Why A Settled Debt Is Still Past Due | Bankrate.com

debt

Dear Debt Adviser,
In the aftermath of my divorce and unemployment in 2009, I was unable to keep up with payments on about $9,000 of credit card debt. Eventually, I settled for about $4,500. Now, when I look at my credit report, the account is shown as closed, and that I settled the account for less than the full amount. But, it's also flagged as more than 120 days past due. What should I do?
-- Dan

Dear Dan,
I see that you have met my old friend Mr. Murphy. According to his law, not only will everything go wrong that can go wrong, but it will do so at the worst possible time. It sounds to me as though your credit report accurately reflects what happened to your credit card account. The past-due reference, along with the closed and settled notations, will remain on your credit report for seven years from the date of your last continuous delinquency.

A divorce can knock your life -- and your finances -- out of whack. It makes perfect sense to me that it's reflected in your credit report. The good news here is a single negative account on your credit report is not unusual and is unlikely to have a huge impact on your life. The account is paid and well behind you at this point. Rather than look back, let me suggest that you look to the future and concentrate on rebuilding your credit.

Start by congratulating yourself on handling a difficult set of situations and coming out on the other side. Then I want you to make sure you don't end up in a similar financial situation in the future. How do you accomplish that? Commit to saving money for the times when your income is interrupted due to another one of those unexpected life happenings such as the birth of a child, a layoff, etc.

I want you to work toward having six to 12 months' of living expenses put aside in an emergency savings account. This will help keep the bumps in your financial journey from causing major problems. Have money deducted from your paycheck regularly and direct-deposited into an account. Also, add half of all future raises, promotions and windfalls to this account. Since you get to spend the other half, this should be doable over the long haul.

To get your credit in tip-top shape, pay your current credit obligations on time, every time and as agreed to add positive information to your credit report each month. Seek new credit only if you need it and it is included in your overall spending plan. I would recommend that you wait at least two years from the date you settled your account before you apply for a major loan such as a mortgage or car loan, if possible. By that time, the settled account will have less impact on your credit score, and you should have a better chance of qualifying for a decent interest rate.

One last thought: If you settled the account this year, you can expect to receive a Form 1099-C for the amount of the debt that was forgiven in the settlement. In most cases, you will have to add the forgiven amount to your income for the year and pay taxes on it.

Good luck!

To ask a question of the Debt Adviser, go to the "Ask the Experts" page and select "Debt" as the topic. Read more Debt Adviser columns and more stories about debt management.

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Source: http://www.bankrate.com/finance/debt/settled-debt-still-past-due.aspx

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Over Half the Prisoners at Guantanamo Are Now on a Hunger Strike

Things aren't going so well down at Guantanamo Bay. A few days after The New York Times published a rather arresting column written by an inmate staging a hunger strike, 25 percent more prisoners have joined the protest. The latest report from United States officials puts the number of inmates on hunger strike at 84 ? there are 166 total inmates at Guantanamo ? with at least 17 of them, including the author of the Times column, being force fed. The number of prisoners participating is up 32 since last Wendesday and has continued to increase over the weekend.

RELATED: Guantanamo Guards Are Now Shooting at the Prisoners

The hunger strike dates back to February 6, when a group of prisoners took action against prison guards they say desecrated the Koran. It didn't help that some of the prisoners have been locked up for over a decade without having received a trial or even been formally charged with a crime. On top of that, news emerged about a week after the hunger strike started that the supposedly private rooms where inmates meet with their lawyers had been bugged illegally. Guantanamo officials swear they never used the surveillance equipment, but that didn't do anything to improve prisoner-guard relations. Last month, a stand-off between prisoners and guards even led to gunfire, though nobody was killed.

RELATED: U.S. Is Trying to Exchange Gitmo Prisoners for Peace with Taliban

This all sounds very dramatic, and it is. It's also unclear how much Americans care about what's happening in the off-shore prison, where we send men to forget them. Initially ? read: before that Times column ? there was debate over whether the hunger strike was happening at all. But that column. Wrote Guantanamo prisoner Samir Naji al Hasan Moqbel of the hunger strike:

People are fainting with exhaustion every day. I have vomited blood.

And there is no end in sight to our imprisonment. Denying ourselves food and risking death every day is the choice we have made.

I just hope that because of the pain we are suffering, the eyes of the world will once again look to Guant?namo before it is too late.

With the spike in participation, there will soon be more people fainting with exhaustion, more blood-infused vomit, more pain, more suffering. No word from Obama on when he might keep his promise to close the prison, though. In fact, it looks less likely than ever.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/over-half-prisoners-guantanamo-now-hunger-strike-025717024.html

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Video: Schieffer: What politicians should learn from Bostonians (cbsnews)

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Israel and Turkey discuss compensation for ship raid victims

ANKARA (Reuters) - An Israeli delegation arrived in Turkey on Monday for the first time since 2010 to discuss compensation for the killing of nine Turks by Israeli commandos on a Gaza-bound aid ship, a sign of improving relations between the two U.S. allies.

The visit, led by an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, follows an apology from Israel last month, brokered by U.S. President Barack Obama, for the killings on board the Mavi Marmara aid ship in May 2010.

Turkey cut its once extensive ties with the Jewish state after the Israelis killed nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists on the vessel which was trying to breach Israel's blockade of Gaza, a Palestinian enclave run by the Hamas Islamist group.

Ankara expelled Israel's ambassador and froze military cooperation after a U.N. report into the incident, released in September 2011, largely exonerated the Jewish state.

It set precise conditions for normalizing ties - an apology, compensation and Israel lifting its embargo on Gaza.

A rapprochement between two of Washington's main Middle Eastern allies could bolster U.S. influence in the region, help coordination to contain spillover from the Syrian civil war, and ease Israel's diplomatic isolation among its neighbors.

But for all the diplomatic flurry, a full restoration of ties still appears some way off.

Israel has made clear it did not commit to ending its Gaza blockade as part of the reconciliation, an oft-repeated Turkish demand, saying days after the apology that it could clamp down even harder on the enclave if security is threatened.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry asked Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday to delay a visit planned for late May to Gaza.

Kerry, who has visited the region several times in recent weeks, said Erdogan's trip could endanger U.S. efforts to revive Ankara's ties with Israel and Middle East peace talks.

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Angus MacSwan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israel-turkey-discuss-compensation-ship-raid-victims-093601614.html

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White House celebrates the sounds of Memphis soul

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The White House is celebrating the history and sound of Memphis soul music.

Legendary artist and younger acts, ranging from Sam Moore and Mavis Staples to Ben Harper and Justin Timberlake, were rehearsing at the White House on Tuesday to help President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama highlight that style of music at an evening concert.

Students from around the country participated in a workshop with some of the artists.

The event is the 10th installment in the "In Performance at the White House" series. It is scheduled for broadcast April 16 on PBS stations.

Starting in February 2009, the series has celebrated the music of Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Hispanic music, music from the civil-rights era, Motown and the blues, Broadway and country music.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/white-house-celebrates-sounds-memphis-soul-164730499.html

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Rackspace Rolls Out Its Mobile Plan As Vendors Get Giddy About Backend Data Pipes And Spigots

Suddenly all this backend stuff is hot. Who would have ever thought that data pipes and the spigots would get so much attention??Salesforce is getting into the game and now so is Rackspace with the launch of its mobile push. Rackspace does not call its new offering backend as a service (BaaS). Instead they call it a “mobile-ready” stack that pre-packages the backend for developer so they do not have to reinvent the wheel every time they start a mobile project. Rackspace CTO John Engates wrote in an email that the company is packaging its expertise and experience to cut deployment time from days to minutes. The goal is to let developers focus on building the frontend of the apps, like user experience, while Rackspace deploys and runs the backend for them. Engates said Rackspace has also built in its own reference architectures that developers can use to optimize the development process. Engates said the first stack is for a LAMP PHP based deployment with MySQL, Varnish acceleration service, memcache and other components that optimize for a mobile backend deployment. All of this brings me back to a conversation online about the meaning of BaaS and the connections to platform as a service (PaaS). Whatever you want to call it, the whole backend is getting abstracted and the big players want in. And that’s just fine for the likes of Kinvey, a BaaS provider that has specialized in providing its own service, which serves as a mobile SDK so developers can connect to systems of record and pull that data into their apps. CEO Sravish Sridar seized the moment this morning and added Salesforce to its “map,” so to speak. Make no mistake, despite the conspicuous absence of arguably the hottest buzzword in cloud service, BaaS is exactly the category Salesforce just entered ? and for that reason, we?ve added them to our category-defining ?Subway Map? graphic. The map has 29 vendors. Sridar writes that one analyst says there are as many as 47 vendors in the space. And here’s why. Sridar accurately and insightfully draws the correlation that the CIO sees mobile as the way to transition workloads to the cloud. That really sums it up. Mobile is the path to the cloud and companies like Rackspace and Salesforce want to automate as much as they can for developers, the ones who are building out the app-centric enterprise.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ek-bS3ug1io/

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The Dow has another record day

NEW YORK (AP) ? The Dow Jones industrial average is closing at another record high, driven by a surge in materials companies.

The Dow gained almost 60 points to 14,673 Tuesday, an increase of 0.4 percent. The Dow most recently set a record a week ago. It's up 12 percent this year.

The Standard & Poor's 500 rose five points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 1,568. That's less than two points from the record high the index reached last week.

The Nasdaq rose 15, or 0.5 percent, to 3,237.

Materials stocks led the gains following a surge in prices for commodities like copper. Cliffs Natural Resources jumped 9 percent.

Three stocks rose for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading volume was relatively light at 3.2 billion shares.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dow-reaches-another-record-driven-commodities-201301013--finance.html

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Warsaw ghetto survivor in Israel recalls uprising

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."

___

Online: http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/warsaw_ghetto_testimonies/index.asp

____

Follow Heller at www.twitter.com/aronhellerap .

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/warsaw-ghetto-survivor-israel-recalls-uprising-173855032.html

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Albion man hit by car in Clarkson early Sunday (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

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'S.H.I.E.L.D.': J. August Richards Cast In Joss Whedon's 'Avengers' Spin-Off Series For ABC (REPORT)

Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine: Eliza Dushku

Backstabbing and butt-kicking are two of the reasons Eliza Dushku has become a Whedonverse actress close to our hearts. She can pull both off with sexy finesse, which is needed to play S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and sometimes Nick Fury love interest <a href="http://marvel.wikia.com/Valentina_Allegra_de_Fontaine_%28Earth-616%29" target="_hplink">Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine.</a>

Jessica Jones: Amy Acker

ABC was developing a series based on Brian Michael Bendis' "Alias" comics with <a href="http://marvel.wikia.com/Jessica_Jones_%28Earth-616%29" target="_hplink">Jessica Jones</a>, a onetime superhero who gives up the spandex and becomes a private eye. The series has been scrapped, but there's no reason Ms. Jones can't find her way into the "Avengers" world, either as a private eye, or S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Either way, Jessica Jones is a fascinating -- and tortured -- character who is ripe for TV.

Dum-Dum Dugan: Neal McDonough

In the comics, <a href="http://marvel.wikia.com/Timothy_Dugan_%28Earth-616%29" target="_hplink">Dum-Dum Dugan</a> is one of Nick Fury's right-hand men. After originally appearing in "Captain America: The First Avenger," Neal McDonough could reprise the role for Joss Whedon's "S.H.I.E.L.D." series thanks to the use of comic book magic. Example: S.H.I.E.L.D.'s usage of life model decoys, or LMD.

Norman Osborn: Alan Tudyk

No self-respecting comic-book story can function without a bad guy, and Osborn/the Green Goblin certainly qualifies. No character did more to damage S.H.I.E.L.D., which means he could be the basis for a season-long arc (or three), and Tudyk proved in "Dollhouse" that he can play scary, damaged characters very well. Obviously he's got a commitment to ABC's "Suburgatory," but if he's underused again in the upcoming season, we say set him free!

Jimmy Woo: Ken Watanabe

This Asian-American secret agent would work well within the context of a weekly spy-adventure series, and ever since Watanabe reminded us in "Inception" of what a charismatic actor he is, we've wanted to see a lot more of him on our screens. Delving into the "life model decoy" stories that Woo was involved in would also allow Whedon and the writers to explore the kind of identity issues seen in the short-lived Fox drama "Dollhouse."

Daisy Johnson: Amber Benson

Johnson, who in the comics is Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., has the ability to cause seismic activity and once defeated Magneto that way. It's been too long since Benson had a prominent role on television, and the role of Daisy would draw on her strength, range and general ability to kick ass.

Jessica Drew: Summer Glau

Glau, who debuted as a dancer in the "Buffy" spinoff "Angel" before blowing our minds on "Firefly," has the right kind of physicality and grace for the role of Jessica Drew, the original Spider-Woman. After a series of adventures fighting a wide array of bad guys, Drew eventually became a private investigator, meaning she (possibly in combination with a similar character, Jessica Jones) could potentially anchor a weekly drama with procedural overtones.

Carol Danvers: Evan Rachel Wood

Wood proved her dramatic chops at a young age thanks to her breakthrough role in "Thirteen," and after showcasing her kick-ass side in "True Blood," we think there are few young actresses that could pull off Carol Danvers' combination of poise and empowerment as well as she could. In the comics, Major Carol Danvers (AKA Ms. Marvel) has served as executive director of S.H.I.E.L.D. after Nick Fury was deposed, and is a superheroine in her own right after an explosion caused her genetic structure to meld with Captain Marvel's, imbuing her with superhuman strength and flight. Since we're betting ABC doesn't have the budget for a super-powered superhero show, we see Danvers as a respected agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. with aspirations towards leadership.

Sharon Carter: Tricia Helfer

As an integral part of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the occasional girlfriend of Captain America, Carter would be a key part of any TV spinoff, and Helfer proved on "Battlestar Galactica" and in countless guest roles that she has the presence, acting chops and physical ability to play the part of an active field agent with a complicated past. It'd be nice if Hayley Atwell, who played Sharon's aunt Peggy in the "Captain America" movie, wanted to play her own niece in the American drama, but that seems unlikely. Either actress would be a fine addition to the new show, but we'll admit that even the hint of a "BSG"/"Avengers" crossover makes us all tingly.

Marcus Johnson: Michael B. Jordan

Time will tell whether Whedon can lure Samuel L. Jackson back to TV on a regular or recurring basis to reprise the role of Nick Fury, or whether the S.H.I.E.L.D. series will take part in a specific subdivision that can explain the executive director's absence. Either way, we'd like to have our Fury cake and eat it, so rather than recasting, we propose including Marcus Johnson, <a href="http://marvel.wikia.com/Nicholas_Fury,_Jr._(Earth-616)" target="_hplink">Nick Fury's son</a>. Michael B. Jordan stole our hearts in "Friday Night Lights" as a teen who had a somewhat antagonistic relationship with his absentee father, so drafting Johnson in as a new S.H.I.E.L.D. recruit facing accusations of nepotism could be a good way to keep things in the family but stay within ABC's budget.

Clay Quartermain: Teddy Sears

Since Jensen Ackles and Warren Kole are occupied on other shows, we think "American Horror Story" and "Raising the Bar" star Sears is a good alternative for S.H.I.E.L.D agent Clay Quartermain, who is described as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_Quartermain" target="_hplink">"blond-haired, fast-talking, grinning Burt Lancaster"</a> sort of chap, as well as a former love interest of Jessica Jones. Sears also has Whedonverse credentials, having guest-starred in an episode of "Dollhouse."

Alexander Pierce: Enver Gjokaj

Eagle-eyed "Avengers" fans know that Gjokaj already has a role in the Marvel-verse, thanks to his blink and you'll miss it cameo as a cop in Whedon's movie. Still, Whedon has never been averse to recycling his favorite actors between projects, so we'd love to see the "Dollhouse" alum in "S.H.I.E.L.D." in some capacity. We were torn between this role and the more antagonistic character of <a href="http://marvel.wikia.com/Mitchell_Tanner_(Earth-616)" target="_hplink">Warhawk</a>, but figured that <a href="http://marvel.wikia.com/Alexander_Pierce_%28Earth-616%29" target="_hplink">Alexander Pierce's</a> position as Nick Fury's bodyguard and sleeper agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. was a good fit. Pierce has no superhuman powers in the comics, but is described as a skilled hand-to-hand combatant and marksman, something that we know Gjokaj could sell.

Tony Masters: James Marsters

Maybe it's the similarity in their names, but the villain-turned-S.H.I.E.L.D. agent (or is it the other way round?) known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taskmaster" target="_hplink">Taskmaster</a> would be a perfect role for the man who masterfully charted the evolution of Spike throughout "Buffy" and "Angel." Marsters also has experience playing a comic book villain thanks to his stint as Brainiac on "Smallville," and certainly has the charisma and menace to portray an antihero who could later be welcomed back into the agency.

Agent Coulson: Clark Gregg

Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson has been an integral part of the Marvel cinematic universe since his introduction in "Iron Man," and is so beloved by fans that he was retroactively brought into the comics. We still don't know if "S.H.I.E.L.D." will be a prequel or sequel to the events of the "Avengers" movie, but whether Coulson is revealed to be alive, a LMD, or Whedon suddenly introduces Phil's long-lost twin brother Bill, we need to see Clark Gregg in "S.H.I.E.L.D." in some capacity if the show goes to series.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/05/shield-j-august-richards-casting-angel_n_3025922.html

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Chilean port workers ending strike, union leader says

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Workers at Chile's Angamos port are lifting their roughly three-week strike, and the larger work stoppage that has slammed copper, forestry and fruit exports in the world's top red metal producer will also end, a union leader told Reuters late on Friday.

Other ports in export-dependent Chile had joined the strike in the northern port of Angamos in Mejillones out of solidarity.

"Angamos has signed," Valparaiso port union leader Jorge Bustos said. Calls to union leaders and government representatives in Angamos went unanswered.

Bustos said the strike would be lifted in some ports at 11 p.m. on Friday (2 a.m. GMT on Saturday) and at 8 a.m. (11 a.m. GMT) on Saturday at other ports.

Angamos launched the strike to seek a 30-minute lunch break and other minor benefits. What some observers call poor management of a simple, specific worker issue then ballooned into a serious drag on miners and export-dependent Chile.

Around 9,000 tonnes of copper were unable to leave Chilean ports every day due to the strike, the government had said.

The Andean country lost more than $200 million a day due to the conflict, according to the country's business chamber.

Mining industry sources say it will take weeks to return to normal shipping operations because of the congestion in ports.

(Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Philip Barbara)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chilean-port-workers-ending-strike-union-leader-says-015412329--finance.html

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Obama talks climate, regaining House for Democrats, at fundraisers (reuters)

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7 great lines from Roger Ebert's reviews

By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, TODAY

Roger Ebert, who died Thursday at age 70, became a television personality, a Twitter legend and a beloved American icon, but what he was first and foremost was a movie critic.

Movie critics are as plentiful as popcorn, but there was truly no one like Ebert. He never buried his reviews in academic language or flowery comparisons. A down-to-earth writer, he brought his whole life and his entire understanding of human nature, plus a great sense of humor, into his writing.

Sure, he was known for his commentary on classics such as "Citizen Kane," but often, the movies that made him suffer the most gave us the most delightful reviews. Here are some of his gems. Rest in peace, Roger.

The Pullet Surprise?
Perhaps his most classic line references Ebert's own 1975 Pulitzer Prize, the first awarded to a film critic. Back in 2005, Rob Schneider complained that another reviewer who didn't like?"Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo"?wasn't qualified to review it because he didn't have a Pulitzer. In response, Ebert wrote, "Speaking in my official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize winner, Mr. Schneider, your movie sucks."

Where the stars don't shine?
"I am required to award stars to movies I review. This time, I refuse to do it. The star rating system is unsuited to this film. Is the movie good? Is it bad? Does it matter? It is what it is and occupies a world where the stars don't shine."?? ?From review of?"The Human Centipede"

Tell us how you really feel, Roger?
"I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering, stupid, vacant, audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it."?? ?From?"North" review

Soft-soap job?
"One of the details that 'A Christmas Story' gets right is the threat of having your mouth washed out with Lifebuoy soap. Not any soap. Lifebuoy. Never Ivory or Palmolive. Lifebuoy, which apparently contained an ingredient able to nullify bad language. The only other soap ever mentioned for this task was Lava, but that was the nuclear weapon of mouth-washing soaps, so powerful it was used for words we still didn't even know."???From"A Christmas Story" review

A kiss is still a ...?
"(Rhett Butler) tells Scarlett in a key early scene, 'You need kissing badly. That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed, and often, and by someone who knows how.' For 'kissed,' substitute the word you're thinking of." ?From?"Gone With the Wind" review

Over the rainbow?
"... The elements in 'The Wizard of Oz' powerfully fill a void that exists inside many children. For kids of a certain age, home is everything, the center of the world. But over the rainbow, dimly guessed at, is the wide earth, fascinating and terrifying. There is a deep fundamental fear that events might conspire to transport the child from the safety of home and strand him far away in a strange land. And what would he hope to find there? Why, new friends to advise and protect him. And Toto, of course, because children have such a strong symbiotic relationship with their pets that they assume they would get lost together."? ?From?"Wizard of Oz" review

What they really, really want is an acting coach.
"(The Spice Girls)?occupy 'Spice World' as if they were watching it." ??From "Spice World" review

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Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/04/04/17604124-7-great-lines-from-roger-eberts-movie-reviews?lite

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Gold Rallies as Stocks Pull Back | Gold Investing News

Reuters reported that gold rallied on Wednesday after experiencing the biggest drop since mid-February in the previous session.

As quoted in the market report:

The metal hit a 3-1/2 week low in early trade on Wednesday but clawed back those losses as U.S. and European stock markets eased and after weak readings of U.S. private sector employment and Institute for Supply Management (ISM) service sector activity.

To view the whole Reuters report, click here.?

Source: http://goldinvestingnews.com/33657/gold-rallies-as-stocks-pull-back.html

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Gorilla raised by humans: Baby gorilla thriving in Ohio

A two-month old baby gorilla, born to a first-time mother with little maternal instinct, is being raised by humans at the Cincinnati Zoo ? for now.

By Associated Press / March 28, 2013

Ron Evans, team leader with the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden Primate Team, is one of 10 surrogate mothers to 2-month-old "Gladys", a Western Lowland Gorilla, March 27, in Cincinnati.

Glenn Hartong / The Cincinnati Enquirer / AP

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A baby?gorilla?being raised temporarily by human surrogate parents is doing well ? learning to roll over, sit up and getting ready to walk on all fours.

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Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden primate specialists say "Gladys" is in good health, developing and growing quickly with loving care from 10 humans imitating a?gorilla?mom's behavior. This week she began supporting herself on all fours.

"The next step, she'll be able to walk around by herself," said Ron Evans, primate team leader.

Gladys also is teething and has begun eating some cooked foods, such as sweet potatoes and carrots, besides being bottle-fed five times a day.

"She's at the age now where she really starts growing by leaps and bounds," Evans said.

She came to Cincinnati last month from Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas, after she was born there Jan. 29 to a first-time mother who showed little maternal instinct. It was decided to move her to Cincinnati's zoo because of its extensive experience in raising?gorilla?babies and its availability of experienced?gorilla mothers.

Human surrogates dress in black, wear furry vests and kneepads and make?gorilla?sounds to help prepare Gladys for the transition to a real?gorilla?family. They have been showing her to other?gorillas?and letting them touch her.

The Cincinnati Enquirer (http://cin.ci/WYwKZK?) reports that zoo specialists think she will be ready within a few months, and there are four potential adoptive moms among their?gorillas.

"The?gorillas?have to decide who this baby's mom is going to be," Evans said.

"That will be the day that all this hard work pays off," said primate keeper Ashley O'Connell, crawling around with the 9-pound?gorilla?riding on her back.

O'Connell just had her own first child five months ago.

"I feel like I'm the mother of two right now," she said. "If I have to be away from my own child, this is where I want to be."

Information from: The Cincinnati Enquirer,?http://www.enquirer.com

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/mXrsuga4nYU/Gorilla-raised-by-humans-Baby-gorilla-thriving-in-Ohio

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A longer life for lithium-sulfur batteries

Apr. 2, 2013 ? Electric cars have still got it tough in the German marketplace. They are too expensive and their range is too short. This is an opportune time for a breakthrough in efficient and low-cost lithium-sulfur batteries.

There are currently over 40 million cars on Germany's roads. Only a fraction of them are powered by electric energy -- around 6,400 vehicles according to the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development. The comparatively short range of electric cars doesn't help their popularity, with drivers often having to start the search for a charging station after a mere 100 kilometers, not to mention the high price of the batteries, which cost several thousand euros. Remedying this situation has researchers looking at new options in developing more efficient technologies. An extremely promising avenue of research is the lithium-sulfur battery, which is significantly more powerful and less expensive than the better-known lithium-ion battery. Although their short lifespan has made them unsuitable for use in cars before now, this may be about to change in the foreseeable future.

Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden have developed a new design that increases the charge cycles of lithium-sulfur batteries by a factor of seven. "During previous tests, the batteries scarcely crossed the 200-cycle mark. By means of a special combination of anode and cathode material, we have now managed to extend the lifespan of lithium-sulfur button cells to 1,400 cycles," says Dr. Holger Althues, head of the Chemical Surface Technology group at IWS, who is delighted with his team's breakthrough. The anode of the team's prototype is not made from the usual metallic lithium, but from a silicon-carbon compound instead. This compound is significantly more stable, as it changes less during each charging process than metallic lithium. The more the structure of the anode changes, the more it interacts with the liquid electrolyte, which is situated between the anode and the cathode and carries the lithium-ions. This process causes the liquid to break down into gas and solids and the battery to dry out. "In extreme cases, the anode "grows" to reach the cathode, creating a short circuit and causing the battery to stop working altogether," explains Althues.

The interplay between anode and cathode is the critical factor determining the performance and lifespan of a battery. In the lithium-sulfur model, the cathode is composed of elemental sulfur. The advantage here is that unlike cobalt -- the main cathode material used in lithium-ion batteries -- sulfur is available in almost unlimited quantities and is therefore cheaper. The problem remains, however, that sulfur also interacts with the liquid electrolyte, which impairs the performance of batteries and, in the worst case, causes them to lose capacity entirely. The IWS researchers are using porous carbons to slow down this process. "We have precisely altered the pores to allow the sulfur to lodge there, slowing down the rate at which it combines with the electrolyte," clarifies Althues. He and his colleagues have developed a method of manufacturing these special cathodes.

The experts at IWS measure the capacity of a battery in watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg). Over the long term, they expect lithium-sulfur batteries to reach an energy density of up to 600 Wh/kg. For comparison: the maximum energy density of the lithium-ion batteries currently in use is a mere 250 Wh/kg. "In the medium term, figures around the 500 Wh/kg mark are more realistic. In practical terms, this means you can drive twice as far with the same battery weight," says Althues. This of course implies that significantly lighter battery models are possible -- an interesting prospect not only for automakers but for smartphone manufacturers too. After all, the overall weight of smartphones would be greatly reduced if they had lighter batteries. "Lithium-sulfur technology might even make electric flying a realistic possibility. Although such progress is still a long way off," adds Althues.

The researchers are currently working on further optimizing the material and using it in larger battery models. They are also turning their attention to suitable manufacturing methods. And with good reason, as this is the only way the technology will reach a mass market, leading to a significant increase in the number of electric cars on Germany's roads.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/kg-pLe_c9xY/130402091245.htm

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Building quantum states with individual silicon atoms

Apr. 3, 2013 ? By introducing individual silicon atom 'defects' using a scanning tunnelling microscope, scientists at the London Centre for Nanotechnology have coupled single atoms to form quantum states.

Published April 3 in Nature Communications, the study demonstrates the viability of engineering atomic-scale quantum states on the surface of silicon -- an important step toward the fabrication of devices at the single-atom limit.

Advances in atomic physics now allow single ions to be brought together to form quantum coherent states. However, to build coupled atomic systems in large numbers, as required for applications such as quantum computing, it is highly desirable to develop the ability to construct coupled atomic systems in the solid state.

Semiconductors, such as silicon, routinely display atomic defects that have clear analogies with trapped ions. However, introducing such defects deterministically to observe the coupling between extended systems of individual defects has so far remained elusive.

Now, LCN scientists have shown that quantum states can be engineered on silicon by creating interacting single-atom defects. Each individual defect consisted of a silicon atom with a broken, or "dangling," bond. During this study, these single-atom defects were created in pairs and extended chains, with each defect separated by just under one nanometer.

Importantly, when coupled together, these individual atomic defects produce extended quantum states resembling artificial molecular orbitals. Just as for a molecule, each structure exhibited multiple quantum states with distinct energy levels.

We have created precise arrays of atomic defects on a silicon surface and demonstrated that they couple to form unique and interesting quantum states.

The visibility of these states to the scanning tunneling microscope could be tuned through the variation of two independent parameters -- the voltage applied to the imaging probe and its height above the surface.

The study was led by Dr Steven Schofield, who said: "We have created precise arrays of atomic defects on a silicon surface and demonstrated that they couple to form unique and interesting quantum states."

He added: "The next step is to replicate these results in other material systems, for example using substitutional phosphorus atoms in silicon, which holds particular interest for quantum computer fabrication."

Ongoing research at the LCN is exploring even more complex arrangements of these defects, including the incorporation of impurity atoms within the defect structures, which is expected to alter the symmetry of the defects (similar to the role of the nitrogen atom in the nitrogen-vacancy center defect in diamond).

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Journal Reference:

1. S. R. Schofield, P. Studer, C. F. Hirjibehedin, N. J. Curson, G. Aeppli, D. R. Bowler. Quantum engineering at the silicon surface using dangling bonds. Nature Communications, 2013; 4: 1649 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2679

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/physics/~3/ZPVk8mNwUbw/130403112742.htm

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