Israel lawmaker emerging as main foil to Netanyahu

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) ? Danny Danon says he has no problem with his party leader, Israel's prime minister ? so long as he doesn't make peace.

The ambitious deputy defense minister isn't a household name internationally yet, but at home he has emerged as an unlikely opponent to Benjamin Netanyahu and his strongest opposition within the hawkish ruling Likud Party.

A soft-spoken lawmaker with a penchant for sharp suits, Danon is suddenly a major stumbling block toward Palestinian statehood as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry embarks on his latest push to restart long-dormant peace talks.

While Netanyahu attempts to convince the world of his peaceful intentions and sincere commitment to establishing a Palestinian state as part of a final peace settlement, Danon has repeatedly defied the prime minister's stance while generating the type of political power that could hinder Netanyahu's ability to make concessions.

His rising influence has raised Palestinian suspicions that Netanyahu is unwilling ?and unable ? to make peace. From his plush office on the 15th-floor of the gleaming, state-of-the-art Defense Ministry complex in Tel Aviv, Danon does nothing to dispel the suspicions.

"I think the prime minister knows that if he is presenting the ideology of the Likud Party we all support him," Danon said, noting that Likud has only had four leaders in its 65-year history. "It means that we do respect our leaders. But if the leader decides to go to the other direction then ... there will be changes within the Likud."

The Likud has long been the leader of Israel's nationalist camp, believing the country should control all of the biblical Land of Israel between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. But Netanyahu and other party moderates have gradually come to the conclusion that there is no choice but to divide the land between a Jewish state and a Palestinian one.

Danon, 42, is among a group of young hard-liners who rose to prominence during a Likud primary vote last year. These officials, including Deputy Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin, Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein, deputy transportation minister Tzipi Hotovely and coalition whip Yariv Levin, oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state and are strong proponents of building settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. The Palestinians claim both areas, captured by Israel in the 1967 war, for their future state.

Danon, a secular father of three, is the most vocal and has become the brightest star and strongest counterforce within the party. He finished fifth in the slate of candidates chosen in last year's primary, well ahead of many party stalwarts, and this week he was overwhelmingly elected head of the Likud convention with 86 percent of the vote. On Sunday, he is expected to score another landslide victory and become chairman of the Likud Central Committee, a key position that will grant him power to set the agenda of the committee's 3,500 members and complicate any Netanyahu initiatives.

He has also generated an impressive following in America, particularly among Christian evangelicals. His recent English-language book ? "Israel: the will to prevail" ? outlines his vision of further Israeli control over the West Bank. It won't find many fans in the Obama administration, but it did receive high praise from two of Danon's closest American allies: former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and conservative TV personality Glenn Beck.

The front page of Friday's mass-daily Yediot Ahronot points to Danon's surge to prominence at home. Under the headline "Between Kerry and Danon," a cartoon shows Danon and others pinning Netanyahu to the ground. The paper's humor column has a mock quote from Kerry saying he is optimistic his visit can help promote a "brave and effective negotiation between Netanyahu and Danny Danon."

Danon, until recently a rather anonymous backbencher, has garnered so much influence that Netanyahu's chief peace negotiator, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, recently called on the prime minister to reject "Danonism" and forge ahead toward peace. The Palestinian chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, had also cited Danon by name as someone who is killing the prospect of peace.

Danon remains undeterred and is convinced Netanyahu does not have the political backing to cede parts of the West Bank.

"I think that the majority of people, not only inside the Likud, but also within the Israeli public, will not support such a dangerous initiative," he said of a Palestinian state. "It is not just my personal opinion. I represent a lot of people ... that think like me that the idea of land for peace doesn't work anymore."

Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula following its 1979 peace accord with Egypt and made small border adjustments after signing peace with Jordan in 1994. It unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip and evacuated Jewish settlers there in 2005. But the Hamas militant group subsequently seized control of the area, and continued rocket fire out of Gaza has stoked fears that a pullout from the West Bank, located close to major Israeli cities, would bring similar and devastating results.

That withdrawal also spawned a revolt within the Likud against then-leader Ariel Sharon, who eventually bolted to establish the centrist Kadima Party. Netanyahu, who led the rebel forces, eventually took over as leader.

His party has since drifted further to the right, with Jewish settlers taking over key positions and introducing legislation that seeks to give Israel's Jewish nature precedence over its democratic nature.

Political commentator Hanan Kristal said Danon is trying to position himself as leader of the group and a potential future alternative to Netanyahu.

"Danon is Bibi from 10 years ago," he said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname. "He (Danon) is a Likudnik and he is saying what a lot of them believe. He just says it clearly and without mincing words."

Netanyahu has distanced himself from Danon, insisting his comments do not reflect government policy, but he hasn't fired him either as some have suggested he should.

Danon makes no apologies for his maverick ways.

"I don't do things to try and disturb him," he said. "We are in the same boat. I don't want everyone rowing their oars in different directions but I do try to preserve what I believe in."

With Kerry pressing hard to get Israeli and Palestinian leaders to resume peace talks that have been on hold since 2008, and Netanyahu's centrist coalition partners urging a breakthrough, the prime minister may soon be forced to choose between the unity of his government and the unity of his party.

Danon says Netanyahu is free to negotiate as he pleases, but if he ultimately reaches the contours of a deal he will have to bring it to a vote among his party and a general election for the people to decide.

"It is not the case today. It is premature to even discuss this because I don't think the prime minister is going in this direction," he said.

Others disagree. There are jitters in the party that Netanyahu is nearing the point of following in Sharon's path toward concessions. He has recently been sending signals that he is ready for compromises and has accepted the narrative of former opponents that ending the West Bank occupation is essential for Israel.

The prime minister's office refused to comment on Danon's rise in Likud. Associates, though, have been quoted anonymously in the media as saying Danon is pushing Netanyahu out of the party with an extremist hostile takeover.

"Being prime minister of Israel is a very difficult job," Danon said. "There are those who are pushing the ship in one direction and it is legitimate for people like me to pull him in a different direction. He is the captain, steering the ship. At the end of the day, the prime minister navigates."

____

Follow Heller on Twitter @aronhellerap

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israel-lawmaker-emerging-main-foil-netanyahu-072900230.html

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Travel & Leisure Blog's: A Good Firm For Deer Valley Limo Service

By Leonor Rivera

If you are interested in Deer Valley limo service, there many companies that you can get in touch with. The companies have been providing quality services to those clients who have transportation needs. Safety is the top priority and they will arrive at your destination within the shortest time possible. Fees can be calculated using the available calculators at the website of a good company and estimates are offered free of charge.

If a person is in need of these services, a company can be called to book a limousine. The services can also be booked using an online contact form. The services that are available are expeditious, reliable and friendly. You will find maps, reviews and directions that can help you to secure a reliable company within your vicinity.

A full service limousine company will be available to provide quality services at a reasonable fee. Locally owned and operated companies are available and the desire of a reliable company is to fulfill the needs of the community its serves. There is a comprehensive fleet of vehicles that is available to hire and these limousines are clean and well maintained.

Computer dispatch system is often used when customers make a booking and this provides optimum communication efficiency between passengers and drivers. The experience of a limo company will ensure that a passenger has the best experience with a certain firm. The chauffeurs are well trained and they know how to handle the customers. Before chauffeurs are hired, they are vetted to ensure they have a good background. Random drug and alcohol tests can also be done to ensure drivers are safe.

To ensure that you have convenient transportation, reliable limousine companies do not close their operations. Therefore, the services are available around the clock, in a week. Some of the companies have won awards due to the professionalism they portray. If you visit the website of such an award winning company, you will see that it showcases such achievements.

There are a number of reasons why a person need limousine services and some of them include the following. A person would like to get in style at wedding and a limo would make it perfect. A limousine will also make a date or anniversary occasions memorable. Concerts as well as proms will also be interesting if one arrives in a limousine.

Hiring limousines for a night around the town will make you enjoy fully since there are no restrictions. Pub and restaurant crawls may call for these services and sporting occasions will be unforgettable if you attend with a limo. Other events that might need a person to take a limousine ride are golf trips and spa days.

Airport transportation is available and executive services will be provided to clients. Limousine services will also ensure that business executives arrive at their meeting in time and unruffled. The vehicles available can include stretch limousines and any other choice that suits you. Payment for Deer Valley limo service can be settled using cash or mainstream credit cards.

Source: http://travel-leisure-blogs.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-good-firm-for-deer-valley-limo-service.html

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Funeral held for man in ex-Patriot's murder case

BOSTON (AP) ? Hundreds of relatives, friends and teammates wept together and hugged Saturday at the funeral of a semi-pro football player whose killing led to murder and weapons charges against former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez.

The body of Odin Lloyd was found June 17 near Hernandez's home. Police arrested Hernandez on Wednesday and charged him with orchestrating the execution-style shooting.

Lloyd played for the Boston Bandits and was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee. Members of Lloyd's team showed up for the funeral in their uniforms and chanted his name as pallbearers placed his casket in a hearse outside Church of the Holy Spirit in Boston's Mattapan neighborhood. The crowd of mourners was so large that some could not find room inside the church for the two-hour service.

Hernandez has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail. Two other men are also in custody. Prosecutors say the three were in a car with Lloyd shortly before his death.

Authorities have said trouble that led to Lloyd's killing happened June 14, when Lloyd went with Hernandez to a Boston nightclub. Hernandez became upset when Lloyd began talking with people Hernandez apparently didn't like, prosecutors said.

On June 16, the night before the slaying, a prosecutor said, Hernandez texted two unidentified friends and asked them to hurry to Massachusetts from Connecticut.

A few minutes later, he texted Lloyd to tell him he wanted to get together, prosecutors said. Authorities say Hernandez, Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace picked up Lloyd at around 2:30 a.m. June 17, drove him to an industrial park near Hernandez's home and shot him five times. They have not said who fired the shots.

Prosecutors said an ammunition clip found in Hernandez's Hummer matched the caliber of casings found at the scene of Lloyd's killing.

Hernandez's lawyer argued in court that the case is circumstantial. He said Hernandez, who was cut by the Patriots the day he was arrested, wanted to clear his name.

Ortiz's attorney, John Connors, said he will seek bail for his client at the July 9 hearing. He described Ortiz as a "gentle person" and said he will advise Ortiz to plead not guilty to the gun charge he is facing.

Wallace surrendered in Miramar, Fla., on Friday, police said. Authorities had been seeking Wallace on a charge of acting as an accessory after Lloyd's murder. Details of that allegation weren't released.

Hernandez was drafted by the Patriots in 2010 and signed a five-year contract worth $40 million last summer. He could face life in prison if convicted.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/funeral-held-man-ex-patriots-murder-case-151835012.html

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Why Women Are More Likely to Be Bisexual

Women may be more "hetero-flexible," or be primarily attracted to men with some same sex attraction, because same-sex behavior allowed women to raise their children with other women, a new study has proposed.

The hypothesis, published this April in the journal Evolutionary Psychology, suggests that more fluid female sexuality may have evolved because it benefited women's offspring. Some women who were raped or fathered children with absentee or deceased dads formed sexual relationships with other women, which may have made it easier to raise children together, according to the theory.

"Being born with the ability to [be attracted to men and women] may have been beneficial to ancestral women," said study co-author Barry X. Kuhle, a psychologist at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. [5 Myths About Polyamory Debunked]

Not everyone agrees with Kuhle's hypothesis, pointing to the lack of evidence to support it and suggesting perhaps women's more fluid sexual boundaries may just be a byproduct of some other evolutionary change. There may be no evolutionary reason for the hetero-flexibility, they say.

More fluid

Several studies have shown that women are much more likely than men to report attraction to and physical contact with same-sex partners. Women also show similar genital arousal when viewing images of both sexes in erotic situations.

But exactly why has been a puzzle. Researchers have proposed that women's sexual fluidity enabled women to bond with sister wives in polygamous marriages. Still others have argued that it's a byproduct of the fact that women have weaker sex drives that are therefore easier to channel to different objects of attraction, Kuhle wrote in the paper.

To better understand women's sexuality, Kuhle looked to other animals for clues. The Laysan albatross's ability to form same-sex bonds may help them alloparent, or raise young that are not their own. Other studies suggest bonobos, which share more than 98 percent of their DNA with humans, often help rear other apes' offspring and cement social bonds by having sex with other troop members ? both male and female. (In general, bonobos have a lot of sex).

That made Kuhle wonder whether sexual fluidity in women has its origins in raising children.

He hypothesizes that being sexually attracted to women and men could come in handy in many circumstances: instances in which women have been raped, or when a father abandons his partner or dies. Women in those situations would need an extra pair of hands to help raise their children, and having sex with other women may have made it easier to find a same-sex child-rearing partner who wasn't related to them. (Kuhle's theory doesn't try to explain women who identify as lesbians.)

Kuhle lays out several ways to that researchers could test his hypothesis if they wanted to.Women who have been physically or sexually abused, abandoned by their husbands or widowed should be more likely to go on to same-sex relationships, he said. He also proposes that women who have lower "mate value" ? that is, are less attractive mates for males ? would be likelier to be bisexual.

"It's an intriguing idea, but there is actually very little evolutionary evidence for it," said Lisa Diamond, a psychologist at the University of Utah and the author of "Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women's Love and Desire" (Harvard University Press, 2009).

If Kuhle's theory was accurate, women who have heterosexual and same-sex attraction in nonindustrial societies would have more children, which hasn't been shown, Diamond told LiveScience.

Instead, sexual fluidity in women may simply be a trait that hasn't been weeded out.

"Gay people were having babies throughout human history," Diamond told LiveScience. "So as long as there's no reason for evolution to get rid of a capacity for fluidity, then it probably survived as a fun little byproduct. It's like the appendix ? it may not serve a function, it may just be there."

Follow Tia Ghose on Twitterand Google+.?Follow?LiveScience @livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/why-women-more-likely-bisexual-224052122.html

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Thin-film diamonds: Applying diamond coatings at lower temperatures expands options for electronic devices

June 28, 2013 ? A new method for creating thin films of diamonds, which is described in the journal Applied Physics Letters, produced by AIP Publishing, may allow manufacturers to enhance future electronics.

In industrial and high-tech settings, diamonds are particularly valued for their hardness, optical clarity, smoothness, and resistance to chemicals, radiation and electrical fields. For electronics applications, researchers "dope" diamonds in order to make them conductive, introducing the semiconductor boron into the diamond manufacturing process. In the past, it has been a challenge to imbue electronic devices with diamond-like qualities by applying a doped diamond coating, or thin film because the high temperatures required to apply a doped diamond thin film would destroy sensitive electronics, including biosensors, semiconductors, and photonic and optical devices.

In their Applied Physics Letters paper, a team of researchers at Advanced Diamond Technologies, Inc., in Romeoville, Illinois report creating thin films of boron-doped diamond at temperatures low enough (between 460-600?C) to coat many of these devices.

While low-temperature deposition of boron-doped diamond thin films is not conceptually new, the research team found no evidence in the literature of such diamond films that had both sufficient quality and manufacturing rates fast enough to be commercially useful. Tweaking their own normal-temperature boron doping recipe by both lowering the temperature and adjusting the typical ratio of methane to hydrogen gas yielded a high quality film without appreciable change in conductivity or smoothness compared to diamond films made at higher temperatures. The researchers say more data and study is needed to better understand low-temperature opportunities.

Even so, by further optimizing the recipe, the researchers expect to be able to deposit boron-doped diamond thin films at temperatures even lower than 400? C.

"The lower the deposition temperature, the larger number of electronic device applications we can enable," said Hongjun Zeng of Advanced Diamond Technologies, Inc. "That will further expand the product categories for thin, smooth, conductive diamond coatings," Zeng added.

The article, "Low Temperature Boron Doped Diamond" by Hongjun Zeng, Prabhu U. Arumugam, Shabnam Siddiqui, and John A. Carlisle appears in the Journal Applied Physics Letters.

Authors of this article are affiliated with Advanced Diamond Technologies, Inc. and Argonne National Laboratory.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/electronics/~3/q7Scy1FpcL8/130628102929.htm

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Mark Kirk Survived a Stroke--Now He's Picking Fights in Congress

After suffering a massive ischemic stroke in January 2012, Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., was unsure if he would ever return to full form. For days, Kirk lingered in the intensive care unit, floating in and out of consciousness. At one point, Kirk recalls, he saw angels with New York accents talking to him, urging him to come with them, as in all those near-death, white-light stories you hear.

But against the long odds, the freshman Republican senator has not only managed to recover enough to perform his busy day job, he's placed himself in the middle of the most heated Washington fights. Kirk slammed Attorney General Eric Holder at a recent Appropriations Committee hearing, probing to see if the National Security Agency was listening in on Congress and livid about Holder's seemingly evasive answer. Kirk's threat not to support immigration reform unless border security was strengthened surprised many of his colleagues and endangered Republican support for the bill. He got in a fight with Rep. Bobby Rush, the Chicago Democrat, who chided Kirk for his plan to "crush" Chicago's gangs, saying it was an "upper-middle-class, elitist white boy's solution."

And Kirk says he's already planning to run for a second term in 2016, despite the rigor it will take to defend a seat in one of the most Democratic states in the country.

Kirk's recovery has been remarkable by the standards of a stroke patient, even as it's still left him without his pre-injury vigor or ability to hustle the way politicians must to win reelection in competitive seats. He walks slowly. His voice is weakened. He's not all he was. But his comeback has been inspiring.

"If people knew how catastrophic this stroke was, they'd be blown away by his recovery," says Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., who was the first member of the state's House delegation to visit Kirk in the hospital in 2012. Asked if he ever had any doubts that Kirk would want back in politics, he recalls the senator, even though he was in rehab, staying up late to watch the HBO film Game Change. "That was the signal to me that he was coming back."

Kirk's stroke largely spared his cognitive function but has left him disabled, dependent on the kind of four-legged cane you usually see on the elderly, and a wheelchair for longer hikes. "The Senate is appropriately designed for older men," he jokes. He was just 52 when the stroke hit.

When he walked up the Capitol stairs in January to the bipartisan applause of his colleagues-including Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, his fellow Illinois senator with whom he has a close relationship--it was an emotional moment that left many believing the stroke had in some ways made him a more important force--less an object of sympathy than an inspiring example of perseverance.

To understand Kirk, you have to know that he's a creature of the Chicago suburbs and a creature of Congress. He loves both. Raised outside Chicago, the son of a telephone company executive, he graduated from Cornell University and worked for Rep. John Porter while he was at law school at Georgetown, later becoming the congressman's top aide. Porter represented Chicago's North Shore, the lakefront district that includes the leafy suburbs glorified in John Hughes movies and Kirk's hometown of Kenilworth. When Porter retired, Kirk won the seat and carried on Porter's moderate GOP politics as Illinois became more and more blue. When the U.S. Senate seat opened up in 2010, Kirk went for it and beat an Obama ally, then-state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, a hoops buddy of the president, in the wave of discontent.

Kirk was no tea partier, but he wasn't a bland moderate, either. He'd been a critic of the stimulus that other Republican moderates had backed and he loathed "Obamacare." "I'm a fiscal conservative, a social moderate, and a national security hawk," Kirk says, using a mantra he repeats frequently.

Just a year into his term, in January 2012, Kirk, a slim, former intelligence officer in the Naval Reserves, began to feel dizzy while back home. Aides rushed him to Lake Forest Hospital and then transferred him to the Northwestern University Medical Center when it became apparent that he'd had a massive ischemic stroke. The attack put his left carotid artery out of business and his life in danger. He had to undergo three operations, two of which were craniectomies, to remove portions of his skull to allow the brain to expand. "There was a remarkable amount of swelling," notes Richard Fessler, a professor of neurosurgery who operated on Kirk. "The surgeries were life-saving, but he's doing great."

Kirk had the kind of emotional reckoning that comes with a near-death episode. He decided to spend more time with his sister, for instance. But he never doubted he wanted to return to the Senate. He told his speech therapists that he wanted his public-speaking voice back. And he told those who worked on his physical therapy at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) that he wanted to be able to climb the Capitol steps when he returned. Mike Klonowski worked with Kirk--putting him in a harness so he could move on a treadmill, putting him through the paces of a research study that pushed Kirk to do more intense physical training than the typical patient.

"There was initial shock when I found out I was going to be working with him," Klonowski remembers about the prospect of putting a U.S. Senator through the paces. "But he responded to very specific goals and wanted to make sure that we were focused on his return back to the Senate."

Now he's back and working on his recovery--and working to help other patients. This coming week he'll be in Chicago, where he'll join Durbin and Mayor Rahm Emanuel to celebrate the $550 million expansion of the RIC. "My concern is what happens if you have a stroke and you're not in the U.S. Senate, and you have no insurance and no income," Kirk says. "That's the question I have been asking, and the reality is that if you're on Illinois Medicaid and are a stroke survivor, you will get just five visits to the rehab specialist." When I ask Kirk where the money might come from for more extensive benefits, he notes that he's working with Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., on a "stroke agenda" (Johnson himself suffered a stroke).

Since his return, Kirk has cut an interesting path, weaving left and right in ways that aren't predictable. When Iran elected its new president whom many hailed as a moderate, Kirk denounced him as more of the same. He stuck with moderates on gun control, earning him an attaboy tweet from Obama consiglieri David Axelrod. But he also took a hawkish line on immigration that surprised many before he relented and supported the bill. By contrast, Kirk was full of kind words for Rahm Emanuel when I saw him. "He's doing a very, very good job," says Kirk, who served with Hizzoner when they were in the House. The two graduated in 1977 from New Trier High School in Winnetka but didn't know each other. (Donald Rumsfeld went there, too, 27 years earlier.)

With his military-intelligence background, Kirk has emerged as a compelling voice on the NSA mess, leaning closer to the privacy advocates than the voices in both parties who say everything's fine with the way we collect intelligence. "It's bad intelligence work to be focusing on 121 million Americans who aren't doing anything particularly terrorist-related," he says. Kirk notes that in the post-9/11 world, with government efforts to limit stove-piping of intelligence, low-level operatives in the field like Bradley Manning in Iraq or Edward Snowden in Honolulu have dangerous access. "We have a classified Internet on the backside of the intelligence community, and if you're on that system then a Bradley Manning can download the presidential book of secrets like in the movie [National Treasure]."

Kirk says he's interested in running again in 2016, and Republicans expect he will. In a state as Democratic as Illinois, he likely to have a serious race. He rejects the idea that Republican moderates are an endangered species, but he sounds the refrain that his party has been myopic. "What often happens is that people or politicians get out of date, and that's my worry about the Republican Party. It apparently doesn't understand how multicolored and how multicultural our country has become." Kirk was the second GOP senator, after Rob Portman and before Lisa Murkowski, to support same-sex marriage--putting him ahead of Illinois, which has yet to grant it. Divorced, with a girlfriend and no kids, and having remained unmarried until 41, Kirk gets modern families in a way that many Republicans don't. Whether that'll make him an outlier or a lodestar in the GOP remains to be seen.

For now, Kirk has bigger tasks. He regularly hauls himself up to Walter Reed Medical Center, where he gets physical therapy in the Traumatic Brain Injury clinic, along with young vets who are often missing limbs in addition to their head injuries.

"You're having a tough day, and you look over at a soldier who might be missing a leg or two arms and he is doing great," Kirk says. "And you think to yourself, 'There is nothing challenging me like what is challenging him.' "

Recalling that, Kirk tells an aide that he wants the Walter Reed therapists to push him harder--just like the ones back in Chicago.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mark-kirk-survived-stroke-now-hes-picking-fights-060021154.html

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Qatar Airways to use superjumbo on Heathrow route | Buying ...

Qatar Airways has confirmed that Heathrow and Paris Charles De Gaulle will be the launch routes for its A380 superjumbos.

The Doha-based carrier has previously hinted that it will operate the superjumbo ?on popular routes, especially in slot-constrained airports?, which was seen as a clear hint about Heathrow.

Qatar Airways has 13 A380s on order, with the first scheduled to enter service early in 2014. No official launch dates or schedules have been released yet.

The airline has previously said that the upper deck of the A380 will be fitted with eight seats in first class - the only aircraft in the next three years that Qatar will fit with a first class cabin - and 52 business class seats, along with a lounge area and a small economy section.

The entire main deck will be economy class, including the nose section, making a total of 517 seats on the aircraft.

qatarairways.com

Source: http://buyingbusinesstravel.com/news/2721017-qatar-airways-use-superjumbo-heathrow-route

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It's complicated: Lots to sort out on gay marriage

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Two landmark Supreme Court rulings that bolster gay marriage rights don't remove all barriers to same-sex unions by a long shot. Where gay couples live still will have a lot to do with how they're treated.

Some questions and answers about Wednesday's court rulings:

Q: Can you boil down these two big rulings ? 104 pages in all ? to the basics?

A: In one case, the court said legally married gay couples are entitled to the same federal benefits available to straight couples. In the other, it cleared the way for gay marriages to resume in California, where voters banned them in 2008.

Q: What type of benefits are we talking about?

A: More than you'd expect. There are more than 1,000 federal laws in which marital status matters, covering everything from income and inheritance taxes to health benefits and pensions. In states where gay marriage is legal, same-sex couples may actually be looking forward to filing their income taxes next April ? married, filing jointly.

Q. Why does it matter where a gay couple lives?

A: Even with Wednesday's ruling, where legally married gay couples live still may affect the federal benefits they can obtain, at least for now. Social Security survivor benefits, for example, depend on where a couple is living when a spouse dies. If that happens in a state that bans or does not recognize the union, it's not for sure that the surviving spouse will be entitled to the payments. Immigration law, meanwhile, only looks at where people were married, not where they live. It's complicated.

Q: What does the U.S. marriage map look like right now?

A: It's a patchwork. Same-sex marriage is legal in 12 states and the District of Columbia ? representing 18 percent of the U.S. population. When gay marriage resumes in California, the figure will jump to 30 percent. Twenty-nine other states have constitutional amendments that ban gay marriage. Six states have laws that ban it. Two states neither allow gay marriage nor ban it.

Q: How many same-sex couples in the U.S. have been legally married?

A: The numbers are squishy. The Pew Research Center estimates there have been at least 71,000 legal marriages since 2004, when Massachusetts became the first state to legalize them, but says there are almost certainly more. The Williams Institute, a UCLA-based think tank, says approximately 114,000 couples are legally married and more than 108,000 are in civil unions or registered domestic partnerships. In California alone, 18,000 same-sex couples were married during the 142-day period when gay unions were legal there in 2008.

Q: What's all this talk about DOMA?

A: DOMA is the federal Defense of Marriage Act, enacted in 1996. The court on Wednesday struck down a section of that law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman for purposes of federal law. That's what had denied legally married gay couples access to a host of federal benefits and programs that are available to straight couples.

Q: Why all of the focus Wednesday on California?

A: The second case that the court addressed related to a 2008 state ballot proposition that added a ban on gay marriage to the California Constitution. The court didn't rule on the merits of that ballot proposal, but it left in place a trial court's declaration that the proposition is unconstitutional. That means same-sex weddings could resume in California in about a month, although a federal appeals court there said it may continue to bar gay marriages even longer if proponents of Proposition 8 ask for a rehearing.

Q: What more could the Supreme Court have done?

A: Tons. It could have given gay Americans the same constitutional right to marry as heterosexuals. Instead, it sidestepped the looming question of whether banning gay marriage is unconstitutional.

Q: What's President Barack Obama's take on all of this?

A: He welcomed the ruling striking down part of the Defense of Marriage Act and directed Attorney General Eric Holder to make sure federal laws are in sync with the ruling. (Obama, who endorsed gay marriage last year, broke with his Republican and Democratic predecessors and declined to defend the law in court.) Already, the Defense Department says it is beginning the process to extend health care, housing and other federal benefits to the same-sex spouses of members of the military.

Q: How does the public feel about gay marriage?

A: Public support has grown dramatically in the last few years, with a majority now favoring legal marriage for gay couples. There's even broader support for extending to gay couples the same legal rights and benefits that are available to married straight couples. An Associated Press-National Constitution Center poll last fall found 63 percent favored granting gay couples the same legal benefits straight couples had. And 53 percent favored legal recognition of same-sex marriages.

Q: What happens next?

A: Supporters of gay marriage will keep pressing to legalize same-sex unions in all 50 states. That means more battles in individual states, and more visits to the Supreme Court.

___

Follow Nancy Benac on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/nbenac

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/complicated-lots-sort-gay-marriage-204458634.html

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Obesity May Boost Migraine Odds - Health News and Views - Health ...

By Marijke Vroomen Durning
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, June 26 (HealthDay News) ? Obese people may be at higher risk for episodic migraine headaches, a new study suggests.

Migraines involve intense pulsing or throbbing pain in one area of the head, according to the American Academy of Neurology. Symptoms can include nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light and sound. Migraines affect more than 10 percent of the population.

Episodic migraines ? the more common type of migraine ? occur 14 days or fewer per month, while chronic migraines occur at least 15 days per month. Low-frequency episodic migraines occur the least often.

In the new study of nearly 3,700 adults, those with a high body-mass index ? a measure of body fat determined using height and weight ? had much higher odds of having episodic migraines than did those with a lower body-mass index (BMI). This was particularly true among women, whites and people under 50 years old. As the BMI moved from normal weight to overweight to obese, so did the rate of headaches.

The cross-sectional study doesn?t prove that obesity causes episodic migraines. The study does, however, demonstrate that people who are obese have an increased risk of having more of them, even low-frequency ones, said lead author Dr. B. Lee Peterlin, an associate professor of neurology and the director of headache research at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in Baltimore.

The study is to be presented this week at the International Headache Congress, in Boston. The data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Dr. Gretchen Tietjen, a professor of neurology and director of the headache treatment and research program at the University of Toledo, in Ohio, said she found the study interesting because previous studies had looked for connections between obesity and chronic migraines.

?That the researchers were able to show an association between obesity and episodic migraine lends more credence to some of the earlier studies that found similar things,? she said.

She pointed out, however, that it still isn?t known which came first ? the obesity or the migraine. There are many possible scenarios, Tietjen said. ?Maybe the person had the migraines first and then started taking medications like amitriptyline or valproic acid,? she said. ?Those medications are associated with weight gain.?

The possible connection between obesity and migraines is under debate. One theory involves inflammatory substances from fat tissue (adipose) that are released into the system, Tietjen said.

Premenopausal women have more total adipose tissue in general than men, and women have more superficial and less deep adipose tissue, Peterlin said. But after menopause, adipose tissue is more similar between the two sexes.

Adipose tissue secretes different inflammatory proteins based on how much tissue there is and where it is located. Since younger women and obese people have more adipose tissue, this could, at least in part, explain why they get more headaches.

On the other hand, Peterlin also suggested that a possible connection may be related to the brain. ?Previous imaging data in migraine patients have shown activation of the hypothalamus, a part of the brain that controls the drive to feed,? she said. Alternatively, it could be that people who have migraines may be more inclined to behaviors associated with weight gain, such as being less active.

Would losing weight mean that migraines will decrease in frequency? Although weight loss is generally encouraged for people who are obese, that won?t necessarily result in migraine relief, both Peterlin and Tietjen cautioned.

At least two small studies have evaluated migraines on people who were obese and underwent bariatric surgery to lose weight, Peterlin said. Although these studies did find that some patients experienced fewer headaches, the studies were small and more research needs to be done to see if this is consistent.

It?s possible that the lifestyle changes needed for weight loss cut the migraine frequency, rather than the weight loss itself, the experts said. People who eliminate processed foods, high-calorie foods and alcohol ? all of which can be migraine triggers ? could end up experiencing fewer headaches.

Unfortunately, the opposite could also be true if dieters introduce new foods that are migraine triggers. Some people may develop migraines when they consume certain sugar substitutes, for example. There also is limited data suggesting that people with severe obesity who exercise may have fewer migraines, Peterlin said.

?Our data and previous research serve as a call to researchers in the headache field to identify safe and appropriate treatment options for obese [people with] episodic migraines of all classifications and not just those who qualify for [weight-loss] surgery,? she said.

Peterlin also suggested that physicians, in addition to providing lifestyle education to their obese patients with episodic migraines, take into account the weight-gain or weight-loss effect that migraine medications may have on their patients.

More information

Find out more about migraines at the American Academy of Neurology.

Source: http://news.health.com/2013/06/26/obesity-may-boost-migraine-odds/

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HP announces Slate 21 AIO, 21.5-inch Android tablet with Tegra 4

What do you do if your home turf of PC sales is being eroded by tablets? If your answer is "sell tablets as desktops," then you're on Meg Whitman's wavelength. At an event in Beijing, HP announced a 21.5-inch, Android-powered tablet that's expressly designed as a desktop unit. The HP Slate 21 AIO comes with a full-HD touchscreen and NVIDIA's Tegra 4 internals, running Android 4.2.2. Prospective owners won't need to purchase an artists' easel, however, as there's a handy rear kickstand that'll let you stand it upright or at a 30-ish degree angle (pictured after the break), making us hope that its digitizer is sensitive enough for pen-based drawing. There's no word on pricing or availability, but there's a press release, translated from Chinese, after the break, if you'd like to know more.

Filed under: Desktops, Tablets, Google, HP

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Via: CNET

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/sia1qfaWZck/

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Obama to tout economic impact of immigration (The Arizona Republic)

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Texas senator filibusters against abortion bill

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? Wearing pink tennis shoes to prepare for nearly 13 consecutive hours of standing, a Democratic Texas state senator on Tuesday began a one-woman filibuster to block a GOP-led effort that would impose stringent new abortion restrictions across the nation's second-most populous state.

Sen. Wendy Davis, 50, of Fort Worth began the filibuster at 11:18 a.m. CDT Tuesday and passed the halfway mark in her countdown to midnight ? the deadline for the end of the 30-day special session.

Rules stipulate she remain standing, not lean on her desk or take any breaks ? even for meals or to use the bathroom. Colleagues removed her chair so she wouldn't sit down by mistake.

If signed into law, the measures would close almost every abortion clinic in Texas, a state 773 miles wide and 790 miles long with 26 million people. A woman living along the Mexico border or in West Texas would have to drive hundreds of miles to obtain an abortion if the law passes.

In her opening remarks, Davis said she was "rising on the floor today to humbly give voice to thousands of Texans" and called Republican efforts to pass the bill a "raw abuse of power."

Democrats chose Davis to lead the effort because of her background as a woman who had her first child as a teenager and went on to graduate from Harvard Law School.

In the hallway outside the Senate chamber, hundreds of women stood in line, waiting for people in the gallery to give up their seats. Women's rights supporters wore orange t-shirts to show their support for Davis, and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst had to remind those in the gallery that interrupting the proceedings could results in 48 hours in jail.

To stay sharp, Davis slowly circled her desk, pausing occasionally to read from a large binder on her desk. When a male protester stood in the Senate gallery and shouted, "abortion is genocide," Davis continued talking uninterrupted as the man was removed by security.

If the filibuster succeeds, it could also take down other measures. A proposal to fund major transportation projects as well as a bill to have Texas more closely conform with a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision banning mandatory sentences of life in prison without parole for offenders younger than 18 might not get votes. Current state law only allows a life sentence without parole for 17-year-olds convicted of capital murder.

Twice in the first six hours, anti-abortion lawmakers questioned her about the bills, presenting their arguments that the measure will protect women or that abortions were wrong. Davis answered their questions, but did not give up control of the floor as she stood next to her desk.

"This is really about women's health," said Sen, Bob Deuell, who introduced a requirement that all abortions take place in surgical centers, "Sometimes bad things can happen."

Davis questioned then why vasectomies and colonoscopies aren't also required to take place in such clinics.

"Because I've been unable to have a simple question answered to help me understand how this would lead to better care for women, I must question the underlying motive for doing so."

Davis used up large chunks of time reading into the record testimony from women and doctors who would be impacted by the changes, but were denied the opportunity to testify in a Republican-controlled committee because the chairman said the it was becoming repetitive.

During one heart-wrenching story describing a woman's difficult pregnancy, Davis choked up several times and wiped tears, but kept reading.

A petite woman who stays in shape by jogging and cycling, Davis tried to stay comfortable and sharp by shifting her weight from hip to hip and slowly walking around her desk while reading notes from a large binder on her desk.

Republicans watched her closely for any rules slipup that would allow them to break the filibuster and call the bill for a vote.

The bill would ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and force many clinics that perform the procedure to upgrade their facilities and be classified as ambulatory surgical centers. Also, doctors would be required to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles ? a tall order in rural communities.

"If this passes, abortion would be virtually banned in the state of Texas, and many women could be forced to resort to dangerous and unsafe measures," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund and daughter of the late former Texas governor Ann Richards.

Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, said the Democrats never should have been allowed to put Republicans "in a box" and complained that many in the Senate GOP were "flying by the seat of their pants."

But the bill's bogging down began with Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who summoned lawmakers back to work immediately after the regular legislative session ended May 27 but didn't add abortion to the special session to-do list until late in the process. The Legislature can only take up issues at the governor's direction.

Then, House Democrats succeeded in stalling nearly all night Sunday, keeping the bill from reaching the Senate until 11 a.m. Monday.

Debate in that chamber ranged from lawmakers waving coat-hangers on the floor and claiming the new rules are so draconian that women are going to be forced to head to drug war-torn Mexico to have abortions.

At one point, the bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Jodie Laubenberg of Spring, errantly suggested that emergency room rape kits could be used to terminate pregnancies.

___

Senate Bill 5: http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/history.aspx?LegSess=831&Bill=SB5

___

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/cltomlinson

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-senator-filibusters-against-abortion-bill-164526586.html

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Superman Reviewed: What Are People Saying About 'Man Of Steel'?

Critics say the film is a 'worthy' origin story, while others think it falls flat.
By Todd Gilchrist

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709042/superman-man-of-steel-movie-reviews.jhtml

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Not quite the ER: Boston hospital cleaning mummy

Mimi Leveque, a freelance conservator, cleans Padihershef, a 2,500-year-old Egyptian mummy at Mass General Hospital in Boston, Friday, June 7, 2013. Padihershef, who has made MGH his home since 1823, was a 40-year old stonecutter in the necropolis in Thebes, an ancient city on the west bank of the Nile. (AP Photo/Gretchen Ertl)

Mimi Leveque, a freelance conservator, cleans Padihershef, a 2,500-year-old Egyptian mummy at Mass General Hospital in Boston, Friday, June 7, 2013. Padihershef, who has made MGH his home since 1823, was a 40-year old stonecutter in the necropolis in Thebes, an ancient city on the west bank of the Nile. (AP Photo/Gretchen Ertl)

Peter Johnson, director of the Mass General Hospital's Russell Museum, left, talks with Mimi Leveque, a freelance conservator, about Padihershef, a 2,500-year-old Egyptian mummy at Mass General Hospital in Boston, Friday, June 7, 2013. Padihershef, who has made MGH his home since 1823, was a 40-year old stonecutter in the necropolis in Thebes, an ancient city on the west bank of the Nile. (AP Photo/Gretchen Ertl)

Mimi Leveque, a freelance conservator, cleans Padihershef, a 2,500-year-old Egyptian mummy at Mass General Hospital in Boston, Friday, June 7, 2013. Padihershef, who has made MGH his home since 1823, was a 40-year old stonecutter in the necropolis in Thebes, an ancient city on the west bank of the Nile. (AP Photo/Gretchen Ertl)

Mimi Leveque, a freelance conservator, cleans Padihershef, a 2,500-year-old Egyptian mummy at Mass General Hospital in Boston, Friday, June 7, 2013. Padihershef, who has made MGH his home since 1823, was a 40-year old stonecutter in the necropolis in Thebes, an ancient city on the west bank of the Nile. (AP Photo/Gretchen Ertl)

Mimi Leveque, a freelance conservator, cleans Padihershef, a 2,500-year-old Egyptian mummy at Mass General Hospital in Boston, Friday, June 7, 2013. Padihershef, who has made MGH his home since 1823, was a 40-year old stonecutter in the necropolis in Thebes, an ancient city on the west bank of the Nile. (AP Photo/Gretchen Ertl)

BOSTON (AP) ? A 2,500-year-old Egyptian mummy named Padihershef came out of his coffin Friday to go to the hospital.

Well, actually, he had already been there for a while.

The mummy has been on display at Massachusetts General Hospital, one of the nation's oldest, since it received him as a gift from the city of Boston in 1823 as a medical oddity. He is one of the first complete mummies brought to the United States.

A conservator trained in restoring ancient artifacts removed him from his coffin Friday and began using cotton swabs dabbed in saliva to wipe away salt deposits from his face. The salt has been slowly seeping out of his tissue, a result of the mummification process.

Mimi Leveque, the conservator, also used a tiny brush to wipe the film of white salt and used a small vacuum cleaner to remove the fine dust from skin darkened by mummification resins.

"I suppose you could say it was something very similar to a facelift, maybe more; maybe he is getting a facial in a spa, perhaps," she said.

Experts are also expected to do minor repair and stabilization work on his coffin. The whole process is expected to take three days.

The mummy and his coffin will then be moved to a special horizontal case, in which they will lie next to each other, in the Ether Dome, a surgical amphitheater where William T. G. Morton demonstrated the first public surgery using anesthetic on Oct. 16, 1846.

Padihershef was a 40-year-old stonecutter in the necropolis in Thebes, an ancient city on the west bank of the Nile, in what is today's Luxor.

"He was probably someone who was employed to open up the ground and to create the tombs for the kings in the Valley of Kings," said Leveque, who specializes in Egyptian antiquities.

The mummy was a gift from a Dutch diplomat who was happy with Boston's hospitality. The artifact's arrival created quite a stir, and trustees of the hospital leased it to an entrepreneur who charged visitors $2.50 each to see it during a tour of American cities that extended as far south as Charleston, S.C., officials said.

No one knows exactly how the man who became a mummy lived or died. Experts are exploring those questions through a conservation project supported by the hospital and donors.

He had been greeting visitors to the hospital from his upright, open sarcophagus. He was removed from his case in March and taken on a patient stretcher to the imaging suites in the hospital, where technicians subjected him to full body X-ray and CT scanning.

Experts were surprised to see a broom handle embedded at the base of his head and running through his torso in what likely was a crude attempt to stabilize his head. There are no records to indicate when the repair was done and by whom, the hospital said on its website.

The study was intended to produce images that could be compared with those gleaned from exams conducted in 1931 and 1976 and to determine the condition of his bones. Those earlier tests revealed his bones had interrupted growth lines that indicate a severe childhood illness that resulted in stunted growth.

They also showed the mummy still has the brain in his skull, a rarity because it was typically removed to eliminate the chance of decomposition.

___

Associated Press writer Rodrique Ngowi can be reached at www.twitter.com/ngowi

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-06-07-The%20Mummy%20Restoration/id-29bfd784d6044389b7910b465763aa36

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