Iraq instability tested further with bombing wave

A bombing victim, Bashar Muhsin, 28, is taken for burial in Najaf, 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, April. 29, 2013. Five car bombs exploded Monday in predominantly Shiite cities and districts in central and southern Iraq, killing and wounding dozens of people, police said. (AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)

A bombing victim, Bashar Muhsin, 28, is taken for burial in Najaf, 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, April. 29, 2013. Five car bombs exploded Monday in predominantly Shiite cities and districts in central and southern Iraq, killing and wounding dozens of people, police said. (AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)

Civilians and security forces gather at the scene of a car bomb attack in the southern Shiite city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, April. 29, 2013. Five car bombs exploded Monday in predominantly Shiite cities and districts in central and southern Iraq, killing and wounding dozens of people, police said. (AP Photo)

Civilians gather at the scene of a car bomb attack in the southern Shiite city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, April. 29, 2013. Five car bombs exploded Monday in predominantly Shiite cities and districts in central and southern Iraq, killing and wounding dozens of people, police said. (AP Photo)

BAGHDAD (AP) ? A wave of car bomb blasts tore through Shiite areas south of Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 36 and deepening fears that Iraq is rapidly spiraling back out of control.

The attacks capped a week of turmoil that is posing the greatest test of Iraq's stability since U.S. troops left the country in late 2011. At least 218 people have been killed in attacks and battles between gunmen and security forces that began with clashes at a Sunni protest camp in northern Iraq last Tuesday.

The unrest follows four months of widespread protests among Iraq's Sunni minority, who feel they are discriminated against and are being marginalized by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite-led government.

Iraqi officials fear that Sunni feelings of disenfranchisement could be exploited by extremist groups such as al-Qaida and militant organizations such as the Naqshabandi Army, which is linked to Saddam Hussein's former regime.

In a possible sign of mounting worries over the deteriorating security situation, Iraqi authorities announced they plan to close the country's only border crossing with Jordan, beginning on Tuesday. The Interior Ministry said the move is related Iraq's domestic affairs.

The route to the border runs through the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah, west of Baghdad, which have been hotbeds of Sunni anger at the government. Many Sunnis in western Iraq have economic, tribal and cultural ties with Jordanians, most of whom are also Sunni.

Sheik Fakhir al-Kubaisi, a protest organizer in Anbar province, blasted the latest closure plans as "another escalation by the Iraqi government to punish the revolting Iraqi people." He predicted the closure would drive up the prices of food and medicine, and might be tied to a coming security crackdown on protest sites in the area.

The Interior Ministry spokesman, Lt. Col. Saad Maan Ibrahim, insisted the border closure was solely a technical matter and is unrelated to ongoing tensions in the country. He did not elaborate, and said it should reopen within 48 hours.

Iraq temporarily shut the same border crossing in January, weeks after anti-government protests erupted along the desert highway heading to the checkpoint. That angered many Sunnis in western Iraq, who saw it as collective punishment for their rallies.

The International Crisis Group recently warned that the standoff between Sunni protesters and the central government has begun a dangerous slide toward confrontation.

"The emergence of an arc of instability and conflict linking Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, fueled by sectarianism and involving porous borders as well as cross-border alliances, represents a huge risk," the conflict-prevention group warned. "Failure to integrate Sunni Arabs into a genuinely representative political system in Baghdad risks turning Iraq's domestic crisis into a broader regional struggle."

Monday's deadliest attack struck the southern city of Amarah. Two parked cars loaded with explosives went off simultaneously in the early morning near a gathering of construction workers and a market, killing 18 people and wounding 42, the police said.

That attack was followed by another parked car bombing near a restaurant in the city of Diwaniyah, killing nine people and wounding 23. At least three cars were left charred and twisted from the blast outside a two-story building, and its facade was damaged. Shop owners and cleaners were seen brushing debris off the bloodstained pavement.

Amarah, some 320 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Baghdad, and Diwaniyah, 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of the capital, are heavily Shiite and usually peaceful.

Hours later, yet another car bomb went off in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, killing three civilians and wounding 14, police said. Two early Islamic figures revered by Shiites are buried in the city, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of Baghdad.

And in the otherwise predominantly Sunni town of Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of Baghdad, a car bomb ripped through a Shiite neighborhood, killing six people and wounding 14, another police officer said.

Ibrahim Ali, a schoolteacher there, was teaching a class when a thunderous boom went off.

"The students were panicking and some of them started to cry," he said, recounting seeing burned bodies and cars on fire at the nearby blast site. "We have been expecting this violence against Shiites because of the rising sectarian tension in the country," he said.

Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. Like the police, they spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for Monday's blasts. But coordinated bombings in civilian areas are a favorite tactic for al-Qaida in Iraq.

Parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni, condemned Monday's bombings and urged the government to step down "in order to save the country from the specter of civil war and sectarian strife." He called for the installation of an interim government, dissolution of parliament and early elections.

He issued a similar call in February for the prime minister to step down and for early elections, but there is little sign for now of that happening.

Sectarian violence has spiked since last Tuesday, when security forces tried to make arrests at a Sunni Muslim protest camp in the northern city of Hawija. The move set off a clash that killed 23 people, including three soldiers.

In Baghdad, al-Maliki met on Monday with the prime minister of Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish region, Nechirvan Barzani.

A statement from the Iraqi leader's office said the two sides discussed their differences "in an atmosphere of frankness and seriousness and with a common desire to find solutions."

Ongoing disputes between Baghdad and the Kurds over sensitive issues such as ethnically disputed territories and how to manage the country's vast oil wealth further undermine Iraq's stability as al-Maliki tries to manage relations with the country's Sunni Arabs.

In other violence Monday, several mortar shells exploded in an uninhabited area near Baghdad International Airport around sunset, but no casualties were reported, police said.

An Iranian exile group whose members live in a refugee camp near the airport described the explosions as rocket strikes. It said they hit water canals at the southern part of the camp.

The group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, has been pushing for camp residents, members of its Mujahedeen-e-Khalq militant wing, to be moved back to another camp north of Baghdad. Iraq's government wants them out of the country altogether.

___

Associated Press writers Sinan Salaheddin and Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report.

___

Follow Adam Schreck on Twitter at http://twitter.com/adamschreck

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-29-Iraq/id-b46e020a7cf44207a5d0b992d6b74756

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In abortion debate, both sides point to Philadelphia trial

(Editor's Note: Please be advised that this story contains graphic material that may upset some readers)

By Dave Warner

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The Philadelphia abortion clinic that prosecutors called a "house of horrors" is now being cited as powerful evidence by both abortion and anti-abortion rights groups.

Advocates on both sides of the issue spoke out as the murder trial of Dr Kermit Gosnell, accused of killing a patient and four infants during late-term abortions at his clinic, headed for closing arguments on Monday in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia.

Gosnell, 72, who ran the now-shuttered Women's Medical Society Clinic in urban West Philadelphia, could face the death penalty if convicted. The case focuses on whether or not the infants were born alive and then killed.

"Abortion is not safe, it never has been, and what happened in Kermit's clinic is not that unusual," said Joe Scheidler, national director of the Pro-Life Action League.

Rev. Frank Pavone, director of the anti-abortion group Priests for Life, said the often gory trial testimony "will change the conversation ... It'll help people engage and make them realize they're not just talking about a theoretical idea."

Abortion-rights activists said Gosnell is an outlier among predominantly safe and legal abortion providers.

"Gosnell ran a criminal enterprise, not a healthcare facility, and should be punished to the fullest extent of the law," said Eric Ferrero, a spokesman for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Shoddy practices revealed in the Gosnell case are proof that safe abortions should be easily accessible to women of all income levels, said Ilyse Hogue, the president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.

"This is a peek into the back-alley days, the pre-Roe v. Wade days. It's what too many women experienced when we didn't provide access to safe and clean abortion services," Hogue said, referring to the landmark Supreme Court ruling in 1973 that struck down state laws restricting abortion.

The charges against Gosnell and nine of his employees have added fresh fuel to the debate in the United States about late-term abortions.

It is legal in Pennsylvania to abort a fetus up to 24 weeks of pregnancy. It becomes murder if the infant is fully expelled from the mother alive and then killed, according to a lawyer familiar with Pennsylvania law, who declined to be named given the volatility of the case.

Gosnell is charged with first-degree murder for delivering live babies during late-term abortions and then deliberately severing their spinal cords, prosecutors said. He is also charged with third-degree murder in the death of Karnamaya Mongar, 41, of Virginia, who died after the procedure from a drug overdose, prosecutors said.

The doctor has pleaded not guilty to all charges, contending there is no evidence the babies were alive when they were expelled and that Mongar failed to disclose her full medical history, which may have triggered drug complications.

Testimony in the six-week trial before a seven-woman, five-man jury has depicted a filthy, squalid clinic serving mostly low-income women in the largely black community.

Early in the trial, anti-abortion rights groups criticized the national media for largely ignoring the case.

Day Gardner, the head of the National Black Pro-life Union in Washington, tied the media's initial avoidance of the trial to what she said was deeply ingrained racism in American society, noting that many of Gosnell's patients were poor black women and the doctor himself is black.

The national spotlight would have shown brighter if the victim had been "a blonde, blue-eyed child ... It's very obvious that passion across America is not quite the same when it comes to black children," Gardner said.

Gosnell, who has been in jail since his January 2011 arrest, is being tried along with Eileen O'Neill, a medical graduate student accused of billing patients and insurance companies as if she had been a licensed doctor. Eight other defendants have pleaded guilty to a variety of charges and are awaiting sentencing.

(Additional reporting by Atossa Araxia Abrahamian; Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Prudence Crowther)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/abortion-debate-both-sides-point-philadelphia-trial-040400904.html

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Sudanese protesters stone government convoy after rebel attack

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Residents of a provincial Sudanese city set government offices on fire and threw rocks at local officials on Sunday, accusing them of failing to protect them from a rebel attack the day before, witnesses said.

Insurgents from Sudan's Darfur region stormed Um Rawaba in North Kordofan state on Saturday, witnesses said. State media said late in the evening authorities had regained control of the city, located some 500 km (300 miles) from Khartoum.

On Sunday, 300 people gathered in the city center to protest at a visit by North Kordofan Governor Mutassim Mirghani Zaki Uddi to inspect damage from the fighting in the state's second-largest city.

An angry crowd set several government buildings on fire and threw stones at the cars of the governor and his entourage, three witnesses told Reuters.

"We don't want you here - where were you yesterday?" the crowd chanted, according to witnesses. Uddi's motorcade left without any reports of injury or serious damage. There was no immediate police comment.

The attack marked a major thrust by a rebel alliance that is seeking to topple President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Fighting had hitherto been limited mainly to Darfur and South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, which border South Sudan.

Local newspapers showed what they said were pictures taken during the rebel attack. Several burning buildings could be seen as well as the body of a person on the ground, according to the daily al-Intibaha.

The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), one of the biggest Darfur rebel groups, denied it had looted or destroyed any property in Um Rawaba.

The group was one of two main rebel forces that took up arms against the government in 2003, demanding better representation for Darfur and accusing Khartoum of neglecting its development.

In 2011, JEM teamed up with two other Darfuri groups and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-North) which took up arms in South Kordofan and Blue Nile around the time of South Sudan's secession, breaking up Africa's largest country.

(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sudanese-protesters-stone-government-convoy-rebel-attack-143642468.html

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Breyer has shoulder surgery after bike accident

In this photo taken Jan. 24, 2013, file photo U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer reacts during a lecture at Boston University School of Law in Boston. Breyer is in a Washington hospital after shoulder replacement surgery following a bicycle accident injury to his right shoulder Friday, April 26, 2013. Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg says the 74-year-old Breyer is expected to make a full recovery following the operation Saturday. Previously he broke his collarbone in an accident in 2011 and sustained broken ribs and a punctured lung in a bicycle mishap in 1993, before he joined the court. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

In this photo taken Jan. 24, 2013, file photo U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer reacts during a lecture at Boston University School of Law in Boston. Breyer is in a Washington hospital after shoulder replacement surgery following a bicycle accident injury to his right shoulder Friday, April 26, 2013. Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg says the 74-year-old Breyer is expected to make a full recovery following the operation Saturday. Previously he broke his collarbone in an accident in 2011 and sustained broken ribs and a punctured lung in a bicycle mishap in 1993, before he joined the court. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is in a Washington hospital after shoulder replacement surgery following a bicycle accident.

Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg says the 74-year-old Breyer is expected to make a full recovery following the operation Saturday.

Breyer injured his right shoulder in a fall Friday near the Korean War Veterans Memorial.

The justice previously broke his collarbone in an accident in 2011 and sustained broken ribs and a punctured lung in a bicycle mishap in 1993, before he joined the court.

Breyer was appointed to the court in 1994 by President William Clinton.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-04-27-Justice%20Breyer-Surgery/id-68f92c8dc1ea4b5ebf12c83ef39f61aa

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U.S. identifies four American victims in Afghan crash

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon identified four U.S. victims in Saturday's crash of a surveillance aircraft in southern Afghanistan and said the incident appeared unrelated to Taliban violence.

The police chief in Zabul province, Rogh Lewanai, told Reuters on Saturday that bad weather caused the plane to crash, in the district of Shahjoi. At the time, NATO did not identify the nationality of the victims but said they were part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

The Pentagon said on Sunday the crash of the MC-12 was under investigation.

Zabul, wedged between Kandahar and Ghazni, has seen much violence in recent weeks, including a suicide bomb attack in early April that killed a young U.S. diplomat, several U.S. soldiers and an unnamed U.S. civilian. Dozens of Afghan civilians also have been killed there this month.

The Pentagon said all four victims were airmen: Captain Brandon Cyr, 28, of Woodbridge, Virginia; Captain Reid Nishizuka, 30, of Kailua, Hawaii; Staff Sergeant Daniel Fannin, 30, of Morehead, Kentucky; and Staff Sergeant Richard Dickson, 24, of Rancho Cordova, California.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart, additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni and Amie Ferris-Rotman in Kabul; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-identifies-four-american-victims-afghan-crash-230541350.html

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Cyberattack suspect had 'bunker' in north Spain

MADRID (AP) ? A Dutch citizen arrested in northeast Spain on suspicion of launching what is described as the biggest cyberattack in Internet history operated from a bunker and had a van capable of hacking into networks anywhere in the country, officials said Sunday.

The suspect traveled in Spain using his van "as a mobile computing office, equipped with various antennas to scan frequencies," an Interior Ministry statement said.

Agents arrested him Thursday in the city of Granollers, 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of Barcelona, complying with a European arrest warrant issued by Dutch authorities.

He is accused of attacking the Swiss-British anti-spam watchdog group Spamhaus whose main task is to halt ads for counterfeit Viagra and bogus weight-loss pills reaching the world's inboxes.

The statement said officers uncovered the computer hacker's bunker, "from where he even did interviews with different international media."

The 35-year-old, whose birthplace was given as the western Dutch city of Alkmaar, was identified only by his initials: S.K.

The statement said the suspect called himself a diplomat belonging to the "Telecommunications and Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Republic of Cyberbunker."

Spanish police were alerted in March by Dutch authorities of large denial-of-service attacks being launched from Spain that were affecting Internet servers in the Netherlands, United Kingdom and the U.S. These attacks culminated with a major onslaught on Spamhaus.

The Netherlands National Prosecution Office described them as "unprecedentedly serious attacks on the nonprofit organization Spamhaus."

The largest assault clocked in at 300 billion bits per second, according to San Francisco-based CloudFlare Inc., which Spamhaus enlisted to help it weather the onslaught.

Denial-of-service attacks overwhelm a server with traffic, jamming it with incoming messages. Security experts measure the attacks in bits of data per second. Recent cyberattacks ? such as the ones that caused persistent outages at U.S. banking sites late last year ? have tended to peak at 100 billion bits per second, one third the size of that experienced by Spamhaus.

Netherlands, German, British and U.S. police forces took part in the investigation leading to the arrest, Spain said.

The suspect is expected to be extradited from Spain to face justice in the Netherlands.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cyberattack-suspect-had-bunker-north-spain-110421618.html

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Yahoo snags exclusive rights to Saturday Night Live's archives (update: clips only) starting September 1st

Yahoo may have failed in its bid to acquire Hulu last year, but CEO Marissa Mayer announced it's snagged rights to show something the streaming site has been known for: Saturday Night Live. The deal with Broadway Video will give Yahoo exclusive online access to archived SNL content from 1975 through 2013 including show clips, "select" musical performances, behind the scenes and dress rehearsal clips. Yahoo will also have non-exclusive access to show current season Saturday Night Live clips in the US and a license to distribute library show clips internationally. Beginning September 1st, those archived clips will be pulled from other internet video platforms (presumably Hulu and Netflix -- update, see below) for one year. The press release (included after the break) indicates Broadway and Yahoo will celebrate the partnership at Yahoo!'s Digital Content NewFront event on the 29th. We'll see if there's more to learn about Yahoo's ever-evolving media strategy then.

Update: The devil is in the details, and it appears that while Yahoo does have exclusive access to the SNL "clips" archive, that is not the same as full episodes. While that may seem arbitrary to the layman, what it means in effect is that later this year you'll still be able to stream full episodes of SNL on other online services -- just not clips.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Airlines say they shouldn?t pay for furlough-induced tarmacdelays?

Rob Lovitt , NBC News contributor ? ? ? 12 hrs.

If the FAA furloughs air traffic controllers and a plane full of passengers sits on the tarmac for 3 or more hours, should the Department of Transportation (DOT) ding the carrier for violating the government?s three-year-old rule against extended tarmac delays?

The airline industry says ?no? and two industry trade groups ? Airlines for America (A4A) and the Regional Airline Association (RAA) ? have filed a motion asking DOT to suspend the rule in the event such violations are a result of the sequestration-related furloughs that went into effect Sunday.

?We believe granting this exemption serves the best interests of the flying public by providing airlines with the operating flexibility necessary to focus on responding to the FAA?s projected delays in ways that minimize and avoid worsening the disruption and inconvenience to our passengers,? said A4A spokesperson Katie Connell via email.

The request seeks to spare airlines from the fines laid out under the rule that was first put in place in April 2010 as a response to several high-profile cases in which passengers were stuck on grounded airplanes for up to 9 hours.

Under the rule, carriers that violate the rule are subject to fines of up to $27,500 per passenger. In August 2011, the rule was extended to include international flights, which can incur the same penalties if they don?t offer passengers the opportunity to disembark after 4 hours.

Although bitterly opposed by the airline industry when the rule was first proposed, it has led to a drastic decline in the number of extended tarmac delays. The most recent incident involved 34 planes operated by US Airways and its partners that were stranded during a mid-February snowstorm in Charlotte, N.C., an incident DOT is currently investigating.

For proponents of the tarmac delay rules, the industry motion represents a case of d?j? vu all over again: ?The airlines are rehashing the same arguments they used before,? said Paul Hudson, president of the consumer group FlyersRights.org. ?Their request is for 90 days or the length of the sequester and there?s no doubt they will try to extend it indefinitely.?

For Hudson, the issue should be considered a ?non-starter? because the rule includes language that releases the airlines from liability for situations that are out of their control.

?The DOT already has the discretion not to fine them,? he told NBC News. ?There are provisions that if there are air traffic control or security reasons that prevent planes from getting back to the gate then the airlines are relieved of the obligation.?

In the meantime, both the furloughs and bad weather have led to an uptick in delays in recent days. According to FAA, there were 1,200 delays in the system on Monday that were attributable to staffing reductions with 1,400 additional delays caused by weather and other factors.

Similar, albeit fewer, delays were reported on Tuesday with wind, weather and staffing issues leading to late-afternoon delays in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. The worst delays were at Newark (weather/wind) and LaGuardia (staffing), both of which were reporting delays of 115 minutes.

Obviously, such delays aren?t long enough to trigger the tarmac delay rule although they?re plenty long enough to inconvenience passengers. Travelers who wish to weigh in the issue of fines, furloughs and who?s responsible for the current situation have until 5 p.m. Friday to send their comments to DOT.

Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him on Twitter.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2b1a63dd/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctravel0Cairlines0Esay0Ethey0Eshouldnt0Epay0Efurlough0Einduced0Etarmac0Edelays0E6C956960A3/story01.htm

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Ancient Earth crust stored in deep mantle

Apr. 24, 2013 ? Scientists have long believed that lava erupted from certain oceanic volcanoes contains materials from the early Earth's crust. But decisive evidence for this phenomenon has proven elusive. New research from a team including Carnegie's Erik Hauri demonstrates that oceanic volcanic rocks contain samples of recycled crust dating back to the Archean era 2.5 billion years ago. Their work is published in Nature.

Oceanic crust sinks into Earth's mantle at so-called subduction zones, where two plates come together. Much of what happens to the crust during this journey is unknown. Model-dependent studies for how long subducted material can exist in the mantle are uncertain and evidence of very old crust returning to Earth's surface via upwellings of magma has not been found until now.

The research team studied volcanic rocks from the island of Mangaia in Polynesia's Cook Islands that contain iron sulfide inclusions within crystals. In-depth analysis of the chemical makeup of these samples yielded interesting results.

The research focused on isotopes of the element sulfur. (Isotopes are atoms of the same element with different numbers of neutrons.) The measurements, conducted by graduate student Rita Cabral, looked at three of the four naturally occurring isotopes of sulfur--isotopic masses 32, 33, and 34. The sulfur-33 isotopes showed evidence of a chemical interaction with UV radiation that stopped occurring in Earth's atmosphere about 2.45 billion years ago. It stopped after the Great Oxidation Event, a point in time when Earth's atmospheric oxygen levels skyrocketed as a consequence of oxygen-producing photosynthetic microbes. Prior to the Great Oxidation Event, the atmosphere lacked ozone. But once ozone was introduced, it started to absorb UV and shut down the process.

This indicates that the sulfur comes from a deep mantle reservoir containing crustal material subducted before the Great Oxidation Event and preserved for over half the age of Earth.

"These measurements place the first firm age estimates of recycled material in oceanic hotspots," Hauri said. "They confirm the cycling of sulfur from the atmosphere and oceans into mantle and ultimately back to the surface," Hauri said.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Carnegie Institution.

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Journal Reference:

1. Rita A. Cabral, Matthew G. Jackson, Estelle F. Rose-Koga, Kenneth T. Koga, Martin J. Whitehouse, Michael A. Antonelli, James Farquhar, James M. D. Day, Erik H. Hauri. Anomalous sulphur isotopes in plume lavas reveal deep mantle storage of Archaean crust. Nature, 2013; 496 (7446): 490 DOI: 10.1038/nature12020

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/~3/LDR1C8bWhcs/130424132705.htm

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Bigelow Aerospace Investigating Feasibility of Moon Base for NASA

littlesparkvt writes in with a bit from Space Industry News about Bigelow Aerospace's plans for the moon: "NASA and Bigelow Aerospace are in the initial planning phases for a moon base. 'As part of our broader commercial space strategy, NASA signed a Space Act Agreement with Bigelow Aerospace to foster ideas about how the private sector can contribute to future human missions,' Said David Weaver NASA Associate Administrator for the Office of Communications." Bigelow will be performing the study for free too. Robert Bigelow chatted with a radio host a few weeks ago about Bigelow's long-term space plans. They include refueling depots and a commercial moon base, since NASA isn't planning to go there.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/_zXzGQaYpJs/story01.htm

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After Raising $6.7M For Startups And Winning SEC Approval, AngelList Opens Up Investment Platform To More Companies

In December, AngelList, a service that matches early stage startups with investors, debuted the ability to allow accredited investors to actually invest in startups on the platform with as little as $1,000. AngelList also partnered with SecondMarket to create an investment vehicle for these investments. Since December, the company is announcing that it has seen 1,100 investment commitments completely online, totaling over $6 million in funding for startups raising via AngelList. And today, AngelList is opening the platform up to all startups with top-tier investors.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/i5OXA8avxcE/

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NY's Anthony Weiner back on Twitter

NEW YORK (AP) -- Former congressman Anthony Weiner is back on Twitter.

The Democrat, who resigned in disgrace two years ago after tweeting a lewd picture of himself, has launched a new Twitter account: (at)anthonyweiner.

Weiner's first post Monday was decidedly tame: a link to a 20-page policy statement outlining "64 Ideas to keep New York City the Capital of the Middle Class." By late afternoon, he had a few thousand followers.

Weiner, 48, confirmed by email Monday that the new Twitter account is his.

"It seemed like a fresh start was in order especially in light of all the new ideas around which I am hoping to drive conversation and debate," he wrote.

Weiner, who is married and has a baby son, ran for mayor in 2005 and considered it in 2009. He said this month in a New York Times Magazine story that he is considering joining the race to succeed Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

An NBC New York-Marist Poll last week showed about half the Democrats surveyed wouldn't even consider voting for him because of the sexting scandal. But it also showed he'd get 15 percent of the vote in a potential Democratic primary, topped only by the current front-runner, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. There were similar results in a Quinnipiac University poll released last week.

In the 2011 sexting scandal, Weiner initially claimed he had been hacked after a photo of a man's underwear-clad crotch appeared on his Twitter account. As more pictures surfaced, including one of Weiner posing shirtless in his congressional office, he was forced to come clean and acknowledged exchanging inappropriate messages with several women.

Weiner's old Twitter account, (at)repweiner, still has about 68,000 followers.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nys-weiner-back-twitter-2-130027640.html

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Strong earnings drive stocks higher on Wall Street

NEW YORK (AP) ? Strong earnings across a range of U.S. industries pushed the stock market higher Tuesday.

Makers of handbags, jet planes and chemical products all turned in good results for the first quarter, reviving investors' confidence after a sharp downturn in the stock market last week.

Coach, Lockheed Martin, DuPont and Travelers were among the winners after they reported results that were better than analysts expected. The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index both rose nearly 1 percent in morning trading, putting them on track for a third straight day of gains.

A resurgence in corporate profits after the Great Recession has been one of the drivers that pushed both the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index to record levels this year. However investors are starting to question how much further company earnings can improve without the outlook for growth in the global economy improving as well.

Tuesday's upturn in stocks put both indexes back in the black for April and closer to the record high closes they reached on April 11. It was a sharp change of tone from last week, when the market had its worst drop since November. That sell-off started after economic growth in China, the world's second-largest economy, slowed.

So far, about 70 percent of the companies that reported earnings for the first quarter have beaten analysts' expectations, better than the 10-year average of 62 percent, according to data from S&P Capital IQ. Analysts currently expect earnings to rise by 2.1 percent in the first quarter, compared with 7.7 percent growth in the previous three-month period.

Netflix soared 25 percent to $219 after reporting a big gain in subscribers in the first quarter late yesterday. Coach, which makes Luxury handbags and other accessories, soared 11 percent to $56.44. Lockheed rose 2 percent to $97.25. DuPont and Travelers each rose 3 percent, to $51.88 and $86.88.

The Dow was up 146 points at 14,714 as of 12:25 p.m. The S&P 500 was 17 points higher at 1,579. Both indexes are 1 percent below their record high closes from nearly two weeks ago.

The Nasdaq composite rose 41 points to 3,274.

Apple, the biggest component in the index, reports earnings after the market closes. Apple has lost 23 percent of its value this year. Investor worry that demand for the iPhone is waning as competitors like Samsung sell more smartphones. The company's stock rose $7.82 to $407.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/strong-earnings-drive-stocks-higher-wall-street-150346433--finance.html

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GSLIS Jobs and Opportunities Blog ? ASSISTANT REFERENCE ...

NHTI, Concord?s Community College seeks a part-time (25 hours per week) professional, as part of the Reference Team, to deliver exemplary library reference and research services focusing on a strong customer service philosophy, anticipating user needs. This position reports to the Head Reference Librarian at NHTI, Concord?s Community College.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: Education: Master?s degree in library science from a college or university accredited by the American Library Association. Experience: No experience required. Additional years of related work experience may not be substituted for the formal education required by this class specification.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: Experience teaching and preparing lesson plans; Proficiency with electronic and printed information resources; Ability to use and explain library facilities including OPAC and other reference aids; Customer service skills with a strong commitment to client services; Strong creative, technical, and problem solving skills; Excellent communication, organizational, presentation and interpersonal skills; fluency in a second language; Understanding of standards and trends in reference services and instructional technology.

- Salary for this part-time role is $17.71 ? $20.71 hourly.

- For a job description or to complete the REQUIRED CCSNH Application, please visit http://www.nhti.edu/community-visitors/employment-nhti

CLOSE DATE: CCSNH applications for this role must be RECEIVED by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, April 26, 2013.

Source: http://alanis.simmons.edu/blogs/jobs/2013/04/22/assistant-reference-librarian-librarian-i-nhti-concords-community-college-concord-nh/

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Blue Jays' bats?bail out JJ in win over Yankees

By IAN HARRISON

Associated Press

Associated Press Sports

updated 5:41 p.m. ET April 21, 2013

TORONTO (AP) - Ivan Nova is struggling to be consistent, and he's not happy about it.

J.P. Arencibia hit a two-run homer, Melky Cabrera had three hits and the Toronto Blue Jays rallied for an 8-4 victory over the New York Yankees on Sunday after Josh Johnson walked in the tying and go-ahead runs.

Nova saw his ERA rise from 5.59 to 6.14 after allowing four runs and seven hits in five-plus innings.

"I still lack command, I'm not throwing strikes and that kind of makes me mad," Nova said. "I know I can do better than this and I'm not happy."

Seeking his first road win since beating Toronto last Aug. 11, Nova walked a season-high four and struck out five.

"I don't think he really got a feel for any pitch consistently," catcher Chris Stewart said. "One hitter it would be there, the next hitter it wouldn't."

Nova insisted his mechanics are fine but said he's still having difficulty repeating pitches, a problem he said has plagued him since the second half of last season.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi was more kind, saying deep counts hurt Nova more than hard-hit balls.

"The first four hits he gives up, only one of them is centered," Girardi said. "I thought he threw the ball OK, it was just the long counts that got him."

Arencibia hit his seventh homer, tying him with Baltimore's Chris Davis for the AL lead, as the Blue Jays avoided their first three-game sweep against New York since the opening series of the 2003 season.

"Maybe today is something that'll get us going," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said.

Brett Cecil (1-0) worked 1 1-3 innings for the win as the Blue Jays capped a seven-game homestand on a winning note.

"We know what this team is capable of," Arencibia said. "We just have to continue to put at-bats together and when you have an opportunity, try to rally behind it."

Esmil Rogers worked 1 1-3 innings and Darren Oliver pitched the ninth for Toronto.

Stewart hit a solo homer for the Yankees, who had won nine of their previous 11.

"Our goal is to take every series and if you can do that, you're going to be in good shape come September," Girardi said. "It's not the way you want to leave but we won two out of three here."

Toronto opened the scoring in the first. Munenori Kawasaki reached on an infield single, went to third on Cabrera's base hit and scored on a throwing error by Eduardo Nunez as the Yankees failed to turn a double play.

Colby Rasmus hit a leadoff double in the second and later scored on Kawasaki's sacrifice fly, but the Yankees cut the gap in half on Stewart's leadoff homer in the third, his first.

A superb defensive play by Vernon Wells kept Toronto from adding to its lead in the fourth. Jose Bautista singled to open the inning and Edwin Encarnacion followed with a drive to deep left. But the former Blue Jays outfielder made a leaping catch at the top of the wall and Bautista, who had already made the turn at second, was doubled off first on a relay throw from Robinson Cano.

New York took the lead with two runs in the fifth, capitalizing on some wildness by Johnson. Singles by Stewart, Cano and Wells loaded the bases before Johnson issued consecutive two-out walks to Lyle Overbay and Nunez.

"It seems like it happens a couple of times a year where all of a sudden you can't find the zone for whatever reason," Johnson said.

The Yankees added one more in the sixth. Jayson Nix hit a leadoff single, went to second on a wild pitch and advanced on Stewart's sacrifice. Cecil replaced Johnson before Nix scored on Brett Gardner's sacrifice fly.

Johnson allowed four runs and eight hits in 5 1-3 innings to remain winless in four starts. He walked three and struck out four.

Toronto chased Nova and reclaimed the lead with a four-run sixth against a Yankees bullpen that has a 5.09 ERA. In contrast, New York's starters have a 3.44 ERA.

Adam Lind walked and Arencibia doubled, bringing Boone Logan (0-1) out of the bullpen. Rasmus scored Lind with a broken bat single to center and David Phelps replaced Logan, but gave up a two-run double to Brett Lawrie, whose liner down the third base line stayed fair by inches. Two outs later, Cabrera capped the rally with an RBI single to right.

Lind drew a one-out walk off Phelps in the seventh and Arencibia followed with a drive to center, his second homer of the series.

"They have guys up and down that lineup that can hurt you," Wells said. "They don't have to piece together single after single, they have guys who can leave the ballpark in a hurry."

NOTES: Twelve of Arencibia's 18 hits this season have been for extra bases. ... Lind matched a team record with four walks. It's the 16th time in Blue Jays history a player has walked four times in a game. ... Bautista returned to right field after two starts at DH. He missed four games last week with a sore back, and had not been expected to play the outfield again until Monday's game at Baltimore. ... Buffalo Bills running back C.J. Spiller attended the game.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Buck's seventh blast powers Mets past Nationals

NEW YORK (AP) - John Buck hit his seventh home run of the season, Dillon Gee earned his first win and the New York Mets beat the Washington Nationals 2-0 on Sunday to take two of three games from the NL East champions.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/51614574/ns/sports-baseball/

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Ohio gas prices shoot back up

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The big drop in gas prices in Ohio didn't last long.

A gallon of regular gas in Ohio was listed at an average of about $3.65 in Monday's survey from auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. That's 27 cents higher than last Monday's average of $3.38.

The Ohio price this week is 13 cents higher than the national average of $3.52.

The state average is about a dime lower than this time last month, and 6 cents lower than at the same time in 2012.

Analysts say they typically expect to see a spike in gas prices as the summer driving season approaches.

The lowest average price in the state Monday was about $3.58 in Youngstown and Warren.

Online:

AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report: http://fuelgaugereport.aaa.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ohio-gas-prices-shoot-back-145729980.html

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NYC rolls out six Nissan Leafs in EV taxi pilot, good luck catching one

New York City's full-on EV taxi blitz may not come until late this year, but the metropolis is taking its first tentative steps into that electric world as of today: it's deploying the six Nissan Leaf cabs promised as part of a pilot program. The half-dozen sedans will spend a year on the road, with officials able to gauge the effectiveness of EVs as taxis when they have access to both regular chargers at their home bases as well as fast chargers in Manhattan's far West Side, Lower East Side and Union Square. Don't expect to hail an eco-friendly cab very often, though -- along with the daunting numerical odds, the Leaf drivers have more liberty than usual to turn down passengers and protect their remaining power supply. If you do happen to find yourself in the back seat, however, you'll likely get a glimpse at New York's cleaner and quieter future.

Filed under: Transportation

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Via: Autoblog

Source: New York City (PDF)

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/zAnJlmr-ww8/

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Brummet's Conscious Blog: Product Review

?-- Product Review --

Samantha Weinman, fashion media and marketing manager of American Apparel, first connected with me back on April 5^th re: reviewing their new sustainable line of clothing. Amazingly the products arrived just 6 days later on April 11^th, delivered to my door. Packaging consisted of one thick plastic shipping bag that contained 4 items ? each item had a small brown paper label made of 100% recycled paper? both the paper label, shipping bag and even the small plastic tag attaching the label to the product are recyclable. All of their clothing is manufactured in the US, where environmental standards and employee rights are more stringent than other countries outside of North America. This also means that there is less fossil fuels spent in shipping the fabric to the manufacturer and then the product to the consumer. I was thrilled to find that the soft yellow hat and autumn orange sweater were made from pre-consumer cotton fibers? what this means is that the company sells excess scraps left over from the cutting and sewing process to a textile recycling company that in turn sells their recycled content yarn back to American Apparel for them to use in their new eco-friendly clothing line. It is a fantastic sustainable business model that the world can learn from. I loved the fact that by doing this one small thing there will be a reduction in the amount of wasted fabric scraps heading to the landfill where as organic material it will break down anaerobically creating all kinds of havoc to the air and soil and water tables. This also cuts down on water waste and land use because it is recycling a product that is already manufactured and dyed; at the same time it saves energy and resources consumed in the manufacturing process.

The soft yellow (?golden rod beanie?) knit hat is flexible enough to accommodate many sized heads and is fashionable enough to wear in town, yet light enough for cool evenings and light winter days. The label explains that it is manufactured in LA, CA (USA) from 74% cotton, 24% acrylic and 2% other fibers. Hand wash and line dry or use hand or delicate wash settings and low dry settings on the laundering machines.

The autumn orange sweater (?orange julep?) is a welcome color to my wardrobe, and is made from 55% recycled cotton yarn and 45% polyester ? it will need to be hand washed and lain flat to dry.

The ?galaxy? blue and soft ?pomegranate? orange short sleeve t-shirts are both light and very soft to the touch, they will be perfect for the summer and fall season. They are both part of the Sustainable Edition of American Apparel?s new line of 100% organic clothing and can be washed in cold water and low dryer settings on the laundry machines. It looks like they can be ironed as well, if that is of concern to you? personally I don?t mind a little crinkle here or there.

American Apparel has over 500 US employees and are setting the bar high when it comes to organic and sustainable clothing retail and online stores. They are known as a ?vertically-integrated? organization ? which means that the one company controls all stages of the production, from the acquisition of raw materials to the manufacturing and distribution, in a sustainable manner. It is a way of controlling the quality and sustainability of the product, but also reaches out to agriculture to partner with their efforts as well. They are proud to offer sweatshop-free clothing made within Californian borders (which has some of the strictest guidelines in the US), yet with warehouses in Canada the UK, and Germany as well as their 12 or more online websites ? they are able to serve an international clientele. The company offers everything from workout and casual wear clothing for the whole family (including the dog) to fashionable travel clothing and reusable bags of every shape and size. Because they tend to focus on ring-spun fabrics the clothing will (generally speaking) be more durable, softer, will keep their shape longer and hold the color longer then you?ll find in other fabrics. I found it quite interesting to learn that the company is virtually zero-waste with very little heading to the landfill ? on top of this they have installed enough solar panels to date to offset 20% of their energy use, and they choose the most environmentally friendly shipping options possible. With all of this in mind it is amazing that they can still offer an affordable product. Frugal shoppers will definitely want to check out their online sale page where they can find multi-packs, sales, mystery grab bags and discounted items. I love the color ranges they have available ? and will definitely shop their Canadian online store in the future. Find their main site at: www.americanapparel.net
Find Dave and Lillian Brummet, excerpts from their books, their radio program, blog, and more at: http://brummet.ca * Support the Brummets by telling your friends, clicking those social networking buttons, or visiting the Brummet's Store - and help raise funds for charity as well!

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Source: http://consciousdiscussions.blogspot.com/2013/04/product-review.html

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Scott Porter, Kelsey Mayfield wed in Austin

Charley Gallay / Getty Images for Samsung

Scott Porter and Kelsey Mayfield.

By Us Weekly

Scott Porter and Kelsey Mayfield tied the knot in Austin, Tex., on Apr. 20, Us Weekly has confirmed. The "Hart of Dixie" actor and the Shine America casting producer got engaged in January 2012 following a four-year courtship. (Us broke the news of Porter's proposal.)

Hours before the pair swapped vows, an excited Porter tweeted, "Today is the day. There are no more tomorrows. And I could not be happier!" The groom wore a gray three-piece suit with a pink flower boutonniere. The bride looked stunning in a lacy white gown.

PHOTOS: Zoom in on Hollywood's biggest engagement rings!

The pair met on the set of NBC's "Friday Night Lights," where Porter played quarterback Jason Street. At the time, Mayfield was a cheerleader at the University of Texas at Austin. The spouses' first date was sweet and simple, according to Porter: "Sushi and a movie!"

The L.A.-based pair selected Austin for their wedding destination because that's where their love story began. "We wanted to get married under a Texas sky, and it's going to be kind of a rustic chic wedding -- that's the term she throws around," Porter, 33, told Us in June 2012. "She's got the whole thing in her head and I trust her explicitly."

VIDEO: Scott Porter tells Us about next season of "Hart of Dixie"

For their honeymoon, the future spouses have considered traveling everywhere from Bora Bora to Greece, but will likely visit "a very small island somewhere in the South Pacific," Porter told Us in August 2012. "We want to just take our time and enjoy some beautiful sunsets and just hang out."

Related content:

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Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/04/21/17849757-scott-porter-kelsey-mayfield-wed-in-austin?lite

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Indian girl, 5, in serious condition after rape

NEW DELHI (AP) ? A 5-year-old girl was in serious condition Saturday after being raped and tortured by a man who held her in a locked room in India's capital for two days, officials said.

The incident ? which came four months after the fatal gang rape of a woman on a New Delhi bus caused outrage across India about the treatment of women in the country ? sparked protests against the authorities' handling of the case.

The girl went missing Monday and was found Wednesday by neighbors who heard her crying in a room in the same New Delhi building where she lives with her parents, said Delhi police official Deepak Mishra. The girl was found alone locked in a room and left for dead, he said.

A 24-year-old man who lived in the room where the girl was found was arrested Saturday in Muzaffarpur town in Bihar state, about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) east of New Delhi, Mishra said. The man was flown to New Delhi, where a magistrate ordered that he be held in police custody.

The girl suffered severe internal injuries, as well as cuts and bite marks on her face and torso, said D.K. Sharma, the medical superintendent of the government-run hospital in New Delhi where she was being treated. Sharma described the girl's condition as "serious" and said doctors were trying to stabilize her condition.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people in New Delhi protested Saturday near the home minister's residence and outside police headquarters demanding government action against the police for allegedly failing to immediately investigate after the girl was reported missing.

Rights activists and officials said the girl's parents went to police Monday to report their daughter was missing, but that police refused to register a case. The parents are poor construction workers who had migrated to the city some years ago in search of work.

"The police did nothing. They did not register a complaint, the first step before they can begin investigations," said Ranjana Kumari, a women's rights activist and social scientist. "This heinous crime could have been prevented if police had begun investigations promptly."

Police had no immediate comment on the accusations, but Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said Saturday that an inquiry had been ordered into the handling of the case.

The growing outrage against alleged police high-handedness in India led even the country's normally reticent leader to react.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called the police behavior "completely unacceptable." He conveyed to Delhi authorities "the need for the strictest possible action to be taken against the erring officials," the prime minister's office said in a statement late Friday.

The fatal beating and gang rape of a young woman aboard a moving New Delhi bus in December sparked outrage and spurred the government to pass tough laws for crimes against women, including the death penalty for repeat offenders or for rape attacks that lead to the victim's death.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/indian-girl-5-serious-condition-rape-125916780.html

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Microsoft offsets tanking PC sales with Windows 8 upgrades, Surface sales

Microsoft

Despite PC sales recently experiencing their steepest decline ever in a single quarter, Microsoft managed to increase overall revenues from its Windows division. The company reported Windows revenue of $5.7 billion for the first three months of 2013, up 24% from the $4.633 billion it reported in the same time period from last year. The Windows division is still extremely important to Microsoft and as a whole generated 27% of the company?s total revenue and 45% of its profits. The question remains, however: How did Windows do so well when the PC industry tumbled to all-time lows?

[More from BGR: The future of gaming is already here [video]]

As noted by The Guardian, Microsoft?s promotional $15 Windows 8 upgrade offer ran through to December, at which time the company could claim this ?deferred? revenue of $1.1 billion. Even without the boost, however, Windows revenue reached $4.60 billion, slightly less than the $4.63 billion a year ago.

[More from BGR: HTC One review: The smartphone that changes everything]

Chris Suh, Microsoft?s general manager for investor relations, revealed revenues were boosted by non-OEM growth from users who bought?Windows upgrade licences, from companies who bought volume licences and from sales of its homemade Surface tablet.

?Non-OEM revenue grew 40% this quarter, driven by sales of Surface and continued double-digit growth in volume licensing,? said Suh. ?Businesses continue to value the Windows platform, and volume licensing of Windows is on track to deliver almost $4 billion?in revenue this year, and nearly three-quarters of enterprise agreements that we signed this year include Windows.?

Microsoft didn?t announce sales numbers of its Surface tablet, although analysts suggest the company sold an estimated 1 million to 1.5 million units. The Guardian believes that ?margins might have been thin but the revenue boost would be solid.? It is estimated that Surface sales could have boosted Windows revenue anywhere from $500 million to $1 billion.

Subtracting the $1.1 billion in ?deferred revenues? and at least $500 million for Surface sales, Microsoft?s Windows division is left with revenues of $4.1 billion, a 12% decrease year-over-year and close to the PC industry?s 13.9% drop in the first quarter.

So despite its successes with Windows upgrades, Microsoft?s revenues could suffer greatly if the PC industry cannot rebound and sales of the Surface tablet remain flat, especially now that it doesn?t have the help of its now retired Windows 8 upgrade promotion.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/microsoft-offsets-tanking-pc-sales-windows-8-upgrades-203504117.html

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