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Friday, April 26, 2013

Geoscientists predict new compounds could change our view of what planets are made of

Apr. 24, 2013 ? A team of researchers led by Artem R. Oganov, a professor of theoretical crystallography in the Department of Geosciences, has made a startling prediction that challenges existing chemical models and current understanding of planetary interiors -- magnesium oxide, a major material in the formation of planets, can exist in several different compositions. The team's findings, "Novel stable compounds in the Mg-O system under high pressure," are published in the online edition of Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. The existence of these compounds -- which are radically different from traditionally known or expected materials -- could have important implications.

"For decades it was believed that MgO is the only thermodynamically stable magnesium oxide, and it was widely believed to be one of the main materials of the interiors of the Earth and other planets," said Qiang Zhu, the lead author of this paper and a postdoctoral student in the Oganov laboratory.

"We have predicted that two new compounds, MgO₂ and Mg₃O₂, become stable at pressures above one and five million atmospheres, respectively. This not only overturns standard chemical intuition but also implies that planets may be made of totally unexpected materials. We have predicted conditions (pressure, temperature, oxygen fugacity) necessary for stability of these new materials, and some planets, though probably not the Earth, may offer such conditions," added Oganov.

In addition to their general chemical interest, MgO₂ and Mg₃O₂ might be important planet-forming minerals in deep interiors of some planets. Planets with these compounds would most likely be the size of Earth or larger.

The team explained how its paper predicted the structures in detail by analyzing the electronic structure and chemical bonding for these compounds. For example, Mg₃O₂ is forbidden within "textbook chemistry," where the Mg ions can only have charges "+2," O ions are "-2, and the only allowed compound is MgO. In the "oxygen-deficient" semiconductor Mg₃O₂, there are strong electronic concentrations in the "empty space" of the structure that play the role of negatively charged ions and stabilize this material. Curiously, magnesium becomes a d-element (i.e. a transition metal) under pressure, and this almost alchemical transformation is responsible for the existence of the "forbidden" compound Mg₃O₂.

The findings were made using unique methods of structure prediction, developed in the Oganov laboratory. "These methods have led to the discovery of many new phenomena and are used by a number of companies for systematically discovering novel materials on the computer -- a much cheaper route, compared to traditional experimental methods," said Zhu.

"It is known that MgO makes up about 10 percent of the volume of our planet, and on other planets this fraction can be larger. The road is now open for a systematic discovery of new unexpected planet-forming materials," concluded Oganov.

This work is funded by the National Science Foundation and DARPA.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stony Brook University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Qiang Zhu, Artem R. Oganov, Andriy O. Lyakhov. Novel stable compounds in the Mg?O system under high pressure. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2013; DOI: 10.1039/C3CP50678A

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/e0dYr5OduAk/130424125444.htm

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Serbia-Kosovo deal clears path to EU accession, but long road remains

The agreement to 'normalize' relations between Serbia and Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia five years ago, removes a major obstacle to each one's bid to join the EU.

By Andrew MacDowall,?Correspondent / April 25, 2013

Members of the Serbian government attend a session in Belgrade, Serbia, on Monday. The Serbian government approved a potentially landmark agreement to normalize relations with breakaway Kosovo that could end years of tensions and put the Balkan rivals on a path to European Union membership.

Marko Drobnjakovic/AP

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This week?s breakthrough deal between Serbia and the disputed territory of Kosovo moves both closer to European Union membership and a conclusion to one of Europe?s last frozen conflicts. But progress towards EU accession is still fraught with difficulty, as Europe continues to struggle with its economic crisis.

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On Monday, the European Commission, the EU?s executive body, recommended that Brussels start formal negotiations on Serbian accession, after the Serbian government agreed to sign a draft agreement ?normalizing? relations with Kosovo, which it still refuses to recognize.

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence in 2008, nine years after a NATO bombing campaign led to Serbian withdrawal from most of the territory, which the majority of Serbs see as part of their country. The deal allows the ethnic-Albanian-dominated government in Pristina to control all of Kosovo, including the predominantly Serbian north.

?This is not recognition, but it is a big step towards it,? says James Ker-Lindsay, senior research fellow on South East European politics at the London School of Economics. ?You can take the view that the agreement still allows Serbia to maintain the fiction that Kosovo is a province of Serbia, just ruled from Pristina. But eventual acceptance of Kosovo is where Serbia is going with all this.?

'A big step'

The deal came after months of on-off negotiations brokered by the EU. Belgrade agreed to sign after Kosovo made concessions on policing of the north, and on a clause which now states that the two countries must not try to block each other?s EU accession process. The revised wording ? which previously referred to membership of any international institutions ? allows Serbia to continue its opposition to Kosovo joining the UN, a related but separate diplomatic battle that had been a sticking point in the EU talks.

Pristina?s reward for this ? other than the de facto recognition of its sovereignty over the whole territory ? will be a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU, considered the first step towards membership.

For Serbia, the prospect of EU talks has particular political, diplomatic, and economic significance. It indicates that the country, considered an international pariah less than 15 years ago, is increasingly being accepted back into the international mainstream.

The fact that the Kosovo deal was signed by a coalition of nationalists and socialists which was decried last year for its far-right past and links to late strongman president Slobodan Milosevic has a Nixon-to-China element to it; an EU deal may boost the government?s standing further before possible snap elections in the autumn.

And for the beleaguered Serbian economy, which re-entered recession last year, concrete steps towards the EU should provide a boost in terms of greater stability, impetus for reform, and future funding.

A long way to go

However, accession is far from an easy process, or a short one. Serbia is not likely to join before the next decade, after painstaking economic, judicial, and administrative restructuring. Serbia?s unhappy recent past ? and the EU's experience of integrating Romania and Bulgaria ? mean that Brussels is likely to be particularly stringent in ensuring that the country meets its standards.

As Dr. Ker-Lindsay points out, it is not even certain that negotiations will start any time soon.

?There is a real possibility that Germany or other countries will say that this is still not good enough, which would have a very harmful effect, and lead to a sense of betrayal in Serbia,? he says.

With the EU faced with record levels of skepticism among its own citizens, and its economies struggling to recover from prolonged crisis, Serbian accession may not seem a priority; it is hardly a vote-winner with EU electorates. And it remains to be seen what sort of EU Serbia would be joining ? in a decade?s time it could be a rather different organization.

But for all the necessary caveats, this week?s agreement could prove a landmark in resolving conflicts in a troubled region.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/Y4hTvqN63pI/Serbia-Kosovo-deal-clears-path-to-EU-accession-but-long-road-remains

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Did online feud fuel ricin-laced letters?

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) ? The investigation into poisoned letters mailed to President Barack Obama and others has shifted from an Elvis impersonator to his longtime foe, and authorities must now figure out if an online feud between the two men might have escalated into something more sinister.

Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, was released from a north Mississippi jail on Tuesday and charges against him were dropped, nearly a week after authorities charged him with sending ricin-laced letters to the president, Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and an 80-year-old Lee County, Miss., Justice Court judge, Sadie Holland.

Before Curtis left jail, authorities had already descended on the home of 41-year-old Everett Dutschke in Tupelo, a northeast Mississippi town best known as the birthplace of the King himself. On Wednesday, they searched the site of a Tupelo martial arts studio once operated by Dutschke, who hasn't been arrested or charged.

His attorney, Lori Nail Basham, said Dutschke is "cooperating fully" with investigators and that no arrest warrant had been issued.

Curtis, who performs as Elvis and other celebrities, describes a bizarre, yearslong feud between the two, but Dutschke insists he had nothing to do with the letters. They contained language identical to that found on Curtis' Facebook page and other websites, making him an early suspect.

Federal authorities have not said what led them to drop the charges against Curtis, and his lawyers say they're not sure what new evidence the FBI has found.

After being released from jail Tuesday, Curtis described a long feud between himself and Dutschke, but said he's not sure exactly what started it. It involves the men's time working together, a broken promise to help with a book by Curtis and an acrimonious exchange of emails, according to Curtis.

The two worked together at Curtis' brother's insurance office years ago, Curtis said. He said Dutschke told him he owned a newspaper and showed interest in publishing his book called "Missing Pieces," about what Curtis considers an underground market to sell body parts.

But Dutschke decided not to publish the material, Curtis said, and later began stalking him on the Internet.

For his part, Dutschke said he didn't even know Curtis that well.

"He almost had my sympathy until I found out that he was trying to blame somebody else," Dutschke said Monday. "I've known he was disturbed for a long time. Last time we had any contact with each other was at some point in 2010 when I threatened to sue him for fraud for posting a Mensa certificate that is a lie. He is not a Mensa member. That certificate is a lie."

Curtis acknowledges posting a fake Mensa certificate on Facebook, but says it was an online trap set up for Dutschke because he believed Dutschke was stalking him online. He knew Dutschke also claimed to be a member of the organization for people with high IQs. Dutschke had a Mensa email address during his 2007 legislative campaign.

Dutschke started a campaign to prove him a liar, Curtis said, and allegedly harassed him through emails and social networking.

Curtis said the two agreed to meet at one point to face off in person, but Dutschke didn't show up.

"The last email I got from him, was, 'Come back tomorrow at 7 and the results of you being splattered all over the pavement will be public for the world to see what a blank, blank, blank you are.' And then at that point, I knew I was dealing with a coward," Curtis said.

Hal Neilson, one of the attorneys for Curtis, has said the defense gave authorities a list of people who may have had a reason to hurt Curtis, and that Dutschke's name came up. Efforts to reach Curtis, his lawyers and his brother were unsuccessful on Wednesday.

Both men say they have met Wicker, and they each have a connection to Holland.

Authorities say the letters were mailed April 8, but the one sent to Holland was the only one to make it into the hands of an intended target. Her son, Democratic state Rep. Steve Holland of Plantersville, said his mother did a "smell test" of the envelope and a substance in it irritated her nose. The judge was not sickened by what authorities say was a crude form of the poison, which is derived from castor beans.

Sadie Holland has declined to comment on the case.

She was presiding judge in a case in which Curtis was accused of assaulting a Tupelo attorney in 2003. Holland sentenced Curtis to six months in the county jail. He served only part of the sentence, according to his brother.

Running as a Republican, Dutschke lost a lopsided election to Steve Holland in 2007, and observers say the judge publicly chastised Dutschke at a political rally that year.

Brandon Presley, Mississippi's northern district public service commissioner and a distant cousin of Elvis Presley, attended the 2007 political rally in Verona. He told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he remembers Dutschke giving a "militant" speech with personal and professional attacks Steve Holland.

Presley, also a Democrat, said he doesn't recall details of the speech ? just the tone of it, and the crowd's reaction.

"I just remember everybody's jaw dropping," Presley said.

Dutschke, who ran as a Republican, said his speech included sharp criticism of Steve Holland's record in public office.

Steve Holland said earlier this week that his mother made Dutschke get down on his knees at the 2007 rally and apologize. On Wednesday, he said he was mistaken about her telling Dutschke to kneel.

"She just got up and said 'Sir, you will apologize," Steve Holland said.

Dutschke said Steve Holland exaggerated the incident. Presley said he remembers Sadie Holland chastising Dutschke.

Presley said of Sadie Holland: "I don't believe the woman has an enemy in the world.... I don't know anybody who doesn't love Ms. Sadie Holland, except whoever this fool is who sent the letter. Whoever it is, they ought to be ashamed of themselves, picking on Ms. Sadie."

Dutschke ? who unsuccessfully ran as a Democrat for Lee County election commissioner in 2008 ? told AP on Tuesday that he has no problem with Sadie Holland. "Everybody loves Sadie, including me," he said.

On Wednesday, dozens of investigators were searching at a small retail space where neighboring business owners said Dutschke used to operate a martial arts studio. Officers at the scene wouldn't comment on what they were doing.

Investigators in gas masks, gloves and plastic suits emerged from the business carrying five-gallon buckets full of items covered in large plastic bags. Once outside, others started spraying their protective suits with some sort of mist.

Dutschke was seen outside the studio observing the search.

Dutschke told the AP on Wednesday morning that he and his wife had gone to a friend's house because they didn't feel safe at their home. He didn't immediately respond to messages Wednesday afternoon.

"They ripped everything out of the house," he said, adding: "I haven't slept at all."

____

Wagster Pettus contributed from Jackson, Miss., and Associated Press writers Jeff Amy and Jay Reeves contributed from Tupelo, Miss.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mens-yearslong-feud-looms-over-ricin-probe-205602937.html

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Thursday, April 25, 2013

US team speaking to suspects' parents in Russia

MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) ? U.S. investigators are in contact with the parents of the two Boston bombing suspects in southern Russia and working with Russian security officials to shed light on the deadly attack, a U.S. Embassy official said Wednesday.

The parents plan to fly to the United States on Thursday, the father was quoted telling the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

The U.S. team traveled Tuesday from Moscow to the predominantly Muslim province of Dagestan "because the investigation is ongoing, it's not over," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. He said the Americans were working with the Russian security services, the FSB. He would not specify how long the Americans planned to stay in Dagestan.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, and his 19-year-old brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, are accused of setting off the two bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15. The elder brother was later killed in a police standoff.

Investigators are looking into whether Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who spent six months in Russia's Caucasus in 2012, was influenced by the religious extremists who have waged an insurgency against Russian security services in the area for years. The brothers have roots in Dagestan and neighboring Chechnya, but neither spent much time in either place before the family moved to the United States a decade ago.

Their mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, spent from morning to early evening Wednesday inside the FSB building in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, where she was believed to be speaking further to U.S. and Russian investigators.

Heda Saratova, a prominent Chechen rights activist providing support to the distraught mother, said Tsarnaeva first went in for questioning on Tuesday, returning late at night. Saratova said she had no details about the discussions, but Tsarnaeva said they were "cordial."

The father, Anzor Tsarnaev, also was summoned to the FSB headquarters but did not go because he felt ill, Saratova said.

He has said previously that he intended to travel to the U.S. this week to talk to police and seek "justice and the truth." The family has said that he wants to bring Tamerlan Tsarnaev's body back to Russia.

___

AP writer Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-24-Russia-Boston%20Suspects/id-011912a7dac248ef9c18965240adc442

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Lawmakers ask who knew what about bomb suspect

BOSTON (AP) ? Lawmakers are asking tough questions about how the government tracked suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev when he traveled to Russia last year, renewing criticism from after the Sept. 11 attacks that failure to share intelligence may have contributed to last week's deadly assault.

Following a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill with the FBI and other law enforcement officials on Tuesday, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said it doesn't appear yet that anyone "dropped the ball." But he said he was asking all the federal agencies for more information about who knew what about the suspect.

"There still seem to be serious problems with sharing information, including critical investigative information ... not only among agencies but also within the same agency in one case," said committee member Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Lawmakers intensified their scrutiny as funerals were held Tuesday for an 8-year-old boy killed in the bombings and a campus police officer who authorities said was shot by Tsarnaev and his younger brother days later. A memorial service for the officer, 26-year-old Sean Collier, is scheduled for Wednesday. Vice President Joe Biden is expected to speak.

Also Wednesday, Boylston Street, where the blasts occurred, reopened to the public after being closed since the bombings.

While family said that the older Tsarnaev had been influenced by a Muslim convert to follow a strict type of Islam, brother 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev remained hospitalized after days of questioning over his role in the attacks. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a shootout with police last week.

Conflicting stories appeared to emerge about which agencies knew about Tamerlan Tsarnaev's six-month trip to Russia last year how they handled it. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate Judiciary Committee on immigration legislation that her agency knew about Tsarnaev's journey to his homeland.

But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the FBI "told me they had no knowledge of him leaving or coming back."

Information-sharing failures between agencies prompted an overhaul of the U.S. intelligence system after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Meanwhile, evidence mounted that Tsarnaev had embraced a radical, anti-American strain of Islam. Family members blamed the influence of a Muslim convert, known only to the family as Misha, for steering him toward a strict type of Islam.

"Somehow, he just took his brain," said Tamerlan's uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Md., who recalled conversations with Tamerlan's worried father about Misha's influence.

Authorities don't believe Tsarnaev or his brother had links to terror groups. However, two U.S. officials said that Tsarnaev frequently looked at extremist websites, including Inspire magazine, an English-language online publication produced by al-Qaida's Yemen affiliate. The magazine has endorsed lone-wolf terror attacks.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.

Eight-year-old Martin Richard, a Boston schoolboy and the youngest of those killed by the blasts, was laid to rest Tuesday after a family-only funeral Mass.

"The outpouring of love and support over the last week has been tremendous," the family said in a statement. "This has been the most difficult week of our lives."

The Richards family said they would hold a public memorial service for Martin in the coming weeks.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's condition was upgraded from serious to fair Tuesday as investigators continued building their case against him.

He could face the death penalty after being charged Monday with joining forces with his brother in setting off shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs. Three people were killed and over 260 injured. About 50 were still hospitalized.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured hiding in a tarp-covered boat in a suburban Boston backyard on Friday.

In Washington, Senate Intelligence Committee member Richard Burr, R-N.C., said after his panel was briefed by federal law enforcement officials that there is "no question" that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was "the dominant force" behind the attacks and that the brothers had apparently been radicalized by material on the Internet rather than by contact with militant groups overseas.

The brothers' parents are from Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim province in Russia's Caucasus, where Islamic militants have waged an insurgency against Russia. A U.S. Embassy official said Wednesday that a team of U.S. investigators has traveled to Dagestan to speak to the parents. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Family members reached in the U.S. and abroad by The Associated Press said Tamerlan was influenced by Misha.

After befriending Misha, Tamerlan gave up boxing, stopped studying music and began opposing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to family members, who said he turned to websites and literature claiming that the CIA was behind 9/11.

"You could always hear his younger brother and sisters say, 'Tamerlan said this,' and 'Tamerlan said that.' Dzhokhar loved him. He would do whatever Tamerlan would say," recalled Elmirza Khozhugov, the ex-husband of Tamerlan's sister. He spoke by telephone from his home in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The brothers, who came to the U.S. from Russia a decade ago, were raised in a home that followed Sunni Islam, the religion's largest sect, but were not regulars at the mosque and rarely discussed religion, Khozhugov said.

Then, in 2008 or 2009, Tamerlan met Misha, a heavyset bald man with a reddish beard. Khozhugov didn't know where they met but believed they attended a Boston-area mosque together.

Napolitano said Tuesday that her agency knew of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's trip to Russia. She said that even though the suspect's name was misspelled on a travel document, redundancies in the system allowed his departure to be captured by U.S. authorities in January 2012.

Meanwhile, a U.S. Embassy official said U.S. investigators traveled to southern Russia to speak to the brothers' parents, hoping to learn more about their motives.

In other developments:

? A lawyer for Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife, Katherine Tsarnaeva, said his client "is doing everything she can to assist with the investigation," although he would not say whether she had spoken with federal authorities. Another lawyer for Tsarnaeva said the 24-year-old deeply mourned the loss of innocent victims in the bombings.

? The Massachusetts state House turned aside a bid by several lawmakers to reinstate the death penalty in certain cases, including the murder of police officers. In a 119-38 vote, the House sent the proposal to a study committee rather than advance it to an up-or-down vote.

? In New Jersey, the sisters of the suspects, Ailina and Bella Tsarnaeva, issued a statement saying they were saddened to "see so many innocent people hurt after such a callous act." Later, in brief remarks to several news outlets, Ailina described her elder brother as a "kind and loving man." She said of both brothers: "I have no idea what got into them" and also that "at the end of the day no one knows the truth."

? Phantom Fireworks of Seabrook, N.H., said Tamerlan Tsarnaev bought 48 mortar shells at the store in February. Company Vice President William Weimer, however, said the amount of gunpowder that could be extracted from the fireworks would not have been enough for the Boston bombs.

? A fund created to benefit the victims of the Boston Marathon attacks has generated $20 million. Mayor Thomas Menino said more than 50,000 donors from across the world have made donations to One Fund Boston.

___

Dozier reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Bridget Murphy and Bob Salsberg in Boston, Lynn Berry in Moscow, and Adam Goldman, Eric Tucker, Matt Apuzzo, and Eileen Sullivan in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lawmakers-ask-knew-bomb-suspect-064344186.html

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Microsoft Surface Pro and Surface RT now shipping in more countries

Microsoft's Surface Pro and RT are striking out to more far flung corners of the globe. Redmond just announced this morning that its two Windows 8 tablets will be made available to even more markets, with the Surface RT being the first to branch out, shipping on April 25th to Malaysia and then soon after to Mexico, Korea and Thailand by end May / early June. When it finally hits that early summer release window, the Surface RT will be accessible to a total of 29 markets globally. As for its older sibling, the feature-packed Surface Pro, that angular slate's set to expand beyond its current limited availability (U.S., Canada and China) to 19 additional markets across Europe (including the UK), Asia and Oceania by the end of next month. And if you've been searching high and low for a 128GB Surface Pro to no avail, chin up, as Microsoft's taken note of your demand and is working with retailers to keep that model "consistently in stock."

Filed under: Tablets, Microsoft