Turkey says it fires on Islamist militant positions in Syria

By Daren Butler

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's army said on Wednesday it had fired on al Qaeda-linked militants in northern Syria after a stray mortar bomb hit Turkish territory, highlighting the growing threat from radical groups over its southern border.

Fighters from the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have seized territory in parts of Syria near the Turkish border in recent weeks, leaving the already fragile frontier even more vulnerable.

Turkey's general staff said the army had fired four artillery shells on Tuesday at ISIL positions around Azaz, a strategic area around 5 km (3 miles) from the frontier seized by the al Qaeda-linked fighters last month.

Turkey has repeatedly carried out such retaliatory action when fire from Syria has hit its soil in the past but this appeared to be the first time it had targeted ISIL militants.

The move comes as Turkey, a key backer of the Syrian opposition, faces accusations from Western allies that it has allowed arms and foreign fighters to cross into northern Syria, facilitating the rise of radical groups, a charge it denies.

Turkey has maintained an open-door policy throughout Syria's two-and-a-half-year conflict, sheltering half a million refugees and allowing the Syrian opposition to organize on its territory. But it denies arming the rebels.

The military said a mortar bomb was fired from the Azaz/Parsa mountain area of northern Syria at around 1:30 p.m. (1030 GMT) on Tuesday and landed, unexploded, 450 meters (1,500 feet) east of a military border post at Demirisik in Kilis province.

"In response to this situation, four shells were fired by two Firtina (Storm) howitzers at positions of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant in the Azaz/Parsa mountain," it said.

It was not clear if the shells caused any damage.

Fighting around Azaz between ISIL and rebels from the local Northern Storm brigade prompted Turkey to briefly close its border crossing last month, a lifeline for Syria's rebel-held areas which allowed humanitarian aid in and refugees out.

Divisions among the rebels have hurt their fight against President Bashar al-Assad's better equipped and organized forces. Tensions have been rooted partly in conflicting ideologies, but more often in disputes over resources, land and the spoils of war.

(Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Andrew Roche)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/turkish-military-says-hits-islamist-militant-positions-syria-191446406.html
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The Fix: Poll: Republicans losing no-win game (Washington Post)

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Ex-Holy Cross player alleges abuse by coach

BOSTON (AP) — A former Holy Cross basketball player has sued the college and veteran coach Bill Gibbons, accusing the coach of emotionally and physically abusing her and the school of covering it up.

The lawsuit by 20-year-old Ashley Cooper says that at various times, Gibbons yanked and pulled her by the shirt collar, shook her by the shoulder and struck her on the back, leaving a red handprint. It paints Gibbons as so volatile that opposing players would remark, "Your coach is crazy," and the players as so demoralized that alumni basketball games are impossible because players won't return to the Jesuit school in Worcester to participate.

The suit accuses Holy Cross of failing to turn over game tape that would show Gibbons striking Cooper and another player. It says the school has also refused to release results of an investigation into Gibbons' behavior.

Cooper gave up a full scholarship and left the school amid fear of physical pain and retaliation for complaining about Gibbons, according to the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in New York City.

"As a result of (Gibbon's) abuse, plaintiff Cooper and other players suffered a loss of self-esteem and a loss of their love of the game of basketball," the suit said.

Cooper is seeking compensation for the costs of the college education she'll have to pay for after giving up her scholarship, as well as unspecified punitive damages, according to her attorney, Elizabeth Eilender.

In a statement, school spokeswoman Ellen Ryder said the "physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of our students is our highest priority at Holy Cross."

Ryder said the school had previously investigated complaints by Cooper, but her statement did not disclose the results of the investigation. A request for more details on the investigation was left Wednesday with a school spokeswoman. Ryder also said Cooper's lawsuit "includes a series of new allegations and we will now bring in outside counsel to review them."

Gibbons did not immediately return an email sent Wednesday seeking comment.

He has 533 wins in 28 seasons as women's head basketball coach at Holy Cross and has led the team to 11 Patriot League championships.

Cooper, of Colts Neck, N.J., played in 21 of Holy Cross' 32 games last season, averaging 4.7 points per game and hitting 40 percent of her 3-point shots. She has transferred to New York University but is not on the women's basketball team, Eilender said.

The lawsuit says Gibbons' behavior was worse than Rutger's men's basketball coach Mike Rice, who was fired this spring after practice tape surfaced showed him berating and kicking players and throwing basketballs at them.

In the suit, Cooper says she's bringing legal action "not only on her own behalf but also on behalf of all women athletes who are abused by their coaches under the grossly offensive rationale that the abusive behavior is 'motivational.'"

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ex-holy-cross-player-alleges-abuse-coach-173218952--spt.html
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Farm Families Pick Massive Corn Harvest As Prices Shrink

Curt Friesen is a fourth-generation farmer in central Nebraska.

Grant Gerlock/for NPR

Curt Friesen is a fourth-generation farmer in central Nebraska.

Grant Gerlock/for NPR

Corn prices are down; the farm bill is stalled in Congress; and the farm boom appears to be fading. So there's a lot of uncertainly in the air as harvest season gets into full swing across the Midwest. But this is a time of year when farm families like the Friesens in Henderson, Neb., come together to focus on the big task at hand.

Everyone in the family has a job to do.

"Like my dad; he drives auger wagon," Curt Friesen says. "He drives auger wagon only. That's all he's done since 1976, I think. ... My wife, Nancy, she drives the combine; that's her job."

Curt drives a truck. So does his son-in-law, who's new on the farm. That's how the Friesens are harvesting 1,100 acres of corn this fall, about middle of the pack in terms of its size.

With roughly 97 million acres of corn to pick nationwide, farmers are pulling in family and friends as part-time help to haul in the crop.

Nancy Friesen grasps the orange joystick that controls the Friesens' giant John Deere combine, which is so big it makes the cornstalks look like matchsticks.

"It is a humongous piece of equipment," she says, "and it is intimidating. It's got all kinds of bells and whistles to let you know what's going wrong."

During corn harvest, it's all hands on deck on the Friesen family farm in Henderson, Neb. Nancy Friesen typically takes the controls of their John Deere combine.

Grant Gerlock/for NPR

During corn harvest, it's all hands on deck on the Friesen family farm in Henderson, Neb. Nancy Friesen typically takes the controls of their John Deere combine.

Grant Gerlock/for NPR

Nancy Friesen isn't totally comfortable in the driver's seat. Even a modestly priced combine costs $350,000, and most of the year she's in the garden, not the field. But she expressed some relief as she mowed down the cornstalks and watched the grain flow in.

"It is a good feeling when the corn is in the bin and we don't have to worry about it out here anymore," she says. "So many weird weather things can happen," like last year's drought, which was the worst since the 1950s.

The drought caused corn yields to dry up across the Midwest. The Friesens were lucky — irrigation saved most of their crop. But Albert Friesen, Curt's 92-year-old dad, knows firsthand how disastrous drought can be at harvest time.

When Albert Friesen started farming he used horses, not green tractors. In 1938, at age 16, he took over the farm after his dad died. The next year a drought hit and the crop was ruined.

"There was nothing here," he says. "Everything dried up. I went to Minnesota to pick corn by hand."

He brought home $69, just enough to keep the farm. That was a tough year.

"But I think we're in for some tough times yet again," he says.

In fact, 2013 could be the biggest corn harvest in history. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has estimated 13.8 billion bushels. But it's not clear what the crop will be worth by the time it's in the bin. Corn prices have been shrinking since the beginning of the year and are down around a three-year low.

That's happening just as Jason Lewis, the Friesens' son-in-law, is joining the family farm. A year ago, Lewis was in a college classroom. He wasn't a student — he was the professor.

"This time last year I was at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, and I was probably teaching turf grass science class," Lewis says.

Now the 35-year-old Ph.D. from Kearney, Neb., is hauling corn and wearing earbuds so he can listen to podcasts while he's in the field.

During a break in the action, Nancy said she is grateful to have extra help on hand.

"I love it when I can hear Curt and Jason talking in the shop and he's got somebody to talk shop to," she says. "I love having the kids back. It takes the pressure off so much."

But Nancy couldn't talk for long. Albert had an empty grain wagon. Jason had a truck to fill. She plunged the combine into the standing corn. The harvest grind will go on for another four to six weeks.

"It's just pretty much harvest," Nancy says. "I try to clear the schedule. I just figure nothing really happens in October."

At least, not until the last load of corn comes in.

Grant Gerlock reports from Nebraska for NET News and Harvest Public Media, a public radio reporting collaboration that focuses on agriculture and food production issues.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/10/14/232270283/farm-families-pick-massive-corn-harvest-as-prices-shrink?ft=1&f=1007
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What The World's Newspapers Are Saying

A London newspaper stand.

Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

A London newspaper stand.

Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

(Editor's Note: Starting this week, we're introducing a weekday feature of headlines from newspapers around the world.)

Britain's Guardian reports on former minister David Maclean, a member of Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party, saying Britain's spy agencies may be operating outside the law in the mass surveillance of the Internet. His remarks come amid revelations about surveillance programs unveiled by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

In the Middle East, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reports on negotiations between Western nations and Iran in Geneva over the Islamic republic's nuclear program. It says the U.S. will continue to pressure Tehran until it has taken major steps to halt the program.

Lebanon's Daily Star reports that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said an international conference to set up a transitional government in Syria must be organized soon.

South Africa's Cape Times says a veteran member of the African National Congress lodged a complaint against a fellow party official for making allegedly anti-Semitic comments in Cape Town last week.

The China Daily reports on Britain's plan to make it easier for Chinese tourists and investors to visit the country.

India's Hindu newspaper says three senior officials were suspended in the wake of the deadly stampede near a temple in the town of Ratangarh in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. More than 100 people were killed in the stampede on a bridge that people feared was near collapse.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/10/15/234627132/what-the-worlds-newspapers-are-saying?ft=1&f=1001
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New 3-D method used to grow miniature pancreas

Public release date: 15-Oct-2013
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Contact: Anne Grapin-Botton
anne.grapin-botton@sund.ku.dk
45-29-63-43-98
University of Copenhagen

An international team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen have successfully developed an innovative 3D method to grow miniature pancreas from progenitor cells. The future goal is to use this model to help in the fight against diabetes. The research results has just been published in the scientific journal Development.

Professor Anne Grapin-Botton and her team at the Danish Stem Cell Centre have developed a three-dimensional culture method which enables the efficient expansion of pancreatic cells. The new method allows the cell material from mice to grow vividly in picturesque tree-like structures. The method offers huge long term potential in producing miniature human pancreas from human stem cells. These human miniature organs would be valuable as models to test new drugs fast and effective and without the use of animal models.

"The new method allows the cell material to take a three-dimensional shape enabling them to multiply more freely. It's like a plant where you use effective fertilizer, think of the laboratory like a garden and the scientist being the gardener," says Anne Grapin-Botton.

Social cells

The cells do not thrive and develop if they are alone, and a minimum of four pancreatic cells close together is required for subsequent organoid development.

"We found that the cells of the pancreas develop better in a gel in three-dimensions than when they are attached and flattened at the bottom of a culture plate. Under optimal conditions, the initial clusters of a few cells have proliferated into 40,000 cells within a week. After growing a lot, they transform into cells that make either digestive enzymes or hormones like insulin and they self-organize into branched pancreatic organoids that are amazingly similar to the pancreas," adds Anne Grapin-Botton.

The scientists used this system to discover that the cells of the pancreas are sensitive to their physical environment such as the stiffness of the gel and to contact with other cells.

The research results has just been published in the scientific journal Development.

Pancreas and diabetes connection

An effective cellular therapy for diabetes is dependent on the production of sufficient quantities of functional beta-cells. Recent studies have enabled the production of pancreatic precursors but efforts to expand these cells and differentiate them into insulin-producing beta-cells have proved a challenge.

"We think this is an important step towards the production of cells for diabetes therapy, both to produce mini-organs for drug testing and insulin-producing cells as spare parts. We show that the pancreatic cells care not only about how you feed them but need to be grown in the right physical environment. We are now trying to adapt this method to human stem cells," adds Anne Grapin-Botton.

###

Contact:

Professor Anne Grapin-Botton

Mobile: +45 29 63 43 98

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 15-Oct-2013
[


| E-mail



| Share

]

Contact: Anne Grapin-Botton
anne.grapin-botton@sund.ku.dk
45-29-63-43-98
University of Copenhagen

An international team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen have successfully developed an innovative 3D method to grow miniature pancreas from progenitor cells. The future goal is to use this model to help in the fight against diabetes. The research results has just been published in the scientific journal Development.

Professor Anne Grapin-Botton and her team at the Danish Stem Cell Centre have developed a three-dimensional culture method which enables the efficient expansion of pancreatic cells. The new method allows the cell material from mice to grow vividly in picturesque tree-like structures. The method offers huge long term potential in producing miniature human pancreas from human stem cells. These human miniature organs would be valuable as models to test new drugs fast and effective and without the use of animal models.

"The new method allows the cell material to take a three-dimensional shape enabling them to multiply more freely. It's like a plant where you use effective fertilizer, think of the laboratory like a garden and the scientist being the gardener," says Anne Grapin-Botton.

Social cells

The cells do not thrive and develop if they are alone, and a minimum of four pancreatic cells close together is required for subsequent organoid development.

"We found that the cells of the pancreas develop better in a gel in three-dimensions than when they are attached and flattened at the bottom of a culture plate. Under optimal conditions, the initial clusters of a few cells have proliferated into 40,000 cells within a week. After growing a lot, they transform into cells that make either digestive enzymes or hormones like insulin and they self-organize into branched pancreatic organoids that are amazingly similar to the pancreas," adds Anne Grapin-Botton.

The scientists used this system to discover that the cells of the pancreas are sensitive to their physical environment such as the stiffness of the gel and to contact with other cells.

The research results has just been published in the scientific journal Development.

Pancreas and diabetes connection

An effective cellular therapy for diabetes is dependent on the production of sufficient quantities of functional beta-cells. Recent studies have enabled the production of pancreatic precursors but efforts to expand these cells and differentiate them into insulin-producing beta-cells have proved a challenge.

"We think this is an important step towards the production of cells for diabetes therapy, both to produce mini-organs for drug testing and insulin-producing cells as spare parts. We show that the pancreatic cells care not only about how you feed them but need to be grown in the right physical environment. We are now trying to adapt this method to human stem cells," adds Anne Grapin-Botton.

###

Contact:

Professor Anne Grapin-Botton

Mobile: +45 29 63 43 98

---

[


| E-mail



| Share

]

 

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/uoc-n3m101513.php
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Jesus Christ Movie 'Son of God' Hitting Theaters February 2014

Jesus Christ is coming to theaters in February.

20th Century Fox announced that Son of God, the film based on History Channel's miniseries The Bible, will open wide in U.S. theaters on Feb. 28, 2014.

The 10-hour miniseries The Bible, produced by husband-and-wife team Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, was a breakout hit for History, garnering an average of 15 million viewers per episode. It also earned three Emmy nominations.

PHOTOS: Jesus in Film and TV: 13 Devilishly Handsome Actors Who've Played the Son of God

The big-screen treatment will follow Christ from his birth through his crucifixion and resurrection.

Portuguese actor Diogo Morgado is starring. The film will feature selections from the miniseries plus additional scenes that were left on the cutting room floor. Hans Zimmer created the score.

STORY: 'The Bible' Tops 1 Million in Home Entertainment Sales

"We are very excited to be working with 20th Century Fox to release Son of God as a major motion picture," said Downey and Burnett in a statement. "We responded to an overwhelming demand for the greatest story ever told to be seen as a shared experience on the big screen. The result is a beautiful stand-alone movie. It's the story of Jesus for a whole new generation."

Son of God will go up against two other wide releases on Feb. 28. Universal's airplane thriller Non-Stop starring Liam Neeson and Paramount's sci-fi thriller Almanac, which centers around a time machine, also open on that date.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thr/news/~3/ncnTSGggBUI/jesus-christ-movie-son-god-648539
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