As it promised back in November, Libon is crossing the smartphone rubicon and launching on Android, starting today. The Orange-backed WhatsApp and Viber rival brings free calls, messaging and visual voicemail to any handset running Froyo and above. And though iOS users have already had this app, they aren't being left off this round of news: the company has added free picture and audio messaging to the iPhone version, as well as push-to-talk functionality. Head on down to your respective app stores to get at the goodies.
BEIJING (AP) ? China and Iceland signed a free trade agreement Monday, offering hope to the small North Atlantic country for its recession-battered economy and giving Beijing a leg up in its drive for expanded influence in the Arctic.
The China-Iceland free trade pact will lower tariffs on a range of goods and is expected to boost seafood and other exports from the remote Nordic state to the world's second-largest economy. It comes at the start of a five-day visit to China by Icelandic Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir that highlights her country's attempts to diversify an economy that was badly mauled by the bursting of a massive financial bubble in 2008.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told Sigurdardottir the agreement was "a major event in China-Iceland relations."
"It also signals the deepening of our relationship, especially our economic relationship which has been lifted to a new height," Li said during talks following a formal welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in the center of Beijing.
Trade between China and the England-sized country of just over 315,000 people rose 21.1 percent last year to $180 million, according to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade. Iceland exports mostly fish to China and imports Chinese products from ships to shoes. Sigurdardottir has been keen to push Icelandic services and the island's geothermal energy potential.
Iceland has unique importance to China as it attempts to gain a foothold in the Arctic, where melting ice is opening passages for shipping and could create a boom in extraction of resources such as gas, oil, diamonds, gold and iron.
China is seeking permanent observer status in the Arctic Council, an eight-nation body that includes Iceland and decides on policy in the region. China is expected to be accepted when a final decision is announced next month, drawing support from the prospect of heavy Chinese investment in the region's mining industries as advertised by its proposal to sink $2.3 billion into Greenland to secure 15 million tons of iron ore per year.
Shipping via the Arctic, meanwhile, would cut about 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles) and two weeks off the journey between northern Europe and Shanghai. Seeking to prove the route's viability, Chinese researchers last August completed their first 30,000-kilometer (19,000-mile) journey between Iceland and Shanghai.
China sees a range of opportunities in the Arctic and will continue to expand its research in the area and conduct further expeditions, said Leiv Lunde, director of the Oslo-based Fridtjof Nansen Institute.
"It's attractive also for all the resources but China is already a major shipping nation ... and Chinese companies are now very eagerly awaiting policy signals from the Chinese government on what kind of priorities they will give to the Arctic," said Lunde, who was attending a conference Monday on Arctic issues in Shanghai.
China's desire for a presence in the Arctic has prompted an unusual degree of interest in Iceland. China recently completed what is far-and-away the largest embassy complex in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik, reportedly capable of accommodating a staff of 500. Wen Jiabao, China's premier until a leadership transition was completed in March, included a rare stop in Iceland on a visit to Europe last year.
It hasn't always been smooth sailing, however. Chinese investor Huang Nubo has been stymied in his bid to build an adventure tourism resort on a barren patch of northeastern Iceland that would include an airport, golf course, and 120-room hotel.
Iceland rejected his original bid to purchase the land that comprises 0.3 percent of Iceland's territory, prompting an angry Huang to blame Western prejudice and unfounded suspicions that he was a tool of the Chinese military. Icelandic officials have said they don't see the resort as viable and Huang has said he would drop the project unless he gets approval by the end of May.
Xu Hong, deputy general manager of Huang's Zhongkun Investment Group, said the company remained in contact with the landowner and Icelandic government.
"We're optimistic that we'll be able to have the response by the end of May," Xu said.
Xu said no meetings were planned between Huang and Sigurdardottir during her visit.
___
Associated Press writer Louise Watt contributed to this report.
If there's any truth to the idea of five stages of grief, then Shain Gandee's friends have hit the second one -- anger. One week after Buckwild's breakout star died from carbon monoxide poisoning while mudding, MTV cancelled the show -- and producer J.P. Williams and several of Gandee's castmates are livid about it. Williams immediately vented his frustration to The Hollywood Reporter, questioning MTV's support of Teen Mom 2 and not Buckwild.
Apr. 8, 2013 ? A study from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine offers new insights into how the nervous system processes hot and cold temperatures. The research led by neuroscientist Mark J. Zylka, PhD, associate professor of cell biology and physiology, found an interaction between the neural circuits that detect hot and cold stimuli: cold perception is enhanced when nerve circuitry for heat is inactivated.
"This discovery has implications for how we perceive hot and cold temperatures and for why people with certain forms of chronic pain, such as neuropathic pain, or pain arising as direct consequence of a nervous system injury or disease, experience heightened responses to cold temperatures," says Zylka, a member of the UNC Neuroscience Center.
The study also has implications for why a promising new class of pain relief drugs known as TRPV1 antagonists (they block a neuron receptor protein) cause many patients to shiver and "feel cold" prior to the onset of hyperthermia, an abnormally elevated body temperature. Enhanced cold followed by hyperthermia is a major side effect that has limited the use of these drugs in patients with chronic pain associated with multiple sclerosis, cancer, and osteoarthritis.
Zylka's research sheds new light on how the neural circuits that regulate temperature sensation bring about these responses, and could suggest ways of reducing such side-effects associated with TRPV1 antagonists and related drugs.
The research was selected by the journal Neuron as cover story for the April 10, 2013 print edition and was available in the April 4, 2013 advanced online edition.
This new study used cutting edge cell ablation technology to delete the nerve circuit that encodes heat and some forms of itch while preserving the circuitry that sense cold temperatures. This manipulation results in animals that were practically "blind" to heat, meaning they could no longer detect hot temperatures, Zylka explains. "Just like removing heat from a room makes us feel cold (such as with an air conditioner), removing the circuit that animals use to sense heat made them hypersensitive to cold. Physiological studies indicated that these distinct circuits regulate one another in the spinal cord."
TRPV1 is a receptor for heat and is found in the primary sensory nerve circuit that Zylka studied. TRPV1 antagonists make patients temporarily blind to heat, which Zylka speculates is analogous to what happened when his lab deleted the animals' circuit that detects heat: cold hypersensitivity.
Zylka emphasizes that future studies will be needed to confirm that TRPV1 antagonists affect cold responses in a manner similar to what his lab found with nerve circuit deletion.
The study was conducted in the Zylka lab by postdoctoral scientists Eric S. McCoy, Sarah E. Street, and Jihong Zheng and by research associates Bonnie Taylor-Blake and Alaine Pribisco. Funding for the research came from the Searle Scholars Program, The Klingenstein Foundation, The Rita Allen Foundation, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).
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Contact: Peter Peretzman sciencenewsroom@wiley.com 201-268-4324 Wiley
Hoboken, N.J. April 5, 2013 - Deborah E. Wiley, Chair of The Wiley Foundation, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE: JWa & JWb) today awarded the 2013 Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences to Dr. Michael Young, Rockefeller University, Dr. Jeffrey Hall, Brandeis University (Emeritus), and Dr. Michael Rosbash, Brandeis University.
The three researchers received their award at Rockefeller University in New York City, where they were honored at a luncheon and then presented a lecture on their discovery of the molecular mechanisms governing circadian rhythms.
"I would like to congratulate Drs. Young, Rosbash and Hall for this well-deserved honor," said Wiley. "Their groundbreaking research on circadian rhythms has the potential to lead to more discoveries that could help many people who are suffering from very common maladies and disorders."
"I am extremely pleased to be able to recognize this outstanding achievement in the area of biomedical research."
Studies of the molecular basis for circadian rhythmicity began more than thirty years ago in the lab of Dr. Young at Rockefeller University and Drs. Hall and Rosbash at Brandeis. Over the past three decades, the work of the three men focused on the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster, with their research showing that the fly's circadian clocks are formed through the actions of a small group of genes.
These discoveries also apply to humans and other mammals, and could ultimately lead to the development of drugs to treat sleep disorders and jet lag, plus conditions associated with employees who work non-traditional shifts.
There is also evidence that the effectiveness of many drugs (including chemotherapeutics), our ability to fight infection, our ability to repair damaged tissues, and the incidence of certain forms of cancer depend on the proper working of circadian clocks.
This year's three winners have authored a number of articles published on Wiley Online Library. Free access will be offered to these articles for the remainder of 2013. They can be accessed at http://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-816285.html?dmmsmid=72394&dmmspid=18999591&dmmsuid=1922750.
Among the many distinguished past recipients of the Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences, five have also been awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn and Dr. Carol Greider, recipients of the Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences in 2006, received the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase. Dr. Andrew Z. Fire and Dr. Craig C. Mello, co-recipients of the Wiley Prize in 2003, received the 2006 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of RNA interferencegene silencing by double-stranded RNA. Dr. H. Robert Horvitz, a co-recipient of the first Wiley Prize in 2002, shared the 2002 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his respective work on how genes regulate organ development and cell death.
The Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences recognizes specific contribution or series of contributions that demonstrate significant leadership in the development of research concepts or their clinical application. Particular emphasis is placed on research that champions novel approaches and challenges accepted thinking in the biomedical sciences.
The Wiley Foundation and the Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences were established in 2001.
###
About Wiley
Wiley is a global provider of content-enabled solutions that improve outcomes in research, education, and professional practice. Our core businesses produce scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals, reference works, books, database services, and advertising; professional books, subscription products, certification and training services and online applications; and education content and services including integrated online teaching and learning resources for undergraduate and graduate students and lifelong learners.
Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE: JWa, JWb), has been a valued source of information and understanding for more than 200 years, helping people around the world meet their needs and fulfill their aspirations. Wiley and its acquired companies have published the works of more than 450 Nobel laureates in all categories: Literature, Economics, Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, and Peace. Wiley's global headquarters are located in Hoboken, New Jersey, with operations in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Canada, and Australia. The Company's website can be accessed at http://www.wiley.com.
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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.
Contact: Peter Peretzman sciencenewsroom@wiley.com 201-268-4324 Wiley
Hoboken, N.J. April 5, 2013 - Deborah E. Wiley, Chair of The Wiley Foundation, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE: JWa & JWb) today awarded the 2013 Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences to Dr. Michael Young, Rockefeller University, Dr. Jeffrey Hall, Brandeis University (Emeritus), and Dr. Michael Rosbash, Brandeis University.
The three researchers received their award at Rockefeller University in New York City, where they were honored at a luncheon and then presented a lecture on their discovery of the molecular mechanisms governing circadian rhythms.
"I would like to congratulate Drs. Young, Rosbash and Hall for this well-deserved honor," said Wiley. "Their groundbreaking research on circadian rhythms has the potential to lead to more discoveries that could help many people who are suffering from very common maladies and disorders."
"I am extremely pleased to be able to recognize this outstanding achievement in the area of biomedical research."
Studies of the molecular basis for circadian rhythmicity began more than thirty years ago in the lab of Dr. Young at Rockefeller University and Drs. Hall and Rosbash at Brandeis. Over the past three decades, the work of the three men focused on the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster, with their research showing that the fly's circadian clocks are formed through the actions of a small group of genes.
These discoveries also apply to humans and other mammals, and could ultimately lead to the development of drugs to treat sleep disorders and jet lag, plus conditions associated with employees who work non-traditional shifts.
There is also evidence that the effectiveness of many drugs (including chemotherapeutics), our ability to fight infection, our ability to repair damaged tissues, and the incidence of certain forms of cancer depend on the proper working of circadian clocks.
This year's three winners have authored a number of articles published on Wiley Online Library. Free access will be offered to these articles for the remainder of 2013. They can be accessed at http://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-816285.html?dmmsmid=72394&dmmspid=18999591&dmmsuid=1922750.
Among the many distinguished past recipients of the Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences, five have also been awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn and Dr. Carol Greider, recipients of the Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences in 2006, received the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase. Dr. Andrew Z. Fire and Dr. Craig C. Mello, co-recipients of the Wiley Prize in 2003, received the 2006 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of RNA interferencegene silencing by double-stranded RNA. Dr. H. Robert Horvitz, a co-recipient of the first Wiley Prize in 2002, shared the 2002 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his respective work on how genes regulate organ development and cell death.
The Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences recognizes specific contribution or series of contributions that demonstrate significant leadership in the development of research concepts or their clinical application. Particular emphasis is placed on research that champions novel approaches and challenges accepted thinking in the biomedical sciences.
The Wiley Foundation and the Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences were established in 2001.
###
About Wiley
Wiley is a global provider of content-enabled solutions that improve outcomes in research, education, and professional practice. Our core businesses produce scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals, reference works, books, database services, and advertising; professional books, subscription products, certification and training services and online applications; and education content and services including integrated online teaching and learning resources for undergraduate and graduate students and lifelong learners.
Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE: JWa, JWb), has been a valued source of information and understanding for more than 200 years, helping people around the world meet their needs and fulfill their aspirations. Wiley and its acquired companies have published the works of more than 450 Nobel laureates in all categories: Literature, Economics, Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, and Peace. Wiley's global headquarters are located in Hoboken, New Jersey, with operations in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Canada, and Australia. The Company's website can be accessed at http://www.wiley.com.
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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.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) ? A murder suspect being interviewed at the Jackson, Miss., police headquarters shot a detective Thursday and those who came to investigate the gunfire found both men dead, authorities said.
The suspect was being questioned on the third floor of the building when the shooting happened, said Police Chief Rebecca Coleman. Police did not release any details on the sequence of what happened.
The officer was identified as Det. Eric Smith, 40, who was assigned to the Robbery-Homicide Division and had been with the department since 1995.
Late Thursday, police identified the murder suspect as Jeremy Powell, 23. Both the detective and the suspect had been shot multiple times.
Police said Powell was in the process of being arrested in the killing Monday of Christopher Alexander. News outlets reported that the 20-year-old Alexander's body was found Monday near a Jackson street and he had been stabbed in the neck.
City police spokesman Chris Mims described Smith as "a decorated detective and well-respected law-enforcement person throughout the state of Mississippi."
"He was in the processing of questioning that suspect," Mims said of the detective. "Other officers in the police department heard gunshots ring out and when they went to the interview room, discovered that both the suspect and the detective were deceased."
The police headquarters was on lockdown Thursday night, Mims said.
Jackson City Councilman Chokwe Lumumba was in police headquarters with the mayor afterward and said Smith was shot by the suspect. He did not know how the suspect ended up dead.
"I understand there may have been more than one police officer in the room," Lumumba said outside the police building.
The headquarters was blocked off and surrounded by crime tape. Law enforcement and Jackson city officials rushed to the scene.
Mims said the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has taken over the investigation, which is standard procedure.
"This is a very tragic situation," he said. "The entire city of Jackson and the Jackson Police Department family are all hurting. We are asking for the public's patience while we find out why this tragic incident happened and how it happened."
At least 30 Jackson Police and Hines County Sheriff's office vehicles were haphazardly parked across multiple, major downtown Jackson streets. Officers were visibly shaken, wiping their eyes, and Assistant Chief Lee Vance could be seen comforting Chief Rebecca Coleman at one point, putting his arm around her shoulder outside the building. A 2008 photo on the department's website shows a smiling, fit Smith, in a shirt and tie, accepting a certificate of commendation on behalf of a detective, with Coleman and Vance on each side of him.
Lumumba, who is a lawyer, said Smith was fairly new to being a homicide detective and that he first met Smith in the late 1990s. The then-officer had testified on some of Lumumba's cases.
"I had great respect for his work and his integrity," Lumumba said. He added that Smith's stepson had played basketball on an Amateur Athletic Union team that Lumumba worked with.
"Eric helped take young men all over the country," the councilman said. "He's a real man in every sense of the word."
Mayor Harvey Johnson, Jr. also addressed the officer's death.
"Detective Smith was an excellent officer in all respects," the mayor said. "I want everyone to keep the Smith family in their prayers and in their thoughts."
Lumumba said that Smith was married and had another son.
A monument outside police headquarters lists 14 officers killed in the line of duty ? before today.
____
Mohr reported from Brandon, Miss. AP writer Jackie Quinn reported from Washington.
Hillary Rodham Clinton has a deal for a memoir and policy book about her years in the Obama administration, Simon & Schuster told The Associated Press. The book has yet to be titled and is tentatively scheduled for June 2014, in time for the summer reading season and for the midterm elections, when a promotional tour could easily blend with Democratic efforts work to recapture the House.
The former secretary of state's itinerary will be closely scrutinized for any signs she may run for president in 2016 ? any book tour events in early voting states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina would receive broad attention.
But her book will likely be anticipated on several levels ? as a possible signal of a presidential run; as the latest chronicle of one of the most eventful public lives of the past quarter-century; as the continuation of a tradition of secretary of state memoirs that includes Dean Acheson's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Present at the Creation" and works by Henry Kissinger, Madeleine Albright and Clinton's immediate predecessor, Condoleezza Rice.
"Hillary Clinton's extraordinary public service has given her a unique perspective on recent history and the challenges we face," Jonathan Karp, president and publisher of the Simon & Schuster Publishing Group and the book's editor, said in a statement Thursday. "This will be the ultimate book for people who are interested in world affairs and America's place in the world today."
Financial terms were not disclosed. Clinton reportedly received $8 million for the 2003 memoir, "Living History," also published by Simon & Schuster. As with "Living History," Clinton was represented by Washington attorney Robert Barnett, who has handled deals for President Barack Obama and Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton. Karp previously served as editor for another Barnett client, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, and his memoir "True Compass."
Hillary Clinton, 65, stepped down as secretary of state earlier this year after serving throughout Obama's first term. Polls indicate she would be a leading contender for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, but she has yet to announce a decision. Clinton was defeated by Obama for the Democratic nomination in 2008.
According to Simon & Schuster, Clinton will write about everything from the killing of Osama bin Laden and the Arab Spring to China and climate change. She "will share her views as to what it takes for the United States to secure and sustain prosperity and global leadership. Throughout, Secretary Clinton will offer vivid personal anecdotes and memories of her collaboration with President Obama and his national security team, as well as her engagement with leaders around the world."
Clinton, who already has started writing the book, was often praised as a hard-working and effective secretary of state. But it's unclear whether she will cover one of the bleakest events of the past four years ? the attack last fall against the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, which left four Americans dead and led to widespread criticism of security procedures and allegations by Republicans of an election-year cover-up of an act of terrorism.
Simon & Schuster's announcement mentions the 2011 overthrow of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, but not the Benghazi attack. The publisher did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the attack.
The book will apparently stick to her time as secretary of state and not cover the years immediately following her 2003 memoir, when she was re-elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006 and ran for president in 2008, an intense and sometimes bitter campaign that led to widespread reports of animosity between Clinton and Obama.
A person familiar with the book said that Clinton does not plan to write about the 2008 campaign or any possible future runs. The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the book and requested anonymity to discuss it.
Clinton is a well-established author. Her "Living History" was a million-seller that was highly publicized, if only for her take on her husband's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Her other books, all from Simon & Schuster and all released while she was the first lady, include her best-seller about raising children, "It Takes a Village"; "Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids' Letters to the First Pets"; and "An Invitation to the White House: At Home With History."
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Associated Press writer Ken Thomas in Washington contributed to this report.
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Public release date: 8-Apr-2013
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