SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico ? Puerto Rico plans to build a planetarium and a hotel as part of a $50 million project to attract more visitors to the world's largest single-dish radio telescope.
Officials at Puerto Rico's Metropolitan University say the planetarium will be built within two years and the hotel within five years.
The university helps run the observatory with the California-based nonprofit research group SRI International and the Universities Space Research Association, which is a Maryland-based group founded under the National Academy of Sciences.
Tuesday's announcement is the first major move by the new managers of the Arecibo Observatory. The observatory has repeatedly fought budget cuts that officials say could have forced it to close.
Oil fell to around $99 a barrel Monday amid continued concerns about the ability of Greece to bring its sovereign debt crisis under control.
By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for March delivery was down 57 cents at $98.99 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 14 cents to finish at $99.56 on Friday.
In London, Brent crude was down 6 cents to $111.40 on the ICE Futures exchange.
Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore, said crude prices were volatile after Germany's finance minister warned that Europe might not give Greece a fresh bailout unless it can overhaul its state and economy. Analysts fear that could re-ignite the region's debt crisis.
European leaders were to meet Monday in Brussels to discuss austerity measures and a tentative deal reached Saturday between Greece and its private investors to avert a disastrous Greek default on its debt.
"The situation in the eurozone continues to remain gloomy without any clarification about Greek issues," said a report from Sucden Financial in London.
Supply concerns also weighed on the market although Iran has postponed plans to immediately cut the flow of crude oil to Europe in retaliation for EU sanctions over its nuclear program.
"This reduces the danger of an immediate supply shortage in the oil market, which also puts prices under pressure," said analysts at Commerzbank in Frankfurt. "Given its dependency on oil revenues, it is in any case doubtful that Iran will take this step. A new buyer would have to be found who would pay the same prices for this oil."
Still, the chance that the oil flow from Iran could be stopped sooner than planned added to the uncertainty.
"A move by Iran to cut exports to EU member states before buyers have time to line up alternatives would be a blow to countries such as Italy, Spain and Greece, which account for the bulk of crude EU imports from Iran and are struggling with stumbling economies," said a note from JBC Energy in Vienna.
The head of Iran's national oil company warned Sunday that EU sanctions could push oil prices up to between $120 and $150 a barrel. The market is also awaiting a report from an International Atomic Energy Agency team that is currently touring Tehran, Shum said.
In other energy trading, heating oil rose 1.36 cents to $3.0729 per gallon while gasoline futures were down 2.96 cents at $2.8938 per gallon. Natural gas added 5.2 cents to $2.808 per 1,000 cubic feet.
___
Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report.
The use of probiotic bacteria, isolated from naturally-occurring bacterial communities, is gaining in popularity in the aquaculture industry as the preferred, environmentally-friendly management alternative to the use of antibiotics and other antimicrobials for disease prevention. Known to the public for their use in yogurt and other foods to improve human digestion and health, probiotic bacteria isolated from other sources can also be used to improve survival, nutrition and disease prevention in larvae grown in shellfish hatcheries.
Researchers at NOAA's Milford Laboratory in Milford, Conn. have shown that naturally-occurring bacteria isolated from the digestive glands of adult eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) and northern bay scallops (Argopecten irradians irradians) may be used as potential probiotic candidates in oyster larviculture.
Two related research studies published in the Journal of Shellfish Research identify a new probiotic bacterium, designated OY15, which has been shown to significantly improve larval survival in pilot-scale trials during the first two weeks of life, the most critical stage for the organism when mortality rates are among the highest.
"We are cautiously optimistic that this probiotic candidate, OY15, will offer a number of significant benefits to the shellfish industry," said Gary Wikfors, co-author of both studies and head of the Milford Laboratory's Biotechnology Branch. "Commercial and public shellfish hatcheries can have low survival rates for shellfish seed during the first two weeks, so improving those survival rates and the health of the organisms beyond that point is a pretty significant step forward."
Hatcheries produce shellfish seed to supplement natural seed, which is often limited by loss of habitat, contamination from pollution, climate change and other factors. Bacterial diseases caused mainly by pathogenic bacteria such as Vibrio are a major cause of mortality in hatchery shellfish, particularly at the very early larval stage. The result: significant financial losses to commercial growers and to production of farmed shellfish, which accounts for 25 percent of the total world aquaculture product.
Antimicrobial drugs approved for use in aquaculture in some countries, but not the US, have traditionally been used to treat bacterial diseases, but overuse of antibiotics can result in the development of resistant strains of bacterial pathogens. The use of probiotic bacteria has become increasingly popular for improved nutrition, healthy digestion and disease prevention and is used in human foods like yogurt and in pet foods.
As demand for environmentally-friendly aquaculture grows, the use of probiotics for disease prevention and improved nutrition in shellfish aquaculture is also growing. While a number of research studies have shown promise, development of probiotics that can be used in aquaculture is a multistep process requiring fundamental research and full-scale trials.
"The objective of the first part of this study was to isolate and evaluate new probiotic bacteria which, when incorporated into foods used in shellfish hatcheries, might significantly improve larval survival," said co-author Diane Kapareiko, a microbiologist at the Milford Laboratory. The second part of the study was to test the new probiotic candidate on the survival of oyster larvae in pilot-scale trials during their first two weeks of life.
"We conducted a very cautious, step by step study, to identify the best candidates under a variety of scenarios," Wikfors said. "Our bench-scale challenge studies indicated that oyster larvae exposed to probiotic candidate OY15 had the highest survival rate, and that the survival of pathogen-challenged larvae was further improved by the presence of OY 15 compared to the pathogen alone. It is somewhat analogous to a human building up immunity to a certain organism by being exposed to it, but without the involvement of antibodies."
The Milford scientists isolated 26 candidate probiotic bacteria from oysters and scallops of which 16 had an inhibitory effect against a known shellfish-larval pathogen (B183) of the Vibrio species of bacteria. Further screening for safe use in culturing the oyster larvae and their microalgal feed indicated which probiotic candidates would inhibit growth of the pathogen most effectively and therefore could confer a protective effect upon oyster larval survival.
Lab studies indicated that survival of two-day old oyster larvae during two-week pilot scale trials improved when supplemented with the probiotic candidate OY15 strain. Four treatments were conducted: a larval control with no bacteria, a pathogen control with larvae and pathogen B183 only, a probiotic control with larvae and probiotic candidate OY15 only, and a combination treatment comprised of larvae and both probiotic and pathogen.
"Our research focused on the critical first stage of larval growth, when mortality rates are among the highest," Kapareiko said. Positive effects of probiotic candidate OY15 were found on the survival of oyster larvae (short term), on growth of phytoplankton used as larval feed, and upon oyster survival during pilot-scale larviculture conditions.
"This two-part study confirms that use of naturally-occurring probiotic bacteria confers protection to oyster larvae against bacterial disease and improves their survival," Kapareiko said. "The results can be used as guidelines for isolating and screening other potential probiotic candidates for similar aquaculture applications, and provide the basis for developing functional foods for use in shellfish hatcheries that incorporate a naturally occurring, probiotic bacteria."
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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.
New probiotic bacteria shows promise for use in shellfish aquaculturePublic release date: 30-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
The use of probiotic bacteria, isolated from naturally-occurring bacterial communities, is gaining in popularity in the aquaculture industry as the preferred, environmentally-friendly management alternative to the use of antibiotics and other antimicrobials for disease prevention. Known to the public for their use in yogurt and other foods to improve human digestion and health, probiotic bacteria isolated from other sources can also be used to improve survival, nutrition and disease prevention in larvae grown in shellfish hatcheries.
Researchers at NOAA's Milford Laboratory in Milford, Conn. have shown that naturally-occurring bacteria isolated from the digestive glands of adult eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) and northern bay scallops (Argopecten irradians irradians) may be used as potential probiotic candidates in oyster larviculture.
Two related research studies published in the Journal of Shellfish Research identify a new probiotic bacterium, designated OY15, which has been shown to significantly improve larval survival in pilot-scale trials during the first two weeks of life, the most critical stage for the organism when mortality rates are among the highest.
"We are cautiously optimistic that this probiotic candidate, OY15, will offer a number of significant benefits to the shellfish industry," said Gary Wikfors, co-author of both studies and head of the Milford Laboratory's Biotechnology Branch. "Commercial and public shellfish hatcheries can have low survival rates for shellfish seed during the first two weeks, so improving those survival rates and the health of the organisms beyond that point is a pretty significant step forward."
Hatcheries produce shellfish seed to supplement natural seed, which is often limited by loss of habitat, contamination from pollution, climate change and other factors. Bacterial diseases caused mainly by pathogenic bacteria such as Vibrio are a major cause of mortality in hatchery shellfish, particularly at the very early larval stage. The result: significant financial losses to commercial growers and to production of farmed shellfish, which accounts for 25 percent of the total world aquaculture product.
Antimicrobial drugs approved for use in aquaculture in some countries, but not the US, have traditionally been used to treat bacterial diseases, but overuse of antibiotics can result in the development of resistant strains of bacterial pathogens. The use of probiotic bacteria has become increasingly popular for improved nutrition, healthy digestion and disease prevention and is used in human foods like yogurt and in pet foods.
As demand for environmentally-friendly aquaculture grows, the use of probiotics for disease prevention and improved nutrition in shellfish aquaculture is also growing. While a number of research studies have shown promise, development of probiotics that can be used in aquaculture is a multistep process requiring fundamental research and full-scale trials.
"The objective of the first part of this study was to isolate and evaluate new probiotic bacteria which, when incorporated into foods used in shellfish hatcheries, might significantly improve larval survival," said co-author Diane Kapareiko, a microbiologist at the Milford Laboratory. The second part of the study was to test the new probiotic candidate on the survival of oyster larvae in pilot-scale trials during their first two weeks of life.
"We conducted a very cautious, step by step study, to identify the best candidates under a variety of scenarios," Wikfors said. "Our bench-scale challenge studies indicated that oyster larvae exposed to probiotic candidate OY15 had the highest survival rate, and that the survival of pathogen-challenged larvae was further improved by the presence of OY 15 compared to the pathogen alone. It is somewhat analogous to a human building up immunity to a certain organism by being exposed to it, but without the involvement of antibodies."
The Milford scientists isolated 26 candidate probiotic bacteria from oysters and scallops of which 16 had an inhibitory effect against a known shellfish-larval pathogen (B183) of the Vibrio species of bacteria. Further screening for safe use in culturing the oyster larvae and their microalgal feed indicated which probiotic candidates would inhibit growth of the pathogen most effectively and therefore could confer a protective effect upon oyster larval survival.
Lab studies indicated that survival of two-day old oyster larvae during two-week pilot scale trials improved when supplemented with the probiotic candidate OY15 strain. Four treatments were conducted: a larval control with no bacteria, a pathogen control with larvae and pathogen B183 only, a probiotic control with larvae and probiotic candidate OY15 only, and a combination treatment comprised of larvae and both probiotic and pathogen.
"Our research focused on the critical first stage of larval growth, when mortality rates are among the highest," Kapareiko said. Positive effects of probiotic candidate OY15 were found on the survival of oyster larvae (short term), on growth of phytoplankton used as larval feed, and upon oyster survival during pilot-scale larviculture conditions.
"This two-part study confirms that use of naturally-occurring probiotic bacteria confers protection to oyster larvae against bacterial disease and improves their survival," Kapareiko said. "The results can be used as guidelines for isolating and screening other potential probiotic candidates for similar aquaculture applications, and provide the basis for developing functional foods for use in shellfish hatcheries that incorporate a naturally occurring, probiotic bacteria."
###
[ | 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.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) ? When a child is thought to have been sexually abused, a second medical exam may be key to picking up injuries and sexually transmitted infections, a study published Monday finds.
The American Academy of Pediatrics already recommends that kids being examined for sexual assault have a follow-up exam in the weeks afterward.
But until now, no studies had looked at the benefits of doing that.
For the new report, researchers reviewed the records of 727 children and teenagers who were evaluated for sexual abuse or assault over a five-year period.
They found that almost one-quarter of the time, the patients' second exam changed the findings of the first.
In 18 percent of cases, there was a shift in the diagnosis of traumatic injuries.
Most often, the original examiner had said it was unclear whether the child had an injury suggestive of sexual assault (like tears or bruising), but the second examiner concluded that the findings were "normal."
However, that "does not in any way" mean the child wasn't sexually abused, said Dr. Nancy D. Kellogg, one of the researchers on the study and a child abuse expert at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.
It's well known that sex-abuse victims often do not have telltale traumatic injuries, Kellogg told Reuters Health.
So it's what the child says that's most important.
Kellogg's team also found that the second medical exam helped pick up sexually transmitted diseases that weren't caught initially. That was true in nearly seven percent of cases.
Most often, Kellogg said, the follow-up exam caught genital warts -- which would not yet have been apparent during the first exam.
The findings, reported in the journal Pediatrics, are based on 727 children and teens who were first examined at one San Antonio ER or the regional child advocacy center. A doctor or nurse trained in child abuse cases performed the exams.
The second exam was done about a month later at the child advocacy center, by an experienced child-abuse doctor or nurse.
During the initial exam, Kellogg explained, kids are "anxious or in pain -- they're traumatized. And that can affect the examiner's ability to detect things."
But the researchers also found that the first examiner's experience mattered. If he or she had done fewer than 100 such exams, the second examiner was more likely to reach different conclusions on whether the child had a traumatic injury.
That, Kellogg said, points to the importance of having an experienced doctor or nurse do the second exam.
Some hospitals, she noted, have special "child abuse teams" who can evaluate kids for sexual assault. There may also be a nearby child advocacy center with doctors or nurses who can do the exam.
As for areas where those services aren't available, Kellogg said she hopes the current findings give less-experienced pediatricians some guidance in evaluating kids for sexual abuse.
"We were a bit surprised by the findings," she noted. "We didn't expect the follow-up exam to make such a big difference in so many kids."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/A83tBr Pediatrics, online January 30, 2012.
As we reported on Thursday, Valve Software recently took the wraps off the Steam mobile app for Android (and iOS), as part of a limited beta. Steam users could register their interest by downloading the app and entering their details, and over the past day or so, the first beta invites have started to roll out.
Steam is a big deal in the world of PC and Mac gaming, which makes the launch of an official mobile app a big deal for Android. As such, we decided to take this initial beta version of the Steam Android app for a spin. We've got more words and pictures for you after the break.
An illustration of a euro coin is displayed on a bank's advertising billboard as a man stands outside the branch in Athens, on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Europe is getting tough on government debt. After more than two years struggling to rescue financially shaky governments, leaders of the 17 countries that use the euro are putting the finishing touches on a treaty that will force member countries to put tough deficit restrictions into their national laws. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
An illustration of a euro coin is displayed on a bank's advertising billboard as a man stands outside the branch in Athens, on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Europe is getting tough on government debt. After more than two years struggling to rescue financially shaky governments, leaders of the 17 countries that use the euro are putting the finishing touches on a treaty that will force member countries to put tough deficit restrictions into their national laws. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Italian premier Mario Monti gestures as he reads the government report on European Union policy, at the Senate in Rome Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Mauro Scrobogna, Lapresse) ITALY OUT
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) ? Europe is getting tougher on government debt. After more than two years struggling to rescue financially shaky governments, leaders of the 17 countries that use the euro are ready to agree on a treaty that will force member countries to put deficit limits into their national laws.
At first glance, it seems logical ? after all, the crisis erupted after too many governments spent and borrowed too much for too long.
But a number of economists ? and some politicians ? say the focus on cutting deficits is misplaced and that more fundamental problems are being left unaddressed.
It's how the euro was set up in the first place, they say ? one currency, but multiple government budgets, economies moving at different speeds and no central treasury or borrowing authority to back them up.
Until those institutional flaws are tackled, the economists say, the euro will remain vulnerable. So far, Greece, Ireland and Portugal have turned to other eurozone governments and the International Monetary Fund for emergency funds to avoid defaulting on their debts.
Nonetheless, European leaders are pushing a new anti-debt treaty as the leading edge of their effort to reassure markets. European Union leaders hope to agree on the treaty's text at a meeting starting Monday, and sign it by March.
The proposed treaty pushes countries to limit "structural" deficits ? shortfalls not caused by ups and downs of the business cycle ? to a tight 0.5 percent of gross domestic product or face a fine. That comes on top of other recent EU legislation intended to tighten observance of the eurozone's limits: overall deficits of 3 percent of GDP and national debt of 60 percent of GDP.
European leaders are also urging countries to improve growth by reducing regulation and other barriers to business.
Yet economists like Jean Pisani-Ferry, director of the Bruegel think tank in Brussels, says it's striking that governments are focusing on budget rules, given Europe's earlier experience with them. An earlier set of rules were largely ignored at the behest of France and Germany in the first years after the euro's 1999 launch.
And some of the countries that now are in the deepest trouble ? such as Spain and bailed-out Ireland ? stayed well within the debt limit for years.
"This suggests that the simplistic view ? that a thorough enforcement of the rules would have prevented the crisis ? should be treated with caution," Pisani-Ferry wrote in a recent article for Bruegel.
Some European politicians are also voicing doubts about focusing primarily on deficits. They include new Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, who has warned that growth is the real answer to shrinking debt in the long term. International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde has urged a broader approach. She calls for a willingness to share the burden of supporting banks and other financial risks so troubles in one country don't become a crisis for the entire currency bloc.
Here are four reasons for concern cited by economists ? but not yet on the summit agendas of the eurozone's leaders.
NO COMMON BORROWING: Without a central, pan-European treasury, there's no steady central source of support for eurozone countries that run into economic or financial trouble. Many economists say issuing jointly guaranteed "eurobonds" would make sure no one country would ever default and governments would always be able to borrow. Governments would give up some of their sovereignty, allowing review of their spending and borrowing plans, to get the money.
Pisani-Ferry argues that this would protect governments from the kind of self-fulfilling bond market panic fueled by fears of default, that pushed Greece, Ireland and Portugal over the edge.
Yet the idea of more collective responsibility remains unpopular in prosperous EU countries such as Germany, Finland and the Netherlands. They can borrow cheaply due to their strong finances and would likely pay more to borrow at the rate that includes the shaky ones.
Eurobonds would also likely require a time-consuming change to the European Union's basic treaty ? which currently bans members from assuming each other's debts. There would also have to be a mechanisms in place to stop countries with shoddy finances from borrowing too much.
Opponents say that's unrealistic. "If you have mutual debt responsibility, and freedom of each country to borrow, then each country can drive the eurozone into bankruptcy," said Kai Konrad, managing director of the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance in Munich.
BANK BAILOUTS: Europe currently has no safety mechanism that would stop a country from sinking under the weight of having to bail out banks based in that country.
At the moment, each country bears the brunt of rescuing its own banks. This can create serious problems in a crisis.
For example Ireland's loosely regulated banks borrowed heavily and loaned out money freely for speculative real estate projects. When the real estate market collapsed and the loans were not paid back, the Irish government had to step in to guarantee the bank's bonds ? and quickly went broke. Ireland had a very low debt level of only 25 percent of annual economic output in 2007. As bank losses moved to the government's balance sheet, by 2011 debt hit 106 percent of annual GDP. The country remains on EU-IMF life support.
Simon Tilford of the Centre for European Reform in London draws an analogy with U.S. insurer AIG, which was bailed out by the U.S. federal government in 2008. AIG was incorporated in the U.S. state of Delaware, yet Delaware did not go bankrupt handling the rescue. The central government stepped in.
TRADE IMBALANCES: Economists point out that gaps in how well countries compete and trade with one another have steadily widened since the euro was created.
Greece's current account deficit ? the broadest measure of trade ? is even worse than its budget deficit. It buys and borrows far more than it sells and earns abroad.
Normally trade imbalances are evened out by fluctuating exchange rates ? but that can't happen within the euro. Countries can improve their competitiveness by doing what Germany did in the 2000s ? cut labor costs to business by cutting general unemployment benefits. They can cut red tape and taxes. But that takes years.
Meanwhile, the region is also hampered by an inflexible pan-euro interest rate. Low interest rates ? set by the European Central Bank to see Germany and France through stagnation in the early 2000s ? were too low to control wage inflation and reckless borrowing in places like Greece and Ireland. Wage costs and debt levels rose. Competitiveness and exports declined, weakening the economy and undermining government finances.
CENTRAL BANK POWERS: Yet another structural issue is the limited power of the European Central Bank to support governments.
The bank resisted calls to buy larger amounts of government bonds. That resistance observes the spirit of the EU basic treaty, which forbids the central bank from financing governments.
But it's a constraint that central banks such as the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of England don't have. They can buy up their country's debt, a move that can push down government borrowing costs and reassure markets the state will always pay its debts.
The ECB remains "a limited-purpose central bank," says Tilford.
He notes that Britain has more debt than Spain, 81 percent of GDP versus 67 percent, yet borrows at just over 2 percent annual interest for its 10-year bonds, while Spanish debt for the same period has a 5 percent-plus interest rate. One difference: markets know the Bank of England has the ability to support the government in a crisis by buying bonds and driving down interest rates.
Many of these issue were raised before the currency was launched in 1999, then got less attention.
Tilford says that "the tendency has been to say the currency union needs all these things but in practice it's not necessarily the case" so long as countries obey budget rules and manage their finances well.
"It's become harder to maintain that kind of argumentation now, given how bad things have got."
TUCSON, Ariz. ? With the 25th anniversary of the Royal Rumble just two days away, Big Show triumphed over The World?s Strongest Man, before withstanding a surprise chair assault by World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan. Meanwhile, Randy Orton returned from injury, targeted the Barrett Barrage with a vengeance.
Big Show def. Mark Henry by Count-out (WATCH | PHOTOS) Just two days before their Triple Threat Steel Cage Match against Daniel Bryan for the World Heavyweight Championship at the Royal Rumble, The World?s Largest Athlete and The World?s Strongest Man faced off one-on-one ? with the champion sitting ringside. When Henry could not answer the count ? the result of Big Show knocking him out of the ring ? Bryan attacked the victorious giant with a chair.
After breaking out of Bryan?s LeBell Lock, Show roared back, chokeslamming the champion and nearly landing a crushing WMD. Bryan scrambled out of the ring, but where will the submission specialist run when he faces Big Show and Mark Henry in a Steel Cage Match this Sunday?
Aksana def. Natalya (WATCH | PHOTOS) In her very first match on SmackDown, Aksana got the roll-up in less than five seconds on a distracted Natalya. After the match, the angered third-generation Diva put her in the Sharpshooter, making the Lithuanian beauty frantically tap. Tamina, daughter of WWE Hall of Famer ?Superfly? Jimmy Snuka, came to Aksana?s rescue, landing a splash off the top rope onto her prey.
Brodus Clay def. Alex Riley (WATCH | PHOTOS) The only living, breathing, romping, stomping ?Funkasaurus? in captivity, Brodus Clay, faced off against Alex Riley. As the match began, an affable A-Ry tried to show off some moves of his own. But the Superstar from Planet Funk quickly squashed his rhythm, nailing his opponent with a thunderous ?What the Funk!? to secure the win.
Hunico def. Ted DiBiase (WATCH | PHOTOS) Despite a cracked bone and torn cartilage in his wrist ? suffered at a WWE live event in Winnepeg, Manitoba, Canada last weekend ? Ted DiBiase once again battled Hunico. With Camacho in his corner, Hunico focused his assault on DiBiase?s handicap, hurling him to the canvas to secure the victory. After the match, Hunico and Camacho attacked DiBiase and stomped his injured wrist on the unforgiving steel steps.
Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett ended in a No Contest (WATCH | PHOTOS) With Randy Orton set to return to SmackDown after being injured one month ago in a brutal Falls Count Anywhere Match with Wade Barrett, his English adversary declared that The Viper was ?spiritually broken? and ?a shell of a man.?
WWE?s Apex Predator interrupted and, within moments, the Barrett Barrage clashed head-on with the vengeance of The Viper, before the match could even begin. With emerging referees and Superstars unable to break them apart, Orton unleashed his retribution, creating all-out chaos. While Barrett was able to escape the ring, the present SmackDown Superstars weren?t so lucky. The Viper delivered five searing RKO?s, suggesting he?s fully recovered, physically and spiritually.
WWE Tag Team Champions Primo & Epico def. Santino Marella & Yoshi Tatsu (WATCH | PHOTOS) Prior to the match, the odd couple tag team of Santino Marella and Yoshi Tatsu debated whether they should be called ?Santoshi? or ?Yoshitino.? WWE Tag Team Champions Epico and Primo didn?t appear to care either way. After Epico hit a Backstabber on a distracted Santino, the explosive champions celebrated with the stunning Rosa Mendes.
Sheamus def. Drew McIntyre (WATCH | PHOTOS) Due to Teddy Long?s repeated threats of termination, Drew McIntyre has been on the hot seat for weeks. A match against the quick-tempered Sheamus did little to improve McIntyre?s shaky employment situation, as The Great White overcame the Scottish Superstar with a devastating Brogue Kick. While ?The Chosen One? once again fell short, Sheamus appears to be peaking at the perfect time for the Royal Rumble Match.
Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes def. Justin Gabriel (WATCH | PHOTOS) For the second week in a row, Cody Rhodes faced off against the high-flying Superstar from South Africa in an exciting, fast-paced match. Gabriel was very competitive against Rhodes but eventually succumbed to the Cross Rhodes, marking another impressive win for the driven Intercontinental Champion. Will Rhodes fulfill his declaration to triumph in the Royal Rumble Match in two days?
Big Show will face Mark Henry in a main event match (WATCH | PHOTOS) To kick off SmackDown a remorseful and heavy-hearted Big Show apologized for his actions in unintentionally injuring AJ two weeks ago. The emotional Superstar brought doubt as to his state of mind and what the future holds for his career following his match at the Royal Rumble.
He was interrupted by World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan, who insulted Show as a ?genetic freak,? calling for his retirement before slapping him. The infuriated giant grabbed Bryan?s face and told him, ?What happened to AJ was an accident, what I do to you Sunday won?t be.? And with that The World?s Largest Athlete tossed the champion through the air.
Not one to miss a confrontation, Mark Henry made his way to the ring to address both Superstars, reminding them that he too is part of the Triple Threat Steel Cage World Heavyweight Championship Match on Sunday. Before things exploded, SmackDown General Manager Teddy Long emerged and made an additional main event for later in the show: Big Show vs. Mark Henry.
The 3-Series is far and away the best-seller for BMW.
By Paul A. Eisenstein, msnbc.com contributor
When Mercedes-Benz pulls the covers on the all-new A-Class hatchback during the Geneva Motor Show this March, car buyers will get a glimpse of the changes rapidly sweeping through the luxury car market.
The pint-sized Benz clearly doesn?t fit the classic mold. Americans, in particular, have always defined luxury cars by the inch and pound, with some of the most memorable models from Detroit stretching over 20 feet, nose-to-tail. And there are products that hew to that classic image, like the 3-ton Rolls-Royce Phantom.
But in today?s world even luxury buyers are well aware of fuel costs and crowded urban streets. That?s especially true in markets like Europe, where downsized models have been gaining traction for more than a decade. But manufacturers are betting that even in the U.S. the mantra for many luxury buyers is now ?small is beautiful.?
Certainly, the market for so-called entry-luxury offerings has never been more substantial. The 3-Series is far and away the best-seller for BMW, much as the A4 is for Audi.?
?What defines luxury has been evolving,? says Rebecca Lindland, chief researcher for IHS Automotive, who adds that Americans are beginning to catch up with global trends.
Compact models, such as the A4 and 3-Series, appeal to a wide range of buyers and for a number of different reasons. For some they are the affordable entry point into the luxury market. For others they are all you need ?to get the luxury look and conveniences you want,? Lindland added.
With all the varied offerings, old and new, in the BMW line-up, from the X3 crossover to the flagship 7-Series, the ?3-er? is by far the best-seller, generating 94,000 unit sales in 2010, or roughly a third of the brand?s total U.S. volume. That?s down about 7 percent from the 101,000 BMWs sold in 2010 -- but it?s no surprise, given that the current 3-Series was in its final year, the automaker unveiling an all-new version at the 2012 Detroit auto show in early January.
Indeed, the annual event was chock full of entry-luxury models, including not only the new BMW, but also a replacement for the Audi A4 and an all-new compact luxury model from Cadillac, dubbed the ATS.
The Germans shouldn?t be?complacent when it comes to Caddy?s chances.
?I think the ATS is going to be very competitive,? said Joe Phillippi, chief analyst with AutoTrends Consulting, adding that the car is ?spectacular.?
The new model slots under Cadillac?s existing CTS -- which will now move slightly up-market, targeting the BMW 5-Series. If the General Motors brand is on target, the ATS could soon become its best-selling product line.
But the ATS will find tough competition coming from sources other than Germany. Lexus fields a pair of offerings in the segment, the IS and ES lines, which collectively generated 71,000 sales last year, about 2,000 more than the Mercedes-Benz C-Class.
No product line arguably underscores the changes that have swept through the luxury market in recent decades. It took several years of debate before the carmaker grudgingly brought to market the so-called ?Baby Benz.??It proved far more successful than initially anticipated, appealing to both young buyers and to those who wanted a more fuel-efficient alternative after the twin oil shocks of the 1970s.
These days, the C-Class lags well behind its Bavarian competitor, ?reflecting the problems Mercedes is having, in general, connecting with young buyers,? says analyst Lindland.
Stan Honda / AFP - Getty Images
Upscale sedans, electric vehicles and old-school muscle cars make their debuts at the 2012 North American International Auto show.
Appealing to the next-generation ?will be critical,? suggests Clay Dean, head of GM?s advanced design department, because getting a young buyer in early improves a brand?s chances of keeping them around as they grow older and choose to trade up -- although it?s a matter of debate whether ?millennial? buyers will follow the traditional ?bigger-and-better? path of older generations.
That?s why carmakers like Mercedes are looking at even smaller offerings, such as the new A-Class, which will be the Teutonic carmaker?s first model based on the new MFA (?modular front architecture?) platform for compact luxury vehicles. According to Daimler AG?s CEO Dieter Zetsche, as many as five different Mercedes product lines will likely share that platform, including the only slightly larger B-Class.
Meanwhile, as part of an expanding series of joint ventures, the MFA platform will be shared with the Euro-Asian Renault-Nissan Alliance. It will first appear under the sleek skin of the Infiniti Etherea -- a production version of the concept vehicle that was a smash hit at last year?s Geneva Motor Show.
In a quid-pro-quo, Nissan will provide a new generation of small, high-mileage four-cylinder engines for the next-generation Mercedes-Benz C-Class. That updated sedan will go into production in 2014 at Mercedes? Tuscaloosa, Ala., assembly line.
That, in itself, is a significant move, as lopsided exchange rates are a serious problem for both European and Asian importers. The weaker dollar compared to the yen and euro has made it difficult to generate a profit importing even small luxury models. That could give a leg up, for once, to Cadillac, with the ATS, until foreign carmakers can shift production to their U.S. factories.
The alternative would be to walk away from what is, by all expectations, likely to be the fastest-growing segment of the American market.
That?s a strategy that would cause more problems than it solves. While it remains unclear just how small is too small for American luxury buyers -- the success of the new A-Class anything but certain -- there?s no doubt that the battle for the entry-luxury buyer with products like the 3-Series, A4 and ATS only now heating up.
4 months after it launched its Twitter-style?asymmetrical Subscribe feature, Facebook and its?Journalist Program Manager?Vadim Lavrusik's efforts to weaken Twitter's stranglehold on breaking news are paying off.?The company?just announced that thousands of journalists now use Subscribe, including 90 reporters from The New York Times and 50 from the Washington Post. If Facebook can get your favorite journalists publishing through Subscribe, you'll have less need for Twitter. Next I hear it's setting its sights on getting celebrities and ?entertainment tastemakers onboard. Additionally, Facebook released some best practices for how journalists can maximize the engagement (Likes, comments, and shares) on their posts.
NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Big profits from Apple and a promise from the Federal Reserve to keep rock-bottom rates for at least two more years powered the U.S. stock market higher on Wednesday.
Apple Inc (AAPL.O) led the Nasdaq to a 1 percent gain. Shares of the maker of iPhones and iPads surged to a record, making it the most valuable U.S. company in terms of market capitalization. Apple finished up 6.2 percent at $446.66.
Buying picked up after the Federal Reserve said it would keep interest rates near zero through at least 2014, which was longer than many investors anticipated. The actions were taken as a sign of the central bank's commitment to boost a sluggish economic recovery.
"What caught the market off guard was obviously the fact they are going to keep rates lower for longer," said John Canally, investment strategist at LPL Financial in Boston.
"This statement (on an inflation target) moves the ball slightly down the field" for possible more quantitative easing later, Canally said, referring to a type of monetary stimulus.
The Fed also took an historic step of setting an inflation target of 2 percent, which brings the U.S. central bank in line with many of the world's other central banks that use an explicit benchmark for policy.
Apple was a standout in what has otherwise been a fairly lackluster earnings season. So far, 57 percent of companies reporting have beaten forecasts, while at this stage in past earnings seasons, the beat rate averaged 70 percent.
Apple shares hit an all-time high of $454.45 on results issued after Tuesday's market close that sailed past expectations. The move higher pushed Apple's market capitalization above that of Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), making it the largest publicly held U.S. company.
The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) rose 83.10 points, or 0.66 percent, at 12,758.85. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) was up 11.41 points, or 0.87 percent, at 1,326.06. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) ended up 31.67 points, or 1.14 percent, at 2,818.31.
In other earnings news, video rental company Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) reported results that outpaced Wall Street's expectations, sending shares up about 13 percent to $107.28 in extended trade.
Earlier in regular trading session, both United Technologies Corp (UTX.N) and Rockwell Automation Inc (ROK.N) shares fell after slightly missing revenue forecasts.
United Tech shares closed down 0.2 percent at $77.65 and Rockwell dropped 2.9 percent to $79.42.
Another diversified manufacturer, Textron Inc (TXT.N), surged 14.6 percent to $24.76 after it raised its 2012 profit forecast. The S&P industrials index (.GSPI) gained 1.2 percent.
Corning Inc (GLW.N) tumbled 10.7 percent to $13.05 as manufacturers cut back on the production of big-screen televisions that use the company's specialty glass.
Greece was hoping to reach a deal with its bondholders as talks were set to resume this week to avoid a messy default. Such an outcome could threaten the stability of other debt-laden members of the euro zone as well as the global economy.
About 7.9 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Amex and Nasdaq, compared with this year's average of about 6.7 billion shares.
On the NYSE, advancing stocks beat declining ones by ratio of 3-to-1. On the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners by a ratio of 2-to-1.
(Reporting By Angela Moon; additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Kenneth Barry)
??NYT: In a bitter skirmish over the definition of depression, a new report contends that a proposed change to the diagnosis would characterize grieving as a disorder and greatly increase the number of people treated for it.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? California's vibrant Iranian-American community is getting its own reality TV show -- its stars spending, squabbling and showing off in what looks like a cross between the gossipy "Real Housewives" series and splashy "Keeping up with the Kardashians".
"Shahs of Sunset", premiering on cable TV channel Bravo on March 11, follows six "passionate socialites" in their 30s who try to juggle their careers and social lives with family and tradition, Bravo said on Monday.
Four of those taking part in the show work in real estate in Beverly Hills, the Hollywood Hills and other pricey areas of Los Angeles. Most enjoy a lavish lifestyle where expensive cars, huge mansions, gold jewelry and shopping are a must, judging by a short promotional trailer for the new series.
Among the cast is one of the few openly gay men in southern California's Iranian-American community, Bravo said.
The series is thought to be one of the first on U.S. TV to document the lives of young Persians whose parents fled Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, or who settled in California as young children.
An estimated 500,000 Iranian-Americans live in the Los Angeles area -- the largest Persian community outside Tehran -- and some 20 percent of the population of Beverly Hills are of Iranian descent.
"From outings on Rodeo Drive to traditional Persian feasts at home, this series celebrates the unique lifestyle of a group of friends who have worked hard for what they have and are not afraid to flaunt it," Bravo said.
"Shah's of Sunset" is produced by Ryan Seacrest, host of "American Idol" and the producer of the popular "Keeping up with the Kardashians", about Armenian-American socialite sisters Kim, Khloe and Kourtney, and its spinoff series.
(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
Washington state is set to become the seventh in the country to legalize gay marriage, according to a report Monday.
Democratic Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen announced she would be the 25th vote needed to pass the same-sex marriage bill out of the state Senate, The Associated Press reported Monday. The Washington state House already has the necessary support for the measure, and Gov. Chris Gregoire publicly announced her support for gay marriage earlier this month.
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Washington would then become the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage along with New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Iowa, Connecticut and Vermont. The District of Columbia also recognizes same-sex marriage.
?I know this announcement makes me the so-called 25th vote, the vote that ensures passage,? Haugen said in a statement, according to the AP.
Haugen said she made her decision after taking time ?to reconcile my religious beliefs with my beliefs as an American, as a legislator, and as a wife and mother who cannot deny to others the joys and benefits I enjoy. This is the right vote and it is the vote I will cast when this measure comes to the floor.?
Gregoire announced her support at a news conference on Jan. 4, saying, ?It is time in Washington state for marriage equality. It is time; it?s the right thing to do.?
The state Senate began considering the bill during a morning committee hearing, the AP reported.
Frustrated by the performance of GPS on your current Sony Ericsson phone? Well, if you've got the latest software and a device carrying Qualcomm's Snapdragon S2 or S3 processor, you're in luck. Alongside bright new darlings like the Xperia S and Xperia ion, all will be able to hook up to GLONASS, Russia's very own interpretation of GPS. Support on another global positioning network will increase the total of satellites orbiting around you from 31 to 55 -- more ways to find exactly where you got lost. GLONASS support has already launched on smartphone luminaries such as the iPhone 4S and the pocket-stretching Galaxy Note, but we're very happy to hear that the extra functionality will arrive on older Xperia handsets. According to the developer's own testing, the GLONASS assistance often improved accuracy by as much as 50 percent and should similarly reduce the chances of us being outed as map illiterates. You can grab more info on all the GLONASS goodness at the source below.
Animals differ in the amount of fat they carry around depending on their species, status and sex. However, the causes of much of this variation have been a mystery. The Bristol study shows that many differences can be understood by considering the strategies animals employ to avoid two causes of death: starvation and being killed by predators.
These causes of death often exert opposite pressures on animals, for example, storing lots of fat helps animals survive periods without food but also slows their running and so makes getting caught by a predator more likely. Animals can be stronger to compensate, but the energetic costs of extra muscle mean that the animal would starve quicker during a food shortage.
Led by Dr Andrew Higginson of Bristol's School of Biological Sciences, the researchers used mathematical models to explore how much muscle and fat animals should have in their body to give themselves the best chance of survival. They showed that an important consideration was how much carrying fat increases the energetic costs of movement. The models revealed that the size of this cost influenced whether larger animals should have more fat than smaller animals, or vice versa.
Dr Higginson said: "Our results explain differences between different families of mammal. For example, larger bats carry proportionally less fat than small bats but larger carnivores carry more fat than small carnivores. Among rodents, it's the medium-sized species that carry around the most fat! These differences agree with the models predictions if you consider the costs of carrying fat for these three groups. Bats fly and so have high costs of carrying extra weight, whilst carnivores spend much of their time resting and so will use less energy than busy scurrying rodents."
The work, published in The American Naturalist, also shows that much of the variation between animals in their amounts of fat and muscle can be explained by differences between the sexes, how much animals have to fight to get food, and the climate in which they live.
The researchers plan to put the theory to the test by looking in more detail at the amounts of fat stored by different animals. If their theory is correct, much of the mystery in how species and sexes differ in their amount of fat will have been solved.
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University of Bristol: http://www.bristol.ac.uk
Thanks to University of Bristol for this article.
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TAMPA, Fla. ? A suddenly scrambled Republican presidential contest now shifts to Florida, a day after Newt Gingrich stopped Mitt Romney's sprint to the GOP nomination by scoring a convincing victory in South Carolina.
The air of inevitability that surrounded Romney's candidacy just days ago is gone, at least for now. And his rivals, led by Gingrich, have 10 days before Florida's Jan. 31 contest to prove South Carolina was no fluke.
Florida, being much larger, more diverse, and more expensive, brings new challenges to Gingrich, who again must overcome financial and organizational disadvantages as he did Saturday.
"We don't have the kind of money at least one of the candidates has. But we do have ideas. And we do have people," Gingrich, the former House speaker, told cheering supporters Saturday night. "And we proved here in South Carolina that people power with the right ideas beats big money. And with your help, we're going to prove it again in Florida."
Romney struck a defiant tone before his own backers gathered at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds, saying: "I will compete in every single state." And wasted no time jabbing at Gingrich, saying: "Our party can't be led to victory by someone who also has never run a business and never led a state."
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, having finished third in South Carolina, vowed to compete in Florida and beyond. His presence in the race ensures at least some division among Florida's tea party activists and evangelicals, a division that could ultimately help Romney help erase any questions about his candidacy by scoring a victory of his own a week from Tuesday.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul likely will not be a factor in Florida, having declared that he's bypassing the expensive state in favor of smaller subsequent contests.
As the first Southern primary, South Carolina has been a proving ground for Republican presidential hopefuls in recent years. Since Ronald Reagan in 1980, every Republican contender who won the primary has gone on to capture the party's nomination.
Returns from 95 percent of the state's precincts showed Gingrich with 41 percent of the vote to 27 percent for Romney. Santorum was winning 17 percent, Paul 13 percent.
But political momentum was the real prize with the race to pick an opponent to President Barack Obama still in its early stages.
Already, Romney and a group that supports him were on the air in Florida with a significant television ad campaign, more than $7 million combined to date.
Gingrich readily conceded that he trails in money, and even before appearing for his victory speech he tweeted supporters thanking them and appealing for a flood of donations for the Jan 31 primary. "Help me deliver the knockout punch in Florida. Join our Moneybomb and donate now," said his Internet message.
Aides to Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, had once dared hope that Florida would seal his nomination ? if South Carolina didn't first ? but that strategy appeared to vanish along with the once-formidable lead he held in pre-primary polls.
Romney swept into South Carolina 11 days ago as the favorite after being pronounced the winner of the lead-off Iowa caucuses, then cruising to victory in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary.
But in the sometimes-surreal week that followed, he was stripped of his Iowa triumph ? GOP officials there now say Santorum narrowly won ? while former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman dropped out and endorsed Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry quit and backed Gingrich.
Romney responded awkwardly to questions about releasing his income tax returns, and about his investments in the Cayman Islands. Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, benefited from two well-received debate performances while grappling with allegations by an ex-wife that he had once asked her for an open marriage so he could keep his mistress.
By primary eve, Romney was speculating openly about a lengthy battle for the nomination rather than the quick knockout that had seemed within his grasp only days earlier.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Supreme Court handed Texas Republicans a partial victory Friday, tossing a court-drawn electoral redistricting plan that favored minorities and Democrats but leaving the future of the state's political maps - and possibly control of the U.S. House - in the hands of two federal courts with Texas' April primaries looming.
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ordered a three-judge court in San Antonio to craft a new map that pays more deference to one originally drawn up by Texas' GOP-led Legislature. The immediate effect was to scrap the interim map the San Antonio court drafted that would have favored Democrats to pick up four new congressional seats Texas will add in 2012.
Republicans, led by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, heralded the ruling as a clear victory for the state.
"The Court made clear in a strongly worded opinion that the district court must give deference to elected leaders of this state, and it's clear by the Supreme Court ruling that the district court abandoned these guiding principles," he said in statement.
But the Supreme Court didn't go as far as Texas wanted, which was to implement the maps the Legislature drew for this year's election. Doing so would have rewritten existing election law as well as the Voting Rights Act. Only Justice Clarence Thomas said he would have gone that far.
Still, the outcome appeared to favor Republicans by instructing the judges to stick more closely to what the Legislature did, said election law expert Richard Hasen, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, law school.
After the 2012 election, Texas will have 36 seats in the next Congress, a gain of four seats. Under the map initially drawn by the San Antonio court and thrown out on Friday, Democrats would have been favored in three or four new seats. The GOP holds 23 of the current 32 seats.
In its decision, the Supreme Court said the San Antonio judges particularly erred in altering the borders of legislative and congressional districts in areas of the state where the allegation that the Legislature's map discriminated doesn't apply.
Although Republicans were quick to say Friday's decision will benefit them, Democrats and minority groups said that's not so.
Jose Garza, who argued on behalf of minority groups and Texas Democrats at the Supreme Court, said Abbott, the Texas attorney general, is "celebrating too early." Garza said he expects the new maps drawn by the San Antonio court to look very similar to the ones rejected Friday.
Garza said he interpreted the Supreme Court's ruling, in part, as a call for the San Antonio court to better explain its decisions.
Others involved in legal efforts opposing the Legislature's map echoed Garza.
"This is not a victory for Texas," said Nina Perales, a lawyer for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, one of several groups involved in legal efforts to throw out the Legislature's map. "They wanted their unprecedented maps in place, and Texas hasn't been allowed to do that."
Perales said she expected the Supreme Court to remand a decision on the maps to the San Antonio court and said she was confident that minority groups would be protected even if the new baseline for creating a map was the Legislature's original draft.
Texas State Sen. Wendy Davis, said Friday that she saw the decision bolstering the judge's decision to make changes to her Fort Worth-based district. Davis filed a lawsuit against the state Senate plan after her district was carved into three pieces, splitting Latino and African-American voters.
Beyond the jousting about how to interpret Friday's ruling was a reality that the electoral battlegrounds in Texas will remain hazy for the foreseeable future. Both Democrats and Republicans see Texas as potentially key for control of the U.S. House, but until the new maps are in place, neither side will have a clear sense of how it might fair in the state.
The Supreme Court didn't set a deadline for the San Antonio court to produce an acceptable map, but the clock is ticking toward Texas' scheduled April 3 primaries. The primaries have already been pushed back from March 6, and both parties expect the date to be pushed back again ? a prospect causing consternation among Republican leaders who worry the GOP presidential race will be decided before Texas votes.
Meanwhile, a separate three-judge federal court panel in Washington heard testimony this week about whether the map drawn by the Texas Legislature violated the federal Voting Rights Act, which requires states with a history of discrimination to get advance approval before changing the way they conduct elections. That proceeding will continue next week, with closing arguments set for February. With thousands of documents and dozens of hours of testimony to consider, a decision from that panel could be months away but could also affect the composition of Texas' maps.
The legal battle over Texas' maps was prompted by the results of the 2010 census, which found that Texas added more than 4 million residents since 2000, most of them Latinos and African-Americans. Minority groups and Democrats have maintained that they are being denied deserved voting power by GOP lawmakers seeking maximize electoral gains.
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Associated Press writer Mark Sherman in Washington contributed to this report.
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Public release date: 30-Jan-2012
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After breaking out of Bryan?s LeBell Lock, Show roared back, chokeslamming the champion and nearly landing a crushing WMD. Bryan scrambled out of the ring, but where will the submission specialist run when he faces Big Show and Mark Henry in a Steel Cage Match this Sunday?
quickly squashed his rhythm, nailing his opponent with a thunderous ?What the Funk!? to secure the win.
WWE?s Apex Predator interrupted and, within moments, the Barrett Barrage clashed head-on with the vengeance of The Viper, before the match could even begin. With emerging referees and Superstars unable to break them apart, Orton unleashed his retribution, creating all-out chaos. While Barrett was able to escape the ring, the present SmackDown Superstars weren?t so lucky. The Viper delivered five searing RKO?s, suggesting he?s fully recovered, physically and spiritually.
A match against the quick-tempered Sheamus did little to improve McIntyre?s shaky employment situation, as The Great White overcame the Scottish Superstar with a devastating Brogue Kick. While ?The Chosen One? once again fell short, Sheamus appears to be peaking at the perfect time for the Royal Rumble Match.
He was interrupted by World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan, who insulted Show as a ?genetic freak,? calling for his retirement before slapping him. The infuriated giant grabbed Bryan?s face and told him, ?What happened to AJ was an accident, what I do to you Sunday won?t be.? And with that The World?s Largest Athlete tossed the champion through the air.
4 months after it launched its Twitter-style?asymmetrical Subscribe feature, Facebook and its?Journalist Program Manager?Vadim Lavrusik's efforts to weaken Twitter's stranglehold on breaking news are paying off.?The company?
