Understanding Search Engines: Legal Perspective on Liability in the ...

In the early 1990s, the proliferation of information available on the Internet and the growth of Internet-related businesses produced new challenges for the distribution and dissemination of information. As legal issues arise from widespread use of search engines, governments react by attempting to regulate the Internet sector.

The search engine operators? growing market power and ability to control access to information trigger new legal concerns encompassing data protection, trademark and copyright infringement consumer protection, competition law, and free speech.

Both search engines and Internet-related businesses are influential factors shaping policies and laws in emerging market economies. Turkey, as an emerging market economy, is particularly concerned with search engine liability in the development of Internet laws.

Search engines are unmistakably Internet-based operations. Internet-based laws for content providers, hosting providers, and online business operators, however, can be challenging to apply to search engines. Search engines are distinct from these other operations in both objective and technology, which requires courts and legislatures to address legal issues related to search engines from a different perspective. The following cases and regulations demonstrate the pervasive search engine issues transcending jurisdictional boundaries.

American courts have addressed a significant number of claims against search engines and have developed extensive jurisprudence on search engine liability, particularly related to intellectual property disputes and defamation.

Perfect 10 v. Google involved an intellectual property conflict over a search engine?s capacity to assemble, organize, store, access, and display intellectual-property-protected ?content.? The plaintiff, Perfect 10, published a magazine and operated a subscription website; it registered the images it used with the United States Copyright Office. The court while analyzing available precedents, clearly distinguished between ?display? and ?inline linking? which refers to use of a linked object, often an image, from one site by a web page belonging to a second site. The court held that Google did not infringe Perfect 10?s right to distribution since infringement required ?actual dissemination? of the copyrighted material rather than simply facilitating access.

In Field v. Google, Blake Field filed a copyright infringement claim against Google Inc. for allowing Internet users to access copies of 51 of his registered works, which violated Field?s exclusive right to reproduce copies and distribute copies of those works. The court held in favor of Google, noting that

?If Google copies or distributes Field?s copyrighted works by allowing access to them through ?cached? links; Google?s conduct is fair use of those works as a matter of law.?

Courts in the United Kingdom addressed Internet law related to search engines similar to the United States. In 2009, Metropolitan International Schools Limited brought a defamation case against Designtechnica Corporation, Google UK Limited, and Google Inc ([2011] WLR 1743). The case provided a rational basis for apportioning liability for online actions, and serves as a foundation for future cases addressing Internet activity and search engines. The court held that a search engine is ?a different kind of Internet intermediary? which prevented the search engine from exercising complete control over the search terms and search results, making it a facilitator rather than a publisher. ?Mr Justice Eady clearly stated that the significance of notification to the proprietor of a search engine merits attention and in that regard, Google was not in a position to ?take down? the offending words in the way that Metropolitan could have done.

In civil law countries, court decisions relating to search engines do not retain the same authority as in common law countries. There are, however, a few notable court decisions in Europe that demonstrate a comprehensive appreciation for the limits of search engine liability. In Palomo v. Google Inc., Spain?s Court of First Instance heard a complaint regarding search result hyperlinks to websites with defamatory content. The court rejected the claim and held that the search engine was not liable for disseminating third party content. The court?s rationale was that the search engine was unaware that the linked content was defamatory.

The legal framework regulating Internet law in Turkey is not as developed as other jurisdictions.

The growing number of Internet related issues, however, requires Turkey to evaluate its existing laws and address legal liability issues regarding search engine conduct. The Information and Communications Technologies Authority is the regulatory body addressing Internet-based issues under Law No. 5651 on the Regulation of Broadcasts via Internet and Prevention of Crimes Committed Through Such Broadcasts (?Law No. 5651?). Law No. 5651?s purpose is to regulate the obligations and responsibilities of content providers, hosting providers, access providers, and mass use providers.

The position of search engines is questionable within the various categories of Internet actors enumerated under Law No. 5651. Attempts to categorize search engines as content providers, hosting providers, or access providers fail to incorporate the nuances of search engine functions. An ?access provider? provides a user with access to the Internet. A ?content provider? creates, amends, or provides information and data to Internet users. A ?hosting provider? operates the system that contains services and content. Based on the key terms defined in Law No. 5651, however, search engines do not fall within the scope of an ?access provider,? a ?hosting provider,? or a ?content provider.?

Problems ensue when legal authorities apply legal rules that are not developed to address and fulfill content removal requests. Websites and their content listed among search results are created by and uploaded by third parties; websites are owned by third parties, not the search engine operator, which makes it legally and technically impossible for search engine operators to interfere with the content. The relevant content must be removed from the original website for the content to avoid the search engine?s algorithmic formulae. The impossibility and illegality, however, does not prevent claims from being filed for non-removal of certain content from search engine results.

Another recurring issue includes requests to ban specific word searches and remove particular content from a search result. Search engine operators can neither prohibit users from using specific search terms, nor can they remove the search results related to these search terms. The existing legal rules for content and host providers are typically suggested to clarify boundaries for search engine liability, since the liability of these Internet actors is clearer.

Under Turkish law a ?content provider is responsible for any kind of content it presents on the Internet? but it is not responsible for the content of third party links unless the content provider indicates its intent to provide access to the specific third party content. Law No. 5651 establishes that the content provider is responsible for content broadcasted on the Internet rather than the hosting provider. This provision should be extended to content listed among the search engine results. Since the legislature is not holding the hosting provider responsible for uploaded content, it should not be legally possible to hold a search engine operator liable for listing live content and providing organized information to users. Even if it was legally and technically possible to remove live content from search engine results, it would not be ?deleted? from the Internet because it would still be broadcast on the relevant website. Criminal and civil liability would rest with the content provider under the scope of Law No. 5651.

However, Turkish courts in practice have nevertheless held Google liable, as a search engine operator, for removing live contents appearing on its search results. The line of thought adopted by the Turkish judges was that the respective content appearing among Google?s search term results was violating the complainant?s personal rights and was accessible; hence the courts ordered that such content be removed by Google from its search results. This line of reasoning may be criticized for equating a search engine?s obligations with those of the content providers? and hosting providers?, as Law No. 5651 clearly states that any person who claims that his rights are violated due to content shall apply to the content provider, or to the hosting provider in cases where the content provider is not found, for removal of such content.

Although no specific regulation exists for content removal from search engine results, Law No. 5651 establishes a procedure for content removal by a content provider or host provider that could be applied to search engines. Search engine operators could potentially be liable for content removed from the original website but still appearing among search results under Article 9 of Law No. 5651.

Another topic of interest that is increasingly coming to the fore to mold how liability may or may not be attributed to search engines for online content is that of search-term suggestions. Search-term suggestion (or the ?Keyword Suggestion Tool? as Google phrases) is a function of a search engine whereby a word, phrase or a website name, when typed to the search engine?s search bar, presents a list of keywords and phrases that the relevant search engine most closely relates them to the typed search-term due to frequency of search or popularity of search of the relevant term.

A 2010 decision of the Turkish criminal court of peace provides an important precedent in regards to how Turkish courts should interpret and apply the provisions of Law No. 5651 in terms of search term suggestions, in Turkey?s nascent Internet law framework. The court held that Google cannot be held responsible for search-term suggestions appearing on its search engine when the search term ?recep konuk corruption? and ?recep konuk?s corruptions? appear. The court reasoned that what is being requested for removal is the search term suggestions and not content as understood by Law No. 5651. The court premised its reasoning as follows:

?The removal of content which is reached through these search results can be requested from the content provider in accordance with the Law No. 5651. ? [T]he obligations of the access providers are within the context of Article 6 and the request should be made to the access provider.?

Although directing the request to the access provider is not the correct procedure, the court issued an interesting decision which might be used as supporting precedent in similar removal requests for search term suggestions, as the court grants that search terms suggestions are not considered content as understood under Law No. 5651.

The role and status of search engines might continue to raise legal concerns for emerging markets, such as Turkey, considering that there is an insufficient amount of case law to shed light into how legislation is interpreted by judicial authorities. This is in part due to the young age of the Internet legislation that is in force, and also due to the lack of judicial know-how concerning matters pertaining to the Internet law vista.

The first step to eliminate such legal concerns would be the recognition that search engine operators are not responsible for the content appearing among search results. This entails a parallel understanding that search engine operators, such as Google, cannot be held responsible for unlawful content that is broadcasted on the Internet, by third parties, when such content is still live. On the other hand, search engine operators may face the risk of being held liable for unlawful content which has been already removed by the content providers, but is still appearing among a particular search engine result. Depending on various court practices, this may impose upon search engine providers the duty to take the necessary technical and legal precautions to remove such content from appearing among their search results when these contents are not live. Second, legal definitions that clearly define and set the boundaries for what types of providers are held responsible for the content broadcasted on the Internet are necessary for the letter of the law to converge with the spirit of the law. Defining search engine operators separate from content and hosting providers is an opportunity for emerging markets to harmonize with courts across the globe in recognizing that search engines are an ?intermediary? to the information on the Internet.

G?nen? G?rkaynak is a partner at ELIG, Attorneys at Law, Istanbul

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Source: http://inforrm.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/understanding-search-engines-legal-perspective-on-liability-in-the-internet-law-vista-gonenc-gurkaynak/

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Oil little changed, natural gas steady above $4

NEW YORK (AP) ? The price of oil was little changed Thursday, while natural gas was steady a day after closing above $4 for the first time in a year and a half.

In morning trading in New York, benchmark oil for May delivery was up 12 cents to $96.70 a barrel. Oil has gained more than $4 in less than a week, driven by signs of strength in the U.S. economy.

Natural gas futures were unchanged. Wednesday's close at $4.07 per 1,000 cubic feet was the first above $4 since Sept. 14, 2011.

There are signs the U.S. is whittling away at the glut of supply that built up over the past few years and pushed natural gas prices down to 10-year lows. Data released by the Energy Department Thursday show inventories are about 27 percent below year-ago levels, although still about 4 percent above the five-year average.

The oil market was tempered by caution as Cypriot banks reopened for the first time since March 16. The banks were shut as political leaders negotiated an emergency bailout to prevent a banking collapse. The contentious deal reached Monday will force losses on bigger depositors, which many analysts have said could spark a crisis of confidence in banking across the 17 countries that use the euro.

No disturbances were reported as people across Cyprus formed long but orderly lines at ATMs and banks.

Brent crude, used to price many kinds of oil imported by U.S. refineries, was down 31 cents to $109.38 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on the Nymex:

? Wholesale gasoline fell 1 cent to $3.10 a gallon.

? Heating oil was flat at $3.04 a gallon.

___

Pamela Sampson in Bangkok and Pablo Gorondi in Budapest contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oil-little-changed-natural-gas-steady-above-4-151551022--finance.html

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Radar reveals traces of Martian mega-flood

NASA / MOLA / Smithsonian

Mars' 600-mile Marte Vallis channel system is filled with young lavas that obscure the source of the channels. This map shows Marte Vallis against the background of an elevation map of the planet, based on readings from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor.

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

A 3-D reconstruction of structures beneath the surface of Mars shows the 600-mile-wide footprint of a mega-flood that carved deep channels into the planet within the past 500 million years, scientists say.

Since that time, the evidence of the flood in a region known as Marte Vallis has been covered over by fresher lava flows. But a team of researchers pieced together the evidence by analyzing readings from a ground-penetrating radar instrument aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The analysis was laid out Thursday on the journal Science's website.

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"Our findings show that the scale of erosion was previously underestimated, and that channel depth was at least twice that of previous approximations," lead author Gareth Morgan, a geologist at the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, said in a news release. "The source of the floodwaters suggests?they originated from a deep groundwater reservoir and may have been released by local tectonic or volcanic activity. This work demonstrates the importance of orbital sounding radar in understanding how water has shaped the surface of Mars."

Over the past decade and a half, missions to Mars have provided ample evidence that the planet was once warmer and wetter than it is today. However, scientists say the most recent outflows of water came in brief, catastrophic bursts rather than as steady streams. The newly published research is consistent with that view.

Morgan and his colleagues used the orbiter's Italian-built Shallow Radar sounder, or SHARAD, to put Mars' subsurface geology through the radar equivalent of a CT scan. They found that the boundaries between the layers of fresher lava and the underlying rock traced a network of buried channels. The patterns and depths of those channels were characteristic of the canyons that would be cut by flowing water. Lots of flowing water.

The depth of the main channel was estimated at 226 to 371 feet (69 to 113 meters). "This is comparable with the depth of incision of the largest known megaflood on Earth, the Missoula floods, responsible for carving the Channeled Scabland of the northwestern United States," the researchers wrote.?

The Missoula floods occurred 12,000 to 18,000 years ago, due to a post-Ice Age warming trend, and discharged dammed-up water at a rate ranging up to 2.6 billion gallons per second. Morgan and his colleagues traced the Martian mega-flood to a radically different type of source: a fracture system in Mars' Cerberus Fossae region that apparently opened up to release water from miles beneath the Red Planet's surface. "It was a big crack in the ground, basically," Morgan told NBC News.

Smithsonian / NASA / JPL-Caltech / Sapienza Univ. of Rome / MOLA / USGS

A 3-D visualization shows the buried Marte Vallis channels. Marte Vallis consists of multiple perched channels formed around streamlined islands. These channels feed a deeper and wider main channel. The surface has been elevated and scaled by a factor of 1/100 for clarity. The area covered by this visualization is outlined by dotted lines in the global map above.

NASA / Goddard / Anna Brunner

NASA interns look down on Frenchman Springs Coulee in Washington state's Channeled Scablands. Researchers say the Martian mega-flood cut channels similar to those created thousands of years ago in the Channeled Scablands.

SHARAD's depth readings suggest that the channels had to have been cut somewhere between 10 million and 500 million years ago. Morgan said that makes the mega-flood channels "much younger" than the geological features being studied by NASA's Curiosity rover in a different region of Mars. Curiosity's science team wants to find out whether Mars had liquid water and the other conditions conducive for life 3 billion years to 4 billion years ago. On the surface, at least, those conditions were long gone by the time the Cerberus Fossae mega-flood washed over Marte Vallis.

More about Mars:

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Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Source: http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/07/17225462-radar-reveals-traces-of-monstrous-martian-flood-millions-of-years-ago?lite

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Apple's Tim Cook Met With Beats To Talk About The Company's ...

Apple CEO Tim Cook met with Beats Electronics CEO Jimmy Iovine in L.A. in late February, according to a report from Reuters today. The news comes just as Beats project ?Daisy,? a streaming music service built by Beats, is being spun off as a separate company by the audio electronics maker, with the help of a $60 million investment round. Apple was interested in Daisy, including its business plan and rollout, Reuters said.

Apple?s Eddy Cue, who is in charge of Internet Software and Services at the company (including the iTunes Store, iCloud and more) also attended the meeting, according to the report. It was an ?information? gathering meeting, Reuters? source says, with the intent of finding out how project Daisy plans to stand apart from Spotify, Pandora, Rdio and others. Iovine had previously said in an interview with AllThingsD that he?d pitched a streaming music service to then-CEO Steve Jobs back in 2003, but that Jobs wanted to wait to get record companies to lower their licensing fees.

Daisy is set to launch toward the end of 2013, according to a press release issued yesterday documenting the company?s spin-off from Beats. The company has some strong industry backing, including the involvement of Dr. Dre, Jimmy Iovine, Trent Reznor and CEO Ian Rogers. It?ll benefit from Beats??acquisition?of music streaming service MOG, which was purchased in 2012 for $14 million, too. All these and the sizeable initial funding should make Daisy a strong competitor for existing services like Pandora and Spotify out of the gate.

For Apple, it sounds on the surface like this was little more than a fact-finding mission. The iPhone-maker has been rumored to have been developing its own streaming music service for years now, and its recent moves with iCloud and iTunes Match seem to indicate it sees the value in streaming media. Digital music sales (of which iTunes makes up the lion?s share) also grew this year for the first time since 1999, with Apple accounting for?around?60 percent of those, so the company is hardly at a do-or-die when it comes to streaming music services.

There are reports that Google is looking to do something with a Spotify-style streaming service via YouTube, which itself could prompt Apple to look harder at the idea, and might help explain why it wanted to set up a meet with Beats so quickly following Daisy?s initial reveal.

Apple could be feeling out Daisy to see if it makes sense as an acquisition target ? Cook freely admitted back in February that Apple?s acquisition strategy could extend to larger companies with more complete product offerings, but in general, he said it?s about?finding?the talent needed to push Apple?s own projects forwards. There?s also the possibility that Apple will go the way of forming a formal partnership with a single provider, but that would be tricky in the long run in terms of working out a revenue arrangement that satisfies all involved. It would get around the big problem around outright acquisition of a streaming service, however, as licensing deals often don?t come along with other company assets in those situations.

It?s early to draw any conclusions from this meeting, beyond the simple one that Apple is very keen on the streaming music space and paying close attention to major news in that area. Not everyone gets a visit from Apple?s CEO and the man in charge of its digital media storefronts, after all, a pair that you can be sure does very little without specific intent.

Beats Electronics, a company best known for its Beats by Dr. Dre line of headphones.

? Learn more

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/06/apples-tim-cook-met-with-beats-to-talk-about-the-companys-new-daisy-streaming-music-service/

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Charlene Obernauer: Hate the Fare Hike? Act Now to Stop Another in 2015

Transit riders are feeling the pinch of the recent MTA fare hike and are looking for someone to blame. Some are pointing their fingers at MTA executives for their $250,000+ salaries; others are blaming transit workers, who earn an honest living of around $60,000 a year. Riders' anxiety is understandable, as fare hikes cost $200 every year and there's no end in sight.

Since the recession hit, the MTA raised the fares four times. The first was in 2008 to match the rate of inflation with a 3.9 percent hike. The MTA has been taking out loans for years to pay for expansion projects and other capital investments. But just like a credit card bill, debt eventually needs to be paid off. And in the MTA's case, their debt service has a balloon-type borrowing program that goes up every year. The big banks -- you know, the folks who caused the recession -- got bailed out by the Federal Government with 0 percent interest loans.

But the MTA is busting its budget to pay off their debt, which is about 17 percent of its general operating expenses, with interest rates at about 4.5 percent. As the MTA's debt continues to increase, so do the fares, with the last two hikes coming in at three times the rate of inflation. If the big banks can get zero interest loans from the Federal Government, can't the publicly subsidized MTA get a better deal?

All across the country, cities and transit authorities are suing big banks because of their manipulation of LIBOR, or the London interbank rate, which has been the standard for determining lending rates for millions of loans. The MTA could do the same, renegotiate a better interest rate, and stop allocating so much of its budget every year to paying off their debt.

Meanwhile, transit advocates are calling on the state and city to fork up more money for public transit, as they've been systematically defunding the MTA since the mid-1990s. Despite recent fare hikes, Governor Andrew Cuomo's 2013 budget diverted $20 million from the MTA, and New York City is allocating just $160 million per year towards the MTA's budget--which is less than Mayor Koch allocated in the late '80s. A fair investment from both the city and state would significantly lessen the rider's burden of rising transit costs.

Finally, the Transportation Infrastructure Bond Act, which would repair existing road and bridge infrastructure and invest $770 million in the MTA's five-year capital plan, has been introduced in the New York State Assembly. Not only could the bill create good jobs, but it would be a boost to the economy.

None of these solutions are going to be easy wins, and none of them are going to be complete fixes. But we can't scapegoat the honest salaries and earned benefits of hardworking people. And we can't let the right-wing use these recent fare hikes as an opportunity to privatize public transit, which will just lead to more fare hikes and service cuts. Instead, let's focus our energy on advocating for an affordable and equitable mass transit system, because if we want to prevent fare hikes in 2015, we need to start now.

?

Follow Charlene Obernauer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/charlene_amber

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charlene-obernauer/mta-fare-hike_b_2804027.html

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St. Mark's finishes winter sports season on a high note

by susan on March 6, 2013

Above: St. Mark?s boys hockey celebrated a big win over Groton to cap off their season
(contributed photo)

St. Mark?s wrapped up its winter sports season last month with five wins over rival Groton. The school sent along this recap of the victories:

On February 23, St. Mark?s traveled to Groton to play six games, and the Lions defeated the Zebras in five of them. During the winter season, St. Mark?s went 8-6-1 against Groton.

Varsity boys? basketball defeated Groton 54-40 on Saturday, finishing the year with a record of 11-9, for the 16th consecutive winning season for the program. The St. Mark?s Varsity girls? basketball team also won against Groton by a score of 52-41, earning their first ISL win of the season. JV girls? basketball dominated their hosts 31-12, while JV boys? basketball suffered the only loss of the afternoon: a close 32-39 thriller. Varsity girls? ice hockey also was victorious, shutting out Groton 3-0.

The most exciting win came fromVarsity boys? ice hockey, scoring two goals in the final minute of play to take home a 4-3 win. The Lions defeated Groton in an earlier game this season. Earlier in the month, 3rds boys? basketball, JV girls? hockey, and 3rds girls? squash all registered victories over Groton to cap their respective winning campaigns.

Highlights:

• 3rds boys? basketball, win over Groton
• Varsity girls? hockey, 3-0 win over Groton
• JV girls? hockey, 4-2 win over Brooks
• Varsity boys? hockey, 4-1 win over St. George?s; 4-3 win over Groton
• JV boys? hockey, 4-2 win over Tabor
• Varsity girls? basketball, 52-41 win over Groton
• JV girls? basketball, win over Groton
• Varsity boys? basketball, win over Groton
• JV boys? basketball, 53-50 win over Brooks
• JV girls? squash, 5-2 win over Pomfret

Source: http://www.mysouthborough.com/2013/03/06/st-marks-finishes-winter-sports-season-on-a-high-note/

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Slickdeals' best in tech for March 6th: Canon EOS Rebel T4i and 3TB Seagate external hard drive

Looking to save some coin on your tech purchases? Of course you are! In this round-up, we'll run down a list of the freshest frugal buys, hand-picked with the help of the folks at Slickdeals. You'll want to act fast, though, as many of these offerings won't stick around long.

If you've been looking to splurge for a DSLR, today's list may have something for you. A Canon EOS Rebel T4i tops today's roundup and a 3TB Seagate Expansion hard drive tags along to store all of those upcoming snapshots. Take the leap past the break to see the rest, but if you hold out too long, these discounts could disappear.

Filed under: Desktops, Cameras, Home Entertainment, Portable Audio/Video, Storage

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Source: Slickdeals

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/06/slickdeals-best-in-tech-for-march-6th/

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Frito-Lay loses suit over bowl-shaped tortilla chips

The Associated Press , Staff ? ? ? 9 hrs.

ST. LOUIS-- A jury has sided with a St. Louis company in its battle with Frito-Lay over bowl-shaped tortilla chips.

Frito-Lay sued St. Louis-based Ralcorp Holdings in February 2012 in U.S. District Court in Dallas, claiming Ralcorp and its Medallion Foods subsidiary infringed on intellectual property rights by making Bowlz corn chips, a product similar to Frito-Lay's Tostitos Scoops! chips.

Frito-Lay was seeking $4.5 million in damages.

But on Friday, the jury sided with Ralcorp and Medallion and gave Frito-Lay no money.

A spokseman for Plano, Texas-based Frito-Lay says the company is disappointed in the ruling and considering whether to appeal.

Ralcorp predominantly makes food sold under store brand names. It is now part of ConAgra Foods Inc. The Omaha, Neb., company completed its $5 billion purchase in January.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/frito-lay-loses-suit-over-bowl-shaped-tortilla-chips-1C8692740

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Woolly rhino reveals Arctic Britain

6 March 2013 Last updated at 02:04 By Michelle Warwicker BBC Nature

Scientists studying an exceptionally well-preserved woolly rhinoceros have revealed details of what Britain's environment was like 42,000 years ago.

The beast's remains were discovered in Staffordshire in 2002, buried alongside other preserved organisms such as beetles and non-biting midges.

The research team used these climate-sensitive insects to calculate that summer temperatures in Britain would have averaged just 10C, and dropped to -22C in winter.

The results are published in the Journal of Quaternary Science.

The discovery of the preserved woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) skeleton in a quarry at Whitemoor Haye was "the most significant fossil find of a large mammal in Britain for over 100 years," said team leader Professor Danielle Schreve from Royal Holloway, University of London.

"Woolly rhino bones and teeth are not uncommon in Britain but they are frequently heavily gnawed by predators, especially spotted hyenas."

Alongside the woolly rhinoceros skeleton, palaeontologists uncovered remains of other mammals, such as mammoths and reindeer, as well as well-preserved insects.

The research team, comprising scientists from the UK and and Netherlands, analysed these fossils for clues about what the environment in Britain was like at the time of the organisms' death.

Britain's Arctic tundra

Radiocarbon dating confirmed that the rhinoceros and other organisms lived during the middle part of the last Ice Age, known as the Devensian glaciation in Britain.

But the presence of preserved beetles and midges at the site were "particularly important" for the teams' investigation. Prof Schreve explained, "they're very sensitive to changes in climate, so they can give us direct insight into prevailing temperatures at the time."

According to the study: "the beetle remains are strongly indicative of severely cold and continental climates akin to Asia today."

Many of the fossilised insects no longer exist in Britain, with some now found only northern Siberia or the high plateaux of central Asia.

According to Prof Schreve, the climatic conditions in Britain 42,000 years ago were "slightly warmer... compared to the earlier and late parts of the Devensian, with summer temperatures around 8-11C but winter temperatures down as low as -16 to -22C".

During this era, Britain would have looked more like an Arctic tundra landscape, where grass and herbs sustained large grazing animals such as woolly mammoths, reindeer, bison and horses.

Predators including wolves and hyenas also roamed freely.

Untimely death

The quality of the woolly rhinoceros specimen investigated for the study, complete with plant remains still in its teeth, indicates that it was buried very rapidly after it died.

The teams' analysis showed that the individual was "at his peak" when he met his death.

"There is no evidence of disease or that he was hunted so that's why we think it was an accidental death," said Prof Schreve.

Researchers concluded that the animal may have met its demise after becoming stuck in quicksand while feeding at the edge of a water channel, or that it was cut off on part of a floodplain and drowned.

Woolly rhinoceros' stocky body, thick, woolly coat and short tail and ears helped them thrive in cold, dry conditions.

However, this dense body shape may have led to the beasts' eventual extinction: it would have been almost impossible for the animals to cope in the deep snow that arrived as the climate became warmer and wetter.

Join BBC Nature on Facebook and Twitter @BBCNature.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/21660528

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New evidence that comets could have seeded life on Earth

Mar. 5, 2013 ? t's among the most ancient of questions: What are the origins of life on Earth?

A new experiment simulating conditions in deep space reveals that the complex building blocks of life could have been created on icy interplanetary dust and then carried to Earth, jump-starting life.

Chemists from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Hawaii, Manoa, showed that conditions in space are capable of creating complex dipeptides -- linked pairs of amino acids -- that are essential building blocks shared by all living things. The discovery opens the door to the possibility that these molecules were brought to Earth aboard a comet or possibly meteorites, catalyzing the formation of proteins (polypeptides), enzymes and even more complex molecules, such as sugars, that are necessary for life.

"It is fascinating to consider that the most basic biochemical building blocks that led to life on Earth may well have had an extraterrestrial origin," said UC Berkeley chemist Richard Mathies, coauthor of a paper published online last week and scheduled for the March 10 print issue of The Astrophysical Journal.

While scientists have discovered basic organic molecules, such as amino acids, in numerous meteorites that have fallen to Earth, they have been unable to find the more complex molecular structures that are prerequisites for our planet's biology. As a result, scientists have always assumed that the really complicated chemistry of life must have originated in Earth's early oceans.

In an ultra-high vacuum chamber chilled to 10 degrees above absolute zero (10 Kelvin), Seol Kim and Ralf Kaiser of the Hawaiian team simulated an icy snowball in space including carbon dioxide, ammonia and various hydrocarbons such as methane, ethane and propane. When zapped with high-energy electrons to simulate the cosmic rays in space, the chemicals reacted to form complex, organic compounds, specifically dipeptides, essential to life.

At UC Berkeley, Mathies and Amanda Stockton then analyzed the organic residues through the Mars Organic Analyzer, an instrument that Mathies designed for ultrasensitive detection and identification of small organic molecules in the solar system. The analysis revealed the presence of complex molecules -- nine different amino acids and at least two dipeptides -- capable of catalyzing biological evolution on earth.

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Mathies Royalty Fund at UC Berkeley.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Berkeley.

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Journal Reference:

1. R. I. Kaiser, A. M. Stockton, Y. S. Kim, E. C. Jensen, R. A. Mathies. ON THE FORMATION OF DIPEPTIDES IN INTERSTELLAR MODEL ICES. The Astrophysical Journal, 2013; 765 (2): 111 DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/765/2/111

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/top_news/top_environment/~3/K5cJrx_Y3No/130305131412.htm

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John Feffer: The Squats of Berlin

It was breathtaking. We emerged from the forest on the outskirts of Moscow and saw, looming above the tall grass, an enormous ruined palace.

It was 1985, and I was studying Russian at the Pushkin Institute. We heard a rumor about a grand edifice, the unfinished palace of Catherine the Great, that was moldering not far from where we were staying in Moscow. We took the subway to the end of the line, tramped through a forest and a field until we came upon the ruins of the great hall. The walls were still standing, and we walked the length of the building, avoiding the shrubs and underbrush and hoping to come across a small piece of history in a broken chair or scrap of wallpaper. We didn't know that the Russian empress capriciously ordered her Tsaritsyno dismantled in 1785, when everything was done except for the interior decorations. The ruins, minus any of the accouterments, lay around for the next 200 years.

Enough of Tsaritsyno remained in the mid-1980s that you could more or less understand the scale and grandeur of the undertaking. But what was truly amazing was to happen upon this complex as if discovering the ruins of a long-forgotten Mayan temple in the jungles of Guatemala. There were no signs, no paths, no kiosks hawking souvenirs. It had simply become part of the landscape.

I experienced this same feeling in March 1990 when I encountered Tacheles in East Berlin. Originally a department store built in 1907-8 in the Jewish quarter of Berlin, the enormous five-story shopping arcade stretched from Friedrichstrasse to Oranienburger Strasse. Its tenure as a commercial space lasted only a few years prior to World War I. After that, it was a showroom for an electrical company, a central office for the Nazi SS, and a prison. During the communist period, the official trade union took over the structure, but the building gradually fell into disrepair.

In 1990, this glorious ruin was a perfect place to squat. There was a culture of squatting in East Berlin even during the communist era. Given the shortage of official university housing, students would frequently take over abandoned flats, mirroring the squat culture on the other side of the Wall in Kreuzberg. The Germans used the word instandbesetzen, a combination of renovating and occupying. When the Wall fell, squat culture expanded exponentially as people from East and West took over abandoned properties in East Berlin. In 1990, for instance, I spent an evening at one of the squat caf?s in Prenzlauer Berg where I ate Indian food and listened to the Talking Heads, while cigarette smoke and political conversation swirled around me.

Tacheles -- the squatters renamed the old department store after the Yiddish word for "straight talk" -- was a much bigger undertaking. When I walked down Oranienberger Strasse and came upon this enormous structure -- only a month after the first squatters took up residence to prevent impending demolition -- I was amazed at all the activity going on inside. Artists were setting up studios. A movie theater was being restarted. There were cafes, performance spaces, and what seemed like unlimited room to create an alternative society.

And now in 2013, I returned to Berlin only a few months after the end of Tacheles. For 22 years, the punks and anarchists and hippies and artists and squatters of all types had hung on, sometimes quarreling, often creating art and music, always partying. But the writing -- as opposed to the graffiti -- was on the wall for squatting culture in Berlin. In 2009, police kicked out the anarcho-punk residents of the last open squat in the city at Brunnenstrasse 183. Tacheles hung on for a few more years before the owner HSH Nordbank finally evicted the remaining artists in September 2012. According to news reports, "Before police arrived, two black-clad artists played a funeral march but bailiffs were able to clear the building without resistance." It was a quiet end for what had been a bold and loud experiment.

Other squats have survived in different forms. In Prenzlauer Berg, I met several former squatters who now had titles to their apartments. In the same area, I happened on Adventure Playground, an innovative playground that started in April 1990. The wild area features an open fire, a forge, and a sand pit where children build their own structures (and destroy them). Through this remarkable oasis in the middle of the city, the spirit of pushing boundaries is being instilled in the next generation.

Then there's the House of Democracy and Human Rights. In 1989, the East German political opposition demanded and received a piece of prime real estate at Friedrichstrasse 165, a former Party building. After the opposition did so poorly in East Germany's first and only free elections in March 1990 -- which was dominated by the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats -- they fell further to the margins and lost control of their iconic location.

I was delighted, however, to visit the new location of the rechristened House of Democracy and Human Rights. In 1990, I could skip from one office to the next, interviewing most of the inhabitants in one day. In 2013, I was astounded by the number of organizations in the three linked buildings, so many that it would take several weeks of interviews to visit them all.

So, one door closes, and another one opens. The creative chaos of Tacheles has departed the shell of its building on Oranienberger Strasse, but its soul lives on in a 3-D version on line.

And that unfinished palace of Catherine the Great? It's now finally finished, thanks to a controversial renovation project by the city of Moscow. I haven't been back to Tsaritsyno since 1985. I'm sure that it's a very beautiful complex of buildings, even if it lacks precise historical fidelity.

But there's nothing like the feeling of urban discovery, when you stumble upon an awe-inspiring structure that makes you feel, if only for a few moments, as if you just discovered a lost city, a vanished civilization.

Photos of Tacheles today can be seen here.

?

Follow John Feffer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/johnfeffer

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-feffer/the-squats-of-berlin_b_2772197.html

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Samsung re-starts copier, announces Passbook for Galaxy devices

Samsung announced their new Samsung Wallet today. The video above is from frAndroid, and here's Simon Sage's background on it from Android Central:

Samsung has announced a new API for developers to help manage event tickets, boarding passes, memberships, and coupons. Samsung Wallet will be a new application which brings all of these types of content into one place. Time and location-based push notifications will help users get a hold of the ticketing information.

If that sounds -- and looks -- familiar, it's because Apple already announced it back in June of 2012 as Passbook.

It's not the first time Samsung's copied an Apple product, it's probably not even the hundred-and-first, though given their bolder, more authentic releases over the last year, it did seem to be something they were growing out of. Apple isn't adverse to copying features from Android either, though historically they haven't been as consistent or blatant about it.

Like with black slab designs I'm pretty much over any obsession with who's copying who, but I do think this smacks of laziness and a lack of pride.

I'm happy for Samsung users that they'll get to enjoy a feature that's been nifty, if limited so far, on iOS 6. But it shows Samsung really doesn't give a shit. Passbook is certainly not the only way to tackle a digital wallet, and it may not even be the best way. By relentlessly copying, Samsung isn't moving the technology forward. They're not raising the bar. They're not making a wallet interface and experience so good anyone is begging for Apple to copy them.

I own a Nexus 4 and Nexus 7, which have LG and Asus designs, and Google software, and I'm currently waiting for an HTC One (love HTC). I have little interest in Samsung products, and it's mostly because of stuff like this. And I want to have interest in Samsung. I want a better Samsung.

Obviously Samsung's making all the money in Android these days, and their upcoming Galaxy S4 will no doubt be an unprecedented hit, so they probably don't care.

But they really, really should.

Source: frAndroid via Android Central

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/YoBaSGLG7Jg/story01.htm

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Kelly Brook Hits Back At Katie Price?s Fat Jibes

Kelly Brook Hits Back At Katie Price’s Fat Jibes

Kelly Brook is speaking out after being trashed by model Katie Price over her recent weight gain. Price called Brook a “heffer” in a recent article, but Kelly said she’s proud of her body and feels she is a better representation of “real women”. Model Kelly Brook was asked if she thinks she is a ...

Kelly Brook Hits Back At Katie Price’s Fat Jibes Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/02/kelly-brook-hits-back-at-katie-prices-fat-jibes/

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Chrome's App Launcher Runs Chrome Apps on Your Desktop, Available on Dev Channel Now

Google just added a new feature, currently available on Chrome's dev channel for Windows, that launches Chrome apps outside the browser, from the Windows taskbar. Here's how it works.

Similar to the app launcher on Chromebooks, Windows users can now launch Chrome apps right from the taskbar. Regular Chrome apps will open up in a Chrome tab, but the launcher is really designed for "Chrome-packaged apps," a special type of app that will open in its own window, work offline by default, and have access to other integration features not available to Chrome's regular application shortcuts. Right now, it doesn't look like there are a lot of Chrome-packaged apps out there?Gmail and Google Drive aren't even among the few)?and there's no way to search the Chrome Web Store for them yet.

To try out the launcher, grab a Chrome-packaged app like the Text Drive text editor from Chrome's web store. When you do, you'll be prompted to install the launcher to your taskbar, after which you can launch Text Drive in its own window. The launcher will also list your other Google Chrome apps like Gmail and Google Drive, but you'll only be able to open them as tabs in Chrome for now. Again, this feature is still in early stages, so hopefully we'll see more supported apps soon. Google also says a Mac and Linux version is on the way, so stay tuned. Hit the link to read more.

Chrome app launcher developer preview | The Chromium Blog

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/Bs62AOI6ztg/chromes-app-launcher-runs-chrome-apps-on-your-desktop-available-on-dev-channel-now

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Shin Megami Tensei 4 gets May 23 release date, limited edition 3DS XL in Japan

Shin Megami Tensei 4 will be released May 23, 2013 in Japan and will also receive a limited edition Nintendo 3DS XL bundle for the game, Famitsu reports.

The limited edition 3DS XL will include Shin Megami Tensei 4 pre-installed, like North American holiday bundles did with Super Mario 3D Land last year. Neither the price or the release date of the limited edition bundle were disclosed.

Atlus confirmed that the game was coming to 3DS last May. A profile from last September revealed that Shin Megami Tensei 4 would begin in a medieval-inspired setting but would eventually transport ancient samurais to a fantasy version of modern Tokyo filled with demons. To see how that translates to gameplay, you can check out a trailer from last year.

We've reached out to Atlus for information on whether the game or the limited edition 3DS are headed to other regions and will update this article as we receive more information.

Source: http://www.polygon.com/2013/2/20/4009992/shin-megami-tensei-4-release-date-limited-edition-3ds

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GOP Minnesota legislator preparing to co-sponsor gay marriage bill (Star Tribune)

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New Apple TV Spots Focus on iPad Apps

Apple this weekend debuted two new ads that focus on the 300,000 apps currently available to owners of the iPad and iPad mini.

"With over 300,000 apps, iPad is up for anything you are," read the video descriptions on YouTube.

Both ads - dubbed Alive and Together - feature a quick sequence of adjectives flashing on screen; when they stop on one (like "loud") a group of voices read it aloud and the iPad then demonstrates how it embodies that word.

"Loud" shows off GarageBand, detailed images of the inner ear, and shots of models in bold prints. "Deep" includes interactive images of the Earth's crust, TED Talks, an app that zooms in on the body's cells, and shots of a boat on the bottom of the ocean. "Alive," meanwhile, features an animated great white shark, an interactive vocab app for kids, animated images of the heart, and someone editing video of a gravity-defying snowboarder. The last word, of course, is iPad.

The second ad focuses on the words wild, bright, and together.

The ads follow last month's iPhone 5 ad, which focused on the smartphone's "do not disturb" feature and starred tennis pros Serena and Venus Williams. A December ad also featured a girl singing "I'll Be Home for Christmas" to her grandfather over FaceTime.

The iPad mini was released in October, which helped Apple sell 22.9 million tablets during the fourth quarter. During a January earnings call, Apple's Tim Cook said "we obviously could have sold more than this, because we could not build enough iPad minis to come into a demand balance." Shipment times have since fallen to 1-3 days.

For more, see PCMag's reviews of the iPad mini and the fourth-gen iPad.

For more from Chloe, follow her on Twitter @ChloeAlbanesius.

Source: http://feeds.ziffdavis.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/breakingnews/~3/qDZDaOXxPNc/0,2817,2415551,00.asp

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Washington Nationals? Pitcher Arms Himself With Prayer

Craig Stammen

? Courtesy of the Washington Nationals

Craig Stammen of the Washington Nationals is among the hundreds of players preparing for the opening of spring training later this month.

While the mechanics of baseball are a part of everyone?s preparation, Stammen has an added benefit coming into the season: his practice of trusting in God?s providence.

The 28-year-old North Star, Ohio, resident learned to entrust everything to God a little over seven years ago at the University of Dayton. After a summer of rookie league baseball in 2005, Stammen returned to campus for the fall semester. It was during this time that he first shared his Catholic faith publicly ? a turning point that helped to solidify his core beliefs and aim in life.

In 2012, the right-handed relief pitcher had the best year of his four-year major-league career, going 6-1, with an earned-run average of 2.34 for the National League Eastern Division champions.

When Stammen pitches, he knows that once the ball is out of his hands, everything else is out of his hands as well. More importantly, though, he realizes everything is in the hands of a God in whom he lives and moves and has his being.

?

How has coming from a small town influenced you?

Coming from such a small place has definitely influenced me in different ways. North Star only has about 250 people in it, so, technically, it?s not even a town, but a village. When you live in a community of that size, there?s more silence, simplicity and accountability. Much of the noise and extraneous concerns prevalent today are reduced greatly, and you?re close to and dependent on your neighbors.

This is a value-based and also a humbling environment to be raised in. You?re taught to work hard, but it?s not for the sake of one-upping others. Everyone is on a level playing field, in that sense. You?re more concerned about carrying out a duty and getting a job well done for self-respect and contribution to the community.

When I bring in friends from out of the area, they say it?s like the 1950s, but with technology. We do have computers and all that, but they aren?t primary, just tools to be used when necessary. We?re more focused on family and friends than the latest gadgets. That perspective keeps you grounded in reality.

The entire village of North Star is Catholic, so even though I went to a public school, it was de facto a Catholic one. When people outside of North Star ask if I went to Catholic school, the answer is, ?Well, no, but yes.?

?

What are some of your top baseball memories from growing up?

We would sometimes play baseball as a whole family. I have quite a large extended family, so, with all the open area around us, playing games was easy to do. I also remember playing catch almost every day with my best friend. We would throw the baseball around for hours and talk about playing one day in the major leagues. It seemed like such a faraway, unreal goal back then. It was something to dream about, but I?m blessed to be living that dream out today.

?

You went on the USO Holiday Tour in December. How did that come about?

I had visited some injured servicemen at Walter Reed Army Medical Center last summer. It was quite an experience: to talk with them at length, learning about the troubles they were going through. Their sacrifices make possible the blessings in civilian life we take for granted. Their service to our country made me want to do something more to thank them for what they?ve given us.

My teammate Ross Detwiler and I were among the people who visited five countries in five days on the tour. We went to Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kyrgystan, Germany and Ireland. It was quite an adventure to ride in military planes and vehicles to some remote places. I?m used to traveling throughout our own country, but to go so many miles overseas was a totally different experience.

More important than that, though, was being able to interact with the members of our military. We got to see some of what they go through up close, which increased the respect I had for them. Leaving the comforts of home for many months at a time, and going to strange places without many of the simplest things we consider to be necessities, is an experience most of us just can?t relate to.

My own daily life is so easy and simple in comparison with what I saw the soldiers go through. I actually get paid to play baseball. How can you ever complain about that?

?

What are your expectations for spring training this year?

I?m looking forward to spring training, first of all because of what we accomplished as a team last year. We had an improved record (98-64) from 2011 and made the playoffs. This is a great thing to build on for the 2013 season, and spring training is where we do the preparatory work for that. We hope to show this season that we?re not a one-year wonder, but a perennial contender.

?

Have the Catholic faith and baseball always been integrated in your life?

Growing up, Catholicism and baseball were two separate entities in my life. Even though both were important to me, it was made clear that being Catholic came first and playing baseball second. This was and remains true, but I?ve since learned that the two things can actually be incorporated together.

What I realized at the University of Dayton is that, while you should work very hard to play as well as you can, you need to put everything in God?s hands. You do your part, and then let God determine what?s best for you. This realization has helped my game a lot. It has made playing in the majors possible, which I had previously thought of as being unattainable.

I used to play for my teammates and school, which was a good thing, but now I play for God, which is an even better thing. It?s a much broader-minded way of seeing things, and it takes a lot of the pressure off you. It opens you up to the reality that, while baseball is fun, you can?t really enjoy it to the fullest or play it to the best of your abilities without recognizing the God who made it all possible in the first place.

?

How did you come to this realization?

I was drafted after my junior season at the University of Dayton in 2005. I played in the rookie league that summer and then returned to campus for the fall semester. It was during this time that I went on a retreat.

As one of the retreat leaders, I was supposed to give my own testimony. This was a huge step for me because I hadn?t shared my faith in such a pubic way. I had talked about it with family and friends, but this was the first time I was officially claiming it as my own amidst strangers.

Ever since that retreat, I knew I had to live out what I was stating as true; I had to make a real effort to walk the walk, knowing that certain things were expected of me. Because I belonged to Christ, I had to live no longer?for myself, but?for him who died for me. It was not just about hearing the truth and agreeing with it, but actually living it.

?

That sounds like St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans (2:13) and other places.

I?ve always been interested in St. Paul. He was put in some of the worst situations, but still maintained a positive outlook. From the time of his conversion, he trusted completely in Christ, and that was what drove his missionary work.

Whenever we would have Bible projects as kids, I would choose something regarding St. Paul. He is my favorite saint, someone I look up to and try to pattern my life after, to the limited degree I can. We live in very different times, but the goal of remaining faithful until we get to heaven is the same.

It?s funny, because, when people ask me if my faith has gotten me through tough times, I really can?t think of anything heavy or burdensome I?ve been through. Maybe that?s just a sign of how blessed I am to have always had faith. Maybe the tough times haven?t seemed tough because of my faith. What happens to you isn?t nearly as important as how you respond to it.

?

What do you treasure most about the Catholic Church?

I appreciate how systematically all aspects of the Church?s teaching and sacramental life are put together. You don?t just make it up as you go along; you receive what is passed down from the apostles. Our Church goes all the way back to them and, of course, to Christ himself.

One of the most obvious ways this is made manifest is in the Mass. I love the order and structure of the Mass ? how the priest and people have specific roles, how the word of God is read and then how the Eternal Word himself is made present in the Eucharist. You can?t beat that combination. It?s something St. Paul wrote of in 1 Corinthians 11, and it?s something I?ve enjoyed since childhood.

Another aspect of my childhood in which St. Paul was involved was ?putting on the armor God.? I would listen, along with my younger brother and sister, to my mother read from the Bible while we ate breakfast. She would emphasize Ephesians 6, which concerns things like the ?shield of faith? and ?the helmet of salvation.?

We got a kick out of putting on our imaginary gear in order to take on the challenges of the day.

Over the years, we would add more items to our collection of "armor," which increased the time for us to get ready for school. Our weaponry and protection increased, but the length of our football-field-long driveway did not decrease. This made it more likely that we?d be late for the bus, so we ended up throwing our armor on as we ran down the driveway.

I still prepare spiritually in the morning, but I make sure not to be late for any pitching appearances because of it.

Register correspondent Trent Beattie writes from Seattle.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NCRegisterPrintEdition/~3/4q_MqUCWQvI/

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Video: Republicans slam plan in leaked immigration report

>> nbc's white house correspondent kristen welker is in port st. lucie, traveling with the president. good morning.

>> reporter: good morning, natalie. president obama heads home later today after a weekend of golf, including a game with tiger woods on sunday. the debate over immigration reform back in washington is escalating. new white house chief of staff dennis mcdonough on "meet the press" after a leaked copy of the president's immigration proposal, creating a new visa, allowing illegal immigrants to become legal residents within eight years. mcdonough says the president has not proposed a bill yet and is hoping congress will act first.

>> we'll be prepared in the event that the bipartisan talks going on on the hill which, by the way, we're aggressively supporting. if those do not work out, we'll have an option that we'll be ready to put out there.

>> reporter: republicans slammed the report, including a key player in the bipartisan talks, marco rubio saying if actually proposed the president's bill would be dead on arrival . senator john mccain accused the white house of playing politics.

>> leaks don't happen in washington by accident.

>> reporter: democrats engaged in damage control.

>> we've talked to senator rubio. he is fully on board with our process. i am very hopeful that in march we will have a bipartisan bill.

>> reporter: an administration official says that leak was not planned. now that bipartisan group of senators continues to work on immigration reform but passage is not certain with lawmakers still sharply divided on key issues. natalie?

>> kristen welker, port st. lucie, thank you so much.

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50846042/

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Matt Barkley Not Throwing at NFL Combine Crushes Draft Status

Kirby Lee ? USA TODAY Sports

USC quarterback Matt Barkley will be at the NFL Combine to interview with teams, but his agents issued a statement Monday stating that he will not participate in any on-field testing as a result of his ongoing recovery from a shoulder injury.

The injury Barkley suffered during the regular season that eventually worsened to the point where he was unable to play vs. Notre Dame and the Hyundai Sun Bowl vs. Georgia Tech while also preventing him from participating in the Senior Bowl is reportedly 90% healed.

I think his inability not throw at the combine will see his draft stock fall out of the first round, because it is one less opportunity for him to prove that he is still the same player he was a year ago when he was mentioned in the same breath as Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III as top draft-eligible quarterback prospects.

While those two were taken with the first two picks in the draft, Barkley returned to USC for his senior season that saw him toss a career-high 15 interceptions?highlighted by nine coming in a four-week stretch that saw the Trojans drop three of four games.

The Trojans finished with a disappointing 7-6 record after starting the season ranked as the top team in the nation and Barkley took a lot of the heat for the team?s struggles despite throwing for 3,273 yards and 36 touchdowns.

Resting his shoulder until his pro day on March 27 where he will get to throw to teammate Robert Woods in a familiar environment at 100% will be all Barkley needs to show the NFL he has the arm talent to merit first-round consideration. Luck didn?t throw at the combine last year, although he did participate in the other drills and didn?t have any injury questions? surrounding him, his pro day is where he solidified his spot in the draft.

I still think Barkley has the best resume of any quarterback in this draft, and while he may not be the first quarterback taken anymore, I think he has the best pro career in front of him and with a build similar to that of Drew Brees, should be a starting quarterback in the NFL for a long time as long as he can stay healthy.

Brees was the top pick in the second round when he came out and I think that is where Barkley goes this year and would represent great value at that range, because one year ago he likely goes in the top-10 picks. If he was healthy enough to throw at the combine I think he would cement his status as a first-round pick, but that?s not the case any longer.

The Kansas City Chiefs, Jacksonville Jaguars, Oakland Raiders and Arizona Cardinals are teams that could consider Barkley in the second round.

Follow me on Twitter @PatrickASchmidt

Patrick is the host of ?The Wake-up Call,? on Sportstownchicago.com airing Wednesday mornings from 8-10. View his show?s website here.

Source: http://www.rantsports.com/ncaa-football/2013/02/18/matt-barkley-not-throwing-at-nfl-combine-crushes-draft-status/

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