William and Kate name new royal heir George

By Costas Pitas

LONDON (Reuters) - Prince William and his wife Kate have chosen three traditional royal names by calling their new-born baby boy George Alexander Louis, William's office said on Wednesday.

The baby, born on Monday to global media frenzy and third in line to the British throne, will be known as His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge, Kensington Palace said in a statement.

All three names had been among the favourites listed by British bookmakers, and the announcement was relatively quick by royal standards; it took a month for the name of Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, to be announced, and a week for William, his eldest son.

George has been the name of six British kings. The last, George VI, was the father of The Queen and reigned from 1936 to 1952.

Alexandra, the female form of Alexander, is one of the queen's middle names, and was also the name of the queen consort of King Edward VII at the start of the last century.

Louis is one of William's middle names, and was the given name of Prince Charles's mentor and great-uncle Louis Mountbatten, who was assassinated by Irish nationalist IRA guerrillas in 1979.

The baby's arrival on Monday triggered frenetic coverage from global media who had camped for days on the doorstep of the London hospital where he was born, as well as celebratory gun salutes and the illumination of London landmarks in blue.

The choice of name, relatively short by royal standards, does not necessarily mean the baby will eventually become King George VII. The queen's father was christened Albert, but chose to be crowned as George VI.

"It's interesting that they chose to go with just three names. It's almost as if the royal family is coming down with ordinary people, who tend to have fewer middle names than monarchs," historian Suzannah Lipscomb, told Sky News.

"It is a name that none can find any problems with. George itself can't be shortened in any obvious offensive way ... They've probably gone for something that is safe."

KEEPING IT SIMPLE

Some commentators said the names appeared to have no direct connection to Kate's side of the family.

"They've kept it very simple by not trying to represent all parts of the family," royal historian Tracy Borman told Sky News.

"I think there seems to be genuine joy, warmth and good feeling about this birth and the duke and duchess are so popular. People will be nothing but pleased."

The interest stirred by the birth has given a further boost to the royal family after the public's enthusiastic celebration last year of Queen Elizabeth's 60 years on the throne, and Kate and William's lavish Westminster Abbey wedding in 2011.

The monarchy's popularity sank to a low in the 1990s after a string of divorces and the death of William's mother, Diana, after which many said the royal family's response made it appear out of touch with public sentiment.

The left-leaning Guardian newspaper described the turnaround as "an incredible recovery", although its website offered readers a 'Republican' button to block out royal stories.

Most British newspapers devoted their front pages to big pictures of Tuesday's first photocall, with headlines such as "Hello World" and "Our Little Prince".

But after weeks of fevered coverage, the couple are expected to try to keep a low profile. They spent Wednesday at Kate's parents' home in the village of Bucklebury, in southern England.

The royal couple have been living in a remote part of Wales, where William works as a rescue helicopter pilot, but are expected to move later this year to London's Kensington Palace, William's childhood home.

Royal observers say William is determined to shield his son from the obsessive attention that plagued his mother Diana, pursued relentlessly by the media and killed in a car crash in 1997 after her car was chased by photographers.

"William knows only too well that his baby son will be the new favourite creature in the circus he grew up in," wrote Daily Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson. "Every plan he and Kate have put in place is to protect him."

(The story removes superfluous word 'new' in first paragraph)

(Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/william-kate-name-royal-heir-george-150216977.html

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Memphis Man Charged with Threatening President Obama

MEMPHIS, Tn--The U.S. attorney's office has charged a Memphis man with threatening to kill President Barack Obama. ?39-year-old Darrin Young, also known as Darrin Fleming, is in custody and charged with threatening the President.

The feds say investigators were listening to a phone conversation he had with the accused east Memphis Mansion squatter, Tabitha Gentry.? They say in that conversation Young discussed plans to burn, kill, and "murk" Mr. Obama.? Murk is street slang for murder.

Young was arrested Friday.? Gentry hasn't been charged in this case.? She has been sitting in jail ever since she tried to take ownership of?an east Memphis mansion.? She claimed she had the rights to the property as a Moorish American.?

The Moorish American movement claims that U.S. laws and courts don't apply to them.

Source: http://www.localmemphis.com/news/local/story/Memphis-Man-Charged-with-Threatening-President/wNq5C_bfDUet_5uJxg30xA.cspx?rss=59

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Nearly 200 people showed up in Portland to lay Big Oil to rest with the Lovebomb...

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Google wants to put free hotspots around San Francisco?

Google

Gerry Shih Reuters

16 hours ago

Samsung

The city of San Francisco says it will consider Google's proposal.

SAN FRANCISCO ? Google is offering $600,000 to set up free wireless Internet hotspots in 31 public spaces in San Francisco, but city officials said they need to review annual maintenance costs before it could be approved.

Google has previously funded public wireless projects in its home city of Mountain View, California, in New York Chelsea's neighborhood and around Boston's South Station. The search giant is based 30 miles away from San Francisco but employs hundreds of workers who commute from the city.

San Francisco officials say public Internet service is long overdue for a city that has eclipsed Silicon Valley as the epicenter of the startup ecosystem in recent years, attracting a dramatic influx of venture capital investment and young tech workers.

"There are cities not only here in the U.S. but in many, many foreign countries where free Wi-Fi is ubiquitous. We have a lot of work to do," Supervisor Mark Farrell, who spearheaded the negotiations with Google, said by telephone Wednesday.

Mission Dolores Park, the weekend Mecca of San Francisco's young tech crowd, would be among the areas covered by the plan, as would tourist destinations including Alamo Square as well as Washington Square in North Beach. Some less affluent areas such as the historic Portsmouth Square in Chinatown and the Tenderloin Recreation Center would also be included.

In a statement, Google executive Veronica Bell said the company hopes the free Wi-Fi will be "a resource that the city and other local groups will be able to use in their efforts to bridge the digital divide and make their community stronger."

Because it controls so much of the Web, Google benefits from an increase in Internet use. The company reported $50 billion in revenue in 2012, mostly by selling ads targeting Internet traffic. According to a new study released this week, Google's various properties account for a quarter of all U.S. Internet traffic.

The company said it would not own or manage the network. The angel investor Ron Conway, one of Mayor Ed Lee's staunchest political allies, is coordinating the project through his non-profit SF.Citi.

Members of the local board of supervisors, who still have to formally approve the gift, said the project would undergo a normal review process to make sure that government contracts to install and maintain the service are properly awarded. In 2006, a similar plan to install wireless coverage in San Francisco was scuttled after the deal came under political scrutiny. Officials also said they would review the details of the system's maintenance costs.

In the case of New York City, the network in Chelsea cost $115,000 to build but $45,000 a year to maintain.

San Francisco parks director Phil Ginsburg called Google's gift "no strings attached" and said the city could bear the maintenance costs. Google's donation would cover two years' worth of maintenance costs, which amount to $50,000, he said.

Ginsburg said officials picked 31 locations out of the city's 200 public spaces based on a criteria of geographic and economic diversity. Some areas, including Golden Gate Park, were too big to cover with the sum donated by Google.

Installation of the equipment could begin as early as December and be completed by mid-2014, Farrell said.

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663301/s/2f1f7785/sc/5/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Cgoogle0Ewants0Eput0Efree0Ehotspots0Earound0Esan0Efrancisco0E6C10A741186/story01.htm

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Wisconsin Capitol Protest Leads To Two Dozen Arrests As Police Crack Down On Anti-GOP Demonstration

Police made numerous arrests inside the Wisconsin's Capitol building on Wednesday, more than two years after tens of thousands of Wisconsinites filled the rotunda in Madison to protest Gov. Scott Walker's (R) budget reforms.

The Associated Press reported that Capitol Police arrested "about two dozen people" who were in the building to take part in a weekly tradition called the Solidarity Singalong, an anti-Republican display that began during the 2011 budget protests.

The arrests mark the first time Capitol Police have clamped down on protesters since William Conley, the same federal judge who recently blocked a controversial state anti-abortion law, ruled that larger groups of protesters would need a permit to gather.

According to the Wisconsin State Journal, some of the protesters arrested were as old as 85.

"The Capitol Police are upholding the law to ensure the building can be shared by all citizens who come to the Capitol," said Stephanie Marquis, a spokesperson for the state's Department of Administration.

Police posted a handwritten sign in the middle of the rotunda to discourage demonstrators from gathering in the building. About 60 people resisted and stayed -- 22 of them were arrested. Others vowed to return on Thursday, according to the AP.

"We are in the Capitol singing, what is the big deal?" a protester named Kim Krus asked, according Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

During the mass protests in early 2011, Capitol Police took a more lenient approach to arrests under the leadership of Chief Charles Tubbs, an appointee of former Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat. When Tubbs left the force in 2012, Walker appointed a more hard-line chief, Dave Erwin.

Erwin attracted attention when he arrested a number of protesters for holding signs in the Capitol not long after he took his new job in the fall of 2012. When a progressive state legislator asked Erwin for an explanation for the uptick in arrests, he walked out of the meeting.

At the time, Marquis said Erwin left the meeting "because of the unprofessional behavior."

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/24/wisconsin-capitol-protest-arrests_n_3647623.html

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Trees still affected by 1976 drought

23 July 2013 Last updated at 19:59 ET

The sizzling summer of 1976 caused permanent changes to British forests, new research suggests.

Scientists found that the long dry spell that year - the UK's most intense drought between 1914 and 2006 - killed off many drought-sensitive beech trees.

Growth of the trees is still restricted more than 30 years later, a study in the journal Functional Ecology said.

The more drought-tolerant Sessile Oak survived better and is now dominating the beech.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

They are resistant up to a point and then we hit a tipping point and the system shows very severe impacts?

End Quote Prof Alistair Jump University of Stirling

The scientific work was carried out at Lady Wood Park in the Wye Valley. This 45 hectare (111 acre) site is a national nature reserve and is attractive to researchers because it has been deliberately unmanaged since 1945.

Detailed forest surveys have been carried out in the park over the past 70 years and the ecologists were able to use these along with tree ring data to discover how the different tree species fared over the period.

Beech surrender

Before 1976, beech was the dominant species in this area. But that summer's drought has permanently changed the makeup of the forest.

That dry spell was the most exceptional drought in the years between 1914 and 2006 - it was 30% more intense than the next driest year, 1921.

The researchers found that in the period immediately after 1976, there was a significant growth in beech mortality. Between 1977 and 1992, 17% of these trees died, while there were no deaths among the oaks.

"The beech growth dropped very suddenly," said Prof Alistair Jump from the University of Sterling who carried out the work along with researchers from Joint Nature Conservation Committee.

"The Sessile Oak which is slightly less competitive but is more drought tolerant took advantage and grew much better - and beech has never fully recovered in the system."

The researchers say the oaks increased their growth rate by approximately 20% in the years immediately after 1976. The beech trees eventually stabilised their growth rate but only at around 75% of pre-drought levels.

The scientists say that beech trees can appear to tolerate drought without a long term impact until a threshold of is reached.

"I think tipping point is a key idea, and that's something that we see very clearly in the work," said Prof Jump.

"They are resistant up to a point and then we hit a tipping point and the system shows very severe impacts. The problem is we don't know where these tipping points are for other species."

Not this year

The researchers say they expect the changes that they recorded at Lady Park Wood to have been replicated across the UK.

This perspective is echoed by Ray Townsend, arboretum manager at the Royal Botanic Gardens, at Kew.

He lived through the drought of 1976 and owns a home in the New Forest and he has been spending a good deal of time among the beech trees there in recent months.

"Quite clearly you can see that the beech aren't happy," he told BBC News.

"You can see evidence of the restriction of growth - I've seen that, the beech don't look as they should look - The oaks seem to be growing well, I'd never really thought about the reasons, but reading the research paper, it makes sense in a way."

The study's authors believe that extreme events such as the drought of 1976 are likely to increase in frequency in the future and there could be similar implications for other tree species.

To cope with these events, they say that forest managers need to manipulate the mix of species in their woods.

But despite the extreme heat of the last few weeks, the scientists say that 2013 will not have the same impact on trees as the dry days of '76. That year was exceptional as it followed on from a rain-free 1975.

"This summer it won't happen," said Prof Jump.

"Last year we were at the point where we were forecast to exceed the 1976 drought and then we had this phenomenal amount of rain - that replenished the water supplies and that means for this year it would be highly unlikely."

Follow Matt on Twitter.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23419036#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Rescue efforts put to test as death toll rises in China earthquake

Since the major 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, China has had more than 20 earthquakes measuring above 6.0 on the Richter scale.

By Peter Ford,?Staff Writer / July 22, 2013

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescuers clear the debris of a damaged house in quake-hit Majiagou Village of Minxian County, northwest China's Gansu Province, Monday, July 22, 2013. The toll of dead and injured continues to rise after an earthquake struck a dry, hilly farming area in western China early this morning.

Guo Gang, Xinhua/AP

Enlarge

China dispatched thousands of soldiers, police, militiamen, and firefighters Monday to dig for buried victims of?an earthquake that killed more than 75 people and left more than 450 injured in northwest China, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Skip to next paragraph Peter Ford

Beijing Bureau Chief

Peter Ford is The Christian Science Monitor?s Beijing Bureau Chief. He covers news and features throughout China and also makes reporting trips to Japan and the Korean peninsula.

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An earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale hit a mainly rural area of Gansu Province at 7:45 local time; a major temblor and hundreds of smaller aftershocks rocked the region all day, local officials said.

The quake and subsequent flooding and mudslides seriously damaged eight towns in the remote and mountainous area. The topography of the affected region means it is sparsely populated but also difficult for rescuers to reach.

The authorities followed emergency disaster plans tested in earlier quakes, which are common in China, sending men from different units of the armed forces to help local civilians search for survivors.

They were also expected to use disaster relief techniques introduced after a massive quake hit the southwestern province of Sichuan, next door to Gansu, in May 2008, killing more than 87,000 people.

Since then, China has suffered 24 other earthquakes measuring more than 6.0 on the Richter scale, in which around 3,000 people have died.?

Government agencies appeared better coordinated in April, when a quake hit Ya?an in Sichuan, killing nearly 200 people and injuring more than 11,000, than they had been during previous emergencies. Helicopters were sent quickly to the scene, as they were Monday, tent villages sprung up after a day or so, and relief workers were soon able to recharge displaced victims? mobile phones, allowing them to get in touch with relatives.

How well a Chinese government deals with natural disasters has been regarded a test of its legitimacy since the imperial era.

After the recent Ya?an quake, the Global Times, a tabloid owned by the ruling Communist Party, boasted that ?China?s disaster relief comes ahead of the United States, Japan, and other developed countries ? in its ability to mobilize people and in other indicators.??

Monday?s quake struck along a particularly vulnerable fault line that has suffered 25 major earthquakes in the past, according to the China Earthquake Administration.

Photographs of the stricken area, posted on social media websites, showed simple houses, often built from mud bricks, in ruins. An initial investigation found that 1,200 houses had collapsed and another 21,000 were severely damaged, Gansu provincial government spokesman Chang Zhengguo told reporters.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/fYiVuw_Awrc/Rescue-efforts-put-to-test-as-death-toll-rises-in-China-earthquake

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