OAKLAND (Reuters) ? Police fired tear gas at hundreds of Occupy Oakland protesters who tried to take over a shuttered convention center on Saturday, arresting 19 people in the latest clash between anti-Wall Street activists and authorities in the Bay Area city.
Three officers were injured during the confrontation, which police said erupted when the crowd began destroying construction equipment and tearing down fencing at the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center in downtown Oakland.
"Officers were pelted with bottles, metal pipe, rocks, spray cans, improvised explosive devices and burning flares," the Oakland Police Department said in a statement. "Oakland Police Department deployed smoke and tear gas."
The scuffles marked the latest confrontation between police and Occupy activists seeking to regain lost momentum in their movement against economic inequality after authorities cleared protest camps across the country late last year.
Occupy Oakland organizers had vowed to take over the fenced-off building to establish a new headquarters for their movement and draw attention to homelessness in a move seen as a challenge to authorities who have blocked similar efforts before.
"The one percent have all these empty buildings, and meanwhile there are all these homeless people," protester Omar Yassin told Reuters at the scene.
Near the convention center, several dozen police officers declared an unlawful assembly and confronted the demonstrators at a fence, firing smoke and tear gas canisters into the crowd after telling protesters to disperse through loudspeakers.
Some activists, carrying shields made of plastic garbage cans and corrugated metal, tried to circumvent the police line, and surged toward police on another side of the building as more smoke canisters were fired.
"The City of Oakland welcomes peaceful forms of assembly and freedom of speech, but acts of violence, property destruction and overnight lodging will not be tolerated," police said in a statement.
Following the confrontation, hundreds of demonstrators regrouped and marched to another area of downtown Oakland, where they were again met by a line of police and ordered to disperse.
Officers fired what appeared to be flash-bang grenades and in several cases swung batons at protesters.
Protesters in Oakland loosely affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement that began in New York last year have repeatedly clashed with police during a series of marches and demonstrations.
In October, former U.S. Marine Scott Olsen was left in critical condition with a head injury following a confrontation with police on the streets of Oakland in which tear gas was deployed.
Organizers said Olsen was struck in the head by a tear gas canister. Authorities opened an investigation into that incident but have not said how they believe he was hurt.
Elsewhere, the National Park Service said on Friday it would bar Occupy protesters in the nation's capital, one of the few big cities where Occupy encampments survive, from camping in two parks where they have been living since October.
That order, which takes effect on Monday, was seen as a blow to one of the highest-profile chapters of the movement.
(Writing by Dan Whitcomb and Mary Slosson; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)
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CHICAGO (AP) ? A crew member from the stricken cruise ship Costa Concordia has filed a lawsuit in Chicago federal court against Carnival Cruise Lines and its Costa subsidiary.
The lawsuit seeks to represent all 4,200 passengers and crew aboard the vessel when it struck rocks and capsized Jan. 13. It was filed Thursday on behalf of crew member Gary Lobaton, who is from Peru.
The lawsuit accuses Carnival and Costa of negligence because of an unsafe evacuation after the accident occurred. Sixteen people are known dead and 16 more are missing.
Neither company would comment about lawsuits Friday.
Carnival is based in Miami and Costa in Hollywood, Fla. The lawsuit says Chicago is a proper venue because Carnival does substantial business in Illinois.
Scripps research scientists illuminate cancer cells' survival strategyPublic release date: 26-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Mika Ono mikaono@scripps.edu 858-784-2052 Scripps Research Institute
LA JOLLA, CA -- A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has discovered key elements of a strategy commonly used by tumor cells to survive when they spread to distant organs. The finding could lead to drugs that could inhibit this metastasis in patients with tumors.
A cell that breaks away from the primary tumor and finds itself in the alien environment of the bloodstream or a new organ, normally is destroyed by a process known as apoptosis. But tumor cells that express high levels of a certain surface protein are protected from apoptosis, greatly enhancing their ability to colonize distant organs. How this protein blocks apoptosis and promotes metastasis has been a mysteryuntil now.
"What we found in this study is that it's not the increased expression of the protein per se that protects a tumor cell, but, rather, the cleavage of this protein by proteolytic enzymes," said Scripps Research Professor James P. Quigley. "This cleavage triggers a signaling cascade in the tumor cell that blocks apoptosis." Quigley is the principal investigator for the study, which was recently published online before print by the journal Oncogene.
"We think that a reasonable strategy for inhibiting metastasis would be to try to prevent the cleavage of this surface protein using antibodies or small-molecule drugs that bind to the cleavage site of the protein," said Elena I. Deryugina, a staff scientist in Quigley's laboratory and corresponding author of the manuscript.
A Protein Linked to Poor Outcomes
The cell-surface protein at the center of this research is known as CUB Domain Containing Protein 1 (CDCP1). In 2003, a postdoctoral fellow in Quigley's laboratory, John D. Hooper, discovered and co-named CDCP1 as a "Subtractive Immunization Metastasis Antigen," also finding that it is highly expressed on the surfaces of metastasis-prone human tumor cells.
Quigley's laboratory and others soon found additional evidence that CDCP1 plays a major role in enabling metastasis. Clinical studies reported CDCP1 on multiple tumor types and linked its presence to worse outcomes for patients. Deryugina and Quigley reported in 2009 that CDCP1, when expressed in tumor-like cells, strongly promotes their ability to colonize new tissues and that unique monoclonal antibodies to CDCP1, generated in Quigley's lab, significantly block CDCP1-induced tumor colonization. Hooper, who now leads a laboratory at the Mater Medical Research Institute in Brisbane, Australia, reported in a cell culture study in 2010 that most of the CDCP1 protein on the cell membrane could be cleaved by serine proteases. This cleavage event seems to lead to the biochemical activation of the internal fragment of CDCP1 by a process called tyrosine phosphorylation, in this case involving the cancer-linked protein Src.
"What was missing was evidence in live animals that connected CDCP1 biochemically to the blocking of apoptosis and successful metastasis," said Deryugina.
In the new study, Deryugina and her colleagues in the Quigley laboratory, including first author Berta Casar, a postdoctoral fellow, set out to find such evidence.
In Pursuit of Evidence
Hooper supplied the Scripps Research scientists with transformed human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells, which don't naturally express CDCP1, but were forced to express the gene for CDCP1. Casar and Deryugina injected these CDCP1-expressing HEK cells into chick embryos, and found that the CDCP1 proteins on these HEK cells began to be cleaved by resident enzymes to the shorter form. After 96 hours, the proteins were no longer detectable in their full-size, pre-cleaved form. The CDCP1-expressing HEK cells were four times as likely to survive in the chick embryos than were control CDCP1-negative HEK cells. The same results were obtained with HEK cells that express a mutant, non-cleavable form of the CDCP1 protein.
The Scripps Research team then did experiments in live animals with human prostate cancer cells naturally expressing CDCP1 to show that the cleavage of CDCP1 by a serine protease enzyme is the key event that promotes tumor cell survival. "When we blocked CDCP1 cleavage using our unique anti-CDCP1 antibodies, or added a compound that selectively inhibits serine protease enzymes, CDCP1 was not cleaved, and the CDCP1-expressing cancer cells lost almost all their ability to colonize the tissues of chick embryos," said Casar.
Casar and Deryugina also confirmed that in live animals CDCP1's cleavage leads to the biochemical activation of its internal fragment by tyrosine phosphorylation involving the cancer-linked proteins Src and PKC?. This was followed by the downstream activation of the anti-apoptosis protein Akt and the inhibition of apoptosis-mediating enzymes. The team verified these results with a variety of experimental setups, including tests of tumor-cell lung colonization in mice and tests in which Src signaling was blocked with the anti-Src drug Dasatinib.
Another key experiment by Scripps Research scientists indicated that plasmin, a blood-clot-thinning serine protease, is the principal cleaver of CDCP1 in metastasizing tumor cells. In mice that lack plasmin's precursor molecule, plasminogen, CDCP1-bearing tumor cells showed an absence of CDCP1 cleavage and lost nearly all their ability to survive in lung tissue.
Toward a Promising Strategy
Breakaway tumor cells commonly travel to distant organs via the bloodstream, so their use of an abundant bloodstream enzyme such as plasmin as a survival booster makes sense. "Plasmin has long been linked to cancer," Quigley said. "Unfortunately, it has such an important function in thinning blood clots that using plasmin-inhibiting drugs in cancer patients might do more harm than good."
"Blocking the cleavage of CDCP1 using antibodies or other CDCP1-binding molecules seems to be a more promising strategy," said Deryugina. She and Casar are investigating.
###
The other co-authors of the paper, "Blocking of CDCP1 cleavage in vivo prevents Akt-dependent survival and inhibits metastatic colonization via PARP1-mediated apoptosis of cancer cells," were Yaowu He and Mary Iconomou, of the Hooper laboratory. For more information, see http://www.nature.com/onc/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/onc2011555a.html
The study was supported by the National Institutes for Health, the Science and Innovation Ministry of Spain, and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Scripps research scientists illuminate cancer cells' survival strategyPublic release date: 26-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Mika Ono mikaono@scripps.edu 858-784-2052 Scripps Research Institute
LA JOLLA, CA -- A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has discovered key elements of a strategy commonly used by tumor cells to survive when they spread to distant organs. The finding could lead to drugs that could inhibit this metastasis in patients with tumors.
A cell that breaks away from the primary tumor and finds itself in the alien environment of the bloodstream or a new organ, normally is destroyed by a process known as apoptosis. But tumor cells that express high levels of a certain surface protein are protected from apoptosis, greatly enhancing their ability to colonize distant organs. How this protein blocks apoptosis and promotes metastasis has been a mysteryuntil now.
"What we found in this study is that it's not the increased expression of the protein per se that protects a tumor cell, but, rather, the cleavage of this protein by proteolytic enzymes," said Scripps Research Professor James P. Quigley. "This cleavage triggers a signaling cascade in the tumor cell that blocks apoptosis." Quigley is the principal investigator for the study, which was recently published online before print by the journal Oncogene.
"We think that a reasonable strategy for inhibiting metastasis would be to try to prevent the cleavage of this surface protein using antibodies or small-molecule drugs that bind to the cleavage site of the protein," said Elena I. Deryugina, a staff scientist in Quigley's laboratory and corresponding author of the manuscript.
A Protein Linked to Poor Outcomes
The cell-surface protein at the center of this research is known as CUB Domain Containing Protein 1 (CDCP1). In 2003, a postdoctoral fellow in Quigley's laboratory, John D. Hooper, discovered and co-named CDCP1 as a "Subtractive Immunization Metastasis Antigen," also finding that it is highly expressed on the surfaces of metastasis-prone human tumor cells.
Quigley's laboratory and others soon found additional evidence that CDCP1 plays a major role in enabling metastasis. Clinical studies reported CDCP1 on multiple tumor types and linked its presence to worse outcomes for patients. Deryugina and Quigley reported in 2009 that CDCP1, when expressed in tumor-like cells, strongly promotes their ability to colonize new tissues and that unique monoclonal antibodies to CDCP1, generated in Quigley's lab, significantly block CDCP1-induced tumor colonization. Hooper, who now leads a laboratory at the Mater Medical Research Institute in Brisbane, Australia, reported in a cell culture study in 2010 that most of the CDCP1 protein on the cell membrane could be cleaved by serine proteases. This cleavage event seems to lead to the biochemical activation of the internal fragment of CDCP1 by a process called tyrosine phosphorylation, in this case involving the cancer-linked protein Src.
"What was missing was evidence in live animals that connected CDCP1 biochemically to the blocking of apoptosis and successful metastasis," said Deryugina.
In the new study, Deryugina and her colleagues in the Quigley laboratory, including first author Berta Casar, a postdoctoral fellow, set out to find such evidence.
In Pursuit of Evidence
Hooper supplied the Scripps Research scientists with transformed human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells, which don't naturally express CDCP1, but were forced to express the gene for CDCP1. Casar and Deryugina injected these CDCP1-expressing HEK cells into chick embryos, and found that the CDCP1 proteins on these HEK cells began to be cleaved by resident enzymes to the shorter form. After 96 hours, the proteins were no longer detectable in their full-size, pre-cleaved form. The CDCP1-expressing HEK cells were four times as likely to survive in the chick embryos than were control CDCP1-negative HEK cells. The same results were obtained with HEK cells that express a mutant, non-cleavable form of the CDCP1 protein.
The Scripps Research team then did experiments in live animals with human prostate cancer cells naturally expressing CDCP1 to show that the cleavage of CDCP1 by a serine protease enzyme is the key event that promotes tumor cell survival. "When we blocked CDCP1 cleavage using our unique anti-CDCP1 antibodies, or added a compound that selectively inhibits serine protease enzymes, CDCP1 was not cleaved, and the CDCP1-expressing cancer cells lost almost all their ability to colonize the tissues of chick embryos," said Casar.
Casar and Deryugina also confirmed that in live animals CDCP1's cleavage leads to the biochemical activation of its internal fragment by tyrosine phosphorylation involving the cancer-linked proteins Src and PKC?. This was followed by the downstream activation of the anti-apoptosis protein Akt and the inhibition of apoptosis-mediating enzymes. The team verified these results with a variety of experimental setups, including tests of tumor-cell lung colonization in mice and tests in which Src signaling was blocked with the anti-Src drug Dasatinib.
Another key experiment by Scripps Research scientists indicated that plasmin, a blood-clot-thinning serine protease, is the principal cleaver of CDCP1 in metastasizing tumor cells. In mice that lack plasmin's precursor molecule, plasminogen, CDCP1-bearing tumor cells showed an absence of CDCP1 cleavage and lost nearly all their ability to survive in lung tissue.
Toward a Promising Strategy
Breakaway tumor cells commonly travel to distant organs via the bloodstream, so their use of an abundant bloodstream enzyme such as plasmin as a survival booster makes sense. "Plasmin has long been linked to cancer," Quigley said. "Unfortunately, it has such an important function in thinning blood clots that using plasmin-inhibiting drugs in cancer patients might do more harm than good."
"Blocking the cleavage of CDCP1 using antibodies or other CDCP1-binding molecules seems to be a more promising strategy," said Deryugina. She and Casar are investigating.
###
The other co-authors of the paper, "Blocking of CDCP1 cleavage in vivo prevents Akt-dependent survival and inhibits metastatic colonization via PARP1-mediated apoptosis of cancer cells," were Yaowu He and Mary Iconomou, of the Hooper laboratory. For more information, see http://www.nature.com/onc/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/onc2011555a.html
The study was supported by the National Institutes for Health, the Science and Innovation Ministry of Spain, and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
ATHENS, Greece ? He was known for his slow and dream-like directing style and had enough stamina at 76 to be working on his latest movie.
But award-winning Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos was killed in a road accident Tuesday after being hit by a motorcycle while walking across a road close to a movie set near Athens' main port of Piraeus.
The driver, who was also injured and hospitalized, was later identified as an off-duty police officer.
The accident occurred while Angelopoulos was working on his upcoming movie "The Other Sea."
Angelopoulos had won numerous awards for his movies, mostly at European film festivals, during a career that spanned more than 40 years.
In 1995, he won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for "Ulysses' Gaze," starring American actor Harvey Keitel. Three years later, he won the main prize at the festival, the Palme d'Or, for "Eternity and a Day," starring Swiss actor Bruno Ganz.
"The atmosphere, symbolism and historical context of his cinematic storytelling went beyond the art form that he worked in and inspired young filmmakers," Greek President Karolos Papoulias said Wednesday. "(This) occurred at a time when he was extremely creative and the country was in need of his insight, making his absence all the more painful."
Survived by his wife Phoebe and three daughters, Angelopoulos is to be buried Friday at Athens' First Cemetery.
Greece's state Ambulance Service, meanwhile, has ordered an inquiry into reports that paramedics arrived at the scene of the accident 45 minutes after they were called.
Born in Athens in 1935, Angelopoulos lived through the Nazi occupation of Greece during World War II and the ensuing 1946-49 Greek civil war ? recurring themes in his early films.
He studied law at Athens University, but eventually lost interest and moved to France where he studied film at the Institute of Advanced Cinematographic Studies in Paris.
After returning to Greece, he worked as a film critic for a small, left-wing newspaper and started to make films during Greece's 1967-74 dictatorship.
Described as mild-mannered but uncompromising, Angelopoulos' often sad and slow-moving films mostly dealt with issues from Greece's turbulent recent history: war, exile, immigration and political division.
It was not until 1984 with "Voyage to Kythera" that his scripts were written in collaboration with others.
Angelopoulos attracted mostly art-house audiences, using established actors including Marcello Mastroianni and Jeanne Moreau in two of his most widely acclaimed films, "The Bee Keeper" and "The Suspended Stride of the Stalk."
His bleak landscapes, slow editing pace and long spells without any dialogue meant his movies did not always please filmgoers or critics.
American film critic Roger Ebert wrote of "Ulysses' Gaze": "There is a temptation to give 'Ulysses' Gaze' the benefit of the doubt: To praise it for its vision, its daring, its courage, its great length. But I would not be able to look you in the eye if you went to see it, because how could I deny that it is a numbing bore?"
In a rare television interview last year, Angelopoulos said his next film was to be about Greece's major financial crisis. He publicly called on rival political parties to work together to try and ease the hardships facing many Greeks.
"I remain a leftist in total confusion," he told state-run NET television.
Several months later, the country's two main rival political parties agreed to form a coalition government to tackle Greece's enormous debt problems.
"This is an emergency situation. We must realize this. So we must all examine what can be done ? the left and right. This is my plea," he said in the interview. "I am afraid of what tomorrow will bring."
Automotive Internet Marketing If you are in a competitive industry, like the automotive industry, then you should consider investing in automotive internet marketing. Whether you are a mechanic or car salesman internet marketing can give you an edge in a competitive market.
The first step to get on board with internet marketing is to have a great website. You should go to a qualified website designer who can ensure your website is functional, informative, aesthetically pleasing, easy to read and easy to navigate.
Once you have a website in place with functional and informative landing pages then you will want to design a pay per click (PPC) campaign. Pay per click ads appear on the left side of Google, and are how internet browsers like Google make profit. The price of these ads vary depending on the popularity and competitiveness of the keyword you are paying to target, so you need to do some effective and thoughtful keyword research before you set up your PPC campaign. The nice thing about PPC is that you only pay when someone responds to the ad. Also, you control the budget so if you only want to pay for 20 clicks a day then the ad will disappear once youve reached your quota and then will reappear the next day until your maximum daily budget has been used. With PPC you can also target certain users in specific geographical locations. So if you want to advertise to people who work from 9-5 in Toronto, then you can set your ads to display to users in the Toronto area from 6 10 pm in the evening.
An excellent advantage to PPC is that you will get detailed analytics about how your ad campaign is doing. This will allow you to make changes to how you are targeting certain markets and the keywords that you are using in order to maximize the effectiveness of your campaign.
After you have your PPC campaign in place you should consider adding search engine optimization (SEO) to your marketing plan. Search engine optimization is a way to ensure that your website has a good ranking on Google and will appear at the top of search engine results. There are a number of ways to conduct SEO and it usually takes a lot of expertise as well as time and dedication to notice an impact. However, once you have SEO in place and working effectively then you will notice a difference in the number of website visitors.
Once your SEO is in place you should also consider adding a social media strategy to your internet marketing plan. A social media strategy will target social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Because there are so many users on these sites daily it is a great way to find and interact with potential and current clients. Also, blogging is another great way to improve your social media strategy. Blogging daily will help drive new traffic to your site and improve your websites ranking.
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NEW YORK ? NBC and its G4 cable sister will crown an "American Ninja Warrior" this summer ? and it's a good bet that person will be tired.
The network said Tuesday that it will air a summer competition series putting contestants through an arduous obstacle course, sort of a serious version of ABC's "Wipeout" series. Regional rounds will winnow a field of 100 contestants before a winner is chosen at a Las Vegas course.
Weekly episodes will air on NBC and G4, both networks owned by the Comcast Corp. Spokesman Dave Welch says it hasn't yet been determined how many episodes will air or when the show will premiere.
The competition began three years ago. NBC aired the finale last season and was pleased by the ratings, leading to the expansion.
ISLAMABAD (AP) ? A government health official says bad drugs are suspected of killing at least 25 heart patients over the last month in the Pakistani city of Lahore.
Javed Akram said Monday that 100 other heart patients who had taken the same medicine have been admitted to hospitals in the city and 50 of them are in critical condition.
Akram is leading a probe into the deaths set up by the government of Punjab province, where Lahore is the capital. He said the suspected drugs were given free to patients by the state-run Punjab Institute of Cardiology.
Akram said patients developed red spots on their skin within days of taking the medicine that is suspected of killing them.
Hey, Indianapolis. A Manning will be playing in your Super Bowl, after all.
No, not that one.
It'll be Eli Manning leading the New York Giants to a Super Bowl rematch against the New England Patriots ? and this time on older brother Peyton's home field.
"It doesn't matter to me where you're playing it or the fact that it's in Indianapolis," Eli Manning said. "I'm just excited about being in one."
And if the Giants can pull this one off, Eli will have sibling bragging rights with one more Super Bowl ring than Peyton, who missed this season for the Colts after having neck surgery.
It sure won't be easy for the Giants, though. Four years after New York stunned previously undefeated New England in the Arizona desert, they'll play a Super sequel.
Eli vs. Brady. Coughlin vs. Belichick. The Giants vs. the Patriots.
Sound familiar? Here we go again.
"It's awesome and we look forward to the challenge," Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora said. "They are a great football team. They have always been a great football team. We are looking forward to it, and it's going to be a great game."
Well, judging from the last time these teams met in the Super Bowl ? David Tyree's jaw-dropping, helmet-pinning catch and all ? it just might be.
"Being in this situation is a great moment," Patriots nose tackle Vince Wilfork said. "You have to cherish this moment."
New England (15-3) opened as a 3-point favorite for the Feb. 5 game against New York (12-7), but the Patriots know all about being in this position. They were favored by 12 points and pursuing perfection in 2008, but New York's defense battered Brady, and Manning connected with Plaxico Burress on a late touchdown to win the Giants' third Super Bowl.
That TD came, of course, a few moments after one of the biggest plays in playoff history: Manning escaping the grasp of Patriots defenders and finding Tyree, who put New York in scoring position by trapping the football against his helmet.
"Hopefully, we will have the same result," Umenyiora said. "We still have one more game to go, but this is truly unbelievable."
Especially since the Giants appeared on the verge of collapsing with Tom Coughlin's job status in jeopardy just a month ago, when they fell to 7-7 with an embarrassing loss to the Washington Redskins on Dec. 18.
"We've been here before," linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka said at the time, "and we'll get back."
Boy, was he right.
The Giants were facing elimination against the rival Jets and Rex Ryan, who boldly declared that his team ruled New York. Well, Coughlin's crew silenced Ryan with a 29-14 victory. The Giants followed that with a 31-14 win over Dallas in the regular-season finale to clinch the NFC East and get to the playoffs for the first time since the 2008 season.
New York dominated Atlanta at home in the opening round. Then came a stunner: a 37-20 victory at Green Bay ? knocking out the defending Super Bowl champions.
On Sunday, Manning extended the best season of his career with one more solid performance, and Lawrence Tynes kicked the Giants past the San Francisco 49ers 20-17 in overtime for the NFC title.
"I'm just proud of the guys, what we've overcome this year, what we've been through," Manning said, "just never having any doubts, keep believing in our team that we could get hot and start playing our best football."
The Patriots are rolling into the Super Bowl having won 10 straight, with their last loss being to ? you guessed it ? the Giants, 24-20 back in early November.
"We know they're a great team," Manning said. "We played them already this year. They've been playing great football recently."
They sure have. And now Brady and the Patriots are in familiar territory, playing in the Super Bowl for the fifth time in 11 years ? and first since the stunning upset in Arizona.
New England hopes to avoid all that sort of drama this time around. Unless it goes in the Patriots' favor, as it did in the AFC title game.
Brady was unusually subpar in the Patriots' 23-20 victory over Baltimore, throwing for 239 yards with two interceptions and, for the first time in 36 games, no TD passes. But he got some help from the Patriots' much-maligned defense, which made some crucial stops down the stretch.
A few mistakes by the Ravens helped greatly, too, as Billy Cundiff shanked a 32-yard field goal attempt with 11 seconds left ? soon after Lee Evans had a potential winning touchdown catch ripped out of his hands in the end zone.
"Childlike joy. It's all about childlike joy," linebacker Jerod Mayo said. "Last night felt like the day before Christmas for me and I haven't had that feeling in a long time."
New England last won the Super Bowl in 2005, a long drought considering that the Patriots took home Lombardi trophies three times in four years. There are only a handful of players left from that team, with guys like Corey Dillon, Tedy Bruschi and Rodney Harrison replaced by young up-and-comers such as Mayo, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.
"It doesn't even feel right, especially playing with the veterans here," Gronkowski said. "I watched them go to the Super Bowl as I was growing up, and now I'm part of it? It is an unreal moment."
The constants, though, are Brady and Bill Belichick. And that's been a winning combination for New England, combining to become the first QB-coach combination to win five conference championships in the Super Bowl era.
Belichick did perhaps his finest coaching job this season, piecing together a defense that ranked second-to-last in the league during the regular season. That led to plenty of shootouts, and Brady was more than up to the task, throwing for a career-high 5,235 yards while tossing 39 touchdown passes.
"They're an amazing team," Patriots owner Robert Kraft said. "They're a great brotherhood; they're a family."
And they're all looking to lift another Super Bowl trophy together. Patriots-Giants. One more time.
This fisheye view of the auroral display above Yellowknife in Canada's Northwest Territories was captured by the Canadian Space Agency's AuroraMAX project early Saturday.
By Alan Boyle
Forecasters say a blast from the sun should strike a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field, starting Sunday, and?create a mild geomagnetic storm. That's?not enough to pose a planetary threat, but the storm should spark better-than-usual auroral displays. Skywatchers are already getting some great pictures in advance of the peak.
The blast, known as a coronal mass ejection, was witnessed by sun-watching spacecraft on Thursday ? and at the time, NASA projected that the geomagnetic impact on Earth would be felt today. But experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather?Prediction Center in Colorado say the peak will come later.
"We're looking at it to start on Sunday, about 1 o'clock [p.m.] Eastern time," Joe Kunches, a space scientist at the?prediction center, told me today.
The storm of electrically charged particles is projected to take a relatively non-threatening path past our planet.?"We think it'll go to the north of Earth ... rather than right at us," he said.
The center's prediction projects that the "bulk of the disturbance" should occur on Monday. But even then, the storm will be a G1, which is the lowest ranking on the scale of geomagnetic activity. Such a storm generally produces weak fluctuations in electrical grids and has the potential for minor effects on satellite operations ? basically, nothing for regular folks to worry about.
The main effect is expected to be bright?northern lights that?could be visible farther south than usual. In northern regions, aurora aficionados are already seeing some fantastic fireworks.?Keep watch up above, particularly if you're in an area with clear, dark skies. Keep watch for updates in SpaceWeather.com's January aurora gallery as well. The Canadian Space Agency has its AuroraMAX webcam working in the Northwest Territories, and you can even sign up for updates via the project's Twitter account, @AuroraMAX.
If you have pictures to share, please pass them along via the Cosmic Log Facebook page or msnbc.com's FirstPerson in-box, and we'll put together a gallery of our own on Monday.
More great auroral views:
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.
TV Shows – Full Episode Video – Reality TV Shows LOVE & HIP HOP? SEASON 2 FINALE – PREMIERES MONDAY, JANUARY 23 AT 8PM ET/PT Season 2 of?Vh1?s ?Love and Hip Hop??was a rollercoaster of?epic fights and personal triumphs?from the reveal by new cast member Kimbella that she dated hip hop artist Fabulous while his [...]
BERLIN (Reuters) ? German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Sunday the crucial factor in negotiations over a debt-swap plan for Greece was that Athens should by 2020 have a sustainable level of borrowing.
"This goal must be achieved," he told German public broadcaster ARD.
Chief negotiators for Greece's private creditors left Athens on Saturday without a deal on a debt-swap plan that is vital to avert a chaotic default, sources close to the talks told Reuters.
A technical team stayed in the Greek capital to work on details, and negotiations will continue over the phone, but it is unlikely a deal can be clinched before a crucial meeting on Monday of euro zone finance ministers, the sources said.
Asked whether a haircut of 70 percent on Greek debt would be sufficient, Schaeuble said: "It depends on the details. The negotiations are continuing."
The International Monetary Fund insists any deal must ensure Greece's debt burden will be cut to 120 percent of gross domestic product by 2020 from 160 percent now, as agreed at an EU summit in October, and has warned that this is made more difficult by a worsening of Athens' economic prospects.
Schaeuble said Greece was having difficulty implementing reforms but would have to; "otherwise, the situation cannot be resolved".
Germany's finance minister also rejected pressure to beef up the euro zone's permanent rescue facility, saying Berlin would stick to the agreement made in December for a lending capacity of 500 billion euros ($646 billion).
"We are sticking to what was agreed in December," Schaeuble said. "In March we will check whether that is sufficient."
The draft treaty establishing the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) will be discussed by euro zone finance ministers on Monday and is likely to be approved by EU leaders at their summit on January 30, euro zone officials have said.
Leaders from the single-currency bloc will review in March whether the limit of 500 billion euros is sufficient.
Markets and the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the United States, Canada and Japan have been calling for the euro zone to bolster the capacity of its bailout funds.
But the euro zone's main paymaster, Germany, remains opposed. Schaeuble said Germany was doing more than its fair share to resolve the euro zone's debt crisis.
"The problems did not emerge in Germany," he said. "We are doing more than all the others and while the European unification has yielded great advantages for us, this does not mean that solidarity is a one-way street."
He also said it was apparent that markets were beginning to regain confidence.
"We are not yet out of the woods but over the last few weeks, many (debt) auctions have shown that the markets are beginning to regain confidence." ($1 = 0.7740 euros)
(Reporting by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Dale Hudson)
Nuclear thermal rocket != nuclear pulse rocket. The latter is the classic "Project Orion" engine, utilizing super-critical explosions for propulsive force. The former is actually more akin to a traditional chemical rocket, in that it works by expelling reaction mass from thruster nozzles. However, the energy of the reaction mass is imparted by heat generated in critical or sub-critical (but not super-critical) nuclear reactions. You can use any number of materials for this reaction mass, though the popular ones are hydrogen and water. Neither is inherently harmful, nor is there any reason they would need to pick up radioactivity from the reactor (any more than the cooling water which cycles through the heat exchangers of nuclear electrical plants or naval vessels becomes radioactive).
The test ban treaty has nothing to do with this. Nuclear pulse rockets are certianly forbidden by the test ban treaty - after all, they are literally exploding nuclear bombs as part of the engine's normal operation - but there's no reason nuclear thermal rockets would be that I can see. The argument about a "dirty warhead" is potentially valid (in that some would claim it, not in that it would be a plausible danger when you consider we already have nuclear-tipped ICBMs). However, there's no law or treaty against launching radioactive material into space. In fact, quite a few of our space probes and planetary rovers use radioactive thermal generators.
Compared to chamical rockets, nuclear thermal rockets have a vastly higher specific impulse, which is to say that a given quantity of reaction mass (rocket fuel or hydrogen flowing past a reactor) can produce a greater thrust (simply put, higher efficiency). This is due to their (much) higher exhaust velocity. Remember, E (in Joules) = mass (in kg) * velocity (in meters/second) squared. If you divide both sides by kilos (fuel or reaction mass), your energy per unit of reaction mass becomes a function of v^2. In other words, doubling the speed of the reaction mass will get you four times as much energy for a given unit of reaction mass.
Since the amount of thrust you can get out of the quantity of reaction mass that can be placed on a spaceship is the current limit on spacecraft range, speed, and payload, increasing that efficiency has the potential to revolutionize space travel.
Environmental regulators will be allowed to enforce air quality laws on the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians reservation in the Coachella Valley, an agreement reached seven months after noxious odors from a recycling facility sickened nearby schoolchildren.
Under the agreement announced Wednesday, inspectors from the South Coast Air Quality Management District will have the authority to enter sovereign tribal land to monitor environmental laws on a reservation industrial park and issue violations.
In May, an investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined that Western Environmental Inc., which recycles toxic soils on the reservation site, was the primary source of noxious odors that sent teachers to the hospital and sickened children at an elementary school in Mecca. The EPA ordered the company to cease accepting hazardous materials and reduce two, four-story mountains of contaminated soil on the site.
The agreement between the AQMD and the Cabazon tribe is the first of its kind in California, said Barry Wallerstein, the environmental agency's executive officer.
"This creates a level playing field for operations on and off tribal land. In large part it represents what the community had requested," Wallerstein said. "The tribe did not have to agree to any of this. This represents a new era of environmental leadership by the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians and sets an example for other tribes to follow."
Cabazon tribal Chairman David Roosevelt initially opposed sacrificing the tribe's sovereign rights by opening the reservation to state enforcement. In a statement released Wednesday, however, he said the new agreement was acceptable to both sides.
Under the agreement, any violation notice issued by AQMD regulators will be reviewed by a tribal environmental board consisting of two tribal members and an AQMD representative, which has the authority to accept, deny or modify the citation. A facility that receives a violation can appeal that ruling to the Cabazon Tribal Court, which has final jurisdiction.
The Colmac Energy Inc. biomass-to-energy plant on the reservation is exempt from the agreement because it operates under a separate monitoring and enforcement pact reached in 1989 among the tribe, the EPA, AQMD and Riverside County.
In August, the EPA reached an agreement with Western Environmental that prohibits the company from accepting soil and other material that may cause harmful odors on its 40-acre site. The company also agreed to closely monitor its site for odor and to install an odor-control misting system.
Darryl Adams, superintendent of the Coachella Valley School District, called Wednesday's agreement a "step in the right direction" but reserved judgment until he can review the details.
"There appears to be an improvement," Adams said. "We haven't had any more complaints to the district office since they shut it down."
ScienceDaily (Jan. 18, 2012) ? Scientists are reporting development of contact lenses that could provide a continuous supply of anesthetic medication to the eyes of patients who undergo laser eye surgery -- an advance that could relieve patients of the burden of repeatedly placing drops of medicine into their eyes every few hours for several days.
Their report appears in ACS' journal Langmuir.
Anuj Chauhan and colleagues explain that more than 1 million laser eye correction procedures are performed each year in the U.S. The surgery enables most patients to see clearly without eye glasses or contact lenses. The procedure known as LASIK is the most common type of laser eye surgery, but complications can develop if the patient undergoes trauma or is hit very hard at any time after the procedure. Photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) doesn't have this complication, and that's why it is preferred for athletes and those in the military. A downside to PRK, however, is a longer period of pain after surgery. To ease their pain, PRK patients place drops of several medications, including anesthetics, into their eyes every few hours, which can interfere with daily life and increase the risk of drug overdose. PRK patients receive a special "bandage contact lens" after surgery to help the outer layer of the eye heal.
The researchers tested whether anesthetics loaded onto this type of lens could release the drugs over time automatically. They found that adding vitamin E to the lenses extended the time of release of three commonly used anesthetics from just under two hours to up to an entire day -- or a few days in some instances. The vitamin E acts as a barrier, keeping the anesthetics on the eye, right where they are needed. The researchers say that, in the future, these lenses could serve as bandage contact lenses after PRK surgery while also delivering necessary pain medications.
The authors acknowledge funding from the University of Florida.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Chemical Society.
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Journal Reference:
Cheng-Chun Peng, Michael T. Burke, Anuj Chauhan. Transport of Topical Anesthetics in Vitamin E Loaded Silicone Hydrogel Contact Lenses. Langmuir, 2012; 28 (2): 1478 DOI: 10.1021/la203606z
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
CLEVELAND?? It's courtroom drama crossed with "Sesame Street," as a television station barred from using cameras during a high-profile corruption trial covers the highlights with a nightly puppet show. It stars a talking squirrel "reporter" who provides the play-by-play in an exaggerated, "you won't believe this" tone.
"It's a satirical look at the trial and, again, I think we have it appropriately placed at the end of the newscast," WOIO news director Dan Salamone said Thursday.
He said the puppets are in addition to the station's regular coverage of the Akron federal trial of ex-Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, the longtime Democratic power broker in Cleveland
"It's not intended in any way to replace any of the serious coverage of the trial," Salamone said.
Dimora, a former county Democratic chairman in Cleveland, has pleaded not guilty to bribery and racketeering. He also faces another trial on a second indictment.
Cameras banned
With cameras barred from court, the news media has relied on artist sketches of the proceedings inside and daily video of Dimora walking into court with his wife and his defense team.
The station uses the puppets repeating testimony and performing as witnesses, reporters and jurors to detail the case, which began last week and is expected to last three months. The trial has been a daily staple of front-page coverage in The Plain Dealer newspaper and often leads TV newscasts in town.
According to Salamone, the puppets are meant to lampoon the sometimes-steamy testimony, including details of a topless hot tub excursion in Las Vegas and taped phone calls with off-color and often unprintable comments.
The station is awaiting the arrival of an updated puppet that looks like the newly clean-shaven Dimora. For now, the station has been showing the back of a puppet's head that doesn't resemble Dimora, Salamone said.
And if Dimora grows his familiar salt-and-pepper beard back? "We've asked for some accessories in the event that he might decide to regrow his beard," Salamone said.
Late newscasts
The puppets perform near the end of the late newscasts on WOIO and its sister station, WUAB. The stations started using them on Tuesday.
At that point in the newscast, Salamone said, "People are accustomed to seeing a lighter story, what is often called a 'kicker' story."
Salamone said viewers are in for another lookalike puppet debut when Dimora's longtime friend and political ally, former Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo, testifies for the prosecution. Russo has pleaded guilty to taking bribes and hopes his cooperation will trim his nearly 22-year sentence.
Karl Idsvoog, of Kent State University's School of Journalism and Mass Communication, said Thursday that the puppet show didn't work. "Why would anyone approve that to go on the air because it was dull and boring," he said.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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WAKE FOREST ? Wake County's Interfaith food shuttle now has five new trucks to help deliver groceries to those in need.
The Ford Motor Company donated the trucks, including a refrigerated truck, to the food shuttle's mobile market in Wake Forest. The company also filled the refrigerated truck with fresh produce.
The donation is part of a partnership between Ford, salad-dressing firm Newman's Own, and ?Feeding America? a national network of food banks.
Leaders said the truck will be very useful.
"It's to give back to reach people in need, it's a reward. When we're able to fulfill people like this, it's why we work at the food shuttle," said director of food donors Don Eli.
The interfaith food shuttle hosts more than 30 free mobile markets for the needy each month. They serve seven counties in the region.
The Above Quote From Uber Progressive Chris Hedges Which Is Spot On?
A Preview Of My Forthcoming Post On My Growing Respect For Him
It Doesn't Matter Because It Doesn't Matter (In The End)
The rants of Professional Progressive Political Preacher Jesse Jackson have played a substantial role in the adoption of my new slogan"It doesn't matter because it doesn't matter".
This man is known to say anything when he is afforded the opportunity to advance his agenda. In saying this on MSNBC he understood that he was in the company of friends who would not call out the ignorance of this statement.?? I am surprised that the MSNBC host did not demand that the Republicans PROVE that the carding of all VOTERS is NOT racist against Black people - the permanent 'Least Of These' coalition that is vulnerable to such requests".
I have the pictures that I took from my recent venture of bailing out my cousin that show that "the unbanked" have EQUAL photo id requirements to those of us who don't answer when someone calls out "Hey you 'Least Of These' person.? Stop!!!".??? I will download them from my camera and post them later.
A few weeks ago PPPP Rev Jackson told a group of "Occupiers" that "Jesus was an Occupier".?? This was the one time that I wished that the Christian religion enforced a standard against the misappropriation of their savior's image as do the Muslims.?
There is no means by which we can dismiss the question of "Assumed Black Inferiority" from the question of assigning the reasonable prevailing standard that someone should show a photo id in the process of transacting an item of VALUE.?? We do so with money.? We do so with our Second Amendment rights for gun ownership.?
The promotion of the 'Inferior Negro' merely the transaction of "Black Inferiority" as a means of disarming people as the claims of RACISM is pushed.
Most people can't see that this RACISM is flowing both ways in this issue.
We understand that the Republicans are pushing this? RACIST plan of voter suppression because they understand that "a disproportionate number of Blacks carry photo id" than do White folks.
I wonder why few people are questioning if Democrats who are seeking to "Maximize The Black Vote" and thus ensure their political victories are RACISTS as they understand that the "Mission Accomplished Districts" that they dominate injure the "Black Permanent Interests" BUT the "Embedded Black Fox Confidence Men" will run a protection racket by which the machine suffers no harm from failing Black people as they keep our people focused on "Racism Chasing"?
I can't force you to VALUE one point over the other. I merely ask you to consider which of these above scenarios produces a larger population of "Negroes who's Permanent Interests are injured".
While the US Justice Department Civil Rights Division can regulate the voting administration process - they have no authority in re-mediating the "Civil Rights Violations That Are Not Called Civil Rights Violations" because the body of victims refuse to call them so, despite the common outcomes with noted "Civil Rights Violations"
Mission Accomplished Zones with higher rates of Black Homicides
Mission Accomplished Zones with schools that fail to "finish" our children
Mission Accomplished Zones who's economic development theories have not developed our people
Mission Accomplished Zones who's main agenda is "Ideological Protection" along with the protection of the leadership that has erected the scheme
JERUSALEM ? A hacker network that claims to be based in Saudi Arabia paralyzed the websites of Israel's stock exchange and national airline on Monday, escalating an international cyber war that has jolted this security-obsessed country.
Neither website contains sensitive information and trading and flights were not affected. But the ongoing salvos by hackers who use anti-Israel language in their posts has revealed how vulnerable Israel is to cyber warfare, despite its sophisticated computer security units in the military and advanced high-tech sector.
The attacks began earlier this month when hackers identifying themselves as group-xp, a known Saudi hacking group, claimed on an Israeli sports website to have gained access to 400,000 Israeli credit card accounts. The group called it a "gift to the world for the New Year" designed to "hurt the Zionist pocket."
Israeli authorities said 15,000 accounts were hacked in that episode and credit card information about 6,000 other Israelis was disclosed online a few days later by the same network.
Last week, an Israeli hacker identifying himself as a soldier in an Israeli intelligence unit retaliated by posting information online about hundreds of Saudis, Egyptians, Syrians and others.
On Monday, El Al Israel Airlines took down its website after hacker OxOmar, who has been linked to the Saudi group, warned that both sites would be targeted by allied pro-Palestinian hackers, a person close to the company said. The source was not authorized to speak to the media and requested anonymity.
The company said in a statement that it was taking security measures to protect the website and that disruptions on the site were to be expected.
Orna Goren, a spokeswoman for the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, said the site was overwhelmed by electronic requests that slowed it down dramatically but it was still operating. Trading was not affected, she said.
Cyber experts say Israel is a common target for online attackers who oppose the Jewish state and its policies toward the Palestinians, but there have been no confirmed reports of sensitive Israeli government sites being hacked.
"Right now, we're not seeing anything that's especially interesting or especially dangerous," said Gadi Evron, former head of Internet security for the Israeli government.
News of the hacking led to a linguistic counterattack at Israel's state radio. Continuing its decades-long battle against the use of English words in its Hebrew broadcasts, the radio's linguist insisted that reporters use a Hebrew word, "patzchan," meaning a person who cracks something open, instead of "hacker."
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Future Shop and Best Buy Canada customers open up their Apple iPad 2 box to find a slab of clay - phonearena.com/news/Future-Sh?Il y a environ 6 heuresvia PhoneArenaRetweeted by 2 people
ROME ? An Italian coast guard official vehemently demanded that the captain go back to his crippled cruise ship to oversee its evacuation, but the captain repeatedly resisted, according to a shocking audiotape made public Tuesday.
Prosecutors have accused Capt. Francesco Schettino of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his vessel before all passengers were evacuated during the grounding of the Costa Concordia cruise ship off the Tuscan coast on Friday night.
After Schettino was interrogated by prosecutors for three hours Tuesday, a judge in Grosseto, Tuscany, ruled that the captain, who had been detained a few hours after he allegedly abandoned the Concordia, should be released from jail and confined to his home near Naples under house arrest, his lawyer, Bruno Leporatti, told reporters outside the courthouse.
Prosecutors wanted him kept in Grosseto's prison, and Leporatti had asked that he be freed.
The death toll from the tragedy nearly doubled to 11 on Tuesday when divers extracted the bodies of four men and one woman from the ship's wreckage. The victims were in their 50s or 60s and each wore the orange vest that passengers use, indicating they were apparently passengers and not crew members, said a Coast Guard spokesman, Cmdr. Filippo Marini. Their nationalities were not immediately determined.
Prior to that grim finding, the coast guard had raised the number of missing to 25 passengers and four crew members. Italian officials gave the breakdown as 14 Germans, six Italians, four French, two Americans, one Hungarian, one Indian and one Peruvian. But there was still confusion over the numbers, with the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin listing 12 Germans as confirmed missing.
The Costa Concordia was carrying more than 4,200 people when it hit a reef off the Tuscan island of Giglio after Schettino made an unauthorized deviation from the cruise ship's programmed course, apparently as a favor to his chief waiter, who hailed from the island.
Schettino has insisted that he stayed aboard until the ship was evacuated. However, a recording of his conversation with Italian Coast Guard Capt. Gregorio De Falco indicates he fled before all passengers were off ? and then resisted De Falco's repeated orders to return.
"You go on board and then you will tell me how many people there are. Is that clear?" De Falco shouted in the audio tape.
Schettino resisted, saying the ship was tipping and it was dark. At the time, he and his second-in-command were in a lifeboat and the captain said he was coordinating the rescue from there. He also said he was not going back aboard the ship "because the other lifeboat is stopped." Passengers have said many lifeboats on the exposed port side of the ship didn't winch down after the ship had capsized.
De Falco shouted back: "And so what? You want to go home, Schettino? It is dark and you want to go home? Get on that prow of the boat using the pilot ladder and tell me what can be done, how many people there are and what their needs are. Now!"
"You go aboard. It is an order. Don't make any more excuses. You have declared 'Abandon ship,' now I am in charge," De Falco shouted.
At one point, De Falco vowed: "I'm going to make sure you get in trouble. ... I am going to make you pay for this. Go on board, (expletive)!"
Schettino was finally heard on the tape agreeing to reboard. But the coast guard has said he never went back, and had police arrest him on land.
The 52-year-old Schettino, described by the Italian media as a genial, tanned ship's officer, has worked for 11 years for the ship's owner and was made captain in 2006. He hails from Meta di Sorrento, in the Naples area, which produces many of Italy's ferry and cruise boat captains. He attended the Nino Bixio merchant marine school near Sorrento.
Schettino recounted his version of events before prosecutors and the judge at Tuesday's hearing in Grosseto to decide whether he should remain jailed.
The captain could face up to 12 years in prison on the abandoning ship charge alone.
Leporatti told the hearing the captain had insisted that after the initial crash into the reefs he had maneuvered the ship close to shore in a way that "saved hundreds, if not thousands, of lives."
Passengers, however, described the evacuation as chaotic.
Steve and Kathy Ledtke, who live in Fort Gratiot, Michigan, said they were sitting down to a late dinner Friday when they realized something had gone wrong. Kathy Ledtke told WDIV-TV that it seemed no one was in charge.
"It was complete chaos and it was every man for himself," Kathy Ledtke said. "Nobody knew where to go."
Earlier Tuesday, Italian naval divers exploded holes in the hull of the grounded cruise ship, trying to speed up the search for the missing while seas were still calm. Navy spokesman Alessandro Busonero told Sky TV 24 the holes would help divers enter the wreck more easily.
"We are rushing against time," he said.
The divers set four microcharges above and below the surface of the water, Busonero said. Video showed one hole above the waterline less than two meters (6 feet) in diameter.
Mediterranean waters in the area were relatively calm Tuesday with waves of just 12 inches (30 centimeters) but they were expected to reach nearly 6 feet (1.8 meters) Wednesday, according to meteorological forecasts.
A Dutch shipwreck salvage firm, meanwhile, said it would take its engineers and divers two to four weeks to extract the 500,000 gallons of fuel aboard the ship. The safe removal of the fuel has become a priority second only to finding the missing, as the wreckage site lies in a maritime sanctuary for dolphins, porpoises and whales.
Preliminary phases of the fuel extraction could begin as early as Wednesday if approved by Italian officials, the company said.
Smit, a Rotterdam, Netherlands-based salvage company, said no fuel had leaked from any of the ship's tanks and that the tanks appeared intact. While there is a risk the ship could shift in larger waves, to date it has been relatively stable perched on top of rocks near Giglio's port.
Smit's operations manager, Kees van Essen, said the company was confident the fuel could safely be extracted using pumps and valves to vacuum the oil out to waiting tanks.
"But there are always environmental risks in these types of operations," he told reporters.
The company said any discussion about the fate of the ship ? whether it is removed in one piece or broken up ? would be decided by Italian ship operator Costa Crociere and its insurance companies.
The Miami-based Carnival Corp., which owns the Italian operator, estimated that preliminary losses from having the Concordia out of operation at least through 2012 would be between $85 million and $95 million, along with other costs. The company's share price slumped more than 16 percent Monday.
It was not yet clear if the ship ? which was completed in 2006 ? would ever be able to return to service.
Carnival said its deductible on damage to the ship was approximately $30 million. In addition, the company faces a deductible of $10 million for third-party personal injury liability claims.
Carnival said other costs related to the grounding can't yet be determined.
___
Barry contributed from Milan; Frances D'Emilio in Rome contributed.
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