Turkey tensions simmer as Assad retains old guard

Turkey on Saturday played down the loss of a warplane to Syrian air defences as President Bashar al-Assad announced a new cabinet with key posts unchanged and dozens of people were killed nationwide.

NATO member Ankara acknowledged that one of its jets may have violated Syrian airspace after Damascus confirmed shooting down the F-4 Phantom on Friday, in comments seen as a bid to cool the latest spat between the former allies.

"An unidentified aerial target violated Syrian airspace, coming from the west at a very low altitude and at high speed over territorial waters," a Syrian military spokesman told the official SANA news agency.

Anti-aircraft batteries hit the plane about a kilometre from the coast and it crashed some 10 kilometres (six miles) off Latakia province, he added.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul said it was not unusual for warplanes flying at high speed to cross maritime borders, stressing that such actions were not "ill-intentioned."

Naval forces from both nations were searching for the two missing crew.

Key Turkish ministers were meeting to discuss future steps, a foreign ministry diplomat told AFP, after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara "will announce its final position and take necessary steps with determination after the incident is entirely clarified."

Meanwhile, Assad announced the formation of a new government with the key foreign, defence and interior ministry portfolios unchanged, as monitors said at least 48 people were killed in violence across the country.

The announcement came less than two months after controversial parliamentary elections boycotted by the opposition.

"President Bashar al-Assad has issued Decree 210 forming a new government under Prime Minister Dr Riad Hijab," state television said.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem remains in his post, along with the defence and interior ministers, Daoud Rajha and Mohammad al-Shaar.

Rajha, in the post since August, was among those sanctioned by the United States for his role in the deadly crackdown on Syrian protesters.

Abdel Basset Sayda, head of the main opposition Syrian National Council, dismissed the new line-up as a sham aiming "to give the impression that reforms have been brought in."

He said there was "no real change," with key posts unchanged.

The new cabinet assumes power amid an intensification of repression and clashes, which last week led to the the halt of the United Nations observer mission.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said most of the dead on Saturday were civilians, killed by security forces as the army pressed its campaign against rebel strongholds.

On Friday, at least 116 people, among them 69 civilians, 31 members of pro-regime forces and six rebels, died nationwide.

The International Committee of the Red Cross condemned the killing of a Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteer, in the fourth such incident in the country's deadly unrest.

Bashar al-Youssef, 23, was shot and fatally wounded on Friday in Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, the two organisations said in a joint statement.

"This comes at a time when the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent are virtually the only organisations able to work in areas affected by the violence in Syria," said Alexandre Equey, deputy head of the ICRC's delegation in the country.

Britain's Guardian newspaper, meanwhile, reported that Saudi Arabia was set to pay the salaries of the rebel Free Syrian Army, several of whose fighters who defected from the regular army are based in Turkey, to encourage mass defections.

Turkey-Syria relations were already strained by Erdogan's outspoken condemnation of the Assad's government's bloody crackdown that rights activists say has killed more than 15,000 people since March 2011.

The downing of the F-4 is the most serious incident between the two countries since then, but Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc played down the tensions.

"We should be calm ... Yes, we accept this is a critical matter but we don't have clear information," he told Anatolia news agency, adding that the results of the ongoing investigation would be publicised "as soon as possible."

In neighbouring Iraq, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari warned that the Syrian crisis might spill over.

"Our main concern is the spillover of the crisis... into neighbouring countries, and no country is immune from this spillover because of the composition of the societies... the connections, the sectarian ethnic dimensions," he told reporters.

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Air Force Video Recounts 'Thrilling' Landing of Mystery X-37B Space Plane

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University financing an anti-white ad

This transcript is automatically generated

As we -- segment tonight here is the Fox News anchor and radio talk show host you know it's insane when I bring you one.

To give some -- stability.

I'm not I got an honest about -- we are it's really that big it's.

Hard to book did a lot of eyes on audible desktop but I -- now -- rely on you for sanity.

A -- one by one.

One by one okay Nancy Pelosi saying it's not about the Terry family and the death of the agent it's about voter suppression.

-- Probably okay that's all you need to say but you have to add that remember it was not the attorney general who said it and it was not the president of the United States Hussein it was Nancy Pelosi who -- the next speaker of the -- thought.

But you you are or forever now -- just for the record -- For -- probably insane.

OK number two a stretch.

Number two I like probably in saying that happen.

Race car.

Issue is -- relevant.

-- anything wrong they're after him because he's black insane.

It is hard to avoid the optics -- and you know you what -- fixed the optics of -- the first black attorney general noise in congress when they say that's good Catholic -- in its first black attorney general the united -- that optics being questioned by 22 white guys and one southern woman 43 people.

And there are deciding hey today and they are cited for contempt of congress for the first -- and answer this I I think it is optics it is bad PR that's what.

That's a Dutch.

Is there any validity.

-- in your -- asked me that all right he's yeah he's been a little slimy lawyer Barack why Islam is there any validity.

To the charge that trying to get information for the Terry family.

Is race driven.

No thank you know -- thank you were all -- Okay there would get you got it down -- our race card being played -- I'm used to it and it's like you you have to get more used to -- I'm not gonna get more have a situation here with the incumbent president the first African American president.

Leads among.

Asian American and we know we know what TI we and I demographic so proud American Airlines and -- was natural and governor Mitt Romney leads.

Among our white Americans tune of one white -- also get used to the -- let let me break to see politics in America is now going to be -- increasingly about race Lamotte reports and let -- great to see John F.

Kennedy led among.

Catholics and Irish Americans it's natural.

All right but when it bleeds over into legitimate issues like finding out what happens of the Terry -- knows -- their son died.

Then we have to draw the line.

Okay I think that's it that's that's where I'm gonna go on that with you now university of Minnesota don't you want to conclude what's your concluding statement.

My concluding statement is.

Holder should turn over the documents so the Terry Finley knows what happened to their son you don't disagree that I don't this -- I think anyone disagrees thank you.

How are all right are are out.

University of -- prosecutor in the -- that I am the university of Minnesota financing.

-- and this -- it's so hot humid in New York go.

What do you mean we're lucky he went.

It's not -- this privilege where countless people -- God's will not a color.

Privilege that we don't get -- and we will be delivering -- that we don't get unless security let me go shopping -- Olbermann weren't around me her --

So yeah.

-- for this season and our side.

Privilege and that some things.

Parts wise university Minnesota.

Running anything about white privilege.

Well I think that they make maybe the PSA makes a point that is a valid point.

In the same way that the Berkeley students who had bake sales and they -- white students twice as much as black students to make the point.

That affirmative action was wrong and inherently unfair but I think they both have dug up point to make -- well unfortunately the point as you see it.

All of this video at the university of Minnesota what is the what is the point you know I I -- I'm the head of diversity to coach here diversity of my kids school and I said to them.

When they were talking about white privilege that when I'm with Bill O'Reilly and -- gonna mention white privilege his that's gonna blow up.

Because white privilege.

You know which exists I mean people you know -- I did not being stopped and frisked at nearly the raid and all the rest of the problems that come with being black in America of being brown and America those are realities what is unfortunate -- I'm -- the -- example and this university of Minnesota at -- example is they are exacerbating.

A situation with no real benefit why.

Who is gonna watch this PSA and suddenly say aha I never thought -- that white people you know have a leg up on black people in this country.

I think all it does is aggravate -- situation.

It's not very helpful -- the cake -- bake sale very helpful I think that people who.

Kind of rub salt in what is really.

The most pressing domestic issue I still believe that I mean economy is certainly the didn't -- social logically.

Race is still very very big deal of.

And and it's a very very -- good analysis and I've always said and written in my books that is much more difficult to be a black person in America.

And Asian and Hispanic -- and his wife I think that is -- But as you said to try to Foster hatred or resentment.

He is wrong and anti American now I gotta go so you can see they -- Mets yankees.

And thank god.

That's -- that's okay well grave right now two out of 30 all right around the block you need to trim -- yeah I was -- his city law which we Unionists studio.

--

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A look at recent tech-industry earnings

Here is a summary of recent earnings and reports for selected technology companies and what they reveal about the state of spending and the overall economy:

April 6: Samsung Electronics Co. says it is expecting a record operating profit of $5.1 billion for the first quarter. It says the result would be a 97 percent rise from its operating profit a year earlier. Samsung estimated that its first quarter sales rose 21.6 percent from a year earlier. More details will come when Samsung releases its full quarterly results.

April 12: Google Inc. reports adjusted earnings and adjusted revenue that beat expectations. Google's revenue was helped by a 39 percent increase in "paid clicks," but the prices of its search-driven text ads continued to decline. CEO Larry Page called the first quarter "very strong," but acknowledgehd there's more work to do.

April 17: Yahoo Inc.'s first-quarter earnings show signs of modest progress under recently hired CEO Scott Thompson. Net income grew 28 percent from the same time last year and exceeded expectations. Revenue grew less than 1 percent, but represented a breakthrough because the company's revenue has been steadily falling for years.

IBM Corp. says first-quarter net income grew 7 percent, helped by strong profit margins in its services business and strong revenue growth across its software and services businesses. Revenue was flat overall because of declines in the hardware and financing segments, and revenue fell short of analysts' expectations. IBM increases its full-year guidance to at least $15 per share, above the $14.93 expected by analysts.

Intel Corp. says its net income in the first quarter fell 13 percent as spending on research and marketing rose while sales were flat.

April 18: EBay Inc. says its first-quarter net income grew 20 percent thanks to higher revenue from its PayPal business and brisk sales at its e-commerce websites. The results beat Wall Street's expectations.

Mobile phone chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. says its quarterly profit more than doubled as strong demand for smartphones boosted its sales; but it expects costs to increase as it makes more chips.

April 19: Microsoft Corp. fares better than analysts anticipated in its latest quarter, boosted by a surprising rise in sales of its Windows operating system for personal computers

Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. reports adjusted earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street's expectations. AMD's revenue forecast for the current quarter was at $1.59 billion to $1.68 billion, while analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting $1.59 billion.

Nokia Corp. reports a huge net loss, one of the company's worst ever quarters, and blames tougher-than-expected competition. It has faced stiff competition from the likes of Apple Inc.'s iPhone and handset makers using Google Inc.'s popular Android software.

April 23: Netflix Inc. says it suffered its first quarterly loss in seven years, but the setback was far smaller than analysts expected. Netflix had rising licensing fees and a bill for an international expansion. Netflix predicted that it would make money during the current quarter. Still, Wall Street was worried about tougher competition. Skittish investors keyed on a second-quarter forecast that calls for a slowdown in subscriber growth during the spring and early summer.

Chipmaker Texas Instruments Inc. says first-quarter net income fell 60 percent from a year ago as revenue shrank. But the results still beat analysts' expectations.

Xerox Corp. says first-quarter net income fell 4 percent as the company spent more on building its services business, which now makes up more than half the company's revenue. The company says it's investing in new offerings and long-term contracts in order to increase growth. In the short term, that has hurt profitability.

April 24: Apple Inc. reported blowout iPhone sales ? 35 million in the latest quarter, almost twice as many as it sold a year ago and above analyst expectations. Net income nearly doubled to $11.6 billion, and revenue was up 59 percent at $39.2 billion. IPad sales came in below analyst expectations, at 11.8 million units. But that was still two and a half times as many as it sold in the same quarter a year ago.

April 25: Motorola Solutions Inc., which sells communications equipment to government and corporate customers, says first-quarter net income declined from a year ago, when the company recorded a large tax-related gain. Revenue grew thanks to strong demand from the company's government customers.

April 26: Amazon.com Inc. reports strong quarterly earnings and says its Kindle Fire tablet computer remains its best-selling item. However, its outlook for revenue growth was slower than expected.

Online games company Zynga Inc. reports adjusted earnings of 6 cents a share, a penny better than what Wall Street expected. Revenue grew 32 percent.

April 27: A surge in Galaxy smartphone sales fueled earnings at Samsung Electronics to a record high in the first quarter, usually a tough season for the global consumer-electronics industry. The South Korean company outshined handset rivals such as Nokia Corp. Strong demand for high-end smartphones, such as the Galaxy Note and the Galaxy S2 introduced last year, helped mask lower profit from memory chips, another Samsung flagship business.

May 1: Mobile phone maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. reports a slightly larger net loss in the first quarter as expenses grew more than revenue. Motorola says it still expects its acquisition by Google to close by the end of June. The deal still needs to be approved by authorities in China.

May 3: LinkedIn Corp. says its first-quarter net income more than doubled, and its revenue doubled from a year ago. Adjusted profit and revenue beat expectations. During the quarter, revenue grew across the company's divisions. The business-networking company also announces plans to buy presentation-sharing website SlideShare for $118.8 million.

May 9: Cisco Systems Inc. says its quarterly earnings surged 20 percent in the latest sign that a recently completed overhaul is paying off for the world's largest maker of computer-networking equipment. However, Cisco raised the specter of a sharp slowdown in technology spending, rattling investors already fretting about the economy's fragile condition. Cisco made a sobering forecast for the current quarter and traced it to skittish customers who are waiting longer to close deals and spending less money because of growing uncertainty about the economy, particularly in Europe and India.

May 14: Online deals company Groupon Inc. says it had a smaller net loss and sharply higher revenue in the first quarter, helped by increased demand from a growing customer base.

May 17: Salesforce.com Inc., which makes Web-based business software, says it had a net loss in the first quarter, but adjusted profit and revenue beat expectations. It raises its forecast for full-year results.

May 22: Dell Inc. reports disappointing first-quarter results and forecasts weak sales in the current quarter. The computer maker says sales to big businesses, consumers and the public sector decreased.

May 23: Hewlett-Packard Co. says it will cut 27,000 workers, or 8 percent of its work force, by October 2014. News of the cutbacks overshadowed the release of HP's latest quarterly results. The company's earnings and revenue were both better than analysts projected.

Monday: Oracle Corp says net income increased 8 percent and topped analysts' predictions. Oracle also posted a 7 percent gain in its sales of new software licenses, indicating there is still strong demand for technology that helps businesses automate their administrative tasks.

Tuesday: Software company Adobe Systems Inc. says net income in the latest quarter fell 2 percent, amid higher expenses. Revenue grew with strong sales of its Creative Suite product.

Coming up:

Thursday: Research in Motion Ltd.

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Common-Sense Personal Finance Methods ... - Juss Free Vector Art

If you feel like you can not possibly cut one more penny from your personal budget, consider the possibility that you might be right. Sometimes, you just have to start making or finding more money. Hold a yard sale, rent a room in your home or pick up freelance work on your days off, in order to try to earn more money.

If you have several credit cards, you can raise your credit score by transferring all balances to one card. Lenders consider you a better credit risk if you have one larger balance than many accounts with smaller balances. Plus, with one lower monthly payment, you can add extra and pay off the account early.

Open a savings account that?s for emergencies only. A bad situation can easily take you from being in great financial shape to financial turmoil. An emergency account will get you through hard times without a scratch, and will help eliminate a major source of stress during whatever tough situation you might be in.

You should cook in more often. Think about your meals in advance, and use the extra time that you have on the weekend to cook several things ahead of time. Packaged food costs a lot, and it is not the best for you. You will see a dramatic difference in your grocery bills, if you take the initiative to prepare your own food.

If you?re using a rewards credit card that requires a minimum purchase amount to gain the reward, use it where you shop the most. Even if you aren?t planning on spending the minimum amount required, you can purchase gift cards, which you can use later. This technique works even better at grocery stores that you will consistently shop at.

Be patient when it comes to gadget shopping. You don?t have to buy a gadget the very minute it enters the market. Gadgets usually follow a pattern of having their price drop within a few months of being released. By waiting, you can buy your gadget at a lower price and save a substantial amount of money for the future.

Save as much money as possible. Ideally, you should be putting away about twenty percent of whatever you make. Save half and invest half. This will ensure that you have money when you need it. While this might be initially hard to get used to, it will be worth the sacrifice in the end.

This might seem painful, but if you want to save money, cut out monthly cable. This could save you $700 yearly or more, and it forces you to engage in more productive and healthy forms of entertainment again. Go outside, read books and interact with your family for entertainment.

If you do not have great personal finances be sure that you do not make it worse. If you have bad credit, for example, do not try to get credit that you can not afford. Also avoid applying for credit cards, as this will hurt your credit and you will likely be denied anyway.

Look for ways to diversify your income. If having a full-time job is not enough to support your family, there is a number of ways you could earn more money. Start your own online business, buy and sell valuable objects, start trading on the stock market or look for odd jobs on the weekends.

Check your credit report on a regular basis to make sure that nothing is hurting your credit. Each of the three major credit agencies is required to give you a free credit report once per year. By spacing out your requests, you can get a free credit report every four months.

Save money by getting a cell phone and eliminating your land-line phone. Most people have both, which is just a waste of money. You can bring your cell phone anywhere with you and use it at home, as well. Eliminating the land line will save you tons of money.

When it comes to taking care of your home, a little maintenance will go a long way. Avoid waiting until major repairs are needed. Instead, regularly replace filters, pipes, wires and other elements as recommended. This will save you the cost of hiring a professional contractor or repairman to complete a major repair service.

In a perfect world, we?d learn all we needed to know about money before we had to enter the real world. However, even in the imperfect world that we live in, it?s never too late to learn all you can about personal finance. This article has given you a great start. It?s up to you to make the most of it.

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Syria downs Turkish jet, Ankara to act decisively

ANKARA/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria shot down a Turkish warplane over the Mediterranean on Friday and Ankara warned it would respond decisively to the incident that threatened to open a new international dimension in the 16-month revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Syria said the Turkish aircraft was flying low, well inside Syrian territorial waters when it was shot down.

With the second biggest army in NATO, a force hardened by nearly 30 years of fighting Kurdish rebels, Turkey would be a formidable foe for the Syrian army which is already struggling to put down a 16-month-old revolt.

But Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's initial comments and subsequent statement on the downing of the F-4 jet were measured in tone. He said Turkish and Syrian forces were working together to search for the two missing crew of the aircraft.

"As a result of information obtained from the evaluation of our concerned institutions and from within the joint search and rescue operations with Syria, it is understood that our plane was brought down by Syria," Erdogan's office said in a statement.

"Turkey will present its final stance after the incident has been fully brought to light and decisively take the necessary steps," the office said after a two-hour emergency meeting between prime minister, the chief of general staff, the defense, interior and foreign ministers, the head of national intelligence and the commander of the air force.

Turkish media had reported earlier that Syria had apologized for the incident, but Erdogan made no mention of any apology.

Violence raged unabated inside Syria, which appears to be sliding into a sectarian-tinged civil war pitting majority Sunni Muslims against Assad's minority Alawite sect. Turkey fears the fighting if unchecked could unleash a flood of refugees over its own border and ignite regional sectarian conflict.

Ankara, which had drawn close to Syria before the uprising against Assad, turned against the Syrian leader when he responded violently to pro-democracy protests inspired by popular upheavals elsewhere in the Arab world. Turkey now gives refuge to the rebel Free Syrian Army on its frontier with Syria.

Erdogan, whose enmity with Assad has assumed a strongly personal nature, gave no hint what action he might contemplate.

A statement by the Syrian military said the Turkish plane was flying low, just one kilometer off the Syrian coast, when it was hit by anti-aircraft fire. The plane fell in Syrian waters 10-kms (seven miles) west of the village of Um al-Touyour.

"The navy of the two countries have established contact. Syrian naval vessels are participating along with the Turkish side in the search operation for the missing pilots," it said.

Syria has some of the most sophisticated air defenses in the Middle East, supplied by Russia.

Turkish state television interviewed witnesses on the country's Mediterranean coast, near the Syrian border, who said they saw two low-flying fighter jets pass overhead in the morning in the direction of Syrian waters but only one return.

Ankara has previously floated the possibility of setting up some kind of safe haven or humanitarian corridor inside Syria, which would entail military intervention, but has said it would undertake no such action without U.N. Security Council approval.

Turkey has said however that Assad must go.

Turkey hosts about 32,000 Syrian refugees and allows the rebel Syrian Free Army to operate from its territory. The opposition Syrian National Council meets in Istanbul.

It was unclear why the Syrians had shot down the aircraft, which, having left a base in Malatya, was flying close to a corridor linking Turkey with Turkish forces on Northern Cyprus.

"The Syrian military may have taken a calculated gamble by downing the Turkish plane, which could boost the morale of Assad's loyalists after increased defections from the military we have seen," Yasser Saadeldine, a prominent pro-opposition Syrian political commentator, said.

"A Turkish retaliation would fit into the fantasy he (Assad)is peddling that the uprising is a foreign conspiracy."

Russia and China, Assad's strongest backers abroad, have fiercely opposed any outside interference in the Syrian crisis, saying envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan is the only way forward.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after talks with his Syrian counterpart that he had urged Syria to "do a lot more" to implement Annan's U.N.-backed proposals, but that foreign countries must also press rebels to stop the violence.

Lavrov said the Syrian authorities were ready to withdraw troops from cities "simultaneously" with rebels. A Syrian military pullback and a ceasefire were key elements in Annan's six-point peace plan, most of which remains a dead letter.

"DESTRUCTIVE COMPETITION"

Annan hit out at some countries he said had taken national initiatives that risked unleashing "destructive competition".

He told a news conference in Geneva that he wanted states with influence on both sides of the conflict to be involved in the peace process, including Iran, Assad's closest ally.

The U.N.-Arab League envoy was speaking a week before a planned Syria crisis meeting that is in doubt because of Western objections to the Islamic Republic's participation.

Rebels killed at least 25 members of a mainly Alawite pro-Assad militia, and in a separate incident troops turned heavy machineguns on opposition demonstrators in the northern city of Aleppo, killing 10, opposition activists said.

"Armed terrorist groups committed a brutal massacre against 25 citizens in Darat Azzah," state TV reported, saying more were missing from the village in Aleppo province.

Several men covered in blood and piled on top of each other on a roadside, some in army fatigues and some in t-shirts, could be seen in a video link sent by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, apparently showing the aftermath of the same incident.

The British-based opposition watchdog said 26 men believed to be pro-Assad "Shabbiha" militiamen had been killed.

Assad's foes have accused troops and Shabbiha militiamen of perpetrating many abuses against civilians, including mass killings, in the uprising that began in March last year with peaceful protests against four decades of Assad family rule.

In Aleppo, Syria's business hub, thousands of demonstrators were marching toward the central Saadallah al-Jabiri Square when four armored vehicles fired on them, activists told Reuters by telephone. Two of them said they were speaking from Aleppo.

"The wounded were taken to houses and are trapped there. They cannot be transported to hospitals because troops and Shabbiha are surrounding the neighborhood," one of them said.

Aleppo, along with central Damascus, had stayed relatively quiet in the early months of the revolt that engulfed many other provincial cities, but unrest has gradually spread there too.

Activist video footage showed a large crowd of protesters, some draped in revolutionary flags, running along a street as heavy gunfire cracked out. Another video showed a man whose chest was covered in blood being dragged along the road.

FOUR OFFICERS DEFECT

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported heavy government shelling on opposition strongholds in Idlib, Deraa and Homs provinces, as well as fighting between troops and rebels in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor on Friday, a day when anti-Assad protests often erupt after Muslim prayers.

The 46-year-old leader's power rests mainly on the military and a cluster of security agencies dominated by his minority Alawite sect, a distant offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.

Four brothers, two brigadier-generals and two colonels, announced their defection from the army in a video posted on the Internet on Friday, a day after a Syrian air force pilot flew his MiG-21 fighter plane to neighboring Jordan.

The brothers come from the northern province of Idlib, but do not appear to have had frontline roles in months of fighting there. Two worked as doctors in the Aleppo military hospital, one was an inspector and one was an air force instructor.

The armed forces have suffered a trickle of defections to the opposition, but have remained mostly loyal despite the strain of battling an increasingly potent insurgency.

(Additional reporting by Jonathan Burch in Ankara, Ayat Basma in Beirut, Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, Steve Gutterman in St Petersburg, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Avril Ormsby in London; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Jon Boyle and Jon Hemming)

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Home Improvement Tips That Will Save Energy

Ar? ??? trying t? save money? Th??? home improvement tips w?ll h?l? ??? save money b? saving energy ?t home. M?k? ???r home more energy efficient ?nd ??? ??n lower ???r energy bill.

Improve Th? Energy Efficiency ?f Y??r Windows

Th? r?ght windows ??n significantly improve th? energy savings ?f ???r home. Wh?n shopping f?r n?w windows, look f?r low E coating ?nd ?n Energy Star rating. Double panes ?nd energy efficient material mean more energy savings. Once ????ve chosen th? r?ght windows f?r ???r home ?nd climate, m?k? sure th?? ?r? installed properly ?n order t? maximize th??r energy efficiency.

Y?? m?? n?t need, ?r b? ?bl? t? afford, n?w windows. Y?? m?? ???t need t? improve ???r current ones. Window treatments l?k? window tinting, solar screens, blinds, curtains ?nd shutters w?ll increase energy efficiency b? keeping out unwanted ??ld ?nd heat.?Note:?window treatments ?n th? outside ?f th? window w?ll b? more effective b?????? th?? w?ll keep th? ??ld ?nd heat fr?m ???r entering ???r home ?n th? first ?l???.

Try Solar

Solar energy won?t ??? ?n? electricity ?? ?t won?t effect th? energy bill. It?s free ?nd environmentally friendly. If ??? live anywhere th?t gets ?n? sun, ??? ??n ??? solar. If ??? live somewhere really sunny, ??? m?ght b? ?bl? t? ??? solar ?ll th? time. If n?t, using solar ??rt ?f th? time w?ll still save energy ?nd money.

Solar works gr??t f?r outdoor lighting. Solar decorative lights ?nd security lighting ?r? f??rl? inexpensive ?nd easy t? maintain. Solar ?? ?l?? ????l?r f?r home heating ?nd f?r heating outdoor swimming pools.

G?t A N?w Roof

Th?? ?? a b?g home improvement project! A g??d roof ?? crucial f?r home energy efficiency ?nd safety. Th? actual roof itself, ?f course, ?? ?m??rt?nt b?t ?? ?? th? company ??? ?h???? t? install ?t. A?k lots ?f q???t??n?, g?t quotes fr?m ?t l???t three different companies ?nd g?t everything ?n writing!

Look f?r ?n Energy Star rating, a material th?t ?? appropriate f?r ???r home ?nd climate ?nd d?f?n?t?l? look ?nt? ?n? financial incentives such ?? rebates ?r tax incentives. Check eligibility carefully before ??? ?t?rt ?n a n?w roof t? m?k? sure ??? don?t miss anything. If ??? h??? ?n? q???t??n?, don?t hesitate t? ??k ???r contractor ?nd accountant.

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Are Fracking Wastewater Wells Poisoning the Ground Beneath Our Feet?

fracking wastewater wells, injection wells, fracking Image: Flickr/kqedquest

Over the past several decades, U.S. industries have injected more than 30 trillion gallons of toxic liquid deep into the earth, using broad expanses of the nation's geology as an invisible dumping ground.

No company would be allowed to pour such dangerous chemicals into the rivers or onto the soil. But until recently, scientists and environmental officials have assumed that deep layers of rock beneath the earth would safely entomb the waste for millennia.

There are growing signs they were mistaken.

Records from disparate corners of the United States show that wells drilled to bury this waste deep beneath the ground have repeatedly leaked, sending dangerous chemicals and waste gurgling to the surface or, on occasion, seeping into shallow aquifers that store a significant portion of the nation's drinking water.

In 2010, contaminants from such a well bubbled up in a west Los Angeles dog park. Within the past three years, similar fountains of oil and gas drilling waste have appeared in Oklahoma and Louisiana. In South Florida, 20 of the nation's most stringently regulated disposal wells failed in the early 1990s, releasing partly treated sewage into aquifers that may one day be needed to supply Miami's drinking water.

There are more than 680,000 underground waste and injection wells nationwide, more than 150,000 of which shoot industrial fluids thousands of feet below the surface. Scientists and federal regulators acknowledge they do not know how many of the sites are leaking.

Federal officials and many geologists insist that the risks posed by all this dumping are minimal. Accidents are uncommon, they say, and groundwater reserves ? from which most Americans get their drinking water ? remain safe and far exceed any plausible threat posed by injecting toxic chemicals into the ground.

But in interviews, several key experts acknowledged that the idea that injection is safe rests on science that has not kept pace with reality, and on oversight that doesn't always work.

"In 10 to 100 years we are going to find out that most of our groundwater is polluted," said Mario Salazar, an engineer who worked for 25 years as a technical expert with the EPA's underground injection program in Washington. "A lot of people are going to get sick, and a lot of people may die."

The boom in oil and natural gas drilling is deepening the uncertainties, geologists acknowledge. Drilling produces copious amounts of waste, burdening regulators and demanding hundreds of additional disposal wells. Those wells ? more holes punched in the ground ? are changing the earth's geology, adding man-made fractures that allow water and waste to flow more freely.

"There is no certainty at all in any of this, and whoever tells you the opposite is not telling you the truth,' said Stefan Finsterle, a leading hydrogeologist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who specializes in understanding the properties of rock layers and modeling how fluid flows through them. "You have changed the system with pressure and temperature and fracturing, so you don't know how it will behave."

A ProPublica review of well records, case histories and government summaries of more than 220,000 well inspections found that structural failures inside injection wells are routine. From late 2007 to late 2010, one well integrity violation was issued for every six deep injection wells examined ? more than 17,000 violations nationally. More than 7,000 wells showed signs that their walls were leaking. Records also show wells are frequently operated in violation of safety regulations and under conditions that greatly increase the risk of fluid leakage and the threat of water contamination.

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Study shows stagnating life expectancies in US

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Despite modest gains in lifespan over the past century, the United States still trails many of the world's countries when it comes to life expectancy, and its poorest citizens live approximately five years less than more affluent persons, according to a new study from Rice University and the University Colorado at Boulder.

The study, "Stagnating Life Expectancies and Future Prospects in an Age of Uncertainty," used time-series analysis to evaluate historical data on U.S. mortality from the Human Mortality Database. The study authors reviewed data from 1930 through 2000 to identify trends in mortality over time and forecast life expectancy to the year 2055. Their research will be published in an upcoming issue of Social Science Quarterly.

Although the researchers found that the U.S. can expect very moderate gains in coming years (less than an additional three years through 2055), the U.S. still trails its developed counterparts in life expectancy. For example, the average life expectancy in the U.S. for a person born today is is 78.49, which is significantly lower than people born in Monaco, Macau and Japan, which have the three highest life expectancies (89.68, 84.43 and 83.91 years, respectively). In addition, the most deprived U.S. citizens tend to live five years less than their more affluent countrymen, according to Justin Denney, Rice assistant professor of sociology, who was principal author for the study.

Denney said that in 1930, average life expectancy in the United States was 59.85. By 2000, it rose to 77.1 years. "But when broken down, these numbers show that those gains were mostly experienced between 1930 the 1950s and 1960s," he said. "Since that time, gains in life expectancy have flattened out.

"During periods of expansion in length of life, a similar expansion has occurred between more and less advantaged groups ? the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, inequality grows and life expectancy is dramatically impacted," Denney said. "And despite disproportionate spending on health care, life expectancy in the U.S. continues to fall down the ladder of international rankings of length of life. It goes to show that prosperity doesn't necessarily equal long-term health."

Denney said many of the chronic conditions that have led to smaller gains in life expectancy are more easily treated when people are more financially stable. He said the study shows "the ugly side of inequality," and he hopes it will draw attention to the fact that more needs to be done to address stagnating life expectancies in the U.S. and eliminate inequalities in the U.S.

"Even in uncertain times, it is important to look forward in preparing for the needs of future populations," Denney said. "The results presented here underscore the relevance of policy and health initiatives aimed at improving the nation's health and reveal important insight into possible limits to mortality improvement over the next five decades."

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Rice University: http://media.rice.edu

Thanks to Rice University for this article.

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