YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) ? A longshot candidate for the Armenian presidency was shot in the chest by an unidentified gunman late Thursday, officials said. Paruir Airikian was hospitalized in stable condition as police searched for the shooter, while the speaker of Parliament suggested the election could be delayed.
Airikian was shot outside his house in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, just before midnight. A neighbor who heard gunshots and cries for help called the police.
Airikian is one of eight candidates in the Feb. 18 presidential vote, which incumbent Serge Sarkisian is expected to easily win. Recent opinion surveys show Airikian getting just over 1 percent of the vote.
Yerevan Clinical Hospital's chief doctor, Ara Minasian, confirmed that the 63-year-old Airikian was being treated for a single gunshot wound and remained in stable condition.
Eduard Sharmazanov, a deputy speaker of Parliament who is a member of the ruling Republican Party, described the attack on Airikian as a "provocation against democratic, free and transparent elections."
Armenian parliament speaker Ovik Abramian, who visited Airikian at the hospital, said the attack on the candidate could be an attempt to thwart the election. He said the vote could be postponed if Airikian's condition prevents him from taking part in the race, but the nation's election chief refused to comment on the possibility.
Armenia's constitution requires the vote to be postponed for two weeks if one of the candidates is unable to take part due to circumstances beyond his control. It envisages a further 40-day delay if the problem isn't solved.
The Armenian presidency is an important position with broad executive powers, and the campaign for the job has been marked by much tension. Airikian, a Soviet-era dissident, briefly joined a hunger strike by another candidate over procedural issues related to the vote.
This landlocked, overwhelmingly Christian nation of 3 million has faced severe economic challenges caused by the closing of its borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan in the wake of a territorial conflict.
The Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and some adjacent territory has been under the control of Armenian troops and local ethnic Armenian forces since a six-year war ended with a truce in 1994. But international efforts to mediate a settlement have brought no result.
Armenia's politics have been tense and often mired in violence. In 1999, six gunmen burst into Parliament and killed the prime minister, speaker and six other officials and lawmakers. Nine people were wounded. The attackers said they were driven by a desire to save the country from economic collapse and official corruption. They were sentenced to life in prison and one later committed suicide.
Airikian was a dissident during Soviet times. He was first arrested when he was 20, sentenced to four years in a prison camp and later received another two-year sentence. In 1987 after Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev launched his liberal reforms, Airikian created the National Self-Determination Party. When the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan erupted next year, he accused the Soviet authorities of stirring up violence and was evicted from the country.
Airikian soon returned to his country and took senior positions in Armenia's parliament and government in the 1990s. He ran unsuccessfully for president in 2003.
Gene Effect is an outstanding new action adventure title from Lightstorm3D. It takes many of the same themes and ideas of a game like Waking Mars, with a similar sense of discovery and wonderment, but executes on them in a different way. Things get pretty hectic as you pilot a simple mining vessel, called the Triton, through a cavernous alien world, collecting resources and relics while also uncovering a mystery or two. It's not a perfect game, with some pacing issues down the line, but it does so much right that you'll probably overlook the flaws.
Essentially, your greatest nemesis in this game are rocks. You?ll likely run into rocky, jagged walls, stalactites, and stalagmites while avoiding your secondary nemesis, highly defensive acid-spraying plant life. The controls are simple enough, with a virtual joystick for full range movement, plus a charge-up repulsor attack for getting rid of smaller rock formations. You'll also collect weapons from time to time, like lock-on missiles that let you clear dangerous formations. The weapons are more like a puzzle element than a combat one, and this game doesn't really have enemies. It's really just a game about a small team of dudes trying to survive a hostile alien environment, and it's done quite well.
The greatest strength of this game is probably the ability to create tension. Using a very effective soundtrack, the danger set pieces really absorb you into the story, having you root for the handful of dudes you never really see or hear in any meaningful way. Unfortunately, the way the levels are set up, you'll often run into dangerous segments after a long period of relative safety exploring a long, labyrinthine tunnel. If you can look past the few level design issues, there is a veritable feast of a game to dig into.
You'll especially like this game if you're a completionist. Every level has a speed trophy to earn, and you'll only earn the gold with immaculately precise movement. Most levels also have hidden relics to find among other secrets. Unlike Waking Mars, this game is strictly mission focused, and is much less about exploration and more about survival and speed. Still, the story is fairly well-written, and there is often a sense of awe as you uncover mysterious puzzles and ruins. The 3D visuals are also incredibly well done, with an excellent use of lighting and color. All in all, this is a wonderful yet flawed game that I highly recommend. You can download Gene Effect now for about three fifty.
Indiana?s farmland owners will pay higher property taxes in 2014 on the heels of an increase in the base rate for assessed land value, Purdue Extension agricultural economist Larry DeBoer says.?The base rate, which is the starting point for calculating taxes on farmland, jumped from $1,630 per acre in 2012 to $1,760 for 2013. Taxes assessed on this year?s base rate will be paid in 2014.?The base rate has exactly doubled in just seven years, from $880 per acre in 2007.
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The value of Indiana farmland is assessed based on use value rather than market value. So, even if a parcel of farmland borders commercial or residential development, it is assessed based on the income it can generate from farming, not the selling price.?When determining property taxes, Indiana?s Department of Local Government Finance takes into account the base rate, a productivity factor and an influence factor. Productivity factors are based on the soil?s productivity for growing corn. They are scheduled to rise for taxes in 2014, but according to DeBoer, bills have been proposed in the General Assembly to cancel that change.
The influence factor is a percentage reduction in the dollar amount of the productivity factor to account for conditions, such as frequent flooding, grade or forest cover.
The assessed farmland value has been rising because the base rate is calculated annually based on a number of factors, such as commodity prices, land rents, input costs and interest rates.??The base rate is calculated using a capitalization formula,? DeBoer said. ?The rent or net income earned from an acre is divided by a rate of return. The department calculates capitalized values for six years, drops the highest value and then averages the remaining five years to get the base rate.??Each year, a value from an earlier year leaves the calculation and a value from a recent year is averaged in. The base rate goes up when the value coming in is higher than value dropping out.?
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Compared with six years ago, farmland rents are higher, commodity prices are up and interest rates are down ? a combination that increases the base rate. But there?s a four-year lag between the numbers in the calculation and the tax year, so the numbers to be used for 2014 taxes are from 2005 to 2010.?For example, for 2012 assessments, which will be taxed in 2013, the capitalized value for 2003 was erased and the capitalized value from 2009 included, DeBoer said. The 2003 value was $1,407 per acre, and the 2009 value was $2,066. That means the base rate rose from $1,500 per acre for taxes in 2012 to $1,630 for taxes in 2013.
DeBoer said the trend of increasing property taxes will continue.
?Rents and commodity prices were higher and interest rates lower in 2011 than they were in 2005, so the base rate for taxes paid in 2015 should be about $2,050 ? a 16.5 percent rise from those paid in 2014,? he said.
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The drought?s reduction of corn yields to a 20-year low will affect property tax bills, but not until those payable in 2016, when the 2012 numbers enter the calculation.??Rising rents and prices and falling interest rates should raise the pay-2016 rate to about $2,430,? DeBoer said. ?The 2012 drought will have a small effect. If yields had been normal, the base rate probably would have been $100 to $200 higher.?
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DeBoer?s full report and accompanying podcast can be found in his column Capital Comments at https://ag.purdue.edu/agcomm/pages/Newscolumns.aspx
A controversial ad from Coca-cola has given the role of soft drinks in the obesity epidemic the type of attention the company had hoped to deflect. The new ad tries to improve public opinion of Coca-Cola by showing concern about the future health of the nation. Since the campaign kicked off, nutrition experts have been reminding the public about how scientific research debunks Coca-Cola?s cynical claims.
Coke and cigarettes
Last year government officials, most notably the mayor of New York, started imposing strict regulations on the portion size of sugar-sweetened beverages. Growing public awareness of their health risks is leading to comparisons of products such as Coke with cigarettes in terms of health impact.
Fearing the damage to profits from an emerging marketing and public relations debacle, Coca-Cola has produced an ad intended to obfuscate scientific research confirming that Coke and other sugar-sweetened soft drinks are a major contributor to obesity and that their products have absolutely no nutritional value.
Coke sounds the alarm
The spin of the company?s new ad campaign, ?Coming Together,? is that Coca-Cola is working hard to make its beverages healthier. It begins with a sincerely earnest tone:
?For over 125 years, we?ve been bringing people together. Today we?d like people to come together on something that concerns all of us: obesity. The long-term health of our families and the country is at stake.?
Healthier choices?
The narrator uses statistics to create the impression that Coca-Cola is leading people who drink sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened drinks to a thinner, healthier tomorrow:
?Across our portfolio of more than 650 beverages, we now offer over 180 low- and no-calorie choices,? the ad says, ?Over the last 15 years, this helped reduce the average calories per serving across our industry?s products in the U.S. by 22 percent.?
Many people have been led to believe that so-called diet drinks with no- or low-calories are a healthier choice. However, numerous studies have shown that artificial sweeteners can distort biochemistry in ways that lead to significant weight gain and higher blood sugar levels, as well as disrupt the body?s ability to control calorie intake.
A calorie is a calorie?
According to most critics of the campaign, the company goes too far when the narrator tries to shift blame for obesity from the company to the consumer?with the implication that all calories, including soda calories, are created equal:
??beating obesity will take action by all of us, based on one simple, common-sense fact: All calories count, no matter where they come from. ?And if you eat and drink more calories than you burn off, you?ll gain weight.?
Scientific research in the past few years has proven that in human metabolism, all calories are not created equal, in particular those from fructose, the main sweetener in Coke. Fructose, which can only be metabolized in the liver, overwhelms the organ, where fat accumulates. Fructose also forces the pancreas to make more insulin, which can eventually lead to a prediabetic condition. Both effects send a body on the road to metabolic syndrome.
Shameless
Even the advertising industry has responded to Coca-Cola?s campaign with derision. Adweek, called the video ?shameless? in an article titled ?The soda giant makes an awkward first stab at addressing obesity.?
So we can expect to hear more from Coca-Cola about obesity. But properly translated the company?s message is an attempt to maintain profits, not take action for the health of consumers.
Source: New York Times, Medill Reports, Dr. Mercola
Tagged as: artificial sweeteners, coca cola claims, coke ad obesity, coke and cigarettes, fructose calories, Healthier choices, obesity epidemic, scientific research, sugar-sweetened beverages
Aarhus University builds research station in North GreenlandPublic release date: 1-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Professor Henrik Skov hsk@dmu.dk 45-87-15-85-24 Aarhus University
An ultra-modern research station in the High Arctic Region
Climate change is one of the major challenges facing the international community in the coming century. The warmer climate has already had a significant impact on the distribution of the sea ice, and has led to the advancement of spring in the Arctic. There is a close connection between the Arctic climate and our own. The cold we are experiencing in Denmark at present is due to the polar front extending south, for example.
Researchers now have an unprecedented opportunity to study these climate changes at first hand, thanks to a grant of DKK 70.5 million from the VILLUM FOUNDATION as part of its research infrastructure programme.
The grant will be used to set up modern research facilities at Station North in the far north of Greenland. For a number of years, Aarhus University has been following the development of air pollution here from a small hut. This building will now be significantly upgraded, and Project Manager Henrik Skov is very pleased with the grant.
"It makes it possible to take top modern measurements and increase our presence at Station North. Our scientists will be able to carry out research that was previously impossible in the High Arctic," he says. "This way, we'll be able to extend our studies so that we not just follow air pollution, but also get to follow developments and understand the processes that exist between climate, pollution and the vulnerable ecosystems in the High Arctic. We're therefore certain that colleagues from Denmark and abroad will also be champing at the bit to join us in this work," he concludes.
"This magnificent grant from the VILLUM FOUNDATION will be very important for future Arctic research and the excellent collaboration we've got with the research institutions and authorities in Greenland. You can't find a better place to measure climate change, and Station North can therefore become a crucial reference point not only for researchers at Aarhus University, but also for our many collaborative partners all over the world, who will benefit from the station. Aarhus University recently entered into collaboration with Canada's University of Manitoba and the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, and the Station North grant helps to strongly emphasise the VILLUM FOUNDATION and Aarhus University's strong commitment to the climate, the environment and the Arctic," says Rector Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen, Aarhus University.
Snowmobiles and drones
Carrying out research in the High Arctic is logistically very challenging, mainly because of its virtually inaccessible location and lack of a modern research infrastructure. It is therefore crucially important to establish suitable new research facilities in the High Arctic region. The fact that this is possible at all is due to the unique collaboration established over many years between the research group and the Danish Armed Forces.
The major climate changes taking place right now are particularly significant in the High Arctic, making it very important to describe the correlation between climate, pollution and the sensitive Arctic food chains, as well as their repercussions on the rest of the world.
The research infrastructure will be established in 2013 and 2014 at Station North in North Greenland. It will consist of three substations with ultra-modern laboratory facilities and equipment.
1. Basic station, consisting of a number of buildings with accommodation facilities and laboratories that make it possible to study the transport of pollution to the Arctic, permafrost, ice, climate and biological processes close to Station North.
2. Mobile station, consisting of snowmobiles, tracked vehicles (one or more), sleds, tents, etc., so the researchers can get around and study chemical, physical, geological and biological processes in the areas at a distance from Station North.
3. Air station, consisting of unmanned drones that make it possible to study the composition of the air and observe the Earth from the air.
The research infrastructure will be open to Danish and international researchers, partly via the new Arctic Research Centre at Aarhus University.
Setting up the research infrastructure will thus constitute an international hub for interdisciplinary research into the impact of climate change on the Arctic regions, including a deeper understanding of the effects on the sea ice, glaciers, ecosystems and atmosphere. Such studies are necessary to respond to the important scientific questions related to the accelerating Arctic warming. The Greenland Self-Government's Department of Education and Research has therefore expressed its support for the project, as it will be one of the main users of the knowledge acquired.
Arctic Research Centre
The researchers literally work at the top of the world when colleagues from different fields combine their strengths at the Arctic Research Centre. Marine scientists, chemists, physicists, biologists, statisticians, geographers and geologists have joined forces to answer the many difficult questions connected with climate change and the Arctic.
The aim is to provide world-class research that can form the basis for innovative solutions to the dramatic climate changes in the Arctic. This is a complex challenge that the new research centre takes up in international and interdisciplinary collaboration.
###
Also available in Danish and Greenlandic at
http://scitech.au.dk/aktuelt/nyheder/vis/artikel/aarhus-universitet-bygger-forskningsstation-i-nordgroenland/
[ | 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.
Aarhus University builds research station in North GreenlandPublic release date: 1-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Professor Henrik Skov hsk@dmu.dk 45-87-15-85-24 Aarhus University
An ultra-modern research station in the High Arctic Region
Climate change is one of the major challenges facing the international community in the coming century. The warmer climate has already had a significant impact on the distribution of the sea ice, and has led to the advancement of spring in the Arctic. There is a close connection between the Arctic climate and our own. The cold we are experiencing in Denmark at present is due to the polar front extending south, for example.
Researchers now have an unprecedented opportunity to study these climate changes at first hand, thanks to a grant of DKK 70.5 million from the VILLUM FOUNDATION as part of its research infrastructure programme.
The grant will be used to set up modern research facilities at Station North in the far north of Greenland. For a number of years, Aarhus University has been following the development of air pollution here from a small hut. This building will now be significantly upgraded, and Project Manager Henrik Skov is very pleased with the grant.
"It makes it possible to take top modern measurements and increase our presence at Station North. Our scientists will be able to carry out research that was previously impossible in the High Arctic," he says. "This way, we'll be able to extend our studies so that we not just follow air pollution, but also get to follow developments and understand the processes that exist between climate, pollution and the vulnerable ecosystems in the High Arctic. We're therefore certain that colleagues from Denmark and abroad will also be champing at the bit to join us in this work," he concludes.
"This magnificent grant from the VILLUM FOUNDATION will be very important for future Arctic research and the excellent collaboration we've got with the research institutions and authorities in Greenland. You can't find a better place to measure climate change, and Station North can therefore become a crucial reference point not only for researchers at Aarhus University, but also for our many collaborative partners all over the world, who will benefit from the station. Aarhus University recently entered into collaboration with Canada's University of Manitoba and the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, and the Station North grant helps to strongly emphasise the VILLUM FOUNDATION and Aarhus University's strong commitment to the climate, the environment and the Arctic," says Rector Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen, Aarhus University.
Snowmobiles and drones
Carrying out research in the High Arctic is logistically very challenging, mainly because of its virtually inaccessible location and lack of a modern research infrastructure. It is therefore crucially important to establish suitable new research facilities in the High Arctic region. The fact that this is possible at all is due to the unique collaboration established over many years between the research group and the Danish Armed Forces.
The major climate changes taking place right now are particularly significant in the High Arctic, making it very important to describe the correlation between climate, pollution and the sensitive Arctic food chains, as well as their repercussions on the rest of the world.
The research infrastructure will be established in 2013 and 2014 at Station North in North Greenland. It will consist of three substations with ultra-modern laboratory facilities and equipment.
1. Basic station, consisting of a number of buildings with accommodation facilities and laboratories that make it possible to study the transport of pollution to the Arctic, permafrost, ice, climate and biological processes close to Station North.
2. Mobile station, consisting of snowmobiles, tracked vehicles (one or more), sleds, tents, etc., so the researchers can get around and study chemical, physical, geological and biological processes in the areas at a distance from Station North.
3. Air station, consisting of unmanned drones that make it possible to study the composition of the air and observe the Earth from the air.
The research infrastructure will be open to Danish and international researchers, partly via the new Arctic Research Centre at Aarhus University.
Setting up the research infrastructure will thus constitute an international hub for interdisciplinary research into the impact of climate change on the Arctic regions, including a deeper understanding of the effects on the sea ice, glaciers, ecosystems and atmosphere. Such studies are necessary to respond to the important scientific questions related to the accelerating Arctic warming. The Greenland Self-Government's Department of Education and Research has therefore expressed its support for the project, as it will be one of the main users of the knowledge acquired.
Arctic Research Centre
The researchers literally work at the top of the world when colleagues from different fields combine their strengths at the Arctic Research Centre. Marine scientists, chemists, physicists, biologists, statisticians, geographers and geologists have joined forces to answer the many difficult questions connected with climate change and the Arctic.
The aim is to provide world-class research that can form the basis for innovative solutions to the dramatic climate changes in the Arctic. This is a complex challenge that the new research centre takes up in international and interdisciplinary collaboration.
###
Also available in Danish and Greenlandic at
http://scitech.au.dk/aktuelt/nyheder/vis/artikel/aarhus-universitet-bygger-forskningsstation-i-nordgroenland/
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
A Republican state senator in Missouri has proposed legislation that would make gun safety a mandatory part of the first-grade curriculum.
State Sen. Dan Brown (R-Rolla) told a Senate committee Tuesday that the course would teach first-graders what to do if they found a weapon, to prevent them from shooting themselves or someone else, the Associated Press reported. Brown's legislation specifies a curriculum -- which includes cartoons -- designed by the National Rifle Association. The legislation was filed a day before December's school shooting in Newtown, Conn., that left 20 children -- many of them first-graders -- dead.
"I hate mandates as much as anyone, but some concerns and conditions rise to the level of needing a mandate," the Associated Press reported Brown as saying.
Eli Yokley, the editor of PoliticMO.com, tweeted that Brown used a press conference on Wednesday to indicate that the legislation was not about a gun safety course, but rather "a gun safe course." PoliticMO.com noted that Brown said guns would not be brought into first-grade classrooms in order to demonstrate gun safety.
The legislation also includes training for teachers on handling a shooter who enters a school building.
Brown's legislation comes as legislators around the country grapple with a similar legislation. In Oklahoma, state Rep. Mark McCullough (R-Sapulpa) proposed legislation that would crosstrain teachers as reserve police officers to provide school security and allow them to carry guns. McCullough has said that the bill will make it easier for teachers to respond to incidents of mass murders.
In Montana, state Rep. Jerry O'Neil (R-Columbia Falls) introduced legislation that would make it easier for students to carry a gun into a school. Under O'Neil's plan, students cannot be disciplined if they store the gun in a locker, a locked car or with school officials during the school day. The Montana bill would also allow for students to bring guns to school when the gun is needed as part of the curriculum.
CLEVELAND - ODOT had all of its crews on the roadways on Thursday, monitoring conditions as 6 to 12 inches of snow is predicted to fall across the snowbelt in the next 48 hours.
The crews are working 12-hour shifts throughout the weekend to make sure roads are driveable.
ODOT officials are asking motorists to give their highway technicians room to do their jobs. They said you should stay at least 500 feet behind them while they're working.
They said motorists should also avoid using cell phones during inclement weather. They said one moment of distraction could have dangerous repercussions.
Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The greatest strength of this game is probably the ability to create tension. Using a very effective soundtrack, the danger set pieces really absorb you into the story, having you root for the handful of dudes you never really see or hear in any meaningful way. Unfortunately, the way the levels are set up, you'll often run into dangerous segments after a long period of relative safety exploring a long, labyrinthine tunnel. If you can look past the few level design issues, there is a veritable feast of a game to dig into.
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