YouTube makes own 'premium' | The Columbian

Machinima This image released by the online Machinima network shows a scene the Premium episodic series "Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn." Machinima has grown into one of the most successful networks on YouTube.

By JAKE COYLE, Associated Press

Saturday, March 30, 2013

NEW YORK -- Machinima, the sprawling digital gaming network, could hang a McDonald's-like sign outside its Los Angeles headquarters: More than 37.4 billion videos served.

That's how many views the Machinima network has generated. And it all started with one video.

Allen DeBevoise and his brother, Philip, acquired Machinima Inc. in 2005, but didn't start developing it on the then-nascent YouTube until 2007. One of its first series came from a user named "SodaGod." The series, "Inside Halo," served as a center for enthusiasm for the popular science fiction video game franchise. Six years later, Machinima has grown into one of the most successful networks on YouTube, a gamer hub composed of a little expensively produced original programming, and a whole lot of user-generated videos.

While the land rush to stream "premium" original content is drawing an increasing number of video professionals to the Web, YouTube's swelling multichannel networks are finding success with a more organic, bottom-up approach.

"The programming model of the future, where I think Machinima plays in, is in connecting that whole relationship, where we don't think of it as either being user-generated or as being traditionally made by a professional creator," says DeBevoise, chief executive of Machinima. "We think it's a continuum and they both co-exist in the same world."

Machinima, Maker Studios, Fullscreen and others have assembled broad networks, each encompassing thousands of YouTube creators. They're dependably ranked among the most-viewed destinations on YouTube in comScore's monthly online video rankings. In February, Fullscreen drew 36.8 million unique viewers, 30.5 million tuned into Maker, and Machinima, with a leading 61.4 minutes per visit, had 21 million viewers. Each network averages around 2 billion views a month.

You could say that they're like the NBC, CBS and ABC of YouTube, but the more appropriate comparison might be to media parent companies. Only rather than having a few dozen cable networks under their global umbrella, they have 5,000 to 10,000 YouTube channels.

"We see ourselves as kind of the next-gen Viacom," says George Strompolos, founder and chief executive of Fullscreen, a company with 150 employees founded in 2011. "We think we're at the beginning of the opportunity to build a large-scale, sustainable new media business on the Internet."

Much of the conversation about online video has lately been dominated by Hollywood digital productions. But for every "House of Cards" on Netflix, there are dozens of less noteworthy attempts to bring television-style content to online video. These upper-echelon YouTube networks are interested in high-quality programming, too, but their model is more of a hybrid that places pricier productions atop a pyramid of user-generated videos.

"We feel like 'premium' is so subjective," says Danny Zappin, chief executive and co-founder of Maker Studios, which uses two production studios and 300-plus employees to assist YouTubers in production and marketing. "What is premium? For us, we feel like it's an engaged audience who has a personal connection to the person they're watching. To us, that's more premium or more valuable than, say, high production value or a mainstream celebrity. You can't have just one or the other. You've got to have both to really work on YouTube."

Maker, Machinima and Fullscreen operate in different ways, but they and a growing number of YouTube networks all take the philosophy that there's strength in numbers. By gathering thousands of channels together, all -- at least theoretically -- benefit from shared production tools, greater exposure and ultimately, hopefully larger advertising dollars.

Source: http://www.columbian.com/news/2013/mar/30/youtube-makes-own-premium/

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The Chilling Effects of the DMCA

Stacked CDs

Photo by Fuse/Thinkstock

It was hard to believe, but the student insisted it was true. He had discovered that compact discs from a major record company, Sony BMG, were installing dangerous software on people?s computers, without notice. The graduate student, Alex Halderman (now a professor at the University of Michigan), was a wizard in the lab. As experienced computer security researchers, Alex and I knew what we should do: First, go back to the lab and triple-check everything. Second, warn the public.

But by this point, in 2005, the real second step was to call a lawyer. Security research was increasingly becoming a legal minefield, and we wanted to make sure we wouldn?t run afoul of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. We weren?t afraid that our research results were wrong. What scared us was having to admit in public that we had done the research at all.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people were inserting tainted music CDs into their computers and receiving spyware. In fact, the CDs went beyond installing unauthorized software on the user?s computer. They also installed a ?rootkit??they modified the Windows operating system to create an invisible area that couldn?t be detected by ordinary measures, and in many cases couldn?t be discovered even by virus checkers. The unwanted CD software installed itself in the invisible area, but the rootkit also provided a safe harbor for any other virus that wanted to exploit it. Needless to say, this was a big security problem for users. Our professional code told us that we had to warn them immediately. But our experience with the law told us to wait.

The law that we feared, the DMCA, was passed in 1998 but has been back in the news lately because it prohibits unlocking cellphones and interferes with access by people with disabilities. But its impact on research has been just as dramatic. Security researchers have long studied consumer technologies, to understand how they work, how they can fail, and how users can protect themselves from malfunctions and security flaws. This research benefits the public by making complex technologies more transparent. At the same time, it teaches the technology community how to design better, safer products in the future. These benefits depend on researchers being free to dissect products and talk about what they find.

We were worried about the part of the DMCA called 17 U.S.C. ? 1201(a)(1), which says that ?No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under [copyright law].? We had to disable the rootkit to detect what it was hiding, and we had to partially disable the software to figure out what it was doing. An angry record company might call either of those steps an act of circumvention, landing us in court. Instead of talking to the public, we talked to our lawyer.

This wasn?t the first time the DMCA had interfered with my security research. Back in 2001, my colleagues and I had had to withdraw a peer-reviewed paper about CD copy protection, because the Recording Industry Association of America and others were threatening legal action, claiming that our paper was a ?circumvention technology? in violation of another section of the DMCA. Later we sued for the right to publish these results?and we did publish, four months later. We had won, but we had also learned firsthand about the uncertainty and chaos that legal threats can cause. I was impressed that some of my colleagues had been willing to risk their jobs for our work, but none of us wanted to relive the experience.

Alex had dealt with his own previous DMCA threat, although this one was more comical than frightening. After he revealed that a CD copy protection product from a company called SunnComm could be defeated by holding down the computer?s Shift key while inserting the disc, the company had threatened him with DMCA action. Given the colorful history of the company?it had started corporate life as a booking agency for Elvis impersonators?and the company?s subsequent backtracking from the threat, we weren?t too worried about being sued. Nevertheless, it showed that the DMCA had become a go-to strategy for companies facing embarrassing revelations about their products.

What was Congress thinking when it passed this part of the DMCA? The act was meant to update copyright law for the 21^st century, to shore up the shaky technologies that tried to stop people from copying music and movies. But the resulting law was too broad, ensnaring legitimate research activities.

The research community saw this problem coming and repeatedly asked Congress to amend the bill that would become the DMCA, to create an effective safe harbor for research. There was a letter to Congress from 50 security researchers (including me), another from the heads of major scientific societies, and a third from the leading professional society for computer scientists. But with so much at stake in the act for so many major interests, our voice wasn?t heard. As they say in Washington, we didn?t have a seat at the table.

Congress did give us a research exemption, but it was so narrowly defined as to be all but useless. (So perhaps we did have a seat?at the kids? table.) I?ll spare you the details, but basically, there is a 116-word section of the Act titled ?Permissible Acts of Encryption Research,? and it appears to have been written without consulting any researchers. There may be someone, somewhere, who has benefited from this exemption, but it fails to protect almost all of the relevant research. It didn?t protect Alex and me, because we were investigating spyware that didn?t rely on the mathematical operations involved in encryption.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=a8f3c9e152953a18b0b979c238b8987e

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Jim Carrey Fights Back Against Fox News Vitriol

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/jim-carrey-fights-back-against-fox-news-vitriol/

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Razer Edge Pro

Razer is a well-known name in the gaming community, with its green glowing snake logo stamped on all manner of mice, keyboards, and other specialized peripherals. But Razer's newest toy?the Razer Edge Pro gaming tablet?is way more than a mere plaything. First announced as "Project Fiona" back at CES 2012, this unique device has been designed to be the tablet for PC gamers. It has been tweaked and polished over months and months of refinement with feedback from pro gamers and enthusiasts alike. Boasting a dual-core Intel Core i7-3517U Ivy Bridge processor with 8GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce GT 640M LE graphics card with 2GB of dedicated memory, the result is a potent Windows laptop with more graphics and gaming chops than most laptops?and easily topping tablets like the Microsoft Surface Pro?and a playing experience that brings the game closer to you while letting you take the game wherever you want to go. The Edge Pro is the rare device that reimagines what the PC experience should be and delivers something that's not just different, but better, putting a full-fledged Windows experience into a more portable design, with the hardware to use it on the go, at your desk, or in the living room. That it's made to let you game anywhere just makes it a lot more fun.

Design
The Edge Pro is big for a tablet, but it's extremely slim and light for anything remotely capable of serious gaming. Measuring 7 by 11 by 0.8 inches (HWD) and weighing 2.14 pounds, the Edge Pro is significantly thicker than other Windows tablets, like the Microsoft Surface Pro, which is just 0.53 inch thick, and weighs slightly less at two pounds. But for all this heft, you get a lot more in terms of hardware?the Edge Pro and its less expensive standard variant, the Core i5-powered Razer Edge, are also the only Windows tablets on the market today to offer both Intel Core processing and discrete graphics. As tradeoffs go, this is pretty worthwhile.

And let's not forget that even the slimmest, lightest gaming laptops are considerably less portable. Our previous Editors' Choice for portable gaming laptops, the Maingear Pulse 11, is 1.5 inches thick and weighs 3.7 pounds. Razer's own made-for-portability Razer Blade laptop is still 0.88-inch thick, and 6.6 pounds. On top of that, you aren't likely to use the laptop for gaming without at least adding a gaming mouse to the mix, and you'll need to find a table or desk to sit at while you play?but the Edge Pro lets you play anywhere, without needing a mouse for all games.

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On any other system the 10.1-inch IPS display and its 1,366-by-768 resolution would be small and inadequate?though it's the same resolution of the screen on the Maingear Pulse 11?but because you'll be bringing the Edge Pro so much closer to your face, the smaller size and lower resolution aren't much of an issue. For a larger display and higher resolution, the HDMI port found on the accessory console dock does output at 1080p.

On the back of the tablet, which is made of the same cool black aluminum seen on the Razer Blade, you'll find Razer's distinctive logo, with three intertwined snakes that glow green when powered on. When we tested the speaker quality on the Edge Pro, I was surprised by the quality of the sound. While there's no bass to speak of, the sound itself is significantly better than most tablets?there's no buzzing at high volumes, and the sound is fuller than the thin, tinny sound heard on other tablets.

Features
On the tablet you'll find a docking port (which doubles as your power connector), a headphone jack, and a full-size USB 3.0 port. The USB port is easy to spot, because it's the same brilliant green we saw on the Razer Blade. The Razer Edge Pro is equipped with 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 + HS, so it will pair up with any wireless peripherals you want.

Inside, the Razer Edge Pro is equipped with a 256GB solid-state drive, in addition to the aforementioned Intel processor and Nvidia graphics card. All of those heat generating components also require a cooling fan, and this one gets humming pretty early on?it's the only tablet we've reviewed where fan noise is a concern. But that fan is indispensable, as I measured surface temperatures between 114 and 130 degrees at various points during testing and use. It got particularly warm in the upper right-hand corner, but you won't likely be using the tablet alone during the most intense gaming. A lot of this heat buildup is dealt with by using the accessory gamepad dock, shielding the hot surfaces from your touch and giving you two external handles to hold. Handling the tablet won't be an issue while using the tablet on the desktop/console dock.

While the Edge Pro is free of any bloatware or spurious software trials, it does come with Razer's Launcher dashboard for browsing and launching games, and also comes preinstalled with Steam, saving you the step of downloading it yourself. Additionally, the Edge Pro is designed for compatibility with Steam Big Picture Mode when connected to an HDTV through the console dock.

Razer covers the Edge Pro with a one-year warranty, with an extended warranty available ($199.99 direct) to stretch it to two, and also adds a year of coverage for power cable, console dock, and gamepad dock (except battery). Docks and accessories are also covered by a one-year warranty.

While the tablet design doesn't really make for a system you can upgrade and maintain in the same way you can tweak and optimize a desktop PC, Razer tells us that the SSD inside can indeed be swapped out by the user. But tinkerer's beware?doing so will void the warranty.

Our review unit came with two docks, the Gamepad Dock ($249.99 direct), and a desktop cradle called the Console Dock ($99.99 direct). A third accessory?a keyboard for laptop-style functionality?is expected to be available in Q3 of this year, but specific details about features, availability, and pricing weren't available as of this writing.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/5-2kImcMQ9E/0,2817,2417136,00.asp

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Source says Barbara Walters to retire next year

NEW YORK (AP) ? Barbara Walters plans to retire next year, ending a television career that began more than a half century ago and made her a trailblazer in news and daytime TV.

Someone who works closely with Walters said the plan is for her to retire in May 2014 after a series of special programs saluting her career. The person was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday.

Walters, 83, was hospitalized earlier this year after falling and cutting her head while leaving a party in Washington and remained out of work after developing the chickenpox. Largely retired from ABC News already, her main work is at "The View," the daytime hit she created in 1997.

Her television career began in 1961 when she was hired as a writer for the "Today" show. She graduated quickly to on-air work and became the show's co-host before leaving in 1976 to become co-anchor of ABC's evening news with Harry Reasoner ? the first woman in such a role for a television network.

The pairing ended quickly and Walters settled into a role as ABC News' cajoler-in-chief, competing ferociously to land newsmaking interviews with heads of state and stars of the day. She regularly did interview specials, including an annual show with the most fascinating people of the year, and was co-host of "20/20" for two decades, much of the time with Hugh Downs.

She described "The View" as the "dessert" of her career, a regular gathering of women chatting about the hot topics of the day and interviewing visiting presidents and actors eager to reach a daytime audience. Walters appeared semi-regularly as one of the hosts.

"The View" faces a transition continuing without Walters and also the last remaining original host, Joy Behar, who recently announced she was stepping down.

Walters underwent heart surgery in 2010, turning the experience into a prime-time special, "A Matter of Life and Death," featuring interviews with fellow heart patients Bill Clinton and David Letterman.

ABC news and entertainment representatives would not comment Thursday and Walters' publicist, Cindi Berger, did not immediately return requests for comment.

It wasn't clear when Walters would announce her plans. Late spring is the time TV networks generally reveal their plans for the upcoming year so advertisers can lock in commercial time.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-source-barbara-walters-retire-next-201952868.html

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Seeing happiness in ambiguous facial expressions reduces aggressive behavior

Mar. 27, 2013 ? Encouraging young people at high-risk of criminal offending and delinquency to see happiness rather than anger in facial expressions results in a decrease in their levels of anger and aggression, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

The study, led by Marcus Munaf? and Ian Penton-Voak of the University of Bristol (UK), explored the relationship between recognition of emotion in ambiguous facial expressions and aggressive thoughts and behavior, both in healthy adults and in adolescent youth considered to be at high-risk of committing crime.

The researchers showed it was possible to experimentally modify biases in emotion recognition to encourage the perception of happiness over anger when viewing ambiguous expressions. This resulted in a decrease in measures of self-reported anger and aggression in both healthy adults and high-risk adolescents, and also for independently-rated aggressive behavior in the adolescents.

To modify these biases, participants were shown composite images of facial expressions that were happy, angry or emotionally ambiguous and asked to rate them as happy or angry. This established a baseline balance point of how likely they were to read ambiguous faces as angry. The researchers then used feedback to nudge some of the participants away from this negativity bias by telling them that some of the ambiguous faces they had previously labeled as angry were in fact happy.

In the first experiment in 40 healthy volunteers, this ultimately resulted in the participants learning to identify happiness in these faces rather than anger -- and these participants subsequently reported lower levels of anger and aggression in themselves.

The experiment was then repeated with 46 adolescents aged 11 to 16 years old who had been referred to a youth program, either by the courts or by schools, as being at high risk of committing crime and with a high frequency of aggressive behavior.

Again, participants trained to recognize happiness rather than anger in the ambiguous faces reported less aggressive behavior. In addition, incidence of aggressive behavior -- as recorded independently by program staff in the week before and the two weeks following the training -- were also reduced.

To test this result further, the researchers then ran a different experiment on a further 53 healthy volunteers which did not rely on explicit feedback to change the way participants judged facial expressions.

Previous studies have shown that prolonged viewing of an image subsequently alters the perception of similar images, so one group of participants was shown only angry faces while a control group looked at an equal mix of happy and angry faces.

The researchers found that those shown only angry faces subsequently shifted their perceptions and became more likely to see happiness in ambiguous faces. Again, they also reported lower levels of anger and aggression in themselves.

"Our results provide strong evidence that emotion processing plays a causal role in anger and the maintenance of aggressive behavior. This could potentially lead to novel behavioral treatments in the future," said Munaf?.

In addition to Penton-Voak and Munaf?, co-authors on the research include Jamie Thomas of the University of Wales Institute, Suzanne Gage and Sarah McDonald of the University of Bristol, and Mary McMurran of the University of Nottingham.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Association for Psychological Science.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. I. S. Penton-Voak, J. Thomas, S. H. Gage, M. McMurran, S. McDonald, M. R. Munafo. Increasing Recognition of Happiness in Ambiguous Facial Expressions Reduces Anger and Aggressive Behavior. Psychological Science, 2013; DOI: 10.1177/0956797612459657

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/D_t658f0cAE/130328080559.htm

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Lunar cycle determines hunting behavior of nocturnal gulls

Mar. 27, 2013 ? Zooplankton, small fish and squid spend hardly any time at the surface when there's a full moon. To protect themselves from their natural enemies, they hide deeper down in the water on bright nights, coming up to the surface under cover of darkness when there's a new moon instead. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell discovered that this also influences the behaviour of swallow-tailed gulls (Creagrus furcatus), a unique nocturnal species of gull from the Galapagos Islands.

They fitted the birds with loggers and wet/dry sensors which enabled them to see how much time the animals spent at sea at night. Their findings show that the birds' activity was greatest at new moon, in other words the time when the most prey was gathered at the surface of the water. The cycle of the moon therefore also influences the behaviour of seabirds.

The lunar cycle controls the behaviour of various animal species: owls, swallows and bats, for example, align their activity with the phase of the moon to maximise their hunting success. However, marine life is also affected by the moon. Many species of fish hide from their enemies in the depths of the sea during the daytime and only come up to the water's surface in the dark. Known as vertical migration, this phenomenon is additionally influenced by the lunar cycle. The fish thereby avoid swimming on the water's surface at full moon where they would be easy prey. Vertical migration is thus restricted on brighter nights and the animals remain at greater depths. At new moon, on the other hand, the organisms become active and migrate to the surface.

Yet also in the dark of night hunters lie in wait for them -- for instance the swallow-tailed gull Creagrus furcatus from the Galapagos Islands. With eyes that are well adapted to the dark, the gull can see fish below the water's surface even in low light conditions and so does not need the moon as a source of light. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology therefore wanted to find out what effect the lunar cycle had on the hunting behaviour of the gulls.

To this effect, they attached loggers with sensors to 37 birds, which enabled the scientists to measure where, when and how long the animals were in the water. "The gulls fly off to hunt on the open sea and plunge down to the water's surface to snatch squid or small fish," explains Martin Wikelski from the Max Planck Institute in Radolfzell. "From the contact time of the sensors with the water, we were able to conclude in which nights of the month the gulls were particularly active." The behaviour of each bird was recorded for 120 days on average in order to take in several moon phases.

The birds followed the lunar cycles strictly: at new moon the gulls were in the water particularly often. When the nights were very bright, the birds tended to stay on dry land instead. "For the swallow-tailed gulls it makes sense to be guided by the lunar cycle in their hunting, because, with a diving depth of no more than one metre, the prey is quickly beyond their reach on nights with a full moon," says Wikelski.

To facilitate their night-time hunting, swallow-tailed gulls have evolved light-sensitive eyes that are particularly well adapted to the dark nights at sea. They have also lost their melatonin rhythm -- an important clock that regulates sleep -- enabling the swallow-tailed gulls to occupy a new and unique ecological niche.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Max-Planck-Gesellschaft.

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Journal Reference:

1. Sebastian M. Cruz, Mevin Hooten, Kathryn P. Huyvaert, Carolina B. Proa?o, David J. Anderson, Vsevolod Afanasyev, Martin Wikelski. At?Sea Behavior Varies with Lunar Phase in a Nocturnal Pelagic Seabird, the Swallow-Tailed Gull. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (2): e56889 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0056889

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/KtplcqEW5C8/130327103048.htm

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Video: PFT: Getting to know Alabama's Lacy

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Scientists use DNA to quickly unravel relationship between plants and insects

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Studying the relationship between plants and the insects that feed on them is an arduous task, as it must be done through direct observation. It can take years for a researcher to fully understand the diets of a community of herbivorous insects in a tropical rain forest. Now, five Smithsonian scientists are paving a fast track using the DNA found inside the insects' stomachs, potentially turning years of research into months. This method will help scientists understand the ecology and evolution of plant-herbivore interactions more efficiently. Their findings are published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Plants and insects comprise about 50 percent of all known species on Earth, forming the critical foundation of biodiversity in most terrestrial ecosystems. This study focused on 20 species of rolled leaf beetles in Costa Rica and 33 species of flowering plants in the order Zingiberales that the beetles eat and lay eggs on almost exclusively.

Using specialized DNA extraction methods the scientists obtained a mix of DNA both from the actual insect and from the insect's stomach contents. They used DNA markers specific to animals to obtain DNA barcodes for each insect species and markers specific to plants to identify the plant species in each insect's diet.

"What makes this study unique is that we developed DNA extraction techniques and full DNA barcode libraries that allowed us to identify host plants to the species level," said Carlos Garc?a-Robledo, a post-doctoral fellow at the Smithsonian and lead author of the study. "Another unique feature of this study is that we invested several years in the field identifying the diets of insect herbivores using direct observations. This baseline data allowed us for the first time to test the accuracy of DNA barcodes to identify insect diets."

Matched against the data gathered from prior direct observation, the information derived from this DNA stomach-content study was nearly identical, yet had taken only fraction of the time and effort.

###

Smithsonian: http://www.si.edu

Thanks to Smithsonian for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127458/Scientists_use_DNA_to_quickly_unravel_relationship_between_plants_and_insects

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New tiger reserve is established in India

Vijay Kumar / WWF-India

A tigress and her cub rest in India's Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary.

By Douglas Main
LiveScience

India has created a new protected area for tigers within a wildlife reserve in the south of the country.

The area, part of the Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary, is home to about 25 tigers, according to a release from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a conservation group. This population of tigers rivals the size of some of India's better-known reserves, the statement said.

This will be the 42nd tiger reserve in the country, which is home to the largest population of tigers?in the world. The 272-square-mile (705 square kilometers) protected area will help connect several adjacent parks, making it one of the largest continuous tiger habitats in the world, according to the WWF. The area is also home to elephants, leopards, hyenas and vultures.

For more than a decade, WWF-India has worked with local authorities in the state of Tamil Nadu (where the reserve is found) to support projects to counter poaching, improve communications via cellular phones and wireless networks, train forest rangers and monitor tigers, the statement said.

"The tiger is the national animal of India, and WWF congratulates the government for yet another important milestone in its conservation efforts that will make a tremendous contribution to the goal of conserving wild tigers and their natural habitats in the country," said Dipankar Ghose, of WWF-India, in the statement.

Tiger numbers have declined by about 95 percent in the last century across their entire historic range, and experts think there are only about 3,000 left in the wild, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Email Douglas Main?or follow him @Douglas_Main. Follow us?@OAPlanet, Facebook?or? Google+. Original article on LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Woods back on top in golf

Tiger Woods, left, and Arnold Palmer share a laugh during the trophy presentation after Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament in Orlando, Fla., Monday, March 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Tiger Woods, left, and Arnold Palmer share a laugh during the trophy presentation after Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament in Orlando, Fla., Monday, March 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Tiger Woods holds the championship trophy after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament in Orlando, Fla., Monday, March 25, 2013. Woods finished 13-under-par. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Tiger Woods waves to fans as he walks off the 18th hole after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament, Monday, March 25, 2013, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Tiger Woods hits a shot from the third tee during the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament, Monday, March 25, 2013, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Tiger Woods hits a shot from the fourth fairway during the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament, Monday, March 25, 2013, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) ? The moment was vintage Tiger Woods, and so was his reaction.

Seconds after Rickie Fowler made a 40-foot birdie putt on the 12th hole to pull within two shots of the lead, Woods posed over his 25-foot birdie putt until he swept the putter upward in his left hand and marched toward the cup as it dropped for a birdie.

Fowler, standing on the edge of the green, turned with a slight smile as if to say, "What else can I do?"

Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Monday and returned to No. 1 in the world for the first time since October 2010, the longest spell of his career. After all that time, after so much turmoil with his personal life and his health, Woods looks as good as ever.

Maybe better.

"It's a byproduct of hard work, patience and getting back to winning golf tournaments," Woods said.

He essentially wrapped up his eighth title at Bay Hill with an 8-iron out of a fairway bunker on the par-5 16th that easily cleared the water and landed safely on the green for a two-putt birdie. Woods dangled his tongue out of his mouth as the ball was in the air, another sign of his swagger.

Just like his other two wins this year, Woods never let anyone get closer than two shots in the final round. With a conservative bogey he could afford on the final hole, he closed with a 2-under 70 for a two-shot win over Justin Rose.

Woods walked off the 18th green waving his putter over his head ? truly a magic wand at Bay Hill ? to acknowledge the fans who have seen this act before. His eighth win in the Arnold Palmer Invitational tied a PGA Tour record that had not been touched in 48 years.

This win had extra significance. He's back to No. 1.

"If I get healthy, I know I can play this game at a high level," Woods said. "I know I can be where I'm contending in every event, contending in major championships and being consistent day in and day out ? if I got healthy. That was the first step in the process. Once I got there, then my game turned."

A year ago, he came to Bay Hill without having won in more than 2? years. He left this year having won six times in his last 20 starts on the PGA Tour.

Next up is the Masters, where Woods will try to end his five-year drought in the majors.

"I'm really excited about the rest of this year," Woods said.

Woods fell as low as No. 58 in the world as he coped with the collapse of his marriage, a loss of sponsors and injuries to his left leg. One week after he announced he was dating Olympic ski champion Lindsey Vonn, Woods returned to the top of golf.

"Number 1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!" Vonn tweeted moments after his win.

Asked if there was any correlation to his winning right after going public with his relationship, Woods smiled and said, "You're reading way too much into this."

Like so many other victories, this one was never really close.

Fowler pulled to within two shots with a 25-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole, but after he and Woods made bogey on the 15th, Fowler went at the flag on the par-5 16th and came up a few yards short and into the water. Fowler put another ball into the water and made triple bogey.

"I was swinging it well. I made a few putts, and trying to put a little pressure on them, let them know I was there," Fowler said. "Just would like to have that 7-iron back on 16. Just kind of a touch heavy."

Woods played it safe on the 18th, and nearly holed a 75-foot par putt that even drew a big smile from the tournament host.

Woods tied the tour record of eight wins in a single tournament. Sam Snead won the Greater Greensboro Open eight times from 1938 to 1965 at two golf courses. Woods tied his record for most wins at a single golf course, having also won eight times at Torrey Pines, including a U.S. Open.

"I don't really see anybody touching it for a long time," Palmer said while Woods made his way up the 18th fairway. "I had the opportunity to win a tournament five times, and I knew how difficult that was."

Rose, who played the first two rounds with Woods, closed with a 70 to finish alone in second.

He pulled to within two shots of Woods with a birdie on the 16th. Woods was in the group behind him in the fairway bunker on the par 5, and hit 8-iron over the water and onto the middle of the green for a two-putt birdie to restore his margin.

"He plays every shot like he plays them on Sunday," Rose said. "His intensity is the same on Thursday often as it is on Sunday, and that makes Sunday a lot less different for him. He plays in that kind of atmosphere far more regularly than a lot of guys do, and it's an adjustment for most of us. It's a known for him."

Fowler had to settle for a 73 and a tie for third with Mark Wilson (71), Keegan Bradley (71) and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (72).

Rory McIlroy had been No. 1 since he won the PGA Championship last August. He can reclaim the No. 1 ranking by winning the Houston Open this week. Woods heads home to south Florida for two weeks before the Masters.

Asked the last time he felt this good going to Augusta National, Woods replied, "It's been a few years."

This was the fourth time in his career that he already had three PGA Tour wins before the Masters ? he didn't win a green jacket in any of the previous years (2000, 2003 and 2008). More telling, perhaps, is that Woods has won back-to-back starts for the first time since the Buick Open and Bridgestone Invitational in August 2009.

"I think it shows that my game is consistent," he said. "It's at a high level."

Woods finished at 13-under 275 and won for the 77th time on the PGA Tour, moving to within five of Snead's record.

Fowler, his first time playing with Woods in the final group, opened with eight pars when he needed to be making up ground. And when he finally had a few openings on the back nine, Woods refused to let him through.

Woods salvaged a two-putt par with a 7-footer on the 11th hole to keep a three-shot lead. On the next hole, Fowler looked to gain some momentum when he made a 40-foot birdie putt only for Woods to match him with that 25-foot birdie.

Woods produced some absurd statistics with the putter this week, making 19 of 28 putts from between 7 feet and 20 feet.

He walked off the green to share a handshake with Palmer, along with a big smile and some words that Woods said were best kept private. He left the course in that familiar blue blazer that goes to the winner.

And he left as the No. 1 player in the world.

It's the 11th time that Woods has gone back to No. 1, tied with Greg Norman since the ranking began in 1986. Still to be determined is how long Woods stays there this time.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-03-25-GLF-Bay-Hill/id-e359dba6becc492692f9f482c0dab8a7

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Music review: Kacey Musgraves' album makes her a Nashville star ...

This Feb. 20, 2013 photo shows Kacey Musgraves at the Barista Parlor in Nashville, Tenn. Musgraves' latest CD, "Same Trailer Different Park," was released on March 19, 2013. (Photo by Donn JonesInvision/AP)

Music review: Kacey Musgraves? album makes her a Nashville star

By david burger

| The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published Mar 25 2013 01:55 pm ? Last Updated Mar 25 2013 01:56 pm

Grade ? B+

CD ? 2013 has already proved to be rich for first-rate country albums, with superb releases from The Mavericks and Ashley Monroe. The trend continues with Kacey Musgraves, whose major-label debut "Same Trailer Different Park" is not only intriguing vocally but engaging lyrically, with every song co-written by the 24-year-old East Texas native.

Showing the verve that she displayed when writing Miranda Lambert?s single "Mama?s Broken Heart," Musgraves looks to be on the right path ? as long as she keeps the slickness away and continues writing about deferred dreams and the not-so-quiet desperation of women yearning to breathe free.

Don?t miss her when she opens for Kenny Chesney this July.

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/entertainment/56006249-81/musgraves-continues-kacey-writing.html.csp

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10 Things to Know for Today

This photo provided by General Motors Co., shows the 2014 Buick LaCrosse 3.6L V6. GM is taking the latest step on its seemingly quixotic quest to revive the Buick brand in the U.S., rolling out refurbished versions of the midsize Regal and the larger LaCrosse in New York. (AP Photo/General Motors Co.)

This photo provided by General Motors Co., shows the 2014 Buick LaCrosse 3.6L V6. GM is taking the latest step on its seemingly quixotic quest to revive the Buick brand in the U.S., rolling out refurbished versions of the midsize Regal and the larger LaCrosse in New York. (AP Photo/General Motors Co.)

From left, Kris Perry, Sandy Stier of Berkeley, Calif., and Jeff Zarrillo and Paul Katami of Burbank, Calif., arrive to visit the National Archives in Washington, Monday, March 25, 2013, to view the U.S. Constitution, a day before their same-sex marriage case is heard before the Supreme Court. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

FILE - This is a Monday, Oct. 3, 2011 file photo of Amanda Knox as she breaks into tears after hearing the verdict that overturns her conviction and acquits her of murdering her British roommate Meredith Kercher, at the Perugia court, central Italy. Italy's highest criminal court Tuesday March 26, 2013 has ordered a new trial in the case of Amanda Knox in the slaying of her British roommate. The court ruled that an appeals court in Florence must re-hear the case against the American and her Italian-ex-boyfriend. Knox has been living back in the U.S. while her former boyfriend continues studies in Italy. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito, File)

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:

1. HIGH COURT TO TAKE UP GAY MARRIAGE

The Supreme Court's first major examination of gay rights in a decade begins today as public opinion shifts in favor of same-sex marriage.

2. AMANDA KNOX ACQUITTAL OVERTURNED

Italy's highest court ordered a new trial for the American and her Italian ex-boyfriend in the 2007 murder of her roommate.

3. A SEAT FOR SYRIAN OPPOSITION AT ARAB SUMMIT

A delegation of opponents to Assad's regime took the country's seat at an Arab League meeting in Qatar.

4. WHEN CYPRUS WILL GET ITS MONEY BACK

The country's shutdown entered its second week as officials fearing runs on the banks extended their closure until Thursday.

5. NEW JERSEY'S NEWEST MULTIMILLIONAIRE

Pedro Quezada bought the winning lottery ticket for a $338 million Powerball jackpot. The immigrant from the Dominican Republic says he wants to help his family.

6. ANOTHER WARNING FROM NORTH KOREA

Pyongyang warned its artillery and rocket forces are at their highest-level combat posture.

7. WEAPON FOUND IN COLORADO CORRECTIONS CHIEF'S DEATH

The gun that a parolee used in a shootout in Texas is the same that killed Tom Clements at his front door.

8. WHAT A YOUNGER BUICK LOOKS LIKE

GM is unveiling new editions of the LaCrosse and Regal today, hoping to attract more 30- and 40-somethings to cars with older buyers.

9. YAHOO'S NEWEST WHIZ KID

Seventeen-year-old Nick D'Aloisio is younger than Yahoo, but sold the company his Summly app to make it easier to read news stories on smartphones.

10. WHO'S BACK AT NO. 1

Tiger Woods wins his third tournament of the year and reclaims golf's top ranking.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-26-10-Things-to-Know-Today/id-41e60742d3894afcbbf8755c7be9c133

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NPR goes rogue (Powerlineblog)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/294243618?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Suggestions To Generate Competitive Internet Marketing Campaigns

A lot of businesses are turning to Affiliate marketing to get the word out about their services and products. Online marketing revolves heavily around search engine optimization, as well as advertising and a handful of other methods. If you want to know more about internet marketing, or how to use it effectively, read this article.

TIP! You should approach banner advertising differently, and go for a unique approach when designing one for your website. The more appealing and original your banner ad appears, the more people you?ll have clicking on it.

Do you need a good online marketing idea? If visitors are motivated to give you their email addresses, you can end up with a very impressive opt-in list. Sign them up for contests and freebies to give them added value for joining your team. People will be more prone to providing their own personal email if it could directly benefit them!

One way to increase the number of clicks on your ads is to link product images to a separate page that contains information about the product. Just make sure you use appropriate text around the ad that does entice them to click on the ad, so they also know where they are being taken to. This stealthy method does not look like a traditional advertisement.

TIP! It is very helpful to have a 500 error page. When this page appears, some of the code has stopped working.

An important title will give you respect and your customers will pay attention to what you have to say. If you are a business owner, become the CEO or President. If you are not the owner, you can still adopt an impressive title. Sign your articles and emails with your name and your title.

To be successful with Web marketing, have a great site. Make sure you test the site often to fix bad links or bugs. If your website proves to be full of mistakes or links that don?t work, then your potential customers will go elsewhere.

TIP! If you want to know why someone chose not to purchase your product, offer an option where they can give feedback. If they decided not to purchase because of a problem with your website, you can improve it.

Take into consideration the different methods available for advertising your website. Free or cheap methods to promote your business are to make a blog or use social networks to promote your business. These are some of the ways that you can increase your traffic to improve sales. It just takes some creativity.

A great marketing strategy is to offer bulk discounts on products. If your customer can save money through purchasing items in quantity, they often will. You?ll still be making money any any wholesale products but you?ll also see an increase in the number of products you move.

Try offering special discounts for buying the same product regularly. You could entice them by offering a discount for agreeing to receive a product delivery each month.

For more effective marketing, try mentioning guarantees in your promotional content. Even though a guarantee is only as good as the company behind it, people want to know they are not taking a risk by buying your product. They are more comfortable spending their hard-earned money when a money-back guarantee is in place.

TIP! One often-overlooked way to build more web traffic is by keeping your website simple. Interactive media like Adobe Flash can be tempting when designing your website, and website designers might try to convince you to use it.

A great Internet promotion tip is to become an expert in the field you are dealing with. This is vital not solely because it gains you credibility about your field, but it also prevents you from appearing dishonest because you don?t know what you?re talking about.

If you are interested in having more visitors to your site, it is vital that you rank higher and employ SEO tactics. This is even more important for retailers that are competing to sell the same items as many other retailers online. Providing your own unique descriptions of products and using rich, descripyive adjectives will help your site stand out and be recognizable.

In conclusion, many businesses use Online marketing to sell products and services. Affiliate marketing uses methods such as search engine optimization and advertising to generate sales interest. If you remember the advice in this article, you can use Affiliate marketing to seriously boost interest in your own products and services.

Check out my #1 recommended Internet Marketing Promotion tool. Regardless what you?re selling your promoting online, this is a ?must have?. Click Here

Source: http://www.empowernetwork.com/performwebs/blog/suggestions-to-generate-competitive-internet-marketing-campaigns/

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Russian PM lambasts deal to rescue Cyprus

MOSCOW (AP) ? Russia's prime minister has slammed a deal that saves Cyprus from bankruptcy but forces big losses on many bank deposits, a large chunk of which are held by Russians.

Cyprus secured a 10 billion euros ($13 billion) bailout early Monday on the condition it scales back its banking sector and forces hefty losses on a number of big deposits to help pay much of the bill.

Dmitry Medvedev says the move is tantamount to theft.

Moscow has been worried about the crisis in Cyprus with Russian citizens holding as much as 20 billion euros ($26 billion) in Cypriot banks.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russian-pm-lambasts-deal-rescue-cyprus-105246907--finance.html

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Holder averts furloughs of prison staffers

FILE ? In this March 6, 2013, file photo U.S.Attorney General Eric Holder testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Congress passed a spending bill to keep the government open through the end of September 2013, which Holder says provides no relief from the $1.6 billion in budget reductions that became effective March 1. In a memo to Justice Department employees he says he dealt with the problem by transferring $150 million in existing Justice Department funds to the Bureau of Prisons account, thus averting daily furloughs of 3,570 federal prison staffers around the country, and staving off what would have been a serious threat to the lives and safety of staff, inmates and the public. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE ? In this March 6, 2013, file photo U.S.Attorney General Eric Holder testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Congress passed a spending bill to keep the government open through the end of September 2013, which Holder says provides no relief from the $1.6 billion in budget reductions that became effective March 1. In a memo to Justice Department employees he says he dealt with the problem by transferring $150 million in existing Justice Department funds to the Bureau of Prisons account, thus averting daily furloughs of 3,570 federal prison staffers around the country, and staving off what would have been a serious threat to the lives and safety of staff, inmates and the public. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Attorney General Eric Holder says he has averted daily furloughs of 3,570 federal prison staffers around the country, moving $150 million from other Justice Department accounts to stave off a serious threat to the lives and safety of correctional staff, inmates and the public.

Some 38,000 employees at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons supervise 176,000 inmates at 119 institutions, ensuring security and providing prisoners with needed programs.

In a memo Friday to all Justice Department employees, Holder said that congressional passage of a spending bill keeping the government open through the end of September provides no relief from $1.6 billion in Justice Department budget reductions that already took effect.

Holder's memo did not say which department agencies were tapped for the $150 million and spokeswoman Nanda Chitre declined to comment on that question Saturday.

Holder said the cuts still raise serious issues.

"I am deeply troubled by the impact the sequester will have on the department's capacity to prevent terrorism, combat violent crime, partner with states and local law enforcement agencies and protect the judiciary and our most vulnerable citizens," Holder wrote.

"I am still evaluating whether we have the ability to avoid other furloughs in the department this year," he added, addressing concerns of department employees. "I will do all that I can to minimize the impact of these events on your lives."

The attorney general said moving the $150 million can protect prison facilities through the end of the fiscal year in September, but does not resolve "serious life and safety issues" the Bureau of Prisons faces next year.

Holder said his department has already required extensive cuts to travel, training, contracts and other accounts.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-23-Holder-Prison%20Furloughs/id-f8b6f534837f4a83aaff2a7ddcda0ef2

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Little Things Forever for iPhone and iPad review

Little Things Forever is an iPhone and iPad game where you must seek and find little items that are part of an artistic patchwork. As you find items, you collect puzzles pieces to solve the 9 different included puzzles.

Little Things Forever features thousands of little things that make up larger pieces of artwork. The biggest art piece is a star on the menu screen. When you start a game, you zoom into one of the items that makes up the star, which is also made up of hundreds of things.

The first thing you zoom into is a triceratops dinosaur and you are given a list of items you must find. You can zoom in and scroll if you wish and when you find an item, simply tap on it. It will start to sparkle to indicate that you found the right thing. If you're wrong, an X will flash on it.

Once you find all the things on the list, you will earn a puzzle piece then be given another list. Once you've earned all the puzzle pieces for the first puzzle, you get to solve it. You can move both the location and rotation of the pieces. And what are the puzzle pieces made of? You guessed it -- little things! This makes the puzzles a bit of a challenge to solve.

When you solve a puzzle, you unlock one of the things in the star and repeat the process.

One of the great features of Little Things Forever is multiple user support. This is rare to find in iOS games, so it's great to see the ability to have 4 different games saved at once.

The good

• Unique and beautiful
• Thousands of little things to find
• Incredible artwork and a beautiful soundtrack
• Randomly generated lists of things to find
• 101 puzzle pieces to collect and 9 puzzles to solve
• Will feature new puzzles delivered in future updates
• Retina display support
• Universal for iPhone and iPad

The bad

• Some users complain of crashes, though it's never crashed for me (iPhone 5)

The bottom line

Little Things Forever is a great little game. If you love puzzles and are good at finding things, then you'll love this one.

• Free - Download now

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/MqHzf3sierU/story01.htm

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Biden: Republicans "didn't get the message" from 2012 (cbsnews)

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Lebanese president accepts premier's resignation

BEIRUT (AP) ? Lebanon's president on Saturday asked the outgoing prime minister to stay on in a caretaking role, opening the way for what is expected to be prolonged political jockeying as parliamentary blocs try to build a majority coalition to form a new government.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati's abrupt departure has plunged the nation into uncertainty amid heightened sectarian tensions and clashes related to the civil war next door in Syria.

Sporadic clashes continued in the northern city of Tripoli between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad. At least one person was wounded Saturday, according to the state-run National News Agency.

Mikati stepped down on Friday amid a political deadlock between Lebanon's two main political camps and infighting within his own government.

"I hope that this resignation will provide an opening in the existing deadlock and pave the way for a (political) solution," Mikati said, following a meeting with Michel Suleiman.

Mikati has been prime minister since June 2011, heading a government dominated by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah and its allies, many of whom have a close relationship with Syria.

Their main rivals are a Western-backed coalition headed by former Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, son of Rafik Hariri, who was also prime minister and was killed in a truck bombing in 2005.

A Harvard-educated billionaire, Mikati was chosen to lead the government after Hezbollah forced the collapse of Lebanon's previous, pro-Western government over fears that a U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the killing of the elder Hariri would indict Hezbollah members.

But Mikati's relations with Hezbollah have never been smooth. He has rejected the notion that he serves Hezbollah or that his government will act as an Iranian proxy. Hezbollah accuses him of being loyal to its rival camp.

He stepped down to protest the parliament's inability to agree on a law to govern elections set for later this year, as well as the refusal by Hezbollah and its allies in the cabinet to extend the tenure of the country's police chief. Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi is 58 and is about to hit the mandatory retirement age for his rank.

Rifi, like Mikati, is a Sunni Muslim who is considered a foe by Hezbollah.

In a speech on Friday, Mikati said that if Rifi was not allowed to stay on, his departure would create a "vacuum" in the police department.

Underpinning the political crisis are Lebanon's hugely sectarian politics and the fact that the country's two largest political blocs support opposite sides in Syria's civil war. Lebanon and Syria share a complex network of political and sectarian ties, and many fear that violence in Syria will spread to Lebanon.

Opposition activists celebrated Mikati's resignation by dismantling protest tents they had pitched outside the prime minister's office for months, calling for the government's resignation.

Among those was Karim Rifae, who said Hezbollah was preparing a second "coup" against the Lebanese state.

"They started with bringing such a government in, and when it fulfilled their targets, now they are removing it to create a deadly vacuum starting with the government then the parliament," he said.

There were signs of rising tensions before the resignation.

On Friday, gunmen who support and oppose Assad clashed in Tripoli, leaving six people dead and more than 20 wounded, according to the National News Agency. Clashes between the Sunni neighborhood of Bab Tabbaneh, which supports Syria's rebels, and the adjacent Alawite neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen, which supports Assad, have broken out repeatedly in recent months. Assad is Alawite, a Shiite offshoot sect.

Also in Tripoli, the Lebanese army said a soldier was killed and several others wounded during an army raid to capture several gunmen.

Mikati's resignation may be an attempt to boost his credentials among his fellow Sunni Muslims ahead of the upcoming election and amid the violence in Tripoli, his hometown.

Some Lebanese media have speculated that his decision to step down was based on "insinuations" from the U.S. and its allies to clear the way for an anti-Hezbollah majority, or at least a neutral government. Mikati in his speech denied that he had been pressured by foreign powers, insisting that it was a "personal choice without any intervention from anyone."

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Friday the Lebanese people deserve a government that reflects their aspirations.

"And we have grave concerns about the role that Hezbollah plays," she added.

British Foreign Minister William Hague expressed concern about the violence in Tripoli and urged all parties to work for "a more consensual government" as the challenges from Syria grow.

"It is critical that all parties in Lebanon prioritize national interests and ... reach a broad consensus to enable parliamentary elections to take place within the legal and constitutional framework," he said in a statement.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lebanese-president-accepts-premiers-resignation-091809634.html

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