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FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) - The U.S. Army private accused of orchestrating a massive leak of classified documents to the WikiLeaks website said on Friday he may have been sarcastic in indicating he had suicidal thoughts when he first arrived at a U.S. detention center.
Bradley Manning wrapped up his second day of testimony in a pretrial hearing to determine whether he should face a court-martial on suspicion of leaking thousands of classified military reports, diplomatic cables and other documents.
A prosecutor asked why he had stated on arrival at Quantico, Virginia, in July 2010 that he was "always planning, never acting" about being suicidal.
"I did say it might have been sort of a sarcastic answer, given just on a whim," Manning said. "I knew I was going to be placed on a suicide risk status. It didn't really make a difference what answer I gave."
Manning, who testified on Thursday that his early days in detention in May 2010 in Kuwait were spent in a cramped "cage" where he thought he would die, was placed on suicide watch on arrival at Quantico. He lived in solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day with a guard checking on him every few minutes.
His lawyers have sought to have the case dropped, arguing his treatment since arriving at Quantico has been unfairly harsh.
Manning faces up to life in prison if convicted of charges he played a role in the leaking of secrets by WikiLeaks, which stunned governments around the world by publishing intelligence documents and diplomatic cables, mostly in 2010.
Prosecutors have alleged that Manning, without authorization while on intelligence duty, disclosed hundreds of thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables, military reports and video of a military helicopter attack in Iraq in which two Reuters journalists were killed.
WikiLeaks has never confirmed Manning was the source of any documents it released.
WORKING ON PLEA AGREEMENT
Manning's lawyers are working with the court on the language of a proposed plea involving less serious charges. A prison term of at least 16 years is under discussion, one of his attorneys said, but until a plea is formally entered and accepted, the length of any prison term is uncertain.
Manning's testimony on Thursday marked his first public comments since his arrest in Iraq in May 2010. His cross-examination on Friday came on the fourth day of the hearing at Fort Meade, Maryland.
Prosecutors attempted to discredit him on Friday by asking why he did not complain more about his prison conditions to visitors or his army counselors. They also questioned Manning's concern with his public image, asking why he met with a public relations consultant through his lawyer.
Charges include stealing records belonging to the United States and wrongfully causing them to be published on the Internet and aiding enemies of the United States, identified by prosecutors as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, an affiliate of the militant network founded by the late Osama bin Laden.
In pretrial litigation, prosecutors have presented testimony legal experts say could be used to build a case that Manning had been in email contact with Julian Assange, WikiLeaks' Australian-born founder.
Assange has spent nearly six months in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, where he sought refuge to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning in a sexual molestation case.
Assange and his supporters have said the Swedish case against him could be part of a secret plot to have him sent to the United States for trial and either executed or imprisoned at the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
U.S. officials have denied those assertions but have acknowledged a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, has been collecting evidence about WikiLeaks. U.S. officials have not ruled out criminal charges against Assange.
(Writing by Dan Burns; Editing by Paul Thomasch, Bill Trott and Mohammad Zargham)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/soldier-wikileaks-case-plays-down-suicide-184603708.html
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Most business owners understand that getting an online presence is good for their business. For one, many people have now integrated the Internet as part of their lives. It seems impossible for anyone not to go online and see their mails, check the latest updates on their friends and families, read the news, and look for some interesting stuff. It is for this very reason that business owners, manufacturers, and service providers want to be visible in the World Wide Web and promoting your business online is one way to do it.
Many corporations pay millions just to bolster their Internet presence. But if you are small business owner, you can actually boost your online visibility without shelling out a single penny. All you need to have is some sense and some of internet savvy.
Using social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace for promotion is becoming one of the most successful online marketing strategies. The success of this tactic mainly lies on the fact that almost all people who have access to the Internet are registered to social networking sites. A business owner can easily promote a product or spread "positive reviews" about their services and hope for a word-of-mouth effect.
A very effective, no cost online promotion strategy in promoting your business online is registering your business to online business directories like Yahoo Local and Google Places. What you need to do is fill up a form with your business information and then complete the confirmation process. This online business promotion technique allows users to find your business when they search for particular product or services that are related to what you offer.
Starting a blog about your merchandise or the skills you provide generates a potentially big online exposure if you play your cards right. Blogging allows you to give your audience a detailed insight about what you offer them, more information about the products or services. You also give your audience a platform from which they could comment on your goods and provide reviews. A professionally designed blog may cost you, but there are blog systems such as WordPress and Blogger that offer free registration for their users.
Video marketing is also becoming a great tool for small business owners. Basically, what you need to do is put up some videos about your business, merchandise, and services and wait for the magic. Just make sure what you put up really reflects your company and what you provide to your customers. Also, if you are not that good in making video clips, it might be best that you ask someone who can help you out. You can post your clips on video sites like YouTube and Vimeo which do not require users to place a fee upon registration.
Email newsletters are effective in promoting your business online. What you need to do here is send email updates to your clients with useful content, information about new products, and other updates. Email newsletters are perceived by some as invasive so you really have to be careful in not egging your customers to unsubscribe. The best way to keep this from happening is by keeping a schedule of newsletter release, preferably once every two weeks.
Source: http://www.oracleblogger.com/2012/12/tips-for-promoting-your-business-online.html
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 1, 2012) ? With the X-ray vision of DESY's light source DORIS, a research team from Hamburg and Iceland has uncovered the molecular structure of a master regulator central to the most deadly form of skin cancer, melanoma. The results, published in the scientific journal Genes & Development, throw new light on the workings of the so-called Microphthalmia-associated Transcription Factor MITF, that is not only connected to skin cancer, but also to a variety of hereditary diseases where the production of the skin pigment melanin is disturbed, and to certain aspects of ageing.
"Our data could provide a rational basis for the development of tailor-made drugs targeting MITF," explains first author Vivian Pogenberg from the Hamburg branch of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL).
Melanoma is a malignant tumor of the cells that produce the skin pigment melanin, the melanocytes. It is not the most common form of skin cancer but the one with the greatest death toll by far: about 3 out of 4 skin cancer related deaths are caused by melanoma. Important for the development of melanoma are malfunctions of the Microphthalmia-associated Transcription Factor MITF. Transcription factors regulate which part of the DNA is read and transcribed into a blueprint for a protein within the cell. Only few parts of the DNA are active in each cell, and this activity also changes with time. MITF for instance activates the cell's machinery to turn the amino acid tyrosine into the pigment melanin.
But MITF also makes stem cells turn into melanocytes in the first place and controls cell proliferation and death in these cells. That's why MITF is called a master regulator. In fact, it also has functions in other cell types like mast cells of the immune system and bone eating osteoclasts. Mutations in MITF not only play a role in the development of skin cancer, but also cause severe genetic diseases like the Tietz and Waardenburg syndromes that lead to deafness, skin and hair pigmentation defects, abnormal eye anatomy and altered vision. The transcription factor also plays a role in our hair turning grey with age and other age-related pigmentation alterations.
The researchers crystallised MITF in the lab and x-rayed them with DORIS. Crystals scatter X-rays in characteristic ways and produce diffraction patterns from which the structure of the crystal -- and here MITF -- can be reconstructed. The analysis revealed unexpected molecular insertions that give MITF a unique kink. MITF forms a dimer with a long coiled-coil protein "zipper," and the kink in this zipper limits MITF's ability to bind to other transcription factors. The team could also identify structural changes caused by a number of MITF mutations known to lead to particular coat colours in mice and to Tietz or Waardenburg syndrome in humans. The different forms of MITF were supplied by the University of Iceland, where the lab of Eir?kur Steingr?msson hosts a comprehensive MITF library. Steingrimsson also provided his expertise in cell biology and genetics to support the structural data produced in Hamburg.
Thanks to the structural information from DORIS the team could also investigate the binding site of MITF to the DNA at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France. The analysis revealed for instance that the eponymous mutation (the one leading to white coats and small eyes -- or microphthalmia -- in mice) causes structural changes in the MITF that prevents it from binding to the DNA. Other mutations also affect the binding site to the DNA, making MITF bind to the wrong genes. "Ultimately the goal will be to fully understand how MITF functions to evaluate how it can be targeted for potential treatment," says Matthias Wilmanns, a group leader at EMBL Hamburg. "One way would be, for instance, to design molecules that specifically stop MITF dimerisation in melanocytes," explains Pogenberg. "Or, on an alternative route, a different custom made molecule could stop the recognition of DNA by MITF."
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/7fEo_wBSeR4/121201085919.htm
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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Three contractors were killed on Friday while working on the construction of a ventilation duct at a zinc mine in central Mexico owned by Industrias Penoles, the company said in a release.
Miner and metals processor Penoles, which runs the world's largest primary silver producer, Fresnillo, operates the Tizapa mine in the central State of Mexico in the tiny municipality of Zacazonapan.
Three other contractors also employed by Mineria Castellana were injured and are being treated at a local hospital, Penoles added. The miner could not say if the incident was an explosion, as local media reported previously, but added that an investigation was underway.
Penoles said the Tizapa mine produces mostly zinc, although smaller quantities of lead, copper, silver and gold can also be found in the area.
Some 900 people, including contractors, work at the mine, situated about two hours from the state capital of Toluca, Christian Gomez, a spokesman at the mine, told Reuters earlier on Friday. It was not immediately clear how many of those workers were miners.
In August, the Mexican government suspended work at 32 small coal mines in the northern state of Coahuila due to safety concerns after 13 miners died in the space of three weeks.
A 2006 methane explosion at another mine in Coahuila owned by Grupo Mexico, killed 65 miners.
Penoles shares fell 2.91 percent to close at 646.13 pesos on Friday.
(Reporting by Cyntia Barrera Diaz. Editing by Andre Grenon)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/three-contractors-killed-penoles-mine-mexico-233823361--finance.html
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MIAMI (AP) ? Grammy-winning singer Chris Brown will not face criminal charges for snatching a woman's cellphone when she tried to snap a photo of him outside a Miami Beach club, prosecutors said Friday.
A memo released Friday by Miami-Dade County State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle concludes there is no evidence that Brown intended to steal the phone in February or that he deleted any photos. One or the other is necessary for him to be charged with robbery or theft.
Prosecutors said that Brown tossed the phone from his limo and that it was picked up by Devon Blanche, head of security for rapper Tyga, who had performed with Brown at the Cameo club that night. According to the memo, Blanche tried to find out if someone had lost the phone, ultimately took it with him to Atlanta during the rapper's tour and said he intended to find its owner.
A felony charge against Brown, 24, might have triggered a violation of his probation for his 2009 assault on singer Rihanna, who was his girlfriend at the time. The two have recently collaborated on a new duet, "Nobody's Business," and have been spotted out together in recent weeks.
Rundle said the investigation's findings would be forwarded to probation officials in Los Angeles for review.
"We are grateful for the decision and the thorough investigation," Brown's attorney Mark Geragos said in an email.
According to the memo, after Brown and Tyga ? real name Michael Stevenson ? finished their performances, both got into separate limos to head for their hotels. Witnesses told prosecutors about 30 female fans gathered outside Brown's vehicle, at least one of whom reached inside to take a photo. Brown was accompanied by at least two women in the limo.
Stevenson told prosecutors that he saw Brown throw a white cellphone out of the limo. The phone's owner, Christal Spann, said Brown used a derogatory term for women and said "this will not run the website" when he grabbed the phone. Spann began beating on the limo's windows, according to the memo, until someone in a front seat told her the phone had been tossed out. She could not find it, however.
"She used to be a fan of Brown's, but no longer," the memo notes of Spann.
Blanche, the security man, told investigators he thought Brown was upset because "if photographs of himself with two females got out, it might cause him problems with Rihanna."
___
Follow Curt Anderson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Miamicurt
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/no-charges-against-chris-brown-fla-phone-grab-191545785.html
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Gabby Douglas is a gymnastics champ, an Olympic gold medalist and a household name. But just one year ago, she almost left gymnastics altogether -- to work at a fast-food joint!
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