Chemical exposure in the womb from household items may contribute to obesity

ScienceDaily (Aug. 30, 2012) ? Pregnant women who are highly exposed to common environmental chemicals -- polyfluoroalkyl compounds (PFCs) -- have babies that are smaller at birth and larger at 20 months of age, according to a study from Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health published online in the August 30 edition of Environmental Health Perspectives.

PFCs are used in the production of fluoropolymers and are found widely in protective coatings of packaging products, clothes, furniture and non-stick cookware. They are persistent compounds found abundantly in the environment and human exposure is common. PFCs have been detected in human sera, breast milk and cord blood.

The study, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, included 447 British girls and their mothers in the United Kingdom participating in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a large-scale health research project that has provided a vast amount of genetic and environmental information since it began in the early 1990s.

The researchers found that even though girls with higher exposure were smaller than average (43rd percentile) at birth, they were heavier than average (58th percentile) by 20 months of age. The authors say this path may lead to obesity at older ages.

"Previous animal and human research suggests prenatal exposures to PFCs may have harmful effects on fetal and postnatal growth," says lead researcher Michele Marcus, MPH, PhD, a professor of epidemiology in Emory's Rollins School of Public Health and the assistant program director at Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research.

"Our findings are consistent with these studies and emerging evidence that chemicals in our environment are contributing to obesity and diabetes and demonstrate that this trajectory is set very early in life for those exposed."

According to Marcus, a recent study in Denmark found that women exposed to PFCs in the womb were more likely to be overweight at age 20. And experimental studies with mice have shown that exposure in the womb led to higher levels of insulin and heavier body weight in adulthood.

Marcus and her colleagues focused on the three most studied PFCs: perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFS), perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) and perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS).

The researchers measured maternal serum concentrations of PFOS, PFOA and PFHxS during pregnancy and obtained data on the weight and length of the girls at birth, 2, 9 and 20 months. They explored associations between prenatal PFC concentrations and weight at birth as well as changes in weight-for-age scores between birth and 20 months.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Emory University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Mildred Maisonet, Metrecia Ledia Terrell, Michael A. McGeehin, Krista Yorita Christensen, Adrianne Holmes, Antonia M. Calafat, Michele Marcus. Maternal Concentrations of Polyfluoroalkyl Compounds during Pregnancy and Fetal and Postnatal Growth in British Girls. Environmental Health Perspectives, 2012; DOI: 10.1289/ehp.1003096

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.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/qm3QqYp1XtI/120830135327.htm

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Eyeless Australian fish have closest relatives in Madagascar

ScienceDaily (Aug. 29, 2012) ? A team of researchers from Louisiana State University and the American Museum of Natural History has discovered that two groups of blind cave fishes on opposite sides of the Indian Ocean are each other's closest relatives. Through comprehensive DNA analysis, the researchers determined that these eyeless fishes, one group from Madagascar and the other from similar subterranean habitats in Australia, descended from a common ancestor before being separated by continental drift nearly 100 million years ago. Their study, which appears in the journal PLoS ONE this week, also identifies new species that add to existing biological evidence for the existence of Gondwana, a prehistoric supercontinent that was part of Pangaea and contained all of today's southern continents.

"This is the first time that a taxonomically robust study has shown that blind cave vertebrates on either side of an ocean are each other's closest relatives," said Prosanta Chakrabarty, an assistant professor and curator of fishes at Louisiana State University's Museum of Natural Science. "This is a great example of biology informing geology. Often, that's how things work. These animals have no eyes and live in isolated freshwater caves, so it is highly unlikely they could have crossed oceans to inhabit new environments."

The cave fishes, of the genus Typhleotris in Madagascar and Milyeringa in Australia, are small -- less than 100 millimeters long -- and usually lack pigment, a substance that gives an organism its color and also provides protection from the sun's ultraviolet radiation. These characteristics, coupled with a lack of eyes and enhanced sensory capabilities, allow cave fishes to survive in complete darkness. For this reason, the fishes have very restricted distributions within isolated limestone caves. It's also why the newfound genetic relationship between the trans-oceanic groups is an exciting geological find.

"The sister-group relationship between cavefishes from Madagascar and Australia is a remarkable example of Gondwanan vicariance -- a geographical split dating back to the Late Cretaceous some 100 million years ago," said John Sparks, a curator in the Division of Vertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History. "The interesting thing about Madagascar's extant freshwater fish groups, with the exception of a single species, is that all exhibit relationship patterns that are in time with the Mesozoic breakup of Gondwana -- some are related to groups in India/Sri Lanka, and others to groups in Australia. Only a single freshwater species has its closest relative in nearby Africa."

One of the new species discovered by the researchers, which will be named in a future publication, is a novelty among cave fishes because it is fully and darkly pigmented. The analysis the researchers conducted for this fish's tree of life shows that it evolved from a pigment-free ancestor, indicating that some subterranean forms can "reverse" themselves for this character.

"It is generally thought that cave organisms are unable to evolve to live in other environments," Sparks said. "Our results, and the fact that we have recently discovered new cave fish species in both Madagascar and Australia belonging to these genera, are intriguing from another perspective: they show that caves are not so-called 'evolutionary dead ends.'"

Funding for the research expedition was provided by the Constantine S. Niarchos Expedition Fund, established by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation to support the research of museum curators around the globe. This particular expedition turned into more of an adventure than the group was planning -- in fact, one of the new species has been given a moniker that means "big sickness" in Malagasy because of the dangers the team incurred while searching for specimens in this dry, inhospitable region of Madagascar.

"Only two specimens of the new pigmented form were recovered from the first cave we searched in Madagascar, despite the fact that we spent hours in this sinkhole," said Chakrabarty. "Even the locals hadn't been inside of it before."

Because remote locales with caving opportunities exist all over the world, the researchers are eager to pursue other opportunities for discovery.

"Conducting this research really developed my love for caving," said Chakrabarty. "You don't always find something exciting. But, when you consider how isolated many of these caves are, especially in places like Madagascar, and how unaffected they have been by the passage of time, you know that the fish in there are going to tell a really good story."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Museum of Natural History, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Prosanta Chakrabarty, Matthew P. Davis, John S. Sparks. The First Record of a Trans-Oceanic Sister-Group Relationship between Obligate Vertebrate Troglobites. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (8): e44083 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0044083

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/JBe4i_TDjOI/120829151239.htm

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Amazon's Kindle Fire has sold out just in time for the company's next big event

Amazon has just announced that the Kindle Fire has joined the Kindle Touch on the out-of-stock list, presumably forever, a week before the company's mysterious product announcement. Jeff Bezos has teased that the company's got an "exciting roadmap" ahead, which we'd expect to include at least one touchscreen e-reader and a vastly revamped 7-inch tablet, designed to better compete with Google's similarly sized budget offering.

Continue reading Amazon's Kindle Fire has sold out just in time for the company's next big event

Filed under: Tablets

Amazon's Kindle Fire has sold out just in time for the company's next big event originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 09:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/ct7IvsY5L5w/

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Philippines business process outsourcing activities | Tempo - News ...

Manila, Philippines ? THE report that the United States has rejected an anti-outsourcing bill comes as a welcome development for the Philippine business process outsourcing (BPO) industry. It is a win-win proposition for both Philippine and American companies. Outsourcing business services to the Philippines helps make American companies more competitive and profitable, says the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP), the umbrella association for the information technology (IT)-BPO, serving as one-stop information and advocacy gateway for the industry.

Citing studies, BPAP said ?outsourcing has little impact on job losses; instead, outsourcing can free up resources to create more jobs at home.? A study of the hiring practices of 2,500 US multinationals showed that for every job outsourced, nearly two new jobs are created in the US.

The IT-BPO industry in the Philippines has had robust growth; it recorded $11 billion investments and increased 638,000 jobs in 2011, on track to meet its fiveyear target of generating $25 billion revenues by 2016. This year, the goal is to produce 126,000 new jobs and generate $2 billion in extra revenue.

The Philippines holds a major portion of global outsourcing market, due to the English proficiency of Filipinos. Call centers in the Philippines count among its clients several giant multinationals. Pharmaceutical firms outsource their medical transcriptions in the country. The government offers tax incentives to BPO firms, including value-added tax and income tax exemption.

We wish the Officials of the Philippines Government, headed by President Benigno S. Aquino III and Vice President Jejomar C. Binay, Department of Science and Technology Secretary Mario D. Montejo, Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda D. Baldoz, and Business Processing Association of the Philippines Chief Executive Officer Benedict C. Hernandez, all the best and success in all their endeavors. CONGRATULATIONS AND MABUHAY!

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Source: http://www.tempo.com.ph/2012/philippines-business-process-outsourcing-activities/

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Ex-Democrat Artur Davis: Obama has lost his ?halo?

Former Rep. Artur Davis, who delivered a nominating speech for President Barack Obama at the Democratic National??

TAMPA?Former congressman Artur Davis?once a Democratic rising star, now a Republican weapon?accused President Barack Obama late Tuesday of bamboozling voters four years ago with "flowery words" and charged that the incumbent has lost the "halo" his supporters thought he had in 2008.

"America is a land of second chances, and I gather in this close race you have room for the estimated 6 million of us who know we got it wrong in 2008 and who want to fix it," Davis told delegates to the Republican National Convention.

Davis, who seconded Obama's nomination at the Democratic National Convention that year, acidly quipped that "we should have known that night in Denver that things that begin with styrofoam Greek columns and artificial smoke typically don't end well." He continued: "Maybe the Hollywood stars and the glamor blinded us a little: You thought it was the glare, some of us thought it was a halo."

Davis switched parties after failing to get the Democratic nomination for governor of Alabama?a defeat some analysts blamed on his effort to tack to the center, notably his decision to vote against Obamacare, a repudiation of Obama thought to have cost him dearly among core Democrats. Now on the other side, Davis reached out to voters who backed the president's historic 2008 run but are having second thoughts.

"Do you know why so many of us believed? We led with our hearts and our?dreams that we could be more inclusive than America had ever been, and no candidate had ever spoken so beautifully," he said.

"But dreams meet daybreak: The jobless know what I mean, so do the families who wonder how this administration could wreck a recovery for three years and counting," he said. "So many of those high-flown words have faded."

Now, said Davis, "we have a country to turn around."

Davis praised Republicans for nominating "the most experienced executive to seek the presidency in 60 years in Mitt Romney." "He has no illusions about what makes America great, and he doesn't confuse the presidency with celebrity, or loftiness with leadership," he said.

"Let's put the poetry aside, let's suspend the hype, let's come down to earth and start creating jobs again," Davis said.

"May it be said of this time in our history: 2008 to 2011: lesson learned. 2012: mistake corrected."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/ex-democrat-artur-davis-obama-lost-halo-021716902.html

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HTC plans to fight patent claims, refuses to settle with Apple

or whatever the crisis may be ? has a life of its own. Men and women keep dying, and U.S. policies keep accelerating the centrifugal forces that are driving the country toward civil conflict, which may have profound implications for future regional and international security." ? Sarah Chaynes, a senior associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in commentary published Sunday as analysts say that the a public worn down by a war that began just a month after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, no longer cares about Afghanistan, and that the war has slipped off the radar screens and is now considered by many to be over.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/htc-plans-fight-patent-claims-refuses-settle-apple-190524219.html

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Garmin Forerunner 10: A Simple GPS Fitness Watch to Track Your Evening Jog [Video]

Garmin is well-known for its intense fitness watches like the Forerunner 910XT—a big, complicated, waterproof timekeeper that's basically designed with Olympians triathletes in mind. If you're just a casual jogger trying to stay in shape, a watch that powerful is just intimidating overkill. Garmin's newest fitness watch is designed for those of us who aren't superstars—yet. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/9GrCa3y5XnY/garmin-forerunner-10-a-simple-gps-fitness-watch-for-your-evening-jog

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7 Easy WordPress Security Tips | Business 2 Community

WordPress is the most popular Content Management System (CMS) on the World Wide Web.?Like many popular applications, WordPress even has many thousands of plug-ins and widgets created by WordPress? vast developer community. Because WordPress is open source and licensed under GPL, each release gets better and better, and thousands of developers are making useful programs for it. Although WordPress was really designed for blogs, with the multitude of plug-ins that can be installed, and the flexibility to customize many elements, the CMS can be adapted for many other formats of websites.

WordPress is used by an astonishing 8.5% of all websites. Web delivered malware and website cracking are becoming increasingly common. With such a large percentage of web content using WordPress as a CMS, any security vulnerabilities in WordPress? coding or framework could affect millions of websites.

In this article, I?ll explain how you can best protect your WordPress developed website from malware and cracking.

Step 1: Audit Overall Work Station Security

First of all, make sure that any and all PCs and web servers you use are kept properly secure. Make sure you?re running the most recent release of your favourite web browser, and make sure that it?s set to automatically patch. Do the same with your antivirus software and operating systems. Make sure that all authentication vectors you use have secure passwords which are changed every so often. Scan your PCs and servers for malware, frequently. Make sure you use proper firewalls- at the OS level, at the router level and at the ISP level, if at all possible. Any security holes outside of WordPress, in software and hardware you use with it, can affect the CMS itself. It?d be sad to create a really secure password for your WordPress admin account, only to find out a keylogger defeated all of your effort.

Step 2: Keep WordPress Updated

Then, the next step is to make sure you always have the most recent version of WordPress installed. Updating WordPress is relatively quick and easy, and can be done through the WordPress panel in your web browser. If the most recent version of WordPress is incompatible with the versions of PHP and mySQL installed in your web server or web host, I strongly recommend you go to the effort to upgrade those to ensure your version of WordPress is up to date. Obsolete versions of WordPress will no longer get security patches, much the same way that older OSes see support expiration.

Step 3: Report Bugs and Vulnerabilities

If you ever discover security vulnerabilities on your own, do the community a favour by sending a detailed e-mail to security@wordpress.org. If the vulnerability is in a plug-in instead, e-mail plugins@wordpress.org. You would want other web developers to report loopholes that may affect your website, so treat others as you would like to be treated! Just avoid writing about those newly discovered vulnerabilities on the web or on social networking sites, so that information doesn?t fall into the wrong hands.

Step 4: Check For Exploits

Every so often, run the ?Exploit Scanner? plug-in to check for indications of malicious activity. Exploit Scanner doesn?t directly repair any issues, but it will leave you a detailed log to troubleshoot with. If you ever suspect cracking, that?s the time to run that plug-in, as well.

Step 5: Disable Custom HTML When Possible

WordPress can use custom HTML for various functions. If that isn?t absolutely necessary for the form and function of your website, you may want to disable unfiltered HTML by adding ?define( ?DISALLOW_UNFILTERED_HTML?, true ); ? to your wp-config.php file.

Step 6: Back It Up!

?WP-DB Manager? is excellent for backing up your entire WordPress site, but it?ll also alert you to mySQL vulnerabilities and let you know when parts of your database are publicly accessible.

Always be sure to properly back up the content of your site. In a worst-case scenario, at least keeping back ups will allow you to easily restore your site. With WP-DB Manager, you could also use ?Online Backup for WordPress?. The back up the plug-in creates can be stored in your e-mail inbox, on your PC, or you can use the 100MB of free storage space on developer Backup Technology?s own secure servers.

Step 7: Install Other Useful Security Plug-Ins

I previously mentioned the Exploit Scanner plug-in, which you should run on your site every so often to check for vulnerabilities and cracking attempts. There are a number of other WordPress plug-ins that I recommend you install and use. When used properly, they can harden your WordPress site very effectively.

With Exploit Scanner, you can also use ?WP Security Scan?. Not only will the plugin look for vulnerabilities, but it?ll also give you specific advice for blocking them.

To prevent man-in-the-middle cracks to find your login credentials, be sure to encrypt your login packets with ?Login Encryption?. That plugin uses both DEA and RSA algorithms for enchanced security.

?

Installing plug-ins from the admin panel

Configure the ?Limit Login Attempts? plugin to prevent brute-force attacks. With the plugin, you can set a maximum number of login attempts, and also set the duration of lockouts in between.?The ?User Locker? plugin works in a similar way. With it, you can set a maximum number of invalid authentication attempts before the account is locked.?There?s also an excellent plug-in for securing your entire admin panel. Try ?Admin SSL Secure? plugin to encrypt your panel with SSL.

Another excellent plug-in for securing your site?s login is ?Chap Secure Login?. By using that plugin, all of your login credentials, except for usernames, will be encrypted with the Chap protocol and SHA-256 algorithm.?As mentioned before, it?s an excellent idea to change as many WordPress defaults as possible. With ?Stealth Login?, you can create custom URLs for logging in and out of your site.

WordPress sites are frequently targeted by spambots. I have to spend a lot of time going through comments on my site, and the majority of my pending comments have to be marked as spam. Imagine what those spambots can do to your site, beyond giving you a lot of tedious extra work! For that reason, I recommend installing ?Bad Behavior? on your site. By logging your site?s HTTP requests, you can better troubleshoot spambot issues. Furthermore, the plugin will limit access to your site when a bot hits it.

With Bad Behavior, you can also use ?User Spam Remover?. It will remove unused user accounts on your site. You can set an age threshold to those settings and you can also configure a whitelist. ?Block Bad Queries??will try to block malicious queries made to your site. It looks for ?eval(? or ?base64? in request URIs, and also looks for request strings that are suspiciously long.?An anti-malware shield can be applied to your entire site with the ?AntiVirus? plugin. It looks for viruses, worms, rootkits, and other forms of malware. Be sure to keep it updated!

When you choose and install plug-ins on your site, also be sure to only install plugins offered through your admin panel or under the plug-in directory at wordpress.org. Outside plug-ins may be secure, but it?s best to mitigate the risk. Officially released plug-ins are audited for security and scanned for malware.

Keeping your WordPress site hardened for security is an ongoing responsibility, just like all other areas of IT and development security. You can?t just configure a number of settings or programs and then forget about it. Your WordPress site should be on a schedule for malware and vulnerability scanning, and logs should be kept and analyzed.

By keeping your WordPress site secure, you?re doing your part to prevent malicious activity that could not only harm websites, but also web servers and user?s PCs, tablets and smartphone devices. As WordPress is such a common CMS on the web, knowledge about the design and configuration of the console is readily available, and certain hacks could work on perhaps millions of websites. Fortunately, knowledge about WordPress security is abundant, for much the same reasons. In the ongoing maintenance of your website and web server, always be security minded. You can then have proper control over your web content, and do your part to make the Internet a better place.

Kim Crawley is a researcher for InfoSec Institute.

Source: http://www.business2community.com/blogging/7-easy-wordpress-security-tips-0265029

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Ipad Application Development: For Proficient Use In The Business :: By

?IPad Application Development Catering Easy Business Solutions
Apple is one of the prominent mobile phone companies which are known for high quality gadgets that are booming in the mobile industry. Currently the need for mobile application development has grown thoroughly which has led to a huge competition between the iPad application development companies. iPads were the first tablets to be launched in the market which has brought a new genre of gadgets in the market. These are smaller than the laptops but bit bigger than the mobile phones. These have...

?Mobile Application Development Moving Ahead With Rising Technology
Mobile application development is selling like hot cakes as people want their phone to be efficient enough. Leading mobile phone companies such as Nokia, Apple, Blackberry, etc are taking help from different platforms for the development of mobile phones. Nowadays mobile phones are equivalent with computers. Now these are the multi-tasking devices. Earlier there were some tasks which were done by only personal computers are easily done through the mobile handsets. This all have become...

?Mobile Application Development A Complete Solution For Efficiency
In this fast paced life, one cannot regularly meet their loved ones easily and that is why communication has restrained to virtual life. People are connected through phone calls or internet and that is why the need for development of these gadgets has become much important. Mobile application development is the most unique and efficient way to make your phone work according to the needs of the business. Smart phones have the best success story in the past years and with every year; these...

?Blackberry Application Development Augmenting Your Mobile Phone
BlackBerry Smartphones with their amazing prospective long has been the first choice of business professionals and still control the Smartphone market for businesses. BlackBerry Smartphones allow you to keep in touch with everything that is important to you, at any time and place. It includes almost everything that you would require including browsing net, phone, organizer, games, entertainment, customized applications and much more. The simplest way to use BlackBerry business apps and plugins...

?Get Sound Online Exposure With Ecommerce Application Development
Now every business is seeking for online exposure to reach people beyond geographical boundaries. Ecommerce development has become the ultimate solution for the growth and prospers of every sector. Currently, numerous ecommerce websites are running on the internet providing numerous products from different section of industries. Ecommerce application development provides a right approach of development from the basic system analysis and design to all the necessary promotional activities. It...

?Mobile Application Development Redefining Technology
Today, mobile phone application development industry is the most booming one. The demand of mobile technology is growing on a faster pace. The need and requirement of every user has made many business organizations modify the handsets in the best possible manner. Blackberry, Android, i-Phone, i-Pod, etc are some of the platforms which has helped in modifying the phone in the best possible manner and has provided the customer with a personalized phone. Earlier, every person wanted a phone...

?Make Your Phone Efficient With Blackberry Application
Blackberry smart phones have made possible for every businessman to work easily on the move. The stylish and feature rich have become the most popular choice for the working personnel. With the easy to type keyboard and access to browser, it has made work accessible at every time of the day. A person can get connected with his customers, family members, friends, clients, retailers, etc altogether at same time. As Blackberry has always concentrated in providing email facility to the user, the...

?Ecommerce Application Development For Efficient Online Portal
Ecommerce application development is becoming more and more popular with the increase in creation of online business. These web applications help the store owners to properly manage and handle their online store. Advancement in the present technology and internet usage has helped various businesses to grow with a rapid speed. Internet has enabled the businesses to expand to the wider markets and helps the companies to increase their brand and product awareness. Maintaining online stores...

?Create Your Own Shopping Portal With Ecommerce Application Development
Development in the current technology and internet usage has helped different businesses to grow at a fast pace. Internet has helped the businesses to expand to the wider areas and helps the companies to enhance their brand and product awareness. Managing online shops through ecommerce website solution helps the businesses to get operated not only in their country but also in other different countries. To create top notch online portal, the ecommerce application development process should be of...

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Joomla website development is an application which is used for the development of the websites. It helps in creating the interactive and well designed website with ease. Online business or internet marketing has become a craze due to its flexibility to reach customers worldwide. People nowadays are depended on internet for the expansion of their business and making their presence throughout. When a user wants to buy something he wants to research about that particular product. If he can...

Source: http://www.bharatbhasha.net/technology.php/391292

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Rover's first find in Sharp focus

28 August 2012 Last updated at 06:21 ET

The Mars rover Curiosity is indulging in a flurry of multimedia activity ahead of its science mission proper.

It sent the first image from its 100mm telephoto lens, already spotting an intriguing geological "unconformity".

Nasa also released a colour panorama of Mount Sharp, the rover's ultimate goal.

On Monday, the rover relayed "the first voice recording to be sent from another planet", and on Tuesday it will broadcast a song from artist will.i.am as part of an educational event.

But alongside these show pieces, Curiosity - also known as the Mars Science Laboratory - is already warming up its instruments for a science mission of unprecedented scope on the Red Planet.

Nasa said that the rover was already returning more data from Mars than all of the agency's earlier rovers combined.

It will eventually trundle to the base of Mount Sharp, the 5km-high peak at the centre of Gale Crater, in which the rover touched down just over three weeks ago.

For now it is examining the "scour marks" left by the rocket-powered crane that lowered the rover onto the planet's surface, giving some insight into what lies just below it.

The rover will now employ its Dan instrument, which fires the subatomic particles neutrons at the surface to examine levels of hydrogen- and hydroxyl-containing minerals that could hint at Mars' prior water-rich history.

Another tool in its arsenal, the ChemCam, which uses a laser to vapourise rock and then chemically examine the vapour, will also have a look at the scour marks.

And the Sample Analysis at Mars or Sam instrument, itself a package of three analysis tools, has now been switched on and is being run through its paces ahead of "sniffing" the Martian atmosphere; the tests include analysing a sample of Earth air that was left in it at launch.

But what has caught the interest of Nasa engineers already is what is called an "unconformity" spotted in the rover's first images of Mount Sharp.

The term refers to an evidently missing piece in the geological record, where one layer of sediment does not geologically neatly line up with that above it.

Images from orbit had indicated that the lower foothills of Mount Sharp consisted of flat-lying sediments rich in "hydrated" minerals, formed in the presence of water, but that layers above seemed to lack the minerals.

Now, the rover's Mastcam - which provided the new colour panorama image - has taken a picture of the divide, showing sediments apparently deposited at a markedly different angle than those below them. Similar deposits on Earth can arise due to tectonic or volcanic activity.

Further investigation will have to wait some time however, as Curiosity takes a bit of a side trip.

The rover's multimedia streak will continue as it takes a short 10m drive and works on Tuesday to capture stereo imagery - like our eyes, combining two images to gain information about depth and distance.

At 20:00 GMT (13:00 PDT, 21:00 BST), it will relay a new song from will.i.am, to be broadcast on Nasa TV, as part of a primary educational initiative that will make use of Nasa technology including the rover.

On Monday, the rover received and beamed back a message recorded by Nasa administrator Charles Bolden, which read: "The knowledge we hope to gain from our observation and analysis of Gale Crater will tell us much about the possibility of life on Mars as well as the past and future possibilities for our own planet."

Next stop for the rover will be Glenelg, 400m to the east, which appears to be the intersection of three distinct geological regions - potentially rich pickings for the rover's suite of tools.

It will then set off for the base of Mount Sharp in a journey that will take several months.

• (A) Curiosity will trundle around its landing site looking for interesting rock features to study. Its top speed is about 4cm/s
• (B) This mission has 17 cameras. They will identify particular targets, and a laser will zap those rocks to probe their chemistry
• (C) If the signal is significant, Curiosity will swing over instruments on its arm for close-up investigation. These include a microscope
• (D) Samples drilled from rock, or scooped from the soil, can be delivered to two hi-tech analysis labs inside the rover body
• (E) The results are sent to Earth through antennas on the rover deck. Return commands tell the rover where it should drive next

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19396270#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Man Walking and Watching TV at the Same Time Falls Through a Hole [Video]

Eoin is a poor guy who was walking while watching TV and juggling multiple things in his hands (his phone perhaps?) when he fell straight through the floor. Like, literally. A trap door in the ground was left open and he didn't notice until he plunged completely through the hole. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/pRWUn9kzSbg/man-walking-and-watching-tv-at-the-same-time-falls-through-a-hole

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Tropical Storm Isaac heads for U.S. Gulf Coast

MIAMI (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Isaac swirled into the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, disrupting U.S. offshore energy production and threatening to hit Louisiana as a hurricane seven years to the day after devastating Hurricane Katrina.

The storm swiped south Florida on Sunday before moving into warm Gulf waters, where it is expected to strengthen into at least a Category 1 hurricane.

On its current track, Isaac was due to slam into the Gulf Coast anywhere between Florida and Louisiana by midweek, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The governors of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi declared states of emergency as a hurricane warning went into effect for the northern Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle.

It included New Orleans, devastated when Hurricane Katrina swept over the city on August 29, 2005, killing more than 1,800 people and causing billions of dollars of damage along the coast.

"It is difficult to realize that to the day - seven years after Katrina - another hurricane is headed our way," Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant said.

Early Monday morning, Isaac was about 405 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River with top sustained winds of 65 mph and moving west-northwest at 14 mph.

It was expected to be centered over the Gulf Coast late Tuesday night or early on Wednesday. Evacuation orders for some low-lying parts of the Gulf Coast already were in effect Monday morning.

Energy producers in the Gulf worked to shut down some of their operations ahead of what could be the biggest test for U.S. energy installations since 2008, when Hurricanes Gustav and Ike disrupted offshore oil output for months and damaged onshore natural gas processing plants, pipelines and some refineries.

Gulf residents started stocking up on supplies and securing their homes. In New Orleans, long lines formed at some gas stations and in Gulfport, Mississippi, people crowded supermarkets to buy bottled water and canned food.

"I sense a high level of anxiety," said New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu. "The timing, as fate would have it, on the anniversary of Katrina has everybody in a state of alertness, but that is a good thing."

Isaac is forecast to become a hurricane on Tuesday. In its latest advisory, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the storm was not expected to strengthen beyond Category 1, the weakest type on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity.

NHC meteorologist Jessica Schauer said Isaac could trigger widespread coastal flooding, however.

"Right now we're forecasting 6 to 12 feet of storm surge if it occurs at the time of high tide in the southeast Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama coast," she said.

Schauer said the NHC's hurricane warning area included "quite a few oil rigs" but not perhaps the heart of the U.S. offshore oil patch, which produces about 23 percent of U.S. oil output and 7 percent of its natural gas.

With the threat to offshore oil infrastructure and Louisiana refineries, U.S. crude oil prices were up 75 cents to $96.90 a barrel in early trading Monday.

SHUTTING OIL PRODUCTION

Meteorologists at Weather Insight, an arm of Thomson Reuters, predict the storm will spur short-term shutdowns of 85 percent of the U.S. offshore oil production capacity and 68 percent of the natural gas output.

Once ashore, the storm could wreak havoc on low-lying fuel refineries along the Gulf Coast that account for about 40 percent of U.S. refining capacity.

That could send gasoline prices spiking just ahead of the U.S. Labor Day holiday, analysts said. "It's going right in the heart of refinery row," Phil Flynn, an analyst with Price Futures Group in Chicago, said on Sunday.

London-based BP Plc, the biggest U.S. Gulf producer, said it was shutting production at all of its Gulf of Mexico oil and gas platforms and evacuating all workers on Sunday.

Issac's westward track meant the worst of its weather would miss Tampa, where the Republican National Convention was expected to open its four-day meeting on Monday but official events were delayed until Tuesday because of the storm.

Tampa, located on Florida's west coast, still faces total rain accumulations of about 15 inches between Sunday and Monday evening, forecasters said.

In south Florida, winds from Isaac forced cancellations of hundreds of flights in and out of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and other south Florida airports on Sunday. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez reported more than 500 cancellations affecting Miami International Airport alone.

The storm killed at least nine people and caused significant flooding and damage in Haiti and the Dominican Republic before sweeping across the southern tip of Florida on Sunday.

(Writing by Tom Brown; Additional reporting by David Adams in Miami, Kathy Finn in New Orleans, Emily Le Coz in Tupelo, Matthew Robinson in New York and Kristen Hays in Houston; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/isaac-heads-u-gulf-coast-drenching-south-florida-004229748.html

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TaurineMike - The Legion Gaming Community

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Google says Apple's legal victory doesn't relate to Android ...

Google hinted today that it will likely be unaffected by Samsung?s court loss to Apple over patents related to the iPhone?s design. Samsung?s stock has taken a hit today as it will have to pay $1.05 billion for violating Apple?s patents, based on a jury ruling on Friday. Google supplies the core Android operating system for Samsung?s smartphones and tablets.

But Google said that the claims involved in the patent case don?t relate to the core software. But if Samsung is forced to stop selling its smartphones and tablets in the U.S., as Apple is expected to request, the number of Android shipments could suffer.

Google said, ?The court of appeals will review both infringement and the validity of the patent claims. Most of these don?t relate to the core Android operating system, and several are being re-examined by the US Patent Office. The mobile industry is moving fast and all players ? including newcomers ? are building upon ideas that have been around for decades. We work with our partners to give consumers innovative and affordable products, and we don?t want anything to limit that.?

[Image credit: VentureBeat]

Source: http://venturebeat.com/2012/08/26/google-says-apples-legal-victory-doesnt-relate-to-android/

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Search Engine Marketing Tips That Anyone Can Adhere to | Power ...

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Source: http://www.acar4hitches.com/53-search-engine-marketing-tips-that-anyone-can-adhere-to

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Can a splash of color change image of Republicans?

A black former top diplomat, a Cuban-born senator, an Indian-American governor -- the speakers list for next week's Republican National Convention reads like a conservative Rainbow Coalition.

The convention, which will formally tap former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney as the party's presidential candidate, headlines a multi-hued line-up meant to belie its image as the party of middle-aged white men.

Prominent minority political leaders have been tapped to deliver primetime speeches at the convention, a four-day long pep rally meant to whip up support for Romney as he tries to unseat Democratic President Barack Obama.

Sylvia Manzano, a political scientist at Texas A and M University, said the list of speakers is a clear attempt to woo voters of color, particularly Hispanic voters, seen as more likely recruits than black Americans.

"Having those people will probably draw a few more Latino viewers, and will also lower the propensity to change the channel," she told USA Today.

The intended message for Hispanic voters, she said, is, "'Here's the reason I am a Republican and here's what we have in common.'"

Marco Rubio, a Cuban-emigre and a senator for Florida who is among the Republicans' most prominent rising stars, has been given the high honor of formally introducing Romney to the crowd.

Top speaking slots also have been given to New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval and Texas Senate candidate Ted Cruz, a rising star of the Tea Party movement, as well as several other Hispanics.

News reports have also said that the Republican convention, held this year in the city of Tampa, Florida, will feature no fewer than 10 Latino-themed events, more than ever before.

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, an Indian-American, will have a speaking role at the event, which runs from August 27 to 30.

Meanwhile African Americans, who are famously reluctant to vote for Republican candidates -- perhaps especially when the incumbent Democrat president is himself black -- are also being wooed.

Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, will address the crowd, as will fresh-faced up-and-comer Mia Love, an African American running as a Republican in the conservative state of Utah.

It is far from clear, however, whether the cavalcade of black and Hispanic speakers will improve Romney's appeal to minority voters.

A poll this week by NBC shows that, against Obama, Romney could expect to win precisely zero support among African Americans. The poll had a wide margin of error, but clearly the Republican is fighting a losing battle.

Hispanics meanwhile said they preferred Obama over Romney by 63 to 28 percent -- a more than two-to-one margin.

David Bositis, of the Joint Center on Economic Studies, a think tank studying issues of concern to the black community, denounced a "to make them look something unlike what they in fact are. They are a white party."

Bositis said the Republican policy platform -- both at the convention and in Congress -- is seen as anathema to the interests of many minority voters.

And he attacked Republican-led efforts in key election battleground states to tighten voter identification requirements -- moves that many analysts say would disproportionately affect minorities and the poor.

"Why would any black voter support the Republicans when the Republicans are trying to take their votes away? That's more basic than anything else. If you want to take my vote that means you really want me out of the way," he said.

Pundits point out that the party platform written this week and which will be endorsed by delegates at the convention calls for completing a fence across the US-Mexican border -- a position very unpopular with Hispanic voters.

The party also is viewed as hostile to other issues supported by Latinos, including DREAM Act legislation in the US Congress which would have normalized the legal status of thousands of Latino children and young adults.

Obama meanwhile, did an end-run around lawmakers by issuing a decree temporarily suspending the deportation of some young undocumented immigrants.

Against that backdrop, Bositis said he doubts that a parade of black and Latino speakers on the podium will increase in minority support for Republicans ahead of this year's vote.

"Will it have any effect on people's impressions of where Republicans stand? No," he said, adding: It's not going to make any difference except in terms of the optics."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/splash-color-change-image-republicans-193134300.html

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Syrian rebels release Lebanese hostage

BEIRUT (AP) ? Turkey on Saturday secured the release of one of 11 Shiite Lebanese hostages held for three months by Syrian rebels, a move that underlined Ankara's growing influence in the Arab world. In Syria itself, activists reported the discovery of up to 50 bodies in a Damascus suburb stormed by government forces after heavy clashes this week.

Hussein Ali Omar, 60, crossed into Turkey after his release and later arrived in Beirut, the Lebanese capital, aboard a private Turkish jet.

"Our treatment (by the Syrian captors) was excellent and the Lebanese (hostages) are well," said Omar.

He was dressed in a white shirt and a red tie bearing an image of the Turkish flag that he said he was wearing "in recognition of Turkey's efforts to free me."

In Syria, activists reported clashes between rebels and government troops as well as shelling in different areas, including the northern province of Aleppo, the district of Idlib, the eastern region of Deir el-Zour and Daraa in the south.

The activists also reported violence in some suburbs of the capital, Damascus, including Daraya, which government troops stormed on Thursday. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said between 40 and 50 bodies were discovered Saturday in Daraya. It did not say whether the bodies belonged to civilians or rebel fighters.

The Observatory said 109 people have been killed in clashes in Daraya alone over the past four days.

The discovery of dead bodies in areas where fighting has taken place has become routine in the 17-month-old Syrian conflict, which activists say has killed at least 20,000 people since the uprising against President Bashar Assad began in March 2011.

In all, the Observatory said the death toll in Syria on Saturday reached 130. It is impossible to independently verify such figures or any of the fighting reports provided by the activists. The Syrian government places severe restrictions on the local media's coverage of the civil war as well the meager number of foreign journalists it allows in the country.

Omar's release came a week after Shiite Lebanese tribesmen kidnapped two Turks and more than 20 Syrians to force the rebels to release Lebanese national Hassane al-Mikdad, who the rebels captured near the Syrian capital, Damascus, and accused of being a member of Lebanon's Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

The al-Mikdad, a powerful Shiite clan in Lebanon, later released all but four of the Syrians it was holding.

The 11 Lebanese Shiites were abducted May 22 after crossing into Syria from Turkey on their way to Lebanon. A previously unknown group calling itself "Syrian Rebels in Aleppo" claimed responsibility.

The group demanded that Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah apologize for his comments in support of Assad. Nasrallah, an ally of the Syrian regime, has said the abduction would not change Hezbollah's stance.

In a statement on Saturday, Turkey's Foreign Ministry said Ankara would continue to try to win the freedom of the rest of the hostages. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu later called for the release of the two Turks held in Lebanon.

Ankara, he said, would not accept the "concept of a hostage exchange" and cannot be held responsible for the kidnappings in Syria.

"There is a lack of public order in Syria and a state of anarchy," Davutoglu said. "No one has the excuse to kidnap a Turkish national."

Turkey, which is mainly Sunni, was a close Syrian ally until shortly after the uprising against Assad's regime began in March, 2011. Relations between the two neighbors have since rapidly deteriorated, with Ankara siding with the rebels against the regime.

Some 75,000 Syrians have found refuge from the violence in Turkey. The commander of the rebel Free Syrian Army and some of the main opposition groups also are based there. Damascus routinely singles out Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar as the rebels' main foreign backers.

Mohammed Nour, a rebel spokesman in the northern Syrian town of Azaz, said in a statement read on TV that Omar's release was in response to a request by Lebanon's Association of Muslim Scholars and an adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He did not say what they will do with the remaining 10 Lebanese Shiites but repeated his call for Hezbollah to "specify their stance regarding the Syrian people and revolution."

Syria's 18-month crisis also has sparked outright fighting in neighboring Lebanon, where pro- and anti-Syrian group have clashed since Monday in the northern city of Tripoli. The latest violence in Tripoli has killed at least 17 people and wounded more than a 100.

The unrest in Tripoli, which pits Alawites against Sunnis, reflects the strong sectarian undertones of the Syrian conflict. Assad is a member of Syria's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. The rebels seeking to topple his regime are Sunni Arabs.

The state-run SANA news agency reported heavy clashes in Aleppo, Syria's largest city and commercial capital, saying that "many terrorists" were killed or wounded. The Syrian regime frequently refers to those who oppose it as "terrorists."

Aleppo has been the scene of heavy fighting for nearly a month since rebels launched an assault on the city, seizing control of several neighborhoods. The regime has waged a fierce offensive in a bid to regain control of Aleppo, but so far has struggled to snuff out the rebel campaign.

The Observatory, which has a nationwide network of activists inside Syria who monitor violence and abuses, said clashes in the eastern town of al-Bukamal on the border with Iraq were concentrated near an air defense base. Al-Bukamal is in the oil-rich province of Deir el-Zour.

___

Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-rebels-release-lebanese-hostage-192917918.html

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KNegandhiESPN: Dodgers next order of business: acquire Maurice Jones Drew and Mike Wallace.. They'll play baseball until LA brings back the Rams in 2014..

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Insert Coin: Connectify Dispatch lets you put all your internets together into one big internet (video)

In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line.

If you've ever thought "Hey, my internet is pretty slow, maybe I can get a second line and combine them into one big, zippy connection!" then you're not alone -- those of us who are broadband-deprived need all the help we can get. But a quick tour through Google will show you the difficulty of doing that process, called "bonding," at home. So, Connectify has proposed Dispatch, software that lets you easily combine your WiFi, ethernet and 3G/4G into a single, fat pipe, at a reasonable cost. The company brings along wireless sharing know-how from its Hotspot product to the project, and promises that with every connection you combine, you'll get a corresponding bump in throughput. Also, the system will automatically failover to a good connection if one goes on the fritz, and even switch automatically between WiFi and 3G/4G to maximize speed and save money.

To prove the tech, the company combined all the available open WiFi networks in a neighborhood along with a tethered Verizon mobile phone, and were able to create an impressive 85Mbs connection, as the video below the break shows. So far, Connectify has vacuumed up $30K for Dispatch toward the $50K objective, with about two weeks left. So, if you're desperate for more speed, or just want to trump your neighbor's bandwidth by stealing his WiFi and melding it with your ADSL, check the source to see how to pledge.

Continue reading Insert Coin: Connectify Dispatch lets you put all your internets together into one big internet (video)

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Insert Coin: Connectify Dispatch lets you put all your internets together into one big internet (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zumba beats kickboxing, aerobics and Pilates for burning calories ...

Zumba burns more calories per minute than power yoga, cardio kickboxing, step aerobics and even advanced Pilates group classes, a study by the department of exercise and sport science at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse found.

Zumba classes are an efficient and effective way to lose weight due to the high number of calories burned and cardiovascular intensity, the researchers found.

The study was commissioned by the American Council on Exercise and sought to determine the average exercise intensity and energy expenditure of participants in a typical Zumba class.

The group dance-fitness program, which reports 12 million class participants in 110,000 locations across 125 countries, was identified as one of the most popular workout programs in ACE?s 2012 Fitness Trends to Watch.

Exercise physiologists began the study using a test group of 19 healthy females ranging in age from 18 to 22, all of whom had prior experience in a Zumba class. To establish a baseline of fitness, study subjects each performed a treadmill test to measure their heart rate and oxygen consumption. They then completed a single Zumba class, all taught by the same instructor, while wearing a heart-rate monitor.

All participants reached a heart rate maximum of 80 percent ? an average of 154 beats per minute ? which is well within industry guidelines suggested to improve cardiovascular fitness. Class participants also burned an average of 9.5 calories per minute.

That?s more calories per minute than power yoga, cardio kickboxing, step aerobics and even advanced Pilates group classes, which were all previously tested by University of Wisconsin La-Crosse researchers.

?Just like the participants, we were surprised at how effective Zumba is in terms of its calorie-burning potential,? said ACE Chief Science Officer Dr. Cedric Bryant. ?Zumba has built an entire culture around having fun and engaging participants in this party-like atmosphere, but until now, little research has been conducted to test its effectiveness.?

Aside from its calorie-burning potential, Bryant said, Zumba is such a fun and engaging activity that many participants don?t even realize they?re expending a high amount of energy.

?The number one reason people give for not engaging in physical activity on a regular basis is the perceived lack of time,? Bryant said. ?I would argue that we find time to do things that we deem fun and engaging.?

?Our study concludes that Zumba classes can be a high-intensity cardiovascular workout for many, but we also want to note the importance of instructor expertise to ensure maximum safety for participants,? Bryant said.

American Council on Exercise is the world?s largest nonprofit fitness certification organization dedicated to providing education that helps individuals live their most fit lives.

Source: http://bangordailynews.com/2012/08/23/health/zumba-beats-kickboxing-aerobics-and-pilates-for-burning-calories-study-finds/

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Weakness in labor, factory data send sour signals

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly rose last week while U.S. manufacturing improved only slightly in August, worrisome signs for an economy struggling to create enough jobs.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 372,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

The data keeps pressure on President Barack Obama ahead of his November re-election bid. Republican challenger Mitt Romney is trying to focus voters' attention on a lofty unemployment rate that has dogged Obama's presidency.

Many economists think the Federal Reserve could unveil a new bond buying program to prop up economic growth as soon as its next meeting September 12-13, although an improvement in hiring this month could make that less likely.

"Jobless claims continue to indicate ... a sluggish labor market," said Peter Cardillo, an economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York. "The numbers also strengthen the hand of the Fed to aid the economy with more stimulus."

However, Cardillo and other economists said the slow pace of healing in the labor market doesn't necessarily point to immediate action by the Fed.

A separate report by financial information firm Markit showed some of the weakest growth in the manufacturing sector in the last three years, held back by a slowdown in hiring and sluggish overseas demand for American goods.

Markit said its U.S. "flash" manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index edged up to 51.9 in August from 51.4 in July.

The August reading marked the first monthly increase in five months. But it was the third weakest result since the manufacturing sector stopped shrinking in October 2009.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion.

Despite the increase in new claims filed last week, the data on layoffs did have a silver lining.

The data covers the same week looked at by the government for its monthly measure of employment, and showed a slight drop in layoffs from the survey week last month, which is a mildly positive signal for hiring in August.

The four-week moving average for new claims, a measure of labor market trends, was 368,000 last week. That was a slight increase from the prior week, but still 2.1 percent lower than in the second week of July.

That week, the government surveyed employers and concluded 163,000 new jobs were created in July - an improvement from the prior three months though the unemployment rate still ticked higher to 8.3 percent.

"No signs here that there's been a notable pick-up in layoffs, and (that) would suggest to us that moderate job growth continued in August," said Ellen Zentner, an economist at Nomura Securities in New York.

The government will release its employment report for August on September 7, and policymakers at the Federal Reserve will scrutinize the data for signs the economy is improving.

Minutes from the Fed's July 31-August 1 policy review, released on Wednesday, showed the central bank is likely to deliver another round of monetary stimulus "fairly soon" unless the economy improves considerably.

Claims data, which swung wildly in July due to shifts in seasonal auto plant shutdowns, are now giving a clearer picture of the labor market's health. A Labor Department official said there was nothing unusual in the state-level data.

The U.S. economy faces a number of threats, including the looming possibility the government will raise taxes and cut spending. That is already hurting business sentiment.

Europe's festering debt crisis also menaces the global economy. Business surveys released on Thursday painted a global picture of economic malaise from Beijing to Berlin.

The euro zone economy will shrink around 0.5 percent in the current quarter, with weakness even spreading through Germany, the region's largest and strongest economy, Markit's Purchasing Mangers' Index suggested.

Also worrisome for global growth, the HSBC Flash China manufacturing PMI fell to 47.8 for August, its lowest level since November and well down from July's final figure of 49.3.

(Reporting by Jason Lange)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jobless-claims-rise-labor-market-healing-very-slowly-123422902--business.html

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On Carrying Water (Theagitator)

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