You probably remember the controversy surrounding this chaplain at George Washington University. ?Here?s something else you should know about him, from the National Catholic Register:?
Father Greg Shaffer, the Catholic chaplain at George Washington University, learned early that a good pastor can defy the odds and lead the young to embrace a priestly vocation.
Growing up in Bethesda, Md., Father Shaffer was inspired by the example of?Msgr. Thomas Wells, a charismatic figure in the archdiocese who possessed a deep and infectious love for the Eucharist.
Msgr. Wells?brought many young men to the priesthood?before he was murdered during a 2000 robbery at his Maryland parish; he was 56 years old.
Now, 13 years later, that beloved pastor remains a source of inspiration for Father Shaffer, who has revealed a knack for fostering vocations at a secular university better known for jump-starting careers in government.
Since the priest?s arrival four years ago, Sunday Mass attendance at the campus Newman Center has increased from 100 to about 400 people ? and, this year, four men?will enter the seminary.
Ask the chaplain what he remembers best about his pastor, and he?ll recall that every time Msgr. Wells consecrated the Host, his demeanor fully conveyed the presence of Christ. And during all of his interactions with parishioners, he radiated joy and thus attracted others eager to investigate the vocation that made this man so happy.
?When Msgr. Wells consecrated the Host, he spoke directly to me, ?Greg, this is my body.? That really changed my life. I dedicated my priesthood to the Eucharist,? said Father Shaffer, who lost his own father when he was young and turned to the pastor for guidance.
Now, as a new generation of young men ponders their future path in the world, Father Shaffer shares that same palpable sense of joy and mystery. And, so far, his service is bearing fruit: Besides the four men who will enter the seminary this year, including a Fellowship of Catholic University Students missionary, another 10 students have joined a?Melchizedek Project?group?designed to help them begin the discernment process. Father Shaffer established the new program at the chaplaincy, which uses Father Brett Brannen?s?To Save a Thousand Souls: A Guide for Discerning a Vocation to Diocesan Priesthood,?to provide a framework for group reflection and formation.
Yeah, clearly this man is a menace who must be stopped.
DAMASCUS, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Despite mounting talks of possible military intervention in Syria following recent U.S. statements about Syria's use of chemical weapons, most Syrians downplayed their significance and considered them as no more than new pressure cards on the Syrian administration.
"I don't think it's a serious threat... They simply want to raise the ceiling of bargaining, especially as the government has showed over more than two years a defiant attitude and didn't bow to their pressures," said Alya, 39-year-old housewife.
U.S. President Barack Obama has warned Syria that using chemical weapons would be a "game changer," as he faces rising pressure at home and abroad to intervene in the country's bloody civil war.
But speaking Friday, a day after U.S. officials said they suspected the use of the deadly agent sarin in small-scale attacks in Syria, Obama warned that Washington must act prudently, and establish exactly if, how and when such arms were used.
Obama, who had previously told Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that the use of chemical weapons would cross a "red line," promised a "vigorous" U.S. and international probe into the latest reports.
Syria has denied the accusation, and Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zouebi told Russian television Saturday that the U.S. and British accusations are a "barefaced lie."
Syria's permanent representative to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, said that imposing a no-fly zone cannot be done without a unanimous resolution by the UN Security Council.
His comments came in the context of a response to the words of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry about the imposition of no-fly zone in the event of proven use of chemical weapons.
Jaafari said in an interview with a Lebanese TV channel that raising the issue of chemical weapons in Syria is one of the pressures exerted on the Syrian people and the government alike for obtaining political concessions.
A senior U.S. senator said on Sunday that a group of nations should get troops ready to invade Syria in order to secure possible stocks of chemical weapons.
Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, said that an international force must "be ready operationally" to go in and prevent Islamic fighters involved in Syria's civil war from getting their hands on chemical weapons.
Syrians have growing confidence that the crisis in the country would be solved only through political channels owing to Russia and Iran's firm backing of the government. They are fully convinced that the United States couldn't act without Russia's approval as any military intervention requires a unanimous UN resolution.
"Has he (Obama) got finally Russia's assurances that it will not veto once again a UN resolution on Syria?" said Munir, an engineer.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly said that he would defend the Syrian government even if the fighting moves to Moscow's streets and pledged that he will not allow the Libyan scenario to be repeated in Syria.
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Saturday that claims that chemical weapons have been used in Syria should not become a pretext for a foreign military intervention in the country.
"If there is serious evidence of the use of chemical weapons in Syria, it should be presented immediately and not concealed," said Bogdanov, Putin's Middle East envoy, during a visit to Beirut.
"If they are able to intervene in Syria, they would have done that a long time ago," Munir said. "The Americans are aware that Syria, with the support of its allies, would respond and the first target would be Israel, America's main ally in the region."
The chemical weapons' frenzy flared last month when Syria filed a complaint to the UN asking the international body to send a technical team to investigate the rebels' use of chemical weapons in northern Syria.
Last December, Syria warned that rebels could use chemical weapons in their fight against President Bashar al-Assad's forces, but insisted the regime will never unleash such arms on its own people.
Related:
Full story
[Video] World community treats Syria chemical weapons issue cautiously
BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhuanet) -- In Syria?? two-year civil war, more than 70,000 people have died and more than 2.5 million have been made refugees. The United States has so far only offered non-military aid to rebels, but one added element could change the equation: proof of chemical weapons.
Syrian rebels say these civilians outside Aleppo last month were victims of Sarin Gas-a deadly nerve agent. U.S. President Barack Obama has said use of chemical weapons in Syria would mark a red line for his policy, and this week the administration said it believes-"with varying degrees of confidence"-that chemical weapons are in use against the Syrian people. Riding this momentum, a spokesman for the rebels appealed for action. Full story
News Analysis: U.S., Syria cautious on alleged chemical weapons use to avoid worsening situation
WASHINGTON/DAMASCUS, April 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. allegations about the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian army in some areas of the Mideastern country "do not have any credibility," Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said Friday.
Al-Zoubi's remarks came a day after the White House said the Syrian government has used chemical weapons in its conflict with the opposition forces. Full story
Syria says rebels may obtain chemical weapons from Turkey: minister
DAMASCUS, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said that the chemical weapons used by rebels in a northern Syrian town were probably from Turkey, the state-run SANA news agency reported Saturday.
The remarks were made during al-Zoubi's visit to Moscow. He said the missile which targeted the northern town of Khan al-Assal in Aleppo province was launched from a rebel-held place, which was not far from the Turkish borders. Full story
Assad's use of chemical weapons would be "game changer": Obama
WASHINGTON, April 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday that the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad would be a "game changer," although he meanwhile cautioned such intelligence assessments were still "preliminary."
"It's obviously horrific as it is when mortars are being fired on civilians and people are being indiscriminately killed, to use potential weapons of mass destruction on civilian populations crosses another line with respect to international norms and international law," Obama said before meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah II at the White House.
Holding out for a post-RIM version of the PlayBook? That waiting likely won't end any time soon. BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins used an interview yesterday to discuss the mobile environment five years out. Seems he's feeling particularly bullish about his own company's prospects. "In five years, I see BlackBerry to be the absolute leader in mobile computing -- that's what we're aiming for," he told the interviewer. "I want to gain as much market share as I can, but not by being a copycat."
Not being a copycat may likely involve staying away from the crowded tablet market. "In five years I don't think there'll be a reason to have a tablet anymore," according to the CEO. "Maybe a big screen in your workspace, but not a tablet as such. Tablets themselves are not a good business model." This certainly isn't the first time the exec has expressed caution about the space in the wake of the PlayBook's lukewarm reception. Heins has mentioned in the past that the company won't jump back into tablets unless it sees the potential for profits.
Even though smartphones have been on the market for over 10 years, mobile phone users still preferred to use SMS texts in order to communicate with other cell phones, especially when carriers bundle text messages with certain plans. But it looks like instant messaging through a number of applications has finally caught up with SMS texts, and in fact, has overtake it according to Informa.
Research firm Informa believes nearly 19 billion instant messages were sent per day in 2012 through chat applications, which has finally overtaken SMS texts which only 17.6 billion texts were sent in the same year. The 19 billion instant messages were spread across six of the most popular mobile chat applications: WhatsApp, BlackBerry Messenger, Viber, Nimbuzz, Apple?s iMessage and KakaoTalk.
Informa believes the growth of instant messages will continue as they predict nearly 50 billion messages will be sent over the next year through chat applications, while SMS will only hit a total of 21 billion texts in the same year.
Related articles: Angry Birds Wrecking Ball Spotted In Washington D.C. Construction Site Google Now Available On iPhone, iPad As Google Search Update Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Mass Production Begins Next Month Google Officially Acquires Wavii Resulting In Shutdown Of App
A good digital-to-analog converter (or DAC) can make all the difference when listening to music, especially through headphones. We've talked about why they're so great, and how to choose a good one before, but this week we're looking at five of the best, based on your nominations.
Earlier in the week, we asked you to tell us which DACs you thought were the best. Not just the outright best in audio quality, or the highest-end, but the best for consumers looking for great audio quality for their money, and a solid listening experience in their headphones. We tallied up your votes, and while no five best anything audio list can possibly settle all rivalies, here's what you said:
Fiio Alpen-E17
The Fiio E17 is a DAC we loved enough to mention in our guide to selecting the right DAC, and our friends at Head-Fi hold it in high regard as well. It's an incredible sounding DAC for the price ($139 at Amazon), and it's a tiny, portable model, small enough to slide into a pocket. It's on the higher end of Fiio's DAC models, but it comes with interchangeable adapters so you can plug in different audio inputs, and almost all of the unit's features can be accessed and managed using the LCD display, so you don't have a ton of dials and knobs: just a thin, sleek piece of metal that can travel with you anywhere you go. It's not a perfect model (some people say the controls and menus are finicky, and even at its price point you could probably find better for a few bucks more), but it's a great and affordable USB DAC (with Amp) nonetheless.
ODAC (ObjectiveDAC)
The ODAC (or ObjectiveDAC) is actually a board that you can buy on its own and install into a case to build your own DIY DAC with the inputs and outputs you want. It's $99 in this form (and doesn't come with an amplifier), but if you want complete, stand-alone model, $149 will buy you the pre-built model in a case, ready to be powered by USB and push audio to a pair of headphones via its 3.5mm audio jack (but it still needs an amplifier in this form). If you want an amp, the O2+ODAC combo package (shown above) comes with the ODAC installed in a case with an O2 amplifier pre-installed. The whole thing will set you back $285, but it's a slim, trim package that'll look good on your desktop without taking too much space, and it'll sound much better. Both the original ODAC and the O2+ODAC combo are well regarded at Head-Fi, offering impressive sound in a small package, whether you get the amplified model or not.
Asus Xonar Essence One
The ASUS Xonar Essence One is just one component in the Xonar line, and as some of you mentioned in the call for contenders, don't let ASUS' name scare you off?the Xonar line of soundcards and USB DACs offers great sound in small, affordable packages. The Xonar Essence One for example sports a built-in amplifier, signal to noise above and beyond other DACs in its class, and a dedicated internal power supply, so you don't have to plug it into a brick or try to power it over USB. It's a little bigger than other models, but the extra space is well used: it can accept a number of audio inputs, including optical and S/PDIF in addition to USB. You'll pay for all of those features though, it'll set you back $600 at Amazon.
Schiit Bifrost
Schiit doesn't mess around. Just read through their FAQ page, and specifically their FAQs on the Bifrost?they're serious about audio, and they don't pull punches. Just as well?The Bifrost is a powerhouse. It's actually an upgradable DAC that you can pair with other Schiit audio gear, like their amplifiers. The Bifrost accepts optical, USB, and S/PDIF inputs and outputs via RCA for speakers (so it's not like the other DACs here, designed to drive headphones). The unit is modular and customizable, so you can get one with or without a USB input card, or upgrade the onboard USB to their Gen2 card. You can even select the volatge, plug types, and analog stage when you order. The Bifrost starts at $349 direct (or at Amazon), and if you want some user reviews before you consider dropping the cash, check out what the folks at Head-Fi have to say about it.
WooAudio WA7 Fireflies
Probably the most high-end of the DACs in the roundup, the WooAudio WA7 "Fireflies" are fully featured DACs with world-class vacuum tube amplifiers. They're actually remarkably small, and look a bit like art when sitting on your desk. They accept USB or RCA input, and can output to your headphones using the 3.5mm jack on the front. Behind its simple, minimalist design (and glowing vacuum tubes, thus the name "fireflies,") is an audiophile friendly system. With that design, and its high-end nature, comes a high-end price point: The WooAudio WA7 will set you back $999, with optional upgrade tubes adding another $100 to the price tag. It's available direct from WooAudio, and there are more than a few happy owners over at Head-Fi.
Now that you've seen the top five, it's time to put them to a vote to determine the Lifehacker community favorite!
Honorable mentions this week go out to Dragonfly DAC, a tiny, super-portable USB DAC that's been well reviewed and well regarded. It'll set you back $249 at Amazon. Also worth noting are the affordable but still great-sounding M-Audio Fast Track and M-Audio Fast Track Pro, both of which have been sadly discontinued. You can still find them pop up from used equipment sales and as refurbs from time to time though, often as low as $20, and they work just as well when recording instruments and audio gear as they do plugged into headphones and a computer.
Have something to say about one of the contenders? Want to make the case for your personal favorite, even if it wasn't included in the list? Remember, the top five are based on your most popular nominations from the call for contenders thread from earlier in the week. Don't just complain about the top five, let us know what your preferred alternative is?and make your case for it?in the discussions below.
The Hive Five is based on reader nominations. As with most Hive Five posts, if your favorite was left out, it's not because we hate it?it's because it didn't get the nominations required in the call for contenders post to make the top five. We understand it's a bit of a popularity contest, but if you have a favorite, we want to hear about it. Have a suggestion for the Hive Five? Send us an email at tips+hivefive@lifehacker.com!
Engaging online crowds in the classroom could be important tool for teaching innovationPublic release date: 29-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Byron Spice bspice@cs.cmu.edu 412-268-9068 Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern Educators report on pilot study
PITTSBURGHOnline crowds can be an important tool for teaching the ins and outs of innovation, educators at Carnegie Mellon University and Northwestern University say, even when the quality of the feedback provided by online sources doesn't always match the quantity.
In a pilot study that invited the crowd into their classrooms, Carnegie Mellon and Northwestern instructors found that input from social media and other crowdsourcing sites helped the students identify human needs for products or services, generate large quantities of ideas, and ease some aspects of testing those ideas.
Finding ways to incorporate online crowds into coursework is critical for teaching the process of innovation, said Steven Dow, assistant professor in Carnegie Mellon's Human-Computer Interaction Institute. He and his co-investigator, Elizabeth Gerber, the Breed Junior Professor of Design at Northwestern University, will present their findings April 29 at CHI 2013, the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, in Paris.
"Educating students about innovation practices can be difficult in the classroom, where students typically lack authentic interaction with the real world," Dow explained. "Social networks and other online crowds can provide input that students can't get otherwise. Even in project courses, feedback is limited to a handful of individuals, at most."
At the same time, tapping the power of online communities has itself become part of the innovation process, Gerber said, with many entrepreneurs turning to sites such as Kickstarter and IndieGoGo to get initial support.
"The Internet affords access to online communities to which we might not ever have access," she said. "Future innovators need to know how to find and respectively engage with these communities to get the resources they need."
Dow and Gerber have received a National Science Foundation grant to study the use of crowd technologies in the classroom. They have created a website, http://crowddriveninnovation.com/, to share ideas and resources regarding the use of crowd-based resources in innovation education.
In the pilot study, they explored the use of crowds with 50 students enrolled in three innovation classes offered by Carnegie Mellon and Northwestern. Students worked in groups of 3-4 on projects.
Students found online forums, such as Reddit, were very helpful in discovering unmet needs. A group working on public transit, for instance, found lots of people talk about transit on social media, Dow said. "It also helps them figure out what questions to ask users in more traditional interviews," he added.
An attempt to generate ideas through Amazon Mechanical Turk, which pays workers small fees for performing micro-tasks, produced little of use.
"Understanding context is critical for ideation and this is difficult to do in a micro-task work environment," Gerber said. What did work effectively, she said, was asking people from the user research site Mindswarms to reflect on students' storyboard concepts.
In the final class assignment, to help students learn how to pitch ideas, the teams created a crowdfunding campaign through Kickstarter or IndieGoGo. But that made many students uncomfortable.
"The main problem with the crowdfunding piece of the class was that few students, as far as I could tell, actually wanted to raise the money," one student explained. "Most students in the class have other plans and weren't planning to continue working on their idea."
"In a strange way, this discomfort validated our hypothesis that engaging external crowds would bring the reality of innovation practices into the classroom," Dow said. "It was almost too real."
One solution, Dow and Gerber said, may be to have students prepare a crowdfunding campaign, but not launch it.
###
About Carnegie Mellon University: Carnegie Mellon is a private, internationally ranked research university with programs in areas ranging from science, technology and business, to public policy, the humanities and the arts. More than 12,000 students in the university's seven schools and colleges benefit from a small student-to-faculty ratio and an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. A global university, Carnegie Mellon's main campus in the United States is in Pittsburgh, Pa. It has campuses in California's Silicon Valley and Qatar, and programs in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and Mexico. The university is in the midst of "Inspire Innovation: The Campaign for Carnegie Mellon University," which aims to build its endowment, support faculty, students and innovative research, and enhance the physical campus with equipment and facility improvements
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Engaging online crowds in the classroom could be important tool for teaching innovationPublic release date: 29-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Byron Spice bspice@cs.cmu.edu 412-268-9068 Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern Educators report on pilot study
PITTSBURGHOnline crowds can be an important tool for teaching the ins and outs of innovation, educators at Carnegie Mellon University and Northwestern University say, even when the quality of the feedback provided by online sources doesn't always match the quantity.
In a pilot study that invited the crowd into their classrooms, Carnegie Mellon and Northwestern instructors found that input from social media and other crowdsourcing sites helped the students identify human needs for products or services, generate large quantities of ideas, and ease some aspects of testing those ideas.
Finding ways to incorporate online crowds into coursework is critical for teaching the process of innovation, said Steven Dow, assistant professor in Carnegie Mellon's Human-Computer Interaction Institute. He and his co-investigator, Elizabeth Gerber, the Breed Junior Professor of Design at Northwestern University, will present their findings April 29 at CHI 2013, the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, in Paris.
"Educating students about innovation practices can be difficult in the classroom, where students typically lack authentic interaction with the real world," Dow explained. "Social networks and other online crowds can provide input that students can't get otherwise. Even in project courses, feedback is limited to a handful of individuals, at most."
At the same time, tapping the power of online communities has itself become part of the innovation process, Gerber said, with many entrepreneurs turning to sites such as Kickstarter and IndieGoGo to get initial support.
"The Internet affords access to online communities to which we might not ever have access," she said. "Future innovators need to know how to find and respectively engage with these communities to get the resources they need."
Dow and Gerber have received a National Science Foundation grant to study the use of crowd technologies in the classroom. They have created a website, http://crowddriveninnovation.com/, to share ideas and resources regarding the use of crowd-based resources in innovation education.
In the pilot study, they explored the use of crowds with 50 students enrolled in three innovation classes offered by Carnegie Mellon and Northwestern. Students worked in groups of 3-4 on projects.
Students found online forums, such as Reddit, were very helpful in discovering unmet needs. A group working on public transit, for instance, found lots of people talk about transit on social media, Dow said. "It also helps them figure out what questions to ask users in more traditional interviews," he added.
An attempt to generate ideas through Amazon Mechanical Turk, which pays workers small fees for performing micro-tasks, produced little of use.
"Understanding context is critical for ideation and this is difficult to do in a micro-task work environment," Gerber said. What did work effectively, she said, was asking people from the user research site Mindswarms to reflect on students' storyboard concepts.
In the final class assignment, to help students learn how to pitch ideas, the teams created a crowdfunding campaign through Kickstarter or IndieGoGo. But that made many students uncomfortable.
"The main problem with the crowdfunding piece of the class was that few students, as far as I could tell, actually wanted to raise the money," one student explained. "Most students in the class have other plans and weren't planning to continue working on their idea."
"In a strange way, this discomfort validated our hypothesis that engaging external crowds would bring the reality of innovation practices into the classroom," Dow said. "It was almost too real."
One solution, Dow and Gerber said, may be to have students prepare a crowdfunding campaign, but not launch it.
###
About Carnegie Mellon University: Carnegie Mellon is a private, internationally ranked research university with programs in areas ranging from science, technology and business, to public policy, the humanities and the arts. More than 12,000 students in the university's seven schools and colleges benefit from a small student-to-faculty ratio and an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. A global university, Carnegie Mellon's main campus in the United States is in Pittsburgh, Pa. It has campuses in California's Silicon Valley and Qatar, and programs in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and Mexico. The university is in the midst of "Inspire Innovation: The Campaign for Carnegie Mellon University," which aims to build its endowment, support faculty, students and innovative research, and enhance the physical campus with equipment and facility improvements
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) ? Police say former adult film star Jenna Jameson has been arrested after a report that she attacked someone at an Orange County home.
Newport Beach police Lt. Evan Sailor says the alleged victim put Jameson under citizen's arrest until police arrived at the home on the upscale Balboa Peninsula on Saturday night.
The 38-year-old Jameson, born Jenna Marie Massoli, was given a court date to face a misdemeanor battery charge and released on her own recognizance.
In May, Jameson was arrested for drunken driving after hitting a light pole in Westminster. She pleaded guilty in August was sentenced to three years' informal probation.
Jameson was among the biggest stars in porn when she left the industry in 2008. An email sent to her company seeking comment was not immediately returned.
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, pins a Combat Infantrymen Badge on an unidentified soldier at Forward Operating Base Sharana in Afghanistan's Paktika province during his visit to the base Sunday, April 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Robert Burns)
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, pins a Combat Infantrymen Badge on an unidentified soldier at Forward Operating Base Sharana in Afghanistan's Paktika province during his visit to the base Sunday, April 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Robert Burns)
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (AP) ? The United States accepts that a diminished but resilient Taliban is likely to remain a military threat in some parts of Afghanistan long after U.S. troops complete their combat mission next year, the top U.S. military officer said Sunday.
In an Associated Press interview at this air field north of Kabul, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he is cautiously optimistic that the Afghan army will hold its own against the insurgency as Western troops pull back and Afghans assume the lead combat role. He said that by May or June, the Afghans will be in the lead throughout the country.
Asked whether some parts of the country will remain contested by the Taliban, he replied, "Yes, of course there will be."
"And if we were having this conversation 10 years from now, I suspect there would (still) be contested areas because the history of Afghanistan suggests that there will always be contested areas," he said.
He and other U.S. commanders have said that ultimately the Afghans must reach some sort of political accommodation with the insurgents, and that a reconciliation process needs to be led by Afghans, not Americans. Thus the No. 1 priority for the U.S. military in its final months of combat in Afghanistan is to do all that is possible to boost the strength and confidence of Afghan forces.
Shortly after Dempsey arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday, the Taliban demonstrated its ability to strike.
It claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing that killed five Americans ? three soldiers and two civilians, including Anne Smedinghoff, a foreign service officer and the first American diplomat killed overseas since the terrorist attack Sept. 11 in Benghazi, Libya.
A NATO airstrike Saturday, which came after a joint U.S.-Afghan forced encountered heavy fire from militants during an operation against a Taliban leader, killed 11 Afghan civilians, including 10 children, Afghan officials said.
There are now about 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. That number is to drop to about 32,000 by February 2014, and the combat mission is to end in December 2014. Whether some number ? perhaps 9,000 or 10,000 ? remain into 2015 as military trainers and counterinsurgents is yet to be decided.
Dempsey spent two days talking to senior Afghan officials, including his counterpart, Gen. Sher Mohammad Karimi, as well as top U.S. and allied commanders.
He also visited a U.S. base in the volatile eastern province of Paktika for an update on how U.S. troops are balancing the twin missions of advising Afghan forces and withdrawing tons of U.S. equipment as the war effort winds down.
Paktika is an example of a sector of Afghanistan that is likely to face Taliban resistance for years to come.
Bordering areas of Pakistan that provide haven for the Taliban and its affiliated Haqqani network, Paktika has been among the more important insurgent avenues into the Afghan interior.
While the province has a functioning government, Taliban influence remains significant in less populated areas, as it has since U.S. forces first invaded the country more than 11 years ago.
"There will be contested areas, and it will be the Afghans' choice whether to allow those contested areas to persist, or, when necessary, take action to exert themselves into those contested area," he said.
Dempsey said he is encouraged by the recent development of coordination centers, including one in Paktika, where a wide range of Afghan government agencies work together on security issues. He called it a "quilt" of government structures that links Kabul, the capital, to ordinary Afghans in distant villages.
In some parts of the country, Afghan villagers have shown their dissatisfaction with Taliban influence by taking up arms against the insurgents, even without being pushed by the U.S. or by Kabul. This has happened in recent weeks in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province, a traditional stronghold of the Taliban. The Andar district of Ghazni province has seen a similar uprising.
"We should encourage it, but we shouldn't be seen as hijacking" these local movements, he said.
Dempsey said he discussed the uprisings with Karimi, the army chief, and the Afghan defense minister, Bismullah Khan Mohammadi. They told him they "appreciated that they should allow this to occur (and) they should probably nurture it. They don't necessarily feel at this point as if they should tangibly support it."
The Afghan government's concern, Dempsey said, is that influential warlords could embrace these local movements and eventually leverage them to threaten the armed forces of the central government.
In a separate interview Sunday with al-Hurra, the Arabic-language satellite TV channel funded by the U.S. government, Dempsey was asked whether he worries that Syria, in the midst of a civil war, could become another Afghanistan.
"I do. I have grave concerns that Syria could become an extended conflict" that drags on for many years, he said.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Amid mounting tensions with North Korea, the Pentagon has delayed an intercontinental ballistic missile test that had been planned for next week at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a senior defense official told The Associated Press on Saturday.
The official said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel decided to put off the long-planned Minuteman 3 test until sometime next month because of concerns the launch could be misinterpreted and exacerbate the Korean crisis. Hagel made the decision Friday, the official said.
The test was not connected to the ongoing U.S.-South Korean military exercises that have been going on in that region and have stoked North Korean anger and fueled an escalation in threatening actions and rhetoric.
North Korea's military warned earlier this week that it was authorized to attack the U.S. using "smaller, lighter and diversified" nuclear weapons. And South Korean officials say North Korea has moved at least one missile with "considerable range" to its east coast ? possibly the untested Musudan missile, believed to have a range of 1,800 miles. U.S. officials have said the missile move suggests a North Korean launch could be imminent and thus fuels worries in the region.
Pyongyang's moves come on the heels of the North's nuclear test in February, and the launch in December of a long-range North Korean rocket that could potentially hit the continental U.S. Added to that is the uncertainty surrounding the intentions of North Korea's new young leader, Kim Jong Un.
Meanwhile, North Korea has been angered by increasing sanctions and ongoing U.S.-South Korean military exercises, which have included a broad show of force ranging from stealthy B-2 bombers and F-22 fighters to a wide array of ballistic missile defense-capable warships. The exercises are scheduled to continue through the end of the month.
This past week, the U.S. said two of the Navy's missile-defense ships were moved closer to the Korean peninsula, and a land-based system is being deployed to the Pacific territory of Guam later this month. The Pentagon last month announced longer-term plans to beef up its U.S.-based missile defenses.
While Washington is taking the North Korean threats seriously, U.S. leaders continue to say that they have seen no visible signs that the North is preparing for a large-scale attack.
The defense official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the Minuteman 3 test delay and requested anonymity, said U.S. policy continues to support the building and testing of its nuclear deterrent capabilities. And the official said the launch was not put off because of any technical problems.
The globe-circling intercontinental ballistic missiles make up one of the three legs of America's nuclear arsenal. There are about 450 Minuteman 3 missiles based in underground silos in the north-central U.S. The other two legs of the nuclear arsenal are submarine-launched ballistic missiles and weapons launched from big bombers, such as the B-52 and the stealthy B-2.
The traditional rationale for the "nuclear triad" of weaponry is that it is essential to surviving any nuclear exchange.
"A public lettering is made unique by the relationships it sets up with what is around it: not a blank page, but the sky, the streets, the sunlight with the shadows it creates, the rain making the colours brighter, combined with the slow erosion from the passage of time," Anna Saccani writes in the introduction to her new book, "LetterScapes" (Thames & Hudson, May 2013).
What began as Saccani's doctoral thesis turned into an ode to the art of large-scale public typography projects. Besides Robert Indiana's iconic LOVE statue in Philadelphia, the book includes Lawerence Weiner's NYC manhole covers stating, "iN DiRECT LiNE WiTH ANOTHER & THE NEXT," as well as Maya Lin's Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Looking at both the sculptures themselves and how they function in a public context, Saccani shows us that "LOVE" can mean something different in New York City or in Tokyo, depending on the context.
Scroll down to see some of Saccani's LetterScapes in the slideshow, and tell us what your favorite examples of public lettering are in the comments.
NYC MANHOLE COVERS, LAWRENCE WEINER
Nineteen manhole covers were installed in New York City by the Public Art Fund in collaboration with the Consolidated Edison Company and the Roman Stone. Photo Credit: Kirsten Vibeke Thueson Weiner From <em>LetterScapes</em> by Anna Saccani (Thames & Hudson, May 2013)
LITTLE SPARTA, IAN HAMILTON FINLAY
From <em>LetterScapes</em> by Anna Saccani (Thames & Hudson, May 2013) Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Archive of Ian Hamilton Finlay and Sam Rebben
HOUSE OF TERROR MUSEUM, ATTILA F. KOVACS
Photo Credit: Attila F. Kovacs From <em>LetterScapes</em> by Anna Saccani (Thames & Hudson, May 2013)
BRITISH LIBRARY GATES, CARDOZO KINDERSLEY WORKSHOP
Details of the ?lettergrid? that makes up the gates of the British Library. Photo Credit: Gianluca Balzerano From <em>LetterScapes</em> by Anna Saccani (Thames & Hudson, May 2013)
BARCINO, JOHN BROSSA
The arrangement of Brossa?s individual sculptures in front of the original Roman walls. Photo Credit: Ruben Cruz Vegas From <em>LetterScapes</em> by Anna Saccani (Thames & Hudson, May 2013)
WELLINGTON WRITERS WALK, CATHERINE GRIFFITHS
From <em>LetterScapes</em> by Anna Saccani (Thames & Hudson, May 2013) Photo Credit: Jason Busch
BRITISH LIBRARY GATES, CARDOZO KINDERSLEY WORKSHOP
Gates constructed from letterforms grant entry to one of the world?s great temples of learning. Photo Credit: Carlos Santos Armendariz From <em>LetterScapes</em> by Anna Saccani (Thames & Hudson, May 2013)
LOVE , ROBERT INDIANA
The evolution of Robert Indiana?s idea from art piece, to public installation, to Pop icon. Photo credit: John Doe From <em>LetterScapes</em> by Anna Saccani (Thames & Hudson, May 2013)
9 WEST 57TH STREET, CHERMAYEFF & GEISMAR
The curve of the skyscraper suggested the idea of a launching pad with the installation sliding down it and landing on the pavement. Photo Credit: Michele Bruni From <em>LetterScapes</em> by Anna Saccani (Thames & Hudson, May 2013)
MARION CULTURAL CENTRE, ASHTON RAGGATT MCDOUGALL
A symbolic integration of architecture and lettering creates a landmark for a growing community. Photo Credit: Peter Bennetts, Courtesy of the Ashton Raggatt McDougall Architecture From <em>LetterScapes</em> by Anna Saccani (Thames & Hudson, May 2013)
? A daily summary of global reports on security issues.
Thousands of Palestinian prisoners began a planned three-day hunger strike this morning in protest of the death of a Palestinian inmate who died of cancer yesterday, while in Israeli custody.
The Palestine News Network writes that some 4,500 Palestinian prisoners sent back their food this morning as part of a protest over the death of Maisara Abu Hamdiyeh, a 64-year-old Hamas member who was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in February. The Palestinian establishment widely blames his death, the cause of which has not yet been conclusively determined, on Israel for failing to provide him with adequate care, reports Haaretz.
"The Israeli refusal to address our appeals to release [Abu Hamdiyeh] led to a deterioration in his condition," Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said. "We turned to many countries and to the international community to act on behalf of the Palestinian prisoners but Israel did not sway from its position."
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The Palestinian Prisoners' Committee also accused Israeli authorities of intentionally and negligently delaying treatment for Abu Hamdiyeh.
But Israel's Prison Service said that it had done all it could for Abu Hamdiyeh since he was diagnosed in February, including transferring him to the Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba and beginning the process to grant him an early release, the Jerusalem Post reports.
?The [release] board held one discussion on the matter and was supposed to hold another one this week,? said Gondar Nasim Sabiti, a Prisons Service district commander.
The Christian Science Monitor reports from Gaza that Abu Hamdiyeh's death also spurred a rare public protest in Gaza by Hamas's armed wing, which has been keeping a low profile.
Supporters gathered at a local mosque at dusk, armed gunmen from the Qassam Brigades spilling out of at least five pick-up trucks to kick off the march in a rare public appearance since the November cease-fire.
They were followed by several thousand supporters on foot, from elderly men limping along to bands of rowdy children. With the death of Hamdiyeh and [Arafat Jaradat, a prisoner who died last month ? allegedly due to Israeli torture, according to Palestinians] and several prominent Palestinian prisoners on very prolonged hunger strikes, the prisoner issue has garnered the attention of both Fatah and Hamas officials in recent months.
Supporters of both factions are particularly irritated that Israel has rearrested prisoners like Jaradat who were released as part of the prisoner swap to secure the release in 2011 of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped and held in Gaza for several years.
The Ma'an News Agency adds that Hebron and East Jerusalem "shut down" as part of a general strike in mourning of his death.
Abu Hamdiyeh had been serving a life sentence after being convicted of several crimes, including attempted murder in connection with a 2002 bombing plot. An autopsy is scheduled for today, and his funeral is set to take place tomorrow.
The prison protests come amid signs that the November ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is weakening. Yesterday and today, there was an exchange of fire between Israel and Gaza, as Israeli warplanes carried out an airstrike in northern Gaza and several Palestinian rockets were fired, hitting near Sderot, in response. No injuries were reported from either attack, reports CBS News.
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Cooliris is aiming to make its photo-browsing experience more addictive today with the launch of new features in its iPhone and iPad apps that it describes collectively as an attempt to offer "endless discovery." The company, which is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and others, offers users a single app where users can browse photos across multiple online services, including Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, Twitter, Google Drive, and more. CEO Soujanya Bhumkar has argued that most popular photo apps thus far have really been "camera" apps, focused on features that help users take and upload photos, whereas Cooliris really is optimized for photo browsing and discovery.
Apr. 3, 2013 ? Amyloids -- clumps of misfolded proteins found in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders -- are the quintessential bad boys of neurobiology. They're thought to muck up the seamless workings of the neurons responsible for memory and movement, and researchers around the world have devoted themselves to devising ways of blocking their production or accumulation in humans.
But now a pair of recent research studies from the Stanford University School of Medicine sets a solid course toward rehabilitating the reputation of the proteins that form these amyloid tangles, or plaques. In the process, they appear poised to turn the field of neurobiology on its head.
The first study, published in August, showed that an amyloid-forming protein called beta amyloid, which is strongly implicated in Alzheimer's disease, could reverse the symptoms of a multiple-sclerosis-like neurodegenerative disease in laboratory mice.
The second study, to be published April 3 in Science Translational Medicine, extends the finding to show that small portions of several notorious amyloid-forming proteins (including well-known culprits like tau and prion proteins) can also quickly alleviate symptoms in mice with the condition -- despite the fact that the fragments can and do form the long tendrils, or fibrils, previously thought harmful to nerve health.
"What we're finding is that, at least under certain circumstances, these amyloid peptides actually help the brain," said Lawrence Steinman, MD, professor of neurology and neurological sciences and of pediatrics. "This really turns the 'amyloid-is-bad' dogma upside down. It will require a shift in people's fundamental beliefs about neurodegeneration and diseases like multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's."
Steinman is a noted expert in multiple sclerosis whose research led to the development of natalizumab (marketed as Tysabri), a potent treatment for the disease.
Taken together, the studies begin to suggest the radical new idea that full-length, amyloid-forming proteins may in fact be produced by the body as a protective, rather than destructive, force. In particular, Steinman's study shows that these proteins may function as molecular chaperones, escorting and removing from sites of injury specific molecules involved in inflammation and inappropriate immune responses.
Steinman, who is also the medical school's George A. Zimmermann Professor, is the corresponding author of the research. Jonathan Rothbard, PhD, a senior research scientist in the Steinman laboratory, is the senior author; postdoctoral scholar Michael Kurnellas, PhD, is the lead author.
Although the specific findings of Steinman's two studies are surprising, there have been inklings from previous research that amyloid-forming proteins may not be all bad. In particular, inhibiting, or knocking out, the expression of several of the proteins in the mouse models of multiple sclerosis -- a technique that should block the course of the disease if these proteins are the cause -- instead worsened the animals' symptoms.
And there's the fact that these so-called dangerous amyloid-forming molecules are surprisingly prevalent. "We know the body makes a lot of amyloid-forming proteins in response to injury," said Steinman. "I'm doubtful that that's done to produce more harm. For example, the prion protein is found in every cell in our bodies. What is it doing? It's possible that any therapeutic maneuver to remove all of these proteins could interfere with their natural function."
Understanding how amyloids form requires an understanding of the biology of proteins, which are essentially strings of smaller components called amino acids attached end to end. Once they're made, these protein strings twist and fold into specific three-dimensional shapes that fit together like keys and locks to do the work of the cell.
A misfolded protein is likely to be unable to carry out its duties and must be disposed of by the body's cellular waste-management system. Amyloid-forming proteins (of which there are around 20), however, don't go quietly, if at all. Instead, they initiate a chain reaction with other misfolded proteins -- forming long, insoluble strands called fibrils that mat together to form amyloid clumps. These clumps appear consistently in the brains of people with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis, but not in the brains of healthy people.
Although these clumps are thought to be detrimental to nerve cells, it's not entirely clear how they cause harm. One possibility is the ability of the fibrils to form cylindrical pores that could disrupt the cellular membrane and interfere with the orderly flow of ions and molecules used by the cells to communicate and transmit nerve signals. Regardless, their very presence suggests a diagnosis of neurodegeneration to many clinicians, including -- until recently -- Steinman.
"We began this research because these molecules are present in the brains of people with multiple sclerosis," said Steinman. "We expected to show that the presence of beta amyloid made the disease worse in laboratory animals. Instead, we saw a great deal of benefit."
Intrigued by the results of their first study, the researchers next tested the effect of small, six-amino-acid portions of several amyloid-forming proteins, including beta amyloid, which appeared likely to share a three-dimensional structure. They found that nearly all of the tiny protein molecules, or hexamers, were also able to temporarily reverse the symptoms of multiple sclerosis in the mice (when the treatment was stopped, the mice developed signs of the condition within a few days).
The researchers noted, however, that the curative effect of the hexamers was linked to their ability to form fibrils similar, but not identical, to their longer parent molecules. For example, these simplified hexamer fibrils are more easily formed and broken apart than those composed of whole proteins. They are also thought not to be able to form the cylindrical pores that might damage cell membranes. Finally, the hexamer fibrils appear to inhibit the formation of fibrils from full-length proteins -- perhaps by blocking, or failing to promote, the chain reaction that initiates fibril formation.
When Steinman and his colleagues mixed the fibril-forming hexamers with blood plasma from three people with multiple sclerosis, they found that the fibrils bound to and removed from solution many potentially damaging molecules involved in inflammation and the immune response.
"These hexamer fibrils appear to be working to remove dangerous chemicals from the vicinity of the injury," said Steinman.
The researchers are eager to pursue the use of these small hexamers as therapies for neurodegenerative diseases like multiple sclerosis. Much research is still needed, but Steinman is hopeful.
"The lessons we learn from our study of amyloid-forming proteins in multiple sclerosis could be helpful for stroke and brain trauma, as well as for Alzheimer's," said Steinman. "We're gaining insight into how current therapeutic approaches may be affecting the body, and beginning to understand the nuances necessary to design a successful treatment. Although it will take time, we're determined to move promising results out of the laboratory and into the clinic as quickly as possible."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stanford University Medical Center. The original article was written by Krista Conger.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Michael P. Kurnellas, Chris M. Adams, Raymond A. Sobel, Lawrence Steinman, and Jonathan B. Rothbard. Amyloid Fibrils Composed of Hexameric Peptides Attenuate Neuroinflammation. Sci Transl Med, 3 April 2013 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3005681
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.
Leo Laporte, Andy Ihnatko, Alex Lindsay, and my beer-on-tap-buying friend, Jason Snell, talk about the new Facebook Phone rumors, what's wrong with iCloud, Jason's Stickman Golf plea, and more.
Apr. 2, 2013 ? Porous polymer scaffolds fabricated to support the growth of biological tissue for implantation may hold the potential to greatly accelerate the development of cancer therapeutics.
Researchers at Rice University and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York reported this week that three-dimensional scaffolds used to culture Ewing's sarcoma cells were effective at mimicking the environment in which such tumors develop.
Their research appears online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"The scaffolds better recapitulate the microenvironment in which tumors grow, as compared with two-dimensional plastic surfaces typically used in cancer research to test anti-cancer drugs," said Rice bioengineer Antonios Mikos, who led the research team with Joseph Ludwig, an assistant professor and sarcoma medical oncologist at MD Anderson.
"We've been working to investigate how we can leverage our expertise in engineering normal tissues to cancerous tissues, which can potentially serve as a better predictor of anti-cancer drug response than standard drug-testing platforms," Mikos said.
By growing cancer cells within a three-dimensional scaffold rather than on flat surfaces, the team of researchers found that the cells bore closer morphological and biochemical resemblance to tumors in the body. Additionally, engineering tumors that mimic those in vivo offers opportunities to more accurately evaluate such strategies as chemotherapy or radiation therapies, he said.
The project "provides a path forward to better evaluate promising biologically targeted therapies in the preclinical setting," Ludwig said.
Scaffolds fabricated in the Mikos' lab facilitate the development and growth of new tissue outside the body for subsequent implantation to replace defective tissues.
The team found 3-D scaffolds to be a suitable environment for growing Ewing's sarcoma, the second most-common pediatric bone malignancy. The tumor growth profile and protein expression characteristics were "remarkably unlike" those in 2-D, Mikos said.
These differences led them to hypothesize that 2-D cultures may mask the mechanisms by which tumors develop resistance to anti-cancer therapeutics, and "may lead to erroneous scientific conclusions that complicate our understanding of cancer biology," they wrote.
The next challenge is to customize scaffolds to more accurately match the actual conditions in which these tumors are found. "Tumors in vivo exist within a complex microenvironment consisting of several other cell types and extracellular matrix components," Mikos said. "By taking the bottom-up approach and incorporating more components to this current model, we can add layers of complexities to make it increasingly reliable.
"But we believe what we currently have is very promising," he said. "If we can build upon these results, we can potentially develop an excellent predictor of drug efficacy in patients."
Co-authors are, from Rice, graduate students Eliza Fong and Emily Burdett; Kurt Kasper, a faculty fellow in bioengineering; and Mary Farach-Carson, Ralph and Dorothy Looney Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology and vice provost for translational bioscience; from MD Anderson, senior research scientist Salah-Eddine Lamhamedi-Cherradi, research assistants Vandhana Ramamoorthy and Brian Menegaz, Department of Pathology Associate Professor Alexander Lazar, graduate student Deeksha Vishwamitra and Department of Hematopathology Associate Professor Hesham Amin; and, from Mount Sinai Center, Assistant Professor Elizabeth Demicco. Mikos is the Louis Calder Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice.
The National Institutes of Health, a National University of Singapore-Overseas Graduate Scholarship and an MD Anderson Support Grant supported the research.
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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Rice University. The original article was written by Mike Williams.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
E. L. S. Fong, S.-E. Lamhamedi-Cherradi, E. Burdett, V. Ramamoorthy, A. J. Lazar, F. K. Kasper, M. C. Farach-Carson, D. Vishwamitra, E. G. Demicco, B. A. Menegaz, H. M. Amin, A. G. Mikos, J. A. Ludwig. Modeling Ewing sarcoma tumors in vitro with 3D scaffolds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1221403110
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.
FILE - In this Feb. 28, 2012, file photo, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, center, celebrates a tentative agreement to build a new arena and keep with the in Sacramento, Calif., with Sacramento Kings owners Joe, left, and Gavin Maloof, right, during a timeout in an NBA basketball game in Sacramento, Calif. After backing out of the deal to build a new arena in Sacramento and announcing the sale of the Kings to a group that wants to move the team to Seattle, the brothers have become the city's most-reviled villains heading into a preliminary NBA meeting on the issue Wednesday, April 3, 2013, in New York. (AP Photo/Steve Yeater, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 28, 2012, file photo, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, center, celebrates a tentative agreement to build a new arena and keep with the in Sacramento, Calif., with Sacramento Kings owners Joe, left, and Gavin Maloof, right, during a timeout in an NBA basketball game in Sacramento, Calif. After backing out of the deal to build a new arena in Sacramento and announcing the sale of the Kings to a group that wants to move the team to Seattle, the brothers have become the city's most-reviled villains heading into a preliminary NBA meeting on the issue Wednesday, April 3, 2013, in New York. (AP Photo/Steve Yeater, File)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Representatives from Sacramento and Seattle are making their presentations before NBA owners, hoping to show their city is the best home for the Kings franchise.
A Seattle group headed by investor Chris Hansen and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has a pending agreement with the Maloof family to buy 65 percent of the team and move it back to the city the SuperSonics left in 2008. Sacramento has put together its own group to make a competing bid.
The sides are meeting Wednesday with members of the Advisory Finance and Relocation committees, comprised of 12 owners.
A group of Sacramento fans wearing Kings jerseys gathered in front of a hotel to greet their side's contingent, led by Mayor Kevin Johnson.
A vote is expected during the owners meeting on April 18-19.
Apartment sales prices grew on average by 12% in the three months to the end of March 2013 with year-on-year growth standing at 27%. In comparison, although average villa sales prices only climbed 5% in Q1 2013, growth over the past 12 months averaged 24%.
The performance of rental rates was also impressive, average apartment and villa rents grew by 3 and 4% compared to Q4 2012, but still managed to climb 19 and 21% respectively over the past 12 months.
"The overall outlook is positive with demand and rates expected to continue to grow. However, this will also mean that some tenants and buyers will be priced out of certain buildings or communities," said John Stevens, Managing Director, Asteco Property Management.
"Prices are not only being driven by tenants relocating, Dubai is also attracting new tenants and those expatriates here are still tending to take a longer-term view of living in Dubai," added Stevens.
The areas that came out on top for villa sales in Q1 2013 were the Meadows which jumped 10% reaching Dhs11,850 per square metre; Jumeirah Islands which rose 9% achieving Dhs13,450 per square metre and the Jumeirah Village which also grew 9% to Dhs6,450 per square metre. Year-on-year villa sales in the Springs grew by 29% to Dhs 9,700 per square metre and the Palm Jumeirah remains the most expensive at Dhs20,450 per square metre.
In terms of apartment sales the top performer in Q1 2013 was Discovery Gardens which increased by 33% to Dhs6,450 per square metre. The only other double-digit growth was recorded in Dubai Marina and Jumeirah Beach Residence, where rates grew 14 and 15% respectively to Dhs12,900 and Dhs12,400. Over the past 12 months once again Discovery Gardens was the top achiever climbing an impressive 50% and again the Palm Jumeirah is the most expensive area with property commanding Dhs16,150 per square metre compared with apartments in DIFC and Downtown Dubai, which now change hands for Dhs15,600 and 15,000 per square metre respectively. The Palm Jumeirah remains the most expensive area, with a three-bedroom villa now costing Dhs325,000 per annum.
"In terms of supply and demand, Dubai is still benefiting from the Arab Spring and the Euro crisis, which was brought into sharper focus recently with the Cypriot banking crisis. Good quality stock is gradually being reduced while the length of time that advertised units stay on the market now is also shortening," added Stevens.
Apartment rental rates grew most during Q1 2013 in International City where a two-bedroom unit increased by 8% to Dhs40,000, while most other areas recorded up to 3% growth. However on an annual basis, a two-bedroom unit in Discovery Gardens now leases for Dhs70,000 a 27% increase. Downtown Dubai and Dubai Marina followed, notching-up increases of 21 and 22% respectively. A two-bedroom apartment in these developments rents on average for between Dhs100,000 and Dhs125,000.
Although the commercial market saw little movement during 2012, it did show some signs of life in Q1 2013. Rental rates in Dubai Investments Park rose 13% to Dhs485 per square metre, while JLT and Tecom rose 20 and 25% respectively to command Dhs654 to Dhs800 per square metre compared to the same period last year. DIFC remains the premium destination for office rental with Dhs2,400 per square foot. Q1 2013 office sales prices grew most notably in JLT (9%) and Business Bay (7%).
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Public release date: 29-Apr-2013
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