Mediterranean diet helps cut risk of heart attack, stroke: Results of PREDIMED study presented

Feb. 25, 2013 ? Results of the PREDIMED study, aimed at assessing the efficacy of the Mediterranean diet in the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases, have been published in The New England Journal of Medicine. They show that the Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or tree nuts reduces by 30 percent the risk of suffering a cardiovascular death, a myocardial infarction or a stroke.

The study has been coordinated by the researcher Ramon Estruch, from the Faculty of Medicine of the UB and the Hospital Cl?nic -- affiliated centres with the health campus of the UB, HUBc -- and has had the collaboration of the professor Rosa M. Lamuela and her team from the Natural Antioxidant Research Group of the Faculty of Pharmacy -- located at the campus of international excellence BKC -- which determined the biomarkers of Mediterranean diet consumption.

The research is part of the project PREDIMED, a multicentre trial carried out between 2003 and 2011 to study the effects of the Mediterranean diet on the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases. The study was funded by the Carlos III Health Institute by means of the cooperative research thematic network (RETIC RD06/0045) and the CIBER of Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBERobn).

A total of 7,447 people following major cardiovascular risk factors participated in the study. They were divided into three dietary intervention groups: a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil, a Mediterranean diet supplemented with nuts (walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts), and a low-fat diet (animal and vegetable). A dietician visited the patients every three months and they attended dietary training group sessions, in which they received detailed information about the Mediterranean and the low-fat diet, and the food included in each one. Moreover, they were provided with shopping lists, menus and recipes adapted to each type of diet and each season of the year.

During the study, those participants who followed any of the two types of Mediterranean diet received freely extra-virgin olive oil (one litre per week), and nuts (30 grams per day; 15 grams of walnuts, 7.5 grams of almonds and 7.5 grams of hazelnuts).

After five years, it has been proved that participants who followed any of the two types of Mediterranean diet showed a substantial reduction in the risk of suffering a cardiovascular death, a myocardial infarction or a stroke.

According to the researchers, the results of PREDIMED study are relevant as they prove that a high-vegetable fat diet is healthier at a cardiovascular level than a low-fat diet. The authors state that the study has been controversial as it provides new data to reject the idea that it is necessary to reduce fats in order to improve cardiovascular health.

Hopefully, these results will provide new references to prevent cardiovascular diseases. In addition, the design and methodology used can be easily transferred to the biomedical sector.

The study had the collaboration of several researchers from the Hospital Cl?nic, the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM), the faculties of Medicine of the universities Rovira i Virgili, Navarra, Valencia, Canary Islands and Malaga, as well as the University Hospital Son Espases of Palma, the Fats Institute in Seville, and the primary health care networks of Barcelona, Seville, Tarragona and Valencia.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Universitat de Barcelona.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Ram?n Estruch, Emilio Ros, Jordi Salas-Salvad?, Maria-Isabel Covas, D.Pharm., Dolores Corella, Fernando Ar?s, Enrique G?mez-Gracia, Valentina Ruiz-Guti?rrez, Miquel Fiol, Jos? Lapetra, Rosa Maria Lamuela-Raventos, Llu?s Serra-Majem, Xavier Pint?, Josep Basora, Miguel Angel Mu?oz, Jos? V. Sorl?, Jos? Alfredo Mart?nez, Miguel Angel Mart?nez-Gonz?lez. Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease with a Mediterranean Diet. New England Journal of Medicine, 2013; 130225030008006 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1200303

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/G4xkheGPH-Y/130225181536.htm

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What else could I write? I don?t have the right. (Unqualified Offerings)

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Fan's NASCAR accident video back on YouTube

Suzanne Choney , NBC News ? ? ? 10 hrs.

When a YouTube video is taken down for copyright infringement, most people get it: Don't post videos that are someone else's legal property. But when YouTube quickly re-posts a video it had pulled, that's an unusual step for the largest video-sharing site in the world.

At NASCAR's request, the Google-owned YouTube removed the 1 minute-and-16-second video taken by a high school student, Tyler Andersen, who was at the the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race at Daytona Beach Saturday. His video captured part of the horrific accident that injured at least 28 fans, with chunks of debris flying into the stands.

When Andersen posted the video on YouTube, he was clear about his reason for doing so:

No disrespect intended to any of those injured or their families. I was just sharing my experience with a worldwide audience. I will continue to keep all affected by this incident in my prayers and I thank God for protecting me. Thank you.

NASCAR asked Google to take down the video, and it did. The Atlantic Wire points out that "NASCAR's legal fine print on any ticket says they own the rights to any video, sounds or data related to a race. The question became, eventually, whether or not that legal fine print extended to a fan video. Observers criticized NASCAR for taking the video down in the middle of a news story that was still unfolding."

But NASCAR says this wasn't about copyright infringement.

"The fan video of the wreck on the final lap of today's NASCAR Nationwide Series race was blocked on YouTube out of respect for those injured in today's accident," Steve Phelps, NASCAR's senior vice president and chief marketing officer, said on Saturday in a statement shared with NBC News.

"Information on the status of those fans was unclear and the decision was made to err on the side of caution with this very serious incident."

And so YouTube reversed course, allowing the video back up late Saturday, saying in a statement to The Washington Post, and again Monday to NBC News:

Our partners and users do not have the right to take down videos from YouTube unless they contain content which is copyright infringing, which is why we have reinstated the videos.

By late Monday, the video had done well over 600,000 views. NBC News has asked YouTube for comment, and will update this post when we hear back.

Phelps reiterated NASCAR's stance in a statement to NBC News: "This was never a copyright issue. This was never a censorship issue," he said. "The video ... was blocked out of respect for those injured in the accident. Google decided to lift that block."

What does it mean for most of us, who walk around with HD camcorders in our smartphones? Does the fact that Andersen's video continues to survive ? and even thrive ? mean that we can post our own footage of ticketed sporting events? Though tickets tend to warn against such behavior, are we really forbidden from taking a video and posting it on YouTube?

In many cases, yes. If the ticket is a contract, you may be in breach.

YouTube's "decision to allow the video to remain available, while a positive sign in terms of YouTube's willingness to scrutinize claims of copyright infringement, does not in any way prevent NASCAR from pursuing other remedies against the poster of the video ? including, potentially, enforcement of the contract embodied on the ticket or a direct claim of copyright infringement against the poster," Jeffrey P. Hermes, director of the Digital Media Law Project at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, told NBC News Monday.

(In this instance, NASCAR has not indicated it would pursue such action.)

However, "NASCAR also cannot claim that the fan has granted NASCAR ownership of that recording based merely on the fine print on the back of a ticket," Hermes said.

Besides, he thinks there's "a serious question as to whether NASCAR has a valid copyright claim in an unscripted sporting event," such as Saturday's race. It's the kind of event, he said, that is "different from a scripted 'performance'" such as a rock concert "in which copyright might arise under U.S. law."

(Translation: Don't even think about posting that Beyonc? concert footage.)

Corynne McSherry, intellectual property director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told NBC News Monday that YouTube's decision to re-post the NASCAR video is "the right decision, because NASCAR does not hold the copyright in a fan video."

The EFF has seen this sort of thing before. When Showing Animals Respect and Kindness, an animal-rights activist group, filmed rodeos in order to demonstrate alleged abuse, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association fired back, requesting takedown of 13 videos. At the time, YouTube responded by eliminating the activists' account.

When the EFF took the case to court, it was settled in 2009. The agreement protects the group's "right to publicize their critiques."

"The (rodeo association) has no copyright claim in live rodeo events, just as NASCAR has no copyright claim in fan videos," says McSherry.

While the case didn't set a precedent, she said, "the law on this is not ambiguous: absent some other arrangement or exception (such as a work for hire), copyright goes to the person who created the video, not the person who created the event."

Check out Technology, GadgetBox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/fans-nascar-accident-video-returns-youtube-after-takedown-1C8537538

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Flipping the 'off' switch on cell growth: Protein uses multiple means to help cells cope when oxygen runs low

Feb. 22, 2013 ? A protein known for turning on genes to help cells survive low-oxygen conditions also slows down the copying of new DNA strands, thus shutting down the growth of new cells, Johns Hopkins researchers report. Their discovery has wide-ranging implications, they say, given the importance of this copying -- known as DNA replication -- and new cell growth to many of the body's functions and in such diseases as cancer.

"We've long known that this protein, HIF-1?, can switch hundreds of genes on or off in response to low oxygen conditions," says Gregg Semenza, M.D., Ph.D., a molecular biologist who led the research team and has long studied the role of low-oxygen conditions in cancer, lung disease and heart disorders. "We've now learned that HIF-1? is even more versatile than we thought, as it can work directly to stop new cells from forming." A report on the discovery appears in the Feb. 12 issue of Science Signaling.

With his team, Semenza, who is the C. Michael Armstrong Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Institute for Cell Engineering and Institute for Genomic Medicine, discovered HIF-1? in the 1990s and has studied it ever since, pinpointing a multitude of genes in different types of cells that have their activity ramped up or down by the activated protein. These changes in so-called "gene expression" help cells survive when oxygen-rich blood flow to an area slows or stops temporarily; they also allow tumors to build new blood vessels to feed themselves.

To learn how HIF-1?'s own activity is controlled, the team looked for proteins from human cells that would attach to HIF-1?. They found two, MCM3 and MCM7, that limited HIF-1?'s activity, and were also part of the DNA replication machinery. Those results were reported in 2011.

In the new research, Semenza and his colleagues further probed HIF-1?'s relationship to DNA replication by comparing cells in low-oxygen conditions to cells kept under normal conditions. They measured the amount of DNA replication complexes in the cells, as well as how active the complexes were. The cells kept in low-oxygen conditions, which had stopped dividing, had just as much of the DNA replication machinery as the normal dividing cells, the researchers found; the difference was that the machinery wasn't working. It turned out that in the nondividing cells, HIF-1? was binding to a protein that loads the DNA replication complex onto DNA strands, and preventing the complex from being activated.

"Our experiments answered the long-standing question of how, exactly, cells stop dividing in response to low oxygen," says Maimon Hubbi, Ph.D., a member of Semenza's team who is now working toward an M.D. degree. "It also shows us that the relationship between HIF-1? and the DNA replication complex is reciprocal -- that is, each can shut the other down."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Johns Hopkins Medicine, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. M. E. Hubbi, Kshitiz, D. M. Gilkes, S. Rey, C. C. Wong, W. Luo, D.-H. Kim, C. V. Dang, A. Levchenko, G. L. Semenza. A Nontranscriptional Role for HIF-1? as a Direct Inhibitor of DNA Replication. Science Signaling, 2013; 6 (262): ra10 DOI: 10.1126/scisignal.2003417

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/XQflXj1NWK4/130223111517.htm

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NRA vice president urges gun owners to stand up for rights

SALT LAKE CITY ? The National Rifle Association vice president spoke to more than a thousand people Saturday night, urging them to contact their representatives to protect their Second Amendment rights.

Wayne LaPierre, the Executive Vice President of the NRA, gave the keynote speech at the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo at the Salt Palace Convention Center. Recent mass shootings have renewed fierce debate on gun control, but LaPierre said the president's plan "demoniz(es) law-abiding gun owners." The crowd of 1,200 cheered for the leader, who pressed them to fight for their Second Amendment rights.

"As we sit here tonight, we are now facing the single most devastating attack on the Second Amendment that this country has ever seen," LaPierre said.

LaPierre has been criticized for his solution to tragedies like the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Dec. 14 that left 20 children and six adults dead. The NRA has proposed placing armed police and security officers in every school.

Saturday, he repeated the proposal.

"There's not a mom or dad that wouldn't feel better when they dropped their kid off at school and saw a police car in the parking lot," LaPierre said. "There's not a mom or dad all over our country in America that doesn't want their children protected."

He also said the plan for universal background checks isn't reasonable, suggesting instead that the government more strictly enforce current gun control laws.

"Don't you be fooled. There is nothing universal" nor "reasonable' about (background checks)," LaPierre said. "This so-called "background check" is aimed at one thing registering your guns. When another tragic opportunity' presents itself, that registry will be used to confiscate your guns."

Isaac Holyoak with the Alliance For Better Utah says, the issues isn't about the Second Amendment, but about increasing public safety.

"Buying a gun should be at least as hard as getting a driver's license," Holyoak said.

Currently, federal law doesn't require background checks for private sales, like sales at gun shows. A handful of states have taken action to close the so-called "Gun Show Loophole," and Holyoak said those states see significantly lower rates of suicide and violence against women with handguns.

"Utah has a high suicide rate. If we want to prevent suicides in Utah, perform background checks," Holyoak said.

Source: http://www.ksl.com/?sid=24186643&nid=148&s_cid=rss-extlink

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Android 4.2 still Google exclusive

Android GeeksTo make matter worse the flagship HTC One, introduced two days ago, ships with Android 4.1.2. Asus was traditionally quick to introduce the new Android shortly after Google, but this time around none of the Asus Transformer family got the 4.2 update.Google Has Updated The Android 4.2 Jelly Bean ChangelogAndroid GeeksAndroid 4.2 Jelly Bean: Here's everything new according to Google's changelogMobile BurnWill Google Revive Android @ Home at I/O 2013Gotta Be MobileArs Technica?-Rethink Wireless?-AEG Indiaall 125 news articles?? ?

Read more at Fudzilla.

Source: http://www.twytter.net/blog/android-4-2-still-google-exclusive/

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Rodriguez Seeks Lost Royalties From Albums Sold Overseas While He Lived In Obscurity

JOHANNESBURG ? The story of Sixto Rodriguez, the greatest protest singer and songwriter that most people never heard of, is a real-life fairytale with a Hollywood finale.

In his latest incarnation, the guitarist has unwittingly become a champion for the rights of wronged musicians.

The Detroit construction worker whose albums flopped in the United States in the 1970s wants to know what happened to royalties in South Africa, where he unknowingly was elevated to rock star status.

While Rodriguez toiled in the Motor City, white liberals thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean burdened by the horrors of the apartheid regime were inspired by his songs protesting the Vietnam War, racial inequality, abuse of women and social mores.

Songs composed half a century ago that some equate to "inner-city poetry" still are relevant today: Like his poke at the pope's stance on birth control, and his plaints about corrupt politicians and bored housewives.

In South Africa, they were massive and enduring hits that still sell today, considered standards like Paul Simon's "Bridge over Troubled Waters," according to Stephen "Sugar" Segerman, a Cape Town record store owner whose nickname comes from the Rodriguez song "Sugarman."

"He's more popular than Elvis" in South Africa, Segerman said in an interview.

For decades, Rodriguez remained in the dark. Now the heartwarming documentary "Searching for Sugar Man," which tells of two South Africans' mission to seek out the fate of their musical hero, has been nominated for an Oscar.

The film by Swedish filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul and the story behind it have proved transformative for several people, not least Rodriguez, who is on a worldwide tour that has included New York's Carnegie Hall and London's Royal Albert Hall.

Even after the extent of his fame was brought home to him when he first toured South Africa to sold-out concerts 15 years ago, Rodriguez had said he had no interest in pursuing the money, holding true to his lyrics "And you can keep your symbols of success, Then I'll pursue my own happiness."

Now, he is not so sure: that people were profiting off his music doesn't sit well with him. He plans to seek legal resolution for the lost royalties, though he's not certain where to start.

"I think omission is a sin. Withholding evidence is unethical to say the least, but I'll resolve that," Rodriguez said in an interview with The Associated Press in a Detroit bar, months before the documentary was nominated. "These were licensed releases, not just bootlegs. ... It's in the process, but I have to get to a position to see what jurisdiction I approach. I'm ignorant. ... How do you do this?"

How, indeed? South Africa was under U.N. economic and cultural sanctions from the 1960s. While some Rodriguez songs were banned by the apartheid regime and many bootlegged copies were made on tapes and later CDs, three local labels reproduced Rodriguez's two albums under license, the 1970 "Cold Fact" and 1972 "Coming from Reality: After the Fact."

No one knows how many sold. In the documentary, Robbie Mann of RPM Records estimates that, under his father, the South African company sold "maybe half a million copies." Some estimate more than 1 million were sold in all.

South Africans interviewed in the documentary said they sent royalty checks to the United States, to the now-defunct Sussex Records label of former Motown executive Clarence Avant. The Hollywood record producer starts off emotional in the documentary, calling Rodriguez "my boy" and "greater than Bob Dylan."

But he's short-tempered when asked about the royalties, saying he cannot be expected to remember details of a 1970s contract and album that he suggests didn't sell more than three copies in the United States.

The 81-year-old Avant, who could not be reached for this article, still owns the rights to the music and is now being paid for them by Light In The Attic Records, which gives a new life to old recordings, according to Segerman, who acts as an unofficial publicist for Rodriguez. He said the 2008 and 2009 releases were the first time Rodriguez was paid royalties.

Now you can buy Rodriguez songs on iTunes, and the documentary soundtrack released by Light In The Attic in conjunction with Sony Legacy.

Segerman said Rodriguez has "created a whole new consciousness about robbing an artist." People coming into his Malibu Vinyl shop and sending him emails say "I want to buy it, not download it for free, but please, I want to make sure he's going to get the money."

"Here's the irony: His music came into South Africa through bootlegging but it's South Africa that's given him the voice to say `This is wrong!' and people get that, they understand now."

He said at least 200,000 copies of both albums have sold in the last year or so.

But Rodriguez appears untouched by the money, Segerman said. Now in his 70s with failing eyesight, Rodriguez continues to live in the same old house he's occupied for decades in Detroit, and gives most of the money away to relatives and friends, said Segerman.

In South Africa in the old days, his fans isolated by sanctions and censorship believed Rodriguez was as famous at home as he was in their country. They heard stories that the musician had died dramatically: He'd shot himself in the head onstage in Moscow; He'd set himself aflame and burned to death before an audience someplace else; He'd died of a drug overdose, was in a mental institution, was incarcerated for murdering his girlfriend.

In 1996, in the newly liberated South Africa, Segerman and journalist Carl Bartholomew-Strydom set out separately to find out the truth and then got together to solve the mystery. Nearly two years of frustration and dead ends finally led to Detroit, where they found Rodriguez ? sane, free and working on construction sites in his home town.

"It's rock-and-roll history now. Who would-a thought?" Rodriguez said, struggling to explain his improbable tale even several months before the documentary was nominated for an Oscar. How does an anonymous laborer in the Motor City who failed to make it in folk music unknowingly became a mysterious musical prophet in South Africa? And how does the persistence of two fans thousands of miles and an ocean away lead to redemption and a Hollywood-style victory for his long-ignored talent?

Those who produced his records could not believe they flopped. "This guy was like a wise man, a prophet, I've never worked with anyone as talented," Steve Rowland, who produced hits for Jerry Lee Lewis and Peter Frampton, says in the documentary. He produced Rodriguez's second and last album.

Rodriguez was the first artist signed to Sussex Records. Its second was Bill Withers.

Rodriguez said he wasn't wallowing in self-pity after his music career fizzled ? he just "went back to work." He raised a family that includes three daughters, launched several unsuccessful campaigns for public office, obtained a philosophy degree and reverted to manual labor in Detroit. He gave up the dream of living off his music but never stopped playing it.

"I felt I was ready for the world, but the world wasn't ready for me," Rodriguez said. "I feel we all have a mission ? we have obligations," he said. "Those turns on the journey, different twists ? life is not linear."

___

Karoub reported from Detroit.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/23/rodriguez-royalties-musician-south-africa_n_2749409.html

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The rise and fall of A-Rod

How Alex Rodriguez slipped from being perhaps the greatest player on the planet to one of the most reviled and ridiculed athletes in sports history

Leon Halip / Getty Images

Alex Rodriguez?is a three-time AL MVP, but has seen his career spiral into a litany of performance-enhancing drug allegations and off-the-field distractions.

THE BIG READ BY JOE POSNANSKI

updated 9:02 a.m. ET Feb. 22, 2013

Allard Baird would say he was literally shaking. Baird is not a demonstrative person ? he?s the sort of man who would call the best meal of his life ?good? or, perhaps, if he was feeling especially forthcoming, ?really good? ? and this is why the word ?literally? matters. He would remember ?literally? shaking as he sent in his report on a high school baseball player named Alex Rodriguez.

Baird was a young scout ? this was before he became general manager of the Kansas City Royals, long before he became vice president of player personnel for the Boston Red Sox. It was 20 years ago. He had been coaching baseball ? ?on the field,? as baseball people like to say. He grew used to locating players? weaknesses and working on them.

With Alex Rodriguez ? Baird could see no weaknesses. The kid was perfect.

The 2012 National Sportswriter of the Year, Joe Posnanski comes to NBC Sports after writing for Sports Illustrated, The Kansas City Star and, most recently, Sports on Earth. He?ll write three times a week, including a weekly Friday column called ?The Big Read.?

This is what rattled Allard Baird. He kept going back, again and again, to Westminster Christian High School in Miami to see the kid play. He must have watched Rodriguez 25 or 30 times ? at games, at practices, at special batting sessions for the scouts. Scouts generally measure five tools, of course: Speed, defense, arm strength, hitting and hitting for power. Rodriguez had them all. He could hit, of course ? he hit .500 his senior year. At 17, the ball already leaped off his bat and stayed in the air for a second or two longer than you expected ? and it was obvious he would only get stronger. He was so fast that high school catchers verifiably could not throw him out stealing (he was 35 for 35 in stolen bases his senior year). He played a beautiful shortstop, and his arm was the best Baird had ever seen at shortstop. Oh, that arm might have been the best part ? Rodriguez would throw and the ball would just skim the air across the infield, like a stone skipping over water.

Nobody could miss the tools. Once Baird took a brand new scout, his friend Muzzy Jackson, to see Rodriguez play. They watched him for five minutes. ?This scouting business is easy,? Jackson said. ?This kid?s got everything.?

Well, OK, Rodriguez was a true five-tool player. They are rare, but they happen.

This wasn?t what unnerved Allard Baird. Rodriguez didn?t just have tools ? he had skill too. He knew what he was doing. And he loved to play. His teammates liked him. He wanted to learn. On the rare occasions when he failed ? like when he would bounce the ball back to the pitcher ? he would run his heart out to first base.

Alex Rodriguez's career statistics

?When he took infield practice, he would show you his arm strength,? Baird says. ?When he hit in intrasquad games, he would run at 100 percent. He never took a play off, never, and you have to remember he was levels above everyone else. He enjoyed being on the field. He loved baseball. When you talked to him, he was pretty humble ? he knew that he was talented but he didn?t take anything for granted.

?Your job as an evaluator is to be positive. But it?s also to understand that the player will ultimately show you his deficiencies. With Alex, I just kept going back, and let?s just say it was pretty hard to dissect him.?

Baird says something else, something that might be worth remembering later on: He says that Rodriguez would do ANYTHING for scouts. Anything. They wanted him to stay after games to hit with a wooden bat? He would do that. They wanted him to talk about himself? He would talk about himself. They wanted to get him away from the field. He would do that. ?He was out there every day doing whatever scouts wanted him to do,? Baird says. ?He did it all with the joy of playing the game.?

David Bergman / ? David Bergman/Corbis High school senior Alex Rodriguez poses during practice at Westminster High School in 1993 in Miami.

Finally, Baird wrote his report. He graded Alex Rodriguez as a 70 player on the 20 to 80 scale. It was the highest grade Allard Baird would ever give a player, the highest grade he reasonably could give a player. ?I ranked him a Hall of Famer,? Baird says. And you should understand that Baird wasn?t saying that A-Rod might develop into a Hall of Famer after some years of development and coaching. No, Baird was saying that at that very moment in time, at age 17, Alex Rodriguez could step into to the Major Leagues and have a Hall of Fame career.

Yes, Baird would say he literally shook as he sent the report in.

That is how good Alex Rodriguez was when he was young.

* * *

So, how did he get here? How did the most extraordinary young player of his generation (at the time, Red Sox GM Dan Duquette predicted, not facetiously, that Rodriguez might have a year where he hit .400 with 60 homers), a handsome young man who three times (three times!) was named one of People Magazine?s Most Beautiful People, a phenom who was the best shortstop in the game more or less the day he showed up ? how did that guy become this A-Rod?

The hated A-Rod.

The disgraced A-Rod.

The PED-abuser A-Rod.

The choking A-Rod.

The A-Rod that no team in baseball really wants.

How? Duquette is now Baltimore?s executive vice president of baseball operations, and it has been almost 20 years, but he still has this powerful memory of the first time he saw Rodriguez. He was GM of the Montreal Expos, and he remembers wandering around the minor league spring training fields in Lantana, Florida when he suddenly just stopped cold.

?Who,? he asked the guys with him, ?Is that playing shortstop over there??

He said this just seeing the young Alex Rodriguez field a ground ball. One ground ball. From two fields away.

?He had such great size and such fluid actions at shortstop,? Duquette says. ?You just don?t see that combination ? he was just an extraordinary talent. He was so supremely gifted that it really catches the eye. You didn?t even need a second glance to see it.?

At 18, the year after he was the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, Rodriguez moved from Class A Appleton to Class AA Jacksonville to Class AAA Calgary to Seattle. He hit .312 with 21 homers and 20 stolen bases in the minors that first year. Seattle manager Lou Piniella talked the Mariners into calling up Rodriguez ? not because of his soon-to-be-famous bat but because at 18 he was already better defensively than anyone on the Major League team. ?He was awesome,? Rodriguez?s minor league teammate Raul Ibanez says plainly.

Stephen Dunn / Getty Images Shortstop Alex Rodriguez of the Seattle Mariners fields a groundball during a 11-2 win over the California Angels on Sept. 25, 1996.

Rodriguez became a star almost instantly. In the 50 years leading up to 1996, only one 20-year-old shortstop ? the Hall of Famer Robin Yount ? had come to the plate 600 times in a season. It?s a rare thing to find a 20-year-old shortstop simply good enough to play every day in the big leagues. Yount, it should be said, was mostly overmatched ? he hit .252 with two homers. Rodriguez at 20 hit .358 with 54 doubles and 36 homers and he finished second in the MVP balloting. There has never been a shortstop so good, so young.

He flashed all those tools and skills and traits that had amazed Allard Baird: Everyone talked about his joy for the game, his deference to teammates, his innocence. ?On July 27,? Gerry Callahan wrote that year in a Sports Illustrated story called ?The Fairest of Them All,? ?Alex Rodriguez will turn 21, making him old enough to have a beer with his Seattle Mariners teammates. He says he?s not interested. ?Can?t stand the taste,? he says. Rodriguez has always felt more at home among milk drinkers.?

The story follows hits all the touchstones. Rodriguez was innocent. Rodriguez was humble. He loved playing in Seattle (?I can?t imagine playing anywhere else?). He was deferential to stars like Ken Griffey (?To me, Junior is just so special and so unique?). More than anything, he had his priorities straight (?My Mom always said, ?I don?t care if you turn out to be a terrible ballplayer, I just want you to be a good person. ? Like Cal (Ripken) or Dale Murphy. I want people to look at me and say, ?He?s a good person.??).

Reading the story now, you can?t help but wonder: Were there signs of the A-Rod who would emerge? The A-Rod who craved approval? The A-Rod who needed to be viewed as perfect? That?s amateur psychology drivel, of course, but it is worth mentioning that the one somewhat sour note of the story came in a quote from an unnamed teammate:

?Well, he?s definitely a good kid,? the teammate acknowledged. ?But you know all that stuff like, ?Oh gee, I?m just happy to be in the big leagues?? Well, that?s an act. Don?t let him fool you. He knows how good he is. And he knows how good he?s going to be.?

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More newsLeon Halip / Getty Images

The rise and fall of A-Rod

??The Big Read by Joe Posnanski: How did the most extraordinary young player of his generation, a handsome young man who three times (three times!) was named one of People Magazine?s Most Beautiful People, a phenom who was the best shortstop in the game more or less the day he showed up ? how did that guy become this A-Rod?

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/50877666/ns/sports-baseball/

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Harper not saying what he's doing about possible Chinese hackers

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announces the establishment of the Office of Religious Freedom and the appointment of Andrew Bennett as its Ambassador at the Aiwan Tahir Community Centre in Maple, Ontario February 19, 2013. REUTERS/Jon Blacker

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OTTAWA - Despite recent reports that the Chinese military is hacking Canadian computer systems, Prime Minister Stephen Harper won't say whether he'll raise the issue with the Chinese government.

"We are certainly aware of these kinds of security threats and risks that exist," said Harper while in Saskatoon. "We have professionals who constantly evaluate them and work with partners on addressing them, but beyond that, as I think you know, I never comment publicly on the specifics of national security matters."

Harper's answer is similar to what the Liberal government said in 2005, when he asked whether the Grits had raised espionage concerns with Beijing following reports of thousands of Chinese spies in Canada.

"It is also well known that Canada maintains a vigorous counter-intelligence program to safeguard Canada's security," said Paul Martin as prime minister. "It is also very clear, and Canadians can rest assured, that we maintain a very strong law enforcement and security system that will enable them to be assured of their own protection and security."

A report by American security firm Mandiant this week accused a Chinese government branch of suspected cyber-spies of stealing hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organizations in Canada, the U.K. and the U.S.

The hacked Canadian computers are said to include systems that regulate critical infrastructure, including oil pipelines.

John Adams, who used to head cyber-security agency Communications Security Establishment Canada, says critical infrastructure is Canada's weakest point.

But Adams notes that doesn't mean a hostile party could easily control a hacked system.

"People think it's as simple as getting into the Internet and you can control eastern seaboard electrical distribution," he said. "It's not that simple. It's much more complex than that and there's always human oversight."

Adams appeared with Gen. Keith Alexander, commander of U.S. Cyber Command, at a cyber-security panel at the Ottawa Conference on Defence and Security on Thursday.

Alexander says part of the solution is to develop systems to alert government authorities while a hacker is trying to gain access to a particular system.

"If somebody doesn't tell us an attack is going on, we won't see it," Alexander told the conference. "And if you don't see it at network speed, you can't stop it."

Beyond infrastructure, Adams says hackers steal $4 trillion worth of intellectual property annually worldwide.

"Cyber crime is a runaway freight train," he said, noting that malicious sites in Canada almost tripled last year.

China should fess up about military intensions: Admiral

As China builds up its military, the commander of U.S. Pacific Command is calling on the communist dictatorship to be more upfront about its intentions.

"They have got to work on their transparency," Admiral Samuel Locklear told the Ottawa Conference on Defence and Security on Thursday. "It think there's often mistrust about China's military and what they're doing, particularly in their neighbourhood."

Striking a diplomatic tone, Locklear stresses that Washington's decision to pivot more military resources into the Asia-Pacific region is merely a recognition that the region is more critical than ever for trade - not "containment" of China.

Other Americans have been more blunt, including Capt. James Fanell, deputy chief of staff for intelligence operations for the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet.

He told the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association West Conference last month that China is taking control of maritime areas it's never dominated.

"In my opinion, China is knowingly, operationally and incrementally seizing maritime rights of its neighbours under the rubric of a maritime history that is not only contested in the international community but has largely been fabricated by Chinese government propaganda bureaus," Fanell said.

Still, Locklear said what scares him the most is the possibility of war on the Korean peninsula that would become "catastrophic within hours."

"And then you add the (North Korean) weapons of mass destruction dimension to it that's not only against the South Koreans, but is regional, and now potentially global ... and that keeps me awake at night," he said.

?

?

How big a threat are hackers?

Source: http://www.winnipegsun.com/2013/02/21/harper-not-saying-what-hes-doing-about-possible-chinese-hackers

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Fr. Gheddo: The Resignation of Benedict XVI. A Church on the Verge of an Epochal Change

Speculation and discussion about who will be the next Pope is of little importance

Benedict XVI's revolutionary resignation is an act of wisdom inspired by the Holy Spirit. Speculation over the next Pope is unimportant; as we are already sure he will be the best Pope for the Church today. What is important, however, is that the whole Church, all believers, ask the Holy Spirit for the grace to welcome and to follow him with prayer and in obedience to his indications on the path to be taken in bringing Jesus Christ closer to our contemporaries, especially those who know Him but still reject Him.

MILAN, ITALY (AsiaNews) - The more time passes since February 11, when Benedict XVI humbly and courageously announced he would resign from the Papacy, the more the reasons that led to this decision, truly revolutionary in the two thousand year history of the Church, become clear. Because it is the first time that this has happened.

The few cases of Papal abdications from the distant past were all the result of external pressure and threats, in undemocratic times, unlike the times we live today in our West. In other words, the resignation indicates that the Church is on the verge of an epochal change, that we still can not fathom, but what we do know is that the step taken by the great theologian Pope is for the greater good of the Church, as he himself said on February 11 last.

In other words, it was an act of wisdom inspired by the Holy Spirit, because it opens up a new path for the Church that will favour the proclamation of the message of salvation in Christ to all peoples and especially those of Christian Europe, the vanguard of the "world of today subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith," and which are moving away from the practice of the Christian life.

Pope Benedict, "after repeatedly examining" his conscience before God, has come to the certainty that his forces " strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry." So, "with full freedom" he renounced "the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter."

After all, in the nearly eight years of his pontificate, Pope Benedict really gave all of himself to the Church's mission and the primary goal that he had set himself from the beginning, the "new evangelization" of Christian peoples. The three encyclicals on Faith (this last not published, but we hope it will later materialize as a volume by Card. Ratzinger), Hope and Charity and the three volumes on the presentation of Christ to the world today, with the many other texts and gestures (the Synod on the New Evangelization, the Court of the Gentiles, the bond between Faith and Reason, the fight against "relativism", etc..), are the culmination of an entire teaching which had the principal purpose of dialogue and the proclamation of salvation in Christ to the Catholic and Christian world.

Over the past few days I have been re-reading "Spe Salvi," on Christian hope, a wonderful and rewarding scenarioon Christian life that could and should provoke a rebirth in the Christian peoples of Europe (the European Community), currently mired in a deep crisis not because of the GDP and the Spred, but because they are losing all hope of progress. "Only when the future is certain as a positive reality - we read in no. 2 - does it become possible to live the present as well". But if there is no God on the horizon of Christian peoples, the future becomes desperate, it leads to nihilism, to nothingness. Benedict XVI proclaimed these truths and wrote about them dozens and dozens of times without, however, garnering any reaction worthy of note.

Similarly, the Pope continued the teaching of Paul VI and John Paul II when he demonstrated that he is a firm believer in rationality of Christian anthropology, almost to the point of codifying "the inalienable values" of the Church ("Caritas in Veritate", nn. 28 , 44, 75), relaunched several times by the Italian Episcopal Conference, and then he sees that Catholic countries are propelling themselves along the road that leads to the destruction of the natural family and the absolute value of human life from conception to natural death. In short, when the Pope condemns war or racism, all agree, but when he speaks of marriage between man and woman and against abortion and euthanasia, then he becomes a dogmatic and reactionary conservative. And this without any serious rational debate on these fundamental issues in light of the Gospel.

Here, Pope Benedict, having given his all and averting a dwindling energy due to his age, made the grand gesture, recalling once again (in a speech to the Roman parish priests of February 14) the duty of purifying the Church of scandals, divisions, power games, slander; in short, from all individual and communal sins that tarnish the immaculate holiness of the Church and undermine the effectiveness of its proclamation of salvation in Christ. Today for us, it is a time of prayer and thanksgiving to God for the Pope that he gifted us and for his renunciation of the papacy, which opens new perspectives for the Church.

As in the recent past, the transition from one Pope to another (eg from Pius XII to John XXIII to Paul VI), the Church is no longer the same, precisely because times change and also the proclamation of Christ must be adapted to modern man. The same truth as always, but expressed and lived in a totally new way. Thus, speculation and discussion about who will be the next Pope is of little importance, as we are already sure that the Pope will be the best Pope for the Church today.

What is important, however, is that the whole Church, all believers, ask the Holy Spirit for the grace to welcome and to follow him with prayer and in obedience to his indications on the path to be taken in bringing Jesus Christ closer to our contemporaries, especially those who know Him but still reject Him. A colossal undertaking that only through an enthusiastic faith for the mission of the Church, prayer and witness of Christian life, will bear fruit.

-----

Father Piero Gheddo of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions and founder of the missionary news agency AsiaNews

Source: http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=49816&wf=rsscol

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Nestle says horsemeat scandal bad for whole industry

VEVEY, Switzerland (Reuters) - Nestle SA said a growing scandal in Europe about the use of horsemeat in products labeled as beef hurts the whole industry even though the world's biggest food company is not directly affected.

"It has affected us because the whole industry is in question again," Chief Executive Paul Bulcke told a news conference after Nestle published 2012 results. "This is bad for so many people working hard to give good food."

The British unit of frozen foods group Findus began recalling its beef lasagne last week on advice from French supplier Comigel, sparking questions about the safety of the European food supply chain.

Nestle, which sold the rights to the Findus brand in most of Europe in 2000 but retained them in Switzerland, launched a campaign this week to reassure consumers that Swiss Findus products were only made from Swiss beef.

"Everything under our labels is not affected," Bulcke said, adding that Nestle had intensified checks on its suppliers in the wake of the scandal.

(Editing by David Holmes)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nestle-says-horsemeat-scandal-bad-whole-industry-102708884--sector.html

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Ohio State Football: 4-Star Defensive End Lawrence Marshall Decommits from OSU

Just three days after surprising everyone and committing to Ohio State, 2014 prospect and 4-star defensive end Lawrence Marshall has had a change of heart.?

Marshall, coming off back-to-back visits to Michigan and Michigan State following his commitment to the Buckeyes, announced his decommittment from Ohio State on Twitter?late Wednesday night. ?

After visiting #MichiganState and #Michigan in consecutive days, Southfield (Mich.) DE Lawrence Marshall has de-committed from #OhioState

? Marc Givler (@MarcGivlerBG) February 14, 2013

Marshall was the fourth member of Ohio State's 2014 recruiting class and the second prospect to commit from the state of Michigan, but the soon-to-be senior still has a desire to explore his options. Because of that, he reopened his recruitment on Wednesday night.

Defensive end isn't a particular need for Urban Meyer's 2014 class. Ohio State signed 5-star Noah Spence, 5-star Adolphus Washington and 4-star defensive end Se'Von Pittman at the position in 2012, followed by a pair of 4-star defensive ends in Tyquan Lewis and Joey Bosa in 2013.

The Buckeyes are also recruiting other 2014 edge rushers like 5-star Da'Shawn Hand, 4-star?Malik McDowell, 4-star Solomon Thomas?and 4-star Jalyn Holmes (among others).?

Marshall will still consider Ohio State, but Michigan and Michigan State have made a very strong push for his services this week. Meyer could have a hard time swaying Marshall away from the home-state Michigan schools.

All recruit rankings per 247Sports.com

?

David is the lead Ohio State football writer for B/R. Follow him on Twitter @davidreg412.

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1528771-ohio-state-football-4-star-defensive-end-lawrence-marshall-decommits-from-osu

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Clippers rout Lakers 125-101, clinch season series

AAA??Feb. 15, 2013?1:24 AM ET
Clippers rout Lakers 125-101, clinch season series
By GREG BEACHAMBy GREG BEACHAM, AP Sports Writer??

Los Angeles Lakers forward Antawn Jamison, left, and Los Angeles Clippers forward Caron Butler battle for a loose ball during the first half of their NBA basketball game, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Lakers forward Antawn Jamison, left, and Los Angeles Clippers forward Caron Butler battle for a loose ball during the first half of their NBA basketball game, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin (32) shoots as Los Angeles Lakers forward Antawn Jamison (4) defends and guard Kobe Bryant (24) watches during the first half of their NBA basketball game, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard, left, shoots as Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan defends during the first half of their NBA basketball game, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (24) shoots as Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin (32) defends during the first half of their NBA basketball game, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike D'Antoni, left, yells at referee Bill Spooner during the first half of their NBA basketball game against the Los Angeles Clippers, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Chris Paul had 24 points and 13 assists, Blake Griffin scored 18 of his 22 points in a spectacular first quarter, and the Clippers cemented their supremacy in Los Angeles with a 125-101 victory over the Lakers on Thursday night.

Chauncey Billups hit five 3-pointers while scoring 21 points for the Clippers, who never trailed as they roared into the All-Star break by clinching the season series in their city rivalry for the first time in 20 years.

The Clippers have won the Staples Center co-tenants' first three games of the year, with Los Angeles' longtime underdogs burying the 16-time champions in this latest meeting under a wave of 16 3-pointers.

Kobe Bryant had 20 points and 11 assists for the Lakers, who head to the break in 10th place in the Western Conference.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-02-15-BKN-Clippers-Lakers/id-0e15d8d579b146d7aaa36317645cec66

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Select Best Budget Hotels In Hyderabad

Hyderabad is also generally termed as the "City of Nizams". During the English program, Hyderabad was one of the wealthiest princely condition in Indian. The town is situated on the crossroads of southern and northern Indian and was originally the first town where the IT platform was set up. The magnificence of Hyderabad has been popular and it is also one of the quickest creating metropolises of Indian. The town is wonderful and known for its traditional record, wealthy social culture, the mouth-watering dishes, and well-known traditional ancient monuments.

The town of Hyderabad was recognized by Muhamad Quli Qutb Shah on the financial institutions of Stream Musi, who was the fifth sultan of the Qutb Shahi Empire. Charminar, the most well-known vacationer place in Hyderabad was also designed under the concept of Muhamad Quli Qutb Shah. A lot of people journey to Hyderabad to encounter the wealth of this traditional princely condition and to see the magnificently designed Charminar. Being the investment of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad is also an important town for business and industry.

Owing to the needs of the regular tourists, there are a number of hotels in Hyderabad that offer relaxed remain to the tourists. Hotels are available for all types of costs such as the high-class hotels, the celebrity hotels and your budget hotels.

The budget hotels in Hyderabad are the most recommended and preferred resorts. These hotels are inexpensive and offer a heated and a relaxed remain to the tourists. Hotels are prepared with all the primary features needed by the tourists. The bedrooms are fresh and appropriate for dual occupancy. One can even guide packages. With the stages of mercury increasing in the town, most of these bedrooms are usually fixed with air conditioning. 24 time space assistance is available and even washing laundry assistance is provided. The features provided contains phone with STD and Fax assistance, tv, in-room cusine, multiple delicacies cusine locations, car vehicle parking, cab on contact, and physician on contact, help table and journey table.

Most of these hotels are cost-effective and on insistence, may even offer significantly affordable prices. The bedrooms are fresh and sanitary and the solutions provided are amazing. To entice more and more visitors, some of these hotels also offer additional features at no additional cost. All the necessary details regarding these hotels is available on the web and the bookings for these hotels can be created on the internet.

These budget hotels in Hyderabad also have a journey table to offer the essential details to the tourists about the encompassing locations, the well-known holiday locations and the best ways of traveling in the town. These hotels also help to organize for taxis for the tourists. The credit cards and even motorbikes are available at everyday lease foundation. The assistance of physician on contact is also available. Some of these hotels also have multi-cuisine cafe where any type of food can be requested.

The reason that creates these budget hotels well-known is that they offer the best solutions at the most financial costs. The bookings for these hotels can be created on the internet. One can acquire eye-catching the best prices on enhance arranging. The expenses can be created in enhance through a bank cards or even by cash exchange. The bookings can also be created with the support of a journey agency.

About the Author:
The author is a creative write on budget hotels in Hyderabad and also provides support in making resort bookings. For more details check out mvplhotels.com

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Select-Best-Budget-Hotels-In-Hyderabad/4432728

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North Korea tests nuclear device

12 February 2013 Last updated at 06:43 ET

A KCNA newsreader announced the test, saying it had "great explosive power"

North Korea has carried out its third, most powerful nuclear test despite UN warnings, and said "even stronger" action might follow.

It described the test as a "self-defensive measure" necessitated by the "continued hostility" of the US.

Its main ally, China, criticised the test, which was condemned worldwide.

Nuclear test monitors in Vienna say the underground explosion had double the force of the 2009 test, despite reportedly involving a smaller device.

If, as North Korea reports, a smaller device was tested successfully, analysts say this could take Pyongyang closer to building a warhead small enough to arm a missile.

The UN Security Council will meet at 14:00 GMT to discuss the test and its ramifications, diplomats say.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

Jason Palmer Science reporter, BBC News

---

All we know at the moment about the North Korean test is gleaned from seismic data: the event was magnitude 4.9, significantly larger than the 2006 and 2009 tests.

Learning more than that will be difficult. Monitoring stations in the region can pick up radioactive elements and particles that may - or may not - have been released from the test site; that would indicate whether the device was based on plutonium, as earlier tests, or the more worrisome uranium.

But that could take days, and may be frustrated by weather conditions; it will be virtually impossible to determine if the device was "miniaturised", as North Korea claims.

North Korea announced last month that it would conduct a third nuclear test following those in 2006 and 2009 as a response to UN sanctions that were expanded after the secretive communist state's December rocket launch, a move condemned by the UN as a banned test of missile technology.

'Self-restraint'

Activity had been observed at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site for several months.

Seismic activity was then detected by monitoring agencies from several nations at 11:57 (02:57 GMT) on Tuesday. A shallow earthquake with a magnitude of 4.9 was recorded, the US Geological Survey said.

Confirmation of the test came three hours later in a statement from the state-run KCNA news agency.

"It was confirmed that the nuclear test, that was carried out at a high level in a safe and perfect manner using a miniaturised and lighter nuclear device with greater explosive force than previously, did not pose any negative impact on the surrounding ecological environment," it said.

North Korea said the nuclear test - which comes just before US President Barack Obama's State of the Union address - was a response to the "reckless hostility of the United States".

"The latest nuclear test was only the first action, with which we exercised as much self-restraint as possible," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"If the US further complicates the situation with continued hostility, we will be left with no choice but to take even stronger second or third rounds of action."

The Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation said the "explosion-like event" was twice as big as the 2009 test, which was in turn bigger than that in 2006.

It is the first such test under new leader Kim Jong-un, who took over the leadership after his father Kim Jong-il died in December 2011.

'Provocative' Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

It is a grave threat to our nation's safety and cannot be tolerated as it will significantly damage international society's peace and safety?

End Quote Shinzo Abe Japanese prime minister

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the test as a "clear and grave violation" of UN resolutions and a "deeply destabilising" provocation.

Mr Obama said the test was a "highly provocative act", and called for "swift" and "credible" international action in response.

China expressed "firm opposition" to its ally's test, urging the North to honour its commitment to denuclearisation and "not take any actions which might worsen the situation".

In other reaction:

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the North should "abandon its nuclear arms programme", and he called for the revival of talks on the issue

• South Korea's presidential national security adviser, Chun Young-woo, said the test was an "unacceptable threat to the security of the Korean peninsula and north-east Asia... and a challenge to the whole international community"

• Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said it was a "grave threat" to Japanese security and could "not be tolerated"

• Nato described the test as an "irresponsible act" and a "grave threat to international and regional peace, security and stability"

• Britain called for a "robust response" from the UN Security Council

• French President Francois Hollande condemned the test and said Paris would back firm action by the UN Security Council

William Hague, British Foreign Secretary: "If North Korea continues in this way, it will face increasing isolation"

The BBC's Lucy Williamson, in Seoul, says the trouble, as ever, is what the international community can do in response without triggering an even bigger crisis - North Korea is already tied up in layers of sanctions which do not seem to have have any impact.

She adds that some in Washington have talked of maybe targeting North Korean financial interests, but the only real pressure is seen to lie with China.

By defying the UN and launching its nuclear test now, our correspondent says, Pyongyang is giving the new leadership in Beijing a very public test of its own.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21421841#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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NFL Mock Draft: Browns Take DE/OLB Damontre Moore at No. 6

If this headline looks familiar, it should. Back on January 8, Dan Kadar from Mocking the Draft released his first mock draft of the season and had the Cleveland Browns going with DE/OLB Damontre Moore at No. 6 overall. At the end of January, I actually forgot to cover Kadar's second mock draft, which had the Browns going with DE/OLB Barkevious Mingo instead.

Kadar released his third mock draft on Monday and reverted back to the Browns taking Moore:

While Moore was a star as defensive end in 2012, his first two years at A&M as an outside linebacker. The Browns need pass rush help, as they move to the 3-4 defense. Moore could be lined up opposite Jabaal Sheard and quickly give Cleveland a pair of linebackers that can rush the passer and stop the run.

Overall, it is clear that Kadar, who has been one of the most accurate mock draft experts over the past five years, favors Moore for the Browns, if he's available. Even in his second mock draft, the only reason Mingo went to Cleveland was because he had the Raiders (at No. 3 overall) taking Moore instead.

So far, the three common names I've seen associated with Cleveland are Moore, Mingo, and Bjoern Werner. CB Dee Milliner has been sprinkled in by a few folks. I'm looking forward to seeing some fresher perspectives, though, and that could very well happen over the next two weeks. The NFL Combine kicks off next Wednesday, and you can guarantee that there will be some risers and fallers in terms of a player's draft value.

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Source: http://www.dawgsbynature.com/2013/2/12/3980830/nfl-mock-draft-browns-take-de-olb-damontre-moore-at-no-6

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