Oklahoma tornado's aftermath: How safe were schools in Moore?

Two schools were directly hit by the EF5 tornado in Moore, Okla., on Monday, and seven students at one were killed. Neither school had a safe room, but with storms this powerful, experts say there are no guarantees.?

By Amanda Paulson,?Staff writer / May 21, 2013

Teachers carry children away from Briarwood Elementary school after a tornado destroyed the school in south Oklahoma City yesterday. A monstrous tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs, flattening entire neighborhoods with winds up to 200 mph, setting buildings on fire, and landing a direct blow on the elementary school.

Paul Hellstern / The Oklahoman / AP

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As rescue and recovery efforts continue in Moore, Okla., following the devastating tornado that struck Monday afternoon, attention has focused, in particular, on the schools that were hit ? and in some cases, largely demolished.

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Rescue workers pulled several students alive from the rubble of Plaza Towers Elementary School on Monday, but at least seven of the confirmed 24 dead from the tornado were students at Plaza Towers. It was unclear Tuesday whether there were still more students unaccounted for from the school.

Briarwood Elementary was also severely damaged, though all students seem to have survived. Survivors from both schools have described terrifying scenes as roofs were ripped off and walls collapsed, and in several instances teachers protected students by lying on top of them. Teachers and students also spoke of following well rehearsed drills, hunkering down in bathrooms and closets, and holding backpacks and books over their heads for additional protection.

It?s too soon to know the ultimate cost of Monday?s tornado, in terms of both life and property, and certainly too soon to know whether the emergency procedures that the schools had in place were the best they could have been.

Experts that have helped schools hone tornado-preparedness plans and who have seen the devastation they?ve caused in other communities note that with a tornado as strong as this one (it was confirmed Tuesday as an EF5 on the Fujita scale, the highest ranking, after a preliminary designation as an EF4) there often isn?t a perfect solution, or any way to guarantee complete safety ? though a lot of things can make a difference.

?If we had school in session [when the Joplin tornado struck], we?d have been dealing with a lot of the same issues they?re dealing with in Moore, Okla., now,? says C.J. Huff, superintendent of the schools in Joplin, Mo., where an EF5 tornado decimated the town in 2011, killing 162 people.

The Joplin tornado struck on a Sunday afternoon, when the school buildings were empty. But, says Dr. Huff, 10 school facilities were hit by the tornado, and nine of those were completely destroyed. He was able to watch some video footage of the hallways afterward ? hallways that, in the past, had been designated as shelter areas for kids during a tornado.

?Those hallways become big wind tunnels when you have that much force,? he says, describing debris and projectiles that shot through them. ?We don?t shelter kids in hallways any longer. We move them to interior classrooms and bathrooms and areas away from hallways.? In addition, Joplin has used FEMA and other grant money to add safe rooms within all of the schools it?s rebuilding, ones that can serve not just students and faculty but others from the community as well.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/BSy4ta0pHQI/Oklahoma-tornado-s-aftermath-How-safe-were-schools-in-Moore

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New theory on genesis of osteoarthritis comes with successful therapy in mice

Monday, May 20, 2013

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have turned their view of osteoarthritis (OA) inside out. Literally. Instead of seeing the painful degenerative disease as a problem primarily of the cartilage that cushions joints, they now have evidence that the bone underneath the cartilage is also a key player and exacerbates the damage. In a proof-of-concept experiment, they found that blocking the action of a critical bone regulation protein in mice halts progression of the disease.

The prevailing theory on the development of OA focuses on joint cartilage, suggesting that unstable mechanical pressure on the joints leads to more and more harm to the cartilage?and pain to the patient?until the only treatment option left is total knee or hip replacement. The new theory, reported May 19 in Nature Medicine, suggests that initial harm to the cartilage causes the bone underneath it to behave improperly by building surplus bone. The extra bone stretches the cartilage above and speeds its decline.

"If there is something wrong with the leg of your chair and you try to fix it by replacing the cushion, you haven't solved the problem," says Xu Cao, Ph.D., director of the Center for Musculoskeletal Research in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "We think that the problem in OA is not just the cartilage 'cushion,' but the bone underneath," he adds.

Joints are formed at the intersection of two bones. To prevent the grinding and wearing down of the ends of the bones, they are capped with a thin layer of cartilage, which not only provides a smooth surface for joint rotation but also absorbs some of the weight and mechanical strain placed on the joint. The degeneration of this protective layer causes extreme pain leading to limited mobility.

Cao says degeneration is most frequently initiated by instability in the load-bearing joints of the knee and hip caused by injury or strain, so athletes, overweight people and people whose muscles are weakened by aging are at highest risk of developing OA. The prevalence of the disease is rapidly increasing; it currently affects 27 million Americans and may double by 2030. The only treatment available is pain management, or surgical replacement of the arthritic joint with a prosthetic one.

Cao says that the lack of effective drugs or a complete understanding of the underlying process that causes OA to progress led his group to search for a different underlying cause. "We began to think of cartilage and the bone underneath it, called subchondral bone, as functioning as a single unit," says Cao. "That helped us to see the ways in which the bone was responding to changes in the cartilage and exacerbating the problem."

Using mice with ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tears, which are known to lead to OA of the knee, the researchers found that, as soon as one week after the injury, pockets of subchondral bone had been "chewed" away by cells called osteoclasts. This process activated high levels in the bone of a protein called TGF-beta1, which, in turn, recruited stem cells to the site so that they could create new bone to fill the holes. Cao calls these pockets of new bone formation "osteoid islets."

But the bone building and the bone destruction processes were not coordinated in the mice, and the bone building prevailed, placing further strain on the cartilage cap. It is this extraneous bone formation that Cao and his colleagues believe to be at the heart of OA, as confirmed in a computer simulation of the human knee.

With this new hypothesis in hand, complete with a protein suspect, the team tried several methods to block the activity of TGF-beta1. When a TGF-beta1 inhibitor drug was given intravenously, the subchondral bone improved significantly, but the cartilage cap deteriorated further. However, when a different inhibitor of TGF-beta1, an antibody against it, was injected directly into the subchondral bone, the positive effects were seen in the bone without the negative effects on the cartilage. The same result was also seen when TGF-beta1 was genetically disrupted in the bone precursor cells alone.

"Our results are potentially really good news for patients with OA," says Cao. "We are already working to develop a clinical trial to test the efficacy of locally applied TGF-beta1 antibodies in human patients at early stages of OA." If successful, their nonsurgical treatment could make OA ? and the pain and debilitation it causes ? halt in its tracks, he says.

###

Johns Hopkins Medicine: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org

Thanks to Johns Hopkins Medicine for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128309/New_theory_on_genesis_of_osteoarthritis_comes_with_successful_therapy_in_mice

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The Content Directory: Myths about people with Disabilities

In order to break down barriers to accessibility, it is important for people to understand disabilities. This is why it is important for all people to learn more about all Ontarians and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.

Myth: People with disabilities are inferior to ?normal? people and their lives are very different.

This is a myth because we don?t even have a consensus of what is ?normal?? We have to remember that we all have different abilities, talents, interests and personalities ? you name it! People with disabilities go to school, get married, work, have families, play, do laundry, go shopping, eat out, travel, volunteer, vote, pay taxes, laugh, cry, plan and dream ? just like everyone else. People with disabilities are us!

Myth: We need to feel sorry for people with disabilities.

This is a myth because it is patronizing. People with disabilities don?t need pity. They need access to opportunities.

Myth: People with disabilities are brave and courageous.

This is a myth because adjusting to a disability requires adapting to a lifestyle, not bravery and courage. Remember that any one of us can become disabled at any time.

Myth: It?s not a good idea to hire people with disabilities. They have a higher turnover rate and they take sick days more often.

This is a myth because many studies show that employees with disabilities are often more productive, dependable and loyal than their co-workers without disabilities. That adds up to savings of millions of dollars every year in hiring and training costs.

Myth: You have to be careful when you?re talking to a person with a disability, because they are easily offended if you use the wrong word.

This is a myth because you just need to be as polite and respectful as you would when speaking to anyone. If you?re not sure what to say or do, it?s okay to ask.

Myth: It?s difficult serving customers with disabilities.

Customers with disabilities have the same preferences, perceptions, attitudes, habits, and needs as customers without disabilities, and they are looking for the same quality of products and services.

Remember, everyone, regardless of ability, deserves to be treated with the same dignity and respect

As the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (2005)(AODA) is implemented throughout the province there is potential for future change. To learn more about compliance and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities visit my website below.

Story By:

Sincerely,
Sandra Broekhof
Accessibility Compliance Consultant

www.accessibilitycompliance.ca
416-579-1035

http://accessibilitycompliance.blogspot.com/

http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/sandra-broehkof/13/454/530

Source: http://www.content-dir.com/health-fitness/myths-about-people-with-disabilities/

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'Puppet-master' Putin advisor is shown the Kremlin door

Vladislav Surkov was once one of the president's most influential and deft advisers. His forced resignation suggests the Kremlin may be pursuing blunter ways of manipulating the political landscape.

By Fred Weir,?Correspondent / May 8, 2013

Kremlin aide Vladislav Surkov speaks before the state of the nation address at the Kremlin in Moscow in this 2011 photo. Surkov, who was once Russian President Vladimir Putin's chief political strategist and dubbed the Kremlin's puppet master, resigned on May 8.

Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters

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Vladislav Surkov, the former theater arts major who took on the job of stage-managing Russian democracy on behalf of Vladimir Putin, was abruptly shown the Kremlin door Wednesday.?Most analysts see the move as a sign that an increasingly heavy-handed Mr. Putin has no further use for Mr. Surkov's elaborate and relatively gentle methods of manipulating the political landscape.

Skip to next paragraph Fred Weir

Correspondent

Fred Weir has been the Monitor's Moscow correspondent, covering Russia and the former Soviet Union, since 1998.?

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Surkov, an influential Putin advisor who helped sculpt Russia's so-called "sovereign democracy" system, told the Moscow daily Kommersant that he had tendered his resignation on April 26, but will only discuss the reasons for his departure "when it is appropriate."

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, suggested to the Kommersant FM radio station that he had been pushed out the door due to poor job performance.?

"[His resignation] is related to the high-priority task of implementing presidential decrees," Mr. Peskov said.

Often referred to as the "grey cardinal" of the Kremlin, Surkov's star had been falling since a massive protest movement hit Moscow streets in December 2011. It had been triggered by the near-universal allegations of electoral fraud committed by Surkov's own brainchild ? the pro-Kremlin United Russia party ? in parliamentary polls.

He was subsequently eased out of his role as Putin's deputy chief of staff and given the thankless-by-definition job of deputy prime minister in charge of modernizing Russia's economy.

"His resignation testifies to the fact that there is a real political crisis in the country. Different bureaucratic structures are at war with each other, and Russia is becoming increasingly ungovernable," says Boris Kagarlitsky, director of the independent Institute of Globalization and Social Movement Studies in Moscow. ?

"Surkov had his own vision. He tried to control the process, to reconcile different structures, and he lost," he adds.

Surkov had been a Kremlin fixture since Putin's first presidential term and is widely regarded as the chief architect of the Putin-era system of "sovereign democracy," whose basic idea is that the political system headed by Putin is the direct outgrowth of Russia's own history and public dynamics ? not an import from anywhere else ? and is therefore democracy.

Critics, and even many independent analysts, quickly substituted the more descriptive term "managed democracy."?The phrase evoked the Kremlin's aggressive role in landscaping Russia's political garden ??weeding out pesky opposition parties and independent politicians, concentrating official resources and state media attention behind the ruling United Russia party, and generally altering rules of the game to favor pro-Kremlin outcomes.?

In addition to fathering United Russia, Surkov created a bouquet of pro-Kremlin public organizations, such as the youth movement Nashi and a state-supported assembly of tame civil society groups called the Public Chamber.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/WG6dOY5W4ow/Puppet-master-Putin-advisor-is-shown-the-Kremlin-door

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Live from Google I/O's 2013 opening keynote!

The time is nearly here and are ready to liveblog. Will Google unveil the long-rumored Nexus 7 successor? Will there be new phones to consider? What does the future hold for Google Glass? Over the course of the next three hours (!) we're eager to find out. Join us at 9:00am PT for all the excitement.

Filed under: Google

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/BOebFOCqWMA/

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Indonesia extends forest-clearing ban for 2 years

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) ? Indonesia has approved a two-year extension to a landmark ban on clearing primary rainforests and peatlands, officials said Thursday. Environmentalists praised the move but said the government must do more to curb the nation's burgeoning production of greenhouse gases.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed the decree on Monday to continue the 2011 moratorium, which barred new logging and palm oil plantation permits under a $1 billion deal with Norway, said his environment adviser, Pungki Agus Purnomo.

He said the ban will preserve 64 million hectares (158 million acres) until 2015. It will not affect areas where concessions were granted before the moratorium.

Environmentalists hailed the extension while also urging leaders to better enforce the law. They say some protected areas continue to be exploited because of corruption and illegal fires and logging.

Indonesia's largest environmental group, Walhi, said the government must also work to stop logging permits from being issued at the local level.

"It is just like a presidential instruction to his subordinates ... it has no power to sanction against violators," said Walhi environmentalist Berry Nahdian Furqan, who added that the ban should be made permanent.

Indonesia is one of the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters, largely because many of the palm oil plantations on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra are planted on carbon-rich peatland that must be drained first, releasing vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year.

Rapid deforestation has occurred in recent years in Indonesia as it feeds the world's hunger for palm oil, pulp and paper. The destruction has caused damage ranging from deadly flash floods and landslides to a loss of habitat for endangered species such as orangutans, elephants, tigers and rhinos.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/indonesia-extends-forest-clearing-ban-2-years-053655137.html

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Deer smashes Pa. bus windshield, takes short ride

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) ? A deer has taken a ride on a western Pennsylvania bus.

The Johnstown Tribune-Democrat newspaper (http://bit.ly/14nGOx0) reports the white-tailed deer crashed through the windshield of a public bus being driven Tuesday evening in Johnstown, about 65 miles east of Pittsburgh.

The deer hopped around frantically near the driver before jumping on empty seats and running in circles in the aisle.

Authorities say the driver stopped the bus and opened the door and the deer got off. Cambria County transportation spokesman Josh Yoder says it "just walked off the bus."

The bus was carrying one passenger, who was seated in the back far from the deer. No injuries have been reported.

The bus has been taken to a maintenance facility for repairs.

There's no word on what happened to the deer.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2013-05-15-Deer%20On%20Bus/id-481caa83d13748238c7b67efcebb347c

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Samsung Galaxy Core is real: low-end specs with a 4.3-inch WVGA display, option for dual-SIM

Whenever a Samsung flagship arrives, it's never long before we see a fleet of lower-spec handsets swimming in its wake. The latest Remora to come out from the shadow of its bigger brother (and the rumor mill) is the Galaxy Core, a 4.3-inch handset offering a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, 1GB RAM, 8GB internal storage and a microSD slot. Running Touchwiz-infused Jelly Bean, the phone has a 5-megapixel rear camera with an LED flash and a VGA front-facer for the vain amongst you. Users will also be getting some of the more fancy Galaxy-style software features like Motion UI, Smart Stay, Smart Alert and S Voice. Of course, a phone is nothing without a screen, and here your eyes will be caressing a 4.3-inch WVGA (480 x 800) display -- but while you may not be thrilled at a low pixel count, at least there's the option for single SIM (available in July) or dual-SIM (from May) models for carrier swappers.

Gallery: Samsung Galaxy Core Press Photos

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung

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The Paris beat: not all chocolat et fromage

Europe bureau chief Sara Llana writes that getting through immigration's bureaucracy in Paris is a lot harder than in her last assignment, Mexico City.

By Sara Miller Llana,?Staff writer / April 29, 2013

The Eiffel Tower and the sun are reflected in a tourist's sunglasses during a mild and sunny spring day in Paris, this month.

Christian Hartmann/Reuters

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When I wrote a farewell letter to Mexico City?as I left for my new post?in Paris, I received not a few snide remarks: ?Oh, poor thing.? ?Oh, what a hardship beat.?

Skip to next paragraph Sara Miller Llana

Europe Bureau Chief

Sara Miller Llana?moved to Paris in April 2013 to become the Monitor's Europe Bureau?Chief. Previously she was the?paper's?Latin America Bureau Chief, based in Mexico City, from 2006 to 2013.

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Well, I am here to tell you, that it is hard. At least setting up the bureau is, with far more hassle than anything I experienced while establishing the Monitor?s office in Mexico.

It?s an endless task of official stamps, translations, long lines, subway rides, closed office hours, misinformation, and rigid rules (that appear to be inexplicably bent at any given moment).

Immigration to Mexico is not exactly easy. I spent countless hours standing in lines, only to be told I didn?t have the right paperwork and that I needed to return the next day to stand in line again.

But this, I dare say, has been worse.

Per the French consulate in Boston and then a reconfirmation from the French embassy in Mexico, I will have the right to reside in France through my husband?s European citizenship. I was told (in writing) to enter France without a visa and head to the police station upon arriving.

Having dealt with the pains of immigration ? both living abroad and in the US, since I married a foreigner ? I know to call first and find out what documents are required, even when there is a list of what you need online. Except that here, there is no such place to call. Every attempt led me to the same answer: ?You will get all of the information at the prefecture assigned to you.? So I went. Only to find huddled masses, in the freezing cold of a Parisian morning, in a line that did not budge, at all, for two hours (when I finally gave up and went home). There were no officials to ask any questions, no information posted anywhere. There must be another way to get information, I assumed.

So I went with a friend to the central offices the next day, where I was told that I needed to have gotten the visa before having arrived. The consulate and the embassy, she said, were wrong. But then she added that I should go the prefecture, to find out if she was wrong. And the documents I need to bring with me? ?You need to go there and ask,? she said.

I?ve experienced variations of this story for everything we have on our to-do list, from finding an apartment (which we mercifully did in a mere 10 days), to setting up Internet service. I do think once we?re settled it will be an amazing beat, and so many parts of the French system make life so much easier than life in Mexico or the US ? but we?ve definitely got some hard steps ahead.

Reporter note: After writing this blog, I did go back to the prefecture. I stood in line for 8 hours in total. The good news is that I apparently did not need a visa prior to entrance. The bad news: I did not have all of the paperwork - I was asked for things that were not listed on the website.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/gkN9qNSSGh0/The-Paris-beat-not-all-chocolat-et-fromage

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In CAR, diamonds are a rebel's best friend

NDELE, Central African Republic (AP) ? Armed with rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikov rifles, Seleka rebels who ousted Central African Republic's president six weeks ago are solidifying their control over the country's lucrative diamond industry and have even been selling some of the stones, witnesses here in the isolated and violent north say.

Rebels have for several years controlled some of the diamond-producing areas in the north, but with the overthrow of President Francois Bozize in March the Seleka rebel coalition now is the government, posing one of the greatest challenges in years to international efforts to stem the trade of "blood diamonds."

Fighters are blocking off diamond-producing areas, residents and local officials told an Associated Press reporter who recently visited Ndele, a rebel-controlled town in northern Central African Republic.

Central African Republic's new government insists that it intends to fully comply with the Kimberley Process, which aims to curb the trade in blood diamonds whose profits have driven some of the bloodiest conflicts in Africa over the past 20 years. It went into effect in 2003 in the aftermath of the brutal West African civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia where diamonds were used by armed groups to fund the conflicts.

"We remain in the Kimberley Process and we respect the principle," said new Information Minister Christophe Gazam Betty.

Newly appointed Minister of Mines Herbert Gontran Djono-Ahaba declined on several occasions to be interviewed on the subject. He is a member of the Seleka alliance, whose fighters have set up checkpoints along the dirt paths leading to mining areas around Ndele.

Seleka rebels are now in control there, say residents who fled the town of Sangba, about 85 kilometers (50 miles) southeast of Ndele.

"The diamond business is now forbidden to anyone who is not with Seleka," said one local official who fled from Sangba. The official refused to be identified because of security concerns.

Even more worrisome, the Seleka members are ? according to several people who fled Sangba ? being aided by armed fighters from neighboring Sudan known as the Janjaweed, who were accused of committing atrocities against civilians in Darfur. Sudan, whose leader is wanted by the International Criminal Court, is not part of the Kimberley Process. Observers fear many of Central African Republic's illicit diamonds are being funneled into Sudan.

The residents spoke to AP only on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from the rebels, who roam through the area's towns in stolen vehicles full of rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons.

The Kimberley Process system for certifying the origin of diamonds is meant to inform customers about where the stones originated. Diamonds are exported with certificates saying they are conflict-free. Countries found to be in violation cannot legally export their gems to the major diamond cutting hubs of Belgium, Israel and India. The case of Central African Republic could become the most significant test in years of the Kimberley Process.

The Kimberley Process has initiated procedures that could lead to a temporary suspension of Central African Republic until a review mission can be sent, Kimberley Process chair Welile Nhlapo told a meeting of the diamond industry in Tel Aviv on Monday.

"The developments in the Central African Republic inform us that there are still situations where conflict diamonds continue to fuel rebel activities to remove elected official governments," Nhlapo told the meeting of the World Diamond Council.

Members in the initiative are set to respond by Friday to the proposed suspension, which would go into effect shortly thereafter if approved by majority, Nhlapo told the AP on the sidelines of the meeting.

The Kimberley Process says conflict diamonds today account for less than 1 percent of the gems worldwide, yet their definition is limited to "rough diamonds used by rebel movements or their allies to finance armed conflicts aimed at undermining legitimate governments."

The Seleka rebels maintain the government they overthrew was in fact not legitimate. Bozize, the president they ousted, himself came to power in 2003 following a rebellion.

The chaos in the north has scared off many foreign diamond traders, but local dealers still purchasing gems confirm that Seleka elements have been deeply entrenched in the industry in recent months. Some were digging for diamonds before the offensive on the capital, Bangui, and they joined the final push to force out Bozize.

"The majority of miners here are in the rebellion so production has been down," said one local diamond buyer a few weeks after Bangui fell to rebel rule. "With the return of Seleka home, it could increase."

The rebels began their advance in December, descending upon a dozen towns across in the north in rapid succession, taking the diamond-producing areas around Sam Ouandja, Ouadda, Ndele, Bamingui and Bria in little over a week's time.

Kimberley Process will likely impose an embargo on Central African Republic's diamonds, said Alan Martin with Partnership Africa Canada, a nonprofit organization that has worked for more than a decade to halt the trade in conflict diamonds and is an official observer with the Kimberley Process.

"The fact that rebels are now in control of the government would mean that they would be the ones taking the proceeds of the diamonds, so that's the problem," he said.

Martin said the Kimberley Process took similar action against Ivory Coast in 2005 amid concerns about the role that rebels were playing in the diamond industry there. The ban remains in effect.

Even if there is an embargo, diamonds could still be smuggled out with sellers attempting to mask their origin so they instead appear to come from a nearby Kimberley Process-compliant country. Already an estimated 30 percent of the country's diamonds leave the country illicitly, according to the International Crisis Group. Martin said some smuggled diamonds are believed to end up in Dubai.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jose Fernandez, who is also taking part in the Tel Aviv conference this week, said the Kimberley Process has "moved slowly" in stemming the flow of conflict diamonds in Central African Republic and that the initiative has been hobbled by its restrictive definition of conflict diamonds, which allows for intervention only in the case of rebel groups attempting to overthrow a government.

"The Central African Republic is an example of why we need to take a more expansive view of what is a conflict diamond," he said. "We feel that we ought to be able to include systematic armed conflict."

Central African Republic's diamonds have been under heightened scrutiny since 2010, when the International Crisis Group detailed abuses by rebels of the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity, or UFDR, seeking to control the diamond mines in the north.

"When a rebel hears that miners have begun to find diamonds, he sometimes works with them and claims a share of the profits," the ICG found. "More often, he forces the miners to hand over diamonds at gunpoint or drives them out and pays others to mine for him."

That same year the United States Embassy in Bangui expressed concern about the role diamonds could be playing in a succession of rebellions across the north.

"We are increasingly suspicious that diamonds are playing a role fueling and funding the conflict," the U.S. Embassy wrote in a January 2010 cable published by WikiLeaks.

Those same rebels who made up the UFDR later joined forces with fighters from other groups to form Seleka in December 2012.

It is unlikely that the Kimberley Process participants will accept the trading of diamonds certified by Seleka, said ICG's Central Africa director Thierry Vircoulon: "I don't believe that the new authorities under (African Union) sanctions are going to be well accepted by the diamond business world."

___

Associated Press writer Ariel David in Tel Aviv, Israel contributed to this report.

___

Online:

Kimberley Process: http://www.kimberleyprocess.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/car-diamonds-rebels-best-friend-174349538.html

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Panna, A Video-Based Cooking ?Magazine? For iOS, Raises $1.35 Million

Panna, a video cooking magazine iOS application which connects users to celebrity chefs, has raised $1.35 million in a round of funding led by Anthem Ventures. Others participating include Lerer Ventures, Crosslink Ventures, Maveron, Shari Redstone’s Advancit Capital, RSL Venture Partners, Launchpad LA, David Tisch’s BoxGroup, and angels?Rick J. Caruso, Ken Siskind, Jay Livingston, Dan Rose, Aaron Schiff and David Levy. Unlike many cooking apps out there on the App Store today, Panna’s creator, David Ellner, is not your typical tech entrepreneur, but rather comes from the entertainment industry, where he spent 25 years, including time spent serving as President of Digital and Business Development for 19 Entertainment, the producer of TV series like American Idol. With this background, he comes at the (yes, very crowded) cooking and recipe space thinking more about things like how to use high-def videos and quality production values to connect celeb chefs and at-home cooks similar to the way that television does today, rather than trying to break new ground through technological leaps. If anything, Panna’s mere existence is demonstrative of the fact that there’s interest in bringing TV-like content to our mobile devices, and if the Hollywood studios won’t do it for us, then someone else will. And on a related note, Panna is a Kickstarter success story – it got its start on the crowdfunding site where hundreds of home cooks donated to get it off the ground. The entertainment industry is experimenting more and more with this method of launching their projects these days, most recently with the funding of Zach Braff’s indie film “Wish I Was Here,” and “Veronica Mars” creator’s Rob Thomas’ desire to turn the show into a feature film. The app itself is more than a recipe finder, and is styled as a “magazine,” released bi-monthly, each digital copy containing 13 seasonal video recipes from master chefs who demonstrate their cooking techniques, similar to the way they would on television. Recipe demos can be paused, fast-forwarded through, rewound, or downloaded for offline access. Written versions are also available to help users prepare for their shopping trips. To date, Panna has worked with celebrity chefs like Jonathan Waxman (Barbuto); Rick Bayless (Frontera Grill and Top Chef Masters Winner); Sean Brock (Husk, McCrady?s); Melissa Clark (NY Times food writer and recipe developer); Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirscheimer (Canal House Cooking); Anita Lo (Annisa and Top Chef Masters); Seamus Mullen

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