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[JURIST] The Cabinet of India has approved the Prevention of Torture Bill in an effort to move closer to international human rights standards. The bill, which experienced long delays before being passed last week, will now be introduced to the Indian Parliament. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh strongly supports the bill in order to move the country closer to complying with the UN Convention Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment by expanding Indian law to define torture, among other things. India remains among the small number of nations that has not ratified the treaty. The bill was introduced more than a year before it was passed. Many Cabinet members feared political backlash, as the public strongly supports actions taken against terrorists. Despite the passing of the bill, human groups believe that India still has a long way to go to prevent torture in the country.
Last month, an Indian court heard closing arguments in the trial of Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, accused of participating in the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. Kasab claims that he confessed to the crimes in February 2009 after being tortured by police. In December, Kasab withdrew his confession in an Indian court, claiming he was tortured and framed by police. Kasab originally pleaded not guilty in May, but interrupted his trial in July to confess and change his plea to guilty.

Here are some key phrases from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s congressional testimony and how to read them:

1) HE SAYS: “Financial markets have improved considerably since I last testified before this Committee in May of last year.”

READ: Our programs worked so stop giving us grief for what we did to prevent a Great Depression.

2) HE SAYS: “Although sizable deficits are unavoidable in the near term, maintaining the confidence of the public and financial markets requires that policymakers move decisively to set the federal budget on a trajectory toward sustainable fiscal balance.”

READ: Hey Congress, we’ve been talking for a year about our exit strategy for monetary policy, where’s yours for fiscal?

3) HE SAYS: “For the three months ended in February, prices for personal consumption expenditures rose at an annual rate of 1.25% despite a further steep run-up in energy prices; core inflation, which excludes prices of food and energy, slowed to an annual rate of 0.5%. The moderation in inflation has been broadly based, affecting most categories of goods and services with the principal exception of some globally traded commodities and materials, including crude oil.”

READ: Bernanke is with FOMC members who believe the inflation slowdown is real. Some Fed officials believe inflation numbers have been slowing solely because of housing’s problems. They haven’t convinced the Fed chairman.

4) HE SAYS: “Long-run inflation expectations appear stable; for example, expected inflation over the next 5 to 10 years, as measured by the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers was 2.75% in March, which is at the lower end of the narrow range that has prevailed for the past few years.”

READ: There is no reason to signal a move toward tightening monetary policy. All of that talk in markets Tuesday about the Fed signaling a move toward raising interest rates was noise.

5) HE SAYS: “To be sure, significant restraints on the pace of the recovery remain, including weakness in both residential and nonresidential construction and the poor fiscal condition of many state and local governments.”

READ: The Fed believes the recovery is real, but Bernanke is worried about the headwinds.

6) HE SAYS: “If the pace of recovery is moderate, as I expect, a significant amount of time will be required to restore the 8.5 million jobs that were lost during the past two years.”

READ: See #4. There is no reason to signal a move toward tightening soon.

Investigators are looking into two suspicious fires that broke out early Wednesday at Birmingham High School in the San Fernando Valley.

The first fire was reported at around 4:51 a.m. in a large trash bin at the school at 17000 Haynes St.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze and noticed another fire inside a student store in the cafeteria area, said Erik Scott of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Both fires were put out by 5:21 a.m., he said.

An investigation has been launched into the cause of the fires.

It was not immediately known whether the incidents would affect the school’s schedule.

— Los Angeles Times wire services

Several asthma inhalers will be gradually phased out over the course of the year to comply with international agreements designed to protect the ozone layer. 

The FDA announced this week that it will remove seven metered-dose inhalers (MDI) from the market because they contain chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as propellants to spray the medicine out of the inhaler.

The drugs are used to treat asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but the FDA indicates that alternative medications are available to replace all of the phased out inhalers.

The action is part of the United States’ obligations under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. CFCs have been found to deplete the ozone layer, which protects life on earth from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun.

The U.S. has banned the use of CFCs in commonly used aerosols for about 25 years. There have been no CFCs produced in the U.S. since 1996 except for limited uses, like MDIs.

Inhalers affected by the phase out include:

• Tilade Inhaler (nedocromil), by King Pharmaceuticals, with a phase-out date of June 14, 2010
• Alupent Inhalation Aerosol (metaproterenol), by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, with a phase-out date of June 14, 2010
• Aerobid inhaler System (flunisolide), by Forest Laboratories, with a phase-out date of June 30, 2010
• Azmacort Inhalation Aerosol (triamcinolone), by Abbott Laboratories, with a phase-out date of December 31, 2010
• Intal Inhaler (cromolyn), by King Pharmaceuticals, with a phase-out date of December 31, 2010
• Combivent Inhalation Aerosol (albuterol and ipratropium in combination) by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, with a phase-out date of December 31, 2010
• Maxair Autoinhaler (pirbuterol), by Graceway Pharmaceuticals, with a phase-out date of December 31, 2010.

Asthma affects 20 million Americans, including 6.5 million children. It is a chronic disease with symptoms like wheezing, difficulty breathing and spasms, which can severely limit activities and impact quality of life.

Wade Roush wrote:

Jason Schupbach, the first state official in the country tasked with promoting the “creative economy,” will be leaving his position with the Massachusetts Office of Business Development effective May 5 to become director of design at the National Endowment for Arts in Washington, D.C., the NEA announced today. Schupbach’s role at the endowment will be to administer grants to the design sector and design initiatives such as the proposed $5 million “Our Town” project, which will explore the role of the arts in economic revitalization and community improvement. “Jason has set a national standard here in Massachusetts for connecting the various and diverse sectors of the creative economy to the public and academic agencies throughout the state,” Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Greg Bialecki said in a statement. “He has been a critical resource for innovation and collaboration for the Commonwealth, and I’m certain he will offer the same to the NEA.” Last fall Xconomy profiled Schupbach and his efforts to boost Massachusetts business sectors such as advertising, architecture, design, digital media, film, gaming, marketing, music, publishing, tourism, and the arts, which collectively employ more than 100,000 people in the Bay State. “This was a bit of an unexpected opportunity, and I’m very excited about the possibilities it holds,” Schupbach said in an e-mail.

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UNDERWRITERS AND PARTNERS

Parece que las ofertas del Grupo VW no terminan de satisfacer las necesidades de sus clientes, por este motivo, el preparador alemán JE Design ha sacado a relucir un paquete completo para el nuevo Seat León Cupra R, cuyo acabado exterior es particularmente llamativo.

El modelo sale de fábrica con un motor 2.0 turboalimentado que rinde unos 265 CV y 350 Nm de par motor, gracias al nuevo kit de rendimiento de JE Design, que incluye un recalibrado de ecus, un filtro de aire deportivo y un nuevo sistema de escape, el motor alcanza los 330CV y 420 Nm de par, lo que supone un incremento de de casi un 25% de la potencia de fábrica.

Este gran aumento de potencia permite al León Cupra R acelerar de 0 a 100 km/h en 5,8 segundos y le permiten alcanzar una velocidad máxima de 268 kmh. Para manejar tal cantidad de caballos, se ha incluido una nueva suspensión deportiva que hace al modelo de Seat 40 mm más bajo.

Como siempre, toda modificación de rendimiento lleva consigo una modificación exterior, y esta vez, es particularmente llamativa. Su tono gris oscuro con los adornos naranjas en los retrovisores y en el alerón acentúan la deportividad de este precioso modelo, además, las llantas naranjas de aleación de 19 pulgadas hacen al León Cupra R reconocible más allá del horizonte.

El mismo tono de color del exterior está disponible para el interior, predomina el gris, pero los toques en naranja dejan al Seat León Cupra R con un curioso interior.

Seat León Cupra R JE Design

Vía | Carscoop

My old friend Neil has something to say about NASA and inspiration.

I wonder how often he reads my blog? More likely, he and I just strongly agree on this topic. He is a very smart guy, after all.

It’s official — the iPad doesn’t suck — according to a press release by Apple. The company is pushing back the availability of the iPad outside the U.S. a month, due to higher than expected demand in this country. Apple goes on to say that over 500,000 iPads have been sold the first week, and the inability to keep up with that demand makes it difficult to make the slate available outside the U.S. at the end of this month as previously planned.

The difficulty of meeting demand in the U.S. is worsened by the large number of 3G models that have been preordered for delivery at the end of April. International customers waiting impatiently for the iPad to go on sale can preorder an iPad online beginning May 10. Those affected by this delay can take solace in the fact that apparently the iPad is even better than anticipated.

Related content on GigaOM Pro (subscription required):

Hot Topic: Apple’s iPad

Foi anunciado o investimento de 175 milhões de euros pelo Grupo PSA Peugeot–Citroën na produção de um motor de 3 cilindros a gasolina, que vai ser fabricado em Dourvin, França, com versões turbos com foco na eficiência. O presidente do Grupo PSA, Philippe Varin, diz o seguinte:

“A nova família de motores vai permitir que a PSA Peugeot-Citroën lute pela liderança dos veículos com emissões reduzidas de poluentes”.

A construção de novos motores começará a partir de 2012, dando continuidade nos planos de lançamento de carros com motores ecologicamente corretos, e a fábrica francesa já produziu aproximadamente 1,3 milhões de motores, sendo a maior parte deles para o Grupo PSA.

Via | Autoportal

No one can seem to agree on where and when the Cuban sandwich originated, but most can agree that it’s delicious. This humble sandwich is workingman’s fare for the cigar makers and sugar cane field workers in Cuba and among the Cuban communities in Florida. Walk down Calle Ocho in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, and you’d be hard-pressed to not find a café selling “sandwich mixto” along with little cups of jet fuel café cubano (Cuban coffee.)

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Filed under: China, Hatchback

This will get some heads turning: after a drive on challenging Welsh roads, Autocar has written “In its poise and agility I’d even say the MG6 is superior” to the Ford Focus Zetec S. There are other compromises: the interior, the gearchange, the NVH, grunt at high revs. But the first bespoke Nanjing-created MG, the MG6, is a certified runner according to the UK mag.

The MG6 hatch was designed at Longbridge, and it benchmarked the Focus for its own handling prowess. The turbocharged 1.8-liter Honda K-series engines isn’t new, but the platform is, and this version of the car was tuned for European drivers and roads. As we said, there remain a few niggles, but for a pre-production car to be declared “borderline best-in-class to drive,” and by a British pub no less, well, there could be gold in them thar (unlikely) hills.

[Source: Autocar]

Nanjing’s first clean-sheet MG gets tested, better to drive than Ford Focus? originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toshiba introduced a whole mess of new Regza LED LCD TVs today over in Japan, but it’s the Z1 series that grabbed our attention: 37- to 55-inch edge-lit LEDs with USB and LAN recording functionality. Gimme! More »

Parker SSD Parvex is introducing a new generation of spindle brushless motors with exceptional dynamic performances, which will help to increase machine-tools productivity and surface quality.
Power density compared to traditional high speed induction motors is dramatically increased, allowing in some cases the suppression of cooling fans. The very low power losses in the rotor guarantees perfect balancing stability, resulting in superior machining precision and prolonged bearings lifetimes.
Kit or complete motor solution
For very demanding spindle applications, Parker offers the SKW series, kit solutions consisting of separate rotor, stator and feedback components intended to be integrated at the heart of the mechanical structure of the machine.
This innovative approach allows not only the optimization of integration costs and weight, but also the suppression of mechanical transmission elements, resulting in higher stiffness
and improved machining precision. Either water-cooled or naturally ventilated, Parker SK spindle motors are characterized by large internal diameters, making them particularly suitable for multi-spindle lathes.
Parker’s new generation of high speed spindle motors are also available as complete frame motors, the NV series. Parker NV series combines very compact dimensions, high rotational speeds, and fast acceleration / deceleration capabilities. Very robust, NV motors represent the ideal replacement solution for traditional high speed induction motors on auxiliary drilling or tapping spindles running in parallel with the main spindle.
Total design flexibility
Parker product portfolio and capabilities allow you either to select spindle motors from a catalogue product range, or to get bespoke solutions truly tailored to your specific needs.

Tana delivered its first shredder to Russia just after Christmas. As its first assignment the machine was taken to local customs warehouse to shred pirate products. Russian media noted it and a piece of news was broadcasted in the Russian news.

The material which needed to be shredded was pieces of clothes, untouched in original packages. Textiles can be challenging to shred but Tana Shark shreds them without trouble. Single rotor and high torque of the machine ensure a smooth shredding process. Please see the Newsclip in the Russian RBC television news here starting at 7:39.

The fully automatic M5000 melting point meter from A. Krüss Optronic in Hamburg can automatically measure melting points precisely and repeatably. The device is an ideal solution for applications in which multiple samples in powder form with melting points between 25°C and 400°C have to be examined in continuous laboratory operation with little time and staff involvement.

The M5000 determines the melting point digitally, without human involvement. The laboratory assistant only needs to fill the sample into the measuring capillary tube, insert this into the meter and start the measurement. Within a few minutes, the M5000 runs through the temperature range until the melting point is identified and signals that the measurement
is complete by sounding an alarm. Starting from room temperature, a temperature of 300° C is reached in under four minutes, the final temperature of 400°C after 7.5 minutes. The results of the measurement can immediately be read on the clear digital display with a degree of accuracy of 0.1°C and, if required, can be documented by means of an external printer, which can be connected directly to the meter.

Thanks to the integrated cooling fan, the M5000 is soon ready for the next measurement. Accuracy of measurement and repeatability of the results hold up to any comparison. Up to 200°C, the M5000 measures to an accuracy of 0.2°C, above that to 0.5°C. The measurement values can be repeated over the whole temperature range with an accuracy of 0.2°C. The membrane keypad, which is easy to clean, consists of only four keys, two of which are used to select functions from a menu, the third starts the measuring program and the fourth prints out the results via the RS232 serial interface.

The elegant table-top meter, which is about the size of a telephone, is supplied complete with a protective cover and 100 small melting point tubes. Since it is so easy to use, the M5000 does not have to be operated by trained laboratory staff, but can also be used by production staff who have been instructed appropriately. The M5000 meets the regulations of the GLP, FDA and Pharmacopoea Eruopaea for use in the manufacture of drugs. The M5000 is typically used in the chemical industry, such as in the manufacture of plastic and paints, in food production and monitoring, in pharmacology, and also in forensics, where the purity of substances can be determined by its melting behavior.

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The Apple iPad has met with astounding success in the U.S. market. Apple claimed that it managed to sold 300,000 iPads on its launch day. When Steve Jobs announced the iPhone OS 4.0, he said that in the first week more than 450,000 iPads were sold. Thanks to the heavy demand in the U.S. market, Apple has decided to push back the international release date of the iPad by a month.

“Faced with this surprisingly strong U.S. demand, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the international launch of iPad by one month, until the end of May. We will announce international pricing and begin taking online pre-orders on Monday, May 10,” said Apple in a press release.

Typical of Apple, the company also boasted about the strong sales of its product in the press release. “We know that many international customers waiting to buy an iPad will be disappointed by this news, but we hope they will be pleased to learn the reason—the iPad is a runaway success in the U.S. thus far.” As of now, there is virtually no competition for the iPad. Things will however change soon, with the launch of Meizu’s Mbook and few other Android based tablet devices. HP will also be soon launching its tablet device a.k.a Slate, which will run Windows 7.

Apple did not comment on the iPads overheating and Wi-Fi connectivity issue, which we had reported earlier.

Don’t miss these Related Posts:

• Apple Says New iPad Orders to Ship after April 12th
• Apple Starts Shipping iPads – Confirms Retail Launch on April 3rd
• Apple iPad On Sale From April 3, Pre-Orders Begin March 12
• iPad Details and Specifications – All You Want To Know About the Apple Tablet
• Apple iPad having Overheating and Wi-Fi Related Problems

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Here’s what Attorney General Eric Holder said in his opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee about the Khalid Shaikh Mohammed’s prospective trial, after he defended the Justice Department’s numerous 2009 and 2010 steps to try terrorists in civilian court. (Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, for instance, provided “not just valuable, but actionable” intelligence thanks to his criminal prosecution.)

I know you all have questions about the prosecution of those charged with plotting the 9/11 attacks. No final decision has been made about the forum in which Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants will be tried.

As I’ve said from the outset, this is very a close call. It should be clear to everyone by now that there are many legal, national security and practical factors to be considered here. As a consequence, there are many perspectives on what the most appropriate and effective forum is. In making this decision, I can assure you that this Administration has only one paramount goal: to ensure that justice is done in this case. In the pursuit of justice, we will enforce the law and protect the American people.

“This administration will use every tool available to fight terrorism,” he continued, repeating “every tool available” for emphasis. “That includes both civilian courts and military commissions. “

The iPad may have been delayed by a further month for non-US countries, but Vodafone intends on announcing pricing details at the end of May for Australia, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, where they will sell it. It’s not known if Vodafone will be the exclusive carrier for these countries. More »