Source: www.ibtimes.com --- Saturday, June 29, 2013
Apple ranks as the leading smartphone maker in the U.S., while Android remains the nation’s top smartphone platform, according to comScore. ...
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On April 30, Kate Jackson had the enterprise high.
At?The Next Women?European Pitch event in central London, Kate was one of several female entrepreneurs pitching her startup to a board of investors. Dressed in jeans and Converse, Kate?s was the evening?s final pitch. But everything about it-the crisp delivery, no-nonsense business plan, and energy that kept her walking on air-let us all know who?d won before the scores came back.
?We signed a partnership deal with Time Out London just before this,? Kate said halfway through. ?So forgive me if I?m still jumping up and down.?
?We? is?TableCrowd-a ?meet and eat? startup launched in 2011 that has developed a swift presence in London?s Tech City. It connects strangers over a tried-and-true pastime-eating. New users log in via their Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or email accounts, then make a profile and browse tables that other users have already established.?Created in house using Ruby on Rails,?Mongo DB, redis and elasticsearch,?TableCrowd?s technology invites relevant diners from its database and automatically updates each booking size based on who joins each table.
Users can invite you to join their tables, and vice versa. Diners can also join ?crowds? ranging from ?Escape the City? (a?group?for lawyers, bankers and such seeking new careers) to ?Hungry Romantics? (described?as an ?alternative?to online dating, speed dating events or hitting the bars and clubs in the quest to meet new people?).
Is it a ?find friends? site for adults? A dating site disguised as the former? Kate says TableCrowd?s whatever diners make of it, and that they determine how TableCrowd can best fulfill their social needs on personal or professional levels.
?There?s a big opportunity right now,? Kate insists. ?There is an increased need to form new business, platonic and romantic relationships caused by changing social factors, including:
1. Increase in career changes; a job for life is now a thing of the past (the average worker now has 10 jobs in a lifetime).
2. Increase in romantic relationships; a partner for life is a thing of the past (marriages are down, divorces are up).
3. Increase in population mobility for work or personal choice.?
This, Kate says, is where TableCrowd fills a market gap. It?s a platform that turns online connections into real life relationships. In this globalized era of more divorces, transnational careers, and personal mobility, many adults-especially in urban areas-don?t settle for traditional social scenes anymore.
?Networking has done a full circle,? says Kate. ?Pre-2004 (before MySpace and Facebook), the world was predominantly offline. Today, around 32 million people in the UK now have an online profile. The trend we?re seeing now is online communities moving towards offline activities for their members.?
These members are willing to meet new people, but don?t have time to meet potential new dates or friends with no shared interests or connection. The chance to wine and dine over shared passions in groups erases pressure to perform one-on-one, and gives more room to spark a genuine platonic or romantic connection.
?When meeting new people, it?s good to have a focus and some ice breakers to put people at ease,? explains Kate. ?Dining out does just that. You have the combination of the food, restaurant and ambiance as the first level of conversation, which allows people to become comfortable with each other before the conversation goes deeper.?
TableCrowd diners-myself included-can vouch that the camaraderie created by food, plus dining with those who share similar interests, fosters new connections. One diner, Mindy, joined her first table on a colleague?s recommendation. New to London, she?s found TableCrowd to be a powerful tool for knowing who to meet and where to dine throughout the UK Capital.
After initially attending her first dinner to review TableCrowd, Phee Young, PR exec at Racepoint Group UK, became a regular diner herself. The food, she says, is good-but conversation?s always better.
?To be honest, the one thing I took away from the event was this: [the ability] to network with people who had the same goal as me ?to network and talk about our passions,? says Young. ?There wasn?t anybody at the event that I did not want to speak to; there were journalists, PRs, founders, bloggers. I?ve taken some valuable contacts away from that event and reconnected with someone who I had worked with for LLB. I also secured an opportunity for one of my clients; without [TableCrowd], that potentially might not have happened.?
Even beyond dating sites, TableCrowd?s not the first network to take social offline. Post-911, New Yorker Scott Heiferman had his ideas about social shaken. Previously convinced that knowing his neighbors was unimportant in the online age, he spoke with so many following the Twin Tower collapse that he asked himself a question: ?Could we use the internet to get off the internet ? and grow local communities??
His idea evolved into?Meetup-a global facilitator of social groups based on shared interests that?s now 10 million strong. From new moms to urban-dwelling hikers, users select personal interests, then receive emails from Meetup with local suggestions for groups they might enjoy. They meet like-minded strangers online, then connect in person.
Like Heiferman, Kate eschews the idea that the Internet creates false intimacy, or that those who go online can?t turn passive connections into personal relationships.
?Last week, I was speaking to a top level executive who acknowledged that he hadn?t met a high percentage of his 500+ Linkedin connections and [that] doing so would probably unlock many opportunities,? she explains. ?He was planning to put some money behind the bar and invite them all for a drink!
?With online social networking, you can?t be passive or you simply have no presence! Cut to the chase and use a site like TableCrowd to get offline quickly!?
?I believe that [social networks] provide an expansive set of opportunities that people previously didn?t have,? adds Stephen Jackson, TableCrowd co-founder and brother of Kate. ?They facilitate networking and relationships where geography was previously a boundary, regardless of whether this is internationally or merely when someone may not be able to escape their home or work.
?Opening or maintaining these relationships then leads to strengthening through face-to-face meeting, whether for friendship, dating, business or any combination. TableCrowd makes those next steps easier.?
The Time Out partnership will take TableCrowd to new heights in London, as will their recent website re-launch using responsive design. Their technology?s enabled in 3,000 UK restaurants, and Kate told me exclusively that a Cape Town company?s keen to take the concept there. But she and Stephen aim to perfect their formula locally before taking the idea abroad-although some issues can?t be avoided.
?[At one dinner], one of the diners felt another was holding too much of the conversation and made his thoughts known in no uncertain terms,? Stephen laughs. ?There have been a few others who didn?t really want to go home and failed to turn up for work the next morning, but generally it?s all good fun.
?We?d also love to help bill splitting get slicker-but even with close friends, there are sometimes issues here!?
Image: Thinkstock
Source: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/06/30/why-startups-are-taking-social-networking-offline/
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U.S. President Barack Obama, middle, and first lady Michelle Obama, right, react as Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, left, gestures during their arrival at Waterkloof Airbase in Pretoria, Friday, June 28, 2013. President Obama is receiving the embrace you might expect for a long-lost son on his return to his father's home continent, even as he has yet to leave a lasting policy legacy for Africa on the scale of his two predecessors. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
U.S. President Barack Obama, middle, and first lady Michelle Obama, right, react as Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, left, gestures during their arrival at Waterkloof Airbase in Pretoria, Friday, June 28, 2013. President Obama is receiving the embrace you might expect for a long-lost son on his return to his father's home continent, even as he has yet to leave a lasting policy legacy for Africa on the scale of his two predecessors. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
President Barack Obama, holding hands with daughter Sasha, and first lady Michelle Obama and eldest daughter Malia exit Air Force One at Waterkloof Airbase, Pretoria, Friday, June 28, 2013. President Obama is receiving the embrace you might expect for a long-lost son on his return to his father's home continent, even as he has yet to leave a lasting policy legacy for Africa on the scale of his two predecessors. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are greeted upon their arrival at Waterkloof Air Base, Friday, June 28, 2013, in Centurion, South Africa. The president is in South Africa, embarking on the second leg of his three-country African journey. The visit comes at a poignant time, with former South African president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela ailing in a Johannesburg hospital. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
FILE - This two-picture combination of file photos shows Nelson Mandela on Aug. 8, 2012, left, and President Barack Obama on May 31, 2013. It was as a college student that President Barack Obama began to find his political voice. Inspired by Nelson Mandela?s struggle against South Africa?s apartheid government, the young Obama joined campus protests against the white racist rule that kept Mandela locked away in prison for nearly three decades. Now a historic, barrier-breaking figure himself, Obama will arrive in South Africa Friday to find a country drastically transformed by Mandela?s influence, and a nation grappling with the beloved 94-year-old?s mortality. (AP Photo/File)
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama arrive at Waterkloof Air Base, Friday, June 28, 2013, in Centurion, South Africa. The president is in South Africa, embarking on the second leg of his three-country African journey. The visit comes at a poignant time, with former South African president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela ailing in a Johannesburg hospital. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) ? President Barack Obama plans to visit privately Saturday with relatives of former South African President Nelson Mandela, but doesn't intend to see the critically ill anti-apartheid activist he has called a "personal hero."
The White House did not disclose any details for Obama's plans to meet the family in a brief statement issued upon Obama's first morning in South Africa during a weeklong tour of the continent. The statement simply said that Obama and his wife would offer their thoughts and prayers at the family's difficult time.
"Out of deference to Nelson Mandela's peace and comfort and the family's wishes, they will not be visiting the hospital," the statement said.
Obama told reporters on the flight to South Africa Friday that he was grateful that he, his wife and daughters had a chance to meet Mandela previously. Obama hangs his photo of the introduction he had to Mandela in 2005 in his personal office at the White House ? their only meeting, when Obama was a senator.
"I don't need a photo op," Obama said. "The last thing I want to do is to be in any way obtrusive at a time when the family is concerned about Nelson Mandela's condition."
Obama will be just a couple miles from the hospital where 94-year-old Mandela has been for three weeks after being admitted with a lung infection. The U.S. president has a bilateral meeting and news conference with President Jacob Zuma at the Union Buildings, where Mandela was inaugurated as the country's first black president in 1994 after 27 years behind bars under racist rule.
Obama has said the imprisoned activist's willingness to risk his life for the cause of equal rights helped inspire his own political activism. Obama said his message during the visit will draw on the lessons of Mandela's life, with a message that "Africa's rise will continue" if its people are unified instead of divided by tribe, race or religion.
"I think the main message we'll want to deliver if not directly to him but to his family is simply a profound gratitude for his leadership all these years and that the thoughts and prayers of the American people are with him and his family and his country," Obama said on his flight into the country.
Obama also is paying tribute to the fight against apartheid by visiting the Soweto area Saturday afternoon for a town hall with students at the University of Johannesburg. At least 176 young people were killed in Soweto township 27 years ago this month during a youth protest against the apartheid regime's ban against teaching local Bantu languages. The Soweto Uprising catalyzed international support against apartheid, and June is now recognized as Youth Month in South Africa.
The university plans to bestow an honorary law degree on the U.S. president, while protesters are planning demonstrations against U.S. policy on issues including the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the war in Afghanistan and global warming. Hundreds marched to the U.S. Embassy on Friday, carrying signs that read: "No, You Can't Obama," a message inspired by Obama's "yes, we can" campaign slogan.
Obama, the son of an African man, has been trying to inspire the continent's youth to become civically active and part of a new democratically minded generation. Obama hosted young leaders from more than 40 African countries at the White House in 2010 and challenged them to bring change to their countries by standing up for freedom, openness and peaceful disagreement.
Obama wraps up his South Africa stay Sunday, when he plans to give a sweeping speech on U.S.-Africa policy at the University of Cape Town and take his family to Robben Island to tour the prison where Mandela spent 18 years.
___
Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nedrapickler
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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Same-sex marriages were set to resume in California on Friday, after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a surprise order lifting an injunction preventing the unions.
The order came in response to an opinion released Wednesday by the U.S. Supreme Court that effectively killed a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriages in the state.
Within moments of the ruling, couples, officials and activists began to converge on San Francisco City Hall, where unions were due to resume immediately.
"On my way to S.F. City Hall," tweeted the state's attorney general, Kamala Harris. "Let the wedding bells ring!"
Harris arrived with her arm around a key lawyer in the case, as the couple at the heart of a case challenging the state's ban waited eagerly for their marriage license to be issued.
"This is really a great day," said Cindy Stier, who with her fiancee Kristin Perry filed the lawsuit against Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage in California in 2008.
The 9th Circuit had been expected to wait 25 days before lifting the injunction so the Supreme Court would have time to release a formal order. But the judges decided to act instead on Friday, a move that would allow the marriages to begin in advance of Gay Pride weekend.
"The stay in the above matter is dissolved effective immediately," the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said in its ruling.
(Reporting by Dan Levine; Writing by Sharon Bernstein and Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Gary Hill and Eric Walsh)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/court-lifts-ban-gay-marriage-california-224235024.html
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PayPal is used by almost 130 million people, generates a lot of revenue, and made its backers very, very wealthy. It's a model company. But, that's apparently not enough, and PayPal just announced it will create a way for astronauts to buy things, in space. OK.
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VATICAN CITY (AP) -- A Vatican cleric and two other people were arrested Friday by Italian police for allegedly trying to smuggle 20 million euros ($26 million) in cash into the country from Switzerland by private jet. It's the latest scandal to hit the Holy See and broadens an Italian probe into its secretive bank.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, already under investigation in a purported money-laundering plot involving the Vatican bank, is accused of corruption and slander and was being held at a Rome prison, prosecutor Nello Rossi told reporters.
Scarano's arrest came just two days after Pope Francis created a commission of inquiry into the Vatican bank to get to the bottom of the problems that have plagued it for decades and contributed to the impression that it's an unregulated, offshore tax haven.
Francis has made clear he has no tolerance for corruption or for Vatican officials who use their jobs for personal ambition or gain. He has said he wants a "poor" church that is concerned for the world's needy, and he has also noted, perhaps tongue in cheek, that "St. Peter didn't have a bank account."
Prosecutor Rossi said the Swiss operation involved three people, all of whom were arrested Friday: Scarano, a recently suspended accountant in the Vatican's main finance office, Italian financier Giovanni Carenzio, and Giovanni Zito, who at the time of the plot was a member of the military police's agency for security and information.
Rossi detailed a remarkable plot ? uncovered by telephone wiretaps ? in which the three allegedly planned to bring into Italy some 20 million euros in cash that financier Carenzio held in his name in a Swiss bank account without paying customs at the airport, as would be required.
Scarano's attorney, Silverio Sica, said his client was something of a middleman: The 20 million euros belonged to friends who had given the money to Carenzio to invest but wanted it back. The plot would presumably enable them to avoid paying customs fees or having any paper trail of such a large amount of money entering Italy.
Rossi identified the friends as members of the Italian shipping family d'Amico and said that the money was "presumably" being held in Switzerland to avoid paying Italian taxes. An email seeking comment from the family's Rome-based company, the d'Amico Societa di Navigazione SpA, wasn't immediately returned.
According to prosecutors, Zito, the agent, called in sick to his job one day in July 2012, rented a private plane and flew with Carenzio to Locarno, Switzerland. There, Carenzio was supposed to withdraw the cash from his bank account and hand it over to Zito to bring back to Italy. The plan was so detailed there was even to be an armed police escort waiting at the airport to bring the money to Scarano's apartment in Rome, Rossi said.
"This operation was meticulously planned in all its details," Rossi said, noting that Zito was chosen to be the mule specifically because his high-ranking position in the Carabinieri would have enabled him to pass through the airport customs area without being stopped.
The money could have been transported relatively easily because euros are issued in high denominations. If the cash had been withdrawn in the largest denomination ? 500 euro notes ? it would have weighed 44 kilograms (97 pounds) and fit in a suitcase.
But at a certain point in Locarno, the deal fell through and Carenzio made excuses that the bank couldn't come up with the money, Rossi said. He declined to identify the bank.
Zito returned to Rome empty-handed but still demanded from Scarano his fee of 600,000 euros for the operation. Scarano cut him one check for 400,000 euros which he deposited. He gave him a second check for 200,000 euros, but in a bid to prevent the check from being deposited, reported it as missing, the prosecutor said.
That put a block on the check and resulted in Scarano being accused of slander for filing a false report knowing that the check was in Zito's hands, Rossi said.
Scarano, as well as the other two, are also accused of corruption. If they are indicted and convicted, they could face up to five or six years in prison, prosecutors said.
Sica, the lawyer, said Scarano said his client would respond to prosecutors' questions.
The Vatican bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works, or IOR, is cooperating with Italian authorities and its lay board has launched an internal investigation, spokesman Max Hohenberg said.
Rossi, the Italian prosecutor, described the operation as one branch in a "mosaic" of investigations targeting the IOR, which has long been a source of scandal for the Holy See. That said, the Swiss investigation didn't immediately appear to directly involve the IOR.
The checks Scarano wrote to Zito, for example, came from an Italian bank account, prosecutors said. They declined to say if Scarano received any payment for his role in the plot, or if his IOR account was used at all.
Rossi's team of prosecutors in 2010 placed the top two Vatican bank officials under investigation for allegedly violating anti-money laundering norms during a routine transaction involving an IOR account at an Italian bank. They ordered the 23 million euros in the transaction seized. The money was eventually unfrozen but the two men remain under investigation.
Rossi's team is also working with prosecutors in Salerno on a separate money-laundering investigation involving Scarano and his IOR account.
According to Sica, the lawyer, Scarano took 560,000 euros ($729,000) in cash out of his IOR bank account in 2009 and carried it out of the Vatican and into Italy to help pay off a mortgage on his Salerno home.
The money had come into Scarano's IOR account from donors who gave it to the prelate thinking they were funding a home for the terminally ill in Salerno, Sica said.
To deposit the money into an Italian bank account ? and to prevent family members from finding out he had such a large chunk of cash ? he asked 56 close friends to accept 10,000 euros apiece in cash in exchange for a check or money transfer in the same amount. Scarano was then able to deposit the amounts in his Italian account.
The lawyer said Scarano had given the names of the donors to prosecutors and insisted the origin of the money was clean, that the transactions didn't constitute money-laundering, and that he only took the money "temporarily" for his personal use.
The home for terminally ill was never built, though the property has been identified, Sica said.
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Scarano was suspended more than a month ago and that the Vatican was taking the appropriate measures to deal with his case. He said the Vatican had confirmed it was prepared to offer its "full cooperation" to Italian investigators.
On Wednesday, Francis named five people to head a commission of inquiry into the Vatican bank's activities and legal status "to allow for a better harmonization with the universal mission of the Apostolic See."
___
Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vatican-monsignor-arrested-20m-euro-142354613.html
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SANFORD, Fla. (AP) ? A friend of Trayvon Martin's who was on the phone with him shortly before his fatal fight with George Zimmerman testified Thursday that she thought the encounter was racially charged.
Rachel Jeantel testified for the second day in a row, saying she thought race was an issue because Martin told her he was being followed by a white man.
"He was being followed," Jeantel said.
Her answer came in response to questioning from defense attorney Don West about why she had given differing accounts about what she had heard over the phone when Martin first encountered Zimmerman on a rainy night on Feb. 26, 2012, at the Retreat at Twin Lakes townhome complex.
West suggested in his cross-examination that 18-year-old Jeantel had raised the racial issue in some accounts but not others. In some accounts, West implied, Jeantel said Zimmerman responded one way when he first encountered Martin, but in other accounts she said he responded another way. Jeantel gave her version of events in a deposition, in a letter to Martin's mother and in a recorded interview with an attorney for the Martin family.
Jeantel is one of the prosecution's most important witnesses because she bolsters the contention that Zimmerman was the aggressor. She was on the phone with Martin moments before he was fatally shot.
Jeantel testified Wednesday that her friend's last words were "Get off! Get off!" before the phone went silent. But on Thursday, under cross-examination, she conceded that she hadn't mentioned that in her account of what happened to Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton.
Jeantel recounted to jurors on Wednesday how Martin told her he was being followed by a man as he walked through the Retreat at Twin Lakes townhome complex on his way back from a convenience store to the home of his father's fiancee.
She testified that Martin described the man following him as "a creepy-ass cracker" and that he thought he had evaded him. But she said Martin told her a short time later the man was still behind him, and she told him to run.
Martin said Zimmerman was behind him and she heard Martin ask: "What are you following me for?"
In one account, according to West, she said Zimmerman responds, "What are you doing around here?" In another account, according to West, she says Zimmerman said, "What are you talking about?"
She then heard what sounded like Martin's phone earpiece dropping into wet grass, and she heard him say, "Get off! Get off!" The phone then went dead, she said.
Later, she bristled and teared up when West asked her why she didn't attend Martin's funeral and about lying about her age. She initially told Martin's parents she was a minor when she was 18. She said she didn't want to get involved in the case.
The exchanges also turned testy, including one moment when she urged West to move on to his next question: "You can go. You can go." And she gave him what seemed like a dirty look as he walked away after he had approached her on the stand to challenge her on differences between an initial interview she gave to Martin family attorney, Benjamin Crump, and a later deposition with the defense. Jeantel explained it by saying she "rushed" the interview with Crump because she didn't feel comfortable doing it.
And when the judge asked if both sides wanted to break for the day, prosecutors said they'd like to continue, believing the testimony could take another two hours, to which Jeantel reacted with surprise, repeating, "Two hours?" Instead, the judge decided to continue the cross examination Thursday, carefully instructing Jeantel to return at 9 a.m. and not discuss her testimony with anyone.
Jeantel's testimony was more subdued on Thursday and West took note of her calmer demeanor.
Zimmerman, 29, could get life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder. Zimmerman followed Martin in his truck and called a police dispatch number before he and the teen got into a fight.
Zimmerman has said he opened fire only after the teenager jumped him and began slamming his head against the concrete sidewalk. Zimmerman identifies himself as Hispanic and has denied the confrontation had anything to do with race, as Martin's family and their supporters have claimed.
___
Follow Kyle Hightower on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KHightower
Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/friend-trayvon-martin-encounter-racially-charged-134457254.html
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Patriots Tight End Aaron Hernandez Arrested & Dropped From Team (VIDEO)
New England Patriots football player Aaron Hernandez was dropped from the NFL team just after he was arrested by police at his home and taken away in handcuffs. Hernandez had been questioned and his home was searched in connection with an investigation into the shooting death of a young man, Odin Lloyd, who was found ...
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Public release date: 27-Jun-2013
Share ] Contact: Donna Krupa
dkrupa@the-aps.org
American Physiological Society
Bethesda, Md. -- The American Physiological Society (APS) issued the following statement today in response to the announcement on the use of chimpanzees in medical research:
"The American Physiological Society looks forward to a careful review of Dr. Collins' decision regarding NIH's implementation of the IOM principles and criteria. The APS previously offered comments on the Working Group report. We are hopeful that Dr. Collins has taken into account our concerns, which include implementing flexible, outcome-oriented guidelines for chimpanzee housing and social groups; making it possible to increase the size of the research colony if needed; and assessing whether adjustments to the Working Group's ambitious timeline are needed.
"NIH's decisions on its research program is being made at the same time that the Fish and Wildlife Service has asked for comments on a proposal to designate captive chimpanzees as endangered, which would severely limit their use in research. The NIH review has focused on human health needs, while the FWS has focused on preserving chimpanzees as a species. However, it is crucial for both agencies to take a broader view. Although each has a specific mission, Americans will be ill-served if these agencies pursue piecemeal policies that fail to acknowledge the special circumstances surroundings chimpanzees in closed research colonies and the value of judiciously-conducted chimpanzee research to advance both human and animal health."
Background on the Issue
IOM Study
In 2010, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) was asked to assess whether chimpanzees is needed for research on human health issues now and for the foreseeable future. A panel of experts reviewed privately- and federally-funded health research over the past 10 years. Its conclusion, released in 2011 was that most research questions that previously required chimpanzees can now be answered by using some combination of new technologies, other animal models, or human studies. However, chimpanzee research is still needed on a few critical topics. One such area is developing a prophylactic vaccine for Hepatitis C, a burgeoning health crisis in the U.S. and elsewhere. Some chimpanzee studies are also needed to develop monoclonal antibody treatments for certain cancers and auto-immune disorders. The IOM affirmed the value of continuing comparative genetics and behavioral research with chimpanzees and suggested a possible future need for chimpanzee studies to develop a prophylactic vaccine against Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), which can cause severe illness in young children. At the same time, the panel proposed strict ethical and scientific criteria to be applied to research with chimpanzees. A summary of the IOM report may be found at http://bit.ly/14aDxSx.
It is notable that the scope of the IOM's task did not include a reviewing research that benefits chimpanzees, such as efforts to develop a vaccine against diseases such as Ebola, a major threat to chimpanzees and other apes in the wild.
NIH Working Group
When Dr. Collins received the IOM report, he placed a temporary moratorium on new research involving chimpanzees and asked a Working Group to develop an implementation plan. Again, this was focused exclusively on human health research.
Fish and Wildlife Service
In 2011, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) undertook a status review of chimpanzees under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Earlier this month, the FWS recently announced a proposed rule to re-classify captive chimpanzees as endangered. Previously, wild chimpanzees were classified as endangered, while captive chimpanzeesincluding research animalswere "split listed" as threatened. The proposed change in the status of captive chimpanzees is based upon ongoing threats to chimpanzees in the wild, and a review of the ESA that led FWS to conclude it does not have the authority to assign captive chimpanzees threatened status when wild chimpanzees are endangered.
Because the ESA was written to promote conservation, the law prohibits research with endangered animals with narrow exceptions primarily related to species survival. Moreover, the process of obtaining permits for these exceptions is cumbersome and time-consuming.
Chimpanzees in U.S. research colonies represent an international health resource, as the APS noted in its earlier comments to FWS. The research colonies are carefully regulated, responsibly managed, and their existence does not exacerbate the threats to chimpanzees in the wild. Removing chimpanzees from the wild has been prohibited since they were added to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in the mid-1970s so it has been decades since any wild-caught chimpanzees have been brought into research colonies. The factors that jeopardize survival of chimpanzees in the wild include poachers who kill multiple adults to capture infants to sell as pets; killing chimpanzees for the bush meat trade; infectious diseases (including some transmitted from humans to animals); and habitat destruction due to human encroachment.
It was encouraging that in announcing its proposed rule, the FWS said in an FAQ that NIH would "work closely with the Service to ensure NIH policies comply with the final conservation guidelines for captive chimpanzees while preserving NIH's ability to conduct necessary biomedical research."
###
NOTE TO EDITORS: To schedule an interview with a member of the APS to discuss the statement, please contact Donna Krupa at dkrupa@the-aps.org, @Phyziochick, or 301.634.7209.
Physiology is the study of how molecules, cells, tissues, and organs function in health and disease. Established in 1887, the American Physiological Society (APS) was the first US society in the biomedical sciences field. The Society represents more than 11,000 members and publishes 14 peer-reviewed journals with a worldwide readership.
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Public release date: 27-Jun-2013 Share ] Contact: Donna Krupa
dkrupa@the-aps.org
American Physiological Society
Bethesda, Md. -- The American Physiological Society (APS) issued the following statement today in response to the announcement on the use of chimpanzees in medical research:
"The American Physiological Society looks forward to a careful review of Dr. Collins' decision regarding NIH's implementation of the IOM principles and criteria. The APS previously offered comments on the Working Group report. We are hopeful that Dr. Collins has taken into account our concerns, which include implementing flexible, outcome-oriented guidelines for chimpanzee housing and social groups; making it possible to increase the size of the research colony if needed; and assessing whether adjustments to the Working Group's ambitious timeline are needed.
"NIH's decisions on its research program is being made at the same time that the Fish and Wildlife Service has asked for comments on a proposal to designate captive chimpanzees as endangered, which would severely limit their use in research. The NIH review has focused on human health needs, while the FWS has focused on preserving chimpanzees as a species. However, it is crucial for both agencies to take a broader view. Although each has a specific mission, Americans will be ill-served if these agencies pursue piecemeal policies that fail to acknowledge the special circumstances surroundings chimpanzees in closed research colonies and the value of judiciously-conducted chimpanzee research to advance both human and animal health."
Background on the Issue
IOM Study
In 2010, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) was asked to assess whether chimpanzees is needed for research on human health issues now and for the foreseeable future. A panel of experts reviewed privately- and federally-funded health research over the past 10 years. Its conclusion, released in 2011 was that most research questions that previously required chimpanzees can now be answered by using some combination of new technologies, other animal models, or human studies. However, chimpanzee research is still needed on a few critical topics. One such area is developing a prophylactic vaccine for Hepatitis C, a burgeoning health crisis in the U.S. and elsewhere. Some chimpanzee studies are also needed to develop monoclonal antibody treatments for certain cancers and auto-immune disorders. The IOM affirmed the value of continuing comparative genetics and behavioral research with chimpanzees and suggested a possible future need for chimpanzee studies to develop a prophylactic vaccine against Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), which can cause severe illness in young children. At the same time, the panel proposed strict ethical and scientific criteria to be applied to research with chimpanzees. A summary of the IOM report may be found at http://bit.ly/14aDxSx.
It is notable that the scope of the IOM's task did not include a reviewing research that benefits chimpanzees, such as efforts to develop a vaccine against diseases such as Ebola, a major threat to chimpanzees and other apes in the wild.
NIH Working Group
When Dr. Collins received the IOM report, he placed a temporary moratorium on new research involving chimpanzees and asked a Working Group to develop an implementation plan. Again, this was focused exclusively on human health research.
Fish and Wildlife Service
In 2011, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) undertook a status review of chimpanzees under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Earlier this month, the FWS recently announced a proposed rule to re-classify captive chimpanzees as endangered. Previously, wild chimpanzees were classified as endangered, while captive chimpanzeesincluding research animalswere "split listed" as threatened. The proposed change in the status of captive chimpanzees is based upon ongoing threats to chimpanzees in the wild, and a review of the ESA that led FWS to conclude it does not have the authority to assign captive chimpanzees threatened status when wild chimpanzees are endangered.
Because the ESA was written to promote conservation, the law prohibits research with endangered animals with narrow exceptions primarily related to species survival. Moreover, the process of obtaining permits for these exceptions is cumbersome and time-consuming.
Chimpanzees in U.S. research colonies represent an international health resource, as the APS noted in its earlier comments to FWS. The research colonies are carefully regulated, responsibly managed, and their existence does not exacerbate the threats to chimpanzees in the wild. Removing chimpanzees from the wild has been prohibited since they were added to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in the mid-1970s so it has been decades since any wild-caught chimpanzees have been brought into research colonies. The factors that jeopardize survival of chimpanzees in the wild include poachers who kill multiple adults to capture infants to sell as pets; killing chimpanzees for the bush meat trade; infectious diseases (including some transmitted from humans to animals); and habitat destruction due to human encroachment.
It was encouraging that in announcing its proposed rule, the FWS said in an FAQ that NIH would "work closely with the Service to ensure NIH policies comply with the final conservation guidelines for captive chimpanzees while preserving NIH's ability to conduct necessary biomedical research."
###
NOTE TO EDITORS: To schedule an interview with a member of the APS to discuss the statement, please contact Donna Krupa at dkrupa@the-aps.org, @Phyziochick, or 301.634.7209.
Physiology is the study of how molecules, cells, tissues, and organs function in health and disease. Established in 1887, the American Physiological Society (APS) was the first US society in the biomedical sciences field. The Society represents more than 11,000 members and publishes 14 peer-reviewed journals with a worldwide readership.
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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/aps-ais062713.php
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India's prime minister toured the disputed region a day after one of the deadliest attacks on Indian forces in years. India is talking up development, but political dialogue is lacking.
India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, center with blue turban, is greeted by Chief Postmaster General John Samuel, right presenting a bouquet, during the release of a postal stamp of Kashmiri poet Peerzada Ghulam Ahmad Mehjoor, in Srinagar, India, June 25. Shops, businesses ,and schools were closed in Indian-controlled Kashmir after separatist groups called for a strike Tuesday to protest a visit by the Indian prime minister to the disputed Himalayan region.
Dar Yasin/AP
EnlargeSrinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh went on with a planned visit to the deserted and barricaded city of Srinagar in Indian-held Kashmir a day after two militants attacked an Indian Army convoy here.
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Eight soldiers were killed and 14 were injured in the attack, making it one of the deadliest in the resurgent Kashmiri insurgency that is slowly and deftly reemerging on Kashmir?s landscape.?
After a substantial phase of people?s disenchantment with violence and a gradual movement away from an armed struggle toward nonviolent protests and social media campaigns, the gun seems to be returning to the center stage of Kashmir?s fight against Indian rule. New Delhi missed an opportunity to engage with a changed environment where the focus was on nonviolence and instead started terming the absence of violence as peace and silence of guns as Kashmir?s acceptance of the Indian rule.?
The attack yesterday came a day after the killing of two policemen who were shot dead from close range by unidentified gunmen in Srinagar?s busy business hub. This year so far has already seen the death of more than 25 armed forces personnel in the territory, and a much more sophisticated militancy appears to be active in the Kashmir Valley. According to the police and Army, many of these new militants are local Kashmiri youth and they are carrying out a lot of the operations now.?
?Before the Arab Spring, in 2008 and 2010, half a million Kashmiri people marched peacefully on the streets of Kashmir, seeking a solution to the Kashmir dispute and asking freedom from Indian rule. Not a single armed forces personnel was killed in these protests, but the Indian state responded with imposing curfews, stopping the Internet service, and killing more than 170 young unarmed boys, and wounding thousands,? says Asif Ahmad, a young computer science graduate, who was part of these protests and had felt that some solution was finally on its way.
?But nothing happened. Absolutely nothing. Other than thousands of young boys being send to prison for protesting and even for what they posted on facebook,? he says. ?
India has pursued a counterinsurgency strategy that merges police surveillance and crackdowns with local elections, jobs programs, and some development. Mr. Singh visited Kashmir today to inaugurate a rail line that will eventually link the Kashmir Valley with India ? part of New Delhi's hopes of more fully integrating the disputed region with India. The relative peace of the last few years has also paid nongovernmental dividends in the form of skyrocketing tourism from India.
Yet India has made few movements toward a political process to address the long-standing Kashmir dispute.?
The Himalayan region is claimed fully by both India and Pakistan, and is de facto divided by the two countries along a military Line of Control. Many Kashmiris, particularly Muslims in the Kashmir Valley, want the right to self-determination to join with India or Pakistan or to be independent. A bloody mass armed uprising, supported by militants from Pakistan, raged from 1989 into the past decade against India, which responded by maintaining more than half a million forces in the region with immunity from the law. The conflict has left some 70,000 people dead, mostly civilian.
In recent years, India has carried on a slow dialogue with Pakistan that has included some initiatives aimed at boosting trade and travel links between the two countries. But India's public outreach to Kashmiris themselves was limited to a listening tour of the region by three "interlocutors" whose recommendations for a dialogue with separatists, among other steps, went nowhere.?
Without any political process to look to, there is an immense sense of siege in Kashmir and the hopelessness among the youth has increased even more after they witnessed the same violent response from the Indian state for throwing stones and chanting slogans as for picking up arms.?
?The militancy had almost come to an end, and even I had thought that it was a phase that is now over. But Kashmir is a political problem, and violent and nonviolent means are only an expression of the political resentment and aspiration among the Kashmiris,? says Noor Ahmad Baba, a political science professor at Kashmir University.
Professor Baba was himself a young man during the 1990s when militancy was at its peak in Kashmir, and he feels that this is an altogether new kind of militancy that is coming up. ?That time it was a mass movement and everyone picked up gun in anger and passion without knowing what it meant and what it entailed. Now it is much more sophisticated and professional, this one is going to be different,? says Baba.
Hizbul Mujahideen, a militant outfit based in Pakistan-held-Kashmir and one of the oldest organizations fighting in the region, claimed the attack on the convoy. ?The attack was carried out by special squad of the outfit and our militants reached their hideouts safely,? HM?s operational spokesperson Baleeg-u-Din told a local Kashmiri news agency last night.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/6NkkL7ErjYs/Armed-resistance-reemerging-in-Kashmir
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Officially, the HTC One Google Play edition exists for tinkering with an unfettered Android experience. Owners need the code to do that, of course -- and HTC has quickly followed up by posting the kernel source code for its Sense-free phone. The release helps developers optimize their apps for the hardware, modify its vanilla Android 4.2 build and produce custom firmware. If you have one of those goals in mind, the kernel source is ready to download at HTC's developer portal.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC
Source: HTCdev
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LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A black-clad gunman ambushed two undercover detectives returning to a police station early Tuesday, but they received only minor injuries and helped in the hunt for the attacker.
Police Chief Charlie Beck described the attack as an attempted assassination and mobilized a huge search. About 200 officers, aided by helicopters and dogs, looked for the gunman, described as a black man in his 30s with a mustache and goatee, dressed in black and wearing a black cap.
Police initially cordoned off 25 square blocks of the Mid-City area, leavings thousands of residents stranded in their homes and forcing drivers to find detours for their morning commutes. Three or four people were detained for questioning and police planned to look at surveillance video from homes and businesses in the area, Cmdr. Andrew Smith said.
"Anybody who's willing to do this and take on two armed police officers outside of a police station is obviously a very dangerous person," he said. "We want to do everything we can to get this individual in custody so we can keep our community safe."
The detectives, who are with an undercover burglary task force, had conducted an investigation and returned to the Wilshire Division station on Venice Boulevard at about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday. They were using a keycard to open the gate when they were attacked, police said.
"Suddenly someone from behind began shooting at their vehicle," Smith said.
The car was hit several times and the detectives fired back, but the man ran away, Smith said. The gunman and detectives fired more than a dozen shots, he said.
One officer suffered a minor wound to the back of his head, either from a bullet graze or debris from the damaged car, Smith said. The other had an injury to the back of his hand. They were treated at a hospital and returned to a command post for the manhunt. One detective has 20 years on the job and the other is an 11-year veteran, Smith said.
The shooting was believed to be an isolated attack, but as a precaution all other police stations were notified to be on high alert, Smith said.
___
AP writer Tami Abdollah contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/2-ambushed-la-detectives-minor-wounds-135534402.html
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June 25, 2013 ? An international research team led by Swedish scientists has used a new method to investigate obesity and overweight as a cause of cardiovascular disease. Strong association have been found previously, but it has not been clear whether it was overweight as such that was the cause, or if the overweight was just a marker of another underlying cause, as clinical trials with long-term follow-ups are difficult to implement.
A total of nearly 200,000 subjects were included in the researchers' study of the causality between obesity/overweight and diseases related to cardiovascular conditions and metabolism, which is being published for the first time in PLOS Medicine. The goal was to determine whether obesity as such is the actual cause of these diseases or whether obesity is simply a marker of something else in the subject's lifestyle that causes the disease.
"We knew already that obesity and cardiovascular disease often occur together. However, it has been hard to determine whether increased BMI as such is dangerous. In this study we found that individuals with gene variants that lead to increased body-mass index (BMI) also had an increased risk of heart failure and diabetes. The risk of developing diabetes was greater than was previously thought," says Tove Fall, a researcher at the Department of Medical Sciences and the Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, who coordinated the study together with researchers from the Karolinska Institutet and Oxford University.
These scientists studied whether a gene variant in the FTO gene, which regulates the appetite and thereby increases the individual's BMI, is also linked to a series of cardiovascular diseases and metabolism. The risk variant is common in the population, and each copy of the risk variant increases BMI by an average of 0.3-0.4 units. Since an individual's genome is not affected by lifestyle and social factors, but rather is established at conception, when the embryo randomly receives half of each parent's genome, the method is thus called "Mendelian randomization." To achieve reliable results a large study material was needed, and nearly 200,000 individuals from Europe and Australia participated.
"Epidemiological studies look for associations in large populations, but it is usually difficult to reliably determine cause and effect -- what we call causality. By using this new genetic method, Mendelian randomization, in our research, we can now confirm what many people have long believed, that increased BMI contributes to the development of heart failure. We also found that overweight causes increases in liver enzymes . This knowledge is important, as it strengthens the evidence that forceful societal measures need to be taken to counteract the epidemic of obesity and its consequences," says Erik Ingelsson, professor at the Department of Medical Sciences and the Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University.
The results show that an increase of one unit of BMI increases the risk of developing heart failure by an average of 20 per cent. Further, the study also confirms that obesity leads to higher insulin values, higher blood pressure, worse cholesterol values, increased inflammation markers, and increased risk of diabetes.
The present study was carried out within the framework of the major research consortium ENGAGE, which brings together more than 35 studies and more than 130 co-authors. The study was coordinated by Erik Ingelsson's research group in collaboration with the Karolinska Institutet and Oxford University.
The study was funded by, among others, the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (ENGAGE), the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research, and the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/x3-K-iv2mww/130625172248.htm
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NEW YORK (AP) ? Authorities now say a 5-foot part that's believed to be from a hijacked 9/11 World Trade Center jetliner came from a wing.
Police said Monday the rusted metal part from a Boeing 767 is a trailing edge flap support structure. It helps secure wing flaps that aid in regulating plane speed.
Investigators initially thought it was part of the landing gear, because both pieces have similar hydraulics.
Authorities believe the aircraft part is from one of the two hijacked planes that brought down the trade center and killed nearly 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001. But Boeing officials can't determine which flight.
The chief medical examiner's office says its workers will sift soil at the site for human remains starting Tuesday.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jet-part-found-last-week-nyc-wing-163129144.html
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NEW YORK (AP) ? The NFL distributed a document to its teams Monday reiterating its anti-discrimination policy on sexual orientation.
A memo sent Monday by Commissioner Roger Goodell to ownership, front-office personnel and coaches says: "Please ensure that this document is made available to all players and staff."
It includes a section on questions teams cannot ask prospective draft picks and free agents. After the NFL combine in February, three players said officials posed questions relating to their sexual orientation.
Examples given of prohibited queries include: "Do you like women or men? How well do you do with the ladies? Do you have a girlfriend?"
The document also says "any jokes, comments or pranks" about an employee's sexual orientation constitute harassment. Examples are "giving someone a sexual gag gift" or hiring a stripper for an employee's birthday party. "Offensive or degrading words or phrases" and posters or screen savers of a sexual nature are also harassment.
The timing of the memo proved appropriate. Later Monday, veteran NBA center Jason Collins became the first active male professional athlete in the four major North American sports leagues to come out as gay.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nfl-reminds-teams-anti-discrimination-policy-153721751.html
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Apr. 28, 2013 ? Prototype mobile devices that can change shape on-demand will be unveiled today [Monday 29 April] and could lay down the foundation for creating high shape resolution devices of the future.
The research paper, to be presented at one of the world's most important conferences on human-computer interfaces, will introduce the term 'shape resolution' and its ten features, to describe the resolution of an interactive device: in addition to display and touch resolution.
The research, led by Dr Anne Roudaut and Professor Sriram Subramanian, from the University of Bristol's Department of Computer Science, have used 'shape resolution' to compare the resolution of six prototypes the team have built using the latest technologies in shape changing material, such as shape memory alloy and electro active polymer.
One example of a device is the team's concept of Morphees, self-actuated flexible mobile devices that can change shape on-demand to better fit the many services they are likely to support.
The team believe Morphees will be the next generation of mobile devices, where users can download applications that embed a dedicated form factor, for instance the "stress ball app" that collapses the device in on itself or the "game app" that makes it adopt a console-like shape.
Dr Anne Roudaut, Research Assistant in the Department of Computer Science's Bristol Interaction and Graphics group, said: "The interesting thing about our work is that we are a step towards enabling our mobile devices to change shape on-demand. Imagine downloading a game application on the app-store and that the mobile phone would shape-shift into a console-like shape in order to help the device to be grasped properly. The device could also transform into a sphere to serve as a stress ball, or bend itself to hide the screen when a password is being typed so passers-by can't see private information."
By comparing the shape resolution of their prototypes, the researchers have created insights to help designers towards creating high shape resolution Morphees.
In the future the team hope to build higher shape resolution Morphees by investigating the flexibility of materials. They are also interested in exploring other kinds of deformations that the prototypes did not explore, such as porosity and stretchability.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaZHj9SEzLQ
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/oQOP2z3HA_Y/130428230421.htm
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A Bangladeshi rescuer works to break through metal and concrete with a drill at the site of a building that collapsed Wednesday in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, April 26, 2013. More than two days after their factory collapsed on them, at least some garment workers were still alive in the corpse-littered debris Friday, pinned beneath tons of mangled metal and concrete. The death toll topped 300 on Friday and it remained unclear what the final grim number would be, as some victims are being pulled from the rubble alive. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)
A Bangladeshi rescuer works to break through metal and concrete with a drill at the site of a building that collapsed Wednesday in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, April 26, 2013. More than two days after their factory collapsed on them, at least some garment workers were still alive in the corpse-littered debris Friday, pinned beneath tons of mangled metal and concrete. The death toll topped 300 on Friday and it remained unclear what the final grim number would be, as some victims are being pulled from the rubble alive. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)
Bangladeshi rescue workers search the rubble at the site of a building that collapsed Wednesday in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, April 26, 2013. The death toll reached hundreds of people as rescuers continued to search for injured and missing, after a huge section of an eight-story building that housed several garment factories splintered into a pile of concrete.(AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
A Bangladeshi soldier gestures as a rescue worker uses a flashlight to walk across the rubble at the site of a building that collapsed Wednesday in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, April 26, 2013. By Friday, the death toll reached at least 270 people as rescuers continued to search for injured and missing, after a huge section of an eight-story building that housed several garment factories splintered into a pile of concrete.(AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
A Bangladeshi rescue worker, who was injured during a stampede caused by crowd panic over the rumor a section of the building might collapse, is carried at the site of a building that collapsed Wednesday in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, April 26, 2013. The death toll reached hundreds of people as rescuers continued to search for injured and missing, after a huge section of an eight-story building that housed several garment factories splintered into a pile of concrete. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
Bangladeshi relatives of missing workers react as they wait at the site of a building that collapsed Wednesday in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, April 26, 2013. By Friday, the death toll reached at least 270 people as rescuers continued to search for injured and missing, after a huge section of an eight-story building that housed several garment factories splintered into a pile of concrete.(AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) ? Two owners of garment factories in a Bangladesh building that collapsed into a pile of mangled metal and concrete have been arrested as public fury mounts over the accident that left at least 324 dead.
Junior Home Minister Shamsul Haque Tuku said Saturday that police had arrested Bazlus Samad, managing director of New Wave Apparels Ltd., and Mahmudur Rahman Tapash, the company chairman.
He told reporters that police had also detained the wife of Mohammed Sohel Rana, the owner of the collapsed building, for questioning.
Authorities said the death toll had climbed to 324, but that rescuers had pulled seven more survivors from the rubble early Saturday after they found more than 40 survivors inside the collapsed building late Friday.
The arrests came hours after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ordered police to arrest Sohel Rana and the owners of the garment factories based operating in the building.
Hasina made the order as protests spread over the latest accident to hit Bangladesh's massive, but poorly regulated, garment industry.
Wailing, angry relatives fought with police who held them back from the wrecked, eight-story Rana Plaza building, as search-and-rescue operations went on. Three of the floors had been illegally added.
Fire service inspector Shafiqul Islam, who searched the building, said more than 40 survivors were found late Friday. Through holes in the structure, he gave them water and juice packs to combat dehydration in the stifling heat and humidity.
"They are alive, they are trapped, but most of them are safe. We need to cut through debris and walls to bring them out," Islam said.
More dead were also discovered. Shamim Islam, a volunteer who entered the collapsed building along with rescue workers, said he saw "many bodies inside."
Search crews were cautiously using hammers, shovels and their bare hands. Many of the trapped workers were so badly hurt and weakened that they needed to be removed within a few hours, rescuers said.
There were fears that even if unhurt, the survivors could be dehydrated, with daytime temperatures soaring to 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) and about 24 degrees Celsius (75 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight.
Nearly 90 people have been rescued in the last day, as hundreds of rescuer workers crawl through the rubble amid the cries of the trapped and the wails of workers' relatives gathered outside the building.
A garment manufacturers' group said the factories in the building employed 3,122 workers, but it was not clear how many were inside it when it collapsed Wednesday in Savar, a suburb of Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka. Rescue officials say more than 2,200 have been rescued or escaped.
Police cordoned off the site, pushing back thousands of bystanders and relatives after rescue workers complained the crowds were hampering their work.
Clashes broke out between the relatives and police, who used batons to disperse them. Police said 50 people were injured in the skirmishes.
"We want to go inside the building and find our people now. They will die if we don't find them soon," said Shahinur Rahman, whose mother was missing.
Thousands of workers from the hundreds of garment factories across the Savar industrial zone and other nearby areas marched to protest the poor safety standards in Bangladesh. Local news reports said demonstrators smashed dozens of cars Friday, although most of the protests were largely peaceful.
Police say they ordered an evacuation of the building on Tuesday after cracks in Rana Plaza were found, but the factories ignored the order and were operating when it collapsed the next day. Video before the collapse shows cracks in walls, with apparent attempts at repair. It also shows columns missing chunks of concrete and police talking to building operators.
Officials said soon after the collapse that numerous construction regulations had been violated.
Abdul Halim, an official with Savar's engineering department, said the owner of Rana Plaza was allowed to erect a five-story building but had added another three stories illegally.
Mahbubul Haque Shakil, a spokesman for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said she had ordered police to arrest the building's owner as well as the owners of the garment factories in "the shortest possible time."
Police chief Mohammed Asaduzzaman said police and the government's Capital Development Authority have filed negligence cases against Mohammed Sohel Rana, the building's owner.
Habibur Rahman, police superintendent of Dhaka district, said Rana was a local leader of ruling Awami League's youth front.
Atiqul Islam, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, called on Rana and the factory owners to surrender during a meeting with the prime minister late Friday.
The disaster is the worst ever for the country's booming and powerful garment industry, surpassing a fire five months ago that killed 112 people and brought widespread pledges to improve worker-safety standards. Since then, very little has changed in Bangladesh, where low wages have made it a magnet for numerous global brands.
Bangladesh's garment industry was the third-largest in the world in 2011, after China and Italy, having grown rapidly in the past decade. The country's minimum wage is now the equivalent of about $38 a month.
Among the garment makers in the building were Phantom Apparels, Phantom Tac, Ether Tex, New Wave Style and New Wave Bottoms. Altogether, they produced several million shirts, pants and other garments a year.
The New Wave companies, according to their website, make clothing for several major North American and European retailers.
Britain's Primark acknowledged it was using a factory in Rana Plaza, but many other retailers distanced themselves from the disaster, saying they were not involved with the factories at the time of the collapse or had not recently ordered garments from them.
Wal-Mart said none of its clothing had been authorized to be made in the facility, but it is investigating whether there was any unauthorized production.
___
AP writers Muneeza Naqvi and Tim Sullivan in New Delhi, Stephen Wright in Bangkok, Kay Johnson in Mumbai, Matthew Pennington in Washington and AP Retail Writer Anne D'Innocenzio in New York contributed to this report.
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