Immigration reform 101: How would Senate plan actually work?

Features of the bipartisan plan range from more drones along the Rio Grande to a path to citizenship for some 11 million people in the country illegally. But the fight is all about the details.

By Peter Grier,?Staff writer / January 29, 2013

From left to right, Sens. Richard Durbin (D) of Illinois, Charles Schumer (D) of New York, and John McCain (R) of Arizona listen to a question at a news conference on comprehensive immigration reform at the US Capitol in Washington Monday.

Gary Cameron/Reuters

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On Monday a bipartisan group of eight senators unveiled a proposed overhaul of the US immigration system. The plan includes both increased border enforcement and an eventual path to citizenship for many of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants already in the country. Yet some important details of the effort remain undefined. According to what we know now, how would the immigration overhaul work?

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Washington Editor

Peter Grier is The Christian Science Monitor's Washington editor. In this capacity, he helps direct coverage for the paper on most news events in the nation's capital.

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We?ll give you a stripped-down, ?Immigration 101? version of the plan so you can follow debate on the issue in days and weeks ahead.

First, the senatorial plan calls for devoting increased resources to what it calls ?the basic governmental function of securing our borders." Specifically, it calls for increasing the use of drones and other electronic surveillance equipment, improving radio interoperability, and in general upping the number of agents at and between US border crossings.

?The purpose is to substantially lower the number of successful illegal border crossings while continuing to facilitate commerce," says the proposal.

Second, the plan calls for completion of a system capable of tracking whether people who enter the US via temporary visas have left the country when their visa has expired. Most surveys find that overstays range from 31 to 57 percent of those in the country illegally, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Third, it would establish a commission of Southwestern governors, attorneys general, and community leaders ?to monitor the progress of securing our border and to make a recommendation regarding when the bill?s security measures outlined in the legislation are completed."

The actual importance of this commission is unclear, as we?ll see in a moment.

Fourth, this approach to the problem would require persons who are currently here illegally to register with the government while the security measures are being put in place. Those who pass a background check designed to weed out actual criminals, and who pay a fine and settle all back taxes, would earn a probationary legal status.?

Again, this would occur simultaneously with the all the more-drones-along-the-Rio-Grande stuff. There?s been some confusion about that.

Fifth, citizenship! After the enforcement measures have been completed, those on probationary legal status could stand in the back of the line to get a green card and eventual citizenship. They would not earn these coveted items until everyone who has played by the rules and is already legally waiting has been taken care of.

?Our purpose is to ensure that no one who has violated America?s immigration laws will receive preferential treatment as they relate to those individuals who have complied with the law,? states the proposal.

(Hmm. Haven?t they already received preferential treatment via the probationary legal status thing? What?s the difference between that and a green card? Isn?t legal status, probationary or not, what most illegal immigrants really want? Those are questions the plan?s proponents have yet to address.)

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/PxzJBoHxkC8/Immigration-reform-101-How-would-Senate-plan-actually-work

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Standoff: Ala. gunman still holed up with kidnapped boy

MIDLAND CITY, Ala. (AP) ? A gunman holed up in a bunker with a 5-year-old hostage kept law officers at bay Wednesday in an all-night, all-day standoff that began when he killed a school bus driver and dragged the boy away, authorities said.

SWAT teams took up positions around the gunman's rural property and police negotiators tried to win the kindergartener's safe release.

The situation remained unchanged late Wednesday, with negotiations ongoing, Alabama State Trooper Charles Dysart told a news conference. He said no additional information would be released until Thursday morning.

The gunman, identified by neighbors as Jimmy Lee Dykes, a 65-year-old retired truck driver, was known around the neighborhood as a menacing figure who once beat a dog to death with a lead pipe, threatened to shoot children for setting foot on his property and patrolled his yard at night with a flashlight and a shotgun.

He had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning to answer charges he shot at his neighbors in a dispute last month over a speed bump.

The standoff along a red dirt road began on Tuesday afternoon, after a gunman boarded a stopped school bus filled with children in the town of Midland City, population 2,300. Sheriff Wally Olson said the man shot the bus driver when he refused to hand over a 5-year-old child. The gunman then took the boy away.

"As far as we know there is no relation at all. He just wanted a child for a hostage situation," said Michael Senn, a pastor who helped comfort the traumatized children after the attack.

Authorities initially said the boy was 6, but state Rep. Steve Clouse, who visited the boy's family, said he does not turn 6 until next week.

The bus driver, Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, was hailed by locals as a hero who gave his life to protect 21 students.

The boy's classmates, their parents and other members of this small Bible Belt community gathered in several churches and held a candlelight vigil in the town square Wednesday evening to pray for Poland and for the boy's safety. Some in the square joined together to sing "Amazing Grace."

Authorities gave no details on the standoff, and it was unclear if Dykes made any demands from his underground bunker, which resembled a tornado shelter.

The sheriff said in a brief statement Wednesday evening that negotiators continued talking to the suspect and "at this time we have no reason to believe that the child has been harmed."

About 50 vehicles from federal, state and local agencies were clustered at the end of a dirt road near where Dykes lived in a small travel trailer. Nearby homes were evacuated after authorities found what was believed to be a bomb on his property.

Clouse, who also has met with authorities, said the bunker had food and electricity, and the youngster was watching TV. He said law enforcement authorities were communicating with the gunman, but he had no details on how.

At one point, authorities lowered medicine into the bunker for the boy after his captor agreed to it, Clouse said. The lawmaker said he did not know what the medicine was for or whether it was urgently needed.

Chris Voss, a former international kidnapping negotiator for the FBI, said negotiators at the scene should remain patient and calm, resisting the urge to force a quick resolution.

"Getting what you want is not the same as getting even," said Voss, whose firm, the Black Swan Group, now consults on high-stakes negotiations. "Flooding the zone will not save lives."

Mike and Patricia Smith, who live across the street from Dykes and whose two children were on the bus when the shooting happened, said their youngsters had a run-in with him about 10 months ago.

"My bulldogs got loose and went over there," Patricia Smith said. "The children went to get them. He threatened to shoot them if they came back."

"He's very paranoid," her husband said. "He goes around in his yard at night with a flashlight and shotgun."

Patricia Smith said her children told her what happened on the bus: Two other children had just been dropped off and the Smith children were next. Dykes stepped onto the bus and grabbed the door so the driver couldn't close it. Dykes told the driver he wanted two boys, 6 to 8 years old, without saying why.

According to Smith, Dykes started down the aisle of the bus and the driver put his arm out to block him. Dykes fired four shots at Poland with a handgun, Smith said.

"He did give his life, saving children," Mike Smith said.

Patricia Smith said her daughter, a high school senior, began corralling the other children and headed for the back of the bus while Dykes and the driver were arguing. Later, Smith's son ran inside his house, telling his mother: "The crazy man across the street shot the bus driver and Mr. Poland won't wake up."

Patricia Smith ran over to the bus and saw the driver slumped over in his seat. Her daughter used another child's cellphone to call 911.

Another neighbor, Ronda Wilbur, said Dykes beat her 120-pound dog with a lead pipe for coming onto his side of the dirt road. The dog died a week later.

"He said his only regret was he didn't beat him to death all the way," Wilbur said. "If a man can kill a dog, and beat it with a lead pipe and brag about it, it's nothing until it's going to be people."

Dykes had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday to face a charge of menacing some neighbors as they drove by his house weeks ago. Claudia Davis said he yelled and fired shots at her, her son and her baby grandson over damage Dykes claimed their pickup truck did to a makeshift speed bump in the dirt road. No one was hurt.

"Before this happened, I would see him at several places and he would just stare a hole through me," Davis said. "On Monday I saw him at a laundromat and he seen me when I was getting in my truck, and he just stared and stared and stared at me."

__

Associated Press writers Melissa Nelson-Gabriel in Midland City, Bob Johnson in Montgomery, and Jay Reeves in Birmingham contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/standoff-ala-gunman-holed-kidnapped-boy-044359841.html

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VIDEO GAME REVIEW: Dishonored: a clever ... - Bowden Gaming

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Justin Timberlake To Perform At Grammys

Singer will play the February 10 show alongside Rihanna, Black Keys, Lumineers and Taylor Swift.
By Gil Kaufman

Justin Timberlake
Photo: Hope For Haiti Now

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1701045/justin-timberlake-perform-grammys.jhtml

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Daimler truck layoffs coming in NC, SC, Ore.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ? Daimler Trucks North America said Tuesday it was warning thousands of workers that potentially large layoffs could be coming at manufacturing plants in North Carolina, South Carolina, Oregon and Mexico.

The company said in a statement that it was notifying production workers about the layoffs two months in advance, in compliance with federal law. More details were expected to be released Thursday.

A company spokesman declined to say whether any plants were off the list of sites for potential layoffs. Officials with United Auto Workers' local unions at Freightliner plants in Mount Holly and Cleveland, N.C., declined comment.

Portland, Ore.-based Daimler Trucks employs about 20,000 workers building Freightliner and Western Star trucks, Thomas Built school buses, along with engines and parts. The unit is a division of Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler AG.

It was a year ago that the company's Freightliner long-distance truck plant in Cleveland said it would recall about 1,100 workers. The factory said it needed the manpower because demand in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and South Africa was improving.

Increased need for trucks indicated companies and consumers were buying more products and homes since "America moves on trucks," Daimler Trucks chief operating officer Roger Nielsen said then.

But Daimler Trucks said last summer it had rehired only about half its stated goal for the Cleveland plant because demand had not materialized as forecast.

___

Emery Dalesio can be reached at http://twitter.com/emerydalesio

___

Online:

Daimler Trucks North America: http://www.daimler-trucksnorthamerica.com/

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-01-29-US-Daimler-Trucks-Layoffs/id-1da7ea11d8f845c58c167f6d28487fd0

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Homeowners Take a Fresh Look at Remodeling.

(MCT)?If you?ve put off redoing that kitchen or adding a deck while waiting for the economy to perk up, welcome to the club.

Like the rest of the housing market, home improvements and remodeling plunged during the recession as consumers hunkered down.

But now that economic conditions are improving, the forecast for home fix-ups is looking up, too.

?Future market indicators, which have been lagging a little bit, have jumped up,? said Paul Emrath, a research vice president with the National Association of Home Builders. ?Calls for bids and appointments for remodeling proposals are increasing significantly.

?They are basically as high as they have ever been,? Emrath told builders meeting for the industry?s annual exposition last week in Las Vegas.

The outlook for home remodeling in the year ahead is the best it?s been in almost a decade, based on the most recent remodeling industry surveys by the homebuilders? association.

Home improvement expenditures are forecast to rise by almost a third from the worst of the market in early 2011 to late this year.

Remodeling fell by about 30 percent during the recession.

?That?s not as big as the decline in housing starts, which was closer to 80 percent,? Emrath said. ?Our forecast is for slow and steady increases going forward.

?There is still pent-up activity waiting to be released,? he said. ?We had a lot of projects put off as we went through the decline.?

Some remodelers say they?ve already seen a bounce in their business.

?Most remodelers definitely saw a rebound in the market in 2012 and are expecting continued growth in 2013,? said Lisa Parelli, president of the Dallas chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry.

During the recession, more of the remodels that Parelli saw in the Dallas area were home facelifts necessary to fix up a property for sale. ?But, now they are starting to see the bigger projects come back to life such as additions, complete tear-outs, whole house renovations,? she said.

Nationwide, the most popular home remodeling jobs, based on total expenditures, include kitchen remodels, bathroom upgrades and bedroom add-ons, according to a new study released this week by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

?There is pent-up demand and stuff that has been put off,? said Harvard housing researcher Kermit Baker.

Baker said Americans have spent big dollars repairing and remodeling formerly foreclosed and distressed homes, about $10 billion in 2011.

Researchers are also predicting a surge in home retrofitting to improve energy efficiency. ?We still think there is a lot of opportunity for greening up the housing stock,? Baker said.

Houston remodeler Bill Shaw said many homeowners get sticker shock when they finally decide to remodel.

?They still want new kitchens, they still want new baths,? said Shaw, who has been in business for 30 years. ?All the ingredients for growth are there, until they find out how much it is going to cost.?

Shaw said during the recession when remodeling business lagged, his industry saw new competition from traditional builders.

?We?ve seen a tremendous increase in custom builders getting into remodeling,? he said.

And unlike in previous downturns, many of these builders have decided to stay in the home improvement business even as home starts increase, Shaw said. Home value declines in many markets during the last few years also made it tougher for remodelers. Lenders and appraisers wouldn?t OK expensive home improvements in neighborhoods where home prices fell sharply.

?As the equity and housing values increase, I think we will get back to more larger projects,? said Bob Hanbury, a remodeler from New England.

He said homeowners are more frugal when it comes to redos. ?It doesn?t have as many of the bells and whistles; people are picking and choosing what they want,? Hanbury said. ?You can?t provide them all the great features as in the past because their budget isn?t big enough.?

?2013 The Dallas Morning News
Distributed by MCT Information Services

?

Source: http://www.christophechoo.com/homeowners-take-a-fresh-look-at-remodeling/

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The Bad Girls Club Season 10 Episode 3

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Yahoo sees revenue climb this year, but long road ahead

(Reuters) - Yahoo Inc forecast a modest uptick in revenue for the current year as it revamps its family of websites but Chief Executive Marissa Mayer warned it would be a long journey to revive the Internet company's fortunes.

In Yahoo's first financial outlook since Mayer became CEO in July, the company outlined a plan to trigger a "chain reaction of growth" by overhauling a dozen of its online services to increase the amount of time users spent on its websites.

It also pointed to strength in its search advertising business and progress made in improving its internal operations.

Yahoo's shares were 3 percent higher in after hours trade after the revenue projection was disclosed during an analysts conference call, shedding some ground after earlier rising as much as 4.5 percent.

But weakness in Yahoo's display ad business, which accounts for roughly 40 percent of the company's total revenue, caught some analysts by surprise.

"While the road to growth is certain, it will not be immediate," said Mayer, a former Google Inc executive and Yahoo's third full-time CEO since September 2011.

Yahoo said that revenue, excluding fees it pays to partner websites, will range between $4.5 billion and $4.6 billion in 2013, implying an annual growth rate of 0.7 percent to 3 percent.

Finance Chief Ken Goldman also warned investors to expect "an investment phase" in the first half of the year, which he said would impact profit margins.

"What was clear from the call is that this is a long-term turnaround story," said Macquarie Research analyst Ben Schachter. "We shouldn't expect anything to just snap back and correct itself."

During the fourth quarter, Yahoo's net revenue increased 4 percent year-on-year to $1.22 billion, as search advertising sales offset a 10 percent decline in the number of display ads sold on Yahoo's core properties.

Mayer said the decline was the result of less activity by visitors to its popular websites, such as its Web email service, and to a lesser extent due to users accessing the Web on smartphones, where Yahoo's ad business is not as strong.

Efforts to revamp its mobile properties, begun last year with a redesign of the photo-sharing service Flickr, remain on track, said Mayer, noting that Yahoo now has 200 million monthly mobile users.

"From a monetization perspective this is still a very nascent source of revenue for us. With any platform shift, revenue always followed users and mobile will be no different," she said.

Mayer took over after a tumultuous period at Yahoo in which former CEO Scott Thompson resigned after less than 6 months on the job over a controversy about his academic credentials and in which Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang resigned from the board and cut his ties with the company.

Yahoo's stock has risen roughly 30 percent since Mayer took the helm, reaching its highest levels since 2008.

Part of the stock's rise has been driven by significant stock buybacks, using proceeds from a $7.6 billion deal to sell half of its 40 percent stake in Chinese Internet company Alibaba Group, said Sameet Sinha, an analyst with B. Riley Caris.

Yahoo said it repurchased $1.5 billion worth of shares during the fourth quarter.

The company's fourth-quarter net income was $272.3 million, or 23 cents per share, versus $295.6 million, or 24 cents per share in the year-ago period.

Excluding certain items, Yahoo said it had earnings per share of 32 cents, versus the average analyst expectation of 28 cents according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

For the first quarter, Yahoo said it expects revenue, excluding partner website fees, of $1.07 billion to $1.1 billion, trailing the $1.1 billion that Wall Street analysts expect on average.

Shares of Yahoo were up 59 cents at $20.90 in after-hours trading on Monday.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Edwina Gibbs)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/yahoo-revenue-rises-search-advertising-012515413--sector.html

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THX Tune-Up App: Tweak Any TV From Your Phone

While it may look great in the store, your new flat screen is going to need to be calibrated once you get it home to deliver the best viewing experience. While hardcore videophiles will want to invest in a professional service, this new calibration app from THX covers the basic adjustments that the rest of us actually use. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/GF7qqcOQ-B4/thx-tune+up-app-tweak-any-tv-from-your-phone

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Republicans blame message, not ideas, for failures (reuters)

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Obama says rural voices need to be heard in gun debate: report (reuters)

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Best bets: Happy trails to J.R. Ewing

By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, NBC News

Larry Hagman's J.R. Ewing made an indelible mark on television history. His final episodes on the new version of "Dallas" start this week. More familiar faces: Keri Russell has a new show, and Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Alan Arkin have a new movie.

Hulton Archive / Getty Images

MONDAY: 'Dallas' returns
J.R. Ewing was one of television's most captivating villains on the original run of "Dallas," and he was the reason the show's return in 2012 was so well-received. The cowboy hat-wearing oil baron was conniving and charming, and it's impossible to imagine anyone but Larry Hagman playing him. Now that Hagman has died, the show must bid farewell to J.R. in a deserving manner. He couldn't ever be recast. The cast and crew of the new "Dallas" have promised to make his on-screen funeral one to remember. Happy trails, J.R. ("Dallas" returns with the first of Hagman's final two episodes Jan. 28, 9 p.m., TNT.)

WEDNESDAY: 'The Americans'
FX's new show, "The Americans," has a delightfully creepy, if dated, premise. Back in the 1980s, the KGB has settled a bunch of its agents in the U.S. as sleeper agents, even with unsuspecting families. Keri Russell (hi, Felicity!) and Matthew Rhys are a spy couple with kids who don't suspect Mom and Dad are Reds. USA! USA! (Premieres Jan. 30, 10 p.m., FX.)

FRIDAY: 'Stand Up Guys'
They're senior-citizen criminals, geezer gangsters. In "Stand Up Guys," Al Pacino and Christopher Walken play old buddies in crime who team up once Pacino gets out of prison, and also meet up with their former getaway driver, Alan Arkin. Reviews are mixed -- some critics think it's an unfunny slog of Viagra jokes -- but those are three veteran stars who command attention. (Opens Feb. 1.)

Related content:

Source: http://entertainment.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/14/16510766-best-bets-happy-trails-to-jr-ewing?lite

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ASU scientists unravel the mysteries of spider silk

Public release date: 27-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jenny Green
jenny.green@asu.edu
480-965-1430
Arizona State University

Scientists at Arizona State University are celebrating their recent success on the path to understanding what makes the fiber that spiders spin weight for weight - at least five times as strong as piano wire. They have found a way to obtain a wide variety of elastic properties of the silk of several intact spiders' webs using a sophisticated but noninvasive laser light scattering technique.

"Spider silk has a unique combination of mechanical strength and elasticity that make it one of the toughest materials we know," said Professor Jeffery Yarger of ASU's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and lead researcher of the study. "This work represents the most complete understanding we have of the underlying mechanical properties of spider silks."

Spider silk is an exceptional biological polymer, related to collagen (the stuff of skin and bones) but much more complex in its structure. The ASU team of chemists is studying its molecular structure in an effort to produce materials ranging from bulletproof vests to artificial tendons.

The extensive array of elastic and mechanical properties of spider silks in situ, obtained by the ASU team, is the first of its kind and will greatly facilitate future modeling efforts aimed at understanding the interplay of the mechanical properties and the molecular structure of silk used to produce spider webs.

The team published their results in today's advanced online issue of Nature materials and their paper is titled "Non-invasive determination of the complete elastic moduli of spider silks."

"This information should help provide a blueprint for structural engineering of an abundant array of bio-inspired materials, such as precise materials engineering of synthetic fibers to create stronger, stretchier, and more elastic materials," explained Yarger.

Other members of Yarger's team, in ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, included Kristie Koski, at the time a postdoctoral researcher and currently a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, and ASU undergraduate students Paul Akhenblit and Keri McKiernan.

The Brillouin light scattering technique used an extremely low power laser, less than 3.5 milliwatts, which is significantly less than the average laser pointer. Recording what happened to this laser beam as it passed through the intact spider webs enabled the researchers to spatially map the elastic stiffnesses of each web without deforming or disrupting it. This non-invasive, non-contact measurement produced findings showing variations among discrete fibers, junctions and glue spots.

Four different types of spider's webs were studied. They included Nephila clavipes (pictured), A. aurantia ("gilded silver face"-common to the contiguous United States), L. Hesperus the western black widow and P. viridans the green lynx spider, the only spider included that does not build a web for catching prey but has major silk elastic properties similar to those of the other species studied.

The group also investigated one of the most studied aspects of orb-weaving dragline spider silk, namely supercontraction, a property unique to silk. Spider silk takes up water when exposed to high humidity. Absorbed water leads to shrinkage in an unrestrained fiber up to 50 percent shrinkage with 100 percent humidity in N. clavipes silk.

Their results are consistent with the hypothesis that supercontraction helps the spider tailor the properties of the silk during spinning. This type of behavior, specifically adjusting mechanical properties by simply adjusting water content, is inspirational from a bio-inspired mechanical structure perspective.

"This study is unique in that we can extract all the elastic properties of spider silk that cannot and have not been measured with conventional testing," concluded Yarger.

###

Source:

Jeffery Yarger, jyarger@gmail.com
Phone: (480)965-0673

---

[ | 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.

Public release date: 27-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jenny Green
jenny.green@asu.edu
480-965-1430
Arizona State University

Scientists at Arizona State University are celebrating their recent success on the path to understanding what makes the fiber that spiders spin weight for weight - at least five times as strong as piano wire. They have found a way to obtain a wide variety of elastic properties of the silk of several intact spiders' webs using a sophisticated but noninvasive laser light scattering technique.

"Spider silk has a unique combination of mechanical strength and elasticity that make it one of the toughest materials we know," said Professor Jeffery Yarger of ASU's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and lead researcher of the study. "This work represents the most complete understanding we have of the underlying mechanical properties of spider silks."

Spider silk is an exceptional biological polymer, related to collagen (the stuff of skin and bones) but much more complex in its structure. The ASU team of chemists is studying its molecular structure in an effort to produce materials ranging from bulletproof vests to artificial tendons.

The extensive array of elastic and mechanical properties of spider silks in situ, obtained by the ASU team, is the first of its kind and will greatly facilitate future modeling efforts aimed at understanding the interplay of the mechanical properties and the molecular structure of silk used to produce spider webs.

The team published their results in today's advanced online issue of Nature materials and their paper is titled "Non-invasive determination of the complete elastic moduli of spider silks."

"This information should help provide a blueprint for structural engineering of an abundant array of bio-inspired materials, such as precise materials engineering of synthetic fibers to create stronger, stretchier, and more elastic materials," explained Yarger.

Other members of Yarger's team, in ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, included Kristie Koski, at the time a postdoctoral researcher and currently a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, and ASU undergraduate students Paul Akhenblit and Keri McKiernan.

The Brillouin light scattering technique used an extremely low power laser, less than 3.5 milliwatts, which is significantly less than the average laser pointer. Recording what happened to this laser beam as it passed through the intact spider webs enabled the researchers to spatially map the elastic stiffnesses of each web without deforming or disrupting it. This non-invasive, non-contact measurement produced findings showing variations among discrete fibers, junctions and glue spots.

Four different types of spider's webs were studied. They included Nephila clavipes (pictured), A. aurantia ("gilded silver face"-common to the contiguous United States), L. Hesperus the western black widow and P. viridans the green lynx spider, the only spider included that does not build a web for catching prey but has major silk elastic properties similar to those of the other species studied.

The group also investigated one of the most studied aspects of orb-weaving dragline spider silk, namely supercontraction, a property unique to silk. Spider silk takes up water when exposed to high humidity. Absorbed water leads to shrinkage in an unrestrained fiber up to 50 percent shrinkage with 100 percent humidity in N. clavipes silk.

Their results are consistent with the hypothesis that supercontraction helps the spider tailor the properties of the silk during spinning. This type of behavior, specifically adjusting mechanical properties by simply adjusting water content, is inspirational from a bio-inspired mechanical structure perspective.

"This study is unique in that we can extract all the elastic properties of spider silk that cannot and have not been measured with conventional testing," concluded Yarger.

###

Source:

Jeffery Yarger, jyarger@gmail.com
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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/asu-asu012713.php

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Good Reads: Boomtown slum, democracy in progress, and 'rewilding' in the Netherlands

This week's good reads include a day in Kenya's bustling Kibera slum, the struggle to promote democracy in the Arab world, and a radical conservation theory in the Netherlands.

By Allison Terry,?Correspondent / January 7, 2013

A hairdresser braids a woman?s hair in her salon in Kenya?s Kibera slum.

Noor Khamis/Reuters

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The image of an African shantytown does not usually conjure up hope for economic prosperity. But Kibera, one of Nairobi?s slums and arguably Africa?s largest slum, is exactly that for the Kenyans who call it home. In The Economist, a writer chronicled a day in Kibera, describing the slum?s ebbs and flows, capturing its entrepreneurial spirit. People from all over Kenya leave their towns and villages for a chance to find work in Kibera?s ?thriving economic machine.?

Skip to next paragraph Allison Terry

Allison Terry is national news intern for the Christian Science Monitor. She previously worked on the cover page desk and contributed to the culture section of the Monitor.

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The half-mile-by-two-mile area accommodates roughly 1 million people, wedged together in repurposed wood-and-corrugated-tin-roof structures. The alleys that wind through the slum vary in size, but there is no room for cars. Many of the residents work in nearby factories or offices. Others find economic opportunity in providing goods and services for Kibera?s residents.

When Cecilia Achieng moved to the slum, she started a school, at first renting space from an empty church. She eventually saved enough money to build six makeshift classrooms. After school, Ms. Achieng starts her second job: catering. She caters church events, funerals, and is even trying to get into weddings. In the evening, Achieng goes door to door offering her services as a hairdresser.

?To equate slums with idleness and misery is to misunderstand them,? the correspondent writes. ?Slums are far from hopeless places; many are not where economic losers end up, but rather reservoirs of tomorrow?s winners.?

The promise of the Arab Spring

As post-Arab Spring countries struggle to establish democratic institutions, pessimism about their ultimate success misses a broader lesson: Stable democracies have historically evolved from violent uprisings, initial failures, and stumbling blocks.

?These troubles ... are not a bug but a feature ? not signs of problems with democracy but evidence of the difficult, messy process of political development through which societies purge themselves of the vestiges of dictatorship and construct new and better democratic orders,? writes Sheri Berman in Foreign Affairs.

Critics who see Egypt, Libya, and other transitioning countries as democratic failures ignore the inherited social, cultural, and political dynamics in these countries, and a broader historical perspective. New democracies are not blank slates, writes Ms. Berman. In the aftermath of overthrowing dictators, countries must overcome the baggage that comes with authoritarian regimes ? distrust, animosity, and lack of civil organizations to deal with people?s demands. Islamism is filling that void in Egypt after Hosni Mubarak?s fall as religious organizations were the only places where people could participate and express themselves.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/LGGtcHWW-GE/Good-Reads-Boomtown-slum-democracy-in-progress-and-rewilding-in-the-Netherlands

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Deadly smoke, lone blocked exit: 230 die in Brazil

A man carries an injured man, victim of a fire at the Kiss club in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, early Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. Firefighters say that the death toll from a fire that swept through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil has risen to 180. Officials say the fire broke out while a band was performing. At least 200 people have been injured. (AP Photo/Agencia RBS)

A man carries an injured man, victim of a fire at the Kiss club in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, early Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. Firefighters say that the death toll from a fire that swept through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil has risen to 180. Officials say the fire broke out while a band was performing. At least 200 people have been injured. (AP Photo/Agencia RBS)

Relatives of victims react in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. A blaze raced through the crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing more than 200 people as the air filled with deadly smoke and panicked party-goers stampeded toward the exits, police and witnesses said. It appeared to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.(AP Photo/Evandro Sturm)

Relatives of victims react as they wait for news near the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. According to police more than 200 died in the devastating nightclub fire in southern Brazil. Officials say the fire broke out at the club while a band was performing. (AP Photo/Ronald Mendes-Agencia RBS)

A woman cries over the coffin of a victim at a gymnasium where bodies were brought for identification in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. Flames raced through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing more than 230 people as panicked partygoers gasped for breath in the smoke-filled air, stampeding toward a single exit partially blocked by those already dead. (AP Photo/Nabor Goulart)

Map locates Santa Maria, Brazil

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (AP) ? Flames raced through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing more than 230 people as panicked partygoers gasped for breath in the smoke-filled air, stampeding toward a single exit partially blocked by those already dead. It appeared to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.

Witnesses said a flare or firework lit by band members started the blaze in Santa Maria, a university city of about 225,000 people, though officials said the cause was still under investigation.

Television images showed smoke pouring out of the Kiss nightclub as shirtless young men who had attended a university party joined firefighters using axes and sledgehammers to pound at windows and walls to free those trapped inside.

Guido Pedroso Melo, commander of the city's fire department, told the O Globo newspaper that firefighters had a hard time getting inside the club because "there was a barrier of bodies blocking the entrance."

Teenagers sprinted from the scene desperately seeking help. Others carried injured and burned friends away in their arms.

"There was so much smoke and fire, it was complete panic, and it took a long time for people to get out, there were so many dead," survivor Luana Santos Silva told the Globo TV network.

The fire spread so fast inside the packed club that firefighters and ambulances could do little to stop it, Silva said.

Another survivor, Michele Pereira, told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that she was near the stage when members of the band lit flares that started the conflagration.

"The band that was onstage began to use flares and, suddenly, they stopped the show and pointed them upward," she said. "At that point, the ceiling caught fire. It was really weak, but in a matter of seconds it spread."

Guitarist Rodrigo Martins told Radio Gaucha that the band, Gurizada Fandangueira, started playing at 2:15 a.m. "and we had played around five songs when I looked up and noticed the roof was burning"

"It might have happened because of the Sputnik, the machine we use to create a luminous effect with sparks. It's harmless, we never had any trouble with it.

"When the fire started, a guard passed us a fire extinguisher, the singer tried to use it but it wasn't working"

He confirmed that accordion player Danilo Jacques, 28, died, while the five other members made it out safely.

Police Maj. Cleberson Braida Bastianello said by telephone that the toll had risen to 233 with the death of a hospitalized victim ? he said earlier that the death toll was likely made worse because the nightclub appeared to have just one exit through which patrons could exit.

Officials counted 232 bodies that had been brought for identification to a gymnasium in Santa Maria, which is located at the southern tip of Brazil, near the borders with Argentina and Uruguay.

Federal Health Minister Alexandre Padhilha told a news conference that most of the 117 people treated in hospitals had been poisoned by gases they breathed during the fire. Only a few suffered serious burns, he said.

Brazil President Dilma Roussef arrived to visit the injured after cutting short her trip to a Latin American-European summit in Chile.

"It is a tragedy for all of us," Roussef said.

Most of the dead apparently were asphyxiated, according to Dr. Paulo Afonso Beltrame, a professor at the medical school of the Federal University of Santa Maria who went to the city's Caridade Hospital to help victims.

Beltrame said he was told the club had been filled far beyond its capacity during a party for students at the university's agronomy department.

Survivors, police and firefighters gave the same account of a band member setting the ceiling's soundproofing ablaze, he said.

"Large amounts of toxic smoke quickly filled the room, and I would say that at least 90 percent of the victims died of asphyxiation," Beltrame told The Associated Press by telephone.

"The toxic smoke made people lose their sense of direction so they were unable to find their way to the exit. At least 50 bodies were found inside a bathroom. Apparently they confused the bathroom door with the exit door."

In the hospital, the doctor "saw desperate friends and relatives walking and running down the corridors looking for information," he said, calling it "one of the saddest scenes I have ever witnessed."

Rodrigo Moura, identified by the newspaper Diario de Santa Maria as a security guard at the club, said it was at its maximum capacity of between 1,000 and 2,000, and partygoers were pushing and shoving to escape.

Santa Maria Mayor Cezar Schirmer declared a 30-day mourning period, and Tarso Genro, the governor of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, said officials were investigating the cause of the disaster.

The blaze was the deadliest in Brazil since at least 1961, when a fire that swept through a circus killed 503 people in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro.

Sunday's fire also appeared to be the worst at a nightclub since December 2000, when a welding accident reportedly set off a fire at a club in Luoyang, China, killing 309.

In 2004, at least 194 people died in a fire at an overcrowded nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Seven members of a band were sentenced to prison for starting the flames.

Several years later, in December 2009, a blaze at the Lame Horse nightclub in Perm, Russia, killed 152 people after an indoor fireworks display ignited a plastic ceiling decorated with branches.

Similar circumstances led to a 2003 nightclub fire that killed 100 people in the United States. Pyrotechnics used as a stage prop by the 1980s rock band Great White set ablaze cheap soundproofing foam on the walls and ceiling of a Rhode Island music venue.

The band performing in Santa Maria, Gurizada Fandangueira, plays a driving mixture of local Brazilian country music styles. Guitarist Martin told Radio Gaucha the musicians are already seeing hostile messages.

"People on the social networks are saying we have to pay for what happened," he said. "I'm afraid there could be retaliation".

___

Sibaja reported from Brasilia. Associated Press Writer Stan Lehman and Bradley Brooks contributed to this report from Sao Paulo.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-01-27-Brazil-Nightclub%20Fire/id-58bbf5cf81ba4da58e13fe2725e6fccf

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Try These Magnificent Self Help Tips To Increase Your Confidence ...

Self improvement is when you work to make yourself a better person, and to ultimately improve your life. To reach your goals with personal development, you must educate yourself on how you can make yourself a better person and decide what works for you and what doesn?t. The article you are about to read will give you plenty of tips to get going on your personal development plan.

Most employers will not care what school or college you went to, they will care that you earned the degree and can do the work. Working with large financial institutions or law firms is an exception to this rule. Truthfully, it?s more crucial that you have obtained a degree and expanded your horizons.

Exercise is not only for people wanting to lose weight. There are tons of reasons to exercise. As you work out, your body will release chemicals necessary to relieving your stress.

TIP! Stay around like-minded individuals. This will help you to have a better attitude and maintain it as well as keeping you away from bad people that aren?t behind your dreams and goals.

You can?t change unless you make a directed, continuous effort to do so. It is important to make any changes that are necessary for growth.

You need to be your highest priority since you can?t please everybody. That doesn?t mean you should become selfish, but rather that you take control of your own emotions. You should never sacrifice your beliefs in the search for happiness.

One part of depression you may not thought of to look at is your diet and increasing the amount of complex carbohydrates that you consume. If you are not getting enough complex carbs, you serotonin levels will be low. You can do this by eating more raw veggies, fruits, nuts, brown rice, whole grains and assorted beans.

TIP! Make sure the goals you set for yourself are small and manageable so you can easily achieve them and develop the lifestyle that will make you happy. Figuring out your weaknesses and doing what you can to deal with them will make you a happier, more satisfied person.

Be ready to take down any ideas you may have, no matter what the setting is. Use a notepad app on your phone or even carry a real notepad with you. Just write down what their idea or thought is and then develop it more when you have the time and are feeling creative.

Strengthening your faith and expressing love are two great self improvement goals. You can not have faith without love. Therefore, it is important that you never become complacent in your faithfulness. Put your faith into action by helping others and loving not only your peers, but yourself as well.

Figure out what you want your life to be and do what it takes to accomplish it. If you lay around all day wishing your life was better but not doing anything to make it better, it will never happen. Make your dreams reality by taking decisive action.

TIP! We all make mistakes which includes making poor food choices once in a while. Stress is as bad for your body as a piece of cake, so remember that life is too short to sweat the small stuff.

Leadership is the cornerstone of personal development. Leadership is generally approached as being influential. Reflect back on your leadership experiences. What experiences have had the greatest impact on your life? What changes have occurred thanks to these events? What do you feel makes you a good team player? When you examine these thoughts, you will become more of a team player and leader.

You must understand that a divide exists between where you currently are, and the place you would like to go. This first step can start you on the way to reaching your goals. If you cannot see this discrepancy, it is unlikely that you will reach your highest potential.

TIP! Consider your personal character attributes when determining what you want to change. Your aesthetics can be changed quicker than your personality can! Clothes and looks are no reflection of the true personality of person.

If you suffer from anxiety, try going to see a movie with a friend. You will be out and about but you don?t have to talk a lot or even see who you?re with most of the time. This will give you the chance to get acquainted with the idea of being around more people.

Stress is one of the biggest road blocks to happiness. When the human mind is preoccupied with a state of stress, damage can be caused to both physical and mental aspects of the body. All of us need to have clear, relaxed thinking to enable us to plan and execute our life?s purpose, and this only happens when we let go of stressful thoughts. Allow yourself a set time during each day that you can relax and empty your mind. Taking a little bit of time for yourself will help you stay calm, and keep your goals in mind.

It is important that you feel comfortable using the abilities that you have. Being different isn?t a bad thing, since we all have different strengths and skills, which makes for an interesting world of personalities. Concentrate on good skills you already have rather than worry about talents you would like to acquire.

TIP! Are you experiencing difficulty meeting romantic partners? Think about looking on the Internet. Up to 40% of couples meet over the Internet nowadays.

You need to have an emergency fund. Many people handle every unexpected expense with a credit card, building up debt. If you put back just a few dollars every week you will quickly build up an emergency fund. Having an emergency fund in place can help provide a safety net throughout all the phases of one?s financial life.

Try writing down goals you want to reach if you want to better yourself. For example, should you want a greater amount of confidence, write about it. Then, brainstorm things that you could do or have done that will improve your confidence. Finally, you will need to put yourself in a situation where you can practice being confident. Developing a plan of attack will make it more likely that you succeed.

When you are trying to improve yourself, you should aim to have a high amount of self-discipline. Learn to exercise restraint over the desires of the flesh to achieve a higher level of self control. Overindulgence, overeating, lust, and selfishness are all base impulses that you can overcome. If you can cut out the negative aspects of your personality you?ll find your entire being becomes healthier and happier.

TIP! Choose one element of your life to focus on improving. You may want to improve multiple aspects of yourself, but keeping a narrow focus makes it easier to define and achieve your goals.

Start each morning believing that it will be better that day than it was the day before. Put the effort that is needed to accomplish this. Steady, unending improvement should be your goal. Try your hardest to achieve something different today than what you achieved yesterday.

Your reaction to a situation can determine your level of stress. Acknowledge and manage your stress by carefully analyzing your circumstances. If a mistake is the issue, there are ways to correct it or cope with living with your mistake. Focus more on your accomplishments instead of your failures.

Avoid going shopping as a form of entertainment or comfort. Shopping your stress away, or ?retail therapy? as some people say, is really more of a stress inducer, because it distracts you from the stress for a while but it all comes back with big bills and interest charges when the bills come in.

TIP! Try to make the most of your time at work and get more done. Take an ample amount of breaks when you are working hard.

Don?t just respect people who have power or something to offer you; treat everyone with respect. The way you deal with people speaks volumes about your character.

Leadership is about exercising authority, but good leaders are humble, too. When rebukes are necessary, be gentle yet firm, and keep in mind that you must be able to serve to be able to lead effectively. A real leader models integrity and upholds the appropriate virtues. These qualities are required in order to lead successfully.

Behind every great champion is an equally great coach. It is important to surround yourself with a positive mentor and coach. Everyone should help one another. This is an important strategy for ensuring that everyone is able to achieve their goals. Behind every successful story, there?s a great mentor.

TIP! Do you drink a lot? Do you use tobacco products or any other harmful things? You should treat your body as if it is a temple. One way to improve your life is by getting rid of any bad habits that you have.

Know the obstacles you face before you hit them. This is very hard for many people to do. In order to change problems you are having, you must identify what they are. It?s easier to move forward if you take care of what is standing in your way.

Find books that inspire you. Everyone?s idea of a positive piece of writing is different. It may be a religious bible, or alternatively a book of inspirational quotes. By keeping something around that you can refer to for encouragement, you will be better able to handle all that life throws at you.

Take care of yourself physically to get the most out of your personal development activities. Just simple things, such as exercise, getting enough rest and a proper diet, will all keep your energy level up and make you feel good enough to be successful in your personal development journey. It might seem easy, but it can prove to be very difficult.

TIP! Focus on the things that you have determined are most important to you. Focus on the more positive things in life because they matter.

As was mentioned earlier, self improvement can help you better yourself. Try different things and select the strategies that work best for your situation. Use the advice in the article and you can take the first step in a journey of self improvement.

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Five die in Egypt violence on anniversary of uprising

CAIRO/ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - Five people were shot dead in the Egyptian city of Suez during nationwide protests against President Mohamed Mursi on Friday, the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

One of the dead was a member of the security forces, medics said. Another 280 civilians and 55 security personnel were injured, officials said, in demonstrations fuelled by anger at the president and his Islamist allies in the Muslim Brotherhood.

Thousands of opponents of Mursi massed in Cairo's Tahrir Square - the cradle of the revolt against Mubarak - to rekindle the demands of a revolution they say has been hijacked by Islamists who have betrayed its goals.

Street battles erupted in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and Port Said. Arsonists attacked at least two state-owned buildings as symbols of government were targeted. An office used by the Muslim Brotherhood's political party was also torched.

The January 25 anniversary laid bare the divide between the Islamists and their secular rivals.

This schism is hindering the efforts of Mursi, elected in June, to revive an economy in crisis and reverse a plunge in Egypt's currency by enticing back investors and tourists.

Inspired by the popular uprising in Tunisia, Egypt's revolution spurred further revolts across the Arab world. But the sense of common purpose that united Egyptians two years ago has given way to internal strife that had already triggered bloody street battles last month.

"Our revolution is continuing. We reject the domination of any party over this state. We say no to the Brotherhood state," Hamdeen Sabahy, a popular leftist leader, told Reuters.

The Brotherhood decided against mobilizing for the anniversary, wary of the scope for more conflict after December's violence, stoked by Mursi's decision to fast-track an Islamist-tinged constitution rejected by his opponents.

The Brotherhood denies accusations that it is seeking to dominate Egypt, labeling them a smear campaign by its rivals.

DEATH IN SUEZ

There were conflicting accounts of the lethal shooting in Suez. Some witnesses said security forces had opened fire in response to gunfire from masked men.

News of the deaths capped a day of violence which started in the early hours. Before dawn in Cairo, police battled protesters who threw petrol bombs and firecrackers as they approached a wall blocking access to government buildings near Tahrir Square.

Clouds of tear gas filled the air. At one point, riot police used one of the incendiaries thrown at them to set ablaze at least two tents erected by youths, a Reuters witness said.

Skirmishes between stone-throwing youths and the police continued in streets around the square into the day. Ambulances ferried away a steady stream of casualties.

Protesters echoed the chants of 2011's historic 18-day uprising. "The people want to bring down the regime," they chanted. "Leave! Leave! Leave!" chanted others as they marched towards the square.

"We are not here to celebrate but to force those in power to submit to the will of the people. Egypt now must never be like Egypt during Mubarak's rule," said Mohamed Fahmy, an activist.

There were similar scenes in Suez and Alexandria, where protesters and riot police clashed near local government offices. Black smoke billowed from tires set ablaze by youths.

In Cairo, police fired tear gas to disperse a few dozen protesters trying to remove barbed-wire barriers protecting the presidential palace, witnesses said. A few masked men got as far as the gates before they were beaten back.

Tear gas was also fired at protesters who tried to remove metal barriers outside the state television building.

Outside Cairo, protesters broke into the offices of provincial governors in Ismailia and Kafr el-Sheikh in the Nile Delta. A local government building was torched in the Nile Delta city of al-Mahalla al-Kubra.

BADIE CALLS FOR "PRACTICAL, SERIOUS COMPETITION"

With an eye on parliamentary elections likely to begin in April, the Brotherhood marked the anniversary with a charity drive across the nation. It plans to deliver medical aid to one million people and distribute affordable basic foodstuffs.

Writing in Al-Ahram, Egypt's flagship state-run daily, Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie said the country was in need of "practical, serious competition" to reform the corrupt state left by the Mubarak era.

"The differences of opinion and vision that Egypt is passing through is a characteristic at the core of transitions from dictatorship to democracy, and clearly expresses the variety of Egyptian culture," he wrote.

Mursi's opponents say he and his group are seeking to dominate the post-Mubarak order. They accuse him of showing some of the autocratic impulses of the deposed leader by, for example, driving through the new constitution last month.

"I am taking part in today's marches to reject the warped constitution, the 'Brotherhoodisation' of the state, the attack on the rule of law, and the disregard of the president and his government for the demands for social justice," Amr Hamzawy, a prominent liberal politician, wrote on his Twitter feed.

The Brotherhood says its rivals are failing to respect the rules of the new democracy that put the Islamists in the driving seat via free elections.

Six months into office, Mursi is also being held responsible for an economic crisis caused by two years of turmoil. The Egyptian pound has sunk to record lows against the dollar.

The parties that called for Friday's protests list demands including a complete overhaul of the constitution.

Critics say the constitution, which was approved in a referendum, offers inadequate protection for human rights, grants the president too many privileges and fails to curb the power of a military establishment supreme in the Mubarak era.

Mursi's supporters say enacting the constitution quickly was crucial to restoring stability needed for economic recovery.

(Additional reporting by Ahmed el-Shemi, Ashraf Fahim, Marwa Awad, Shaimaa Fayed and Yasmine Saleh in Cairo and Abdel Rahman Youssef in Alexandria; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Robert Woodward)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egyptian-opposition-mark-uprising-protests-012625590.html

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