment such as pickaxes and shovels.
The next phase will involve manual efforts as well as heavy equipment, including hydraulic cranes and cutters to bore a hole from the top of the collapsed building, he told reporters.
The purpose is to "continue the operation to recover both survivors and dead bodies. In this stage, we have no other choice but to use some heavy equipment. We will start it within a few hours. Manual operation and use of small equipment is not enough," he said.
The work will be carried out carefully so as not to mutilate bodies, he said. All the equipment is in place, "from a small blade to everything. We have engaged many private sector companies which supplied us equipment, even some heavy ones."
In rare good news, a female worker was pulled out alive on Sunday. Hasan Akbari, a rescuer, said when he tried to extricate a man next to the woman, "he said his body was being torn apart. So I had to let go. But God willing, we will be able to rescue him with more help very soon."
On Saturday, police arrested three owners of two factories. Also under detention are Rana's wife and two government engineers who were involved in giving approval for the building design. Local television stations reported that the Bangladesh High Court has frozen the bank accounts of the owners of all five garment factories in the collapsed building.
Rana was a local leader of ruling Awami League's youth front. His arrest, and that of the factory owners, was ordered by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also the Awami League leader.
The disaster is the worst ever for the country's booming and powerful garment industry, surpassing a fire five months ago that killed 112 people and brought widespread pledges to improve worker-safety standards. But since then very little has changed in Bangladesh, where low wages have made it a magnet for numerous global brands.
Bangladesh's garment industry was the third largest in the world in 2011, after China and Italy, having grown rapidly in the past decade. The country's minimum wage is the equivalent of about $38 a month.
Among the garment makers in the building were Phantom Apparels, Phantom Tac, Ether Tex, New Wave Style and New Wave Bottoms. Altogether, they produced several million shirts, pants and other garments a year.
The New Wave companies, according to their website, make clothing for several major North American and European retailers.
Britain's Primark acknowledged it was using a factory in Rana Plaza, but many other retailers distanced themselves from the disaster, saying they were not involved with the factories at the time of the collapse or had not recently ordered garments from them.
Wal-Mart said none of its clothing had been authorized to be made in the facility, but it is investigating whether there was any unauthorized production.
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AP writers Farid Hossain and Gillian Wong in Dhaka contributed to this report.
Apr. 26, 2013 ? When predicting the outcome of a fight, the big guy doesn't always win suggests new research on fish. Scientists at the University of Exeter and Texas A&M University found that when fish fight over food, it is personality, rather than size, that determines whether they will be victorious. The findings suggest that when resources are in short supply personality traits such as aggression could be more important than strength when it comes to survival.
The study, published in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, found that small fish were able to do well in contests for food against larger fish provided they were aggressive. Regardless of their initial size, it was the fish that tended to have consistently aggressive behaviour -- or personalities -- that repeatedly won food and as a result put on weight.
Dr Alastair Wilson from Biosciences at the University of Exeter said: "We wondered if we were witnessing a form of Napoleon, or small man, syndrome. Certainly our study indicates that small fish with an aggressive personality are capable of defeating their larger, more passive counterparts when it comes to fights over food. The research suggests that personality can have far reaching implications for life and survival."
The sheepshead swordtail fish (Xiphophorus birchmanni) fish were placed in pairs in a fish tank, food was added and their behaviour was captured on film. The feeding contest trials were carried out with both male and female fish. The researchers found that while males regularly attacked their opponent to win the food, females were much less aggressive and rarely attacked.
In animals, personality is considered to be behaviour that is repeatedly observed under certain conditions. Major aspects of personality such as shyness or aggressiveness have previously been characterised and are thought to have important ecological significance. There is also evidence to suggest that certain aspects of personality can be inherited. Further work on whether winning food through aggression could ultimately improve reproductive success will shed light on the heritability of personality traits.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Exeter, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Alastair J Wilson, Andrew Grimmer, Gil G. Rosenthal. Causes and consequences of contest outcome: aggressiveness, dominance and growth in the sheepshead swordtail, Xiphophorus birchmanni. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 2013; DOI: 10.1007/s00265-013-1540-7
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
PANASONIC ANNOUNCES PRICING & AVAILABILITY FOR ITS 2013 BLU-RAY DISC? PLAYER LINEUP
Panasonic Introduces Two New 3D-Capable Players Featuring Wireless Capabilities for Added Content Viewing
SECAUCUS, NJ (April 9, 2013) ? Panasonic, a major developer and contributor to the success of the Blu-ray format, announced today pricing and availability of it 2013 Blu-ray Disc Player lineup which was unveiled last month at the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show. The line-up features two new Full HD 3D models (DMP-BDT330 and DMP-BDT230) and two 2D Blu-ray Disc Players (DMP-BD89 and DMP-BD79) as well as continuations of two successful Full HD 3D 2012 models (DMP-BDT500 and DMP-BBT01).
All four of Panasonic's 3D-capable Blu-ray Disc models include Panasonic's proprietary IPTV platform, VIERA Connect1, while the 2D models feature IP VOD - a service that offers access to a limited, though targeted, selection of popular sites including Netflix, HuluPlus, Vudu, CinemaNow and YouTube. They also feature a Web Browser with pointer cursor for easy maneuvering, while all models in the 2013 lineup also feature external HDD Playback and personalized menu options on the Blu-ray lineup.
The Panasonic BDT330 model also offers Miracast ? a new display mirroring feature which enables users to transfer and display photos, videos, movies, music, and video games from their Smartphone and Tablet devices (Android 4.2 operating system or higher) to their HDTV screen with the swipe of a finger.
All 2013 Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Players include built-in Wi-Fi (with the exception of the BD79 which is wireless-ready), enabling users to access additional content and services through the internet without the need to tether your device. Panasonic's 2013 Blu-ray Disc Players also feature high-quality network audio (DLNA compatible) as well as 192kHz/32bit Audio DAC on select 3D-capable models (BDT500) and built-in 4K up-scaling (BDT330).
Additionally the Panasonic BDT230 and BDT330, BDT500, and BBT01 models feature 2D-3D conversion for any content and the BDT330 and BDT500 models also include twin HDMI ports.
For more information on Panasonic's line of 2013 Blu-ray Disc Players, visit www.panasonic.com.
_____________________________________
PANASONIC ANNOUNCES PRICING & AVAILABILITY FOR ITS INAUGURAL LINE OF STREAMING MEDIA PLAYERS
Sleek and Slim Media Players Feature Built in Wi-Fi for Easy and Versatile Video Viewing
SECAUCUS, NJ (April 9, 2013) ? Panasonic, an industry leader and pioneer in the development of emerging video technology, announced today pricing and availability of its first-ever line of Streaming Media Players which were unveiled last month at the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show. The line-up features two models -- the DMP-MST60 and the DMP-MS10 featuring VIERA Connect and IP VOD respectively.
Panasonic's 3D-capable streaming media player, the MST60, features Panasonic's proprietary connected TV platform, VIERA ConnectTM, which enables1 owners of VIERA Connect-enabled Blu-ray Disc Players, Streaming Media Players and Home Theater Systems to turn any TV into a Smart TV with access to a wide range of internet-based video-on-demand content and applications covering everything from news and fitness, social networking, music and online shopping and gaming. The MST60 also includes a Web browser with cursor for easy maneuvering.
The Panasonic MS10 includes built-in Wi-Fi and contains access to IP VOD, giving users the ability to stream many of their favorite TV shows, movies and music from a variety of popular applications including Netflix, Hulu? Plus, CinemaNow, Vudu, and YouTube?.
Both of Panasonic's streaming media players also include external HDD Playback and the MST60 also features a 2D-3D conversion function and Miracast -- a new display mirroring feature which enables users to transfer and display photos, videos, movies, music, and video games from their Smartphone and Tablet devices (Android 4.2 operating system or higher) to their HDTV screen with the swipe of a finger.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) ? A major Dell shareholder is urging the slumping personal computer maker's board to scrap a $24.4 billion deal to sell the company to a group including CEO Michael Dell and pursue two competing bids instead.
The request made in in a Tuesday letter from Southeastern Asset Management isn't a surprise. The Memphis, Tenn., investment firm stated its opposition to Dell Inc.'s plan to sell itself to Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners shortly after the terms were announced two months ago.
This is the first time that Southeastern has communicated with Dell's board since buyout specialist Blackstone Group and billionaire investor Carl Icahn submitted alternative proposals in late March.
Southeastern says both of those bids are better than the current deal. The firm owns an 8.4 percent stake in Dell.
Contact: Steve Koppes skoppes@uchicago.edu 773-702-8365 University of Chicago
Bozhi Tian, assistant professor in chemistry, has been named a 2013 Searle Scholar and will receive $300,000 to support his research over the next three years.
Tian's Searle Scholar project is titled "Silicon-based Biomaterials for an Electrical Study of Single-Neuron Dynamics." The project will involve using nanoelectronic devices to study how neurons pass signals to one another in a neural network.
His ultimate goal is to use the system to better understand neurodegenerative disease. The Searle project complements other work of Tian's, aimed at developing nanoelectronic devices for studying bioelectric circuits in cells.
Tian was among 15 Searle Scholars who were selected from 176 applications and nominated by 125 universities and research institutions. The selections were based on demonstrated, innovative research and the potential for making significant contributions to biological research over an extended period.
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The Searle Scholars Program is funded through grants from the trusts established under the wills of John G. and Frances C. Searle. John Searle was president of G.D. Searle & Co. of Skokie, Ill., a research-based pharmaceutical company.
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Contact: Steve Koppes skoppes@uchicago.edu 773-702-8365 University of Chicago
Bozhi Tian, assistant professor in chemistry, has been named a 2013 Searle Scholar and will receive $300,000 to support his research over the next three years.
Tian's Searle Scholar project is titled "Silicon-based Biomaterials for an Electrical Study of Single-Neuron Dynamics." The project will involve using nanoelectronic devices to study how neurons pass signals to one another in a neural network.
His ultimate goal is to use the system to better understand neurodegenerative disease. The Searle project complements other work of Tian's, aimed at developing nanoelectronic devices for studying bioelectric circuits in cells.
Tian was among 15 Searle Scholars who were selected from 176 applications and nominated by 125 universities and research institutions. The selections were based on demonstrated, innovative research and the potential for making significant contributions to biological research over an extended period.
###
The Searle Scholars Program is funded through grants from the trusts established under the wills of John G. and Frances C. Searle. John Searle was president of G.D. Searle & Co. of Skokie, Ill., a research-based pharmaceutical company.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
DUBAI (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake struck close to Iran's only nuclear power station on Tuesday, killing 37 people and injuring 850 as it destroyed homes and devastated two small villages, Iranian media reported.
The 6.3 magnitude quake totally destroyed one village, a Red Crescent official told the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA), but the nearby Bushehr nuclear plant was undamaged, according to Iranian officials and the Russian company that built it.
"Due to the intensity of this earthquake, this tragedy has deepened and we have seen the destruction of many homes in the region, the deaths of 37 people and more than 850 injured," the governor of Bushehr province, Fereydoun Hassanvand, told Mehr news agency.
Many houses in rural parts of the province are made of mud bricks, which have been known to crumble easily in quake-prone Iran. Some 700 homes were destroyed, Hassanvand said.
Across the Gulf, offices in Qatar and Bahrain were evacuated after the quake, whose epicenter was 89 km (55 miles) southeast of the port of Bushehr, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The early afternoon shock was also felt in financial hub Dubai.
The Russian company that built the nuclear power station, 18 km (11 miles) south of Bushehr, said the plant was unaffected.
"Personnel continue to work in the normal regime and radiation levels are fully within the norm," Russian state news agency RIA quoted an official at Atomstroyexport as saying.
Iran informed the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency that there was "no damage to the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and no radioactive release from the installation", an agency statement said.
One Bushehr resident said the quake shook her home and the homes of her neighbors but they were not damaged.
"We could clearly feel the earthquake," Nikoo, who asked to be identified only by her first name, said. "The windows and chandeliers all shook."
While initial fears about nuclear fallout receded, nearer the epicenter the rescue efforts ramped up into the night in search of survivors and to feed and house hundreds of residents who were traumatized by at least 16 aftershocks.
A Red Crescent official told ISNA that 20 people had been saved by rescue teams searching through the rubble.
Reports in Iranian media spoke of landslides destroying buildings and crowds gathering in the town of Dashti from outlying areas in search of help. Military officials said army and police units had been deployed to maintain order.
Water and electricity lines were severed and communities stayed in the streets because of the threat from aftershocks.
Iran's most powerful authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, offered his condolences to the victims and urged authorities to extend all efforts to save lives and help the afflicted.
Tuesday's quake was much smaller than the 9.0 magnitude one that hit Japan two years ago, triggering a tsunami that destroyed back-up generators and disabled the Fukushima nuclear plant's cooling system. Three of the reactors melted down.
Iran is the only country operating a nuclear power plant that does not belong to the Convention on Nuclear Safety, negotiated after the 1986 nuclear disaster in Chernobyl which contaminated wide areas and made 160,000 Ukrainians homeless.
Western officials and the United Nations have urged Iran to join the safety forum.
REPEATED WARNINGS
Tehran has repeatedly rejected safety concerns about Bushehr - built in a highly seismic area - that began operations in September 2011 after decades of delays.
Iran sits on major fault lines and has suffered several devastating earthquakes in recent years, including a 6.6 magnitude quake in 2003 which flattened the southeastern city of Bam and killed more than 25,000 people. In August more than 300 people were killed when two quakes struck the northwest.
A report published last week by U.S. think-tanks Carnegie Endowment and the Federation of American Scientists said that "ominously" the Bushehr reactor sits at the intersection of three tectonic plates.
"Iran's sole nuclear power plant is not at risk of a tsunami similar in size to the one that knocked out the electricity and emergency cooling systems at Fukushima. But, repeated warnings about the threat of earthquakes for the Bushehr nuclear plant appear to have fallen on deaf ears," the report said.
The quake happened on National Nuclear Technology Day when Iran's leaders celebrate the technological advances they say will reduce the country's reliance on fossil fuels, leaving more of its abundant oil for export.
Israel, Gulf Arab states and many Western countries fear Tehran is seeking a nuclear weapons capability and the Islamic Republic is under international sanctions aimed at forcing it to curb some of its atomic work.
Iran denies it wants nuclear arms and says its atomic work is for electricity generation and other peaceful uses.
(Additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl in Vienna, Regan Doherty in Doha, Steve Gutterman in Moscow; Writing by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Michael Roddy and Jon Hemming)
Apr. 7, 2013 ? Catalysis may initiate almost all modern industrial manufacturing processes, but catalytic activity on solid surfaces is poorly understood. This is especially true for the cellulase enzymes used to release fermentable sugars from cellulosic biomass for the production of advanced biofuels. Now, researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) through support from the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) have literally shed new light on cellulase catalysis.
Using an ultrahigh-precision visible light microscopy technique called PALM -- for Photo-Activated Localization Microscopy -- the researchers have found a way to improve the collective catalytic activity of enzyme cocktails that can boost the yields of sugars for making fuels. Increasing the sugar yields from cellulosic biomass to help bring down biofuel production costs is essential for the widespread commercial adoption of these fuels.
"The enzymatic breakdown of cellulosic biomass into fermentable sugars has been the Achilles heel of biofuels, a key economic bottleneck," says chemical engineer Harvey Blanch, one of the leaders of this research. "Our research provides a new understanding of how multiple cellulase enzymes attack solid cellulose by working in concert, an action known as enzyme synergy, and explains why certain mixtures of cellulase enzymes work better together than each works individually."
Synthesized from the sugars in the cellulosic biomass of grasses, other non-food crops and agricultural waste, advanced biofuels represent a sustainable, non-polluting source of transportation fuel that would also generate domestic jobs and revenue. A recent report from the National Research Council stressed the need for advanced biofuels if the United States is to significantly reduce its use of fossil fuels in the coming decades. Fossil fuels are responsible for the annual release of nearly nine billion metric tons of excess carbon into the atmosphere.
Unlike the simple starch-based glucose sugars in corn and other grains, the sugars in cellulosic biomass are complex polysaccharides that must be extricated from a tough polymer called lignin and then broken down into fermentable glucose, a process called saccharification. Because individual cellulases interact preferentially with cellulose structures based on distinct structural motifs, saccharification is carried out with mixtures of cellulase enzymes -- called enzyme cocktails. To date the efficiency of these cellulose-to-glucose conversions has been limited, in part because of a limited ability to probe and study the interactions between cellulase enzymes and cellulose.
"The cellulose structures to which cellulase enzymes bind have always been classified as either crystalline or amorphous but these categories were probably more reflec?tive of the limitations of imaging methods than the underlying structural organization of the cellulose," says Jerome Fox, lead author of the Nature Chemical Biology paper and a member of Blanch and Clark's research groups. "Previously, it was not possible to resolve individual proteins on densely labeled heterogeneous surfaces, such as those in plant cell walls, and determine the specific location where an individual enzyme molecule was binding."
Enter PALM, a technique in which target proteins are labeled with tags that fluoresce when activated by weak ultraviolet light. By keeping the intensity of the UV light sufficiently low, researchers can photoactivate individual proteins to image them and determine their location.
"We're the first to use PALM to study the interplay of enzyme activity and substrate heterogeneity," says Liphardt, an expert in PALM technology. "This enables us to quantify how and where enzymes are binding to the cellulose."
Working with cotton -- a well-defined cellulosic material -- as their model system, the researchers applied PALM imaging in combination with a mathematical analysis they devised. Their results showed that cellulases exhibit specificities for cellulose structures that have many different levels of organization, ranging from the highly ordered to the highly disordered. They also developed a metric to show that combinations of cellulases designed to bind to cellulose structural organizations that are similar but not identical can generate valuable synergistic activity.
"We found that the specificity of a cellulase for a particular level of cellulose organization influences its ability to catalyze cellulose hydrolysis alongside other cellulases with different specificities," says Clark. "In particular, cellulases that bind within similar, but non-identical organizations have synergistic activity that could not be predicted from the more classical crystalline-or-amorphous cellulose classification system."
The new PALM-based technique should allow enzyme cock?tails to be optimally matched to the structural organizations of particular biomass substrates, such as grass or wood, so that all potential avenues of enzyme synergy can be exploited. This will increase saccharification efficiencies, which in turn will help reduce biofuel production costs. The technique also has applications beyond biofuels.
"Our technique takes us toward a much more complete understanding of how enzymes work on solid surfaces," Blanch says. "With this technique, we should be able to tell where any enzyme binds to a solid material and that can help in the design of cellulases for other cellulose materials"
In addition to Blanch, Liphardt, Clark and Fox, other co-authors of the paper "A single-molecule analysis reveals morphological targets for cellulase synergy" were Phillip Jess, Rakesh Jambusaria and Genny Moo.
EBI, which provided the funding for this research, is a collaborative partnership between BP, the funding agency, UC Berkeley, Berkeley Lab and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Jerome M Fox, Phillip Jess, Rakesh B Jambusaria, Genny M Moo, Jan Liphardt, Douglas S Clark, Harvey W Blanch. A single-molecule analysis reveals morphological targets for cellulase synergy. Nature Chemical Biology, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.1227
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iran says it hopes Egypt can resume tourist flights to the country to improve relations.
"We hope to witness more visits between the two nations," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast on Tuesday.
Egypt suspended tourist flights from Iran on Monday. It did not give a reason but the move followed an outcry from hard-line Sunni Muslims angered about visitors from the mostly Shiite country, only a week after direct flights between the two countries resumed for the first time in more than three decades.
Last week, protesters from the ultraconservative Salafi movement tried to storm the residence of Iran's top diplomat in Cairo.
In reaction, a group of Iranian students went Tuesday to Egypt's interest section in Tehran and handed it flowers as a gesture of friendship.
BAGHDAD (AP) ? Iraqi officials say they searched an Iranian plane bound for Damascus looking for weapons being sent to fighters loyal to the Syrian regime, but none were found
Government spokesman Ali al-Moussawi says the cargo plane was forced to land on Monday, but a search showed it was carrying medical and humanitarian aid, not weapons.
It is the first plane to be forced to land since Iraqi officials promised last week to conduct more random searches of vehicles traveling overland and aircraft moving in its airspace to check for weapons headed to the Syrian conflict.
Officials said they will not allow its territory to be used to supply weapons to the Syrian regime or the rebels trying to overthrow it.
JERUSALEM (AP) ? Israel shut a crossing with Gaza after rockets were fired from the Hamas-ruled territory at the Jewish state on the day it commemorated the Holocaust.
The military said it closed the Kerem Shalom terminal Monday. Another crossing would be open for humanitarian cases only, it said.
Israel has blockaded the coastal territory since the Islamic militant Hamas took over in 2007.
Israeli police said several rockets were fired from Gaza at Israel the previous evening, as annual ceremonies were held nationwide to remember the 6 million Jews murdered by German Nazis and their collaborators.
Israeli TV showed footage of people in the south of the country abandoning a memorial ceremony and running for cover as sirens wailed warning of incoming rockets.
No injuries resulted from the attack, police said.
JERUSALEM (AP) ? Two days before her comrades embarked on an uprising that came to symbolize Jewish resistance against the Nazis in World War II, 14-year-old Aliza Mendel got her orders: Escape from the Warsaw Ghetto.
The end was near. Nazi troops had encircled the ghetto, and the remaining Jewish rebels inside were prepared to die fighting. They had few weapons, and they felt there was no point in giving one of them to a teenage girl whose main task to that point had been distributing leaflets.
"They told me I was too young to fight," said the survivor, now 84, who uses her married name, Aliza Vitis-Shomron. "They said, 'You have to leave and tell the world how we died fighting the Nazis. That is your job now.'"
She's been doing that ever since, publishing a memoir about life in the ghetto and lecturing about the revolt and its legendary leader, Mordechai Anielewicz. While nearly all her friends perished, she survived the ghetto and a later period in a Nazi concentration camp. She made it to Israel, married and has three children, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
On Sunday night, 70 years after the Warsaw ghetto uprising, Vitis-Shomron is set to speak on behalf of Holocaust survivors at the official ceremony marking Israel's annual Holocaust memorial day.
"It's a day of deep sorrow for me, because I remember all my friends in the (resistance) movement who gave their lives," said Vitis-Shomron. "But it was also a wonderful act of sacrifice by those who gave up their lives without even trying to save themselves. The goal was to show that we would not go down without a response."
Six million Jews were killed by German Nazis and their collaborators in the Holocaust of World War II, wiping out a third of world Jewry.
The 1943 Warsaw ghetto uprising was the first large-scale rebellion against the Nazis in Europe and the single greatest act of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. Though guaranteed to fail, it became a symbol of struggle against impossible conditions, illustrated a refusal to succumb to Nazi atrocities and inspired other acts of uprising and underground resistance by Jews and non-Jews alike.
While the world marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, the date of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, Israel's annual Holocaust memorial day coincides with the Hebrew date of the Warsaw ghetto uprising ? highlighting the role it plays in the country's psyche. Even the day's official name ? "Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day" ? alludes to the image of the Jewish warrior upon which the state was founded. The ghetto battle contrasts with the image of Jews meekly marching to their deaths.
Israel has wrestled with the competing images for decades. After setting up their state in 1948, just three years after the end of the war, Israelis preferred to emphasize the heroic resistance fighters, though their numbers were relatively small. In recent years they have come around to recognizing the overwhelming tragedy of the murder of millions of Jews and the traumas of the survivors who still live along them.
Before the war, Warsaw had a vibrant Jewish community, and a third of the city's population was Jewish. The Nazis built the Warsaw ghetto in 1940, a year after occupying Poland, and began herding Jews into it.
The ghetto initially held some 380,000 Jews who were cramped into tight living spaces. At its peak, the ghetto housed about a half a million Jews, said Havi Dreifuss, a researcher at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial who has studied the ghetto.
Life in the ghetto included random raids, confiscations and abductions by Nazi soldiers. Disease and starvation were rampant, and bodies often appeared on the streets.
The resistance movement began to grow after the deportation of July 22, 1942, when 265,000 men, women and children were rounded up and later killed at the Treblinka death camp. As word of the Nazi genocide spread, those who remained behind no longer believed German promises that they would be sent to forced labor camps.
A small group of rebels began to spread calls for resistance, carrying out isolated acts of sabotage and attacks. Some Jews began defying German orders to report for deportation.
The Nazis entered the ghetto on April 19, 1943, the eve of the Passover holiday. Three days later, the Nazis set the ghetto ablaze, turning it into a fiery death trap, but the Jewish fighters kept up their struggle for nearly a month.
The Jewish fighters who had fortified themselves in bunkers and hiding places managed to kill 16 Nazis and wound almost 100, Dreifuss said.
They were ultimately brutally vanquished. Anielewicz and others died inside the bunker on 18 Mila Street, which later became the title of a famous novel by Leon Uris that fictionalized the events.
"It was a moral victory. No one believed the Jews would fight back," said Dreifuss. "It's amazing that after three years of Nazi occupation, starvation and illness, these people found the strength to disobey the Nazi orders, stand up and fight back."
Anielewicz, who was in his early 20s, became a heroic figure in Israel, with a village and streets across the nation named in his honor.
Vitis-Shomron remembers him well. She said he was a tall, charismatic leader of a younger generation who refused to submit quietly to the Nazis as their parents did.
"His theory was, 'don't get used to what is happening. Don't accept it,'" she said. "The Nazis wanted to turn us into slaves, and he said that only free people could resist."
The approach put Vitis-Shomron at odds with her parents, who objected to her activity in the youth movement. Often she would defy the Nazi curfew and only return home in the morning. She narrowly escaped S.S. officers in the streets as she posted underground leaflets calling on Jews to resist or escape.
She said the hardest part for her was escaping before the uprising began, joining her mother and younger sister in their hideout on the Polish side of town outside the ghetto. She remembers watching the red skies above the burning ghetto, where her friends were waging war.
"If it was up to me, I would have stayed behind and fought to the death with them. I had no fear," she said. "The uprising represented Jewish pride. It was us saying, 'we will not die the way you want us to. We will die the way we want to, as free people.'"
Vitis-Shomron was later captured and sent the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp with her mother and sister. They all survived and eventually made it to Israel. Her father was deported from the ghetto and killed in a Nazi death camp.
Today, Vitis-Shomron volunteers for Yad Vashem, collecting pages of testimony from fellow survivors that help build the museum's depository of names of the victims.
Despite her own past, she claims not to have experienced the psychological damage that plague other survivors.
"I never saw myself as a victim. I was on the active side, the resisting side," she said. "It helped me cope."
LONDON (Reuters) - British military and political figures on Saturday called on the government to offer asylum to hundreds of Afghan interpreters at risk of Taliban reprisals now that the soldiers they helped start pulling out of the country.
In an open letter to the Times newspaper, signatories including Britain's former army chief said there were about 600 interpreters helping British troops in Afghanistan. To date, about 20 have been killed in action and dozens more wounded.
They said Britain had a "moral obligation" to protect these men, many of whom now fear retaliation from Taliban insurgents as the troops prepare for a full exit from the country by the end of 2014.
"The British military's job in Afghanistan would have been impossible without local interpreters, who have risked their lives and made extraordinary sacrifices just like British soldiers," the letter read.
The signatories included General Mike Jackson, former head of Britain's army, Paddy Ashdown, a former high representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Michael Clarke, director of the Royal United Services Institute defense think-tank.
They said the current system of dealing with asylum claims by Afghans on a case-by-case basis was "slow, not transparent and offers no guarantee of success".
"After the Iraq War the UK gave Iraqi interpreters asylum in this country, but - shamefully - Britain is the only NATO country yet to do this for Afghan interpreters," they said.
All of Britain's 9,000 combat troops in Afghanistan are due to leave the country by the end of 2014, with nearly half of them expected to pull out this year.
Britain's Foreign Office said processes had been set up to ensure that the service provided by former interpreters working with troops is taken into account when individuals apply for asylum in the UK.
"People who have put their life on the line for the United Kingdom will not be abandoned," a spokesman said.
(Reporting by Natalie Huet; Editing by Stephen Powell)
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In March last year Yahoo?s SVP of the Europe, the Middle East and Africa region abruptly quit his role in the rejuvenation of Yahoo, supposedly to be closer to family in Sunnyvale. However, after an orderly departure he's now joined Shazam, the mobile music discovery app as CEO. Longtime CEO Andrew Fisher (since 2005) will become executive chairman. The London-based Shazam says it now has 300 million users in 200 countries, with 90 million of them in the U.S. and calls itself a "media engagement company."