Why the GOP uses the epithet ?Democrat Party? (Americablog)

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Sucker Punch Originally Pitched a Game to Sony Called Uncharted, ?They Didn?t Take it,? Says inFamous Game Director

Game Informer revealed another video today about the inFamous franchise, this time interviewing Nate Fox, Game Director on inFamous, and Brian Fleming, Co-Founder of Sucker Punch, about the origins of inFamous.

After finishing up the PS2 Sly games, Nate talked about how the pitch process to Sony involves creating a ?pitch book? with pictures and words describing how great your game is, then the executives would give the green light based on a ?gut emotional reaction.?

While we all know that Sucker Punch went on to do inFamous and inFamous 2 on the PlayStation 3, they pitched four different games to Sony, with one of them called Nasty Little Things. Brian Fleming described it as something where you ?collected little creatures and went on adventures with them? and were summoned through the main character?s tattoos.

Another one was called Uncharted, something they call a ?coincidence? when talking about the other one. The history behind Uncharted was that they were watching Lost on TV at the time and they ?always wanted to make a dinosaurs game,? so Uncharted was set on an uncharted island where a man wakes up and there?s monsters on this island. As Nate said, ?They didn?t take it,? with Brian adding that the ?Naughty Dog game was already in development? at the time Sucker Punch pitched Uncharted.

As for the early days of inFamous, it was originally called True Hero, with the basis of that being that you had to make decisions, something that eventually made its way into inFamous.

Do you think it?s funny that Sucker Punch and Naughty Dog both had the idea for an Uncharted video game at around the same time? Let us know in the comments below.

Essential Reading:

Source: http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2013/05/22/sucker-punch-originally-pitched-a-game-to-sony-called-uncharted-they-didnt-take-it-says-infamous-game-director/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sucker-punch-originally-pitched-a-game-to-sony-c

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Abercrombie & Fitch Plus-Sized Ads - Business Insider

Earlier this month, Business Insider reported on Abercrombie & Fitch CEO's Mike Jeffries refusal to market or sell clothes for women who need XL or above sizes.

"We want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don?t market to anyone other than that," Jeffries said.

The fashion retailer's definition of "cool and good-looking" does not include plus-sized women since the brand?refuses to manufacture women's clothing in XL and XXL.

In America today?67% of women are considered plus-sized, and one of them has decided to speak up.

The Militant Baker, a voluptuous blogger known as, Jes,?has created an "Attractive & Fat" image campaign which features her modeling ? sometimes topless ? in Abercrombie-style clothing with a slim male counterpart.

Along with the images, she?has posted a letter to Jeffries in response to the CEO's comments and his apology shortly thereafter.

Jes wrote to the CEO:?

Never in our culture do we see sexy photo shoots that pair short, fat, unconventional models with not short, not fat, professional models. To put it in your words: "unpopular kids" with "cool kids".?It's socially acceptable for same to be paired with same, but never are contrasting bodies positively mixed in the world of advertisement. The juxtaposition of uncommonly paired bodies is visually jarring, and, even though I wish it didn?t, it causes viewers to feel uncomfortable. This is largely attributed to companies like yours that perpetuate the thought that fat women are not beautiful.

Here's a selection of the images she posted. We are just as curious as Jes as to Mike Jeffires' response.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/abercrombie-and-fitch-plus-sized-ads-2013-5

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Russia says kills senior Islamist insurgent

By Alissa de Carbonnel

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The right-hand man of Russia's most wanted insurgent was killed by security forces on Tuesday, officials said, as Moscow tries to contain militancy in its Caucasus region before it hosts the Winter Olympics near there next February.

Dzhamaleil Mutaliyev, a senior figure in a group fighting to establish an Islamist state, was killed along with another militant in a shootout in the town of Nazran in Ingushetia, a spokesman for local investigators said.

Mutaliyev masterminded a bombing that killed 18 people at a market in the nearby city of Vladikavkaz in 2010 and was a close aide of Doku Umarov, leader of the outlawed Caucasus Emirate, Russia's Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAK) said.

"Doku Umarov's right-hand man was neutralized," Ingushetia's President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov told the state news agency RIA.

The Caucasus Emirate group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at Moscow's Domodedovo airport that killed 37 people in January 2011 and twin bombings that killed 40 people in the Moscow metro in 2010.

Mutaliyev and the other man, named by officials as Alikhan Ozdoyev, were killed in a gunbattle after refusing to surrender during a night-time sweep in a suburb of Nazran, the spokesman for local investigators said.

The wife and child of one of them left the house before the firefight, he said. NAK said the men were armed with hand grenades and Kalashnikov assault rifles.

NAK had once before pronounced Mutaliyev dead, in January 2012, but later said it had misidentified the body of a man killed in a shootout with security forces.

Russia is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency in the mainly Muslim North Caucasus and President Vladimir Putin has ordered authorities to ensure militants do not attack the 2014 Winter Olympics in the nearby Black Sea resort of Sochi.

More than a decade after troops defeated a rebellion in Chechnya, insurgents stage frequent attacks in nearby regions.

In one of the bloodiest attacks this year, two car bombs killed at least four people and wounded dozens on Monday in the capital of Dagestan, a province bordering Chechnya to the east.

A police officer was killed and a soldier was wounded in a shooting by suspected militants in Dagestan on Tuesday, police said.

The Kremlin is worried about the spread of violence outside the North Caucasus. In a suburb of Moscow on Monday, security forces killed two suspected militants alleged to have been plotting an attack in the capital.

(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-says-kills-senior-islamist-insurgent-200550296.html

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LG to demo 5-inch unbreakable and flexible plastic OLED panel at SID 2013

LG's got quite a bit in store for us this week at SID's annual display exhibition in Vancouver. In addition to that 55-inch curved OLED TV we first heard about last month, the company will be demonstrating a very nifty 5-inch OLED panel. Created for mobile devices, the display is constructed of plastic, making it both flexible and unbreakable -- certainly a welcome quality when it comes to smartphone design.

Also on display will be 5- and 7-inch HD Oxide TFT panels. That first size features a bezel that's just 1mm wide, enabling a borderless frame when installed in smartphones. Both displays are lightweight and consume less power than their traditional equivalents. Finally, LG will have a 14-inch 2560x1440-pixel laptop panel on hand, along with LCDs designed for use in refrigerators and automotive dashboards. We'll be live from the SID show floor later this week -- check back for our hands-ons with all of these new LG panels, and quite a bit more.

Filed under: Displays, HD, LG

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Report: Obama Administration Apologizes for Another National Security Leak

Damascus-Before-After-Bombing

Israel Channel 2 broadcast this satellite image showing a Damascus airport warehouse before and after the airstrike (Screenshot: Channel 2 News)

The Justice Department's seizure of Associated Press reporters' phone records was reportedly one element of a "sweeping" federal investigation to find out who leaked classified information about a failed Al-Qaeda plot to bomb an American airliner.

Now, the Obama administration has reportedly apologized to Israel for another leak of classified information to the media, one that occurred earlier this month and which Israeli officials are concerned could place Israeli lives at risk.

Israel Radio's diplomatic correspondent Chico Menashe reported Sunday morning (via the Jerusalem Post):

American officials apologized to their Israeli counterparts for confirming that Israel was behind the airstrikes on the Damascus airport earlier this month, Israel Radio reported on Sunday.

The confirmation reportedly came from the lower ranks at the Pentagon, and the reasons for the leak are being investigated.

Menashe tweeted: "The U.S. has apologized to Israel for leaking details of the attack in Syria. Senior administration officials said to their [Israeli] counterparts that they are examining the issue and that low-level [officials] were responsible for the leak."

Menashe also wrote, "US officials told that they [will] review the matter. The leak forced Assad to react harshly."

U.S. apologized for leaking details of Israel. US officials told that they review the matter.The leak forced assad to react harshly.

The New York Times attributed its report about the bombing on May 3 to an Obama administration official: "Israel aircraft bombed a target in Syria overnight Thursday, an Obama administration official said Friday night, as United States officials said they were considering military options, including carrying out their own airstrikes."

CNN, which broke the story first on May 3, quoted two unnamed U.S. officials:

The United States believes Israel has conducted an airstrike into Syria, two U.S. officials first told CNN.

U.S. and Western intelligence agencies are reviewing classified data showing Israel most likely conducted a strike in the Thursday-Friday time frame, according to both officials. This is the same time frame that the U.S. collected additional data showing Israel was flying a high number of warplanes over Lebanon.

One official said the United States had limited information so far and could not yet confirm those are the specific warplanes that conducted a strike. Based on initial indications, the U.S. does not believe Israeli warplanes entered Syrian airspace to conduct the strikes.

Two weeks later, Israel still has not officially taken responsibility for the bombings, which allegedly targeted Iranian Fateh-110 missiles intended to bolster Hezbollah's arsenal.

Israeli security analysts suggest that confirmation of Israel Defense Forces involvement - even if leaked via American sources - not only could potentially endanger any agents still on the ground in Syria, but would also put pressure on embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad to retaliate against the Jewish state.

Barry Rubin, director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center, told TheBlaze, "It requires the Syrians to react officially rather than deny that it happened or that it was an accident. It forces Syria and Hezbollah and Iran to react officially and say they want to seek revenge, which makes things more dangerous for Israel."

"Can you imagine if things were reversed and somebody did that to the U.S.?" he added.

Assad may already be responding. Britain's Sunday Times reported that the Syrian military has placed advanced weapons on standby to strike Israel, in the event Israel strikes targets again in Syria.

The report said that reconnaissance satellite images show Syria has surface-to-surface Tishreen missiles ready for use and aimed at Tel Aviv. Each can carry a half ton payload, according to the paper.

In an interview with CNN shortly after the airstrikes, Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al Mekdad called the attack a "declaration of war," adding that Syria would retaliate in its own time and way.

At the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to the tumult facing the Middle East, calling it "one of its most sensitive periods in decades with the escalating upheaval in Syria at its center."

"We are closely monitoring the developments and changes there and we are prepared for any scenario. The government of Israel is working responsibly and with determination and sagacity, in order to ensure the supreme interest of the state of Israel - the security of Israeli citizens in keeping with the policy that we have set, to - as much as possible - prevent the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah and to [other] terrorist elements," he said.

"We will work to ensure Israelis' security interest in the future as well," Netanyahu added.

Last week, Russia said it would move forward with a sale of S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems to Syria, after Netanyahu made a visit to Moscow in person to try to convince the Russians to halt the deal. Once deployed, the advanced system will make future Israeli sorties over Syria more difficult, as well as rendering any notion of a U.S. or European-led no-fly zone much more complicated to implement.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/report-obama-administration-apologizes-another-national-security-leak-182208023.html

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Source: Treasury told WH of IRS disclosure plan

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A Treasury official says the department told the White House twice that the IRS was preparing to make public its targeting of conservative political groups.

The official said Monday that Treasury told the White House in late April about a possible speech in which IRS official Lois Lerner would make a public apology and that outgoing Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller expected to be asked about the issue during congressional testimony. However, the official said Treasury did not give the White House advance warning that Lerner planned to address the issue during a May 10 conference, which she ultimately did.

White House advisers have said President Barack Obama was not told about the IRS targeting before it became public.

The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and insisted on anonymity.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-source-treasury-told-wh-irs-disclosure-plan-014154611.html

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AP CEO says sources are reluctant to talk after Justice Department probe

The chief executive and president of the Associated Press said the Justice Department's investigation and the seizure of the news agency's phone records are having a negative impact on news gathering.

By Alina Selyukh,?Reuters / May 19, 2013

Gary Pruitt, the President and CEO of the Associated Press, discusses the leak investigation that led to his reporters' phone records being subpoenaed by the Justice Department on CBS's "Face the Nation" in Washington Sunday.

Chris Usher/CBS/AP

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The Justice Department's seizure of phone records for journalists at?the Associated Press?is hurting the agency's ability to gather news, the wire service's Chief Executive and President?Gary Pruitt?said on Sunday.

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"Officials that would normally talk to us and people we talk to in the normal course of news gathering are already saying to us that they're a little reluctant to talk to us," Pruitt said on CBS's "Face The Nation" program. "They fear that they will be monitored by the government."

The Justice Department told the AP on May 10 that it had earlier seized records of more than 20 of its phone lines for April and May 2012. The seizure was part of an investigation of media leaks about a foiled terrorism plot.

"Approximately a hundred journalists use these telephone lines as part of news gathering," Pruitt said. "And over the course of the two months of the records that they swept up, thousands upon thousands of news-gathering calls were made."

The?White House?has said that President?Barack Obama?learned about the Justice Department's record seizure from press reports and had no prior knowledge of the action.?Obama's administration?is fielding concerns on several incidents that raise questions about its transparency.

Pruitt said the Justice Department claimed an exception to its own rules that required them to notify the AP of such a record seizure by saying that such a disclosure would have posed a substantial threat to the investigation.

"But they have not explained why it would and we can't understand why it would," Pruitt said. "We never even had possession of these records, they were in the possession of our telephone service company and they couldn't be tampered with."

Government officials have told Reuters that the AP phone records were just one element in an ongoing sweeping U.S. government investigation into media leaks about a?Yemen-based plot to bomb a U.S. airliner, prompted by a May 7, 2012 AP story about the operation to foil the plot.

"We don't question their right to conduct these sort of investigations," Pruitt said. "We think they went about it the wrong way, so sweeping, so secretively, so abusively and harassingly."

Pruitt said the AP would have sought to narrow the scope of the record seizure through courts had it been notified, instead of "the Justice Department acting on its own, being the judge, jury and executioner, in secret."

Reuters was one of nearly 50 news organizations that signed a letter to Attorney General?Eric Holder?complaining about the AP phone record seizures.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/DpWzRtv9nZ0/AP-CEO-says-sources-are-reluctant-to-talk-after-Justice-Department-probe

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Sing us the song of the century, that?s louder than violent mortality (Unqualified Offerings)

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The Weirdest Thing on the Internet Tonight: Two Colors, Three Dimensions

Mixing surreal anaglyphic animation and a haunting soundtrack, this stunning short by Stephen Chan is cool enough to watch even without the glasses. Of course if you want the full effect but don't have access to pair, just blink your eyes alternately real fast. That might work.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/4OVqsWn0N3w/the-weirdest-thing-on-the-internet-tonight-two-colors-507668484

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Member of Pakistani cricket star's party killed

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) ? Police say gunmen on a motorcycle have shot and killed a senior member of a leading Pakistani political party.

Police officer Sarfaraz Nawaz says Zohra Shahid was gunned down outside her home in the city of Karachi in southern Sindh province. Shahid was the vice president of former Pakistani cricket star Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party in Sindh.

No one has claimed responsibility for the killing.

Khan's party has claimed it was the victim of vote rigging in several areas of Pakistan, including Karachi, in national elections held on May 11. Pakistan's election commission plans to re-do the vote for several national assembly seats, including in Karachi.

A spokesman for Khan's party, Jamal Siddiqui, claimed Shahid was killed to sabotage a re-vote scheduled to be held in Karachi on Sunday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/member-pakistani-cricket-stars-party-killed-205834271.html

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Debbie Rowe to Wade Robson: YOU LIE!

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Last-minute fortune seekers buy Powerball tickets

Armous Peterson figures out what numbers he is going to play in the Powerball lottery at Jimmy's Mart on Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Columbia, S.C. Peterson keeps track of what numbers he plays from week to week. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Armous Peterson figures out what numbers he is going to play in the Powerball lottery at Jimmy's Mart on Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Columbia, S.C. Peterson keeps track of what numbers he plays from week to week. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

A customer, right, waits for his Powerball lottery ticket at a convenience store in Chicago on Saturday, May 18, 2013. A little more than a year after three tickets split a world-record lottery prize, the jackpot for Saturday's Powerball drawing was nearing historic territory. Should nobody pick the correct six numbers, the prize money will roll over to next week's drawing and almost certainly eclipse the $656 million doled out to winners in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland in the Mega Millions game in March 2012. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

A clerk dispenses a Powerball Lottery ticket in Oklahoma City, Friday, May 17, 2013. Powerball officials say the jackpot has climbed to an estimated $600 million, making it the largest prize in the game's history and the world's second largest lottery prize.(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

A Powerball lottery ticket is printed out of a lottery machine at a convenience store in Chicago on Saturday, May 18, 2013. A little more than a year after three tickets split a world-record lottery prize, the jackpot for Saturday's Powerball drawing was nearing historic territory. Should nobody pick the correct six numbers, the prize money will roll over to next week's drawing and almost certainly eclipse the $656 million doled out to winners in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland in the Mega Millions game in March 2012. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Brianwa Flores, left, and Katie Cosentino from Illinois State Lottery greet hockey fans before Game 2 of an NHL hockey playoff Western Conference semifinal between the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks in Chicago, Saturday, May 18, 2013. A little more than a year after three tickets split a world-record lottery prize, the jackpot for Saturday's Powerball drawing was nearing historic territory. Should nobody pick the correct six numbers, the prize money will roll over to next week's drawing and almost certainly eclipse the $656 million doled out to winners in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland in the Mega Millions game in March 2012. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ? It's all about the odds.

With the majority of possible combinations of Powerball numbers in play, someone is almost sure to win the game's highest jackpot during Saturday night's drawing, a windfall of hundreds of millions of dollars ? and that's after taxes.

The problem, of course, is those same odds just about guarantee the lucky person won't be you.

The chances of winning the estimated $600 million prize remain astronomically low: 1 in 175.2 million. That's how many different ways you can combine the numbers when you play. But lottery officials estimate about 80 percent of those possible combinations have been purchased, so now's the time to buy.

"This would be the roll to get in on," said Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich. "Of course there's no guarantee, and that's the randomness of it, and the fun of it."

That hasn't deterred people across Powerball-playing states ? 43 plus Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands ? from lining up at gas stations and convenience stores Saturday for their chance at striking it filthy rich.

At a mini market in the heart of Los Angeles' Chinatown, employees broke the steady stream of customers into two lines: One for Powerball ticket buyers and one for everybody else. Some people appeared to be looking for a little karma.

"We've had two winners over $10 million here over the years, so people in the neighborhood think this is the lucky store," employee Gordon Chan said as he replenished a stack of lottery tickets on a counter.

Workers at one suburban Columbia, S.C., convenience store were so busy with ticket buyers that they hadn't updated their sign with the current jackpot figure, which was released Friday. Customer Armous Peterson was reluctant to share his system for playing the Powerball. The 56-year-old was well aware of the long odds, but he also knows the mantra of just about every person buying tickets.

"Somebody is going to win," he said. "Lots of people are going to lose, too. But if you buy a ticket, that winner might be you."

The latest jackpot is the world's second largest overall, just behind a $656 million Mega Millions jackpot in March 2012. The $600 million jackpot, which could grow before the numbers are drawn at 10:59 EDT Saturday, currently includes a $376.9 million cash option.

Charles Hill of Dallas says he buys lottery tickets every day. And he knows exactly what he'd do if he wins.

"What would I do with my money? I'd run and hide," he said. "I wouldn't want none of my kinfolks to find me."

Clyde Barrow, a public policy professor at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, specializes in the gaming industry. He said one of the key factors behind the ticket-buying frenzy is the size of the jackpot ? people are interested in the easy investment.

"Even though the odds are very low, the investment is very small," he said. "Two dollars gets you a chance."

That may be why Ed McCuen has a Powerball habit that's as regular as clockwork. The 57-year-old electrical contractor from Savannah, Ga., buys one ticket a week, regardless of the possible loot. It's a habit he didn't alter Saturday.

"You've got one shot in a gazillion or whatever," McCuen said, tucking his ticket in his pocket as he left a local convenience store. "You can't win unless you buy a ticket. But whether you buy one or 10 or 20, it's insignificant."

Seema Sharma doesn't seem to think so. The newsstand employee in Manhattan's Penn Station has purchased $80 worth of tickets for herself. She also was selling tickets all morning at a steady pace, instructing buyers where to stand if they wanted machine-picked tickets or to choose their own numbers.

"I work very hard ? too hard ? and I want to get the money so I can finally relax," she said. "You never know."

Officials will conduct the drawing live Saturday night from Tallahassee, Fla.

___

Associated Press writers Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, S.C., Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas, Russ Bynum in Savannah, Ga., John Rogers in Los Angeles and Verena Dobnick in New York contributed to this report.

___

Follow Barbara Rodriguez at http://twitter.com/bcrodriguez .

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-05-18-US-Powerball-Jackpot/id-fc71bf579384449d9b5bc775ca4a3418

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NRSC narrowly edges out DSCC in April fundraising (Washington Post)

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Google and NASA Turn to New D-Wave Computer - IEEE Spectrum

A new version of D-Wave's supposed quantum computers could help NASA hunt for alien worlds or enhance Google's mammoth search engine before the end of the year. The U.S. space agency and Internet search giant have joined a growing list of high-profile customers using the latest D-Wave machine despite lingering skepticism from quantum computing experts.

The D-Wave Two computer?a 512-qubit machine?is scheduled to begin operations in a new Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab founded by NASA, Google and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) in within the next six months. Hartmut Neven, director of engineering at Google, describes the group's goals in a blog post.

We believe quantum computing may help solve some of the most challenging computer science problems, particularly in machine learning. Machine learning is all about building better models of the world to make more accurate predictions. If we want to cure diseases, we need better models of how they develop. If we want to create effective environmental policies, we need better models of what?s happening to our climate. And if we want to build a more useful search engine, we need to better understand spoken questions and what?s on the web so you get the best answer.

The new lab will "move these ideas from theory to practice" on D-Wave's "quantum hardware," Neven says. Installation of the D-Wave machine has already begun at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., just minutes away from Google's headquarters in Mountain View.

This represents the latest boost for D-Wave, a Canadian company that claims to have built and sold the first commercial quantum computers in the world. Many academic labs have struggled to build?quantum computers?with just a few qubits, and so researchers have expressed doubt that D-Wave's machines can work as advertised with hundreds of qubits operating together. A number of prominent?quantum computing experts voiced their skepticism?to IEEE Spectrum just a few years ago.

But D-Wave has come a long way in winning over some former critics since that time. The company has given independent researchers access to its D-Wave machine in at least two separate cases that have led to favorable findings for the company's?quantum computing and performance claims. And D-Wave earned further credibility when it made its first commercial sale, to Lockheed Martin, in 2011.

The new Quantum Artificial Intelligence lab also put the new D-Wave Two through rigorous testing before accepting the machine, according to a Google representative. One particular test asked the computer to solve certain optimization problems at least 10 000 times faster than classical computer solvers. In another case, the D-Wave machine set the highest scores on standard problems used in SAT competitions.

Google has previously used D-Wave hardware to?tackle machine learning problems?over the past several years. The company has already created quantum machine learning algorithms that represent compact, efficient pattern recognizers?useful for limited-power devices such as smartphones or tablets. Another quantum machine learning algorithm has proven excellent at tackling polluted training data where, for example, a high percentage of images in an online photo album are mislabeled.

For its part, NASA hopes the new D-Wave Two can help speed up the search for exoplanets orbiting distant stars, as well as support operations in mission control centers for future human or robotic space missions.

NASA and Google researchers won't have a monopoly over use of the D-Wave Two machine at the new lab. USRA aims to make the system available for use by the broader community of U.S. academic researchers?a step that might help D-Wave win over even more skeptics.

This latest news follows the purchase of a D-Wave Two machine by aerospace giant Lockheed Martin for a?reported $10 million?earlier this year, representing a significant vote of confidence in the company as well as an upgrade of the older?D-Wave One machine?it bought for roughly the same price.

Source: http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/hardware/google-and-nasa-buy-a-dwave-computer

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Weight Loss News Headlines - Yahoo! News

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - An older brother of the 19-year-old arrested in connection with a Mother's Day shooting in New Orleans was arrested Thursday in connection with the shooting, police said. Akein Scott, 19, and Shawn Scott, 24, have both been charged with 20 counts of attempted second-degree murder, New Orleans police??

Source: http://rss.news.yahoo.com/rss/weightloss

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Cannes festival hit by $1 million jewel heist

Jewel thieves have stolen $1 million worth of Chopard jewelry from a hotel right off the Croisette, and while the theft being called by Deadline one of the "biggest heists to go down in recent Cannes history," it's not actually?that?unexpected.?

RELATED: Cannes, Bucking the Trend, Applauds 'The Beaver'

The Hollywood Reporter?reported that the jewelry,?set to be loaned to celebrities for their red carpet appearances,?was stolen was stolen from a= Chopard employee's hotel room in the Novotel, and that?"whole safe was taken out of the wall in the hotel room."?Police are also telling?THR?that the heist "may be an inside job" and are questioning hotel employees.?According to Le Monde?the crime occurred at?5 a.m. The festival itself was quick to note that their top prize the Palme d'Or, which is supplied by Chopard, is safe, according to the AFP.?

RELATED: Lars von Trier's 'Nymphomaniac' Is Now the 'Where's Waldo' of Hollywood Smut

Burglaries at the festival and on the French Riviera itself do not lack historical context. Let us not forget, as Scott Feinberg of?The Hollywood Reporter points out on Twitter, Alfred Hitchcock's?To Catch a Thief, which starred Cary Grant as a cat burglar took place in that locale. And there are real-life examples too.?

RELATED: Lars Von Trier Acts Out at Cannes: 'I Understand Hitler'

Earlier this year the AFP reported that thieves had stolen a million euros worth of luxury watches from the store on the Croisette's promenade in Cannes. In 2009 armed robbers stole millions of euros worth of jewelry from a Cartier shop in the city.

RELATED: You Will Now Be Jealous You're Not in Cannes

Last year at the festival two Senegalese soccer stars reported??400,000 worth of wristwatches and jewelry and???30,000 in cash stolen.?In their guide to the festival, Indiewire advises: "Also beware of pickpockets. We know of regulars who, after leaving a window open, have had all of their belongings stolen from their rented hotels and flats while they were away." Take this as you may wish, but back in 2010 Lindsay Lohan claimed her passport had been stolen at Cannes, rendering her unable to go to court.?

RELATED: Cannes Downgrades Lars Von Trier To 'Persona Non Grata' Status

Perhaps one of the more ironic parts of this recent theft?and one that has not escaped the media and the jokesters on Twitter?is that it happened as Sofia Coppola's movie about teenager burglar's stealing from stars,?The Bling Ring, screened at the festival. Somehow we don't see Emma Watson being?that?method.?

?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cannes-festival-hit-1-million-jewel-heist-142412037.html

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Arizona jury to weigh death penalty in Jodi Arias murder case

By Tim Gaynor

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Jodi Arias, the California woman convicted in a sensational trial of brutally murdering her ex-boyfriend, will face an Arizona jury on Wednesday charged with deciding if she deserves the death penalty for her crime.

Arias was found guilty a week ago of murdering 30-year-old Travis Alexander, whose body was found slumped in the shower of his Phoenix area home five years ago. She had stabbed him 27 times, slashed his throat and shot him in the face.

Arias, a petite 32-year-old former waitress, had tried unsuccessfully to convince the jury during the four-month trial that she had acted in self-defense after Alexander attacked her because she dropped his camera while taking photographs of him in the shower.

The trial, which aired evidence including a sex tape and photographs of the blood-sprayed crime scene, became a sensation on cable television news with its lurid tale of a bright, soft-spoken young woman charged with an unthinkable crime.

Jurors could have convicted Arias of a lesser crime - such as second-degree murder or manslaughter - in the killing of Alexander, an ex-boyfriend with whom she had an on-again, off-again affair, but instead found her guilty of the most serious charge possible.

Following her conviction, Arias was placed suicide watch in a psychiatric ward after she indicated in a television interview that she would prefer a death sentence to life in prison. The watch was lifted on Monday and she was returned to jail.

At the sentencing trial, the prosecution will present evidence trying to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that aggravating factors exist which merit the death penalty. The defense can also present rebuttal evidence and the decision will then be up to the jury.

In a statement last week, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said the state planned to present "evidence to prove the murder was committed in an especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner."

Calls to defense attorney Kirk Nurmi seeking comment were not returned.

During the trial, prosecutor Juan Martinez painted a picture of Arias as manipulative and prone to jealousy in previous relationships. He said she had meticulously planned to kill Alexander, a businessman and motivational speaker.

In making his case for premeditated murder, Martinez had accused Arias of bringing the pistol used in the killing, which has not been recovered, with her from California to the scene of the crime. He said she also rented a car, removed its license plate and bought gasoline cans and fuel to conceal her journey to the Phoenix suburbs to kill Alexander.

Martinez said Arias lied after the killing to deflect any suspicion that she had been involved in his death, leaving a voicemail on Alexander's cellphone, sending flowers to his grandmother and telling detectives she was not at the crime scene before changing her story.

Nurmi, meanwhile, argued that Arias had snapped in the "sudden heat of passion" in the moments between a photograph she took showing Alexander alive and taking a shower, and a subsequent picture of his apparently dead body covered in blood.

The sentencing trial is set to begin at 10 a.m. local time (1700 GMT)

(Editing by Cynthia Johnston, G Crosse)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/arizona-jury-weigh-death-penalty-jodi-arias-murder-110150401.html

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'seagoing White House' to ghost ship: Truman's yacht ... - World News

Once an iconic "seagoing White House, " Harry S. Truman's presidential yacht is now rusting in a picturesque Italian port. NBC's Jim Maceda reports.

By Jim Maceda, Correspondent, NBC News

LA SPEZIA, Italy -- If you?re under 70, you?ve probably never heard of the USS Williamsburg.

But at one time she was among the most famous ships on the planet -- the stuff of newsreels and bold headlines. ?

Steel-hulled and built to look like a mini-Titanic, the 240-foot Williamsburg started out in the early 1930s as the Aras, a private yacht. She became a patrol gunboat during World War II. ?But it was as President Harry S. Truman?s yacht that she gained acclaim as his "seagoing White House."

Truman loved to do business on the Williamsburg as much as he loved the ship itself.

Over his seven tumultuous years as president, discussions on board with leaders including British Prime Minister?Winston Churchill ? often over card games and long bourbons - led to decisions that still affect the world today: the launch of the Cold War, the Marshall Plan, NATO, the Korean War, and the creation of Israel, to name but a few. ??

NBC's Kerry Sanders takes a tour of the newly restored Honey Fitz, once a symbol of Camelot as it cruised the waters of the Potomac, Palm Beach, and Hyannis with JFK and Jackie Kennedy lounging on the deck.

But, for the past 20 years, the USS Williamsburg has barely kept afloat in a quaint backwater in northern Italy.?

The vessel's Italian owners? ? who run a shipyard ? say that in four or five years it will likely sink from its own decay and will be cut up for scrap. ?How did it come to this?? And what can be done to save it?

VIDEO: A glimpse inside the iconic USS Williamsburg

Ask Gianfranco Oddone, a man on a mission. Oddone is a retired ship repairman who once was a high school exchange student in Truman?s home town of Lamar, Mo. He will tell anyone who listens about the Williamsburg?s saga, as he seeks out a buyer who?ll sail this piece of Americana back to where Oddone believes it belongs -- in the U.S.

In the meantime, the grandest of America?s surviving presidential yachts increases its list ? and rust ? far from home. ?

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/15/18269389-from-seagoing-white-house-to-ghost-ship-trumans-yacht-rusts-far-from-home?lite

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U.N. General Assembly to vote on Syria resolution; Russia opposed

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly is set to vote on Wednesday on a draft resolution that condemns Syrian authorities and accepts the opposition Syrian National Coalition as party to a potential political transition.

Russia, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is opposed to the resolution, which was drafted by Qatar and other Arab nations and circulated among the 193 U.N. member states. Some Western diplomats said it was unlikely to win as many votes as a resolution that passed last year with 133 in favor.

No country has a veto in the General Assembly.

"I'm convinced a lot of countries voted for this text because they believed they were voting for the winning side," a senior western U.N. diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in reference to the August, 2012 resolution. "They are not so sure anymore."

"Now also you have the Islamist, terrorist factor which is much more conspicuous," he said.

The Syrian conflict started more than two years ago with mainly peaceful demonstrations against Assad, but turned into a civil war in which the United Nations says at least 70,000 people have been killed. Islamist militants have emerged as the most potent of the anti-Assad rebels.

Wednesday's vote comes as Washington and European governments have been mulling the benefits and risks of supplying arms to Syrian rebels.

Another senior U.N. diplomat, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said this draft resolution was stronger than the earlier resolution, prompting Russia to write to all states to complain that it was unbalanced. The diplomat said Russia had also warned that it could hinder preparations for a Syria peace conference, as agreed by Russia and the United States.

A dispute between Russia and the United States over how to end Syria's war has left the U.N. Security Council paralyzed to act. They both agreed last week to convene a peace conference on Syria, but that plan already appears to be hitting snags over who should represent the opposition.

The current draft U.N. resolution welcomes the establishment of the Syrian National Coalition "as effective representative interlocutors needed for a political transition."

CHEMICAL WEAPONS PROBE

But diplomats said some countries may be concerned that the draft resolution could be considered as official U.N. recognition of the coalition as the representative of the Syrian people.

"It's very likely the vote will not be as high as last year," said another senior western U.N. diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. "But we clearly don't want the numbers to go below 100 or 110."

The Syrian National Coalition has been recognized by the 130 international representatives comprising the "Friends of Syria" group of nations and the Arab League as "the legitimate representative of the Syrian people."

The draft resolution condemns "all violence, irrespective of where it comes from," continued escalation in the use of heavy weapons by Syrian authorities, the shelling and shooting by Syrian troops into neighboring nations and human rights abuses.

It also demands that the Syrian authorities grant unfettered access to a U.N. team investigating allegations that chemical weapons have been used in the conflict. The Syrian government and the opposition have accused each other of carrying out chemical weapons attacks. Both deny the accusations.

The draft resolution further welcomes Arab League decisions relevant to reaching a political solution, but does not reference an agreement by the league that member states have the right to provide military support to Syrians fighting Assad's troops.

In August there were 12 votes against the Syria resolution and 31 abstentions and some countries did not participate. Russia was among those that opposed it. China, Iran, North Korea, Belarus, Cuba and other states that often criticize the West also voted against it.

The draft resolution reaffirms U.N. support for U.N.-Arab League Syria mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, who recently agreed to stay on in the role despite his frustration at the international deadlock that has prevented Security Council action to halt the conflict.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Paul Simao)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-n-general-assembly-vote-syria-resolution-russia-041343384.html

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'Best estimate' of melting ice caps

14 May 2013 Last updated at 13:00 ET By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent, BBC News

Researchers have published their most advanced calculation for the likely impact of melting ice on global sea levels.

The EU-funded team says the ice sheets and glaciers could add 36.8cm to the oceans by 2100.

Adding in other factors, sea levels could rise by up to 69cm, higher than previous predictions.

The researchers say there is a very small chance that the seas around Britain could rise by a metre.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

The previous IPCC identified this gap in our knowledge, we've addressed that gap and what we've found is not scary?

End Quote Prof Tony Payne University of Bristol

The last Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report was highly detailed about many aspects of Earth's changing climate in the coming decades.

Advanced models

While it estimated that sea levels could rise by 18-59cm by 2100, the report was very unsure about the role played by the melting of ice sheets and mountain glaciers.

To fill the void, the EU-funded experts from 24 institutions in Europe and beyond tried to produce more accurate figures on the melting of Antarctica and Greenland and how this might swell the oceans.

Called Ice2sea, the group of scientists has made what it terms the "best estimate" yet of the impact of melting based on a mid-range level of carbon emissions that would increase global temperatures by 3.5C by the end of this century.

Continue reading the main story

"For that one scenario we have an ice sheet and glaciers contribution to sea level rise of between 3.5 and 36.8cm by 2100," said Prof David Vaughan from the British Antarctic Survey, who is the co-ordinator of the Ice2sea programme.

While the range is wide, the scientists say it is a relatively robust calculation and based on several advances in modelling since the last IPCC report.

"In order to be able to model the ice sheet properly, you need to be able to resolve things down to hundreds of metres," said Prof Tony Payne from the University of Bristol.

"That's quite a task when an ice sheet is a thousand kilometres or more in size; that's a very demanding computational task. What we found is that the Pine Island Glacier, the poster child of sea level rise in the Antarctic - that will continue through to the end of the century and very little else happens."

Despite the improvements, there are still many factors that are difficult to include in models. To get around this, the leading researchers were asked to estimate the worst-case scenarios.

They concluded there was a one-in-20 chance that the melting ice would drive up sea levels by more than 84cm, essentially saying there is a 95% chance it would not go above this figure.

While ice melt is a major contributor to the height of the seas, there are other important factors especially thermal expansion caused by the warming of the waters. This contributes about a third of the observed 3mm rise in sea levels every year.

Taken together with the ice melt estimate, the scientists say the overall, maximum impact on the seas by 2100 will be a rise of 69cm - just 10cm higher than the IPCC projection in 2007, termed AR4.

"What we are talking about is a reduction in uncertainty - we find we haven't changed the number enormously compared to AR4," said Prof Vaughan. "We've added maybe another 10cm but the level of certainty we have around that is actually higher than it was in the AR4."

The researchers also included projections for sea level rise in Europe that includes the effects of thermal expansion, ice melt and storm surges. In these scenarios, the British Isles could face an increase of slightly over a metre by 2100 - enough to overwhelm the Thames Barrier and see London flooded once every 10 years.

But the scientists stress that there is a 95% chance that these numbers will not be reached.

"The previous IPCC identified this gap in our knowledge. We've addressed that gap and what we've found is not scary," said Prof Payne.

"We're always talking about tens of centimetres, maybe a metre tops. None of the experiments are suggesting 2, 3, 4m and that's different to the literature that existed before Ice2sea."

However, the scientists stressed that sea level rise in line with their projections could still make some islands in the Pacific uninhabitable. And if global emissions of carbon dioxide are not curtailed then the actual level of the sea by 2100 could be significantly higher than the Ice2Sea estimates.

Follow Matt on Twitter.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22527273#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Trump to testify in lawsuit trial over condo deals

May 13 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $5,849,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $3,388,064 3. Kevin Streelman $2,572,989 4. Billy Horschel $2,567,891 5. Matt Kuchar $2,493,387 6. Phil Mickelson $2,220,280 7. Adam Scott (Australia) $2,207,683 8. D.A. Points $2,019,702 9. Steve Stricker $1,977,140 10. Graeme McDowell $1,910,654 11. Jason Day $1,802,797 12. Webb Simpson $1,759,015 13. Dustin Johnson $1,748,907 14. Hunter Mahan $1,682,939 15. Charles Howell III $1,561,988 16. Russell Henley $1,546,638 17. Martin Laird $1,531,950 18. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/trump-testify-chicago-trial-condo-deals-134301856.html

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FBI opens criminal probe of tax agency; audit cites disarray

By David Ingram and Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Tuesday he had ordered the FBI to open a criminal probe in a growing scandal over the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative political groups for extra tax scrutiny.

Holder's announcement came about four hours before an inspector general's report on the IRS portrayed the tax agency as plagued by disarray and "insufficient oversight" during its struggles to review the cases of hundreds of advocacy groups that claimed they should be tax exempt.

The audit, which drew some backlash from IRS officials, also underscored what the agency had acknowledged last Friday: that the IRS had used "inappropriate criteria" for evaluating tax-exempt groups, in part by singling out scores of conservative Tea Party and "Patriot" organizations for increased scrutiny.

The report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration sharply criticized the way the IRS had screened the conservative groups, citing poor management and processing delays. The report suggested that such practices could damage public confidence in the agency.

The criteria used to target the conservative groups "gives the appearance that the IRS is not impartial in conducting its mission," the report said. However, the report stopped short of saying the IRS actions had been politically motivated.

For President Barack Obama - who late on Tuesday said the report showed that the IRS had failed to apply the law fairly in dealing with conservative groups - the revelations have added to a sense of a White House under siege.

Republicans continue to bash the Obama administration's handling of the attack last year on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. And on Monday, Obama's Justice Department came under bipartisan fire for seizing phone records of journalists from the Associated Press as part of a wide-ranging criminal probe into intelligence leaks.

In Washington on Tuesday, the IRS case appeared to have the most potency, as lawmakers and administration officials alike described the symbolic and legal importance of having a non-partisan tax agency that Americans can trust.

For the IRS and the U.S. government, the stakes are particularly high in the scandal because the tax agency is playing an increasingly significant role not only in vetting the tax status of non-profit groups that dabble in politics, but also in enforcing parts of Obama's ongoing overhaul of the nation's healthcare system.

Some of the IRS's conservative critics, including Republican Senator Ted Cruz, have said the current scandal is a sign that the agency shouldn't be trusted to enforce a vast array of tax regulations related to healthcare.

The IRS's embattled acting commissioner, Steven Miller, met privately with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, apparently seeking to calm the political uproar, even as some Republicans called for his resignation.

The IRS said on Monday that Miller, then the IRS deputy commissioner, was first informed in early May 2012 that some groups seeking tax-exempt status had been "improperly identified by name" and subjected to extra scrutiny.

Lawmakers say that neither Miller nor his predecessor, Douglas Shulman, ever made them aware of the targeting.

Senator Orrin Hatch, the top Republican on the tax-writing Finance Committee, said that Miller - who spent more than two decades working his way up through the IRS bureaucracy and was named acting chief six months ago - should step down.

"He basically misled me," Hatch told reporters. "I really think it is time for him to leave."

'HEADS NEED TO ROLL'

Hatch was part of a growing Republican chorus on Capitol Hill calling for the resignations of Miller and Lois Lerner, head of the IRS tax-exempt organizations office. Lerner apologized on behalf of the agency when she revealed the targeting of conservative groups last week.

Conservative groups, particularly those that have sprung up in recent years to promote limited government and lower taxes, have long complained about mistreatment by the IRS.

On Tuesday, Miller met with Senator Max Baucus, the Democratic chairman of the Finance Committee who has promised that his panel will conduct its own investigation of the IRS case. Miller later declined to answer reporters' questions.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell urged Obama to make all of those who knew about IRS misconduct available for questioning, and said there should be "no more stonewalling."

"Heads need to roll today," said Republican Representative Vern Buchanan, a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees the IRS and is scheduled to hold a hearing on the scandal on Friday.

It's unclear precisely what charges a criminal probe of the IRS could yield.

Analysts said that a federal criminal prosecution of IRS employees for allegedly violating a taxpayer's speech rights - by delaying or rejecting a conservative group's legitimate claim to tax-exempt status, for example - could be unprecedented and that the offense would need to be egregious.

Holder said on Monday that the FBI "is coordinating with the Justice Department to see if any laws were broken."

He said that the actions disclosed so far "were, I think as everyone can agree, if not criminal, they were certainly outrageous and unacceptable. But we are examining the facts to see if there were criminal violations."

Despite efforts by some conservative commentators to cast the IRS troubles as something akin to the Watergate scandal of the 1970s - or to former President Richard Nixon's use of the IRS to target his political enemies - there was no sign of White House involvement.

Obama spokesman Jay Carney said the results of independent investigations must be known "before we can jump to conclusions about what happened, whether there was a deliberate targeting of groups inappropriately and, if that's the case, what action should be taken."

THREE YEARS OF TARGETING

The targeting of conservative groups began in 2010, shortly after the emergence of the conservative Tea Party movement. The movement helped Republicans gain control of the U.S. House in the 2010 elections.

Hundreds of Tea Party-inspired groups have formed in recent years, and the IRS has struggled to handle campaign finance issues dealing with such politically active organizations seeking tax-exempt status. Such groups generally can be tax-exempt as long as they do not directly support particular political candidates.

Higher-level IRS officials took part in discussions as far back as August 2011 about targeting by lower-level tax agents of Tea Party and other conservative groups, according to documents reviewed by Reuters on Monday.

The documents show the offices of the IRS's chief counsel and deputy commissioner for services and enforcement communicated about the targeting with lower-level officials on August 4, 2011, and March 8, 2012, respectively.

The communications occurred weeks and months before Shulman, then the commissioner of the IRS, told congressional panels in late March 2012 that no groups were being targeted for extra scrutiny by the tax agency.

The IRS has been dragged reluctantly into partisan politics at a time when it is also under increasing pressure to make rulings on campaign finance issues and matters related to implementation of Obama's 2010 healthcare overhaul.

The agency must impose an excise tax on large employers if they fail to meet certain minimum healthcare coverage requirements for employees. In addition, the IRS must provide tax credits to low- and middle-income taxpayers who seek healthcare coverage on one of the new state-based insurance exchanges.

Timothy Jost, a specialist on the healthcare overhaul who teaches law at Washington and Lee University, said the controversy has no real bearing on implementation of Obama's healthcare laws, aside from politics.

"I just don't see a connection, other than that I'm sure there will be efforts to make one," Jost said.

(Additional reporting by Patrick Temple-West, Thomas Ferraro, Richard Cown, Kim Dixon, Kevin Drawbaugh, Susan Heavey and Laura MacInnis; Writing by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by David Lindsey and Eric Beech)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fbi-opens-criminal-probe-u-tax-agency-audit-013827835.html

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US, Russia and Iran to wrestle in New York

The governments of the United States and Russia can sometimes be at odds.

Americans and Iranians rarely see eye to eye on anything.

But the possibility of wrestling losing its Olympic spot has given these three often-divergent nations a cause to rally around.

The U.S., Russian and Iranian wrestling teams will meet on Wednesday for an historic exhibition in New York. It's a showcase event for what the sport's international governing body has dubbed "World Wrestling Month."

The IOC in February recommended that wrestling be dropped from the Olympic program starting in 2020. Wrestling now has to plead its case to the IOC to be included as a provisional sport in St. Petersburg, Russia on May 29.

The New York exhibition, known as "The Rumble on the Rails" and to be held at Grand Central Terminal, is designed to highlight the sport's international appeal and popularity. The pre-meet news conference is even being held at the United Nations, and the meet will be televised live by the NBC Sports Network and Universal Sports ? a rarity for a sport struggling for ways to make itself more viewer-friendly.

The Iranians, who will be competing in the U.S. for the first time in 10 years, will also compete against the Americans at an exhibition in Los Angeles on May 19.

"In this crisis, we all stick together. Wrestlers maybe can do, sometimes, what politicians cannot," said Nenad Lalovic, the acting president of FILA, the sport's governing body. "We love our sport, and we are united to save it."

If there's one thing that the U.S., Russian and Iran have in common, it's a proud tradition of wrestling success and a deep passion for the sport that's been re-ignited by the IOC.

The Americans have won more Olympic medals in wrestling than any other country. When put in certain context, it can be argued that the U.S. wrestling team has been more successful than any other American Olympic team.

The Russians are now the world's premier wrestling nation. They won 11 medals in the recent London Olympics, including four golds, when no other nation claimed more than six medals.

The Russians were furious at the IOC's recommendation, and their angst over the sport's Olympic future stretches all the way to the top.

"The removal from the Olympic program of traditional forms of sports, which were its basis from the beginning and were in the program of the Olympic Games even in the time of ancient Greece ... is unjustified," Russian president Vladimir Putin said in March.

But wrestling holds a place in Iranian culture that likely exceeds that of even the U.S. and Russia.

It's often been said that wrestling is the national sport of Iran, where it doesn't have to compete with the likes of baseball, American football and hockey. The Iranians won three golds in London, backed by a fan section more boisterous than any other nation.

Tehran also served as the first place for the international wrestling community to come together and start formulating a plan to save its Olympic status.

The first major meet of the year, the World Cup, was held in Tehran roughly a week after the IOC decision, and the world's top 10 wrestling nations ? including the U.S., Russia and Iran ? met to discuss how to respond to the IOC.

U.S. Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs said the fans inside the arena were overwhelmingly supportive of the competitors, regardless of what country they wrestled for.

"It was probably the best wrestling venue, in terms of fan support and excitement, that I've ever been a part of," Burroughs said after the World Cup. "We're competitors on the mat. But with the decision by the IOC, now everyone is coming together."

The New York and Los Angeles exhibitions highlight a busy week for wrestling. FILA, the sport's international governing body, will meet in Moscow on Saturday to discuss major changes designed to improve wrestling's standing with the IOC.

The matches in New York and Los Angeles won't count for much more than pride. But wrestling officials are hoping to show the IOC and the world that a sport which can bring three such powerful but often clashing nations together is one worthy of a spot in the Olympic Games.

In fact, a photo of Burroughs and Iranian wrestler Sadegh Saeed Goudarzi locked arm-in-arm on the medal stand in London has become a symbolic image on social media sites for the movement to save Olympic wrestling.

"It is an exciting opportunity for wrestling to show the world its ability to bring together nations of different political, cultural and geographic backgrounds," USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender said in announcing the New York meet last month.

___

Follow Luke Meredith on Twitter: www.twitter.com/LukeMeredithAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-russia-iran-wrestle-york-080711756.html

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