2012-05-25T22:14:09Z Sott.net tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/:signsofthetimes tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245929 2012-05-25T22:13:04Z

Bad Bacteria = Restless Legs Restless leg syndrome is a serious medical condition. It is thought to be an autoimmune disease affecting the nerves in the legs. This condition is characterized by feeling of restlessness in the legs. It can also manifest as numbness and tingling, and shooting nerve pains in the legs making it extremely difficult to sleep at night. The condition is commonly associated with patients who also suffer with depression. A recent study published in the journal Sleep Medicine investigated whether or not patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and bacterial overgrowth developed RLS. CONCLUSIONS: IBS and SIBO are common in RLS. Three hypotheses developed are (a) RLS patients are selectively immunocompromised or genetically predisposed and thus more subject to SIBO; (b) SIBO leads to autoimmune changes, and subsequent auto-antibodies attack brain and/or peripheral nerves and (c) SIBO inflammation leads to increased hepcidin and CNS iron deficiency which, in turn, leads to RLS. These hypotheses bear further investigation.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245928 2012-05-25T22:02:10Z

The World War II generation may have passed down to their grandchildren the effects of chemical exposure in the 1940s, possibly explaining current rates of obesity, autism and mental illness, according to one researcher. David Crews, professor of psychology and zoology at the University of Texas at Austin, theorized that the rise in these diseases may be linked to environmental effects passed on through generations. His research showed that descendants of rats exposed to a crop fungicide were less sociable, more obese and more anxious than offspring of the unexposed. The results, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are part of a growing field of study that suggests environmental damage to cells can cause inherited changes and susceptibility to disease. Crews said his findings are applicable to humans. "This, I think, is the first causal demonstration that environmental contamination may be the root cause of the great increase in obesity and the great increase in mental disorders," Crews said in a telephone interview. "It's as if the exposure three generations before has reprogrammed the brain so it responds in a different way to a life challenge."

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245927 2012-05-25T21:45:10Z

In a 335-page ruling handed down today, an Administrative Law Judge with oversight of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has upheld the right of pomegranate juice manufacturer POM Wonderful to tell consumers about the health benefits of its juice. Since 1996, POM has invested over $35 million to do scientific research on their pomegranate products at 44 top universities and scientific centers around the globe. Over 70 of their studies have been published in significant peer-reviewed journals, validating the health benefits of the pomegranate and pomegranate juice. What makes this ruling significant is the fact that the judge said, "The greater weight of the persuasive expert testimony in this case leads to the conclusion that where the product is absolutely safe, like POM Products, and where the claim or advertisement does not suggest that the product be used as a substitute for conventional medical care or treatment, then it is appropriate to favor disclosure." While we are still studying the ruling, it seems to indicate that other safe products may also be allowed to disclose scientifically validated studies about their health benefits.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245926 2012-05-25T21:42:50Z

Is the government unleashing the same methods of entrapment against OWS that it has used against left movements and Muslim-Americans? With the high-profile arrest of activists on terrorism charges in Cleveland on May Day and in Chicago during the NATO summit there, evidence is mounting that the FBI is unleashing the same methods of entrapment against the Occupy Wall Street movement that it has used against left movements and Muslim-Americans for the last decade. In Cleveland the FBI announced on May 1 that "five self-proclaimed anarchists conspired to develop multiple terror plots designed to negatively impact the greater Cleveland metropolitan area." The FBI claimed the five were nabbed as they attempted to blow up a bridge the night before using "inoperable" explosives supplied to them by an undercover FBI employee. Then on May 19, the day before thousands marched peacefully in Chicago to protest NATO-led wars, the Illinois State Attorney hit three men with charges of terrorism for allegedly plotting to use "destructive devices" against targets ranging from Chicago police stations to the home of Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Defense attorneys for the Chicago activists claim their clients, like the Cleveland activists, were provided with supplies for making Molotov cocktails by undercover agents in an operation that included the participation of the FBI and Secret Service. This was followed up on May 20 by the arrest of two other men on terrorism charges in Chicago for statements they made, which critics say amount to thought crimes. The Chicago cases are also reportedly the first time the state of Illinois is charging individuals under its post-September 11 terrorism law. To hear FBI officials describe it, "Law enforcement took swift, collaborative action...to eliminate the risk of violence and protect the public." To many observers, however, the government itself is the overarching threat, systematically repressing peaceful dissent.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245925 2012-05-25T21:09:47Z

Deputies scuffle during a session in the chamber of the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev May 24, 2012 The Ukrainian Parliament resembled a pub when a rowdy brawl broke out between opposition and pro-presidential deputies. What sparked the tussle was a moot bill that sought to grant the Russian language official status in parts of the country. ­The scuffle erupted after opposition deputies, bearing Orthodox icons and banners, took to the stand to argue against the proposed legislation, saying it was important to preserve Ukrainian unity. The ruling Party of Regions then put the bill to vote, and deputies started discussing the legislation. But words soon turned into actions, as lawmakers started literally nudging and grappling with each other. One deputy was toppled over the stand and turned upside down. Another legislator, Mykola Petruk of the opposition Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, was hospitalized after apparently receiving a blow to his head. A small number of pro-opposition protesters also gathered outside the Parliament to deride the proposed legislation by waving flags, blowing horns and banging drums.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245924 2012-05-25T20:57:08Z

Ten years ago, Brian Banks was the fiercest middle linebacker on the Long Beach Polytechnic High roster. Renowned schools like the University of Southern California (USC), Ohio State University (OSU) and the University of Michigan (UM), institutions that only scout out the best of the best, all recruited him for their squads. A Cali kid through and through, though, Banks insists that he was ready to sign with the USC Trojans. It should have been a fairly tale story from there. Play for the best football program on the West Coast. Shine like he did in high school. Turn pro. Garner the sort of money, power and prestige that comes standard with being a big time star. Live happily ever after. Too bad it didn't play out like that. Instead, the 16-year-old Banks was arrested for raping his childhood friend, Wanetta Gibson, at their high school. Gibson accused Banks -- who was apparently close to Banks since middle school -- of taking her into the elevator and sexually assaulting her. Her alleging that he took her into the elevator to assault her was a key component, because it added a "kidnapping enhancement" to the serious charges Banks was already facing.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245923 2012-05-25T19:27:18Z

US: Nashville, Tennessee - For years, varied and sometimes wild claims have been made about the origins of a group of dark-skinned Appalachian residents once known derisively as the Melungeons. Some speculated they were descended from Portuguese explorers, or perhaps from Turkish slaves or Gypsies. Now a new DNA study in the Journal of Genetic Genealogy attempts to separate truth from oral tradition and wishful thinking. The study found the truth to be somewhat less exotic: Genetic evidence shows that the families historically called Melungeons are the offspring of sub-Saharan African men and white women of northern or central European origin. And that report, which was published in April in the peer-reviewed journal, doesn't sit comfortably with some people who claim Melungeon ancestry. "There were a whole lot of people upset by this study," lead researcher Roberta Estes said. "They just knew they were Portuguese, or Native American." Beginning in the early 1800s, or possibly before, the term Melungeon (meh-LUN'-jun) was applied as a slur to a group of about 40 families along the Tennessee-Virginia border. But it has since become a catch-all phrase for a number of groups of mysterious mixed-race ancestry. In recent decades, interest in the origin of the Melungeons has risen dramatically with advances both in DNA research and in the advent of Internet resources that allow individuals to trace their ancestry without digging through dusty archives. G. Reginald Daniel, a sociologist at the University of California-Santa Barbara who's spent more than 30 years examining multiracial people in the U.S. and wasn't part of this research, said the study is more evidence that race-mixing in the U.S. isn't a new phenomenon. "All of us are multiracial," he said. "It is recapturing a more authentic U.S. history."

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245922 2012-05-25T19:16:26Z

A new Amnesty International report paints a gruesome picture of summary executions, torture and ill-treatment in North Korea as Kim Jong Un succeeded his late father, Kim Jong Il, as the country's ruler last December. The country used firing squads or staged traffic accidents to execute 30 officials involved in talks to unite North and South Korea, according to the 2012 Amnesty International report released Thursday. It also notes that the country had been questioned about another 37 reported executions between 2007 and 2010 for "financial crimes." As the ruling authority shifted to Kim Jong Un, the country's State Security agency detained another 200 North Korean officials, some of whom are now feared executed or in prison camps, the report notes. Credible reports estimated that up to 200,000 prisoners were held in horrific conditions in six sprawling political prison camps, including the notorious Yodok facility. Thousands were imprisoned in at least 180 other detention facilities. Most were imprisoned without trial or following grossly unfair trials and on the basis of forced confessions. Men, women and children, who were kept in the prison camps, were tortured and forced to work in dangerous conditions, according to the report. Many of the prisoners die or get sick while in custody due to the horrendous conditions, beatings, lack of medical care and unhealthy living conditions.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245921 2012-05-25T19:09:31Z

Milan - Italian automaker Fiat SpA, which controls Chrysler, said Friday that it and subsidiaries will immediately halt sales to Iran, following similar moves by other carmakers under pressure to cut ties to Tehran over its disputed nuclear program. The international community has been toughening sanctions on the Islamic Republic - including on its main cash cow, oil - because of fears that it plans to build nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful. The auto industry has been under pressure from the anti-nuclear lobby group United Against Nuclear Iran to cut off business dealings with Iran. UANI says that the global auto industry is the second-largest source of foreign currency for the Iranian government, after oil, and also a source of foreign technology. The decision by Fiat to halt sales "is a step in the right direction, and it shows the effectiveness of public pressure against these companies," UANI spokesman Nathan Carleton said from New York. Fiat and heavy-truck maker Fiat Industrial SpA said in separate statements that they "support international efforts for a diplomatic solution" regarding Iran. Both companies said their sales to Iran were "totally immaterial" in terms of numbers, and concerned only commercial and civilian products. Most of the vehicles sold were Iveco-branded buses and trucks, and no vehicles were produced in Iran, according to Fiat.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245920 2012-05-25T19:01:09Z

Waco, Texas - Walking around a gun store one day last summer, the young man never took off his sunglasses as he asked questions about items he piled on the counter - behavior that struck the manager as odd. Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo had already traveled hundreds of miles since going AWOL from Fort Campbell, Ky., three weeks earlier. He bought a gun from an online seller in Nashville and paid cash for thousands of dollars of bomb-making components at a major Dallas-area retail store. Trying to avoid being caught, he wore a baseball cap and sunglasses most of the time, never used credit cards while staying in motels and traveling by bus or cab, and he had his roommate's driver's license. But his luck ran out in Killeen, a city about 150 miles southwest of Dallas and near one of the nation's largest Army posts - Fort Hood. Guns Galore manager Cathy Cheadle "just had this feeling" about him. She and an employee talked about it and then called police - who had Abdo in custody less than 24 hours later at a motel, where authorities say he had started to build a bomb. Police hadn't even known his name or background until they detained him. A federal jury Thursday convicted Abdo, a Muslim soldier, on six charges in connection with his failed plot to blow up a Texas restaurant full of Fort Hood troops, his religious mission to get "justice" for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. "A disaster was averted because somebody picked up the phone and made a call," prosecutor Mark Frazier told The Associated Press after the trial. "The people who work in businesses like this are vigilant ... and risked being embarrassed if their suspicions turned out to be nothing, but that's what we want people to do."

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245919 2012-05-25T18:53:53Z

Rome - Italian doctors have saved the life of a 16-month-old boy by implanting the world's smallest artificial heart to keep the infant alive until a donor was found for a transplant. The doctors at Rome's Bambino Gesu hospital said the operation was carried out last month and made public this week. The baby, whose identity has not been disclosed, was kept alive for 13 days before the transplant and is now doing well. The baby was suffering from dilated myocardiopathy, a heart muscle disease which normally causes stretched or enlarged fibers of the heart. The disease gradually makes the heart weaker, stopping its ability to pump blood effectively. "This is a milestone," surgeon Antonio Amodeo told Reuters television, adding that while the device was now used as bridge leading to a transplant, in the future it could be permanent. Before the implant, the child also had a serious infection around a mechanical pump that had been fitted earlier to support the function of his natural heart.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245918 2012-05-25T18:29:03Z

Astana: A massive wave of deaths has been reported among the endangered saiga antelopes in Kazakhstan. Around 540 carcasses of the animal has been found in the country, RIA Novosti reported Thursday. According to the Kazakh agriculture ministry, the carcasses were found in the Kostanai region. "Aviation monitoring today (Thursday) discovered a new concentration of saiga deaths with the approximate number of dead animals reaching beyond 400," the ministry said. Last year, at least 12,000 saiga antelopes died in Kazakhstan, presumably from pasteurellosis infection and from overeating. In November 2010, Kazakhstan introduced a ban on saiga hunting. The latest statistics put the number of saiga antelopes in Kazakhstan at 85,500. The country spends $800,000 annually to prevent the deaths. Saiga were virtually exterminated in the 1920s but then their numbers increased in the 1950s. The animals mostly became endangered because of hunting and the high demand for their horns in traditional Chinese medicine. Saiga are also found in Russia's Kalmykia region and in Mongolia.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245917 2012-05-25T17:55:31Z

For the first time in history, there are now more unemployed Americans who attended at least some college than people who only graduated high school or dropped out of high school, Bureau of Labor Statistics data show. Seasonally unadjusted BLS data from April show that about 4.7 million of the nation's 9 million unemployed either graduated from a four-year or a two-year college program or attended college for some time before dropping out. A smaller 4.3 million share of America's unemployed graduated only from high school or didn't finish high school. Jed Graham from Investor's Business Daily graphed the change. This isn't necessarily bad news for college-bound kids, however. First of all, less educated people are more likely to not be counted as officially unemployed because they've dropped out of the labor force and stopped looking for work altogether. (Millions of these people are referred to as "discouraged workers," and they don't show up in monthly unemployment reports.) Secondly, less than 4 percent of college graduates over the age of 25 were unemployed in April, a far smaller share than the 7.9 percent unemployment rate for high school grads. High school drop outs, meanwhile, faced 12.5 percent unemployment.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245916 2012-05-25T17:54:44Z

A one-off National Lottery draw will create 100 millionaires as a 'thank you' to players for helping fund the London Olympics. The EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle draw will take place on the night of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on July 27, a National Lottery spokesman said. The event guarantees a million-pound cheque for 100 UK players, breaking the world record for the most millionaires created in a single draw.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245915 2012-05-25T17:45:23Z

Northside Independent School District plans to track students next year on two of its campuses using technology implanted in their student identification cards in a trial that could eventually include all 112 of its schools and all of its nearly 100,000 students. District officials said the Radio Frequency Identification System (RFID) tags would improve safety by allowing them to locate students - and count them more accurately at the beginning of the school day to help offset cuts in state funding, which is partly based on attendance. Northside, the largest school district in Bexar County, plans to modify the ID cards next year for all students attending John Jay High School, Anson Jones Middle School and all special education students who ride district buses. That will add up to about 6,290 students. The school board unanimously approved the program late Tuesday but, in a rarity for Northside trustees, they hotly debated it first, with some questioning it on privacy grounds.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245914 2012-05-25T17:44:20Z

Canada - You have to ask whether the RCMP has learned anything from the years of adverse publicity that has damaged the iconic force's reputation with Canadians. Fatal misuse of Tasers, questionable in-custody deaths, botched major investigations such as Air India, a looming sexual-harassment lawsuit by a former member. And now, with all that on the table, the RCMP admits a senior Alberta Mountie disciplined for sexual misconduct and drinking on the job is not being dismissed. Instead, he's being transferred from Edmonton to British Columbia, where trust in the RCMP could hardly be lower. Donald Ray was a staff sergeant in Edmonton's K-Division behavioural sciences unit, in charge of its polygraph unit, when he was accused of disgraceful conduct. The Ottawa Citizen obtained documents from Ray's internal disciplinary hearing.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245913 2012-05-25T17:28:51Z

Canada: Timmins, Ontario - A raging forest fire that's spewing smoke and ash toward Timmins has jumped Highway 144 southwest of the northern Ontario city. And fire crews report a new fire on Highway 101 southwest of Timmins has forced the evacuation of the Old Mill campground. The city of 43,000 is under a state of emergency and officials are on high alert. Mayor Tom Laughren says more than 225 people have been evacuated from rural communities including Hydro Bay, Kamiskotia Highway and Cooks Lake. Many have sought shelter with the Red Cross, while others are staying with friends or family. That's in addition to an evacuation order for the nearby Mattagami First Nation that saw 118 residents relocate to Kapuskasing. "I think the next 48 to 72 hours, from a fire perspective, as it relates to Timmins, will be critical," the mayor said Friday. Laughren said he hopes the skies will clear up enough to allow water bombers to take on the flames.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245912 2012-05-25T17:17:48Z

Without any mainstream media coverage at all, the House of Representatives passed the United States - Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act of 2012 (USIESC). The USIESC, written by Eric Cantor, claims there is a need to provide Israel with unlimited military and financial aid as a result of the disturbances caused by the Arab Spring. Israel will have an essentially unlimited amount of funds allocated to them through the Federal Reserve Bank. The country will also enjoy an "expanded role of NATO" that consists of an "enhanced presence at NATO headquarters and exercises". The USIESC pledges the US government's "commitment" to assist Israel in remaining a Jewish State; as well as protection from the UN if the UN Security Council resolves to hold Israel accountable to international laws. The US government's counter-terrorism unit will also aid Israel by any means. This USIESC asserts that "supported by the American people" the US government will "repeatedly affirm the special bond between the United States and Israel" and that the two countries have "shared values and shared interests."

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245911 2012-05-25T16:20:33Z

When the age-blighted bricks that hold up House Darwin start to topple, it may look a bit like what's happening now to the Darwinian sub-specialty of evolutionary psychology. This pseudo-science attracts skepticism and eye-rolling -- albeit usually tempered and mild -- even from many Darwinists. At Slate, psychologist Jesse Bering writes about a new study in Evolution and Human Behavior that would sure seem to be predictable media catnip, a confection of evolutionary storytelling about the human past spiced with large doses of cynicism about male and female sexuality. The study used the customary small sampling of students from the local college whose preference in a sexual partner was the subject of inquiry. It discovered a tendency among the males to prefer photos of women who appeared vulnerable to being sexually exploited, including if the women appeared close to being unconscious. The young men disclosed that the pictures they found enticing disproportionately showed women who looked sleepy, inebriated, or simply stupid. When asked about choosing a woman as a girlfriend or spouse, however, the men were drawn to ladies who seemed more alert, lively, and intelligent. What in the world is surprising about this? Many men -- most men? -- have a bit of the cad in them, or worse, or much worse. That sleep or intoxication makes people vulnerable is no news either. The insight goes back back to the Bible and no doubt well beyond that. (Though interestingly all the stories of it in Scripture that I can think of involve men, not women, being victimized or taken advantage of when asleep or drunk.)

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245910 2012-05-25T15:46:35Z

Christianity is going to collapse, claims Iranian press. Reason? The writings in a recently unearthed religious text written on animal skin that dates back to the fifth century. The text which is believed to be an authentic version of the Gospel by Barnabas, a disciple of Jesus, is presently with Turkish authorities as they have confiscated it from a group of smugglers who were taking away antiquities. According to Iranian media, the book has the power to collapse the foundation of Christianity and shake the politics of the world with its claims that Jesus was never crucified. Moreover, the book claims that Jesus foretold the coming of the Prophet Muhammad, claims Iranian media like The Basij Press. The book which is actually written in Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, has even made the Vatican curious enough to make an official request with Turkey to allow them to view the book.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245909 2012-05-25T15:33:40Z

Hardly a day goes by in Sochi, Russia's picturesque Black Sea resort, without a dead dolphin washing up on the beach. With the tourist season just kicking off, the unexplained deaths have yet to draw much scrutiny. But environmentalists are increasingly alarmed. The dolphin carcasses are also turning into a real holiday spoiler for vacationers drawn to the region's scenic beaches and pristine vistas. Russian tourist Aida Kobzh was shocked to discover a group of dead dolphins last week at her local beach in Sochi. "Everyone stood there and stared at the dead little dolphins lying belly up. Poor creatures!" Kobzh says. "There were some on the beach but also in the water, they were floating there, dead.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245908 2012-05-25T15:25:02Z

Judges narrowly acquitted Socrates, the philosopher whose teachings earned him a death sentence in ancient Athens, in a retrial Friday billed as a lesson for modern times of revolution and crisis. Socrates spoke himself at his trial in the fourth century BC, but this time in his absence, a panel of 10 US and European judges heard pleas by top Greek and foreign lawyers at the event at the Onassis Foundation in Athens. Judges then voted on whether he was guilty on the ancient charges of evil-doing, impiety and corrupting the young. In 399 BC, Socrates was made to die by drinking hemlock poison after being convicted by a jury of hundreds of Athenians. Unrepentant, he had insulted the judges at his trial and cheekily asked to be rewarded for his actions. The modern judges spared him that dishonour this time, with an even vote -- five guilty and five not guilty, meaning that under ancient Athenian law he was not convicted. Socrates' method of sceptical inquiry, preserved by his disciple Plato and other ancient authors, questioned conventional wisdom on sensitive notions of politics, religion and morality and earned him powerful enemies. He was branded an enemy of democracy, accused of treason in favour of the Spartan enemy, and of influencing a violent uprising against the Athenian republic by a group of oligarchs that included some of his pupils.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245907 2012-05-25T15:14:35Z

Cbet Circular No. 3123, issued on 2012, May 25, announces the recovery of comet P/2005 N3 (LARSON) = 2012 K4 (Larson) by our team; this comet was discovered on 2005, July 5.38 by S. Larson on CCD images taken in the course of the Mt. Lemmon Survey and it was last observed on 2005, December 02. On 2012, May 22.6 we started an observing session to recover the periodic comet P/2005 N3. We found an object of magnitude ~20.4 located ~4 arcmin north-east of the nominal position. On May 25.6 we have been able to obtain a second night of observations. Stacking of, respectively, seven and thirteen R-filtered exposures, 60-seconds each obtained remotely from the Haleakala-Faulkes Telescope North on 2012, May 22.6 and 25.6, through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD, shows that comet P/2005 N3 (LARSON) has a ill-defined central condensation of R magnitude about 20.3, surrounded by a weak coma 5" in diameter, and a faint and broad tail, nearly 8" long toward the south-west.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245906 2012-05-25T14:52:20Z

On Monday, June 4th, the Moon will pass through the shadow of Earth, producing a partial lunar eclipse visible across the Pacific from China to the United States.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245905 2012-05-25T13:31:16Z

The FBI has arrested and will file charges against a passenger on a Miami-bound flight from Jamaica who became unruly when the plane landed, according to NBC News' Pete Williams. Officials say Ryan Snider, 24, of Canada, was arrested in connection with an incident on American Airlines Flight 320 in which, they say, Snider rushed toward the front of the plane after it had landed. "There were no injuries or damage to the plane. There appears to be no nexus to terrorism and Snider was not on the no-fly list," the FBI told Williams. Snider may face federal charges of interference with a flight crew. Airport officials said they received an urgent call at 10:19 a.m., as the plane, which had arrived from Montego Bay at 10:12 a.m., was taxiing. Officials said the plane's crew had become concerned about Snider's behavior.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245904 2012-05-25T13:24:04Z

Researchers have trapped a rainbow - slowing light to a near-stop - in an array of 25,000 "invisibility cloaks", each smaller than a hair's breadth. A report in the New Journal of Physics shows how the quest for an invisibility cloak is leading to cleverer ways to use and manipulate light. The trick could aid the analysis of complex samples or even communications. In recent years, a number of research efforts has demonstrated a wide range of cloaking techniques. Light can either be guided around or cancelled by a material that makes an object invisible to an observer. For the most part, such cloaks have been tiny or limited in the range of colours or angles of light they work with. Nevertheless, this kind of engineering of light and the paths it takes has in principle a great many applications besides invisibility.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245903 2012-05-25T13:18:31Z

Travelers could find themselves facing life-size virtual avatars at New York City's airports as soon as this summer. Today's avatars exist as projected video images rather than as interactive holograms, but the next generation is expected to have the "brains" to directly answer people's questions. Three of the virtual assistants will appear at New York City's John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia Airports, as well as New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport. Such "computerized, hologramlike avatars" will act as fancier versions of automated video greetings that direct passengers to ticket counters and instruct people on moving through airport security screening. The technology exists to make more interactive avatars that respond to airport traveler questions in multiple languages, said Patrick Bienvenu, CEO at AirportOne.com and creator of the "AVA" airport avatar. He envisions AVA's next generation answering questions such as the location of departure gates and departure times for certain flights.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245902 2012-05-25T13:13:02Z

Chicago - Next time you're out walking about, you may want to give passers-by a smile, or at least a nod. Recent research reveals that these tiny gestures can make people feel more connected. People who have been acknowledged by a stranger feel more connected to others immediately after the experience than people who have been deliberately ignored, according to study reported here today (May 24) at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Motivation. "Ostracism is painful," said study researcher Eric Wesselmann, a social psychologist at Purdue University in Indiana. "Sometimes, colloquially, I like to say ostracism sucks. It's not a pleasant experience." Isolation and connection The pain is psychological, but it can also extend to the physical. Studies have linked loneliness to a weakened immune system and a hardening of the arteries, for example. And a variety of laboratory experiments have shown that when a person is excluded, even if for a brief time in something as inconsequential as a silly computer game, they feel worse about themselves and experience an all-around sour mood. Researchers suspect that this response is evolutionary. Humans are social animals, adapted for group living, Wesselmann said. "If you depend upon others for your survival, if you are culled from that group, you are as good as dead," he said. If that's the case, people should be very tuned-in to clues about social acceptance and rejection. Wesselmann and his colleagues decided to conduct a subtle experiment to find out. Their participants, 239 pedestrians in a busy campus area, didn't even know they were part of a study. They simply passed by someone who acknowledged them politely, acknowledged them with a smile or stared straight through them as if they weren't even there. The researchers were aiming to create a feeling the Germans call "wie Luft behandeln," or "to be looked at as though air." (Psychology has also explained another German expression, "schadenfreude," or the joy we sometimes get when others fail.) Immediately after this encounter, the unknowing participants got waylaid by another person who asked them to fill out a survey on social connectedness. The participants had no idea that the stranger who had just passed them was part of this study. A fourth group of participants filled out the survey without ever encountering the stranger at all.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245901 2012-05-25T12:43:02Z

A Philadelphia woman who police say believed her husband was having an affair is accused of killing her toddler twins and poisoning her 4-year-old daughter before attempting to commit suicide. Philadelphia police say Stacey Smalls, 41, attempted to commit suicide by slitting her own wrists after killing her 1-1/2-year-old son, Adam, and the boy's twin sister, Eve, on Thursday, one by drowning and the other by strangulation. Police Lt. Raymond Evers told NBC10 that the 4-year-old "was given some kind of substance to drink or swallow." Stacey Smalls will be charged with two counts of murder, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told NBC10. On Friday morning, the children's father, Ron Smalls took the younger children's toys, high chairs and play pen to the curb as a trash truck pulled up, NBC10.com in Philadelphia reported. He told NBC10 outside his home in the Tacony neighborhood of Philadelphia that he wasn't ready to talk about the incident, but did say that his 4-year-old daughter was expected to be OK.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245900 2012-05-25T12:36:04Z

Dozens of police and SWAT officers surrounded a real estate company office in Valparaiso, Ind., on Friday after at least three gunshots were heard. A gunman inside the building was reported to be holding as many as 15 hostages, police and witnesses said. The gunman allowed five people to leave the 21st Century real estate office, a witness told NBC News. Few other details were available, but people who gathered in the parking lot as news of the situation spread told NBC News that they were receiving text messages from people inside the building, who relayed that the standoff was the result of a domestic dispute between the man and his girlfriend. Police said the man entered the stand-alone building in Valparaiso, a southern suburb of Chicago, at 10:05 a.m. CT (11:05 a.m. ET). They said they hadn't yet identified the gunman and wouldn't comment on whether they've been able to make contact with him.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245899 2012-05-25T11:21:18Z

Array will scan sky 10,000 times faster and with 50 times the sensitivity of any other telescope The world's biggest and most advanced radio telescope, capable of detecting signs of extraterrestrial life in the far reaches of the universe, will be located in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The decision to split the location of the $2 billion "Square Kilometre Array" followed intense lobbying by the two leading bidders, South Africa one side and a joint bid from Australia and New Zealand on the other. Scientists leading the project rejected the suggestion that the decision, which will mean higher costs, meant science had taken a back seat to political expediency. "We were all aware of the political dimensions of this," said Jon Womersley, Chair of the Board of Directors of the SKA organisation, but he added: "It's a scientifically motivated way forward."

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245898 2012-05-25T11:10:39Z

Profits at big U.S. companies broke records last year, and so did pay for CEOs. The head of a typical public company made $9.6 million in 2011, according to an analysis by The Associated Press using data from Equilar, an executive pay research firm. That was up more than 6 percent from the previous year, and is the second year in a row of increases. The figure is also the highest since the AP began tracking executive compensation in 2006. Companies trimmed cash bonuses but handed out more in stock awards. For shareholder activists who have long decried CEO pay as exorbitant, that was a victory of sorts. That's because the stock awards are being tied more often to company performance. In those instances, CEOs can't cash in the shares right away: They have to meet goals first, like boosting profit to a certain level. The idea is to motivate CEOs to make sure a company does well and to tie their fortunes to the company's for the long term. For too long, activists say, CEOs have been richly rewarded no matter how a company has fared - "pay for pulse," as some critics call it.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245897 2012-05-25T10:19:08Z

Cows on the loose in Boxford, Mass., crashed a backyard party last weekend, and went right for the beer. "They enjoyed it. There's no doubt about it. They went right for the beer and then when one was done, they'd knock another one over and take care of that beer," Lt. James Riter of the Boxford Police Department told NBC affiliate WHDH.com. Police said they heard reports of screams from a group of women as five or six cows stumbled into the yard, eagerly hurtling toward the beers. "They got up as the cows went toward the table. They stepped back and the cows took over the table, knocking over the beers with their noses, drinking the beer off the table. They went to the recycling bin to find any leftovers," Riter told the TV station. A caller told the 911 dispatcher: "We thought they were deer, but they're huge, huge, huge cows. There's got to be five or six of them." Andrea Poritzky also called 911 after spotting "about six cows" in her yard. "I don't own cows," she said. "I was initially a little nervous. And then after I found it very comical and not very surprising due to the fact that we live in the country here," Poritzky said. A police escort rounded up the cows and returned them to a farm about a mile away.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245896 2012-05-25T09:40:30Z

Hurricane Bud lost some strength as it moved closer to Mexico's Pacific Coast and was forecast to hit land south of the popular tourist town of Puerto Vallarta Friday night, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245895 2012-05-25T09:19:20Z

The manufacturing of consent is endemic within modern societies. Throughout history, the need to "persuade and influence" has always been manipulated by those people in power as a means to maintain authority and legitimacy. In more recent years, the overall manipulation of the mass public mind has become less about making speeches and more about becoming a pervasive presence within the lives of each individual. Edward Bernays has often been called "the father of public relations," as it was his teachings and research that spurred the postwar years of propaganda. Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, utilized psychological and psychoanalytical ideas to construct an informational system - propaganda - capable of manipulating public opinion. Bernays, apparently, considered that such a manipulative apparatus was necessary because society, in his regard, was composed of too many irrational elements - the people - which could be dangerous to the efficient mechanisms of power (or so-called "democracy"). Bernays wrote that, "The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society."1 Bearing in mind that Bernays was working in the early 1920s, we can expect the mechanisms of propaganda - mass manipulation - to have progressed to a very advanced degree since then. Within the context of our modern mass societies, propaganda has morphed into a mechanism for not only engineering public opinion, but also for consolidating social control. Modern programs of social influence could not exist without the mass media. Today it exists as a combination of expertise and knowledge from technology, sociology, social behaviorism, psychology, communications and other scientific techniques. Almost every nation needs a controlled mainstream media if it is to regulate and influence its citizenry. By way of the mainstream media, a controlling authority is able to exert psychological influence upon people's perception of reality. This capacity works hand in hand with the more physical components, such as enforcing the legal system and national security laws (surveillance and monitoring). State control, acting as a "psychological machine," instigates specific psychological manipulations in order to achieve desired goals within its national borders (and often beyond). Examples of these psychological manipulations include the deliberate use of specific cultural symbols and embedded signifiers that catalyze conditioned reflexes in the populace. These triggers have included the words "red" and "communist" during the United States' 1950s McCarthyism, and "Muslim terrorist" during the currently constructed war on terror. Targeted reactions can thus be achieved, making the populace open to further manipulation in this state. This is a process of psychic re-formation that works repeatedly to soften up the people through continued and extensive exposure to particular stimuli. These are the symbols, artificial and human-made, that we live by in order to allow for the construction of a compliant society.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245894 2012-05-25T08:57:47Z

The earthquake that the Bulgarian capital Sofia experienced at 3 am on Tuesday has been the strongest in its history since 1858, i.e. in 154 years, historical records indicate. On Tuesday, Bulgaria's territory saw over 60 weak aftershocks after the 5.8-5.9-magnitude it experienced early Tuesday morning, according to the Geophysics Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. All of the 60 aftershocks had magnitudes of over 1 on the Richter scale, and their epicenters were around the western Bulgarian city of Pernik, where the initial earthquake hit at about 2:58 am on Tuesday. Some of the major aftershocks had a magnitude of 4.2-4.7, and were felt in Pernik and Sofia. On September 30, 1858, when the future Bulgarian capital was still only a provincial town in the Ottoman Empire, it suffered an earthquake that had an estimated magnitude of 6.6-7.0 on the Richter Scale, damaging some 80% of its buildings.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245893 2012-05-25T08:51:24Z

Nervous shoppers fled into the streets when a 4.7-magnitude earthquake rattled the New Zealand city of Christchurch, halting rebuilding work following last year's tremor that killed 185. These were no immediate reports of damage or injuries and police and ambulance services said they had received no calls for assistance. The quake struck at 12.44pm (AEST) at a shallow depth of eight kilometres about 25 kilometres east of New Zealand's second largest city, the US Geological Survey said. The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, which is overseeing reconstruction after the deadly 6.3 tremor in February last year, said it suspended demolition work in the city centre as a precaution. Christchurch has experienced thousands of aftershocks in the past 18 months, delaying efforts to rebuild and further unsettling residents.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245892 2012-05-25T08:46:48Z

Yesterday I wrote a piece on the real lords of Afghan poppies and heroin operations. I am thankful to all your supportive feedback. Of course not all feedbacks were positive, and I truly understand and accept that. Many of the critics came from mainstream media and establishment's loyal believers and followers. They found my article complicated and not rational. In various ways and using many different words-some not very pleasant, they were asking if I was accusing the United Nations, NATO, the US Government, and mainstream media outlets such as the New York Times and Newsweek Magazine of selling lies?! All that made me recall a famous quote from a ruthless despot. Actually, I ended up using that quote in my nightly news roundup: "All propaganda must be popular and its intellectual level must be adjusted to the most limited intelligence among those it is addressed to. Consequently, the greater the mass it is intended to reach, the lower its purely intellectual level will have to be." - Adolf Hitler I realized I had ignored that very important advice in trying to convey the important myths, inconsistencies, and facts on the global Afghan heroin business since 9/11. If the establishment media uses the Fuhrer's tactic to sell lies and myth, why don't we use that same tactic to put out facts and the truth? I did not adjust my article for those with the most limited intelligence who have been following our government and its mainstream media and their daily propaganda. I sincerely apologize for that. To show my sincerity I have gone back and produced an adjusted version of that article. Here is my Afghan Heroin piece recapped and adjusted for the loyal establishment and mainstream followers to accommodate their comprehension capabilities (Our irate critical thinking minority may skip this piece all together-way too simple for you;-):

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245891 2012-05-25T08:45:37Z

The amount of radioactive materials released in the first days of the Fukushima nuclear disaster was almost two and a half times the initial estimate by Japanese safety regulators, the operator of the crippled plant said in a report released on Thursday. The operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, said the meltdowns it believes took place at three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant released about 900,000 terabecquerels of radioactive substances into the air during March 2011. The accident, which followed an earthquake and a tsunami, occurred on March 11. The latest estimate was based on measurements suggesting the amount of iodine-131 released by the nuclear accident was much larger than previous estimates, the utility said in the report. Iodine-131 is a fast-decaying radioactive substance produced by fission that takes place inside a nuclear reactor. It has a half-life of eight days and can cause thyroid cancer. It is difficult to judge the health effects of the larger-than-reported release, since even the latest number is an estimate, and it does not clarify how much exposure people received or continue to receive from contaminated soil and food. Experts have been divided on the health impacts since the disaster because the studies of assessing radiation risks are based mainly on a different type of exposure - the large doses delivered quickly by the atomic bombs in Japan in 1945.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245890 2012-05-25T08:21:49Z

Scientists have just identified a new reason why some curry dishes, made with spices humans have used for thousands of years, might be good for you. New research at Oregon State University has discovered that curcumin, a compound found in the cooking spice turmeric, can cause a modest but measurable increase in levels of a protein that's known to be important in the "innate" immune system, helping to prevent infection in humans and other animals. This cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide, or CAMP, is part of what helps our immune system fight off various bacteria, viruses or fungi even though they hadn't been encountered before. Prior to this, it was known that CAMP levels were increased by vitamin D. Discovery of an alternative mechanism to influence or raise CAMP levels is of scientific interest and could open new research avenues in nutrition and pharmacology, scientists said. Turmeric is a flavorful, orange-yellow spice and an important ingredient in many curries, commonly found in Indian, South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine. It has also been used for 2,500 years as a medicinal compound in the Ayurvedic system of medicine in India - not to mention being part of some religious and wedding ceremonies. In India, turmeric is treated with reverence.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245889 2012-05-25T08:16:13Z

It has become an exclusive, expensive elite networking experience. Strip away the hype and you're left with a reasonably good video podcast with delusions of grandeur. There was a bit of a scandal last week when it was reported that a TED Talk on income equality had been censored. That turned out to be not quite the entire story. Nick Hanauer, a venture capitalist with a book out on income inequality, was invited to speak at a TED function. He spoke for a few minutes, making the argument that rich people like himself are not in fact job creators and that they should be taxed at a higher rate. The talk seemed reasonably well-received by the audience, but TED "curator" Chris Anderson told Hanauer that it would not be featured on TED's site, in part because the audience response was mixed but also because it was too political and this was an "election year." Hanauer had his PR people go to the press immediately and accused TED of censorship, which is obnoxious - TED didn't have to host his talk, obviously, and his talk was not hugely revelatory for anyone familiar with recent writings on income inequity from a variety of experts - but Anderson's responses were still a good distillation of TED's ideology. In case you're unfamiliar with TED, it is a series of short lectures on a variety of subjects that stream on the Internet, for free. That's it, really, or at least that is all that TED is to most of the people who have even heard of it. For an elite few, though, TED is something more: a lifestyle, an ethos, a bunch of overpriced networking events featuring live entertainment from smart and occasionally famous people.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245888 2012-05-25T08:11:07Z

Experiencing strong emotions synchronises brain activity across individuals, research team at Aalto University and Turku PET Centre in Finland has revealed. Human emotions are highly contagious. Seeing others' emotional expressions such as smiles triggers often the corresponding emotional response in the observer. Such synchronisation of emotional states across individuals may support social interaction: When all group members share a common emotional state, their brains and bodies process the environment in a similar fashion. Researchers at Aalto University and Turku PET Centre have now found that feeling strong emotions makes different individuals' brain activity literally synchronous. The results revealed that especially feeling strong unpleasant emotions synchronised brain's emotion processing networks in the frontal and midline regions. On the contrary, experiencing highly arousing events synchronised activity in the networks supporting vision, attention and sense of touch.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245887 2012-05-25T07:59:27Z

Despite a long-held scientific belief that much of the wiring of the brain is fixed by the time of adolescence, a new study shows that changes in sensory experience can cause massive rewiring of the brain, even as one ages. In addition, the study found that this rewiring involves fibers that supply the primary input to the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that is responsible for sensory perception, motor control and cognition. These findings promise to open new avenues of research on brain remodeling and aging. Published in the May 24, 2012 issue of Neuron, the study was conducted by researchers at the Max Planck Florida Institute (MPFI) and at Columbia University in New York. "This study overturns decades-old beliefs that most of the brain is hard-wired before a critical period that ends when one is a young adult," said MPFI neuroscientist Marcel Oberlaender, PhD, first author on the paper. "By changing the nature of sensory experience, we were able to demonstrate that the brain can rewire, even at an advanced age. This may suggest that if one stops learning and experiencing new things as one ages, a substantial amount of connections within the brain may be lost."

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245886 2012-05-25T07:54:10Z

Insomnia and other sleep disorders are quite common among people with cancer, occurring in about one out of every three cases on average. In my clinical experience, most patients with advanced cancer have disorderly sleep, which can include difficulty entering into deep sleep, fitful sleep and nightmares, and serious trouble falling back to sleep after waking during the night. These disturbances tend to be more frequent during conventional treatment, and the resulting sleep deficits appear to account for much of the fatigue reported by people with cancer. Stress and poor sleep often seem to go hand in hand. Pain and pain-killing medications can also disrupt sleep. However, while sleep problems are more common among people who feel stressed and in pain, they can also crop up when you have these things well under control. This is because the sleep disturbances that accompany cancer also reflect a fundamental form of imbalance, one that involves your entire physiology.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245885 2012-05-25T06:53:07Z

Weather officials have confirmed a tornado touched down about two miles south of Marathon City in Marathon County, and was on the ground intermittently for about five minutes. There were no immediate reports of injuries or major structural damage. Jeff Last is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. He says that at about 7 p.m. Thursday, a Wisconsin State Patrol officer saw the tornado touch down. It was on the ground off and on for several miles as it moved northeast. Last says the tornado lifted off the ground about two miles northwest of Rib Mountain State Park. He says the storm was fast-moving. Local authorities are surveying the area. So far, they have seen several downed trees. Streamline winds also downed trees as storms moved across the state. Source: The Associated Press

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245884 2012-05-25T06:48:31Z

The advice this Memorial Day weekend, particularly for folks heading into the Sierra, is "Be prepared." National Weather Service and state transportation officials say travelers can expect everything from snow showers and accumulations of up to 6 inches in the high country today and Saturday to temperatures in the 80s in the Sacramento Valley on Sunday and Monday. "We have a cool-weather system dropping down from British Columbia and washing over Northern California," said Karl Swanberg, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Sacramento. A high of 69 degrees is forecast for the Sacramento area today, 15 degrees below the average high of 84 for this time of year. The drop in temperature will be accompanied by a 30 percent chance of rain and a slight chance of afternoon thunder-showers. In the mountains, a winter weather advisory is in effect from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. today, and snow levels are expected to drop to about the 5,500-foot elevation, with some accumulation above 6,000 feet. "The road surface is warm this time of year," Swanberg said, which should help keep snow from accumulating on the roadway. "But there could be enough to cause slippery conditions."

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245883 2012-05-25T06:48:23Z

Constituting the highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro is slowly building up its snow cover, allaying the fears of prominent scientists who had predicted witnessing the eminence lose its famous white hat. The drifts are slowly thickening on the top point of this summit, giving new hopes to Mount Kilimanjaro environmental watchdogs and tourists that the peak may not lose its beautiful snowy cap, as scientific experts have long been warning. Covered in mist for most of the day, Mount Kilimanjaro is the most tourist-attractive site in Tanzania, pulling in tens of thousands of foreigners and locals each year. The snow, which once had disappeared on some parts of the mountain, is piling up again gradually, making a beautiful picture out of the Kibo peak. Sources from Kilimanjaro environmental groups said this precipitation could rise to cover most areas of the mountain, but the effects of climate change and global warming could still affect the peak's snow layers, which have been becoming thinner and thinner. Environmentalists had warned that this highest peak in Africa could lose its ice cover and glaciers between 2018 and 2020 unless global campaigns to save the mountain's ecology were taken and a stop put to rampant tree-felling and unchecked agricultural activity on its slopes.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245882 2012-05-25T06:41:00Z

A possible tornado damaged 15 homes in North Port on Thursday evening, leaving one family homeless, According to a news release from the City of North Port: At about 6:30 pm Firefighters received a call of structural damage to a home from a tornado. When firefighters arrived on scene they discovered roof damage to a mobile home in the Holiday Park community. A flurry of calls came in from the Highland Ridge community nearby, and that is where several more homes received damage. Three fire engines, three ambulances and three command cars responded to assess the damage to the neighborhood. While firefighters conducted a ground survey, the Sarasota Sheriff's helicopter surveyed from the air. "The damage was relatively minor and there were no injuries to citizens or first responders," said Battalion Chief James Woods, "that's the outcome we want".

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245881 2012-05-25T06:37:33Z

For people living outside Tornado Alley, Caleb and Candra Pence's wedding last Saturday is generating the kind of buzz usually reserved for celebrity nuptials. Kansas City, Missouri - In the plains of central Kansas, tornadoes are so unremarkable that guests barely flinched as a barrel-racing bride wed her bull-riding groom with a twister dropping from the sky just miles away. But for people living outside Tornado Alley, Caleb and Candra Pence's wedding last Saturday is generating the kind of buzz usually reserved for celebrity nuptials. The video of the service has gone viral, garnering more than 20,000 views on YouTube and a flurry of media coverage. "It is amazing how fast it has taken off," said the groom's uncle, Lee Pence, who shot the video. After Saturday's outdoor service on the groom's family farm near the small south-central Kansas town of Harper, the couple posed for photos with the twister visible behind them. The pictures capture them smiling serenely - the 21-year-old bride in a white gown and the 22-year-old groom in a cowboy hat and jeans.

tag:en.sott.net,2012-05-25:/articles/show/245880 2012-05-25T06:30:45Z

A suspected suicide bomber has detonated explosives in a car outside a police station in the central Turkish province of Kayseri, killing himself and a police officer. At least 19 other people were wounded in the blast on Friday, six of them seriously, Turkish media report. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, although Kurdish separatists, Islamist militants including al-Qaida, as well as groups on the far left and right have all carried out bomb attacks in Turkey. Broadcaster NTV said the bomber had tried to drive his car into the police station moments before the explosion. NTV said a second assailant was also involved in the attack which took place in the town of Pinarbasi, east of Kayseri city. Kayseri province is located some 325km (200 miles) south-east of the Turkish capital Ankara.