Plan to Drill for Cuban Oil Faces Delay

A Russian state oil company will delay drilling its first exploratory well off the northern coast of Cuba, about 180 miles from Florida, after apparently struggling to find a suitable drilling rig that would not violate U.S. sanctions.

Cuba produces little oil now, but petroleum experts say the country's northern coastal waters could hold reserves, which may help revive the island's economy and ease its dependence on oil imported from Venezuela.

The Russian company, Zarubezhneft, said in a statement on Wednesday that it had planned to drill in August but now planned to start in November.

Half a dozen companies have signed deals to work in Cuban waters on projects that are alarming for the U.S. authorities because they are close to the United States but out of reach of its safety regulators. In places, Cuba's maritime border is 50 miles from the U.S. coast.

The update on the Russian company's plans came during a visit to Moscow on Wednesday by Ra?l Castro, Cuba's leader and the brother of Fidel Castro. Ra?l Castro is on a tour of former Communist allies, seeking investment. He stopped in Russia after visiting China and Vietnam. In Russia, he met with President Vladimir V. Putin, who asked that he relay the country's best wishes to his brother.

Zarubezhneft, a small state-owned company, obtained the exploration rights to four blocks off Cuba three years ago. In June, it contracted with a Cyprus-based drilling operator, Songa Offshore, for a rig.

Rigs have posed a challenge for oil companies operating in Cuba. They must have sufficiently few U.S.-made parts to avoid violating the trade embargo the United States imposed on Cuba 50 years ago. Yet the United States is a leader in the offshore drilling industry.

Songa Offshore, a company with ties to the Norwegian oil industry, once operated from offices in Houston but has since relocated to Singapore and Cyprus, according to its Web site.

After it contracted for the Songa rig, the Russians took the added precaution of hiring a third-party auditing company to confirm that the machine had fewer than 10 percent U.S.-made parts, Zarubezhneft said in its statement. That question settled, the rig is now sailing from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Cuba.

The Russians plan to drill at a site called Block L, near the Cuban coastal town of Cayo Santa Maria.

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Source: http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/119327/Plan_to_Drill_for_Cuban_Oil_Faces_Delay?rss=true

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Charting autism's neural circuitry

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Deleting a single gene in the cerebellum of mice can cause key autistic-like symptoms, researchers have found. They also discovered that rapamycin, a commonly used immunosuppressant drug, prevented these symptoms.

The deleted gene is associated with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC), a rare genetic condition. Since nearly 50 percent of all people with TSC develop autism, the researchers believe their findings will help us better understand the condition's development.

"We are trying to find out if there are specific circuits in the brain that lead to autism-spectrum disorders in people with TSC," said Mustafa Sahin, Harvard Medical School associate professor of neurology at Boston Children's Hospital and senior author on the paper. "And knowing that deleting the genes associated with TSC in the cerebellum leads to autistic symptoms is a vital step in figuring out that circuitry."

This is the first time researchers have identified a molecular component for the cerebellum's role in autism. "What is so remarkable is that loss of this gene in a particular cell type in the cerebellum was sufficient to cause the autistic-like behaviors," said Peter Tsai, HMS instructor of neurology and the first author of this particular study.

These findings were published online July 1 in Nature.

TSC is a genetic disease caused by mutations in either one of two genes, TSC1 and TSC2. Patients develop benign tumors in various organs in the body, including the brain, kidneys and heart, and often suffer from seizures, delayed development and behavioral problems.

Researchers have known that there was a link between TSC genes and autism, and have even identified the cerebellum as the key area where autism and related conditions develop.

Previous studies have shown that certain cells essential for cerebellar function called Purkinje cells, which are among the largest neurons in the human brain, are fewer in number in patients with autism. To better understand the relationship between Purkinje cells and autism, Sahin and his team deleted copies of the TSC1 gene in the Purkinje cells of mice. Some mice had only one copy of the gene deleted, while others had both of their copies deleted.

In both cases, deleting this gene caused the three main signs of autistic-like behaviors:

• Abnormal social interactions. The mice spent less time with each other and more with inanimate objects, compared to controls.
• Repetitive behaviors. The mice spent extended amounts of time pursuing one activity or with one particular object far more than normal.
• Abnormal communication. Ultrasonic vocalizations, the communication method used among rodents, were highly distressed.

• The researchers also tested learning. "These mice were able to learn new things normally," said Tsai, "but they had trouble with 'reversal learning,' or re-learning what they had learned when their environment changed."

  Tsai and colleagues tested this by training the mice to swim a particular path in which a platform where they could rest was set up on one side of the pool. When the researchers moved the platform to the other side of the pool, the mice had greater difficulty than the control mice re-learning to swim to the other side.

  "These changes in behavior indicate that the TSC1 gene in Purkinje cells, and by extension, the cerebellum, are a part of the circuitry for autism disorders," emphasized Sahin.

  The researchers also found that the drug rapamycin averted the effects of the deleted gene. Administering the drug to the mice during development prevented the formation of autistic-like behaviors.

  Currently, Sahin is the sponsor-principal investigator for an ongoing Phase II clinical trial to test the efficacy of everolimus, a compound in the same family as rapamycin, in improving neurocognition in children with TSC. The trial will be open for enrollment until December 2013.

  "Our next step will be to see how the abnormalities in Purkinje cells affect autism-like development. We don't know how generalizable our current findings are, but understanding mechanisms beyond TSC genes might be useful to autism," said Tsai.

  ###

  Harvard Medical School: http://hms.harvard.edu

Thanks to Harvard Medical School for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/121441/Charting_autism_s_neural_circuitry_

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Judge Koh denies injunction stay, keeps Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 out of stores

Samsung may have been quick to appeal Judge Lucy Koh's decision to halt Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales, but the woman with the gavel isn't bending. According to Reuters, Judge Koh has rejected the firm's request to allow sales to continue pending a decision, keeping store shelves empty for the time being. The story isn't over, of course -- if Samsung wins the appeal (or the greater dispute) tablets will return to stores in droves. Either way, we all look forward to a time when this whole mess is behind us.

Judge Koh denies injunction stay, keeps Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 out of stores originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Jul 2012 21:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/02/Judge-denies-galaxy-tab-10-1-injunction-stay/

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iOS claims 65% of mobile web, Android 20%

NetMarketShare's most recent web analytics show that iOS users are very active on the mobile web, claiming 65.27% of the total market share. Android was far behind with 19.73%, Java ME further behind still with 10.22%. BlackBerry trailed with 1.87%, though even a year ago it was only around 3%. Google still rocks the mobile search engine chart, accounting for 91% of all searches from a tablet or smartphone. Out of all web traffic monitored, mobile account for 8.2% of activity, which is up from around 6% last year.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/1-S0xtnKoMQ/story01.htm

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Brief relief, long-term questions on student loans

Congress may have averted a doubling of interest rates on millions of new federal student loans, but the fix is only for a year, leaving students on edge over whether they'll face a similar increase next summer.

"It's scary," said Faith Nebergall, a student at Indiana University whose loans currently total upward of $20,000. "And it's unfair to kind of be kept in the dark as to how much money we owe."

Under the agreement, interest rates on new subsidized Stafford loans will remain at 3.4 percent. That's estimated to save 7.4 million students about $1,000 each on the average loan, which is usually paid off over 10 or more years.

In the short run, that means students can breathe a sigh of relief this summer. A year from now, however, those rates are set to rise to 6.8 percent. That automatic increase was approved by Congress when lawmakers signed off on a series of scheduled rate reductions five years ago.

"There are more struggling families and they need some assurances to feel OK about getting young people into and through college," said Kati Haycock, president of The Education Trust. "Congress aggravates everybody, creates lots of anxiety out there, and essentially gives us a one-year solution."

About $1.2 billion will be saved by limiting federal subsidies of Stafford loans to six years for students pursuing a bachelor's degree and three years for those completing an associate's degree.

Richard Vedder, director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity and an economics professor at Ohio University, said that could have the positive effect of encouraging more students to complete their degree in a timely manner, while also allowing some flexibility for students who work and have families and need more time to finish.

But he sees a negative impact down the road. Vedder argues that lower interest rates contribute to the desire to borrow money, which he says has the adverse effect of enabling schools to raise their tuition. Some students with poor academic records and for whom college might not be the best fight might be inclined to enroll anyway. That could aggravate problems in the labor market, where there are many unemployed and underemployed recent college graduates.

"It makes political sense, but not economic sense," Vedder said.

The price of college tuition has skyrocketed in recent decades. Between 1982 and 2007, tuition and fees increased 439 percent while the median family income rose 147 percent, according to a report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. The price of in-state tuition at a public university has increased by more than 5 percent annually in the past 10 years. It jumped 15 percent between 2008 and 2010 alone.

Cuts to state education budgets have played a significant role in increasing those costs, particularly in recent years. How much influence the expansion of access to federal aid has played is less certain; many insist it plays none. An analysis this year by the American Council on Education concluded there is no evidence to suggest it has, and that any relationship between the two is incidental, not causal.

What is certain is that with the price of tuition continuing to rise, pressure will remain on Congress to keep rates low.

"I think anybody in higher education, whether it's people like me, college presidents, financial aid administrators, students and parents, would really like some certainty and predictability," said Terri Hartle, senior vice president for government and public affairs with the American Council on Education. "And that's something we really haven't had."

Nebergall, 21, said she expects to owe $20,000 or more on her federal loans by the time she graduates, and about the same in private loans as well. While she and her long-term boyfriend would like to move in together when she finishes school, Nebergall doesn't think they'll be able to afford it. He pays about $250 a month in student loans himself.

She said a rate increase next year could have a big effect.

"It's money I could put down on a security deposit on my own apartment," she said. "It's money I could be used to start my adult life."

___

Follow Christine Armario on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/cearmario

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-06-30-Student%20Loan%20Anxiety/id-89bfd939f9a94754b7c98705224e2774

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How good can the Nats get?

Top 3 pitchers are reminiscent of the 1990s Braves, and the bats are coming alive

Greg Fiume / Getty Images

Heading into an NL East showdown series with the Braves, the Nationals own the National League's best record.

OPINION

updated 4:45 p.m. ET June 29, 2012

Tony DeMarco

On the eve of Davey Johnson's one-year anniversary as the Washington Nationals' manager, the offense did things it never had done for him.

The Nats scored 12 runs, the most in Johnson's tenure, tied a Nationals record with 21 hits and set a record with 11 extra-base hits in a 12-5 rout of the Colorado Rockies. And then the next night, they added 11 more runs for their first back-to-back games of 11 or more runs since 2005.

"They finally started listening to me,'' Johnson joked. "It only took them a year.''

Coors Field has been the ultimate slump-buster throughout its 18-year history, and It certainly helps to run into the Rockies while their highly questionable two-tiered rotation experiment continues. But that double dose of good timing aside, there's much to smile about in the Nationals' world these days:

With the Los Angeles Dodgers' recent skid, the Nationals own the National League's best record at 43-31 through Thursday. Heading into an NL East showdown series this weekend in Atlanta, the Nationals have led the division for all but 10 days, currently by 3 1/2 games. Nobody has a better road record since last Sept. 12.

And of course, the Nationals lead the majors in team ERA, strikeouts/nine innings, runs allowed, WHIP and opponents' OPS.

And they've accomplished all of this short-handed. Every team has injuries, but key ones, like those to Michael Morse, Ryan Zimmerman, Jayson Werth, Drew Storen and Wilson Ramos, can decimate even the deepest of rosters. Morse and Zimmerman are back, but the latter three still are missing-in-action.

"It's a testament to the depth we created in the offseason; to the scouts and player-development people,'' general manager Mike Rizzo said. "We're in first place, but we're always trying to build onto what we have. We have one of the youngest teams in baseball, and we feel we're not even scratching surface of our ability levels. We feel like we're just starting to hit on all of our cylinders.''

And to think that one year ago, Jim Riggleman walked away from the manager's job, upset that no contract extension had come his way. Maybe that extension never was going to be offered, but if there ever was a head-scratcher of a decision, Riggleman's was it.

The Nationals are 83-73 in the calendar year under Johnson, who clearly is enjoying himself in this Jack McKeon-esque renaissance. Johnson is 69, and although he speaks more softly than he used to, much of his signature bravado remains.

Forty-seven years after his major-league debut with the Baltimore Orioles, he's dead certain of his convictions, and that seems to bridge whatever generation gap exists between him and his players, the youngest of whom is 19-year-old phenom Bryce Harper.

"Davey has done everything you can do in the game,'' Rizzo said. "Terrific All-Star player, second baseman who hit 43 home runs, Gold Glove defender. He's been the manager of the year, played on a World Series champion, managed a World Series champion.

"When Davey Johnson says something, these guys listen, because he's done it. They know he's there to help them. He's willing to share his knowledge, and the guys just feed off that.''

The Coors Field-fed offensive surge has only boosted clubhouse confidence, as the Nats have busted out of a recent 3-7 stretch in which they averaged only 2.5 runs per game.

"We knew we'd come around,'' Zimmerman said. "We're too good of a team not to score runs all year long. Lucky for us, we have a really good pitching staff that has been the backbone of this team and helped us get to where we at.''

Here's how much pitching coach Steve McCatty's staff has carried the load to date: The Nats are 12th in the NL in runs scored, ahead of only the Marlins, Cubs, Padres and Pirates, yet have a +46 run differential, second only to St. Louis.

Granted, it's way early. But there are similarities to the Braves' top-three rotation dominance of the 1990s. Ace Stephen Strasburg needs no further explanation. The acquisition of Gio Gonzalez from the financially strapped Oakland A's puts Rizzo in the Executive of the Year discussion. And underrated ground-ball machine Jordan Zimmermann could be the ace of some staffs, but is the No. 3 guy here.

Unfortunately, Zimmermann also has a bit of a Matt Cain-snakebit thing going on, as he is 4-6 despite a 2.77 ERA. Wednesday's 11 runs of support skews the numbers that have him receiving one or fewer runs in six of his 15 starts this season, and in 19 of 48 starts since returning from Tommy John surgery last season.

So deep is the rotation that you can count nine starters (with Ross Detweiler, Chein-Ming Wang and Tom Gorzelanny pitching out of the bullpen, and John Lannan, who won 10 games last season, stuck in Triple-A.). That depth could prove vital if and when Strasburg's innings begin to be limited.

The target number isn't likely to exceed 180, and since he's exactly halfway there, it's quite possible that Strasburg could skip a start or two along the way, or be pushed back a day on occasion. Clinching a playoff spot early enough certainly would help, but it's a fine line that the organization will tread down the stretch.

But believe Rizzo when he says, 'we're here to win now, but we're also here to win long-term', and know that means there will be no pushing Strasburg too far.

If the Nationals seem overly skittish about innings limits, at least part of the reason why is McCatty, who is well-versed in the subject ? himself a victim of Billy Martin's abuse of the 1980-81 A's rotations.

In 1980, McCatty threw 221.2 innings including 14 in a 2-1 loss to Seattle, and four other pitchers ages 25-28 ? Rick Langford (290 innings), Mike Norris (284.1), Matt Keough (250) and Brian Kingman (211.1) ? combined to make 159 starts.

The following year, they benefited from a strike-shortened 1981 season that stopped at 109 games, but by 1984, all were either ineffective, injured or in the cases of Kingman and Norris, out of the majors.

Slowly but surely, the bats are returning to the lineup, taking pressure off the staff. Zimmerman spent time (April 21-May 7) on the disabled list due to a shoulder trouble that has limited him, and since receiving a cortisone shot on Sunday, has been on a tear that included his 1,000th career hit.

After his breakout 2011, Morse didn't play until June 2 due to a lat injury. After 23 games, he is just beginning to feel comfortable and be productive. Werth (wrist) could be back in August. So even though Rizzo reportedly made a fact-finding call to Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd about Carlos Gonzalez's potential availability (no-go for CarGo), Rizzo feels there is enough offense currently on the roster to win.

"Any team that goes extended periods without their 3-4-5 hitters in the lineup is going to struggle to score runs,'' Rizzo said. "We haven't had our 3-4-5 hitters in the same lineup all season. We're definitely anxious to see that happen. We feel confident this is a potent offense. Once we swing the bats like capable of, we feel we're going to be a very dangerous team to play.''

At least part of that confidence is due to Harper's immediate impact. He's not a center fielder long-term, and that's a spot Rizzo will have to address. But expecting anything more from a 19-year-old this season just wouldn't be right.

"As far as skill level on the field, he is as advertised,'' Rizzo said. "He's taken to all facets of the game. He's new to the outfield, and he's taken to that.

"Where he's exceeded expectation is the way he's handled himself in the clubhouse, in the community. He's been terrific. He's been a great teammate, and a guy the other guys really care about and protect.''

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More newsGreg Fiume / Getty Images

How good can the Nats get?

DeMarco: Under the guidance of Davey Johnson, there's much to smile about in the Nationals' world these days.

HBT Extra: Are we in a pitchers' era now?

HBT Extra: Craig Calcaterra and Tiffany Simons discuss Aroldis Chapman's somersault celebration, whether this is officially the pitchers' era, Zack Greinke's future, and more.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/48001942/ns/sports-baseball/

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Syria conference leaves open Assad question

GENEVA (AP) ? An international conference on Saturday accepted a U.N.-brokered peace plan for Syria, but left open the key question of whether the country's president could be part of a transitional government.

The U.S. backed away from insisting that the plan explicitly exclude President Bashar Assad from any role in a new government, hoping the concession would encourage Russia to put greater pressure on its longtime ally to end the violent crackdown that the opposition says has claimed over 14,000 lives.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insisted that Assad would still have to go, saying it is now "incumbent on Russia and China to show Assad the writing on the wall."

"There is a credible alternative to the Assad regime," she said. "What we have done here is to strip away the fiction that he and those with blood on their hands can stay in power."

Moscow had refused to back a provision that would call for Assad to step aside, insisting that outsiders cannot order a political solution for Syria and accusing the West of ignoring the darker side of the Syrian opposition. The opposition has made clear it would not take part in a government in which Assad still held power.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov underlined that the plan does not require Assad's ouster, saying there is "no attempt in the document to impose on the Syrian people any type of transitional process."

More than a year into the uprising, Syria's opposition is still struggling to overcome infighting and inexperience, preventing the movement from gaining the traction it needs to instill confidence in its ability to govern.

The U.N. plan calls for establishing a transitional government of national unity, with full executive powers, that could include members of Assad's government and the opposition and other groups. It would oversee the drafting of a new constitution and elections.

Syria envoy Kofi Annan said following talks that "it is for the people of Syria to come to a political agreement."

"I will doubt that the Syrians who have fought so hard to have independence ... will select people with blood on their hands to lead them," he said.

The envoy had earlier warned the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council ? Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States ? that if they fail to act at the talks hosted by the United Nations at its European headquarters in Geneva, they face an international crisis of "grave severity" that could spark violence across the region and provide a new front for terrorism.

"History is a somber judge and it will judge us all harshly, if we prove incapable of taking the right path today," he said.

Syria, verging on a full-blown civil war, has endured a particularly bloody week, with up to 125 people reported killed nationwide on Thursday alone.

The opposition's divisions are tied to issues at the heart of the revolution: Whether to seek dialogue with the regime and what ideology should guide a post-Assad Syria.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the Britain based Syrian observatory for human rights, said following the agreement that "no member of the Syrian opposition will accept to be part of a transitional government while Assad is still in power."

"Assad's staying in power will mean the continuation of the bloodshed in Syria," he said.

Unlike Libya's National Transitional Council, which brought together most factions fighting Gadhafi's regime and was quickly recognized by much of the international community, Syria's opposition has no leadership on the ground.

Regime opponents in Syria are a diverse group, representing the country's ideological, sectarian and generational divide. They include dissidents who spent years in prison, tech-savvy activists in their 20s, former Marxists, Islamists and Paris-based intellectuals.

Communication between those abroad and those in the country is extremely difficult. Political activists in Syria are routinely rounded up and imprisoned. Many have gone into hiding, communicating only through Skype using fake names, and the country is largely sealed off to exiled dissidents and foreign journalists.

International tensions also heightened last week after Syria shot down a Turkish warplane, leading to Turkey setting up anti-aircraft guns on its border with its neighbor.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague noted that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told diplomats a U.N. monitoring mission in Syria would have to be pulled back if no diplomatic solution is found.

"We haven't reached agreement in advance with Russia and China ? that remains very difficult. I don't know if it will be possible to do so. In the interest of saving thousands of lives of our international responsibilities, we will try to do so," Hague told reporters. "It's been always been our view, of course, that a stable future for Syria, a real political process, means Assad leaving power."

The head of the struggling U.N. observer mission, Norwegian Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, has described the 300 monitors approved by the U.N. Security Council to enforce a failed April cease-fire as being largely confined to bureaucratic tasks and calling Syrians by phone because of the dangers on the ground. Their mandate expires on July 20.

"Ultimately, we want to stop the bloodshed in Syria. If that comes through political dialogue, we are willing to do that," said Khalid Saleh, a spokesman for the Syrian National Council, a coalition of Syrian opposition groups based in Istanbul, Turkey. "We are not willing to negotiate (with) Mr. Assad and those who have murdered Syrians. We are not going to negotiate unless they leave Syria."

Clinton said Thursday in Riga, Latvia, that all participants in the Geneva meeting, including Russia, were on board with the transition plan. She told reporters that the invitations made clear that representatives "were coming on the basis of (Annan's) transition plan."

The United Nations says violence in the country has worsened since a cease-fire deal in April, and the bloodshed appears to be taking on dangerous sectarian overtones, with growing numbers of Syrians targeted on account of their religion. The increasing militarization of both sides in the conflict has Syria heading toward civil war.

______

Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-conference-leaves-open-assad-173505185.html

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