BERLIN ? German police say they have cleared a sit-in of thousands of protesters attempting to block a shipment of nuclear waste and have detained 1,300 people.
Police said hundreds of officers started evicting protesters from the rail lines near Dannenberg in the north of the country early Sunday. Those who refused to leave were detained and are being brought before judges later.
Police put the number of protesters at 3,500 while protest organizers said 5,000 people had occupied the tracks that will be used to transport a nuclear waste shipment that has been reprocessed in France to a storage site near the town of Gorleben.
Police say two groups of about 250 activists each are currently hurling stones and fireworks at officers. They say several officers were injured and at least 10 people detained.
Shoppers stop to look at a display while shopping at Dadeland Mall, Friday, Nov. 25 2011, in Miami. Early signs point to bigger crowds at the nation's malls and stores as retailers like Macy's and Target opened their doors at midnight. (AP Photo/ Lynne Sladky)
Shoppers stop to look at a display while shopping at Dadeland Mall, Friday, Nov. 25 2011, in Miami. Early signs point to bigger crowds at the nation's malls and stores as retailers like Macy's and Target opened their doors at midnight. (AP Photo/ Lynne Sladky)
A Black Friday shopper takes a rest with purchases at Northpark Mall in Ridgeland, Miss., on Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/The Clarion-Ledger, Vickie D. King) NO SALES
A consumer rests herself and her bags in Herald Square during the busiest shopping day of the year, Friday, Nov. 25, 2011, in New York. Some of the nation's major chain stores opened late Thursday, competing for holiday shoppers on the notoriously busy Black Friday to kick off a period that is crucial for the retail industry. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Black Friday shoppers line up outside of a Kmart store in Salem, Ore., early Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/Statesman-Journal, Timothy J. Gonzalez)
This photo provided by the Maricopa County Sheriff?s Office, shows Jerald Allen Newman, 54, after his arrest Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011, at a Walmart store in Buckeye, Ariz. Buckeye police are coming under fire for a video posted online Friday that shows Newman on the floor of the store with a bloody face after police took him to the ground. Police say he was resisting arrest but his wife and witnesses say he was just trying to protect his grandson during a chaotic rush for discounted video games. (AP Photo/Maricopa County Sheriff's Office)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Pepper-sprayed customers, smash-and-grab looters and bloody scenes in the shopping aisles. How did Black Friday devolve into this?
As reports of shopping-related violence rolled in this week from Los Angeles to New York, experts say a volatile mix of desperate retailers and cutthroat marketing has hyped the traditional post-Thanksgiving sales to increasingly frenzied levels. With stores opening earlier, bargain-obsessed shoppers often are sleep-deprived and short-tempered. Arriving in darkness, they also find themselves vulnerable to savvy parking-lot muggers.
Add in the online-coupon phenomenon, which feeds the psychological hunger for finding impossible bargains, and you've got a recipe for trouble, said Theresa Williams, a marketing professor at Indiana University.
"These are people who should know better and have enough stuff already," Williams said. "What's going to be next year, everybody getting Tasered?"
Across the country on Thursday and Friday, there were signs that tensions had ratcheted up a notch or two, with violence resulting in several instances.
A woman turned herself in to police after allegedly pepper-spraying 20 other customers at a Los Angeles-area Walmart on Thursday in what investigators said was an attempt to get at a crate of Xbox video game consoles. In Kinston, N.C., a security guard also pepper-sprayed customers seeking electronics before the start of a midnight sale.
In New York, crowds reportedly looted a clothing store in Soho. At a Walmart near Phoenix, a man was bloodied while being subdued by police officer on suspicion of shoplifting a video game. There was a shooting outside a store in San Leandro, Calif., shots fired at a mall in Fayetteville, N.C. and a stabbing outside a store in Sacramento, N.Y.
"The difference this year is that instead of a nice sweater you need a bullet proof vest and goggles," said Betty Thomas, 52, who was shopping Saturday with her sisters and a niece at Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, N.C.
The wave of violence revived memories of the 2008 Black Friday stampede that killed an employee and put a pregnant woman in the hospital at a Walmart on New York's Long Island. Walmart spokesman Greg Rossiter said Black Friday 2011 was safe at most of its nearly 4,000 U.S. stores despite "a few unfortunate incidents."
Black Friday ? named that because it puts retailers "in the black" ? has become more intense as companies compete for customers in a weak economy, said Jacob Jacoby, an expert on consumer behavior at New York University.
The idea of luring in customers with a few "doorbuster" deals has long been a staple of the post-Thanksgiving sales. But now stores are opening earlier, and those deals are getting more extreme, he said.
"There's an awful lot of psychology going on here," Jacoby said. "There's the notion of scarcity ? when something's scarce it's more valued. And a resource that can be very scarce is time: If you don't get there in time, it's going to be gone."
There's also a new factor, Williams said: the rise of coupon websites like Groupon and LivingSocial, the online equivalents of doorbusters that usually deliver a single, one-day offer with savings of up to 80 percent on museum tickets, photo portraits, yoga classes and the like.
The services encourage impulse buying and an obsession with bargains, Williams said, while also getting businesses hooked on quick infusions of customers.
"The whole notion of getting a deal, that's all we've seen for the last two years," Williams said. "It's about stimulating consumers' quick reactions. How do we get their attention quickly? How do we create cash flow for today?"
To grab customers first, some stores are opening late on Thanksgiving Day, turning bargain-hunting from an early-morning activity into an all-night slog, said Ed Fox, a marketing professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Midnight shopping puts everyone on edge and also makes shoppers targets for muggers, he said.
In fact, robbery appeared to be the motive behind the shooting in San Leandro, about 15 miles east of San Francisco. Police said robbers shot a victim as he was walking to a car with his purchases around 1:45 a.m. on Friday.
"There are so many hours now where people are shopping in the darkness that it provides cover for people who are going to try to steal or rob those who are out in numbers," Fox said.
The violence has prompted some analysts to wonder if the sales are worth it, and what solutions might work.
In a New York Times column this week, economist Robert Frank proposed slapping a 6 percent sales tax on purchases between 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving and 6 a.m. on Friday in an attempt to stop the "arms race" of earlier and earlier sales.
Small retailers, meanwhile, are pushing so-called Small Business Saturday to woo customers who are turned off by the Black Friday crush. President Barack Obama even joined in, going book shopping on Saturday at a small bookstore a few blocks from the White House.
"A lot of retailers, independent retailers, are making the conscious decision to not work those crazy hours," said Patricia Norins, a retail consultant for American Express.
Next up is Cyber Monday, when online retailers put their wares on sale. But on Saturday many shoppers said they still prefer buying at the big stores, despite the frenzy.
Thomas said she likes the time with her sisters and the hustle of the mall too much to stay home and just shop online.
To her, the more pressing problem was that the Thanksgiving weekend sales didn't seem very good.
"If I'm going to get shot, at least let me get a good deal," Thomas said.
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Associated Press Writers Julie Walker in New York, Christina Rexrode in Raleigh, N.C., John C. Rogers in Los Angeles and Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this report
Egypt's ruling generals confirmed Friday that 78-year-old Kamal al-Ganzouri, who served as prime minister under former president Hosni Mubarak in the 1990s, has agreed to take over as interim prime minister following the resignation of the country's cabinet earlier this week.
Related: Prosecutors Will Charge Mubarak for the Deaths of Protesters
According to al-Jazeera, the news that al-Ganzouri was in-talks with Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi about taking the job was first reported on the Web site of Egyptian state newspaper Al-Ahram Thursday night, prompting cries of "We don't want him! We don't want him!" from the pro-democracy protestors gathered in Tahrir Square, whose numbers have swelled 100,000.
Related: American Students Arrested in Egypt for Tossing Molotov Cocktails
The White House was similarly skeptical, issuing a statement Friday morning that the transfer of power to a civilian government needs to happen "as soon as possible."
Related: Egyptians Held a Mock Trial for Hosni Mubarak
For his part, al-Ganzouri insisted during a televised interview on state television that he has more power than predecessor Essam Sharaf, and that Monday's elections will not be delayed.
Related: How Ramadan Will Influence the Arab Spring
The "Occupy" movement, whether displaying itself on Wall Street or in the streets of Oakland (which has, with unspeakable cowardice, embraced it) is anything but an exercise of our blessed First Amendment. "Occupy" is nothing but a pack of louts, thieves, and rapists, an unruly mob, fed by Woodstock-era nostalgia and putrid false righteousness. These clowns can do nothing but harm America. -- Frank Miller, author of The Dark Knight Returns.
Hello. I'm billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne, a member in good standing of the one percent. I earned my money the old fashioned way -- I inherited it. You may know me better by my alter ego, the Dark Knight, a.k.a. Batman.
Usually, I'm busy fighting bad guys like the Riddler or the Penguin. Recently, though, I've uncovered the biggest threat to Gotham City since the Joker discovered laughing gas. A gang of scofflaws calling themselves Occupy Wall Street took over Zuccotti Park in the financial district and turned it into their lair.
At first I thought that this was a job for the NYPD. I don't usually soil my batgloves with garden-variety criminals. But then when they held the park for two months, I knew something was up. They don't call me "the world's greatest detective" for nothing.
So I disguised myself as an anarchist and infiltrated the park. I wore black pants, a black hoody, and a black stocking mask -- come to think of it, not that different from my regular crime-fighting gear.
What I saw sickened me. The park was filled with laid-off workers, evicted home owners, debt-ridden students, pension-robbed retirees, and veterans who had returned from some war or the other to the worst recession since the Great Depression -- the scum of the Earth.
I knew I had to do something. That night in my civilian identity, I dined with Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Over steak, lobster, and champagne, we discussed the crisis. He was on the fence about Occupy Wall Street: on the one hand, he didn't like the rabble any better than I did; on the other hand, he still had some quaint beliefs about First Amendment rights.
I quickly set him straight, "If we don't stop them here, it will turn into anarchy -- or worse. I saw the signs saying 'Eat The Rich' -- they're a bunch of cannibals, just like Killer Croc. Stern measures are called for to protect health and public safety. Pass the caviar."
The mayor agreed, and the next morning called for a surprise dawn raid to retake the park.
The operation was not without casualties. Robin stopped speaking to me. Being an orphaned carny, he has some naive notions about meritocracies versus plutocracies. "Listen, Robin," I tried to explain to him, "we live in a great country where anyone can grow up to be adopted by a billionaire." He left me for those young punks, the Teen Titans.
Catwoman stopped sleeping with me. Being an international jewel thief, she has some funny ideas about redistributing the wealth. "Listen, sweetheart," I remonstrated with her, "you're Catwoman, not Robin Hood. Leave the altruism stuff to Green Arrow." She left me for that dyke, Wonder Woman.
Even my loyal butler stopped butlering me. "Listen, Alfred, if you don't like the way I run things around here, you can just collect your pink slip and go. What do I need a butler for, anyway? I've got Siri." He left me for some outfit called AdBusters. Never heard of 'em.
It may surprise some of you to find out I'm such a fierce defender of the status quo. It shouldn't. When was the last time you saw me apprehend the CEO of an investment bank for securities fraud? I'm on the board of directors of half of these corporations, and I'm not a class traitor like William Buffet. I leave fighting evil business tycoons like Lex Luthor to boy scouts like Superman. (By the way, Lex baby, see you at the yacht races next week.)
There's a secret war going on. It's not occurring in another dimension, a parallel universe, or on Earth Two. It's happening right here in plain sight in the good ol' US of A -- provided you have the eyes to see the growing gap between the haves and the have-nots.
I intend to be on the winning side. Hey, all those batmobiles, batcycles, batcopters, batboats, etc., cost money. If income were distributed more equitably, I would have to give up some of my toys. And I will never give up any of my toys. Never, never, never, never.
It's not like I haven't made sacrifices. My parents were murdered by gangsters. Bane broke my back. (I've recovered nicely, though, thanks to access to the finest healthcare money can buy.) With Robin, Catwoman, and Alfred gone, there is no one to attend to my physical needs. It turns out that Siri can't give sponge baths.
But I will win. Because I control the money. Which means I control the politicians. Which means I control the laws. Which mean I decide who the good guys and the bad guys are. And, as you know, the good guys always win. To quote my otherwise arch-nemesis Ra's al Ghul, "And nothing can stop me now! Bwha-hah-hah-hah!"
Wait! What's that rumbling sound, like somebody losing control and turning into an enormous green rage monster? "AARGH! HULK SMASH SELFISH BATMAN! 99% GOOD! 1% BAD!"
Uh-oh.
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Follow Robert Brenner on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Robert Brenner
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) -Viggo Mortensen doesn't expect to reprise his Aragorn character in the next installments of Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" series, the actor revealed to Movies.com.
The news may not surprise those familiar with J.R.R. Tolkien's "Hobbit" novel, as Aragorn did not appear in it.
However, Mortensen told the movies blog that producer Peter Jackson had approached him about the possibility of appearing in "An Unexpected Journey," the first installment of the two-part prequel series.
Mortensen said he would have been willing to participate. But as it stands now, "I'm not in it unless there is some last-minute plan they have. But I thought I would have heard of it by now ... Aragorn is half elf and also lives a couple hundred years or more and he could be in a bridge, but I have to assume it isn't going to happen."
While Mortensen won't be reprising his role, a fleet of other familiar faces are involved, including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee and Orlando Bloom. The cast could be making an appearance in theaters sooner than expected. A trailer is expected around Christmas, Gollum actor Andy Serkis told IGN. "It's just around the corner," he said.
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" is due in theaters December 14, 2012. Its sequel, "There and Back Again," has a release date of December 13, 2013. Jackson has been posting production updates at TheHobbitBlog.com.
New York ? Sure, things look bad now. But compare today's plight to what our Civil-War-ravaged nation faced during the first official Thanksgiving in 1863
It may seem hard to give thanks this Thanksgiving Day of 2011. This marks the fourth consecutive Thanksgiving of widespread economic distress ? and very nearly the fifth, since the National Bureau of Economic Research dates the beginning of the recession to December 2007.?
Amid so much suffering, so much anxiety, and so little hope, how can anyone be expected to feel gratitude?
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Let's turn to the very first federal Thanksgiving proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln on Nov. 28, 1863.
Eight of the 10 costliest battles of the Civil War had already been fought by that date. The week before that first Thanksgiving, Union troops won a crucial victory at Chatanooga. Even so, the ghastly fratricidal bloodletting showed no sign of an impending end.
SEE ALSO: There goes the neighborhood
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When Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of a popular magazine, Godey's Lady's Book, wrote to Lincoln on Sept. 28, 1863, urging the setting aside of a day for national thanks, there seemed no good reason for the president to pay her any heed. Indeed, Lincoln's four predecessors had all ignored Hale when she had suggested the idea to them.
Amid so much suffering, so much anxiety, and so little hope, how can anyone be expected to feel gratitude?
SEE ALSO: The Catholic school that's too... Catholic?
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Hale's letter arrived at the White House days after the Union defeat at Chickamauga, the deadliest battle of the war relative to the number of troops engaged.?The idea took Lincoln's fancy. He assigned the job of composing the proclamation to Secretary of State William Seward. And here is how Seward opened the proclamation in that year of death and grief:
"The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God."
Can you imagine? It almost seems obtuse to write of harvests and weather in the throes of war. Yet Seward was not unmindful of that war, not at all.
SEE ALSO: The hidden cost of car ownership
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"In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union."
Even in war, Seward could perceive the progress and growth of the nation.
"Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battlefield; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy."
Can we see equivalent indices of progress today? It's difficult, but maybe that says more about our contemporary dispositions than our contemporary circumstances. Modern media culture trains us to focus on what is flawed and failing, not what is growing and succeeding.?
SEE ALSO: Isn't dial-up dead?
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Yet at the same time as Seward could see hope among violence, he was also willing to admit national wrong in a way that would be excoriated today as "apologizing for America." Anticipating a theme from Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, Seward dared to even suggest that the nation's losses should be considered punishments for its sins, including the sin uppermost in American minds in that year of the Emancipation Proclamation: the sin of slavery. You have to wonder what today's opposition researchers would do to a president who dared say ? as Lincoln said in March 1865 ? that the victorious side of the war shared the guilt of the defeated side, and that 600,000 lost American lives were God's just verdict on a slaveholding society. Seward was more cautious, yet in that first Thanksgiving proclamation, he still wrote (in the presidential first person):?
"I recommend to [the American people] that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to [God] for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union."
Tough love. Sturdy courage. In this time of lesser but still real suffering, this first proclamation is a document from which to take solace and inspiration.
SEE ALSO: Fixer upper
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View this article on TheWeek.com Get Rahm Emanuel: Obama's main man
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A recent comment by Maldives President Mohammad Nasheed exemplifies the communications challenges that will arise when representatives of 194 countries meet in Durban, South Africa, as parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The current negotiation process is stupid, useless and endless. It is based on this principle: two parties reach an agreement, a third one comes along and says it doesn't agree and it reduces the ambition of the others. In essence, even if we reach an agreement, it will be an agreement about nothing. It will be so diluted that it will be of no use.
News-hungry media feast on comments like these. With prospects remote for a game-changing breakthrough in Durban, we can probably look forward to more headlines like this one from Time magazine: "The Kyoto Accords -- and Hope -- Are Expiring." The unfortunate conclusion many readers will draw: The negotiations are a waste of time, and worse, a failure in Durban spells failure for climate action more generally. Both conclusions are incorrect.
For better or worse, the December 2009 Copenhagen meeting is probably the benchmark against which many journalists will measure results in Durban.
On the one hand, we are living with the legacy of high expectations from 2009. We were supposed to get a fair, ambitious, and binding international agreement on climate change that year -- after all, 120 heads of state came to Copenhagen to do the deal! A binding agreement has thus become the yardstick for measuring success, and anything less is seen by some as abject failure. Given two decades of unfulfilled promises by developed countries, that view is not entirely unreasonable, but it's not very helpful either.
Conversely, if expectations reached their peak in the run-up to Copenhagen, the frenetic negotiations of the final 48 hours (and the disappointing outcome that resulted) may forever be viewed as the nadir of the multilateral negotiating process. Many analysts will therefore judge Durban, as they did last year's Cancun meeting, against a backdrop of expected failure. This explains why incremental progress made last year in Cancun was joyfully celebrated when an 11th-hour collapse was narrowly averted. Any forward momentum in Durban could thus be put in a positive light.
This year's outcome will not be judged solely against high or low expectations, however. There is an added level of urgency this time around. The International Energy Agency made headlines with its 2011 World Energy Outlook and a dramatic statement that the door to 2 degree C is closing. This adds a new dimension to the communications challenge. As Grist described the IEA statement in its own inimitable way, "The point of no return on climate change is fast approaching. Either we halt it in five years, or ... well, imagine I'm drawing my finger across my throat while making a 'kkkkkhhhhhh' sound."
The IPCC has been making those "kkkkkhhhhhh" noises for years, but coming from an organization like the IEA, the warning that we are headed for a 6 degree C world is all the more frightening. Remember that the IEA has always been a fossil fuel cheerleader, created as it was in the aftermath of the 1973 oil shock. Read more: Yale Climate Media Forum
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Follow Kelly Rigg on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kellyrigg
"Immortals" arrived in theaters this weekend and stole the box office's thunder, proving that fall season moviegoers were indeed craving some hard R-rated action. Of course, the comparisons to "300" couldn't have hurt Tarsem Singh's latest picture's box office performance. Over on Splash Page, we measured out the similarities and differences between "Immortals" and "300" [...]
Russell Brand is attached to star in and produce The President Stole My Girlfriend, a comedy project Warner Bros. has just picked up from writer Matt Portenoy.
Producing with Brand is his Branded Films partner Nik Linnen, with the company's?Beau Bauman exec producing.Girlfriend originated inside the companyand?marks the first project set up by Brand and his recently-formed Warners-based banner.
PHOTOS: Modern Film and Television Comedians
"In this movie, the president steals the girlfriend of a sexy hippie?me, obviously," Brand tells The Hollywood Reporter. "It was inspired by the night I naively invited [Warners president] Jeff Robinov for dinner."
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STORY: Russell Brand Accepts Man of the Year Honors From Friendly Group
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The project is the first major sale for Portenoy, who did a well-received rewrite on the in-development remake of Porky's. He also wrote a segment for Movie 43, a Peter Farrelly-produced Relativity comedy anthology; his segment stars Emma Stone and was directed by Griffin Dunne.
Portenoy is repped by WME, Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment and attorney Rob Szymanski.
Brand, who starred for Warners in this year's Arthur remake, will next appear in New Line's all-star feature adaptation of Rock of Ages and is set to star opposite Julianne Hough in Juno writer Diablo Cody's untitled directorial debut.
RICHMOND, Va. ? Justin Timberlake followed through on a promise to take a marine to her unit's annual ball.
The singer and actor posted a photo along with a letter on his website Sunday that the Marine Corps Ball in Richmond, Va., was "one of the most moving evenings I've ever had."
Cpl. Kelsey De Santis had invited Timberlake through a YouTube video to Saturday night's event and Timberlake accepted. WTVR-TV (http://bit.ly/uD4sKV) reports Timberlake wore a tuxedo to the ball at the Greater Richmond Convention Center.
Timberlake's "Friends With Benefits" co-star, Mila Kunis, earlier this year accepted a similar invitation to a Marine Corps Ball in Greenville, N.C.
ScienceDaily (Nov. 11, 2011) ? Dr. Ali Aliev, a research scientist at UT Dallas, and his colleagues recently demonstrated that transparent carbon nanotube sheets, which can have the density of air and the specific strength of steel, can be used to make objects invisible.
This invisibility for light oblique to the nanotube sheets is caused by the mirage effect, in which a thermally generated refractive index gradient bends light array from a hidden object.
The paper was published in a recent issue of the journal Nanotechnology. The study was conducted by a research team of the University of Texas at Dallas.
Aliev is a research scientist at Alan G. MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute and adjunct professor at the Physics Department. He performed the experimental part of the work. Dr. Yuri N. Gartstein of the Physics Department performed supporting calculations. Dr. Ray H. Baughman (Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair in Chemistry and Director of the Alan G. MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute) contributed to the analysis of results and writing.
This research work was supported by Office of Naval Research, NASA, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and Robert A. Welch Foundation. More about authors can be found at the NanoTech Institute website (http://nanotech.utdallas.edu/).
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Texas at Dallas.
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Journal Reference:
Ali E Aliev, Yuri N Gartstein, Ray H Baughman. Mirage effect from thermally modulated transparent carbon nanotube sheets. Nanotechnology, 2011; 22 (43): 435704 DOI: 10.1088/0957-4484/22/43/435704
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
LONDON ? Kesa Electricals says it has agreed to sell its money-losing Comet stores in Britain for a token payment of 2 pounds ($3.22).
Kesa said Wednesday that it would also invest 50 million pounds in the buyers, Hailey Holdings Ltd. and Hailey Acquisitions Ltd., and would retain liability for Comet's defined benefit pension plan, which has a deficit of euro46 million ($63 million).
Kesa shares were up 1 percent at 102.8 pence in midmorning trading on the London Stock Exchange.
"Clearly, the board has decided that sustaining Comet's losses into an uncertain future is the wrong thing to do and it is difficult to disagree with them," said Philip Dorgan, analyst at Panmure Gordon.
He downgraded Kesa from "hold" to "sell," calculating that the shares were worth only 80 pence because of wider problems in the group.
Comet, which operates 249 stores in the United Kingdom, is the second group of stores this week to fall victim to poor sales in the store-based electricals sector. Carphone Warehouse announced on Monday that it was shutting all 11 of its British Best Buy stores, which had been planned as the start of a nationwide chain.
Kesa said Comet's sales were down 18 percent between May and the end of October.
The company said group revenue in that period fell by 6.2 percent on a local currency basis.
Revenue in Darty France declined by 2.4 percent, while the BCC, Vanden Borre and Datar businesses combined for a revenue increase of 0.7 percent.
Developing businesses of Darty Italy, Darty Turkey and Darty Spain posted a 5.2 percent increase in revenue, though expansion masked an 8 percent drop in revenue comparing stores open for at least a year.
UH receives $990K grant to enhance cancer research facilitiesPublic release date: 8-Nov-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lisa Merkl lkmerkl@uh.edu 713-743-8192 University of Houston
Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas award to fund advanced imaging technology
HOUSTON, Nov. 8, 2011 Thanks to almost $1 million in new funding from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), the University of Houston (UH) will soon be enhancing its cancer research facilities.
The $990,286 grant will be applied toward the purchase and installation of an advanced imaging system for in-depth monitoring of tumor growth and cancer progression. With access to the latest in imaging technology, researchers from the Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling (CNRCS) will study the interactions of tumors in local tissue environments and develop a better understanding of the progression of cancer cells.
"This state-of-the-art equipment provides us with a broader range of research applications that will hopefully result in more effective treatments for cancer patients," said CNRCS director Dr. Jan-ke Gustafsson, who is the principal investigator on this grant. "We look forward to further expanding the impact of our research with the continued support of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas."
Designated for core facility support, the funds will be invested in a new IVIS Spectrum imaging system. This optical imaging technology will make it possible for researchers to study the molecular processes of disease progression and gene expression occurring in live animals through noninvasive methods. Increasing accuracy and offering more sensitive detection, the technology allows scientists to look deeper and further, improving the quality of data, as well as reducing the required number of animals for experiments.
"With this new imaging system, we will be able to more accurately evaluate our research into emerging cancer therapeutics and diagnostics," Gustafsson said. "This includes next-generation small molecule drugs, chemotherapeutics and both viral and nonviral gene delivery systems."
Gustafsson's collaborators on securing this grant were assistant professor Daniel Frigo and research assistant professor Maria Bondesson, both with CNRCS, and assistant professor Fatima Merchant from the College of Technology. The equipment also will be available to UH researchers from other disciplines, such as computer science, engineering technology and pharmacy, resulting in collaborations expected to advance the field of preclinical tumor model analysis and strengthen the emerging UH cancer research initiative.
CPRIT was established in 2007 to invest in groundbreaking cancer research and prevention programs in Texas. The institute focuses on expediting the innovation and commercialization of research, increasing the potential for breakthroughs and enhancing access to evidence-based prevention programs and services. During the last two years, CPRIT has awarded more than $550 million in funding statewide. This is the second CPRIT award for UH in 2011.
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Editorial Note: High-resolution photos of Jan-ke Gustafsson are available to media by contacting Lisa Merkl.
About the University of Houston
The University of Houston is a Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university recognized by The Princeton Review as one of the nation's best colleges for undergraduate education. UH serves the globally competitive Houston and Gulf Coast Region by providing world-class faculty, experiential learning and strategic industry partnerships. Located in the nation's fourth-largest city, UH serves more than 38,500 students in the most ethnically and culturally diverse region in the country.
About the UH Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling
Established in 2009, UH's Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling (CNRCS) is a leader in the UH Health initiative. Led by Gustafsson, a world-renowned expert in the field of nuclear receptors, CNRCS researchers are involved in many aspects of nuclear receptor research, all focused on understanding the roles of these receptors in health and disease. CNRCS researchers are working toward the goal of finding new treatments for an array of significant diseases including cancer, diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Working from the center's world-class labs, the researchers combine interdisciplinary research and dynamic collaboration with the Texas Medical Center and industry partners.
About the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
The UH College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, with 181 ranked faculty and approximately 4,500 students, offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in the natural sciences, computational sciences and mathematics. Faculty members in the departments of biology and biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, earth and atmospheric sciences, mathematics and physics conduct internationally recognized research in collaboration with industry, Texas Medical Center institutions, NASA and others worldwide.
For more information about UH, visit the university's Newsroom at http://www.uh.edu/news-events/.
To receive UH science news via e-mail, sign up for UH-SciNews at http://www.uh.edu/news-events/mailing-lists/sciencelistserv/index.php.
For additional news alerts about UH, follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/UHNewsEvents and Twitter at http://twitter.com/UH_News.
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UH receives $990K grant to enhance cancer research facilitiesPublic release date: 8-Nov-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lisa Merkl lkmerkl@uh.edu 713-743-8192 University of Houston
Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas award to fund advanced imaging technology
HOUSTON, Nov. 8, 2011 Thanks to almost $1 million in new funding from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), the University of Houston (UH) will soon be enhancing its cancer research facilities.
The $990,286 grant will be applied toward the purchase and installation of an advanced imaging system for in-depth monitoring of tumor growth and cancer progression. With access to the latest in imaging technology, researchers from the Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling (CNRCS) will study the interactions of tumors in local tissue environments and develop a better understanding of the progression of cancer cells.
"This state-of-the-art equipment provides us with a broader range of research applications that will hopefully result in more effective treatments for cancer patients," said CNRCS director Dr. Jan-ke Gustafsson, who is the principal investigator on this grant. "We look forward to further expanding the impact of our research with the continued support of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas."
Designated for core facility support, the funds will be invested in a new IVIS Spectrum imaging system. This optical imaging technology will make it possible for researchers to study the molecular processes of disease progression and gene expression occurring in live animals through noninvasive methods. Increasing accuracy and offering more sensitive detection, the technology allows scientists to look deeper and further, improving the quality of data, as well as reducing the required number of animals for experiments.
"With this new imaging system, we will be able to more accurately evaluate our research into emerging cancer therapeutics and diagnostics," Gustafsson said. "This includes next-generation small molecule drugs, chemotherapeutics and both viral and nonviral gene delivery systems."
Gustafsson's collaborators on securing this grant were assistant professor Daniel Frigo and research assistant professor Maria Bondesson, both with CNRCS, and assistant professor Fatima Merchant from the College of Technology. The equipment also will be available to UH researchers from other disciplines, such as computer science, engineering technology and pharmacy, resulting in collaborations expected to advance the field of preclinical tumor model analysis and strengthen the emerging UH cancer research initiative.
CPRIT was established in 2007 to invest in groundbreaking cancer research and prevention programs in Texas. The institute focuses on expediting the innovation and commercialization of research, increasing the potential for breakthroughs and enhancing access to evidence-based prevention programs and services. During the last two years, CPRIT has awarded more than $550 million in funding statewide. This is the second CPRIT award for UH in 2011.
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Editorial Note: High-resolution photos of Jan-ke Gustafsson are available to media by contacting Lisa Merkl.
About the University of Houston
The University of Houston is a Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university recognized by The Princeton Review as one of the nation's best colleges for undergraduate education. UH serves the globally competitive Houston and Gulf Coast Region by providing world-class faculty, experiential learning and strategic industry partnerships. Located in the nation's fourth-largest city, UH serves more than 38,500 students in the most ethnically and culturally diverse region in the country.
About the UH Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling
Established in 2009, UH's Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling (CNRCS) is a leader in the UH Health initiative. Led by Gustafsson, a world-renowned expert in the field of nuclear receptors, CNRCS researchers are involved in many aspects of nuclear receptor research, all focused on understanding the roles of these receptors in health and disease. CNRCS researchers are working toward the goal of finding new treatments for an array of significant diseases including cancer, diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Working from the center's world-class labs, the researchers combine interdisciplinary research and dynamic collaboration with the Texas Medical Center and industry partners.
About the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
The UH College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, with 181 ranked faculty and approximately 4,500 students, offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in the natural sciences, computational sciences and mathematics. Faculty members in the departments of biology and biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, earth and atmospheric sciences, mathematics and physics conduct internationally recognized research in collaboration with industry, Texas Medical Center institutions, NASA and others worldwide.
For more information about UH, visit the university's Newsroom at http://www.uh.edu/news-events/.
To receive UH science news via e-mail, sign up for UH-SciNews at http://www.uh.edu/news-events/mailing-lists/sciencelistserv/index.php.
For additional news alerts about UH, follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/UHNewsEvents and Twitter at http://twitter.com/UH_News.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Public release date: 8-Nov-2011
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