Iran says its delayed news of US drone capture

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iran deliberately delayed its announcement that it had captured an American surveillance drone to test U.S. reaction, the country's foreign minister said Saturday.

Ali Akbar Salehi said Tehran finally went public with its possession of the RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone to disprove contradictory statements from U.S. officials.

Iran, which put the aircraft on display last week, has tried to trumpet the downing of the drone as a feat of Iran's military in a complicated technological and intelligence battle with the U.S. Tehran also has rejected a formal U.S. request to return the plane, calling it's incursion an "invasion" and a "hostile act."

"When our armed forces nicely brought down the stealth American surveillance drone, we didn't announce it for several days to see what the other party (U.S.) says and to test their reaction," Salehi told the official IRNA news agency. "Days after Americans made contradictory statements, our friends at the armed forces put this drone on display."

Salehi said Iran's position is not to return the drone, but he didn't completely rule out the possibility of a deal.

"Any decision-making about this issue rests with the Supreme National Security Council," IRNA quoted Salehi as saying. The council is Iran's highest security decision-making body and handles the country's talks with the West over Iran's disputed nuclear program.

Salehi said Iran won a complicated technological battle with the U.S. by intercepting and taking control of the plane with an electronic ambush.

"Regardless of whether the U.S. believes it or not, the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran brought down the aircraft largely intact without assistance from any foreign country," he said.

American officials have said that U.S. intelligence assessments indicate that Iran neither shot the drone down, nor used electronic or cybertechnology to force it from the sky. They contend the drone malfunctioned.

Iranian state media has said the unmanned spy aircraft was detected over the eastern town of Kashmar, some 140 miles (225 kilometers) from the border with Afghanistan.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-17-Iran-US-Drone/id-e748e80c50f34be3808e21d7671d0524

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'Loser' to season 13 hopefuls: 'No excuses!'

NBC

By Anna Chan

What? Too soon?

Season 12 of "The Biggest Loser" ended less than 24 hours ago, but NBC is ready to get the word out about the next round of the weight-loss competition, which returns Jan. 3 with what the network calls "a shocking surprise" for the contestants.

According to the press release, the 20 hopefuls will arrive at the "Biggest Loser" ranch in teams of two (husband/wife, siblings, mother/daughter, etc.), and that's when the twist comes in: The pairs will be separated from their partners?to form two teams that will?compete against each other. One team will be?led by veteran trainer Bob Harper, and the other by returning trainer?Dolvett Quince.

Each week, the show will also address the contestants' reasons for not trying to get healthy sooner, making it clear that there will be "no excuses" in season 13.

Some of the contestants include a widow with 13 kids and 55 grandchildren, a former pro wrestler, a pastor and a Santa Claus.

What do you think of the twist? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page!

?

Related content:

Source: http://theclicker.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/14/9445114-biggest-loser-to-season-13-hopefuls-no-excuses

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Priya Malhotra: Does Coffee Reduce Cancer Risk?

As I type this post, I am drinking my second coffee of the day. I had my first cup within an hour of waking up; I brewed some beans at home before heading out to study. Now, it's noon, and I'm drinking a skim latte at The Wormhole.

If I continue sipping at this pace, I could reduce my risk of developing endometrial cancer later in life. According to a Harvard University study, "Women who consumed four or more cups of coffee had 25 percent lower risk of endometrial cancer than those who consumed less than one cup per day."

I admit I was skeptical when I first saw headlines about this study. I began wondering how the data was collected. Were the coffee drinkers self-reporting their intake? Was the study longitudinal, and if so, for how many years were the subjects followed? What other variables need to be assessed? Do coffee drinkers belong to a certain socioeconomic demographic? Do coffee drinkers engage in other activities that reduce their risk of developing cancer? What if the coffee is decaf? What is a proposed mechanism for the inverse relationship between coffee and cancer?

(What can I say? My undergraduate professors taught me to be wary of any headline that claims causation.)

Here's what I found out.

First of all, the study is longitudinal. The data comes from the Nurses' Health Study, which began 26 years ago and follows some 67,000 women. In this population, there were 672 documented cases of endometrial cancer.

Indeed, the subjects self-reported their coffee intake. There are several potential limitations of self-reporting. For example, I might tell a researcher that I drink two cups of coffee each day. But in reality, I drink three cups on some days, one cup on other days, and solely tea on other days. But if I had to tell you a number, that number would be two. Maybe it's more like 2.5? No, on average, it's two. I think.

Another potential limitation of self-reporting is the lack of standardization. That is, my cup of coffee may be bigger than your cup. Or maybe I brew my coffee stronger than you brew yours. My cup of coffee could be the equivalent of someone else's three cups, or vice versa.

The authors of the paper acknowledge these limitations and hope that future studies can address them.

One thing I found interesting is that decaffeinated coffee offers virtually the same protective benefits as regular coffee. Tea, however, does not provide any protection against endometrial cancer. This, of course, implies that caffeine probably isn't involved in the mechanism. This finding also offers one reason for drinking decaf coffee. (To me, decaf coffee and non-alcoholic beers elicit one question: What's the point? But that's neither here nor there.)

If not caffeine, what component of coffee might help reduce cancer risk? One possibility, proposed by the authors of the study, is the anti-oxidative properties of coffee. This suggestion seemed strange to me, given tea -- especially green tea -- is packed with antioxidants. But the authors found no correlation between tea intake and cancer, which suggests that antioxidants may not all be created equal.

One possible mechanism involved in the inverse relationship between coffee and cancer could involve estrogen. A risk factor for some forms of endometrial cancer is excessive estrogen exposure. According to a past studies cited in the paper, coffee may help remove excess estrogen from the bloodstream.

The authors of the study note that exercise and weight management offer the best protection against endometrial cancer. This is because obesity is a major risk factor for endometrial cancer and many other diseases. In other words, the addition of cream and sugar to your coffee may negate the potential benefits of the bean itself. And pastries, though delicious accompaniments to lattes, are best eaten only on rare occasion.

This study, like most scientific studies, establishes a correlation. It does not prove causation. Without a definite mechanism -- and without a controlled, randomized study -- it is impossible to prove cause-and-effect.

For now, the inverse relationship between coffee intake and endometrial cancer should be taken with a grain of salt. Or perhaps with a grain of sugar. Or, actually, hold the sugar.

?

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/priya-malhotra/coffee-cancer-risk_b_1128595.html

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Dan Walters: Legal traps could stop California's high-speed rail project

The California High-Speed Rail Authority has an obvious financial problem as it seeks to build a statewide bullet train system.

Its latest "business plan" says that it would cost nearly $100 billion to build the backbone of the system, but so far it has only $9 billion in state bonds and a little more than $3 billion in federal money.

The CHSRA also has a political problem.

The Legislature, which first proposed the bullet train bond to voters, is turning sour on its prospects, which means that it may not give the agency any more bond money to spend.

Meanwhile, the latest Field Poll says that voters are now strongly inclined to derail the bullet train.

Finally, the CHSRA has a knotty legal problem.

To make the project more palatable to voters, the Legislature included restrictions and guarantees in the 2008 bond ballot measure, such as a ban on operating subsidies and requirements that financing be lined up and environmental clearances obtained before construction begins.

The ballot measure's fine print is now fodder for lawsuits and criticism from the Legislature's budget analyst.

As laid out in the business plan, the analyst says the project ? especially construction of a 130-mile test segment in the San Joaquin Valley ? may be illegal.

"Proposition 1A identifies certain requirements that must be met prior to requesting an appropriation of bond proceeds for construction," the analyst's office says in a report to the Legislature. "These include identifying for a corridor, or a usable segment thereof, all sources of committed funds, the anticipated time of receipt of those funds, and completing all project-level environmental clearances for that segment.

"Our review finds that the funding plan only identifies committed funding for the ICS (San Joaquin Valley segment), which is not a usable segment, and therefore does not meet the requirements of Proposition 1A. In addition, the HSRA has not yet completed all environmental clearances for any usable segment and will not likely receive all of these approvals prior to the expected 2012 date of initiating construction."

Meanwhile, Kings County, through which that track would run, has filed suit alleging that the bond issue requires construction of "an electrified system" and the initial segment would lack electrification, thus making it usable by conventional diesel trains.

That "independent utility," as it's called, is a requirement of the federal grant, but appears to run counter to the bond issue's requirement.

The suit alleges other violations of Proposition 1A, the 2008 bond measure, including the "usable segment" issue raised by the legislative analyst.

Dan Richard, a member of the CHSRA, said that the legal objections are invalid, but as they proliferate, they may prove that a ballot measure written to ease construction of the bullet train actually made it impossible to build.

Source: http://www.modbee.com/2011/12/12/1983900/dan-walters-legal-traps-could.html

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The 11 Biggest Food Trends Of 2011

There was a huge crop of stories (see here, here, here and here) about the prevalence of critters as cuisine this year. Although insects aren't actually appearing on a ton of menus, there has certainly been a media saturation. The stories weren't written for the gross out factor, though -- turns out that insects are not only good for you, but they are pretty sustainable and have low environmental impact. After all, there's a lot of them, so get over your fears and dive into your new dish du jour.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/05/biggest-food-trends-2011_n_1126458.html

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From Biplanes to Top Gun to UAVs: 100 Years of Naval Flight

PM reported on the first airplane-carrying ships, then called "flying boats," way back in 1914. From these humble beginnings, naval aviation has come to dominate global affairs. It's been a busy 100 years. Here are a few highlights. By Joe Pappalardo

1 of 11

1910

Eugene Ely takes off from a wooden platform affixed to a ship's deck. In 1911 he makes the first landing; naval aviation is born. 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Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/planes-uavs/from-biplanes-to-top-gun-to-uavs-100-years-of-naval-flight?src=rss

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