PHOTO CAPTION CONTEST: After Obamacare Ruling, GOP With Egg On Its Face?

House Speaker John Boehner and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi are seen on stage during a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony to honor the surviving members of the Montford Point Marines at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

The Supreme Court upheld the entire healthcare law Thursday morning, giving President Obama and his fellow Democrats reason to pontificate and celebrate, and leaving Republicans scrambling.

Today's photo of the day, taken on Capitol Hill, shows Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco looking positively gleeful, and Republican House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio making an uncomfortable face.

Captions, anyone?

Have at it in the comments section below.

Elizabeth Flock?is a staff writer for?U.S. News & World Report.?You can contact her at eflock@usnews.com or follow her on?Twitter?and?Facebook.

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Syria violence escalates as US seeks turning point

BEIRUT (AP) ? Gunmen attacked a pro-government TV station Wednesday near the Syrian capital, killing seven employees in the latest barrage of violence as world powers prepared for a high-level meeting that the U.S. hopes will be a turning point in the crisis.

Invitations to Saturday's gathering in Geneva were sent by special envoy Kofi Annan to the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council ? including Syrian allies Russia and China ? but not to major regional players Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The absence of those two countries, as well as the lack of any appetite for international military intervention, could make it difficult for the group to find the leverage to end the bloodshed in Syria. An effort by Annan to broker a peace plan failed earlier this year.

Diplomatic hopes have rested on Russia ? Syria's most important ally and protector ? agreeing on a transition plan that would end the Assad family dynasty, which has ruled Syria for more than four decades. But Moscow has rejected efforts by outside forces to end the conflict or any plan to force regime change in Damascus.

The United Nations said Wednesday that the conflict, which began in March 2011 as part of the Arab Spring that swept aside entrenched leaders across the region, is descending into sectarian warfare.

President Bashar Assad has so far appeared largely impervious to world pressure and he has warned the international community from meddling in the crisis, which has seen a sharp escalation in violence in recent months. He said this week that his country is in "a genuine state of war," an increasingly common refrain from the Syrian leader.

Assad denies there is any popular will behind the uprising, which is in its 16th month, saying terrorists are driving a foreign conspiracy to destroy the country. Activists say more than 14,000 people have been killed in the violence.

An Associated Press photographer said the attack on the Al-Ikhbariya TV station in the town of Drousha, about 20 kilometers (14 miles) south of the capital Damascus, left bloodstains on the ground and bullet holes in the walls. The attack heavily damaged five portable buildings used for offices and studios.

Al-Ikhbariya is privately owned but strongly supports the regime.

"What happened today is a massacre," Information Minister Omran al-Zoebi told reporters. He blamed terrorists ? the same term the government uses for rebels.

The rebels deny they target the media. Activists blamed the attack on elite Syrian troops who defected from the regime Tuesday. The allegation could not be independently confirmed.

Several other staff members of the TV station were wounded in the attack, which happened just before 4 a.m., an employee said. He added that the gunmen kidnapped him along with several station guards. He was released but the guards were not.

The employee, who did not give his name for fear of retribution, said the gunmen drove him about 200 meters (yards) away and he then heard an explosion from the station.

"I was terrified when they blindfolded me and took me away," the man said by telephone.

Hours after the attack, the station was still on the air, broadcasting news of a rally in a Damascus square by people protesting the raid.

Earlier this month, two Al-Ikhbariya employees were shot and seriously wounded by gunmen in the northwestern town of Haffa while covering clashes between government troops and insurgents.

Much of the violence that has gripped Syria in the uprising has been sanctioned by the government to crush dissent. But rebel fighters are launching increasingly deadly attacks on regime targets, and several massive suicide attacks this year suggest al-Qaida or other extremists are joining the fray.

On Wednesday, the U.N. gave a grim assessment of the crisis, saying the violence has worsened since April, when the cease-fire brokered by Annan was supposed to go into effect. There also were signs the bloodshed is descending into sectarian warfare.

"Where previously victims were targeted on the basis of their being pro- or anti-government, the Commission of Inquiry has recorded a growing number of incidents where victims appear to have been targeted because of their religious affiliation," a panel of U.N.-appointed human rights experts said in a report released in Geneva.

Sectarian warfare is one of the most dire scenarios in Syria, which for decades managed to ward off the kind of bloodshed that has long bedeviled Iraq and Lebanon.

Sunnis make up most of Syria's 22 million people, as well as the backbone of the opposition. But the Assads and the ruling elite belong to the tiny Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, which has bred deep resentments.

Several notorious attacks during the uprising appeared to have sectarian overtones ? including the Houla massacre in May, when more than 100 people were killed in a collection of villages in central Syria.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, who heads a U.N. panel conducting an international investigation of allegations of human rights abuses in Syria, called the country a "crime scene."

He said the probe into the Houla massacre concluded that forces loyal to the regime "may have been responsible" for many of the deaths. Investigators have said pro-regime, Alawite gunmen known as shabiha were believed to be responsible for at least some of the killings.

Houla leans toward the opposition, and most of the victims were women and children who were slain in their homes, the report said.

"The manner in which these killings took place resembles those previously and repeatedly documented to have been committed by the government," Pinheiro told the U.N.'s top human rights body in Geneva.

A final position on who was responsible for the massacre would require more work, Pinheiro said. But he said interviews conducted by the commission "indicated that government forces and shabiha have committed acts of sexual violence against men, women and children."

The U.N.'s deputy envoy for Syria, Jean-Marie Guehenno, told the Human Rights Council that the violence has "reached or even surpassed" levels seen before the April 12 cease-fire.

Fayssal al-Hamwi, the Syrian ambassador in Geneva, said the allegations against the government are "quite fantastic." Calling the council meeting blatantly political, he said he no longer wished to participate and strode out in protest.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she has "great hope" that the Geneva meeting can be a turning point in the crisis.

Annan "has developed his own very concrete road map for political transition" from the Assad regime, Clinton said. "We believe it embodies the principles needed for any political transition in Syria that could lead to a peaceful, democratic and representative outcome reflecting the will of the Syrian people."

Annan, who represents the U.N. and the Arab League, said he sent invitations to Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States ? plus Turkey, Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar, and the European Union.

The absence of Iran and Saudi Arabia is significant because they support opposing sides of the conflict. Iran is one of the regime's top allies, and Saudi Arabia backs Syria's opposition. Annan gave no reason for not including the countries, although the U.S. has been adamantly opposed to Iran taking part.

Iran's U.N. ambassador, Mohammad Khazaee, said the way to resolve the Syrian crisis is "cooperation among everybody, especially the major players in the region, based on a fair approach on the issue."

Russia, which along with China has twice protected Assad's regime from U.N. sanctions and continued to provide it with weapons, has argued that the West should raise pressure on the Syrian opposition to sit down for talks with the government. Moscow has argued that the Syrians themselves must determine the country's future and warned that it would firmly oppose any document urging Assad to step down.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said the Geneva meeting "should be aimed at mobilizing resources that foreign players have to create conditions needed to start an all-Syrian political process, not to predetermine its direction." He warned against using the conference to "justify any future unilateral actions."

The meeting comes also at a time of regional tensions. Syria shot down a Turkish military plane last week, saying it violated Syrian airspace.

Turkey denies that, but both sides have appeared keen to avoid escalating the matter. On Wednesday, al-Zoebi, the Syrian information minister, told Turkish TV that Syrian forces may have mistaken the plane for an Israeli aircraft. Syria and Israel are enemies.

___

Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut, John Heilprin and Frank Jordans in Geneva, Matthew Lee in Washington, Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.

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Fishing Accessories - Home-Brew Recipes

Cool day dudes! Each of us have our own hobbies to pass away our free time more usefully. The likeness for the hobbies varies from person to person. While some vote for suave hobbies like gardening, reading, watching TV, listening to music, and so on, some other people have the adventurous feelings that they wish to go for wildlife trekking, mountainous climbing even fishing and deep sea diving during their free time. Whatever might be our hobby, we should be fully equipped in enjoying our leisure time. Mere liking of hobby to read books is not enough. Correspondingly, we should look in for the ways of gathering good books, maintaining a small library and expanding the same. Similarly, it is just not enough that we have the hobby of fishing. We should have the respective fly rod, packs, vests and fly reels and still more other accessories to have a successful and joyous fishing.

Considering the rods, there are different types ranging from the winston fly rods to the redington fly rods each of them that are unique in their own way to help the fishing people to fish with fund. Now that internet and ecommerce has shortened the way of shopping too, we need not be lurking around shop by shop to find the appropriate fishing accessories. Again if we take the fly tying kits too, there are surplus varieties of kits available in the market from which we could choose the one that we prefer to have.

On the whole, when we get ready to go out for fishing on a weekend, we always see to that whether we are fully equipped with all the fishing tools and accessories. Only when fishing is made interesting could it be a true hobby and prove to be a full entertainment.

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Video: Bus monitor: ?I want kids to stop bullying?

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Seeing inside tissue: Researchers develop technique to focus light inside biological tissue

ScienceDaily (June 26, 2012) ? Imagine if doctors could perform surgery without ever having to cut through your skin. Or if they could diagnose cancer by seeing tumors inside the body with a procedure that is as simple as an ultrasound. Thanks to a technique developed by engineers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), all of that may be possible in the not-so-distant future.

The new method enables researchers to focus light efficiently inside biological tissue. While the previous limit for how deep light could be focused was only about one millimeter, the Caltech team is now able to reach two and a half millimeters. And, in principle, their technique could focus light as much as a few inches into tissue. The technique is used much like a flashlight shining on the body's interior, and may eventually provide researchers and doctors with a host of possible biomedical applications, such as a less invasive way of diagnosing and treating diseases.

If you crank up the power of light, you might even be able to do away with a traditional scalpel. "It enables the possibilities of doing incision-less surgery," says Changhuei Yang, a professor of electrical engineering and bioengineering at Caltech and a senior author on the new study. "By generating a tight laser-focus spot deep in tissue, we can potentially use that as a laser scalpel that leaves the skin unharmed."

Ying Min Wang, a graduate student in electrical engineering, and Benjamin Judkewitz, a postdoctoral scholar, are the lead authors on the paper, which was published in the June 26 issue of the journal Nature Communications.

The new work builds on a previous technique that Yang and his colleagues developed to see through a layer of biological tissue, which is opaque because it scatters light. In the previous work, the researchers shined light through the tissue and then recorded the resulting scattered light on a holographic plate. The recording contained all the information about how the light beam scattered, zigzagging through the tissue. By playing the recording in reverse, the researchers were able to essentially send the light back through to the other side of the tissue, retracing its path to the original source. In this way, they could send light through a layer of tissue without the blurring effect of scattering.

But to make images of what is inside tissue -- to get a picture of cells or molecules that are embedded inside, say, a muscle -- the researchers would have to be able to focus a light beam into the tissue. "For biologists, it's most important to know what's happening inside the tissue," Wang says.

To focus light into tissue, the researchers expanded on the recent work of Lihong Wang's group at Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL); they had developed a method to focus light using the high-frequency vibrations of ultrasound. The WUSTL group took advantage of two properties of ultrasound. First, the high-frequency sound waves are not scattered by tissue, which is why it is great for taking images of fetuses in utero. Second, ultrasonic vibrations interact with light in such a way that they shift the light's frequency ever so slightly. As a result of this so-called acousto-optic effect, any light that has interacted with ultrasound changes into a slightly different color.

In both the WUSTL and Caltech experiments, the teams focused ultrasound waves into a small region inside a tissue sample. They then shined light into the sample, which, in turn, scattered the light. Because of the acousto-optic effect, any of the scattered light that passes through the region with the focused ultrasound will change to a slightly different color. The researchers can pick out this color-shifted light and record it. By employing the same playback technique as in the earlier Caltech work, they then send the light back, having only the color-shifted bits retrace their path to the small region where the ultrasound was focused -- which means that the light itself is focused on that area, allowing an image to be created. The researchers can control where they want to focus the light simply by moving the ultrasound focus.

The WUSTL experiment was limited, however, because only a very small amount of light could be focused. The Caltech engineers' new method, on the other hand, allows them to fire a beam of light with as much power as they want -- which is essential for potential applications.

The team demonstrated how the new method could be used with fluorescence imaging -- a powerful technique used in a wide range of biological and biomedical research. The researchers embedded a patch of gel with a fluorescent pattern that spelled out "CIT" inside a tissue sample. Then, they scanned the sample with focused light beams. The focused light hit and excited the fluorescent pattern, resulting in the glowing letters "CIT" emanating from inside the tissue. The team also demonstrated their technique by taking images of tumors tagged with fluorescent dyes.

"This demonstration that we can focus significant optical power deep within tissues opens up significant possibilities in optical imaging," Yang says. By tagging cells or molecules that are markers for disease with fluorescent dyes, doctors can use this technique to make diagnoses noninvasively, much as if they were doing an ultrasound procedure.

Doctors might also use this process to treat cancer with photodynamic therapy. In this procedure, a drug that contains light-sensitive, cancer-killing compounds is injected into a patient. Cancer cells absorb those compounds preferentially, so that the compounds kill the cells when light shines on them. Photodynamic therapy is now only used at tissue surfaces, because of the way light is easily scattered. The new technique should allow doctors to reach cancer cells deeper inside tissue.

The team has been able to more than double the current limit for how far light can be focused into tissue. With future improvements on the optoelectronic hardware used to record and play back light, the engineers say, they may be able to reach 10 centimeters (almost 4 inches) -- the depth limit of ultrasound -- within a few years.

Still, the researchers say, their demonstration shows they have overcome the main conceptual hurdle for effectively focusing light deep inside tissue. "This is a big breakthrough, and we're excited about the potential," Judkewitz says. Adds Caltech's Wang, "It's a very new way to image into tissue, which could lead to a lot of promising applications."

The Nature Communications paper is titled "Deep-tissue focal fluorescence imaging with digitally time-reversed ultrasound-encoded light." In addition to Wang, Judkewitz, and Yang, the other author on the paper is Charles DiMarzio of Northeastern University. This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Wellcome Trust, and the National Science Scholarship from the Agency for Science, Technology, and Research in Singapore.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by California Institute of Technology. The original article was written by Marcus Woo.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Ying Min Wang, Benjamin Judkewitz, Charles A. DiMarzio, Changhuei Yang. Deep-tissue focal fluorescence imaging with digitally time-reversed ultrasound-encoded light. Nature Communications, 2012; 3: 928 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1925

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.

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We Are Living In a Virtual World? (Powerlineblog)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

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Mobile Miscellany: week of June 18th, 2012

Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This past week, we learned of the first market outside of China for ZTE's new Grand X smartphone, and received news that both the Sony Xperia U and Xperia P will arrive in Australia. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of June 18th, 2012.

Continue reading Mobile Miscellany: week of June 18th, 2012

Mobile Miscellany: week of June 18th, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Jun 2012 21:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Undertakers find rope stuffed in woman's throat

By Dan Stamm, NBC10.com

PHILADELPHIA -- A Roxborough woman is charged with murder after a Willow Grove funeral home made a disturbing discovery while embalming the body of a 70-year-old woman with special needs?who appeared to have died of natural causes.

After Kathleen Mcewan died inside her apartment at a group home on the 300 block of Parker Avenue on June 10, her body was sent to the John J. Byers Funeral Home on Easton Road. While funeral workers prepared Mcewan?s body the next day they found up to 10 inches of rope and a candy wrapper stuffed in her throat, according to a report on?Philly.com.

"When I went to move it or take it out, it had enough resistance that I stopped right away and realized that it was something that shouldn't be in?there," funeral worker Ryan Hurt told NBC10's Monique Braxton.

---

See the original report at Philadelphia's NBC10.com

"I've done this for 20 some years, on thousands of people, and obviously I knew right away this didn't appear to be a natural cause of death," funeral director Jeff Thompson told Philly.com. "We called the medical examiner."

The rope Thompson found is comparable to the drawstring of a hooded sweatshirt or sweatpants, police told NBC10.

Detectives?confirmed to NBC10 that a rope up to 10 inches long and a candy wrapper were found in Mcewan's fault. Mcewan's special needs and the fact that she had no family required her to get around-the-clock care, cops said.

On Wednesday, officers arrested Geraldine Cherry, who lives in the Parker Place Apartments, Philadelphia Police tell NBC10.

Watch US News crime videos on msnbc.com

Cherry, 50, was arraigned Wednesday on murder and weapons charges, according to court papers.

She is set to have a preliminary hearing next month.

The relationship between Mcewan and Cherry isn?t clear nor is it clear if they lived in the same unit at Parker Place. Philadelphia Police didn't tell NBC10 if they have a motive for the alleged crime.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

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T-Mobile Galaxy S III pricing plans revealed, and they aren't exactly 'cheap'

Not interested in paying $200 on contract for a new Galaxy S III over at Sprint / AT&T? Fret not, lost souls -- T-Mobile USA will soon be willing to sell you one for more. Much more. We just landed our hands on an internal pricing sheet for the forthcoming Android superphone, with the 16GB model listed at $229.99 on a Value Plan contract, or $279.99 (after $50 mail-in rebate, no less) on a Classic Plan contract. Those on the latter can snag it for $449.99 if you're eligible for an early upgrade, while those who'd rather not extend their contractual relationship can pay $629.99 for a (still carrier locked) off-contract handset. The notice also states that no sales can occur prior to June 21st (that's tomorrow, folks!), but of course, it'll be even later if you aren't in one of those "top 29 markets."

[Thanks, Anonymous]

T-Mobile Galaxy S III pricing plans revealed, and they aren't exactly 'cheap' originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jun 2012 15:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chris Brown and Rihanna: The Hotel Rendezvous?!

Did Chris Brown and Rihanna hook up this week, behind his GF Karrueche Tran's back and just days after he was injured in a brawl with Drake's crew?

Reports surfaced earlier today that Chris, who's supposedly pined for Rihanna ever since ... well, you know, had finally won the "S&M" singer back.

The two recording artists had a secret hotel rendezvous ... allegedly.

Rihanna and Chris Brown: Did they reunite? Will they?

“Chris snuck in through the side door at the Ganesvort Hotel super late at night and went to Rihanna’s room,” said a source near said NYC hotel.

“They’re seeing each other. She’s just as obsessed with him.”

Hollyscoop, however, debunks any rumor of their hookup.

“Completely not true,” a rep for Chris told the site. “As we have said many, many times before, he is very happy with his girlfriend, Karrueche Tran."

For now, at least, it looks like there was no tryst, and the only involvement Rihanna and her ex have is her role in the Chris Brown-Drake fight.

Everybody hear about that? It was insane!

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Carroll, Walcott miss out for England

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Facebook Shows Friend Log In Counts, Passive Aggressively Nudges You To Post

Facebook appears to be testing a new feature ? a counter at the top of your news feed (right below the "update status" box) that tells you either that "X friends logged in recently" or "Your friends haven't seen a post from you X days." The new features were spotted by Techie Buzz and also tweeted by Huffington Post senior editor Craig Kannally. I've emailed Facebook for more details, and I'll update when I hear back.

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At G-20, developing nations are now the cavalry

By JACK CHANG, Associated Press

LOS CABOS, Mexico -- The scene at the just-concluded Group of 20 summit held in this seaside resort would have been unthinkable a decade ago: Hundreds of dignitaries gathered in opulent Mexican hotels and convention halls to hammer out an economic bailout for Europe. Meanwhile, the leaders of Brazil and China kicked in tens of billions of dollars to the International Monetary Fund to rescue downtrodden Spain and Greece.

Although the gathering didn't produce a solution for the ailing euro zone, it did outline the globe's new balance of power. Developing countries projected optimism and wealth over the summit's two days, while European and U.S. leaders struggled just to stay solvent.

A lot has clearly changed since the 1990s, when Asian and Latin American economies were slogging through recessions while Washington-based power brokers ordered up the very kind of austerity-minded prescriptions now sparking street protests in Europe.

Even during recent economic crises in the U.S. and Europe, China has been posting annual growth rates topping 8 percent. Countries with booming Chinese trade, such as Argentina and Ethiopia, have similarly seen their economies thrive. China's economy surpassed Japan's over the past year to become the world's second biggest; Brazil's overtook the U.K.'s to take sixth place.

"It is a different picture and reflects the fact that (developing) economies are not only the largest and fastest growing economies but are among the biggest economies in the world," said Uri Dadush, director of the international economics program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "Clearly, neither the Americans nor the Europeans are in any position to tell the biggest economies what to do."

Mexican President Felipe Calderon cut to the point while speaking to reporters Tuesday afternoon as he noted developing world contributions to the IMF for a possible European bailout. Although the countries still have lower standards of living, their economies are growing and many have amassed large foreign reserves.

China had pledged $43 billion to the fund, while India, Mexico, Brazil and Russia each chipped in $10 billion. The United States, Calderon drily noted, was not giving a single penny, due to "serious restrictions of a legal and political nature." In other words, coughing up billions to save Europe was impossible for deadlocked U.S. politicians, especially in an election year and as the country struggled with its own budget deficits, economic analysts said.

University of Maryland economist Phillip Swagel, a former Treasury Department official in the George W. Bush administration, said developing countries' new economic power was already translating into growing political might.

In fact, the BRICS countries representing Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa were the ones making demands on Europe during the summit, saying they should be given a bigger role in the governance of the IMF if they were going to send billions to the fund. Europeans have traditionally led the organization since its founding nearly seven decades ago.

"With their resources comes a greater say," Swagel said. "It's a big change. We were once telling Asian counties what to do."

The power shift was clear in the air-conditioned hallways and balmy outdoor lounges of the G-20 where dignitaries and reporters mingled.

News crews from Ethiopia and China filled press conferences, while Brazilian and Russian leaders drew the most attention. Humbled European heads of state stepped before TV cameras to thank China for helping out while promising that their countries would do better.

Heloisa Castro, a Washington-based reporter for the Brazilian network Record TV, said Brazilians were energized by their new prominence, after so many decades of suffering dreadful busts and booms. Still, she said, they had no right to preach solutions to Europe, a point President Dilma Rousseff made to an international gaggle of reporters Tuesday.

Preventing European and U.S. turmoil from dragging down Brazil was the order of the day, Castro said, as economic growth in some developing countries has slowed sharply this year.

"I think it's very curious that now, we who have been through all these IMF adjustment programs in the past with their draconian conditions, we now are seeing European countries go through the same thing," Castro said. "But if the economies in Europe and the U.S. go down, we all suffer. We can't only live with the BRICS countries."

?

?

? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Phones gain ability to learn by touching

NEW YORK (AP) ? There's a form of extra-sensory perception called psychometry, whose practitioners claim to learn things about objects by touching them. Smartphones set to be released this month by Samsung and Sony will have some of that ability: they'll learn things when you touch them to pre-programmed "tags."

For example, you can program a tag with your phone number, and stick it on your business card. When someone taps the phone to the card, the phone would call you. Or you can put a tag on your night stand. Place the phone there, and it goes into "alarm clock" mode, holding your calls until the morning.

Samsung Electronics Co. announced this week that it will be selling these tags in the form of stickers it calls "TecTiles" ? $15 for 5 of them. They'll work with its new flagship Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone, set to launch in a few weeks, and several others already in the market, including the HTC EVO 4G LTE sold by Sprint Nextel.

Sony Corp.'s Xperia Ion, to be released June 24, will come with the ability to read different coin-like plastic tags that read "Home," ''Office" and so forth. The tags cost $20 for four, and the phone can be programmed to react differently to each tag. The "Car" tag can launch a navigation application, for instance. Tapping "Home" can send a text message to the rest of the family that you're home, and set the ringer volume to maximum.

The big push behind the technology, which is known as Near-Field Communications, comes from companies that see the phone as the wallet of the future. When touched to payment terminals, NFC-equipped phones can act as credit or debit cards.

But turning phones into credit cards is a tall order. Mobile payments already work with a few phones, but broad adoption is being held up while cellphone companies, banks, payment processors and retailers work out who pays for what and who benefits.

This ability to sense things close by is made possible by a new type of communications hardware in phones, complementing long-range cellular radios, medium-range Wi-Fi and short-range Bluetooth.

The latest version of Google Inc.'s Android software, known as Ice Cream Sandwich, comes with the ability to use NFC to communicate from phone to phone. When the backs are tapped together, the owners can trade information like contacts.

Samsung takes this one step further with the Galaxy S III. Tap two phones together, and they set up a connection via Wi-Fi. That means the owners can walk away from each other, and as long as they're in the same room or so, they can transfer photos and even hefty video files between their phones.

There are issues to work out. The Samsung tags can be read by most Android phones that have NFC capability, but not the Sony phone. Samsung and HTC phones won't recognize the Sony tags.

Apple Inc., whose iPhones are trendsetters in many ways, hasn't built NFC into them ? yet. Its patent filings hint at an interest in NFC, but they've given no clue when the technology might show up in iPhones.

Nick Holland, an analyst with Yankee Group, believes NFC will shine first in non-payment applications, because they're easier to sort out, and the technology has many uses. There have been NFC trials in Sweden, using phones as hotel room keys, he points out. Another compelling use case would be Wi-Fi hotspots. A cafe that wants to limit access to the local hotspot might let patrons tap their phones against a tag instead of having them laboriously enter a password.

"There's been an over-focus on the wallets," Holland said. "It's a technology that's not designed purely for payments."

For advertisers, NFC tags could replace the so-called "QR" codes ? two-dimensional bar codes that need to be photographed with specially downloaded software to be deciphered, so they can send a consumer to the advertiser's website or earn them a coupon for a discount. QR codes work at a distance, unlike NFC tags, but have significant drawbacks.

"Someone described them as 'digital vomit' recently. You can't make them look pretty," Holland said.

Each NFC tag includes a tiny chip, which explains the relatively high prices Samsung and Sony are charging. Those prices will come down, Holland said, as adoption rises. QR codes, of course, have the advantage of being very cheap, since they can be created on a simple printer.

The big makers of NFC chips are NXP Semiconductors N.V., a Dutch company, and Inside Secure, a French one. But competition is looming, Holland said, from bigger chip companies like Broadcom Corp. and Texas Instruments Inc.

"Basically, anyone who's making chips is looking at NFC as a new area they could move into," Holland said.

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Hands-on with Microsoft Surface for Windows RT, Touch Cover and Type Cover (update: video!)

We're here live at Microsoft's press event in Los Angeles, where it just unveiled not just the rumored tablet you were hoping for, but two tablets: Surface for Windows RT, which has an NVIDIA chip inside, and Surface for Windows 8 Pro, which runs off Ultrabook-grade Ivy Bridge processors. (Yes, Surface here is the name of a tablet line, not software optimized for large touchscreens. Get that out of your system now.) Though the two differ slightly in dimensions, with the Pro model measuring in slightly thicker, both have a slim kickstand, about as thick as a credit card, that folds out of the backside like the tail of a photo frame. Both are made of magnesium and, perhaps most importantly, work with either of two magnetic covers that double as keyboards (one with multitouch input, and one with physical, three-dimensional keys).

No word on pricing -- just that Surface for Windows RT will cost about what you'll end up paying for other Windows RT tablets, and that the Pro version will fetch similar prices as Ultrabooks. We saw Surface for RT as well as both keyboards on display at the demo area here following Microsoft's big press event. We've got a gallery of hands-on shots, as well as impressions past the break.

Gallery: Microsoft Surface for Windows RT hands-on

Continue reading Hands-on with Microsoft Surface for Windows RT, Touch Cover and Type Cover (update: video!)

Hands-on with Microsoft Surface for Windows RT, Touch Cover and Type Cover (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jun 2012 20:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Festo Now Offering Energy Self-Sufficient Automation Solution for Water Technology

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Britain's Prince Charles promoted to top military rank

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UN observers in Syria suspend operations

UN observers welcome their comrades upon their return from al-Haffa, in northern Syria, to Damascus, Syria on Saturday, June 16, 2012. U.N. Observers in Syria suspended their activities and patrols Saturday because of escalating violence in the country, the head of the mission said, the strongest sign yet that an international peace plan for Syria is disintegrating. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)

UN observers welcome their comrades upon their return from al-Haffa, in northern Syria, to Damascus, Syria on Saturday, June 16, 2012. U.N. Observers in Syria suspended their activities and patrols Saturday because of escalating violence in the country, the head of the mission said, the strongest sign yet that an international peace plan for Syria is disintegrating. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)

A damaged U.N. vehicle is seen on Saturday, June 16, 2012, in Damascus, Syria. U.N. observers in Syria suspended their activities and patrols Saturday because of escalating violence in the country, the head of the mission said, the strongest sign yet that an international peace plan for Syria is disintegrating. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi).

This image made from amateur video released by Ugarit News and accessed Saturday, June 16, 2012, purports to show a Syrian military tank in, Damascus, Syria. The Syrian government, intent on wresting back control of rebel-held areas, launched a fierce offensive in recent days to recover territories in several locations, shelling heavily populated districts and using attack helicopters over towns and cities. (AP Photo/Ugarit News via AP video) TV OUT, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL

This image made from amateur video released by the Shaam News Network and accessed Saturday, June 16, 2012, purports to show black smoke leaping the air from a building in Joret el-Shayah, Homs, Syria. The Syrian government, intent on wresting back control of rebel-held areas, launched a fierce offensive in recent days to recover territories in several locations, shelling heavily populated districts and using attack helicopters over towns and cities. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video) TV OUT, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL

UN observers inspect damaged UN cars upon their return from al-Haffa, in northern Syria, to Damascus, Syria on Saturday, June 16, 2012. U.N. observers in Syria suspended their activities and patrols Saturday because of escalating violence in the country, the head of the mission said, the strongest sign yet that an international peace plan for Syria is disintegrating. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)

BEIRUT (AP) ? U.N. observers in Syria suspended their activities and patrols Saturday because of escalating violence in the country, the head of the mission said, the strongest sign yet that an international peace plan for Syria is disintegrating.

Maj. Gen. Robert Mood said rising bloodshed over the past 10 days was posing significant risks to the lives of the 300 unarmed observers in the country, and was impeding their ability to carry out their mandate.

The observers were sent to the country after international envoy Kofi Annan brokered a peace plan that included a cease-fire that was supposed to take effect on April 12. But both sides have continued to stage daily attacks and the observers themselves have been caught up in the violence on several occasions.

The U.N. observers have been the only working part of Annan's the plan, which the international community sees as its only hope to stop the bloodshed. They were initially sent to monitor compliance with the cease-fire but ultimately became the most independent witnesses the carnage between government and rebel forces that have largely ignored the truce.

The Syrian government, intent on wresting back control of rebel-held areas, launched a fierce offensive in recent days to recover territories in several locations, shelling heavily populated districts and using attack helicopters over towns and cities.

U.N. officials have said that the opposition, in turn, is increasingly coordinating attacks against government forces and civilian infrastructure.

On Saturday, government troops kept up their relentless shelling of rebel-held districts in the central city of Homs, killing at least five. Another 12, including a man, his wife and child, were killed in overnight shelling of suburbs of the capital Damascus.

"U.N. observers will not be conducting patrols and will stay in their locations until further notice," Mood said in a statement Saturday. He said the observers will not leave the country, and the suspension will be reviewed on a daily basis.

"Operations will resume when we see the situation fit for us to carry out our mandated activities," he said.

The suspension signals the unraveling of Annan's plan as the conflict that began in March 2011 with peaceful protests challenging the regime spirals closer toward civil war. Activists say some 14,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

Western powers have stuck by the plan, in part because there are no other options on the table. There is little appetite for the military intervention that helped oust Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, and several rounds of sanctions have failed to stop the bloodshed.

The U.S. was now consulting with allies about "next steps toward a Syrian-led political transition," National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said, adding that "the sooner this transition takes place, the greater the chance of averting a lengthy and bloody sectarian civil war."

Vietor was referring to the two U.N. resolutions that detailed Anan's peace plan and called for political dialogue between the government and the country's fractured opposition. He did not give further details in his statement.

Mood did not elaborate or say whether the monitors might eventually leave, but on Friday, he said states that provide the observers were concerned that the risk is approaching an unacceptable level ? suggesting the violence could prompt the observers to pull out of the country at some point.

"The lack of willingness by the parties to seek a peaceful transition, and the push towards advancing military positions is increasing the losses on both sides," Mood said. "It is also posing significant risks to our observers."

The Syrian government said it conveyed to Mood its "understanding" of the decision taken and blamed the rebels, whom it refers to as "terrorists" for the escalation.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it had "clarified to the leadership of the U.N. mission that armed terrorist groups have conducted, since the signing of the Annan plan, an increase in criminal operations that have targeted, many times, the observers, and threatened their lives."

The opposition, for its part, has blamed the regime for the attacks near the observers.

Last week, an observers' convoy was blocked and attacked with stones, metal rods and gunfire by an angry crowd as it was trying to head to the town of Haffa in the coastal Latakia region, where troops had been battling rebels for a week.

The observers only managed to enter once government troops had seized the area back from the rebels.

On May 15, a roadside bomb damaged observers' cars shortly after they met with Syrian rebels in the northern town of Khan Sheikoun. A week earlier, a roadside bomb struck a Syrian military truck in the south of the country just seconds after Mood drove by in a convoy.

Still, their presence has been a crucial source of independent information, particularly as Syria bars journalists from reporting freely in the country.

Despite fears that violence could significantly worsen without the their presence on the ground, prominent activist Rami Abdul-Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was better for the U.N. teams to leave.

"We haven't seen anything beneficial from them. If they are independent ? so what?" he said. "A lot of crimes happened in Syria, and they couldn't do anything."

He called on the international community to more actively intervene to halt the bloodshed in Syria.

"The situation can't get worse than this: are we afraid that it's a civil war? Well it is a civil war. The situation is difficult. The international community's silence on Syria is working to destroy Syria," Abdul-Rahman said.

In the Damascus suburb of Douma, where overnight shelling killed 12 people, activist Mohammed Douma said the presence of observers had been irrelevant anyway, adding that they hadn't visited Douma, a hotspot, in a week.

"But anyway, all they can do is record what they see, they cannot help," he said.

___

Associated Press writer Diaa Hadid contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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Kate Winslet, Kenneth Branagh get royal honors

LONDON (AP) ? Kate Winslet has been honored by Queen Elizabeth II for her titanic contribution to the arts.

The actress, who won a best actress Academy Award in 2009 for "The Reader" and made her breakthrough as the feisty Rose in 1997 blockbuster "Titanic," has been named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, or CBE, in the queen's Birthday Honors List, published Saturday.

Winslet said the honor made her "very proud to be a Brit."

"I am both surprised and honored to stand alongside so many men and woman who have achieved great things for our country," the 36-year-old star said.

Actor and director Kenneth Branagh was made a knight and will be known as Sir Kenneth. A respected Shakespearean actor whose films as a director range from "Henry V" and "Hamlet" to the comic-book fantasy "Thor," Branagh said he felt "humble, elated, and incredibly lucky" to get the honor. It puts him in a pantheon of theatrical knights alongside the late Sir Laurence Olivier, whom Branagh played in "My Life With Marilyn."

"When I was a kid, I dreamed of pulling on a shirt for the Northern Ireland football team," said the Belfast-born, 51-year-old actor. "I could only imagine how proud you might feel. Today it feels like they just gave me the shirt, and my heart's fit to burst."

The honors are bestowed by twice yearly by the queen ? at New Year's and on her official birthday in June ? but recipients are selected by civil servants from nominations made by the government and the public.

Most go to people who are not in the limelight, for services to their community or industry, but they also reward a sprinkling of famous faces.

Songwriter and philanthropist Richard Stilgoe, who wrote lyrics for Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Cats," ''Starlight Express" and "The Phantom Of The Opera," was awarded a knighthood, while golfer Luke Donald was recognized for spending almost a year at the top of golf's world rankings.

The Englishman, who has spent 48 weeks as No. 1 since May last year, was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

"I am truly honored to be awarded an MBE by Her Majesty, particularly in her Jubilee year," Donald said Friday from the U.S. Open in San Francisco.

Those becoming dames ? the female equivalent of a knight ? include Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid, who designed the Aquatic Center for the 2012 London Olympics, and Labour Party politician Tessa Jowell, who was Olympics minister until 2010.

Musician Gary Barlow, who organized a Diamond Jubilee concert for the queen this month featuring Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Elton John, was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, or OBE, for his services to entertainment and to charity.

Sarah Burton, who designed Kate Middleton's dress for her royal wedding to Prince William last year, received an OBE for services to fashion.

In descending order, the honors are knighthoods, CBE, OBE and MBE. Knights are addressed as "sir" or "dame." Recipients of the other honors have no title but can put the letters after their names.

Choirmaster Gareth Malone, who inspired thousands to sing with TV shows such as "The Choir" and assembled the best-selling Military Wives singing group, was awarded an OBE, as was actress and 1970s heartthrob Jenny Agutter.

Actress and campaigner April Ashley, one of the first Britons to undergo sex-change surgery, was awarded an OBE "for services to transgender equality."

Also receiving an OBE was Jimmy Carlson, a former soldier who spent 23 years sleeping on the streets before becoming an advocate for the homeless. The same honor went to Armando Iannucci, the writer and producer behind expletive-laden British political satire "The Thick of It" and White House comedy "Veep."

"I just hope it's not an attempt by the government to stop me, because that's not going to happen," he said.

Among the hundreds of others honored was Margaret Jackson, who received an MBE "for services to netball" and Kerry Michael and Michelle Michael, awarded the same honor "for services to the restoration of Weston Super Mare's pier."

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Court rulings tip Egypt's transition into turmoil

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's supreme court ruled on Thursday to dissolve the Islamist-led parliament, plunging a troubled transition to democracy into turmoil just two days before an election to replace ousted leader Hosni Mubarak.

Islamists who gained most from Mubarak's overthrow decried what they called a "coup" by an army-led establishment still full of Mubarak-era officials. They said the street movement that spurred last year's uprising would not let it pass.

The parliamentary vote earlier this year had swept long repressed Islamists into a commanding position in the legislature, a feat the Muslim Brotherhood had aimed to repeat with their candidate in Saturday and Sunday's presidential vote.

Those parliamentary gains will now be put back up for grabs in a new election.

In a further setback for the Islamists, the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that Mubarak's last prime minister, Ahmed Shafik, could stay in the presidential race against the Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsy.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States expected Egypt's military authorities to fully transfer power to a democratically elected civilian government.

"There can be no going back on the democratic transition called for by the Egyptian people," Clinton told reporters, declining specific comment about the court ruling.

The Muslim Brotherhood said the court rulings indicated Egypt was heading into "very difficult days that might be more dangerous than the last days of Mubarak's rule".

"All the democratic gains of the revolution could be wiped out and overturned with the handing of power to one of the symbols of the previous era," it said.

Morsy pledged to press ahead with his presidential bid regardless and warned against foul play of the type that was typical of elections in Mubarak's days.

"If there is any forgery, there will be a huge revolution against the criminals ... a huge revolution until we realize the complete goals of the January 25 revolution," he said, referring to the uprising against Mubarak.

Outside the constitutional court, protesters chanted "Down, down with military rule" and hurled stones at troops lined up in a security cordon. A few hundred also gathered in Tahrir Square.

Shafik, a former military man appointed premier in the last days of Mubarak's rule, hailed the rulings as "historic".

"The ruling regarding parliament includes the dissolution of the lower house of parliament in its entirety," the head of the constitutional court, Farouk Soltan, told Reuters.

A new vote will have to be called by the executive powers, said Soltan, who was appointed by Mubarak.

The court had earlier ruled to overturn a law passed by the Islamist-led parliament that would have blocked senior Mubarak-era officials from the presidential race, legislation designed to keep Shafik and others out.

'A COMPLETE COUP'

For 16 months since Mubarak was toppled after 30 years in office, a transition overseen by generals has been beset by political bickering, protests and often bloodshed.

But many Egyptians had at least taken some reassurance from the calm conduct of the parliamentary election and the prospect of a presidential poll even though the process of writing a new constitution to define the president's powers is in deadlock.

Now even those gains are being plunged into doubt, although the army said the presidential poll would go ahead on time.

A senior member of the Brotherhood's political party, which swept up the biggest bloc of seats in parliament, said Egypt was entering a "dark tunnel" if parliament was dissolved.

"Keeping the military candidate and overturning the elected parliament after granting the military police the right to arrest is a complete coup," said a moderate Islamist, Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh.

He was referring to a decree issued with little fanfare on Wednesday allowing military police to detain civilians, a move critics said was a barely disguised bid to reinstate the decades-old emergency law that ended on May 31.

"Whoever thinks that millions of youths will let it pass is deluding themselves," Abol Fotouh said of the rulings.

For activists, the measures add to their suspicions that the pillars of Mubarak's establishment such as the army and police are regrouping to challenge the fragile political gains.

Protesters outside the court demanded the judges block the presidential bid by Shafik, a man they derisively call a member of the "feloul", or a remnants of Mubarak's regime.

But at a hotel a few miles away on the outskirts of Cairo, Shafik addressed hundreds of supporters, who danced and chanted: "The army and the people are in one hand."

RALLYING SUPPORT

"The message of this historic verdict is that the era of political score settling has ended," Shafik told them, pledging to end chaos and restore stability.

Shafik's support comes mainly from disparate backers who include a business elite that prospered under Mubarak, Christians worried about Islamist rule, and others who would welcome a military man to restore order to turbulent streets.

Morsy, who has relied on the 84-year-old Brotherhood's grassroots network, can also count on ultra-orthodox Salafi Muslims in the second round. But he has struggled to win over the supporters of centrist candidates, who could prove vital.

For many Egyptians who picked centrist candidates in the first round, the weekend vote presents a wrenching choice. They worry as much about an Islamist imposing new strictures as they do about handing power back to an ex-military man.

The army pledged to formally hand power to a new president by July 1, although analysts and diplomats expect the generals to continue to wield hefty influence well after that.

The Supreme Constitutional Court, the only court that can interpret laws, was used for decades by opposition groups and activists to challenge Mubarak's authorities.

It ruled election laws illegal in 1987 and 1990 - forcing the dissolution of parliament, overhauls of the electoral system and early votes. It also issued a ruling in 2000 to force Mubarak's government to accept judicial monitoring of votes.

But like other courts in Egypt, the president appoints its head, an issue that has been at the heart of calls for judicial reform. Soltan, the current head, was picked by Mubarak.

(Additional reporting by Marwa Awad, Yasmine Saleh, Tamim Elyan and Tom Perry; Writing by Edmund Blair and Tom Pfeiffer; Editing by Sophie Hares)

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