Obama supports including gays in immigration bill

President Barack Obama and Costa Rica's President Laura Chinchilla shake hands at the end of their joint press conference in San Jose, Costa Rica, Friday, May 3, 2013. Obama's three-day visit to Mexico and Costa Rica is his first to Latin America since winning a second presidential term. Obama on Friday cast Mexico as a nation ready to take "its rightful place in the world" and move past the drug battles and violence that have defined its relationship with the United States. He then headed to Costa Rica to prod Central American leaders to tackle those same issues more aggressively. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

President Barack Obama and Costa Rica's President Laura Chinchilla shake hands at the end of their joint press conference in San Jose, Costa Rica, Friday, May 3, 2013. Obama's three-day visit to Mexico and Costa Rica is his first to Latin America since winning a second presidential term. Obama on Friday cast Mexico as a nation ready to take "its rightful place in the world" and move past the drug battles and violence that have defined its relationship with the United States. He then headed to Costa Rica to prod Central American leaders to tackle those same issues more aggressively. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) ? President Barack Obama says he supports recognizing gay unions in a broad immigration bill pending in Congress but won't say whether he would sign legislation that fails to do so.

Obama says that recognizing same-sex relationships in the bill is "the right thing to do." But he says it would be premature to telegraph what he will or won't do before lawmakers send him a bill.

Gay rights supporters are pushing for an amendment to the bill to allow gays to sponsor their partners to come to the U.S.

But Republicans, including some who helped draft the bill, have made it clear that amending the legislation in that fashion would cost their support.

Obama commented at a news conference Friday evening in San Jose, Costa Rica, with President Laura Chinchilla.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-05-03-Obama-Immigration/id-1f0148f1ea224105b7f8c5f96e21da92

corned beef recipe rpi dst friends with kids pacific standard time northern mariana islands summer time

US Cellular embraces iPhone after rejecting it

NEW YORK (AP) ? U.S. Cellular, the only major U.S. wireless carrier to resist the iPhone, says it's going to start selling it this year.

CEO Mary Dillon announced the reversal Friday on a call with investors and analysts. She didn't specify exactly when the company would start selling Apple's phone, or what models it would carry.

A year and a half ago, Dillon said U.S. Cellular Corp. had the opportunity to carry the phone but rejected it because it was too expensive. The iPhone is more expensive than most smartphones, and phone companies absorb this cost to sell it for $199 or less.

Dillon says many of the customers leaving the Chicago-based company are doing so because it doesn't carry the iPhone. In the 18 months since she talked about rejecting the iPhone, the company has lost 268,000, or 5 percent, of its customers on contract-based plans, which are the most lucrative.

Apart from the wholesale cost of the individual phone, carriers face another obstacle: Apple requires them to commit to purchasing a minimum amount. In the case of U.S. Cellular, it has promised to buy $1.2 billion worth of iPhones over three years, according to a regulatory filing. That's roughly 2 million phones.

Investors appeared to be concerned about the cost of the phone, too. U.S. Cellular shares fell $1.08, or 2.8 percent, to $37.39 in afternoon trading. The company has its own stock listing, but is controlled by Telephone & Data Systems Inc., a phone company.

With U.S. Cellular's embrace of the iPhone, the six biggest cellphone companies in the U.S. will all be selling it. Many smaller ones do as well. The iPhone was sold exclusively by AT&T for three and a half years, and the subsequent broadening of the carrier base has been crucial in boosting Apple's sales. No. 4 T-Mobile USA was locked out of the iPhone club for a long time, but started selling it last month after a network revamp enabled the company to offer high-speed data service on the phone. U.S. Cellular is the fifth largest cellphone company, after No. 5 MetroPCS combined with T-Mobile this week.

U.S. Cellular also has a new high-speed data network, and Dillon said that was a factor in the decision to accept the iPhone.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-05-03-US%20Cellular-iPhone/id-d547929f9bd1422f8c988448b6c98b5f

aaliyah jodie foster seahawks natalie wood patriots Sandy Hook Hoax 2014 Corvette

LinkedIn's disappointing outlook eclipses big 1Q

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? LinkedIn's rapidly rising stock got demoted late Thursday after the online professional networking service released a forecast calling for its earnings growth to slow later this year as the company hires more workers, invests in data centers and tweaks the way that it shows online ads.

The predicted deceleration overshadowed another stellar performance during the first three months of the year. As has been the case in every reporting period since LinkedIn Corp. went public two years ago, both the company's first-quarter earnings and revenue topped the analyst estimates that steer Wall Street expectations.

But management's projections for both the current quarter ending in June and the full year came in below analyst projections, rattling investors who have become accustomed to LinkedIn delivering nothing but pleasant surprises.

The letdown dampened the feverish interest in LinkedIn's stock, which surpassed $200 for the first time Thursday. After closing at $201.67, LinkedIn's shares tumbled $20.45, or more than 10 percent, to $181.22 in extended trading.

Even if the sell-off carries through into Friday's regular trading session, LinkedIn's stock still will have more than quadrupled from its initial public offering price of $45. As of Thursday's close, the shares had surged by 76 percent so far this year compared to a 12 percent gain for the Standard & Poor's 500 index.

LinkedIn has thrived by establishing itself as the go-to place for employers to find talented workers and for people to get job tips and other advice to manage their careers. It doesn't cost anything for people to set up a professional profile on the site. The Mountain View, Calif., company makes most of its money by charging employers and headhunters for analytical tools and additional access to LinkedIn profiles and the site, such as the ability to send messages to users.

The service now has 225 million members, up from 202 million members at the end of last year.

LinkedIn is now adding more content, giving its audience more reasons to return to its website more frequently and to stay for longer periods. The company hopes that will lead to more advertising to supplement its revenue. As part of that process, LinkedIn plans to place more ads within the stream of the personal updates appearing in the middle of its members' individual pages rather displaying them on the sides.

The switch is a strategy already used by social networking leader Facebook Inc. and online messaging service Twitter to make it easier to show ads on mobile devices. LinkedIn plans to make the transition gradually to minimize the chances of irritating its members, CEO Jeff Weiner told analysts during a Thursday conference call.

LinkedIn's profits also will be lowered by the expenses for expanding the company's payroll and building data centers to run its online services.

"There are some incremental investments coming into play," Steve Sordello, LinkedIn's chief financial officer, told analysts during the conference call.

LinkedIn earned $22.6 million, or 20 cents per share, in the first quarter. That's up from $5 million, or 4 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. Adjusted earnings were 45 cents per share in the latest quarter, well above analysts' expectations of 30 cents, based on a poll by FactSet.

Revenue grew 72 percent from last year to nearly $325 million ? about $7 million above analyst projections.

Analysts, though, are likely to revise their estimates for the rest of the year.

LinkedIn expects second-quarter revenue between $342 million and $347 million for the April-June period. Analysts had forecast $360 million.

For the full year, LinkedIn believes its revenue will range from $1.43 billion to $1.46 billion. That's $20 million more than the company had predicted a few months ago, but analysts have been counting on full-year revenue of $1.5 billion.

Another figure that troubled investors is LinkedIn's forecast for its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA. This measure provides an inkling of how much money the company is likely to make. LinkedIn expects full-year EBITDA of $330 million to $345 million for the full year, below analysts' expectations of $363 million.

___

AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay in New York contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-05-02-US-Earns-LinkedIn/id-43a20253b45a423685d865a9fd6dc11c

harrison barnes brett ratner stevie nicks anchorman capybara duggars peter facinelli

Asia stocks rise on US jobs data

BANGKOK (AP) ? Asian stock markets rose Friday, finding renewed strength from a fall in U.S. jobless benefit claims and an interest rate cut by the European Central Bank intended to boost the region's ebbing economy.

Investors jittery over the state of the U.S. economy took heart from a U.S. Labor Department report that said applications for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in more than four years. That calmed fears that intensified Wednesday following the release of reports showing lackluster hiring and factory output.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.7 percent to 22,823.70. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.1 percent to 5,134.60. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.2 percent to 1,960.80. Benchmarks in the Philippines and Thailand rose while those in New Zealand and Singapore fell.

"The market is basically riding on the U.S. market's rise today," said Francis Lun, chief economist at GE Oriental Financial Group in Hong Kong. Mainland Chinese stocks posted sharp gains, but that was mostly due to bargain-hunting after a sharp fall, Lun said.

Markets in Japan were closed for a public holiday.

An interest rate cut by the European Central Bank gave markets in Europe a small lift Thursday. The central bank, which sets interest rates for the 17 European Union countries that use the euro, cut the rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a record low of 0.5 percent.

The decision was widely anticipated following a grim run of economic data for the eurozone, which is expected to stay in recession when first-quarter figures are released later this month.

"Importantly, core countries have been increasingly affected by weakening growth prospects and it remains to be seen whether the German economy can rebound strongly any time soon," said analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in a market commentary.

Among individual stocks, Hong Kong-listed property and consumer shares posted solid gains. Evergrande Real Estate Group rose 4.1 percent. Instant noodle maker Tingyi Holding Corp. rose 3.2 percent.

The Labor Department report and higher profits from CBS, Facebook and other companies sent Wall Street higher Thursday. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.9 percent to 14,831.58. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.9 percent to 1,597.59. The Nasdaq composite index climbed 1.3 percent to 3,340.62.

On Friday, the U.S. government's closely watched monthly employment report will be released.

Benchmark oil for June delivery was down 19 cents to $93.80 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $2.96, or 3.3 percent, to finish at $93.99 a barrel on the Nymex on Thursday, the biggest one-day gain for crude since November.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3076 from $1.3058 late Thursday in New York. The dollar rose slightly to 98 yen from 97.96 yen.

___

Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asia-stocks-rise-us-jobs-data-033127746.html

act of valor woody guthrie benson henderson 2012 dunk contest edgar vs henderson berkshire hathaway ufc 144

Engineer who warned over Bangladesh building held, toll tops 500

By Ruma Paul

DHAKA (Reuters) - Police investigating the collapse of a Bangladesh factory building that killed more than 500 people have arrested an engineer who warned the day before that the eight-storey complex was unsafe.

The arrest of engineer Adbur Razzak brought to nine the number of people held over the April 24 disaster, which has put the spotlight on the many Western clothing retailers who use Bangladesh as a source of cheap goods.

One firm whose garments were being made in the doomed building, Canada's Loblaw, said on Thursday it would continue to produce clothes in Bangladesh but promised to improve the facilities it uses there.

The death toll from Bangladesh's worst industrial accident rose to 501 on Friday, with the scores of relatives still gathered at the site in a Dhaka suburb clutching photographs of loved ones attesting to the many more still missing.

Engineer Razzak had been called to Rana Plaza in Savar, 20 miles north of the capital, by its owner when cracks appeared in concrete pillars the day before the accident.

Despite his warning that the building was unsafe -- quoted in local media hours before it came crashing to the ground -- thousands of mostly female workers were sent back into its upper storey factories when the morning shift began the next day.

Police said Razzak had been arrested because he had been involved in the original construction of the building.

LOW WAGES

Duty-free access offered by Western countries and low wages have helped turn Bangladesh's garment exports into a $19 billion a year industry, with 60 percent of clothes going to Europe.

The European Union has said it is considering trade action against Bangladesh, which has preferential access to EU markets for its garments, to pressure Dhaka to improve safety standards.

About 3.6 million people work in Bangladesh's garment industry, making it the world's second-largest apparel exporter after China. Some earn as little as $38 a month, conditions Pope Francis on Wednesday likened to "slave labor".

Walt Disney Co said in March it would no longer allow its branded products to be made in five countries, including Bangladesh, in an effort to ensure production in safe conditions.

Loblaw Cos Ltd, which was using a factory at Rana Plaza to make clothes for its discount "Joe Fresh" line, said it would remain in Bangladesh because well-run factories can help lift people out of poverty in developing countries.

Loblaw promised to start a relief fund for victims and said it would add "building integrity" to its audit of suppliers' facilities.

"I am deeply troubled. I am troubled that despite a clear commitment to the highest standards of ethical sourcing, our company can still be part of such an unspeakable tragedy," Executive Chairman Galen Weston told reporters.

Other retailers that were using factories at Rana Plaza, or had done so in the past year, include Britain's Primark -- which has also pledged to compensate victims -- Matalan, Spain's Mango and Benetton.

There were about 3,000 people inside the complex, which was built on swampy land, when it collapsed. About 2,500 people have been rescued, many injured, but many remain unaccounted for.

The building's owner, Mohammed Sohel Rana, his father, four factory owners and two engineers have since been arrested, while the local mayor has been suspended from office accused of improperly approving its construction.

It was the third deadly incident in six months to raise questions about worker safety and labor conditions in Bangladesh.

In November, scores died in a garment-factory fire in Dhaka, many of them because supervisors ordered workers back to their stations even as an alarm rang and smoke rose through an internal staircase.

Human-rights groups say there has never been a case in which a factory owner was prosecuted over the deaths of workers.

(Additional reporting by Serajul Quadir; Writing by Alex Richardson; Editing by Paul Tait)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/engineer-warned-over-bangladesh-building-held-toll-tops-065242287.html

post grad arpaio carol burnett neil degrasse tyson neil degrasse tyson davy jones death born this way foundation

Gray hair and vitiligo reversed at the root

May 3, 2013 ? Hair dye manufacturers are on notice: The cure for gray hair is coming. That's right, the need to cover up one of the classic signs of aging with chemical pigments will be a thing of the past thanks to a team of European researchers. In a new research report published online in The FASEB Journal people who are going gray develop massive oxidative stress via accumulation of hydrogen peroxide in the hair follicle, which causes our hair to bleach itself from the inside out, and most importantly, the report shows that this massive accumulation of hydrogen peroxide can be remedied with a proprietary treatment developed by the researchers described as a topical, UVB-activated compound called PC-KUS (a modified pseudocatalase). What's more, the study also shows that the same treatment works for the skin condition, vitiligo.

"To date, it is beyond any doubt that the sudden loss of the inherited skin and localized hair color can affect those individuals in many fundamental ways," said Karin U. Schallreuter, M.D., study author from the Institute for Pigmentary Disorders in association with E.M. Arndt University of Greifswald, Germany and the Centre for Skin Sciences, School of Life Sciences at the University of Bradford, United Kingdom. "The improvement of quality of life after total and even partial successful repigmentation has been documented."

To achieve this breakthrough, Schallreuter and colleagues analyzed an international group of 2,411 patients with vitiligo. Of that group, 57 or 2.4 percent were diagnosed with strictly segmental vitiligo (SSV), and 76 or 3.2 percent were diagnosed with mixed vitiligo, which is SSV plus non-segmental vitiligo (NSV). They found that for the first time, patients who have SSV within a certain nerval distribution involving skin and eyelashes show the same oxidative stress as observed in the much more frequent general NSV, which is associated with decreased antioxidant capacities including catalase, thioredoxin reductase, and the repair mechanisms methionine sulfoxide reductases. These findings are based on basic science and clinical observations, which led to successful patient outcomes regarding repigmentation of skin and eyelashes.

"For generations, numerous remedies have been concocted to hide gray hair," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal, "but now, for the first time, an actual treatment that gets to the root of the problem has been developed. While this is exciting news, what's even more exciting is that this also works for vitiligo. This condition, while technically cosmetic, can have serious socio-emotional effects of people. Developing an effective treatment for this condition has the potential to radically improve many people's lives."

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. K. U. Schallreuter, M. A. E. L. Salem, S. Holtz, A. Panske. Basic evidence for epidermal H2O2/ONOO--mediated oxidation/nitration in segmental vitiligo is supported by repigmentation of skin and eyelashes after reduction of epidermal H2O2 with topical NB-UVB-activated pseudocatalase PC-KUS. The FASEB Journal, 2013; DOI: 10.1096/fj.12-226779

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/sKpMQ44myiE/130503132958.htm

boxing day george h w bush Belk Led Zeppelin Ned Rocknroll Norman Schwarzkopf Avery Johnson

?In The Studio,? Sutter Hill's Sam Pullara Carves His Own Path From Technologist To Venture Capitalist

Those who know in the Valley know the name Sam Pullara. Whether it was his time as a repeat entrepreneur and technical founder, or stints as an EIR at some of the Valley's most premier venture capital firms, or his time as a lead technologist at two of the largest tech companies in the Valley (most recently at Twitter), Pullara has occupied nearly every seat at the table throughout his career. Now, after leaving Twitter and after years of being an angel investor, Pullara has moved himself and his blog, Java Rants, over to the venture capital side as a Managing Director?of Sutter Hill Ventures in Palo Alto, a firm which started back in the early 1960s and has focused on investing in SaaS, infrastructure, and other fundamental technologies.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/BFhJikflw-c/

Jennifer Livingston Orlando Cruz MLB Playoff Schedule arizona cardinals Big Bird Adam Greenberg Fall Leaves