olnwt.org

(Repeats with additional reporting credit)

* Obama says damage, loss of life is “heartbreaking”

* Twisters death toll rises to 339 overall, 238 in Alabama

* Property insurance losses estimated at $2 bln to $5 bln

* Cost of disaster could complicate state finances
(Updates with new death toll in Alabama and overall)

By Verna Gates and Alister Bull

TUSCALOOSA, Ala., April 29 (Reuters) – President Barack
Obama promised federal aid on Friday to the tornado-ravaged
U.S. South, where deadly twisters have killed at least 339
people and caused billions of dollars in damage.

Obama toured smashed homes and met survivors on a visit to
the worst-hit state, Alabama. It was one of seven southern U.S.
states mauled by recent tornadoes and storms which have caused
insured losses of between $2 billion and $5 billion, according
to one catastrophe risk modeler’s estimate.

“We are going to do everything we can to help these
communities rebuild,” Obama told reporters in Tuscaloosa, a
university city in Alabama that was devastated by the
tornadoes.

The destruction inflicted this week by the twisters, which
flattened whole neighborhoods, was the deadliest U.S. natural
catastrophe since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“I have never seen devastation like this. It is
heartbreaking,” said Obama, accompanied by his wife Michelle
and Alabama Governor Robert Bentley. “This is something I don’t
think anyone has seen before.”

In Alabama, emergency officials again raised the death toll
from the tornadoes in that state, to 238. Bentley said 1,700
people were injured.

At least 101 more deaths were reported across Mississippi,
Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, Virginia and Louisiana.

Children were among the victims. [ID:nN29296469)

FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said it was feared the
number of deaths would rise as states searched for many people
unaccounted for. But the number of missing was not clear.

"We can't bring those who've been lost back. They're
alongside God at this point ... but the property damage, which
is obviously extensive, that's something we can do something
about," Obama said.

<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Full coverage of this week's tornadoes [ID:nN28284934]

Tornado video link.reuters.com/jeg39r

Graphic r.reuters.com/zap29r

Factbox on deadliest U.S. tornado days [ID:nN28269147]

Factbox on states hit by tornadoes [ID:nN29148979]

Factbox on tornado survival tips [ID:nN29161421]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>

“With initial reports of buildings destroyed approaching
10,000, property insurance losses are expected to range from $2
to $5 Billion,” catastrophe risk modeling company EQECAT said.

“Tornado activity in April is putting 2011 into the record
books,” it said, adding that the recent tornado outbreak had
involved “hundreds of touchdowns, some tornado tracks reported
to be almost a mile (1.6 km) wide and tens of miles long
causing hundreds of fatalities”.

Obama was eager to show that federal relief is on its way
and that he is not taking the disaster lightly. His predecessor
George W. Bush was fiercely criticized for what was viewed as a
slow response to Hurricane Katrina.

Flying into Tuscaloosa aboard Air Force One, Obama and his
family saw a wide brown scar of devastation several miles
(kilometers) long and hundreds of yards (meters) wide.

Tuscaloosa resident Jack Fagan, 23, was glad that Obama saw
the damage. “Perhaps federal funds will help us, but I’m sure
it will take longer than they say because it always does.”

Recovery could cost billions of dollars and even with
federal disaster aid it could complicate efforts by affected
states to bounce back from recession. [ID:nN29159681]

Tornadoes are a regular feature of life in the U.S. South
and Midwest, but they are rarely so devastating.

NUCLEAR PLANT SHUT, INDUSTRIES DAMAGED

The tornadoes hit Alabama’s poultry industry — the state
is the No. 3 U.S. chicken producer — and hurt other
manufacturers in the state. [ID:nN29257770]

They also halted coal production at the Cliffs Natural
Resources (CLF.N) mine in Alabama. [ID:nN29298155]

The second-biggest U.S. nuclear power plant, the Browns
Ferry facility in Alabama, may be down for weeks after its
power was knocked out and the plant automatically shut,
avoiding a nuclear disaster, officials said. [ID:nN28262530]

Apparel producer VF Corp (VFC.N), owner of clothing brands
such as North Face and Wrangler Jeans, said one of its
jeanswear distribution centers, located in Hackleburg, Alabama,
was destroyed and one employee killed. [ID:nN29261318]

In Tuscaloosa, the twisters, including one a mile (1.6
km)-wide, cut a path of destruction, reducing houses to rubble,
flipping cars and knocking out utilities. The death count was
expected to rise with many bodies still trapped under debris.

“We are bringing in the cadaver dogs today,” said Heather
McCollum, assistant to Tuscaloosa’s mayor. She put the death
toll in the city at 42 but said it could rise.

Of the more than 150 tornadoes that rampaged from west to
east across the South this week, the National Weather Service
confirmed that one that struck Smithville in Mississippi’s
Monroe County on Wednesday was a rare EF-5 tornado, with winds
reaching 205 miles (328 km) per hour.

This is the highest rating on the Enhanced Fujita scale
that measures tornado intensity.

“The homes here are made well … but when you are talking
about a direct hit, it does not matter,” Monroe County Sheriff
Andy Hood said. “Right now, those homes are slabs of concrete.
There is nothing left.”

Across the South, many people were made homeless by the
tornadoes and stayed in shelters. Some residents provided food,
water and supplies to neighbors whose homes were destroyed.

Tuscaloosa resident Antonio Donald, 50, received help. “I
got no light, no water. I have a newborn baby at home, a
daughter who is pregnant and an 88-year-old aunt,” he said.

The storms left up to 1 million homes in Alabama without
power. Water and garbage collection services were also
disrupted in some areas.

Alabama’s Jefferson County, which is fighting to avoid what
would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history,
suffered damage and 19 dead but said the storms would have
little direct impact on its struggling finances because federal
grants were expected. [ID:nN29239209]
(Additional reporting by Peggy Gargis and Tami Chappell in
Birmingham and Colleen Jenkins in St. Petersburg, Leigh Coleman
in Mississippi, Phil Wahba in New York; writing by Matthew Bigg
and Pascal Fletcher, Editing by Paul Simao)

Originally Published On: www.reuters.com – Original Article Here

NEW YORK, April 29 (Reuters) – Cerberus Capital Management
[CBS.UL] and TPG [TPG.UL], two private equity firms, are among
those expected to bid on hotels owned by Innkeepers USA Trust
in a bankruptcy auction on Monday, the Wall Street Journal
reported on its website on Friday.

The two are eyeing different sets of hotels and are likely
to bid on assets that include combinations of cash, debt and
equity, the report said, citing sources familiar with the
matter.
(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Gary Hill)

Originally Published On: www.reuters.com – Original Article Here

Story By: by Mike Shuster

Syrian anti-government protesters demonstrate in Banias on April 29, the “Day of Rage” called by activists to pile pressure on President Bashar Assad as his regime enacted a violent crackdown on dissent.

- Bruce Riedel, Middle East analyst at the Brookings Institution

For its part, the U.S. has accused Iran of helping Syria put down the demonstrations and of providing it with technology and training that proved effective in quelling Iran’s own street protests after the disputed presidential election in 2009.

Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, repeated that charge earlier this week.

“President Assad is disingenuously blaming outsiders while at the same time seeking Iranian assistance in repressing Syria’s citizens through the same brutal tactics that have been used by the Iranian regime,” she said.

Fear Of A Lost Connection With Hezbollah

Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former CIA agent and now a Middle East specialist at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, says it makes perfect sense that the Iranians would be helping the Syrian government.

The Iranians fear they will lose access and influence in Lebanon if Assad loses his grip on power in Damascus, he says.

Hezbollah would lose its primary supply line for weapons — especially missiles. The Lebanon-based group received thousands of missiles from Iran, which it used against Israel in 2006.

“Without the Syrian pipeline, then the Hezbollah — if they could have another war with Israel — will run out of weaponry. And they need to have that land route,” Gerecht says.

The situation in Syria is putting great stress on the Iranian leadership. And it’s not a good time for Iran’s intelligence services. A very public fight has broken out over the fate of Iran’s intelligence minister, Heydar Moslehi. Ahmadinejad has tried to fire him; Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei wants him to remain in place.

Riedel, the Middle East analyst at Brookings, says that no matter who their leader is, Iran’s intelligence services didn’t see the Syria trouble coming.

“The questions will be asked: ‘Who lost Syria?’ And the Iranian intelligence service will probably be blamed,” Riedel says.

Blamed for not seeing it, but perhaps more seriously, blamed for leaving Tehran even more isolated in the Middle East than it has been in the past.

Originally Published On: www.npr.org – Original Article Here

They say inside every man is a little boy, wanting to play, score and compete. I guess that is why the gaming industry is worth billions of dollars and is in no way slowing down. While we’ve seen many innovations in gaming — magic now happens when you wave your arms in front of a TV — the original gamer remains loyal to the "button-mashing" experience.

Sony’s latest — Xperia Play — is an attempt to fuse a strong gaming element into a mobile device. It is for the most part an Xperia Arc with minor differences in the screen and storage, and of course the camera which is considerably better on the Arc.

On first look the device appears to be a chubby phone but you see the gamepad when you slide it. There is a four-directional pad on the left and the four action keys that are found on all things PlayStation. Both sets are well spaced and sized and offer decent feedback — all of which is critical to the gaming experience. Of course, the joysticks found on PlayStation and PSP devices are missing here and have been replaced with analog pads. These feature a dot in the centre to serve as an anchor for your movement across the pad. It takes a considerable amount of time to get used to these and even then the sensitivity is a hit and miss, varying across and depending on games. The right side of the device, which is at the back of the screen with the slider opened, has the "L" and "R" buttons you would find on the console.

On the software side of things the device is powered by Android 2.3. However, the Play is about its gaming collection and two pieces of software will be at the front and centre here.

Xperia Play features Android games compatible with the Play’s hardware controls. The other software — Playstation Pocket — is a library for all the games from the original Playstation/PS One era. It’s still fairly bare but the catalogue is being built up. Performance wasn’t an issue and gameplay was smooth. Battery life was close to the advertised 5.5 hours of gameplay.

The screen, however, is a little too dim when played outdoors; and since this is a "mobile" gaming device, I guess there’s going to be a fair bit of that involved.

The Xperia Play is a great idea on paper but fails to meet its potential. Those looking for a true gaming experience would be better off picking up a PSP or waiting for its newest iteration due later this year.

Bhavishya Kanjhan is a digital marketing professional and an early adopter of all things digital. Follow his tweets on @bhavishya

Originally Published On: gulfnews.com – Original Article Here

Story By: by The Associated Press

Opponents of taxpayer-funded embryonic stem cell research lost a key round in a federal appeals court Friday.

In a 2-1 decision, a panel of the U.S. court of appeals in Washington overturned a judge’s order that would have blocked federal financing of stem cell research. The judges ruled that opponents are not likely to succeed in their lawsuit to stop the government funding.

The panel reversed an opinion issued last August by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who said the research likely violates the law against federal funding of embryo destruction.

The White House praised the ruling. “Responsible stem cell research has the potential to treat some of our most devastating diseases and conditions and offers hope to families across the country and around the world,” said spokesman Nick Papas. He said the ruling was a victory for scientists and patients.

Researchers hope one day to use stem cells in ways that cure spinal cord injuries, Parkinson’s disease and other ailments. Opponents say the research is a form of abortion because human embryos must be destroyed to obtain the stem cells.

The 1996 law prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars in work that harms an embryo, so private money has been used to cull batches of the cells. Those batches can reproduce in lab dishes indefinitely, and the Obama administration issued rules permitting taxpayer dollars to be used in work on them.

The lawsuit was filed in 2009 by two scientists who argued that Obama’s expansion jeopardized their ability to win government funding for research using adult stem cells ones that have already matured to create specific types of tissues because it will mean extra competition.

Lamberth, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Washington, issued a preliminary injunction in August to block the research while the case continued.

The Obama administration immediately appealed and requested the order be stopped. The appeals court quickly ruled that the research could continue at the National Institutes of Health while the judges took up the case.

The appeals court ruled Friday that Lamberth’s injunction would impose a substantial hardship on stem cell researchers at NIH, particularly because it would stop multi-year projects already underway. The appellate judges also noted that Congress has re-enacted the 1996 embryo-protection law, called the Dickey-Wicker amendment, year after year with the knowledge that the government has been funding embryonic stem cell research since 2001 evidence that Congress considers funding of such research permissible.

The majority opinion was written by Judge Douglas Ginsburg, nominated to the court by President Ronald Reagan, and supported by Judge Thomas Griffith, a nominee of President George W. Bush. The dissent came from Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, a nominee of President George H.W. Bush.

Henderson said she agreed with the lower court judge that the lawsuit was likely to succeed and said her colleagues “perform linguistic jujitsu” by taking a straightforward case and issuing an unnecessarily complicated 21-page ruling “that would make Rube Goldberg tip his hat.”

As a result of the appellate ruling Friday, the original lawsuit can continue before Judge Lamberth, but the taxpayer-funded research also will go on. Lamberth hasn’t thus far either held a trial or issued a final ruling, which he could do based on court filings without taking testimony.

“We’re thrilled with this decision and look forward to allowing federally funded scientists to continue with their work without political constraints,” said Sean Tipton, a spokesman for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

Once the cells are culled, they can reproduce in lab dishes indefinitely. So government policies said using taxpayer dollars to work with the already-created batches of cells is allowed.

The Obama administration has expanded the number of stem cell lines created with private money that federally funded scientists could research, up from the 21 that President George W. Bush had allowed to at least 75 so far. To qualify, parents who donate the original embryo must be told of other options, such as donating to another infertile woman.

Congress twice passed legislation specifically calling for tax-funded stem cell research, which Bush vetoed.

Alan Leshner, chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, said that “the decision normalizes the original judgments made by policymakers that you could use cells developed with non-government money. What we need is to pursue all approaches adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells, core blood. The overall promise is so great that we can’t afford to pick one approach prematurely.”

Originally Published On: www.npr.org – Original Article Here

The Royal newlyweds will be starting their lives together with new roles, responsibilities and pressure. But they are unlikely to have to worry too much about paying the bills, or having enough cash to stretch through to payday.

So we asked Which? Money's Gareth Shaw to give them, and other couples, tips for sorting their finances during married life.

"It is good for couples who tend to own assets before they get married, like a property. So if, in the unfortunate event they do get divorced, they know who owns what."

"But even they have to remember in England and Wales, a pre-nuptial agreement is not actually legally binding."

The law is clearer in Scotland. But even in England and Wales, courts do take pre-nuptial agreements as a starting point.

Ross wants to know if getting married will affect their tax payments at all. But Gareth says in the short-term, it won't make much difference.

"The tax man treats you both as individuals, even though you're married. But perhaps if one of you is actually earning a bit more in the future, and you become a higher rate tax payer, there are advantages to being married."

"You can actually transfer investments like shares over to the person that's not earning as much to actually pay less tax on them."

Georgie and Ross say Gareth's advice has helped focus their minds, and they think now they will open their own individual bank accounts as well as their joint one.

But for now, they have got more exciting things to think about… Their honeymoon on the Nile.

Originally Published On: www.bbc.co.uk – Original Article Here

1001 Abayas

There is a certain charm to simplicity that many people are unable to see or understand because they fear that the simple things don’t have much to add.

The two sisters-in-law, Mariam and Safa Al Medfaei, got together and created 1001 Abayas, a collection of the simplest designs to prove that too many details aren’t always right.

The line has been running since 2007, with designs inspired by Arabian Nights. None of those abayas stood out. Rather, they had simple, elegant touches on a plain, loose traditional abaya. One thing is worth noting though — the use of burqa, which was a first.

For a simple person who doesn’t like to draw too much attention to themselves, these abayas are perfect. They’re modest, they’re casual and they’re elegant, in their own unique way.

Ameera Aamer

Ameera is a fashion line that has both abayas and jalabeyas by the fierce designer Ameera Aamer. This collection blends different and opposite styles. It also features a weird mixture of fabric in which you can see more than two kinds, like in one jalabeya.

The beauty of these pieces is the bright and courageous mixture of colours that make them very much alive. Some of them may not be wearable casually, but they still offer an idea that is somewhat valuable to the fashion industry.

What is interesting about this line is that you find pieces that are splashed with beautiful colours and others that are just black or black-and-white which, in this case, offers a choice to the viewer of funky and happy or elegant and classy.

Nabrman

Elegant, simple yet still traditional, this label’s latest collection (right) is perfect for a person who doesn’t want to stand out. The designer often uses bright colours in very little areas, focusing on the cuts and layers instead. Her designs are absolutely wearable.

Hanayen

This label has a partnership with Swarovski crystals, so it wasn’t a surprise to see a lot of that on almost all the abayas (above right). This designer was a favourite because he experiments with different styles and tries to break the black colour while bringing in something new to the traditional abaya.

Originally Published On: gulfnews.com – Original Article Here

Story By: by The Associated Press

More people sought unemployment benefits last week, the second rise in three weeks, a sign the job market’s recovery is slow and uneven.

Applications for unemployment benefits jumped 25,000 to a seasonally adjusted 429,000 for the week ending April 23, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s the highest total since late January.

The four-week average of applications, a less volatile measure, rose to 408,500, its third straight rise and the first time it has topped 400,000 in two months.

Applications near 375,000 are consistent with sustained job creation. Applications peaked during the recession at 659,000.

New weekly claims; seasonally adjusted, in thousands

Source: Labor Department

Credit: NPR

Some economists predicted that auto factory shutdowns, stemming from supply disruptions in Japan, would cause applications to rise. But a Labor Department analyst said only one state reported auto-related layoffs and the increase was modest.

Economic growth slowed sharply in the first three months of the year, according to a separate report Thursday from the Commerce Department. The nation’s economic output grew at a 1.8 percent annual rate in the January-March quarter, a much weaker pace that the 3.1 percent growth recorded in the October-December period.

Unemployment benefit applications trended down for about six months, but have leveled off in recent weeks. That suggests companies could be cutting more workers. But other recent evidence shows that businesses have stepped up hiring. Companies added more than 200,000 net new jobs in February and March, the fastest two-month pace in five years. The unemployment rate fell in March to 8.8 percent, down a percentage point in one month.

The reports come a day after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the economy is steadily recovering, but is slowed down by persistent unemployment. Bernanke said the Fed can’t take further steps to try to reduce unemployment without risking higher inflation.

The Fed has kept short-term interest rates at a record low level of near zero since December 2008. It is also buying $600 billion in Treasury bonds in another effort to lower interest rates. Both moves have spurred criticism from some members of Congress that the low interest rates could spur higher prices.

More than 3.6 million people are receiving unemployment benefits from regular state unemployment programs. Millions more are receiving aid under emergency programs put in place by Congress during the recession. All told, 8.2 million people obtained unemployment benefits in the week ended April 9, the latest data available. That’s a drop of about 100,000 from the previous week.

Originally Published On: www.npr.org – Original Article Here

HELSINKI (Reuters) – Strong demand for smartphones gave a further boost to overall cellphone market volumes in January-March and made iPhone supplier Apple Inc a rare winner on the market, research firms said on Friday.

IDC saw January-March market growth of 20 percent, helped also by strong gains by smaller vendors as the three largest phone makers — Nokia Oyj, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and LG Electronics Inc — lost market share.

Apple’s iPhone sales more than doubled from a year ago, buoyed by strong sales on Verizon Wireless and additional carrier deals elsewhere, with market share rising to 5 percent.

“The iPhone once again sold particularly well in developed economic regions of the world, such as North America and western Europe,” IDC said.

Apple is now within striking distance of LG, which had a 6.6 percent market share in the quarter. Nokia’s share dropped to 29 percent from 35 percent a year ago while Samsung slipped to 19 percent, IDC said.

Blackberry-maker Research In Motion Ltd benefited from the smartphone boom in the quarter, winning market share, but warned late on Thursday its quarterly sales would miss earlier forecasts.

The Canadian group is in a transition period as it revamps its product line and launches its first tablet computer.

Separately Strategy Analytics estimated handset shipments grew 17 percent from a year ago, driven by surging smartphone demand in mature regions and increasingly popular models with multiple SIM cards in emerging markets.

“The first quarter of 2011 was marked by supply-chain disruptions related to the Japan earthquake tragedy and by ongoing mild component constraints in areas such as touchscreens, memory and cameras,” said Neil Mawston, analyst at Strategy Analytics.

Mawston said component shortages would continue for at least the next six to nine months, causing restricted volumes or rising input prices, but operational challenges from this would remain minor for most manufacturers.

(Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and David Holmes)

Originally Published On: www.reuters.com – Original Article Here

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have celebrated their marriage with dinner and dancing at Buckingham Palace, along with about 300 friends and family.

The State Rooms, including the grand ballroom, were used for the reception.

The ballroom, measuring over 36 metres in length and 18 metres in width, is the largest of the 775 rooms in the palace.

It was added in the 1850s at the request of Queen Victoria and opened in 1856 with a ball to celebrate the end of the Crimean War – a war in which the previous holder of Prince William's new title, the 2nd Duke of Cambridge, served.

On Friday, pubs were allowed to remain open for an additional two hours beyond the conventional closing time; they will be granted the same flexibility on Saturday.

Millions of people across the UK marked the royal wedding with street parties, picnics and other festivities.

But one party in Glasgow's Kelvingrove Park resulted in 21 arrests as police attempted to disperse thousands of revellers.

The organisers described themselves as "royalist/party mad", but Glasgow City Council had urged people not to attend their "unsafe and unofficial" party.

One police officer was injured and several police vans had their windows smashed in clashes attributed by Ch Supt Bernard Higgins to "completely unacceptable" levels of drunkenness.

Originally Published On: www.bbc.co.uk – Original Article Here