This is the best opportunity for Denver to win the NBA championship since it joined the league in 1976.
Bring the optimism. Dream big.
Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson has heard the same tired line, dripping with defeatist attitude, since he entered the NBA in 2009:
It's impossible to win a championship in Denver.
"Why would I buy into that? I believe that we can win a championship," Lawson said Wednesday.
Why not the Nuggets? Why not now?
There is every reason to believe the Nuggets will play in the Western Conference finals. In fact, I would guarantee Denver will blow the doors off its first-round opponent, give a proper burial to the golden age of basketball in San Antonio during Round 2 and advance to conference finals against Oklahoma City, except for the fact George Karl turns into Mr. Crankypants when I do his job for him.
Look at this young Denver team. They're all grown up. It is time for the Nuggets to demand excellence from every teammate in the locker room, and embrace the pressure of expectation.
Anything less than a showdown with Oklahoma City for trip to the NBA Finals should be considered a failure.
"I'm pretty confident," Lawson said. "We've played all the top teams pretty well, and we've got a lot of wins against them. I feel confident that we can at least get past the first round and get into the second. From there, it's anybody's game."
Having wrapped up the No. 3 seed in the West with a ridiculously easy 118-98 victory against Phoenix in the regular-season finale, Denver heads into the playoffs with no reason to fear any rival.
The Miami Heat is the prohibitive favorite to repeat as league champion. Despite its aw-shucks locale, Oklahoma City boasts all the superstar glitz of a traditional contender.
But, outside of Miami and Oklahoma City, is there a team anywhere in the league playing better basketball than the Nuggets?
No.
Memphis is a bar brawl in sneakers, but the Grizzlies don't possess the fine motor skills of Denver. San Antonio is so old and desperate, the Spurs sent out a search party to China and added 33-year-old Tracy McGrady, who has never won a playoff series.
Let's bust one myth. The Nuggets are not a bunch of nondescript role players. And Karl is not the star of this team.
On any given night, Lawson can be the best point guard in the Western Conference. Denver will go as far as Lawson leads them.
At a salary of $14.7 million, wing man Andre Iguodala is among the 25 best-paid players in the league, and for that serious money, he needs to be more than a lockdown defender. The good news: After a season in which he often acted as if permission was required to take charge, Iguodala has finally stepped up his game down the stretch.
With all due respect to forward Danilo Gallinari and a heartfelt prayer for a full recovery for his knee injury, Wilson Chandler is a better basketball player, particularly in the playoffs, when nasty beats beauty nine times out of 10.
You don't need advanced metrics to understand: At best, the Nuggets have a 10 percent chance to win the championship.
Is it a longshot? Absolutely.
Now answer this honestly: How many times in the last generation did Dan Issel or Fat Lever or Carmelo Anthony ever have a stronger shot at winning a ring in Denver?
Sure, there's an undeniable attraction between the Larry O'Brien Trophy and superstars named Bird, Jordan or Magic, who play in Boston, Chicago or Los Angeles.
But you mean to tell me a team in Denver is forbidden to go home with the trophy at the end of the long playoff dance?
Stop it. That defeatist attitude has a duty to die.
Individual release date details and pricing to come from carriers and retail outlets themselves
Samsung this morning has announced that the Galaxy S4 will be available in the United States by the end of the month. Individual carrier announcements are still to come, but here's what we know so far:
AT&T: We've got a pretty good indication that AT&T will begin to ship out Galaxy S4 orders (and presumably have them on store shelves) on April 30, but Samsung wants to remind everybody that it's going to be awfully easy to get your hands on the new Galaxy S4 in the very near future.
Verizon: Still no official date, but the phone did just show up on Samsung's site in black and white. (Not like we didn't know they exist, of course.)
Other carriers: US Cellular, Cricket and C Spire are all on the same April time frame.
Retailers: The Galaxy S4 also will be sold at seven retail outlets (Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile, Costco, Radio Shack, Sam’s Club, Staples, Target and Wal-Mart). You'll not be able to shake a stick without hitting a Galaxy S4 it seems -- and that's a good thing.
The U.S. versions of the S4 will offer the proven powerhouse of the Snapdragon 600, with a new high -res 1080p 5-inch display. That, and 2GB of RAM have been crammed into a package that's actually smaller than the Galaxy S3 by reducing the bezels on either side of the device. The folks who have had the chance to use one are saying some good things, and we're looking forward to getting one of our own to play with and put through the paces.
We'll continue to tell you the official word from carriers and stores as they trickle out, in the meantime hit the break for the full press release from Samsung.
According to a recent study from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, of the 250 highest-grossing films last year, only 14 percent were written by women, while 38 percent of the films employed one or no women in roles such as producer, director, writer, editor, or cinematographer.
"There is inequality going on, and it's institutionalized, and it needs to stop," says Diablo Cody. She also covered the topic in a?different interview:?"I didn?t know it was that bad. I?d have to say visibility and representation are important. The women that have power need to be vocal and not complacent. I have seen very successful women and they don?t speak out because they don?t want to rock the boat and they simply want to stay quiet and be part of the boys? club. I understand wanting to protect your career, but I?m willing to be outspoken and obnoxious."
In a recent Broken Projector podcast, writers and critics wondered if a lack of visibility exacerbates the issue. If women don't see a lot of women writing and directing films, does that discourage them from doing the same?
I think it does. Sitting at this year's all-male panel of WGA award nominees, I couldn't help but feel disappointed. Where were the women?
There are?plenty of women writers and directors out there - but perhaps, like Diablo suggests, they're less outspoken, working hard under the radar. Ladies, you're not alone. What's encouraging to me is that it wasn't hard at all to find great female screenwriters to highlight. Get inspired by these 30 kickass women:
TUNIS, Tunisia ? The woman who scandalized Tunisia by posting topless photos of herself as a form of feminist protest is now trying to leave the country, her former lawyer said Tuesday after a video surfaced in which the woman recounted being drugged and given virginity tests by relatives.
Amina Tyler, 19, shocked this Muslim nation when she posted Facebook photos with the words "my body belongs to me" scrawled across her naked chest. She was later spirited away by her family after religious hardliners issued death threats against her.
Bouchra Belhaj Hamida, Tyler's former lawyer who has in the past acted as her spokeswoman, said Tyler had escaped from her family in a village outside the capital and was now staying with friends as she gathered the necessary documents to get to France.
In a video interview posted Monday on the Facebook site of the Ukrainian women's group FEMEN, the young woman described her ordeal and vowed one last demonstration before leaving.
"I don't want to leave Tunisia before I do a topless protest. I will do a topless protest and then I will leave Tunisia," Tyler said in a filmed Skype conversation with a member of FEMEN, a group that often uses nude protests to display support for women's rights.
Fingering a pendant representing Tunisia's Berber ethnic minority, Tyler described how she was snatched by her cousin from a cafe, beaten and had her cell phone SIM card destroyed. She was then taken to her aunt's and then her grandmother's house, where relatives admonished her and made her read from the Muslim holy book, the Quran.
"Two old women of my family checked to see if I was virgin or not. That was horrible and against my freedom," she said in the video. "They took me to the kitchen and said take off my clothes and we will see if you are virgin."
She added that she was given large doses of medicine that made her sleep a great deal and that her family was now searching for her.
Hamida, a prominent feminist lawyer, would not reveal Tyler's location except to say she was not far from the capital. Tyler is gathering the material she needs to reach France, including an ID card, a passport and a visa, Hamida said. Unlike in some Muslim nations, in Tunisia women do not need the permission of a father or husband to leave the country.
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The Academy has unveiled more details about its Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, which it says will include 30,000 square feet of exhibition space, labs and galleries and a 15,000-square-foot landscaped public plaza.
The AMPAS release did not, however, address TheWrap's observation that a new spherical structure at the site looked like the Death Star from "Star Wars."
The complex, according to the Academy, will be "a significant cultural landmark attracting visitors from across Southern California and around the world." Its six levels will include moviemaking labs and flexible exhibition galleries in the former May Company department store building that is now part of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
In addition to exhibits, programming will include screenings in the David Geffen Theater, seminars, moviemaking labs, discussions and multidisciplinary presentations.
Architects Renzo Piano and Zolta Pali have designed a project that the Academy said will make "environmentally sensitive" use of the Streamline Moderne building, which was built in 1939 and acquired by LACMA in 1994.
The outdoor spaces surrounding the museum, according to the release, will be a "landscaped public piazza that will serve as gathering space for visitors and connect the museum with the LACMA campus." It will also include a rooftop terrace and special event spaces with a capacity of 1,000 guests.
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is scheduled to open in 2017. The Academy is currently raising money for the project with a capital campaign chaired by Bob Iger and co-chaired by Tom Hanks and Annette Bening. To date, that campaign has raised more than half of its goal of $300 million, with the largest contribution being $25 million from the David Geffen Foundation.
The Academy has been working to build a museum for more than a decade, initially acquiring property on Vine Street in Hollywood adjacent to its Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study. When the economic downturn essentially killed the idea of raising enough money to build a museum from scratch, AMPAS made a deal with to locate the museum on LACMA property at Wilshire Blvd. and Fairfax Ave.
The Vine Street property is now the site of the Oscars Outdoors open-air theater, with additional uses planned for the future.
Protein spheres in the nucleus give wrong signal for cell division
A new hypothesis has been developed by researchers in Bochum on how Alzheimer's disease could occur. They analysed the interaction of the proteins FE65 and BLM that regulate cell division. In the cell culture model, they discovered spherical structures in the nucleus that contained FE65 and BLM. The interaction of the proteins triggered a wrong signal for cell division. This may explain the degeneration and death of nerve cells in Alzheimer's patients. The team led by Dr. Thorsten Mller and Prof. Dr. Katrin Marcus from the Department of Functional Proteomics in cooperation with the RUB's Medical Proteome Centre headed by Prof. Helmut E. Meyer reported on the results in the "Journal of Cell Science".
Components of spherical structures in the nucleus identified
The so-called amyloid precursor protein APP is central to Alzheimer's disease. It spans the cell membrane, and its cleavage products are linked to protein deposits that form in Alzheimer patients outside the nerve cells. APP anchors the protein FE65 to the membrane, which was the focus of the current study. FE65 can migrate into the nucleus, where it plays a role in DNA replication and repair. Based on cells grown in the laboratory, the team led by Dr. Mller established that FE65 can unite with other proteins in the cell nucleus to form spherical structures, so-called "nuclear spheres". Video microscopy showed that these ring-like structures merge with each other and can thus grow. "By using a special cell culture model, we were able to identify additional components of these spheres", says Andreas Schrtter, PhD student in the working group Morbus Alzheimer at the Institute for Functional Proteomics. Among other things, the scientists found the protein BLM, which is known from Bloom's syndrome an extremely rare hereditary disease, which is associated with dwarfism, immunodeficiency, and an increased risk of cancer. BLM is involved in DNA replication and repair in the nucleus.
The amount of FE65 determines the amount of BLM in the cell nucleus
Mller's team took a closer look at the function of FE65. By means of genetic manipulation, the researchers generated cell cultures, in which the FE65-production was reduced. A smaller amount of FE65 thus generated a smaller amount of the protein BLM in the nucleus. Instead, BLM collected in another area of the cell, the endoplasmic reticulum. In addition, the researchers found a lower rate of DNA replication in the genetically modified cells. In this way, FE65 influences the replication of the genetic material via the BLM protein. When the researchers cranked up the FE65-production again, the amount of BLM in the nucleus also increased again.
FE65 as a possible trigger for Alzheimer's
In patients with Alzheimer's disease, the protein APP, an interaction partner of FE65, changes. The interaction of the two molecules is important for the transport of FE65 into the nucleus, where it regulates cell division in combination with BLM. Mller's team assumes that the altered APP-FE65 interaction mistakenly sends the cells the signal to divide. Since nerve cells normally cannot divide, they degenerate instead and die. "This hypothesis, which we pursue in the working group Morbus Alzheimer, also delivers new starting points for potential therapies, which are urgently needed for Alzheimer's disease," says Dr. Mueller. In the future, the team will also investigate whether and how the amount of BLM is altered in Alzheimer's patients compared to healthy subjects.
###
Bibliographic record
A. Schroetter, T. Mastalski, F.M. Nensa, M. Neumann, C. Loosse, K. Pfeiffer, F. El Magraoui, H.W. Platta, R. Erdmann, C. Theiss, J. Uszkoreit, M. Eisenacher, H.E. Meyer, K. Marcus, T. Mueller (2013): FE65 regulates and interacts with the Bloom syndrome protein in dynamic nuclear spheres potential relevance to Alzheimer's disease, Journal of Cell Science, doi 10.1242/jcs.121004
Further information
Dr. Thorsten Mller
Functional Proteomics
Medical Proteome Center at the Ruhr-Universitt
44780 Bochum, Germany
Tel. 0234/32-29265
E-mail: thorsten.t.mueller@rub.de
Editor: Palina Turok
Click for more:
Functional Proteomics, Working Group Morbus Alzheimer
http://funktionelle-proteomik.de/de/arbeitsgruppen/morbusalzheimer.html
Medical Proteome Center
http://www.medizinisches-proteom-center.de
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
How Alzheimer's could occurPublic release date: 11-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Protein spheres in the nucleus give wrong signal for cell division
A new hypothesis has been developed by researchers in Bochum on how Alzheimer's disease could occur. They analysed the interaction of the proteins FE65 and BLM that regulate cell division. In the cell culture model, they discovered spherical structures in the nucleus that contained FE65 and BLM. The interaction of the proteins triggered a wrong signal for cell division. This may explain the degeneration and death of nerve cells in Alzheimer's patients. The team led by Dr. Thorsten Mller and Prof. Dr. Katrin Marcus from the Department of Functional Proteomics in cooperation with the RUB's Medical Proteome Centre headed by Prof. Helmut E. Meyer reported on the results in the "Journal of Cell Science".
Components of spherical structures in the nucleus identified
The so-called amyloid precursor protein APP is central to Alzheimer's disease. It spans the cell membrane, and its cleavage products are linked to protein deposits that form in Alzheimer patients outside the nerve cells. APP anchors the protein FE65 to the membrane, which was the focus of the current study. FE65 can migrate into the nucleus, where it plays a role in DNA replication and repair. Based on cells grown in the laboratory, the team led by Dr. Mller established that FE65 can unite with other proteins in the cell nucleus to form spherical structures, so-called "nuclear spheres". Video microscopy showed that these ring-like structures merge with each other and can thus grow. "By using a special cell culture model, we were able to identify additional components of these spheres", says Andreas Schrtter, PhD student in the working group Morbus Alzheimer at the Institute for Functional Proteomics. Among other things, the scientists found the protein BLM, which is known from Bloom's syndrome an extremely rare hereditary disease, which is associated with dwarfism, immunodeficiency, and an increased risk of cancer. BLM is involved in DNA replication and repair in the nucleus.
The amount of FE65 determines the amount of BLM in the cell nucleus
Mller's team took a closer look at the function of FE65. By means of genetic manipulation, the researchers generated cell cultures, in which the FE65-production was reduced. A smaller amount of FE65 thus generated a smaller amount of the protein BLM in the nucleus. Instead, BLM collected in another area of the cell, the endoplasmic reticulum. In addition, the researchers found a lower rate of DNA replication in the genetically modified cells. In this way, FE65 influences the replication of the genetic material via the BLM protein. When the researchers cranked up the FE65-production again, the amount of BLM in the nucleus also increased again.
FE65 as a possible trigger for Alzheimer's
In patients with Alzheimer's disease, the protein APP, an interaction partner of FE65, changes. The interaction of the two molecules is important for the transport of FE65 into the nucleus, where it regulates cell division in combination with BLM. Mller's team assumes that the altered APP-FE65 interaction mistakenly sends the cells the signal to divide. Since nerve cells normally cannot divide, they degenerate instead and die. "This hypothesis, which we pursue in the working group Morbus Alzheimer, also delivers new starting points for potential therapies, which are urgently needed for Alzheimer's disease," says Dr. Mueller. In the future, the team will also investigate whether and how the amount of BLM is altered in Alzheimer's patients compared to healthy subjects.
###
Bibliographic record
A. Schroetter, T. Mastalski, F.M. Nensa, M. Neumann, C. Loosse, K. Pfeiffer, F. El Magraoui, H.W. Platta, R. Erdmann, C. Theiss, J. Uszkoreit, M. Eisenacher, H.E. Meyer, K. Marcus, T. Mueller (2013): FE65 regulates and interacts with the Bloom syndrome protein in dynamic nuclear spheres potential relevance to Alzheimer's disease, Journal of Cell Science, doi 10.1242/jcs.121004
Further information
Dr. Thorsten Mller
Functional Proteomics
Medical Proteome Center at the Ruhr-Universitt
44780 Bochum, Germany
Tel. 0234/32-29265
E-mail: thorsten.t.mueller@rub.de
Editor: Palina Turok
Click for more:
Functional Proteomics, Working Group Morbus Alzheimer
http://funktionelle-proteomik.de/de/arbeitsgruppen/morbusalzheimer.html
Medical Proteome Center
http://www.medizinisches-proteom-center.de
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
If you're worried about what will happen to your mounds of digital data when you pass away, Google has just announced a feature for keeping said libraries secure. The outfit's Inactive Account Manager allows users to set time out periods of three, six, nine or 12 months for inactivity before deleting all of the stored files or having them handed over to a family member or "trusted contact." Those still left roaming the Earth can be granted access to Blogger, Drive, Gmail, Google+ and more without an application process, or they can simply be notified of the situation. Before any predetermined action is taken, the system will beam out a text and an email -- so if you're still around, you can halt matters from progressing further. Set up that digital will via the source links below and or by accessing the Google Account settings page.
PHOENIX (AP) -- Hundreds of private school teachers and day care workers employed by religious organizations wouldn't be eligible for unemployment benefits under a proposed law backed by Republicans in the Arizona Legislature.
The measure marks the latest Republican-led effort to expand tax subsidies for religious institutions and limit unemployment insurance at a time when the state's jobless benefits fund is millions of dollars in the hole because of the struggling economy.
House Bill 2645 would allow religious organizations to avoid paying unemployment taxes for educational and day care workers. The legislation advanced by the Arizona Senate on Wednesday has the support of religious schools and conservative groups. The Republican-led Arizona House passed the bill in a partisan vote in March.
Arizona law already allows organizations operating primarily for religious purpose to avoid paying unemployment taxes. Proponents argue that the proposed law is necessary after some state tax officials recently started interpreting the current religious exemption so that it only applies to church staff and not private school teachers. They predict religious schools will go bankrupt if they have to pay unemployment taxes.
"We just want it corrected and to go back to status quo," said Josh Kredit, a lawyer for the Center for Arizona Policy, a powerful conservative group. "These are tiny little preschools that would go out of business."
Democrats have rallied against the measure, arguing that churches should provide unemployment benefits to teachers.
Religious organizations can willingly offer unemployment benefits to employees and some do, said Nicole Moon, spokeswoman for the state's Department of Economic Security.
Federal law and court rulings have not clearly defined what constitutes operating primarily for religious purposes, so DES determined last year that schools and child care centers did not qualify under the exemption because their mission statements were to provide general education or adult supervision, Moon said.
Monica Stern, a Phoenix accountant who represents several religious schools, said she alerted the Center for Arizona Policy about the new interpretation because she was worried some of her clients would be put out of business. Stern said one school faced a tax assessment of $25,000, while a larger school could owe $100,000 under the revamped policy.
"Religious schools are not very profitable," she said. "Most of them don't pay rent to the church. They are educating children on the church campus typically, and they are all struggling."
But Democrats argue that financial hardship claims shouldn't allow quasi-religious private schools to dismiss educational staff without providing unemployment benefits.
"It's ridiculous," said Democratic Sen. Ed Ableser, of Tempe. "These institutions are freeloaders."
The Arizona Legislature has also advanced legislation this year that would require workers to prove they were fired before collecting unemployment benefits. The Senate is poised to vote on a measure Thursday that would expand property tax benefits for religious organizations.
The state's unemployment trust fund owes roughly $311 million to the federal government, down from a peak of more than $420 million.
Arizona's unemployment rate has dropped slightly, going from 8 percent in January to 7.9 percent in February, according to the latest state Department of Administration estimates.
NEW YORK (AP) ? The Harry Potter play parody "Potted Potter" is magically returning to New York City.
Producers said Wednesday that off-Broadway's Little Shubert Theatre will once again house the 70-minute parody of the entire book series starting May 30. It will leave Sept. 1.
Written and performed by Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner, the play made a stop in New York last summer and has played to thousands in the United Kingdom, America, Australia and Canada.
The show, which bills itself as "The Unauthorized Harry Experience" is a fast-paced, tongue-firmly-planted-in-cheek romp through J.K. Rowling's seven books about the boy wizard and his adventures. There's even some audience participation in the form of an attempt at a game of Quidditch, the popular sport in Harry's wizarding world.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian's main independent election watchdog and thousands of other non-governmental groups face fines or closure, the justice ministry said on Tuesday, in what activists call a campaign to silence criticism of President Vladimir Putin by rights groups.
He has dismissed criticism of a recent wave of inspections of non-governmental organizations that have caused concern in the West. Putin has described the checks as "routine measures... to bring the activities of organizations in line with the law".
Rights groups say the searches by officials as diverse as prosecutors, tax inspectors, the federal migration services and fire-safety officers are intended to scare them into registering under a new law as "foreign agents" - a term they say echoes Cold War-era espionage and would undermine their credibility.
The Justice Ministry published a report on its website saying it has asked courts to close or suspend the work of nearly 9,000 NGOs, and that another 5,610 face fines.
The ministry singled out vote-monitoring organization Golos in a separate statement, saying it was taking the group to court because it had failed to register as a foreign agent.
Critics of Putin said Golos was targeted because of its role in reporting widespread allegations of vote fraud in a March 2012 presidential election and a December 2011 parliamentary vote.
Evidence reported by Golos helped fuel a wave of big opposition street protest against Putin's 13-year dominance of politics last winter in Moscow and other cities.
The ministry said Golos "receives foreign funding and engages in political activity in Russia, i.e., it functions as a foreign agent" and was in breach of the law by refusing to register - an accusation Golos denied.
DENIAL OF FOREIGN FUNDING
The group says it has not received any foreign grants since the legislation, which applies to foreign-funded NGOs who engage in political activity, came into force in November and vowed to fight the case in court.
"It's a sign that without a doubt there has been a political order against Golos," Grigory Melkonyants, deputy head of Golos, told Reuters. "These fines and made-up charges are part of a campaign to discredit and put pressure on Russian NGOs."
The penalty if a Russian court finds Golos in breach of the new law is a fine of up to 500,000 roubles ($16,000) for the group and up to 300,000 roubles ($9,600) for its director.
Most of the NGOs targeted say they are not involved in politics and are acting in Russia's interests, not against them.
Leading advocacy groups Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are among those who have boycotted the new law and whose offices have been searched, alarming the West.
The United States has characterized the inspections as "some kind of a witch-hunt". The European Union has called them part of a deeply troubling trend that included laws curtailing freedoms and allowing prosecution of activists.
Pavel Chikov, head of legal-aid group Agora, said most of the 8,916 NGOs that may be shut or suspended are lesser-known NGOs in breach of rules on reporting on their activity.
Putin, after returning to the Kremlin in May, has said the tighter controls on NGOs are needed to stop foreign meddling in Russian affairs and attempts to foment unrest.
"These organizations are engaged in internal political activity. Should our society not be informed of who gets this money and for what purposes?" he said in an interview with German public broadcaster ARD last week.
But civic rights groups who have boycotted the new law say it is vaguely worded to allow arbitrary application for political ends and echoes Stalin-era political repression.
(Reporting By Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Money traders work under a screen indicating the U.S. dollar is trading at 98.500 yen at a foreign exchange company, in Tokyo, Monday, April 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
Money traders work under a screen indicating the U.S. dollar is trading at 98.500 yen at a foreign exchange company, in Tokyo, Monday, April 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
Money traders work under a screen indicating the U.S. dollar is trading at 98.500 yen at a foreign exchange company in Tokyo, Monday, April 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
LONDON (AP) ? Forecast-busting earnings from aluminum company Alcoa Corp. shored up markets Tuesday at the start of the first-quarter U.S. corporate reporting season in spite of ongoing concerns over North Korea, bird flu in China and Europe's debt crisis.
Alcoa, as is traditional, kicked off the reporting season in an after-hours statement Monday with first-quarter earnings of 11 cents a share, well ahead of expectations of 8 cents. Despite a fall in revenues, Alcoa saw demand for aluminum growing 7 percent in 2013, with gains cutting across many industries.
"The latest U.S. earnings season started with a flourish last night after Alcoa beat estimates and this does seem to be helping stocks," said Mike McCudden, head of derivatives at stockbroker Interactive Investor.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 0.3 percent at 6,298 while Germany's DAX rose 0.2 percent to 7,677. The CAC-40 in France was 0.5 percent higher at 3,688.
The improved mood in Europe has also helped the euro consolidate over the past few sessions. It was trading another 0.2 percent higher at $1.3043.
"Concerns remain however as European officials head off to Greece and Portugal as both countries wrestle with issues with respect to their respective bailout programs," said Michael Hewson, senior market analyst at CMC Markets.
Wall Street was poised for a fairly flat opening, with both Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures unchanged.
Much of the focus in markets will remain on the U.S. corporate sector over the coming couple of weeks as investors seek to assess the health of the world's largest economy. The flow of earnings picks up through the week with banks Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase due to report on Friday.
Another key focus will be Japanese financial assets.
The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo has posted strong gains over the past week as the Bank of Japan unveiled an aggressive new approach to shake the world's third-largest economy out of its near-two-decade stagnation and growth-crippling deflation. The bank will pump huge amounts of money into the economy via government bond purchases and pursue a 2 percent inflation target in order to spark lending and spending.
Earlier, the rally ran out of stream and the Nikkei edged down slightly to close at 13,192.35. However, the yen continues to push four year lows against the dollar, and was trading 0.8 percent lower at 98.83 yen. It hasn't breached 100 yen since April 2009.
Gains in Hong Kong and mainland China markets reflected a decreasing sense of alarm over the outbreak of a new bird flu strain in eastern China that has killed seven people so far. There is no sign that the virus is being transmitted from human to human.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.7 percent to 21,870.34 and the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.6 percent to 2,225.77. The smaller Shenzhen Composite Index advanced 0.8 percent to 926.22.
Another focus in Asia has been the rise in tensions between the two Koreas, as Pyongyang recalled all its workers from the Kaesong industrial complex, the last major economic link between South Korea and North Korea. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.1 percent to 1,920.74 but the country's currency, the won, hovered at its lowest levels since July 2012.
Oil prices were steady, with the benchmark New York rate up 22 cents at $93.58 a barrel.
____
Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.
If you ask most people, they'd tell you there's nothing wrong with the standard classroom set-up of a blackboard and chalk, or a whiteboard and dry-erase markers. Nicholas DePorzio isn't most people, though. At Northeastern University's Husky Startup Challenge Demo Day, he took home first prize for KrystalBoard, a liquid crystal-based writing board. His early prototype takes a few cues from Boogie Board's line of scratch pads. Functionally, they're almost identical: use a stylus to scratch your message into the panel then, when you're done, simply press a button to erase it. What DePorzio believes sets his creation apart is the ability to scale to much larger sizes. His first prototype, tossed together in just six weeks, certainly has some rough edges (literally, the stand is made from roughly cut cardboard boxes). But, with a different selection of liquid crystal panels, the hope is that high-contrast classroom-sized KrystalBoards are well within his reach.
The first iteration uses a nine-volt battery to force the crystals to reorient themselves and wipe out any missives, but DePorzio is confident that a small solar panel (like the one on your 99-cent calculator) will have more than enough juice to "power" a much larger model. And "power" is a relative term, since technically there's no electricity coursing through the single-crystal panels. The goal is to save time and money by doing away with erasers, chalk, markers and other disposable supplies. The Northeastern student even believes he can get the cost of materials below that of a standard whiteboard or blackboard, but only time will tell on that one. Though, taking home a large novelty check should give the fledgling company a good head start.
By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - A show of force by U.S. stealth jets over the Korean Peninsula after talk of war by Pyongyang has caused only minor concern in China, a measure of Beijing's belief that the North is to blame for the tensions and that hostilities are not imminent. The presence of U.S. forces in places like South Korea and Japan has long worried Beijing, feeding its fears that it is being surrounded and "contained" by Washington and its allies, especially following the U.S. strategic pivot to Asia. ...
One of the early proponents of social search and part of Google?s social team has left the company, and he has a big reading list ahead of him. Max Ventilla, co-founder of early social search company Aardvark and recent member of the Google+ team, had his last day at Google yesterday.
Last night Time Out New York hosted their annual food and drink awards ceremony, and this year the theme for the event was internet memes. A sneak peak of one of the altered photos came via TONY?s Twitter page early in the evening, showing Danny Bowien asking Hillary Clinton for a scrunchie. Well played team Time Out.
The event was catered by a list of New York?s favorite restaurants and nominees including Dear Bushwick (wine barrel smoked eggs), Gran Electrica (carne cocida en limon) , and L?Apicio (polenta with pork meatballs) to name just a few. Of the 40 nominees, only a select few reader?s and critics picks were awarded a token white plate?a trophy that can be spotted all over the city.
Here?s a list of some of the winners and a few of the memes the crew behind the mag created. The full list is available via the TONY website.
Best New Restaurant: The NoMad Best Sandwich Shop: Mile End Sandwich Best New Bakery: Ovenly Best New Italian Spot: Perla Best New Beer Bar: ABC Beer Co. Chef of the Year: Daniel Humm
The Android device dashboard has been providing a picture of OS version distribution since before Froyo pushed aside Eclair, but now it's seeing some changes. A post on the Android Developers Google+ page indicates that starting this month, numbers are based on devices whose users actively checked Google Play during the reporting period. Previously, it counted all devices that pinged Google servers. The latest stats, updated today, show a jump in the amount of actives (previously devices, now users) on Jelly Bean (Android 4.1 or higher), up to 25 percent from 16.5 percent last month when it counted the old way. The number of devices recorded running Froyo and Gingerbread have taken the biggest hit, down 3.6 and 4 percentage points, respectively.
There are a few ways to react to this, particularly remembering that these numbers are meant to help developers figure out how many users are available to target on the various versions of Android and types of hardware. It may help give a clearer picture of what setups the active users that developers hope to reach are using, without being muddied by little-used zombie hardware. On the other hand, it could be seen as a way to juke stats which have been used against Google's mobile OS by its competitors like Apple. Whichever side of the line one finds themselves on, more data is available by clicking on the source link below.
NEW YORK (AP) ? Stocks are mixed in early trading on Wall Street after the long Easter holiday weekend.
Markets were closed Friday in observance of Good Friday. European markets were still closed Monday for Easter.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up eight points, less than 0.1 percent, to 14,587 shortly after the opening bell.
The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index was up a fraction of a point at 1,569. The Nasdaq composite was up two points, 0.1 percent, at 3,270.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was little changed at 1.86 percent.
Asian markets finished mostly lower.
The Institute for Supply Management is expected to report that its manufacturing index grew for the fourth consecutive month in March, although at a slightly slower pace than in February.
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Public release date: 11-Apr-2013
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One of the early proponents of social search and part of Google?s social team has left the company, and he has a big reading list ahead of him. Max Ventilla, co-founder of early social search company Aardvark and recent member of the Google+ team, had his last day at Google yesterday.
