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(Reuters) - Flowers Foods Inc
Pending approval from a U.S. bankruptcy court judge, Wonder Bread, along with Butternut, Home Pride, Merita and Nature's Pride, will go to Flowers after no other bidder stepped up to make a competing offer, the source said.
Shares of Flowers, which makes Nature's Own bread and Tastykake snacks, were up 2 percent in late afternoon trade, as the deal is expected to boost the company's margins and earnings.
Wonder Bread, known for its soft, spongy texture and polka-dot wrapper, is an iconic American brand that has been around for decades.
Hostess, which is liquidating its business after 82 years, was set to run an auction on Thursday for the brands, but there will be no auction since there were no other bids, said the source, who declined to be named as the process is private.
There will be an auction for the Beefsteak brand, for which Flowers bid $30 million, since Hostess received a higher bid from Mexico's Grupo Bimbo
Hostess declined to comment. Flowers did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
A Bimbo spokeswoman declined to speculate on how the auction process may unfold, noting that the company has already said there may be Hostess assets that might make strategic sense.
"We'll just have to see how that plays out," spokeswoman Monica Breton Salazar said.
Flowers agreed in January to be the "stalking horse" bidder for bread brands including Wonder Bread, which set a floor for the bidding and was subject to a court-supervised auction.
Flowers, founded in 1919 in Thomasville, Georgia, has grown over the years through a string of acquisitions. It was the one-time owner of well-known names including Keebler Foods and Mrs. Smith's pies.
SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst William Chappell expects the Hostess deal to add at least 30 cents per share to Flowers' earnings once the brands are integrated. He expects to hear more about Flowers' estimates and strategy at a company-sponsored analyst meeting in New York next month. He has a "buy" rating on the stock.
MORE TO COME
Hostess expects to run two more auctions next month. One would be for the Hostess snack cake brands, including Twinkies and Dolly Madison, for which private equity firms Apollo Global Management LLC and C. Dean Metropoulos & Co set the bidding at $410 million.
Grupo Bimbo, the world's largest breadmaker with U.S. products including Entenmann's cakes, Arnold bread and Thomas' English Muffins, was also a candidate to bid for Hostess' snack cake brands which include Twinkies, sources previously told Reuters.
The other auction would be for its Drake's cake business and additional bread brands. So far, McKee Foods, maker of Little Debbie snack cakes, offered $27.5 million for Drake's, which includes Ring Dings, Yodels and Devil Dogs.
United States Bakery Inc, also known as Franz Family Bakery, agreed to pay $28.85 million for the Sweetheart, Eddy's, Standish Farms and Grandma Emilie's bread brands.
Bimbo agreed to buy the North American Sara Lee bread business in 2010 as the company sought to expand its reach in the baked goods market. Selling fresh bread is often a difficult business, as there are a lot of low-cost store branded players.
Hostess obtained permission late last year to wind down its business after a strike by its bakers union crippled the company. The sale of its brands and assets is being run by Joshua Scherer of Perella Weinberg Partners.
Flowers shares ended 2.3 percent higher at $28.32 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday. Grupo Bimbo shares were up 2.7 percent at 33.87 pesos in trading in Mexico City.
(Reporting by Martinne Geller in New York; Editing by Soyoung Kim, Tim Dobbyn and Matthew Lewis)
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With Sony's latest flagship making its UK debut this week, what better way to celebrate than giving one away? The kind people at Expansys have donated a device for one lucky reader in the UK, while the handset is still only open to pre-orders. If you've entered one of our giveaways before, you may think you know the drill -- but hold up there sonny, as things have changed. Head past the break, and you'll be greeted with our new super competition entry machine (well, widget). Now you have a choice of methods to let you take part, and you can enter more than once should you so choose. If you preferred the old way, you can still comment to enter, but be sure to tell us via the widget or we'll never know (but we will check that you did comment). Entries are open until 12pm (GMT) / 5pm ET Friday morning, and be sure to read the terms and conditions. Well... what are you waiting for?
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sony
Source: Expansys UK
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/27/win-a-sony-xperia-z-courtesy-of-expansys/
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A study published today in Biology Letters found that ship noise affects crab metabolism, with largest crabs faring worst, and found little evidence that crabs acclimatise to noise over time.
The team from the Universities of Bristol and Exeter found that crabs exposed to recordings of ship noise showed an increase in metabolic rate, indicating elevated stress. In the real world this could have implications for growth and, if the metabolic cost of noise causes crabs to spend more time foraging to compensate, could also increase the risk of predation.
Researcher Matt Wale from Bristol's School of Biological Sciences describes the study: "We used controlled experiments to consider how shore crabs of different sizes respond to both single and repeated exposure to playback of ship noise. Ship noise is the most common source of noise in the aquatic environment."
Explains Dr Andy Radford, Reader in Behavioural Ecology at Bristol: "We found that the metabolic rate of crabs exposed to ship noise was higher than those experiencing ambient harbour noise, and that larger individuals were affected most strongly. This is the first indication that there might be different responses to noise depending on the size of an individual."
If commercially important crabs and lobsters are affected by noise, these findings have implications for fisheries in busy shipping areas where large individuals may be losing out. Conversely, if reducing noise reduces metabolic costs, then quietening aquaculture facilities may lead to higher yields.
Dr Steve Simpson from the University of Exeter warned: "Since larger crabs are affected more strongly by noise this could have implications for fisheries in noisy areas. Also, many crustacean species, particularly prawns, are grown in aquaculture, so if acoustic disturbance has a metabolic cost then operational noise in farms may impact on growth, and quieter farms may be more profitable."
###
University of Bristol: http://www.bristol.ac.uk
Thanks to University of Bristol for this article.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127041/Ship_noise_makes_crabs_get_crabby
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We've already seen Dell's XPS 10 Windows RT slate torn open for an FCC-certified peek at its internals, but here it is in the filings again with an extra bonus: cellular connectivity. Thanks to its Snapdragon S4 CPU it was already LTE ready and this J42A tags on a W to its part number, packing LTE equipment for bands 4 and 17 which are compatible with AT&T's network. Dell originally mentioned an HSPA+/LTE model would appear after the WiFi version launched and that day is likely close at hand -- a good thing, if you're waiting for an alternative to the Tegra 3-powered ASUS VivoTab RT with LTE.
Filed under: Tablets, Wireless, AT&T, Dell
Source: FCC
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The bones of Richard III, who reigned for two years, have been discovered in Leicester, England, and they indicate that his spine was twisted by scoliosis and that he received eight head wounds in battle. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.
By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News
Nine distant relatives of King Richard III are demanding that the British government reverse its decision to have his skeleton reburied at Leicester Cathedral, near the parking lot where it was found, and give it a resting place in York instead.
The open letter, published late Sunday by British newspapers such as The Telegraph and the Daily Mail, is just one of several efforts seeking a burial at York Minster for the more than 500-year-old remains, which were discovered last year by researchers from the University of Leicester. This month, the researchers said DNA analysis and other forensic tests proved "beyond reasonable doubt" that the skeleton was that of Richard III.
The English monarch reigned for just two years before he was killed in battle in 1485, but he was immortalized in William Shakespeare's play, "Richard III," in which he was portrayed as a hunchbacked villain. Richard III's legions of modern-day fans say he wasn't really all that bad ? and the row over what to do with his bones has added a new twist to the drama.
"We, the undernamed, do hereby most respectfully demand that the remains of King Richard III, the last Plantagenet King of England and our mutual ancestor, be returned to the city of York for formal, ceremonial reburial," the statement from his relatives says. "We believe that such an interment was the desire of King Richard in life and we have written this statement so that his wishes may be fully recognised and upheld. King Richard III was the last King of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty which had ruled England since the succession of King Henry II in 1154.
"We, the undernamed blood descendants, unreservedly believe that King Richard is deserving of great recognition and respect and hereby agree to dutifully uphold his memory.
"With due humility and affection, we are and will remain His Majesty?s representatives and voice."
The statement was signed by nine individuals who have traced their ancestry back to Richard III's siblings. The nine signers are?Charles E. Brunner, Stephen Guy Nicolay, Vanessa Maria Roe, Jacob Daniel Tyler, Paul Tyler, Raymond Torrence Bertram Roe, Linda Jane Roe, Eleanor Bianca Lupton and Charlotte Jane Lupton. Richard died childless and thus has no direct-line descendants.
Even before the remains were found, the British Ministry of Justice granted a license putting the University of Leicester in charge of the parking-lot dig and the disposition of any remains found there."The University of Leicester specified in its application that reinterment would occur in Leicester Cathedral if the remains were proved to be those of King Richard III," the institution said in a statement.
The university is currently working with the cathedral and Leicester's city council on plans for his reburial by August 2014. In the meantime, researchers are continuing to study the remains.
The long lead time means that the tug of war between Leicester and York, two cities that are 100 miles (160 kilometers) from each other, could continue for months. There are even those who want to see the remains interred in London's Westminster Abbey. But the nine relatives behind this week's open letter have no more standing than the other descendants of Richard III's family, who doubtless number in the thousands by now.
In that light, Leicester seems to have the strongest case, by virtue of legal grounds as well as the less rigorous "finders, keepers" rule and the dictum that possession is nine-tenths of the law. Do you disagree? Feel free to weigh in with your comments below.
More about Richard III:
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
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Parents are demanding answers after a Texas teacher reportedly invited female students to dress up in Islamic garb and told the class to refer to Muslim terrorists as freedom fighters.
Texas state Sen. Dan Patrick, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, has launched an investigation into the incident. He told Fox News he was disturbed after seeing a photograph of female students wearing burqas and learning that students were reportedly taught that the cause for Egypt?s turmoil is democracy, not the Muslim Brotherhood, based on an article by the Washington Post.
The lesson on Islam was apparently taught in a world geography class at Lumberton High School in Lumberton, Texas, Fox News Radio?s Todd Starnes reports.
One parent told Fox News she was ?outraged? after she discovered a photograph of her 14-year-old daughter wearing a burqa on Facebook. ?I felt my blood press go through my head,? she added.
?As parents we should have been made aware of this and?I felt like the line had been crossed,? the parent said. ?Christian kids who want to pray have to do it outside of school hours ? yet Islam is being taught to our kids during school hours.?
The girl?s dad wants to know why his daughter was learning about Islam in a geography course.
More from Fox News:
The parents said they confronted their daughter and told her to explain exactly what she had been taught.
?They were asked about their perception of Islam,? she said. ?Most of the class said they thought about terrorism. And her response was, ?we?re going to change the way we perceive Islam.??
The teacher reportedly told the students that she did not necessarily agree with the lessons ?but she was required to teach the material.
Sen. Patrick said he can relate to parents? frustration.
?Could you imagine if someone asked a Muslim student to dress up as a priest? The parents of a Muslim student might be rather upset about that,? he said.
The Lumberton Independent School District defended the lesson on Islam in a statement to Fox News, saying ?the lesson that was offered focused on exposing students to world cultures, religions, customs and belief systems.?
?The lesson is not teaching a specific religion, and the students volunteered to wear the clothing,? the statement added.
According to the school district, Christianity and Judaism were also part of the lesson ? but the parents claim Christianity was not discussed in the class.
When the parents contacted the principal at the high school, he told them the content was required under CSCOPE, a controversial online curriculum system that provides lesson plans to teachers across the state of Texas. However, the school district claims the lesson on Islam was not part of CSCOPE.
Janice VanCleave, founder of Texas CSCOPE Review, said that is a typical response from a school system that uses CSCOPE. She also said teachers are not giving students the whole story about Islam.
?They are not telling students how these young women are treated in this religion?In the Islamic countries women are not treated well at all,? she told Fox News.
VanCleave argues that CSCOPE offers no comparable lessons on Christianity or Judaism.
?I do think CSCOPE promotes the Islamic religion,? she added. ?I don?t think it?s right to be proselytizing the Islamic religion in our schools.?
Meanwhile, every time lawmakers have asked CSCOPE leaders about Islamic lessons, they have been told ?those were old lessons,? Patrick said.
CSCOPE is the same curriculum system that referred to the Boston Tea Party as an act of terrorism and asked students to design a flag for a new socialist nation.
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Collaborations and mergers among nonprofits certainly aren?t new, but much of what nonprofit leaders know about them comes from our for-profit counterparts.
Nonprofit collaborations are no better and no worse than those done by for-profits. They?re simply different. As I wrote in a previous post, for-profit collaborations and mergers are driven by financial motivations including cost savings, but charities are unlikely to reap any savings for years, if at all. For nonprofits, the primary driver to merge or collaborate should be to help them achieve their missions. Mergers and collaborations are strategic tools. They do not have to be a last resort.
The Great Recession and the protracted recovery have sparked renewed interest in nonprofit collaborations. But resources dedicated to helping them carry out their plans are scarce, so many groups don?t know where to begin.
For two years, the Nonprofit Finance Fund has worked with five major grant makers on the Catalyst Fund for Nonprofits, which provides guidance and technical assistance for Boston-area organizations that are exploring, planning, or implementing strategic collaborations and mergers. And in an effort to demystify the process for all nonprofits, the fund has produced two free publications?a case study and a report about the first two years of the Catalyst Fund?s work.
The case study tells the story of one nonprofit merger, and the report includes interviews with 40 people involved in various ways with mergers or collaborations: those who have provided financial support, executives and board members of groups that received support?and of some that were denied support?as well as consultants and others.
So what are we learning about successful collaboration? What does it take?
Effective leadership.? The level of organizational change dictated by a collaboration or merger requires leadership from many people close to the nonprofit. Leaders?both board and staff?with prior collaboration experience can be invaluable assets, lending perspective and raising important issues.? And a talented and organized chief financial officer can help facilitate the exchange of information and reporting that is a critical part of due diligence.
Part of what makes leaders effective in nonprofit collaborations is the ability to build trusting relationships. In the merger featured in our case study, between two agencies that provide services for the homeless, an executive reflected that early in the process ?someone should have held a cocktail party? to help build personal relationships between staff and board members. In her experience, when conversations got tense or an agreement felt elusive, personal relationships helped move conversations forward.
Clear and aligned objectives.? Partner organizations with a strong sense of their own priorities are often better positioned to achieve the common goals of their collaboration. We?ve found that when organizations have recently undertaken a strategic-planning process, their reasons and goals for collaboration were clearer and it was more likely to be a success. In my experience, it?s when the goals of the groups were unclear or conflicted that the collaborative venture can stall or stop altogether. The simple question, ?What are we trying to achieve together and why?? can lead to candid conversations among partners and help prevent roadblocks. The motivations and goals of the partners don?t have to be identical, but articulating them clearly fosters transparency and helps manage expectations throughout the process.
Resources and expertise.? The reality is that strategic collaborations are expensive and require professional guidance. Experts can provide technical assistance and help with governance, finance, program design, and legal issues, and they can facilitate challenging discussions and negotiations. In Catalyst Fund ventures, nonprofits rely on the fund?s technical assistance but are also urged to tap experts on their board or draw on staff members who have collaboration experience. Pro bono help is great when you can get it, but expert assistance isn?t always free.
Costs can add up, and the participating groups may need additional dollars for advisory services, new technology, severance pay, or a re-direction of staff time. Once the merger is complete, the groups may be able to save money, but there is a long time horizon for realizing those savings.
Sources of financial support for collaborations, like the Catalyst Fund, can go a long way, but there?s a limit to how much they can do. In Boston, we aren?t able to support every proposal, and as groups that we do support move closer to their objectives, their needs may grow beyond the level that the fund can finance.
As the landscape of the social sector changes, it?s incumbent upon all grant makers and donors who care about preserving, improving, and expanding programs and services to support these strategic organizational tools.
At the Catalyst Fund, we hope that insights from our work supporting collaboration can help change inaccurate perceptions about nonprofit collaborations and mergers?and we are not alone. Grant makers in Charlotte, N.C.; Cuyahoga County, Ohio; New York City, and across California have also been working together to advance strategic collaboration in their communities. Their work, too, is enriching the available body of knowledge and building a track record of inspiring examples.
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With Samsung stepping on Blackberry's enterprise turf via its SAFE with Knox launch, it's not too surprising the Canadian outfit has a few choice words on the subject. We spoke with mobile computing Executive VP David J. Smith, who finds it "flattering" that Samsung is taking a similar interest in enterprise security, but said it may take awhile to catch up since his own company's been doing it "since 1999." He said that experience means "nothing is more secure" than BB10 smartphones combined with its Balance work/home app and Blackberry Enterprise Service 10 (BES). Of course, the latter now supports Android and iOS devices, but Smith added that the main problem with Samsung's approach is Android itself -- which he feels brings its own bag of insecure worms to the enterprise space.
With Samsung touting Knox's ability to separate enterprise functions from a user's "personal space," Smith pointed to the Balance app -- which has been doing that since 2011 -- claiming it's the only solution that "can effectively keep sensitive corporate information secure while keeping an individual's personal information private." In contrast, Smith said Android is still inherently "vulnerable" due to its open nature, while BB engineered its Blackberry OS kernel in-house to be secure and that aspect was "completely understood" by company engineers. He added that programmers are constantly fine-tuning those features for its own BB10 and legacy handsets, adding that it would bring new Android and iOS "containers" and other features later this year to further boost security for those devices. Naturally, the outfit's likely hoping you'll want one of its shiny new devices to swipe or click, but failing that, says that you'll be the most secure under its BES 10 umbrella, regardless of your handset.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Software, Mobile, Blackberry
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/f_HOFMSN0S0/
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OPINION: Somali al Qaida affiliate al-Shabab woke up one January morning to discover that its popular English-language Twitter account - @HSMPress - had been suspended, apparently because it had issued a direct, specific threat of violence in breach of Twitter's terms of service.
This rare termination dusted off one of the counterterrorism industry's most-cobwebbed and least-resolved debates: Should we let terrorist groups use the internet, or should we try to knock them offline?
When the debate first started, not long after 9/11, terrorist use of social media - anything from message boards to Facebook accounts - was concentrated in a relative few channels. Today, it's spread to hundreds of different outlets, including multiple dedicated web forums, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and beyond.
Stopping terrorists from spreading their propaganda online (using US-based internet companies to boot) seems like a no-brainer to many. But within the terrorism studies community, there are two common and sincere objections to disruptive approaches for countering violent extremism online.
The first objection is that knocking terrorists offline "doesn't work", because when you eliminate one account, the terrorists just open up a new account under a different name - which is exactly what al-Shabab did after a little more than a week. And then, the theory goes, you're back to square one. It's a high-tech game of whack-a-mole.
The second objection is that forcing terrorists off the internet destroys a valuable source of intelligence, because government, academic and private sector researchers rely on these online operations for information about what distant groups are doing and who supports them.
"The intelligence community took the position that you cannot take this stuff, you cannot take these sites, down," intelligence historian Matthew Aid told Voice of America last year after a number of jihadist forums went offline. The argument was that more information was gained "by monitoring these sites than any possible advantage that could be derived from shutting them down. And the intelligence community prevailed on this point."
Until now, there has been precious little data in the public domain to clearly support or refute either notion. But al-Shabab's termination is what scientists call a "found experiment" - a free lunch in which the universe hands you the data you need to test a theory.
Al-Shabab is a particularly useful example, since its Twitter account has by most measures been one of the most successful terrorist forays into popular social media. But it's not the only one. Jabhat al-Nusra already has more Twitter followers than al-Shabab ever did, and jihadis are by no means the only extremists using the medium. So the lessons learned from this example are likely to have broad applications.
Theory One: Disruption accomplishes nothing because they just come roaring back
I collected a list of @HSMPress's followers on January 16, less than a week before the account was suspended on January 25. At the time, al-Shabab had nearly 21,000 followers. As of Sunday, February 17, two weeks after its creation, the new account had just passed the 2400-follower mark.
Obviously, al-Shabab will continue to rebuild its follower network, but a disruption doesn't have to be permanent to be effective. From January 26 to February 17, al-Shabab averaged about 1300 followers per day. It currently has less than 12 per cent of its former reach. And its followers are in no hurry to come back.
If it maintains its current rate of growth, al-Shabab will need six months to a year to rebuild its former network. While that pace could well accelerate, there's also no guarantee the account will ever fully recover.
Significantly, Al Jazeera English did a story on al-Shabab's return during the period used to make this forecast. The story linked directly to al-Shabab's account, yet it barely moved the needle in terms of generating new followers for the Somali terrorists.
So the termination is likely to produce months or more of disadvantage to al-Shabab. Its ability to communicate with fans and generate a supportive social network certainly hasn't been eliminated, but it's been seriously and measurably damaged for a fairly significant length of time.
This isn't the only dataset suggesting that disruptions to online extremist networks do long-term damage. An ambitious New America Foundation paper published recently by Aaron Zelin, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, tracked the number of posts per day at the most important jihadi message forums.
Zelin also benefited from a found experiment when two of the three top forums he was tracking were knocked offline for a significant amount of time. The cause of the disruption is still unknown, but its effects were easy to see in Zelin's data.
While two of the three forums were offline, the third one picked up some activity - but not nearly enough to compensate for the loss of other two. The overall number of posts per day plummeted by 80 percent. After the two disrupted forums returned, their posts per day ran 13 percent lower than before the takedown.
One reason the disruption was less severe on the forums than on Twitter has to do with the structure of each network. When al-Shabab's Twitter account was terminated, it lost all of its followers and had to rebuild from scratch. User accounts on the forums can be backed up, so users did not have to re-register and they could jump right back in.
The forums are also destination web sites; you go there seeking out specific kinds of discussion and community. On Twitter, where attention spans are shorter, most users follow multiple accounts, so the loss of @HSMPress was more easily overlooked.
Importantly, although there's a web forum devoted specifically to al-Shabab, it has never gained nearly the same kind of traction that the Arabic jihadist forums enjoy. Al-Shabab is much more reliant on social media than the broader global jihadist community, so the termination of its Twitter account was a pretty big deal.
Theory Two: You lose valuable intelligence by knocking terrorists offline
@HSMPress had 21,000 followers - surely that's more useful than 2400, right? It's intuitive to think that more is better in the intelligence business - no matter how many times solid leads drown while we try to drink from the fire hose.
But although we're still getting the same basic information from the account's tweets, our ability to evaluate al-Shabab's social network of supporters just got a big boost.
Twitter accounts accrue followers; that is their nature. Some of those followers are indiscriminate about who they link up with, others become inactive over time. Some are curiosity-seekers with a casual interest who are too lazy to unfollow. The vast majority are simply passive consumers of information.
Any time you can weed a data set down from large and fuzzy down to small and focused, you're winning the intelligence game. The active social network that springs up around a propaganda account is its most important feature, and to study it, you need to winnow that list of 21,000 users down to the handful who are really engaged.
There are many different ways to do this, but here's just one, and it happens to be easy. We know who followed al-Shabab in January, and we know follows al-Shabab at its new account. There's noise in the new list of 2400 followers as well, but we can use a comparison of the two lists to figure out who among the first group made a conscious effort to find and follow al-Shabab at its new address.
The former followers who quickly signed up for al-Shabab's new Twitter account - just 882 users - have a serious interest in the al Qaida affiliate's activities.
While there is still some noise in the set - well over 100 journalists and researchers, for instance - this smaller group forms a strong starting point for analysis. We know these users are more likely to be very interested in al-Shabab, and the number is manageable enough that a single analyst can look at each account individually to make a more sophisticated evaluation.
A concerted effort to keep al-Shabab off Twitter forever would indeed cost Western observers valuable intelligence. But "forever" is only one option in a universe of possibilities. The "found experiment" of al-Shabab's Twitter suspension demonstrates that disrupting terrorists online doesn't hurt intelligence-gathering. It strengthens it.
In the world of countering violent extremism, opinions are plentiful, but unambiguous data are rare. Al-Shabab's travails provide us with clear evidence for the value of disruption.
All of this illustrates an important but oft overlooked point: Strategy doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing proposition.
Total suppression of extremists on the internet would cost us real intelligence, but that isn't a reason to just let them do whatever they want.
By making their lives difficult, we make ours easier in ways large and small.
- JM?Berger is editor of Intelwire.com and author of "Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam."
Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/8353821/The-case-for-letting-terrorists-use-Twitter
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? Nearly three years after a deadly rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico triggered the nation's worst offshore oil spill, a federal judge in New Orleans is set to preside over a high-stakes trial for the raft of litigation spawned by the disaster.
Barring an 11th-hour settlement, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier will hear several hours of opening statements Monday by lawyers for the companies involved in the 2010 spill and the plaintiffs who sued them. And the judge, not a jury, ultimately could decide how much more money BP PLC and its partners on the ill-fated drilling project owe for their roles in the environmental catastrophe.
BP has said it already has racked up more than $24 billion in spill-related expenses and has estimated it will pay a total of $42 billion to fully resolve its liability for the disaster that killed 11 workers and spewed millions of gallons of oil.
But the trial attorneys for the federal government and Gulf states and private plaintiffs hope to convince the judge that the company is liable for much more.
With billions of dollars on the line, the companies and their courtroom adversaries have spared no expense in preparing for a trial that could last several months. Hundreds of attorneys have worked on the case, generating roughly 90 million pages of documents, logging nearly 9,000 docket entries and taking more than 300 depositions of witnesses who could testify at trial.
"In terms of sheer dollar amounts and public attention, this is one of the most complex and massive disputes ever faced by the courts," said Fordham University law professor Howard Erichson, an expert in complex litigation.
Barbier has promised he won't let the case drag on for years as has the litigation over the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, which still hasn't been completely resolved. He encouraged settlement talks that already have resolved billions of dollars in spill-related claims.
"Judge Barbier has managed the case actively and moved it along toward trial pretty quickly," Erichson said.
In December, Barbier gave final approval to a settlement between BP and Plaintiffs' Steering Committee lawyers representing Gulf Coast businesses and residents who claim the spill cost them money. BP estimates it will pay roughly $8.5 billion to resolve tens of thousands of these claims, but the deal doesn't have a cap.
BP resolved a Justice Department criminal probe by agreeing to plead guilty to manslaughter and other charges and pay $4 billion in criminal penalties. Deepwater Horizon rig owner Transocean Ltd. reached a separate settlement with the federal government, pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge and agreeing to pay $1.4 billion in criminal and civil penalties.
But there's plenty left for the lawyers to argue about at trial, given that the federal government and Gulf states haven't resolved civil claims against the company that could be worth more than $20 billion.
The Justice Department and private plaintiffs' attorneys have said they would prove BP acted with gross negligence before the blowout of its Macondo well on April 20, 2010.
BP's civil penalties would soar if Barbier agrees with that claim.
BP, meanwhile, argues the federal government's estimate of how much oil spewed from the well ? more than 200 million gallons ? is inflated by at least 20 percent. Clean Water Act penalties are based on how many barrels of oil spilled.
Barbier plans to hold the trial in at least two phases and may issue partial rulings at the end of each. The first phase, which could last three months, is designed to determine what caused the blowout and assign percentages of blame to the companies involved. The second phase will address efforts to stop the flow of oil from the well and aims to determine how much crude spilled into the Gulf.
The trial originally was scheduled to start a year ago, but Barbier postponed it to allow BP to wrap up its settlement with the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee.
Barbier, 68, was nominated by President Bill Clinton and has served on the court since 1998. He had a private law practice, primarily representing small businesses and other plaintiffs in civil cases, and served as president of the New Orleans Bar Association before he joined the bench.
Dane Ciolino, a Loyola University law professor who has represented criminal defendants in Barbier's court, described him as a "no-nonsense" but even-tempered judge.
"He's very good at getting down to the pertinent issues," Ciolino said. "Some judges could be described as impatient, short or gruff. He is none of that."
Despite the bitter disputes at the root of the case, Barbier has maintained a collegial atmosphere at his monthly status conferences with the lawyers, cracking an occasional joke or good-naturedly ribbing attorneys over their college football allegiances.
Cordial with each other in the courtroom, the competing attorneys have saved their harshest rhetoric for court filings or news releases. Despite its settlement with BP last year, the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee attorneys won't be allies at trial with the London-based oil giant. And they still haven't resolved civil claims against Transocean or cement contractor Halliburton.
"These three companies' reckless, greed-driven conduct killed 11 good men, polluted the Gulf for years and left the region's economy in shambles. Any statement to the contrary is self-serving nonsense," Steve Herman, a lead plaintiffs' attorney, said in a recent statement.
A series of government investigations has exhaustively documented the mistakes that led to the blowout, spreading the blame among the companies. Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange said witnesses scheduled to testify at trial will reveal new information about the cause of the disaster.
"I think you're going to learn a lot, particularly about the culture that existed at BP and their priorities," Strange said.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/trial-set-open-gulf-oil-spill-litigation-092735476.html
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Louis Lanzano / AP file
By Us Weekly
Howard Stern is adding his voice to the very public, very messy back-and-forth between Kelly Clarkson and Clive Davis. The radio shock jock, who is known more often for slamming celebrities than defending them, took a surprisingly sympathetic stance toward the "American Idol" alum's accusations that Davis had "bullied" her during their collaborations -- and mischaracterized her in his memoir, "The Soundtrack of My Life."
"I always find it sickening when management guys like to set the record straight about how f--king creative and what geniuses they are," Stern said on his show on Wednesday, Feb. 20. "And, like, this guy's trying to diminish what she does? Doesn't he have enough in life? Can't he sort of tell his story without f--king degrading her and putting her down?"
PHOTOS: Shocking celeb feuds
Earlier this week, Clarkson, 30, took to her blog to slam what she called Davis' "memory lapses and misinformation."
"First, he says I burst into 'hysterical sobbing' in his office when he demanded 'Since U Been Gone' be on my album. Not true at all," she wrote of her 2004 album?"Breakaway." "I cried because he hated ["Because of You"] and told me verbatim that I was a 's--tty writer who should be grateful for the gifts that he bestows upon me.'"?
The legendary 80-year-old record producer defended the details of his memoir, though he did own up to "a few creative differences' in their years working together.
PHOTOS: Kelly's funny night at the Grammys 2013
"As anyone who has read 'The Soundtrack of My Life' knows, I think Kelly Clarkson is a tremendous vocal talent and performer," he wrote on Twitter one day later, on Wednesday, Feb. 20. "In the book, I provide an in-depth look at our years together during which we shared major multi-platinum success, as well as a few creative differences. I am truly very sorry that she has decided to take issue with what I know to be an accurate depiction of our time together."
Stern's comments Wednesday similarly praised Clarkson's vocal prowess, though he too saw Davis' memoir as a knock on the "Stronger" singer's talents.
PHOTOS: Kelly's body evolution
"I think she has an amazing voice, and the girl has worked hard to get to where she is," he said. "I don't understand Clive Davis' motivation for knocking this chick down."
The 59-year-old radio host is no stranger to controversy himself, having come under fire earlier this year after calling 'Girls' creator Lena Dunham a "little fat girl" and likening the HBO show's sex scenes to "rape" -- he offered Dunham an on-air apology a few days later.
"It makes me feel bad, and I think she is getting the impression that I somehow think she's just a talentless little fat chick," he said.
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By MICHAEL FREEZE
Sa.Blockshopper.com
23508 Wilderness Paw, San Antonio
Asking Price: $1.5 million
Beds: 5
Baths: 4 full; 1 partial
Listing Agent: Kimberly Howell, Kimberly Howell Properties
Built in 2005, this luxurious custom home in Fossil Ridge spans more than two acres and features wood and ceramic tile floors throughout and brick accents. The open floor plan consists of a foyer area that leads into the formal living that includes custom woodwork and trayed ceilings, plus a formal dining room space that offers access to the patio for great views.
The family gathering area features built-in shelving, high ceilings and a fireplace.
The gourmet kitchen consists of stainless steel appliances such as a sub-zero refrigerator, a six-burner Wolf stove along with a huge counter-top island that also serves as a breakfast bar setting.
The master bedroom features a bath unit with a walk-in shower, two shower heads and whirlpool tub.
The outer grounds feature a covered patio with breathtaking views. The back also includes a cabana with an outdoor kitchen, infinity edge pool and spa and a lighted tennis court. Other amenities include a main level guest suite and game room with media setup.
By MICHAEL FREEZE Sa.Blockshopper.com 23508 Wilderness Paw, San Antonio Asking Price: $1.5 million Beds: 5 Baths: 4 full; 1 partial Listing Agent: Kimberly Howell, Kimberly Howell Properties Built in 2005, this luxurious custom home in Fossil Ridge spans more than two acres and features wood and ceramic tile floors throughout and brick accents. The open [...]
Source: http://blog.mysanantonio.com/homes/2013/02/northwest-home-features-scenic-vista-and-gourmet-kitchen/
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Human papillomavirus (HPV) takes home first prize for popularity, followed by?chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes, hepatitis B, HIV, and trichomoniasis (in no particular order). More than half of the infections occur in the county?s young adult population, affecting those between the ages of 15 and 24.?
The lead author of one of two studies says that the nation is facing, "an ongoing, severe, STI epidemic."
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STDs offer more than stigma and discomfort, they can be the source of severe and long-term health problems. Not only do STDs increase a person?s risk for HIV infection, they can result in vexing health complications. Untreated chlamydia or gonorrhea, for instance, can put a woman at increased risk of chronic pelvic pain and potentially fatal ectopic pregnancy, as well as increased risk of infertility. HPV accounts for the majority of newly acquired STDs, and while 90 percent of these infections will go away on their own, the tenacious ones can potentially lead to serious diseases such as cervical cancer.?
And then there?s the economic impact: The diseases collectively require nearly $17 billion a year to treat.
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Four of the infections - chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and trichomoniasis - respond well to treatment and can be cured if discovered early, yet many of these cases go undetected because they often are not accompanied by any symptoms. The CDC urges all people who are sexually active to get STD screening and prompt treatment if necessary.
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All of the STDs with a role in this epidemic are preventable. To protect oneself against STDs, the CDC recommends several options: Abstaining from sex, reducing the number of sexual partners, and consistently and correctly using condoms.Related stories on MNN:
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Brutal news this afternoon out of Yankees camp.
According to Jack Curry of the YES Network, outfielder Curtis Granderson has been diagnosed with a fractured right forearm and will need 10 weeks of rest and rehab. Which means he probably won?t be ready for action until late April or early May.
Granderson suffered the injury when he was plunked by the Blue Jays? J.A. Happ in the second inning of Sunday?s Grapefruit League game. It was originally labeled as a bruise, but X-rays showed otherwise.
Matt Diaz and Juan Rivera are the internal options to replace Granderson, though the Yankees could opt to upgrade via trade or free agent signing. Scott Podsednik, Johnny Damon and Bobby Abreu are available.
Brett Gardner is now certain to open the 2013 season as the Yankees? starting center fielder.
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Contact: F. Ossing
ossing@gfz-potsdam.de
49-331-288-1040
Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
The islands Reunion and Mauritius, both well-known tourist destinations, are hiding a micro-continent, which has now been discovered. The continent fragment known as Mauritia detached about 60 million years ago while Madagascar and India drifted apart, and had been hidden under huge masses of lava. Such micro-continents in the oceans seem to occur more frequently than previously thought, says a study in the latest issue of Nature Geoscience ("A Precambrian microcontinent in the Indian Ocean," Nature Geoscience, Vol 6, doi: 10.1038/NGEO1736).
The break-up of continents is often associated with mantle plumes: These giant bubbles of hot rock rise from the deep mantle and soften the tectonic plates from below, until the plates break apart at the hotspots. This is how Eastern Gondwana broke apart about 170 million years ago. At first, one part was separated, which in turn fragmented into Madagascar, India, Australia and Antarctica, which then migrated to their present position.
Plumes currently situated underneath the islands Marion and Reunion appear to have played a role in the emergence of the Indian Ocean. If the zone of the rupture lies at the edge of a land mass (in this case Madagascar / India), fragments of this land mass may be separated off. The Seychelles are a well-known example of such a continental fragment.
A group of geoscientists from Norway, South Africa, Britain and Germany have now published a study that suggests, based on the study of lava sand grains from the beach of Mauritius, the existence of further fragments. The sand grains contain semi-precious zircons aged between 660 and 1970 million years, which is explained by the fact that the zircons were carried by the lava as it pushed through subjacent continental crust of this age.
This dating method was supplemented by a recalculation of plate tectonics, which explains exactly how and where the fragments ended up in the Indian Ocean. Dr. Bernhard Steinberger of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences and Dr. Pavel Doubrovine of Oslo University calculated the hotspot trail: "On the one hand, it shows the position of the plates relative to the two hotspots at the time of the rupture, which points towards a causal relation," says
Steinberger. "On the other hand, we were able to show that the continent fragments continued to wander almost exactly over the Reunion plume, which explains how they were covered by volcanic rock." So what was previously interpreted only as the trail of the Reunion hotspot, are continental fragments which were previously not recognized as such because they were covered by the volcanic rocks of the Reunion plume. It therefore appears that such micro-continents in the ocean occur more frequently than previously thought.
###
Torsvik, T.H., Amundsen, H., Hartz, E.H., Corfu, F., Kusznir, N., Gaina, C., Doubrovine, P.V., Steinberger B., Ashwal, L.D. & Jamtveit, B., A Precambrian microcontinent in the Indian Ocean", Nature Geoscience, Vol. 6, doi:10.1038/NGEO1736.
A picture in printable resolution can be found here: http://www.gfz-potsdam.de/portal/gfz/Public+Relations/M40-Bildarchiv/Bildergalerie+Mauritia/130222_Reunion_Hotspot
?
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.
Contact: F. Ossing
ossing@gfz-potsdam.de
49-331-288-1040
Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
The islands Reunion and Mauritius, both well-known tourist destinations, are hiding a micro-continent, which has now been discovered. The continent fragment known as Mauritia detached about 60 million years ago while Madagascar and India drifted apart, and had been hidden under huge masses of lava. Such micro-continents in the oceans seem to occur more frequently than previously thought, says a study in the latest issue of Nature Geoscience ("A Precambrian microcontinent in the Indian Ocean," Nature Geoscience, Vol 6, doi: 10.1038/NGEO1736).
The break-up of continents is often associated with mantle plumes: These giant bubbles of hot rock rise from the deep mantle and soften the tectonic plates from below, until the plates break apart at the hotspots. This is how Eastern Gondwana broke apart about 170 million years ago. At first, one part was separated, which in turn fragmented into Madagascar, India, Australia and Antarctica, which then migrated to their present position.
Plumes currently situated underneath the islands Marion and Reunion appear to have played a role in the emergence of the Indian Ocean. If the zone of the rupture lies at the edge of a land mass (in this case Madagascar / India), fragments of this land mass may be separated off. The Seychelles are a well-known example of such a continental fragment.
A group of geoscientists from Norway, South Africa, Britain and Germany have now published a study that suggests, based on the study of lava sand grains from the beach of Mauritius, the existence of further fragments. The sand grains contain semi-precious zircons aged between 660 and 1970 million years, which is explained by the fact that the zircons were carried by the lava as it pushed through subjacent continental crust of this age.
This dating method was supplemented by a recalculation of plate tectonics, which explains exactly how and where the fragments ended up in the Indian Ocean. Dr. Bernhard Steinberger of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences and Dr. Pavel Doubrovine of Oslo University calculated the hotspot trail: "On the one hand, it shows the position of the plates relative to the two hotspots at the time of the rupture, which points towards a causal relation," says
Steinberger. "On the other hand, we were able to show that the continent fragments continued to wander almost exactly over the Reunion plume, which explains how they were covered by volcanic rock." So what was previously interpreted only as the trail of the Reunion hotspot, are continental fragments which were previously not recognized as such because they were covered by the volcanic rocks of the Reunion plume. It therefore appears that such micro-continents in the ocean occur more frequently than previously thought.
###
Torsvik, T.H., Amundsen, H., Hartz, E.H., Corfu, F., Kusznir, N., Gaina, C., Doubrovine, P.V., Steinberger B., Ashwal, L.D. & Jamtveit, B., A Precambrian microcontinent in the Indian Ocean", Nature Geoscience, Vol. 6, doi:10.1038/NGEO1736.
A picture in printable resolution can be found here: http://www.gfz-potsdam.de/portal/gfz/Public+Relations/M40-Bildarchiv/Bildergalerie+Mauritia/130222_Reunion_Hotspot
?
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.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-02/haog-foc022213.php
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The Zambian government has reportedly engaged Chinese experts to install a secret internet monitoring facility in the country. In tandem with this move, President Michael Sata has given authorization to the Special Division of the Office of the President (also known as the Zambian Security Intelligence Service) to monitor the telephone and online communications of anyone living in Zambia if ordered to do so by the Attorney General.
Authorities plan to start monitoring social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, blogs, email services, and ?unfriendly? websites. The government has allegedly spent close to K10 billion (about US$1.8m) on the partnership with Chinese technologists.
Independent news site the Zambian Watchdog reports that ZICTA (Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority) officials asked telephone and internet service providers to allow information technology specialists from both the Office of the President and China to visit their facilities and study their network architecture, in order to identify places in the network where authorities could develop interception capabilities, or a ?backdoor? for monitoring. ComputerWorld reports that both Zambian and Chinese authorities have declined to comment on reports about their cooperation.
An anonymous source told the Zambian Watchdog:
They have already started their work [?] They have been visiting service providers so as to understand the topology of network. For those who may not know, it (topology) is appreciating the network architecture, things like where the servers are so that they know [where] to install their interception devices.
Service providers said that government intrusion on people?s private conversations had the potential to affect investor confidence as people would be reluctant to subscribe to their networks or speak for long periods on their phones, a change that could affect companies? revenue.
You know what, when people speak for a long time on the phone, mobile phone company providers make more money. But you will now have a situation where people will merely call each other for setting-up interpersonal meetings to discuss confidential information, unlike in the past when others would even have mobile conference meetings.
The shift will likely bring about reductions in email subscriptions on platforms such as Coppernet, Zamnet, Iconnect, all of which are provided by Zambian ISPs and therefore will soon become vulnerable to enhanced government monitoring tactics. The change will likely encourage Zambians to set up free private email addresses provided by Gmail, Yahoo and others.
Unfortunately, these are not the only restrictive measures that Michael Sata has imposed during his presidency. Soon after taking office in 2011, he ordered his newly appointed Attorney General to exert control over online news publications.
The government also initiated a SIM card registration policy requiring citizens to register their cell phone SIM cards with the ZICTA. The negative effects of this policy were felt during by-elections in some parts of the country recently when citizens began receiving unsolicited messages encouraging them to vote for particular government candidates.
Global Voices Advocacy will continue to cover these policy developments as they unfold in Zambia.
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Source: http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2013/02/23/zambia-chinese-experts-to-monitor-internet/
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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Bigger stars, more music and edgier comedy are on the menu for Sunday's Oscar ceremony, when the most coveted awards in the movie industry are handed out during a glittering Academy Awards show.
Producers of the three-hour Oscar telecast at Hollywood's Dolby Theatre are promising a faster-paced show and more face time with first-time host Seth MacFarlane, while honoring the best films not just of 2012 but also of decades past.
"We have more performances on that stage than we can ever remember there being in the past. And we are not trotting people out just to sing and dance. Every single thing you see on that stage will be related to movies," said Craig Zadan, who is producing the Oscar telecast for the first time with Neil Meron.
"We have devised ways that we are hoping will make the pacing faster ... That doesn't mean we are not going to give as much weight to honoring the winners, but there has been a lot of dead space in the show (in the past)," Zadan told Reuters.
Steven Spielberg's presidential movie "Lincoln" heads into Sunday's ceremony with a leading 12 nominations, followed by Ang Lee's shipwreck tale "Life of Pi" with 11, French Revolutionary musical "Les Miserables" and romantic comedy "Silver Linings Playbook" with eight apiece, and Iran hostage drama "Argo" with seven.
All five are competing for Best Picture, the top prize, in a tight race that has narrowed in recent weeks to "Lincoln" or "Argo" and will be the last to be announced on Sunday night.
JAMES BOND AND MUSICALS
Before then, Zadan and Meron have assembled an array of performers and presenters that almost outshine the actors, actresses, directors and screenwriters who have been waiting since early January to see if they will go home with a golden Oscar.
They include A-listers Barbra Streisand, Jack Nicholson, Jane Fonda, John Travolta and Jennifer Aniston, along with younger stars Daniel Radcliffe, Kristen Stewart and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
But don't count on seeing all six surviving James Bond actors on stage for the planned special 50th anniversary tribute to the British secret agent's illustrious movie career.
"We have a tribute to James Bond which is really exciting and thrilling, but it never included the concept of six guys coming out and standing there awkwardly on the stage," Zadan said, quashing speculation that Daniel Craig, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, Roger Moore, Sean Connery and George Lazenby would unite on Sunday.
The nominations for "Les Miserables," where Anne Hathaway is tipped to win Best Supporting Actress, has opened the door to a celebration of the last decade of musicals.
The tribute will feature Hathaway, her Oscar-nominated co-star Hugh Jackman, as well as "Dreamgirls" and "Chicago" Oscar winners Jennifer Hudson and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
MacFarlane, the creator of provocative animated TV series "Family Guy," will also be showing off his vocal skills, and spending more time on stage than has been traditional for Oscar hosts.
"What happens a lot in the past is that the host comes on, talks for a lot, and then disappears for half an hour. We are not doing that. We are having Seth be there a lot, out there introducing things, and that allows for more pacing and comedy," said Zadan.
But there will be plenty of room for the unpredictable - and that's not even counting possible upsets when the winners' envelopes are unsealed.
"We love the fact that people don't quite know what they're going to get with Seth as a host," said Meron. "We live for the moments that happen on stage. Those are some of the great Oscar moments of the past."
The Oscar winners are chosen by some 5,800 movie industry professionals who are members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The Academy Awards ceremony, in its 85th year, will be broadcast live on ABC television in the United States, and to more than 225 other nations.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant editing by Jackie Frank)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oscar-show-promises-music-megastars-james-bond-140943526.html
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