Romney friends give ammo to critics (Politico)

Mitt Romney is stacking his team with policy advisers from the George W. Bush administration ? and it has conservatives up in arms.

The Republican right cringes at some of the high-profile people Romney is leaning on for donations and advice, including three former Bush-era officials whose recent records include lobbying for Solyndra and advocating on behalf of cap-and-trade legislation and carbon taxes.

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Romney?s long-ago environmental associates are also causing him problems, with Texas Gov. Rick Perry and the conservative blogosphere reveling in 6-year-old news releases showing how two current Obama administration officials ? Environmental Protection Agency air chief Gina McCarthy and White House science adviser John Holdren ? once helped the former Massachusetts governor craft his climate change policies.

Most environmentalists don?t have pleasant memories of the Bush administration, but Republicans also recall how Bush signed into law a 2005 mandate requiring the nation to use billions of gallons of renewable fuels, or his buckling as a lame duck to the Democratic-controlled Congress by signing a 2007 law raising fuel economy standards.

Near the end of Bush?s second term, he?d even embraced a national goal for halting the growth of greenhouse gases.

Jim Connaughton, a key architect of the climate plan as chairman of the Bush White House Council on Environmental Quality, co-hosted a Romney fundraiser last month in Bethesda, Md., and Greg Mankiw, the chairman of Bush?s Council of Economic Advisers who later became an outspoken advocate for a carbon tax, helped craft Romney?s jobs agenda.

Another former Bush White House staffer, Alex Mistri, is also causing headaches for Romney. Mistri, now a?managing director of The Glover Park Group, registered earlier this year as a lobbyist for the now-infamous bankrupt solar company Solyndra.

?When you have people advising you who have supported a carbon tax, you can imagine that raises some concern,? said Dan Kish, a longtime Capitol Hill GOP energy aide who now works as senior vice president for policy at the Institute for Energy Research.

Of Romney, Kish added, ?It?s like a box of chocolates, you don?t know what you?re going to get. Frankly, there?s a bunch of people who are tired of getting a box of chocolates.?

On the campaign trail, Romney has said he?d reverse Obama-era environmental rules and would never back a unilateral cap-and-trade program. Speaking at a fundraiser Thursday in Pittsburgh, the GOP front-runner tried to plant himself in the global warming skeptics camp.

?My view is that we don?t know what?s causing climate change on this planet,? he said. ?And the idea of spending trillions and trillions of dollars to try to reduce CO₂ emissions is not the right course for us.?

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Novel strategy stymies SARS et al.

Novel strategy stymies SARS et al.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Broad-spectrum antibiotics, which are active against a whole range of bacterial pathogens, have been on the market for a long time. Comparably versatile drugs to treat viral diseases, on the other hand, have remained elusive. Using a new approach, research teams led by Dr. Albrecht von Brunn of LMU Munich and Professor Christian Drosten from the University of Bonn have identified a compound that inhibits the replication of several different viruses, including the highly aggressive SARS virus that is responsible for severe acute respiratory syndrome.

The new method exploits the fact that interactions between certain host proteins and specific viral proteins are essential for viral replication. One of these host proteins is part of a signaling relay in the cell. The broad-spectrum antiviral compound used by the researchers blocks this signal pathway without having a deleterious effect on the host. "We have shown in this study that a broadly based search for new cellular targets can uncover new functional principles that have a demonstrable impact on virus replication," says von Brunn. "We have confirmed that the approach works in cell culture. We now hope that these laboratory results can be translated into clinically effective therapies. At the very least, our high-throughput procedure can be utilized to systematically screen various protein-virus interactions as potential targets for inhibitory compounds." The new study was carried out under the auspices of the SARS Research Network, which is supported by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF). (PloS Pathogens, 27. October 2011)

Broad-spectrum antibiotics that inhibit the growth of various species of bacterial pathogens are well known. Virologists, unfortunately, have no comparably versatile weapons in their armory. Individual drugs that are active against different types of viral pathogens are simply not available. "All of the antiviral agents we have are directed specifically at the virus itself," explains Professor Christian Drosten, Director of the Institute of Virology at Bonn University Hospital. "And since viral pathogens are highly diverse, each of these agents can attack only certain viruses." Moreover, viruses are also highly mutable, making the weaponry they can deploy against us even more powerful. What works against one viral strain may be essentially useless against another.

The SARS virus, a previously unknown pathogen which threatened to cause a worldwide pandemic in 2003, has spurred on the search for new antiviral substances. Only recently, it was shown that not only Chinese, but also European, bats carry the SARS virus. "But in contrast to the situation with bird influenza, one cannot simply kill these free-living animals in order to eradicate the pathogen," says Drosten. "That would have catastrophic ecological consequences and, apart from that, bats are retiring and secretive in their habits." If one wishes to develop drugs against viruses that can "hide" in animal species, one must explore other alternatives.

The research teams assembled by von Brunn and Drosten have now discovered a way to prevent the replication of a whole family of viruses by depriving them of an essential host factor. They first identified host proteins with which SARS viral proteins interact. This strategy led to the finding that a cellular signaling pathway is essential for the replication not only of the SARS virus, but also of a whole set of related viruses that are pathogenic to humans and animals.

"This signal pathway is normally involved in regulating the immune system," says Drosten. "We used a substance that inhibits the function of one of the proteins in the pathway, and found that it suppresses viral replication." In other words, drugs that block this pathway inhibit the replication of many different viruses, and therefore act as broad-spectrum antivirals. This opens a route to the treatment of conditions caused by the SARS virus, but also a whole variety of human coronaviruses, and pathogens that infect the internal organs of chickens, pigs and cats. Inhibition of this pathway does not damage the host, because parallel pathways can compensate for its normal role in the cell.

The successful inhibition of virus replication was not a result of serendipity. The researchers in Munich have developed a technique that allows them to systematically probe different proteins for the ability to interact with defined targets. "In order to replicate in the body of its host, a virus must first gain entry to a suitable cell type by binding to a specific receptor protein on its surface," says von Brunn, who works in the Max von Pettenkofer Institute at LMU Munich. "We have used an automated, high-throughput process to systematically test various protein-virus combinations as potential targets for possible inhibitors. The success of this strategy proves that a broadly based search for cellular targets can uncover new functional principles that have a demonstrable impact on virus replication," says von Brunn.

The investigators have shown in cell cultures that their approach actually works. "However, it will be years before we know whether or not these results can be translated into effective treatments," Drosten says. The study also underlines the importance of research collaborations. Drosten is convinced that "neither group could have done this on its own". The SARS Research Network, which is coordinated by Drosten, brings together virological expertise from six university institutes, two veterinary and four medical, located in Hannover, Gie?en, Marburg, Bonn, Munich and St. Gallen (Switzerland). (University of Bonn)

###

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit?t M?nchen: http://www.uni-muenchen.de

Thanks to Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit?t M?nchen for this article.

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Batteries on a Wind Farm Help Control Power Output

[unable to retrieve full-text content]A wind farm in West Virginia has been using big containers of batteries to make the electricity from 61 turbines more useful to the power grid.

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=a1bd91ba88f9ee049d9cff500415fe81

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Correction: War Protest story (Providence Journal)

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Exposing Social Gaming's Hidden Lever - Betable Game ...

27 Oct 2011 In our last post, Gambling Makes Billions Without Innovation, we showed how each gambling game has spent decades or longer without a single gamplay innovation. We are following this up with a series where we outline each major type of gambling game and how their mechanics can be applied to the modern gaming world. One of the most striking things that we found in our research was that social gaming, a burgeoning $7.2 billion industry that?s beloved by over 800 million players worldwide, is merely a modern adaptation of an invention created in 1887: the slot machine.
? See if this sounds familiar to you:

To play the game, you put currency into the machine. You then pull the knob and wait for the result. When the result is presented, you are rewarded with a cacophony of exciting sounds, attention-grabbing images, and some form of currency. Often times, this winning helps you progress towards a larger goal. You also have the opportunity with each play to win a rare prize of significantly higher value than the value of the currency you contributed to play the game.

That?s a slot machine, right? Wrong. It?s the basic action loop of FarmVille. Here is the description again, but this time, with specific details:

To plant a crop, you must first spend resources on the seeds. You then plant the seeds and must wait for them to grow. When you harvest the seeds, you are rewarded with a cacophony of exciting sounds, attention-grabbing images, and some resources. Often times, these resources help you progress towards a larger goal. You also have the opportunity with each play to win a rare prize of significantly higher value than the seeds that you purchased.

That sounds more like FarmVille now, doesn?t it? People have often argued that Zynga?s games lack gameplay depth, but make up for it in addictive, accessible mechanics. Jeff Tseng, the co-founder and CEO of Kontagent, even said that Zynga ?appeals to the same psychology as gambling? in a recent Forbes article. So what exactly is the psychology of gambling? How did Zynga leverage gambling mechanics to build a massive gaming empire?

The small lines jutting out of the trend lines indicate the time & amount of reward. VR = Variable Ratio, FR = Fixed Ratio, VI = Variable Interval, and FI = Fixed Interval.

Zynga?s success has much to do with their skillfully executed manipulation of the human brain. One such method is known as the Random Reward Schedule, based on the results of a study conducted by psychologist B.F. Skinner. In this study, he found that giving pigeons a consistent food reward lead to the least engagement. They would eventually get bored and only come back when hungry. Skinner then found that randomizing whether the reward was given made the pigeons come back more often, as did randomizing the amount of the reward. Lastly, he found that combining these experiments to randomize both whether the reward would occur and how much the award was for lead to a striking increase in engagement. Zynga and other social games companies have implemented the Random Reward Schedule to great effect in their games to keep players coming back.Furthermore, just the act of engaging in gambling actions for fake money can be exciting for players. Dr. Clark from the Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre in Cambridge used fMRI brain scanning to measure patterns of brain activity when playing a game that involved gambling. He found a reliable pattern of brain activity when humans receive money as a reward for winning. It should be no surprise that the region of the brain (the striatum) that responds most to gambling also responds to natural reinforcing stimuli like food and sex.

This is nothing new, as numerous industries such as advertising have relied on the allure of sex and money for years. Zynga has simply managed to successfully leverage these same psychological cues to unlock a massive new market of people that had never considered themselves video gamers.Paradoxical as it seems, many of Zynga?s 280 million players were gained far outside of what was previously considered the typical video gaming demographic. A key to Zynga?s success is something that is often overlooked: widely appealing graphics. Zynga?s high level of polish combined with approachable characters gave them mass appeal like no game company had ever achieved before. ?We?re making mass-market entertainment everyone can play? says Brian Reynolds, Zynga?s chief game designer.
Zynga combines mass appeal, addictive gambling mechanics, and an aggressive viral marketing strategy to achieve incredible growth. Their stylish, highly approachable games help them avoid the stigma of gambling while appealing to precisely the audiences that are the most avid gamblers. Zynga?s core paying audience is 30-55 year old females. It should come as no surprise that this demographic overlaps almost exactly with the core audience of slot machine users.However, to turn this into a multi-billion dollar empire, Zynga had to convince the millions of players that they now had gambling with play money to put real money into the game. The key to doing this was to build compelling virtual equipment or enhancements for players to use in-game. Social gaming players know that they are spending real money on a game, but they do so because of the perceived value of the virtual goods they are acquiring in the game. In this way, gambling and social game players are also similar, because both players know that they are losing money as they play, but they do so because their perceived value and enjoyment is worth the expense. To quote the University of Cambridge?s article on the psychology of gambling, ?at its heart, gambling is a rather paradoxical behaviour because it is widely known that ?the house always wins?.?
This is one way to explain what people have been struggling to understand for years: why do people pay real money for virtual goods that have no tangible value? In a way, these users are not unlike the millions of players per year that go to play slot machines until they are out of chips. They are not playing to win or even to hit the Jackpot ? they are playing for the thrill of the game. The money they set aside to play is simply the cost of a game they enjoy. This comparison is striking when put in the context of virtual currency in social games. Players who purchase virtual currency often spend it quickly because once it crosses over, it isn?t seen as money any more. The converted currency simply becomes a tool for playing the game, which is almost word-for-word how professional poker players describe money in the real world.
Zynga proudly states that they are an ?an analytics company masquerading as a games company?. We see this a bit differently: Zynga is a gambling company masquerading as a new form of games company ? and a wildly successful one at that. Their ability to leverage gambling mechanics has earned them over 200 million monthly active users, almost $1 billion in revenue in 2011, and a potential $15-20 billion valuation in their pending IPO.No matter the volume of Zynga Poker chips a player earns, or FarmVille resources a player accumulates, their real money has been exchanged for virtual currency, just like an other cash-for-goods transaction. The biggest thing that unequivocally separates social gaming from gambling is that the players have no ability to tangibly recoup the money put into the game. By giving players the ability to win back their investment of time and money in real-money rewards, that would quite literally be a game changer.

?

Source: http://blog.betable.com/exposing-social-gamings-hidden-lever

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State Department spends $70,000 on Obama's books ? and stirs a controversy

The US State Department calls the purchase of Obama's books "standard practice," but critics call it "inappropriate."

It?s the biggest books shopping spree we?ve seen in a while.

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The State Department bought more than $70,000 worth of President Barack Obama?s books, The Washington Times reported Tuesday. The books, mostly Obama?s 1995 bestseller, ?Dreams From My Father,? will be used as Christmas gratuities for embassy staff and to stock ?key libraries? around the world.

Records show the US Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, spent more than $40,000 in 2009 on ?Dreams,? and the US Embassy in South Korea spent $6,061 on the same title, all to be used for Christmas gratuities. Obama reported between $1 million to $5 million in royalties in 2010 for ?Dreams From My Father,? and between $100,000 and $1 million in royalties for ?The Audacity of Hope,? far more than he has made as President. If he earned 10 percent royalties on roughly $60,000 worth of the State Department purchases, he would pocket about $6,000, notes The Washington Times.

Both the White House ? which was not involved in the buying ? and the State Department have come under intense fire for the purchases.

?It?s inappropriate for U.S. taxpayer dollars to be spent on this,? Leslie Paige, the spokesman for Citizens Against Government Waste, told The Washington Times. ?This sounds like propaganda.?

Tom Schatz, president of Citizens against Government Waste, told CNN that the purchases provide money from the taxpayers to the president in the form of royalties. "[I]n an era where everyone's trying to cut back, it really doesn't look good to the taxpayers to have this being done at the State Department."

The State Department, as expected, is defending its shopping spree.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told CNN it is "longstanding practice" to allow embassies to buy books, "to put them out in libraries ... give them to contacts, which they think will help deepen understanding of the U.S. political system, of U.S. political figures and leaders of U.S. history, U.S. culture."

The purchases, she added are "done in strict accordance with government procurement standards."

"It's the embassies themselves that make the decisions what American books to buy. And they make these decisions based on the interest in the country where they are. But these are not decisions that are made in Washington, and they're not decisions that are directed by Washington."

The White House, for it?s part, is happy to wash its hands of this decision.

"Obviously, the White House didn't have anything to do with this," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters traveling aboard Air Force One on Wednesday. "I think this is an embassy-by-embassy decision based on what they think ... in buying books makes sense for them in terms of advancing American foreign policy interests."

Husna Haq is a Monitor correspondent.

Join the Monitor's book discussion on Facebook and Twitter.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/4LV-ubj3nV0/State-Department-spends-70-000-on-Obama-s-books-and-stirs-a-controversy

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GPS and Facebook help nab identity thief with 300,000 victims (Yahoo! News)

A long-time cyber criminal is now behind bars

A seasoned identity thief in Los Angeles was brought to justice with the help of social networking and the United States Postal Service. 40-year-old Robert Delgado was on parole for a previous identity theft case when investigators began tracking his activities earlier this year, and he will now spend at least the next 30 years in prison.

A U.S. Postal Inspector first began investigating Delgado after a customer came forth with evidence that someone was opening fraudulent accounts in his name, causing his mail to be suspended. After some internet sleuthing ? which included obtaining Delgado's mobile phone number via an unsecured Facebook page ? the Postal Service was able to track the criminal's movements via GPS and monitor what retailers he was visiting.

Investigators discovered that Delgado was making fraudulent purchases all over town, and were able to secure a search warrant for his residence. During the raid, identity information of over 300,000 was found on the suspect's computer. Detectives still aren't sure where he obtained such a wealth of personal data, but they are working to determine its origin.

Delgado subsequently plead guilty and was sentenced to his prison term on October 24. In addition to being 70 by the time he walks free, he will receive an added 5 years of strict supervision following his prison term.

(Source)

This article originally appeared on Tecca

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Ericsson sells its Sony Ericsson stake to Sony (AP)

STOCKHOLM ? LM Ericsson and Sony Corp. announced Thursday they will go separate ways as Ericsson sells its 50 percent stake in mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson to Sony for euro1.05 billion ($1.46 billion).

Sony Ericsson will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony and integrated into Sony's broad platform of network-connected consumer electronics products, the Japanese company and Swedish wireless equipment firm said.

The transaction gives Sony an opportunity to quickly integrate smartphones into its portfolio of network-connected consumer electronics device, such as tablets, televisions and personal computers, the companies said.

The move was widely anticipated by analysts, who have argued Sony Ericsson could become more competitive in the tough smartphone market under sole Sony ownership.

Shares in Ericsson rose by 4.3 percent to 69.55 kroner ($10.6) in early Stockholm trading, while Sony stock climbed 5.4 percent to 1.65 yen ($21.7) before closing in Tokyo.

"I believe this improves the outlook for Sony Ericsson, because Sony can take full responsibility for the company and use the unique things that they have," said Greger Johansson, an analyst with research firm Redeye. "The opportunity to integrate the phones with their other products improves."

Johansson said the smartphone market is "extremely tough" and Sony Ericsson's competitors are also developing quickly.

He said the price Ericsson received wasn't great, but it will be a relief for the Swedish company to be able to focus on its core wireless equipment business and offload the mobile phone maker that has taken up a lot of management time.

"Sony Ericsson has no strategic value for Ericsson anymore," added Helena Nordman-Knutson, an analyst with Ohman Fondkommission in Stockholm.

Ericsson and Sony combined their unprofitable handset ventures into the joint venture Sony Ericsson in 2001 and enjoyed some early successes with its Walkman and Cyber-shot phones.

In recent years it has suffered from the competitive climate in the smartphone market and earlier this month the company posted a break-even third quarter result.

The company adopted Google's Android operating system for its smartphones in 2008, and has said it now controls about 11 percent of the Android-based smartphone market. Its Android-based Xperia smartphones account for more than 80 percent of its sales.

Thursday's deal will provide Sony with an intellectual property cross-licensing agreement, covering all products and services of Sony as well as ownership of five essential patent families relating to wireless handset technology.

"We can more rapidly and more widely offer consumers smartphones, laptops, tablets and televisions that seamlessly connect with one another and open up new worlds of online entertainment," Sony CEO, Sir Howard Stringer said, adding this includes Sony's own network services, the PlayStation Network and Sony Entertainment Network.

Stringer said the acquisition will also afford Sony operational efficiencies in engineering, network development and marketing.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, but has been approved by appropriate decision-making bodies of both companies.

Ericsson said the shift in the mobile market, from simple mobile phones to smartphones that include access to internet services and content, means the synergies for the company in having both a telecoms services portfolio and a handset operation have decreased.

"Ten years ago when we formed the joint venture, thereby combining Sony's consumer products knowledge with Ericsson's telecommunication technology expertise, it was a perfect match to drive the development of feature phones. Today we take an equally logical step as Sony acquires our stake in Sony Ericsson and makes it a part of its broad range of consumer devices," said Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg.

Ericsson said it will now focus on the global wireless market as a whole and how wireless connectivity can benefit people, business and society beyond just phones.

Ericsson and Sony will also set up a wireless connectivity initiative aimed at driving and developing the market's adoption of connectivity across multiple platforms, they said.

The agreement is expected to close in January 2012.

___

Malin Rising can be reached at http://twitter.com/malinrising

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111027/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_sweden_sony_ericsson

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Tsunami Debris Field -- Are There Bodies in the Floating Trash? (ContributorNetwork)

Scientists from the University of Hawaii announced earlier this year that a massive debris field created by Japan's Tohoku earthquake and tsunami was making its way across the Pacific Ocean and would eventually wash ashore in Hawaii and along the west coast of Canada and the United States. According to the Associated Press, a Russian ship, the STS Pallada, reported this week that it had passed through floating debris (had even brought some items aboard), signaling to researchers that their projections of the debris field's movement were accurate. But as the floating field of trash makes its way to Midway Island's shores, then on to Hawaii and America, is it too much to expect for any of the 3,724 Japanese citizens still missing in the aftermath of the catastrophe to be found?

Curtis Ebbesmeyer, a Seattle oceanographer specializing in ocean debris, told the Silicon Valley Mercury News back in July that dead bodies in the refuse would decompose and sink. He also noted that there was a posibility of "some macabre discoveries, like feet in tennis shoes, which have washed up before on Northwest beaches and have been linked with DNA tests to missing persons who drowned."

Although actual bodies -- or at least intact bodies -- may not be found, there appears to be the possibility that various body parts could very well eventually make their way to a far shore, preserved, encapsulated, and/or trapped within some item or piece of buoyant wreckage. And as gruesome as it might at first appear, the recovery of a body part could be the link to finding a missing person and thus allay the continuing worries and fears of families and friends still searching for the missing in Japan.

An indelicate topic, to be sure, but one of great importance to those with missing family members and friends in the prefectures impacted by the 9.0 magnitude megathrust earthquake and the subsequently generated tsunami that devastated Japan's northeast coast on March 11. The massive tsunami, which saw waves of up to 135 feet in height, swept assure within minutes of the earthquake, leaving devastation and ruin in its wake. And as the water receded back to the ocean from whence it came, it took with it tons of items. That initial washing away became a floating, spreading, attriting mass with an estimated tonnage of 20 million.

Even with the outside chance of a very few of the missing being identified in this manner, the number of missing will most likely remain in the thousands due to time in the ocean, exposure, the aforementioned natural decomposition, and animal ingestion. Still, as the Pallada indicated with the items it recovered, such as a small fishing boat from Fukushima prefecture, part of the debris field consists of large and intact objects capable of containing parts of an unfortunate victim of the tsunami.

While much of the Japanese tsunami's debris field will eventually end up on beaches bordering the Pacific Ocean, experts indicate that a good portion of the trash will wind up at the bottom of the ocean at the end of a long journey in an area called the North Pacific Garbage Patch, a whirlpool region of the ocean described by CNN as hundreds of miles wide.

ABC News noted that the Texas-sized flotilla of trash seemed to be moving a little faster than expected. Currently, it is believed to be on course to deposit material at Midway this winter, Hawaii by early 2013, and the western U. S. by 2014.

The official death toll from the earthquake and tsunami confirmed by the National Police Agency nearly topped 16,000. The number of missing fell to below 3,800 (3,724) by September.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111027/us_ac/10300313_tsunami_debris_field__are_there_bodies_in_the_floating_trash

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Man who blabbed about courthouse plot convicted (AP)

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. ? Prosecutors described a frightening standoff at a Tennessee courthouse between law enforcement and an armed man who vowed to take it over in his quest to oust President Barack Obama. The man's attorney said he was just a "loudmouth" expressing his political opinions.

The defense didn't work for Darren Wesley Huff, who was convicted Tuesday on a federal firearms charge that could send him to prison for up to five years.

Huff, 41, was armed with a Colt .45 and an assault rifle on April 20, 2010, when he and about 15 others, some also armed, arrived in Madisonville, a small town about halfway between Knoxville and Chattanooga.

About 100 law enforcement officers also were there because Huff had told an FBI agent who visited his home in Dallas, Ga., and police who stopped him for a traffic violation in Tennessee that he was prepared to help take over the Monroe County Courthouse if necessary.

"Huff said he was ready to die for his rights and what he believed in," Special Agent Mark Van Balen wrote in a pre-trial affidavit. Huff was convicted of carrying a firearm in interstate commerce with the intent to use it in a civil disorder and acquitted of another charge of using a firearm in relation to another felony.

The prosecution presented the courthouse plot as a serious and frightening.

"It was the tensest day we ever had," District Attorney Steve Bebb testified. Bebb coordinated the law officers that day as they prepared against the plot Huff had described.

"Every one of you all may think he (Huff) and his ilk are kooky as all get out," defense attorney Scott Green told jurors at the beginning of the trial last week. He said his client was a "loudmouth" but "not the scary guy they have been trying to paint."

Huff himself testified, fighting back tears as he told jurors how hurt he was that "my government has called me a potential domestic terrorist."

Jurors also heard at length from Huff thanks to a dashboard camera video taken after he was stopped and given a warning for driving too closely. In the tape, Huff chatted for an hour about religion and guns with officers, volunteering many details about what he was planning to do in Tennessee.

"I like y'all," Huff told the officers in the recording.

He said he was motivated to go to Madisonville by Walter Fitzpatrick, a Navy retiree who has had a beef against the federal government since he faced a court martial decades ago.

Fitzpatrick was facing charges in the eastern Tennessee town about halfway between Knoxville and Chattanooga because he tried to use a citizen's arrest warrant to take into custody local officials who wouldn't pursue a legal case to oust Obama. Fitzpatrick's warrant called the local officials "domestic enemies" and Obama an "illegal alien, infiltrator and impostor."

Huff said in the video that he and others were ready to help carry out the citizen's arrests Fitzpatrick wanted.

"I've got my .45 because ain't no government official gonna go peacefully," Huff told the police.

Green argued that Huff had a permit to carry the guns and right to express his opinion and didn't cause a disturbance.

"I have never made a statement about taking over the courthouse, the city, the state, nothing," Huff testified. "I never said anything about taking anything over."

That was disputed by two employees of his local bank who testified that he had threatened to take over the courthouse. They alerted the FBI, which then visited Huff at his home northwest of Atlanta the day before he left for Tennessee.

The 12-member jury in the case heard a week of testimony and arguments. It reported late Monday that members were hung, but U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan told them to try again Tuesday and the verdict came back with a conviction on one charge and acquittal on the other.

"The verdict on count one reflects exactly what the law is supposed to do, which is prevent harm before shots get fired, people hurt, or property damaged," Assistant U.S. Attorney Will Mackie told reporters after the verdict.

Defense attorney Green didn't comment after the verdict but when he spoke The Associated Press on Monday he quoted former New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay: "Those who suppress freedom always do so in the name of law and order."

Huff was taken immediately into custody and couldn't be reached for comment. His sentencing is scheduled for February.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111025/ap_on_re_us/us_courthouse_takeover

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AP: Man to surrender in NY insider trading case (Providence Journal)

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'Paranormal Activity 3' scares up huge $54M debut

In this image released by Paramount Pictures, a scene is shown from the film "Paranormal Activity 3." (AP Photo/Paramount Pictures)

In this image released by Paramount Pictures, a scene is shown from the film "Paranormal Activity 3." (AP Photo/Paramount Pictures)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? "Paranormal Activity 3" didn't just go bump in the night. It made a ton of noise at the box office with a record-setting, $54 million opening.

The third film in Paramount Pictures' low-budget fright franchise, which was No. 1 at the box office, had the biggest debut ever for a horror movie, according to Sunday studio estimates. It broke the previous record part two set a year ago with $40.7 million. It's also the biggest opening ever for an October release, topping the $50.35 million Paramount's "Jackass 3D" made last year.

"Paranormal Activity 3" is actually a prequel, with the discovery of disturbing home-movie footage from 1988. Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, who made the creepy documentary "Catfish," took over directing duties this time.

Don Harris, Paramount's president of distribution, said the studio hoped part three would simply perform better than part two. The first "Paranormal Activity," with its reported $15,000 budget, became a phenomenon in 2009 through midnight screenings and word of mouth.

Harris believes this installment did so well because it's actually the best movie of the three. He noted that it appealed to an older crowd, with 47 percent over the age of 25 compared to 40 percent for "Paranormal Activity 2." Strong reviews also helped, he said, including a rave from Time magazine. And fundamentally, horror movies simply play better in a packed theater.

"Ultimately, it gets back to why there's still a theatrical business, why people still go to the movies," Harris said. "We want to laugh in a group, we want to be scared in a group, people like to cry in a group in the dark where nobody can see them crying. It's all the reason movie theaters exist and this genre has always been front and center."

Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com, said he was expecting "Paranormal Activity 3" to come in around $35 million for the weekend, simply because most newcomers have been underperforming this fall.

"This brand is as solid as the 'Twilight' brand or the 'Jackass' brand. There are certain brands that just transcend any kind of box-office rhyme or reason. They just resonate," Dergarabedian said. "These are shot in someone's house, they look like they're shot with a home video recorder, and people just relate to it."

Last week's No. 1 release, the futuristic boxing robot adventure "Real Steel," fell to second place. It made $11.3 million for a domestic total of $67.2 million. Worldwide, the Disney movie has grossed $153.3 million.

Among the other new releases this week, Summit Entertainment's 3-D version of "The Three Musketeers" came in fourth place with $8.8 million. And Universal's "Johnny English Reborn," a sequel to the 2003 spy parody starring Rowan Atkinson, opened at No. 8 with $3.8 million. But it's already a huge hit internationally, having made $104.5 million so far.

In limited release, the critically acclaimed psychological thriller "Martha Marcy May Marlene" made $137,541 on four screens in New York and Los Angeles. That's a hefty $34,385 per screen average, according to Fox Searchlight.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. "Paranormal Activity 3," $54 million. ($26 million international.)

2. "Real Steel," $11.3 million. ($18.5 million international.)

3. "Footloose," $10.85 million.

4. "The Three Musketeers," $8.8 million. ($17.1 million international.)

5. "The Ides of March," $4.9 million.

6. "Dolphin Tale," $4.2 million.

7. "Moneyball," $4.05 million.

8. "Johnny English Reborn," $3.8 million. ($13.5 million international.)

9. "The Thing," $3.1 million.

10. "50/50," $2.8 million.

___

Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:

1. "Paranormal Activity 3," $26 million.

2. "Real Steel," $18.5 million.

3. "Johnny English Reborn," $13.5 million.

4. "The Three Musketeers," $17.1 million.

5. "Contagion," $9.6 million.

6. "The Smurfs," $3.4 million.

7. "The Lion King," $3.3 million.

8. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," $2.9 million.

9. "Friends With Benefits," $2.8 million.

10 "The Change-Up," $2.4 million.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

http://www.rentrak.com

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-10-23-Box%20Office/id-c1cce78db72f47df88205d84bc70a1d8

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Summary Box: Stocks at highest level since August (AP)

TAKEOVERS: A series of corporate deals helped lift the market. Oracle, Cigna, Mattel and J.M. Smucker were among companies that announced acquisitions.

EUROPE: Investors are still waiting for a resolution to Europe's debt problems. European leaders said they made progress at a weekend summit and plan to unveil concrete plans for containing the crisis Wednesday.

COMEBACK: The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose to 1,254.19. It's the highest close for the S&P 500 since Aug 3. If the S&P 500 finishes the year with a gain, it will be its biggest turnaround since 1984.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111024/ap_on_bi_ge/us_wall_street_summary_box

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Who needs a small business loan?

While the government has been pushing small business loans and other quick fixes, fewer than expected entrepreneurs have taken advantage of these programs. What alternatives are available for growing your business in the meantime?

Finance

Who needs a small business loan program? Apparently not American small businesses. After a $30 billion program is launched to help small business, few avail themselves of the opportunity. Bloomberg BusinessWeek

It?s time for a brand new movement. Forget the protests in NYC and elsewhere. The real way to fight bigcorporate greed, suggests Jeanette Mulvey, is to patronize small business. Here?s how her movement would work. Business News Daily

Opinion

How Occupy Wall Street could help your small business. In this tongue-in-cheek editorial, small business owner Gene Marks shows the interconnected state of the economy and the mistake of demonizing one or two elements over all others. Huffington Post

Can small businesses help your property values? A study suggests it can. Housing values in communities with a strong presence of independent businesses outperform other markets by big margins. Want to?boost your property values? Start a business. MarketWatch

Policy

Will a jobs bill get you to start hiring? Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is again pushing Congress to adopt the administration?s jobs bill, but the mix of tax cuts and spending initiatives may not be enough to stimulate small business job creation. WSJ

Small businesses want healthcare co-ops. One of the greatest challenges faced by small businesses is providing adequate healthcare for employees. But the proposed co-op solution may help solve that problem for good.

Can Starbucks fix the economy? The cafe giant is looking to take donations from customers to put money into seed funds that will help stimmulate small business growth and expansion. What?s your take on the Starbucks plan and could it really help small businesses? Bloomberg BusinessWeek

International

Chinese entrepreneurs take shady financing. While small businesses in the U.S. can?t seem to get finanding, some Chinese entrepreneurs take money from a network of shadowy backers. Authorities say the network isn?t large enough to threaten China?s overall economy. The Financial Times

Source: http://smallbiztrends.com/2011/10/who-needs-a-small-business-loan.html

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Obese, Asthmatic Kids Need Special Care Under Anesthesia (HealthDay)

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Obese children need special attention when they undergo anesthesia, two new studies suggest.

In one study, researchers found that obese children with asthma suffer more complications from anesthesia than normal weight children with asthma. In the other study, researchers found that obese children require less of one type of anesthesia than normal weight kids.

If a child is obese, has asthma or both, parents should expect close monitoring, said researcher Dr. Olubukola Nafiu, an assistant professor of pediatric anesthesiology at the University of Michigan.

"Children who are obese and asthmatic have a twofold increased risk of developing respiratory problems when they are given anesthesia," Nafiu said.

Both studies are scheduled for presentation Monday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists in Chicago.

To determine if complications were more frequent among obese kids with asthma, Nafiu looked at 1,102 children and teens, aged 6 to 18, after anesthesia and divided them into four groups. One group was obese and had asthma, one group was normal weight with asthma, another was obese without asthma, and the last group was normal weight without asthma.

Those in the obese-asthmatic and obese non-asthmatic groups were more likely to have critical airway problems, such as spasms, than their thinner peers, the study found, but there were no fatal complications among the study patients.

Both obesity and asthma are known to be independent risk factors for respiratory problems during anesthesia, Nafiu said. Both conditions are increasing in U.S. children at an alarming rate, and the researchers wanted to find out if complications are more frequent in pediatric patients who have the two disorders.

Respiratory problems are a leading cause of complications, including death, during pediatric surgery, the authors said.

In a second study, Dr. Olutoyin Olutoye, of Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, found that obese children require smaller doses of the anesthetic propofol than their slimmer peers.

According to Olutoye, doctors have known that obese adults need less propofol than normal weight adults, but whether that applied to obese children was unclear. Since propofol can cause low blood pressure and reduced breathing, it's important not to administer too much, the researchers noted in a news release from the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

The study included 40 obese and 40 normal weight children. The investigators measured each child's response 20 seconds after getting propofol. The normal weight kids needed 50 to 60 percent more of the anesthetic than the obese children.

In obese children, 75 percent of excess body weight is fat tissue, which can alter the distribution of propofol in the body, the researchers explained.

Additional studies involving children are needed to determine how obesity affects other anesthetic medications, Olutoye said.

"These studies confirm the general impression that anesthesiologists already have about obese children," said Dr. Mark Singleton, chair of the American Society of Anesthesiologists' committee on pediatric anesthesia, who was not involved with the study.

The message from the asthma and obesity study is, "Kids with asthma and obesity are at double jeopardy," Singleton said.

However, he pointed out that the anesthesia-dose research only involved the drug propofol, which is injected, and would not apply to other drugs. Most children's anesthesia is induced by inhalation, Singleton noted.

Doctors should obtain children's height and weight to see if they fall within the obese range, Nafiu added. A body mass index (BMI) in the 95th percentile or above is considered obese.

Parents of obese and/or asthmatic children should expect numerous questions from the doctor before their child undergoes surgery that requires anesthesia, and they should expect especially close monitoring, he added.

Because the research was presented at a medical meeting, it should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

More information

To help prepare your child for anesthesia, visit the Nemours Foundation.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weightloss/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20111019/hl_hsn/obeseasthmatickidsneedspecialcareunderanesthesia

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Violent anti-austerity protests grip Greek capital (Reuters)

ATHENS (Reuters) ? Greece's parliament gave initial approval on Wednesday to a new round of belt-tightening needed to avert default, despite violent protests during the biggest rally in two years against the bitterly resented measures.

Hours after Greek police clashed with black-clad demonstrators outside parliament, all 154 of the ruling Socialist PASOK party's lawmakers voted in favor of the measures, which must secure a second vote on Thursday before the new wave of austerity is enforced.

The view of the ancient Acropolis was obscured by smoke from burning piles of rubbish and a bank building was evacuated after being set on fire by petrol bombs as a strike called by Greece's two main unions degenerated into violence outside parliament.

Much of the country was shut down by the 48-hour general strike, the largest since the outbreak of the crisis two years ago with government departments, offices and shops closed and at least 100,000 people taking to the streets of Athens.

"It's one of the biggest demonstrations in recent years. People showed they were determined to protest against these policies," said Mary Bossis, international security professor at the University of Piraeus.

"We are not done with these protests. We've reached a point where people don't feel the government represents them anymore, they want a complete change," she said.

Prime Minister George Papandreou, trailing badly in opinion polls, appealed for support from Greeks on the latest measures which include tax rises, wage cuts and public sector layoffs.

But the mood was furious among demonstrators, fed up after repeated doses of austerity and increasingly hostile to both their own political leaders and international lenders demanding ever tougher measures to cut Greece's towering public debt.

"Who are they trying to fool? They won't save us. With these measures the poor become poorer and the rich richer. Well I say: 'No, thank you. I don't want your rescue'," said 50-year-old public sector worker Akis Papadopoulos.

The boom of tear gas canisters fired by police rang out, and black clouds of smoke from petrol bombs hung over Syntagma Square, scene of violent clashes between police and demonstrators at anti-austerity protests in June.

The latest outbreak of violence overshadowed the start of the 48-hour strike. After hours of clashes with a hardcore group of mainly young demonstrators, police cleared the square.

Groups of hooded youths continued to clash with police on side streets around the city.

At least seven people were taken to hospital and there were several other injuries reported, mainly breathing problems, minor burns and head wounds. Police said 28 protesters were detained and 25 police officers were injured.

Clashes also marred demonstrations on the island of Crete, where more than 20,000 gathered to protest the bill, and the cities of Thessaloniki, Volos, Lamia and Patras, police said.

In Athens, where more than 7,000 police were dispatched to deal with possible trouble, many shops boarded up their windows but at least three banks and three hotels were damaged.

RECESSION

Wednesday's action came as European Union leaders were scrambling to settle a new rescue package in time for a summit on Sunday that hopes to agree measures to protect the region's financial system from a potential Greek debt default.

"We are in an agonizing but necessary struggle to avoid the final and harshest point of the crisis," Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told parliament. "From now and until Sunday we are fighting the battle of all battles."

Trapped in the fourth year of deep recession and strangled by a public debt amounting to 162 percent of gross domestic product, which few now believe can be paid back, Greece has sunk even deeper into crisis.

Papandreou's narrow four-seat majority is expected to be enough to ensure the austerity bill goes through but his Socialist party's discipline is increasingly strained with one deputy resigning his seat in protest. At least two others threatened to vote on Thursday against part of the package dealing with collective wage bargaining agreements.

"DEBT MONSTER"

After repeated rounds of austerity measures, which have hit middle class Greeks hard, protesters said new cuts would only drive the stricken economy deeper into the ground. Unions urged deputies not to pass the law.

"If they have any humanity, decency, sense of pride and Greek soul left, they must reject the bill," said Nikos Kioutsoukis, a top official in private sector union GSEE which is leading the strike with its public sector counterpart ADEDY.

Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, Dimitris Reppas, minister for Administrative Reform, reflected the increasing sense of isolation among many in the ruling party, complaining he felt as though he had been thrown to the lions.

"In government, we often feel like ... we are in the Colosseum, fighting the debt monster while everybody else is just sitting in the stands, watching and commenting," he said.

Parliament cleared in principle the overall bill, which mixes deep cuts to public sector pay and pensions, tax hikes, a suspension of sectoral pay accords and an end to the constitutional taboo against laying off civil servants.

A second vote on specific articles is expected sometime on Thursday and only after that will the bill become law.

(Additional reporting by Lefteris Papadimas, Harry Papachristou and John Kolesidis; Writing by James Mackenzie and Dina Kyriakidou)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111019/wl_nm/us_greece

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IBM Posts Q3 Revenue Of $26.2B With Net Income Up 7 Percent To $3.8B; Ups Outlook

IBM has released its third quarter results today, with non-GAAP diluted earnings coming in at $3.28 per share, compared with operating diluted earnings of $2.85 per share in the third quarter of 2010, an increase of 15 percent. Analysts were expecting $3.22 per share with revenue of $26 billion. The company posted diluted earnings of $3.19 per share, compared with diluted earnings of $2.82 per share in the third quarter of 2010, an increase of 13 percent. Big Blue's third-quarter net income was $3.8 billion compared with $3.6 billion in the same quarter in 2010, an increase of 7 percent. Operating (non-GAAP) net income was $4 billion compared with $3.6 billion in the third quarter of 2010, an increase of 9 percent. Total revenue for the third quarter of 2011 of $26.2 billion increased 8 percent from the third quarter of 2010.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/j2lEBu4BnmU/

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Siri gets lost internationally, promises to do better next year

The iPhone 4S' Siri integration may be a potential game changer, but she's not quite the world traveler some of us would like her to be. In fact, it seems she's as lost outside of US borders as any unprepared tourist. Looking for a pub in London? Better find a traditional map. Need to know the time of day in Canada? Siri admits she has no idea, go buy a watch. Business search (via Yelp), directions, and traffic data search all appear to be US-only features for now, and Wolfram Alpha only works in English-speaking countries. The automated assistant's international failings aren't too big of a surprise, however -- Apple's own Siri page outs the service as a beta, noting that some features may vary by area. Stuck with sub-par international support? Sit tight, it's coming: Apple's Siri FAQ states that additional language support (including Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Italian and Spanish), maps and local search content are set to go international in 2012.

Update: Wolfram Alpha works outside the US in English speaking countries, thanks to everyone in the comments for the clarification.

Siri gets lost internationally, promises to do better next year originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 Oct 2011 20:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Friend: Suspect in ambassador plot 'no mastermind'

This undated image provided by the Nueces County Sheriff's Office shows Manssor Arbabsiar. The Obama administration on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2011 accused agents of the Iranian government of being involved in a plan to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the thwarted plot would further isolate Tehran. (AP Photo/Nueces County Sheriff's Office)

This undated image provided by the Nueces County Sheriff's Office shows Manssor Arbabsiar. The Obama administration on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2011 accused agents of the Iranian government of being involved in a plan to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the thwarted plot would further isolate Tehran. (AP Photo/Nueces County Sheriff's Office)

Neighbor Chris Elquist, 33, poses for a photograph near the house of Manssor Arbabsiar in Round Rock, Texas, Tuesday, Oct 11, 2011. Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old U.S. citizen who also holds an Iranian passport, was charged in NewYork federal court with conspiring to kill the Saudi diplomat, Adel Al-Jubeir. (AP Photo/Jack Plunkett)

ROUND ROCK, Texas (AP) ? A friend of a former Texas used car dealer accused of plotting to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador in the United States says he never thought of his one-time business partner as politically motivated, much less a key player in a potential terrorist act.

Manssor Arbabsiar was known as "Jack" to his friends because his name was too hard to pronounce, said David Tomscha, who briefly owned a used car lot with him in the Texas Gulf Coast city of Corpus Christi. Tomscha said his friend was likable, albeit a bit lazy.

"He's no mastermind," Tomscha told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "I can't imagine him thinking up a plan like that. I mean, he didn't seem all that political. He was more of a businessman."

Arbabsiar, 56, was being held without bail in New York for his role in the alleged plot to kill Saudi diplomat Adel Al-Jubeir in the United States. The Justice Department contends that Arbabsiar and another man working for the Iranian government tried to hire a purported member of a Mexican drug cartel to carry out the attack with a bomb while Al-Jubeir was at a restaurant.

According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in New York, the plot was revealed by an informant inside the world of the Mexican drug trade, a man paid by U.S. drug agents to rat out traffickers.

Tomscha, 60, said their partnership in the 1990s ended after about six months when Arbabsiar stopped making his share of the payments for their lot, but they remained friends. Arbabsiar never talked about traveling to Mexico, Tomscha said.

Arbabsiar came to the U.S. to attend what was then known as Texas A & I University in Kingsville, Tomscha said. Then Arbabsiar opened a used car lot with a couple of college friends and eventually owned several in the Corpus Christi area, and he seemed to get first choice on the repossessed cars at the auto auction in town, Tomscha said.

"He was sort of a hustler," Tomscha said. "I think he made some money."

Tomscha said he last saw Arbabsiar last fall, and in early 2011 heard that his friend had moved back to Iran. Tomscha was shocked to hear Tuesday about the arrest.

After living for years in Corpus Christi, Arbabsiar followed his wife to the Austin area, Tomscha said.

Nobody answered the door Tuesday at the two-story stucco and brick home in a well-manicured neighborhood in Round Rock, the Austin suburb that federal officials list as Arbabsiar's residence. One man was seen going inside in the afternoon, and later there was a delivery from Pizza Hut.

A neighbor said he frequently saw Arbabsiar walking in the neighborhood after dark, while smoking cigarettes and talking on a cellphone in a foreign language.

"My wife and I always thought there was something weird about the guy," said Eric Cano, a 38-year-old buyer for a grocery company who lives next door. "But you don't think it will get to this level."

Halloween decorations hung from a tree in Arbabsiar's front yard. Within hours of Arbabsiar's arrest, the neighborhood was flooded with trucks from local television stations.

Records show Arbabsiar also has lived in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and Corpus Christi, and been married at least twice. He was arrested and released in 2001 for theft by check, charges that were eventually dismissed, said Cynthia Martinez of the Nueces County Sheriff's Office, which includes Corpus Christi. She said Arbabsiar was also arrested in 1993, 1996 and 1997 on traffic violations.

Cano said Arbabsiar moved in with a woman who had lived at the house previously and was raising three boys, all who have graduated from high school. Records indicate the home is owned by a woman to whom Arbabsiar was married.

Cano said although he would see Arbabsiar with some frequency, they'd never speak.

"He wasn't friendly at all," Cano said. "He'd never even acknowledge you. He'd just walk and talk in this language I'd never heard of."

__

Sherman reported from McAllen. Associated Press writer Danny Robbins in Dallas contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-10-12-Ambassador%20Plot-Texas/id-de3dcd2161ac4fe2bc811cc43ccb257c

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