Mystery girl to testify in Trayvon Martin murder case

By Barbara Liston

SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - Prosecutors in the Florida murder trial of neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman will reveal a star witness for the first time on Tuesday, the girl Trayvon Martin was talking with in the last minutes of his life.

The teenage girl, known as Witness #8 until now, was due to testify about what Martin, the unarmed black 17-year-old shot and killed by Zimmerman last year, told her what he saw that night.

Identified in court on Monday only as Rachel, a friend of Martin from Miami, she received a running account about what was happening, starting when he noticed a man, Zimmerman, watching him in the gated central Florida community he was visiting.

Zimmerman, 29 and part Hispanic, was a neighborhood watch volunteer in the Retreat at Twin Lakes community in Sanford at the time of the February 26, 2012, killing. He has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and could face life imprisonment if convicted.

The racially charged case triggered civil rights protests and debates about the treatment of black Americans in the U.S. justice system, since police did not arrest Zimmerman for 44 days.

To win a conviction for second-degree murder, the prosecution must convince jurors that Zimmerman acted with "ill will, hatred, spite or an evil intent," and "an indifference to human life," according to Florida jury instructions.

In previous written testimony, Rachel described Martin as scared and trying to get away from the man. She was urging him to run. She last heard Martin say, "why are you following me" after which she said she heard what sounded like Martin falling. Then the phone line went dead.

The Martin family lawyer, Ben Crump, has said her testimony helps destroy Zimmerman's claim that he acted in self-defense.

Zimmerman placed a four-minute phone call to police when he first spotted Martin, telling a dispatcher that the Miami teen looked "real suspicious."

Martin was a student at a Miami-area high school and a guest of one of the homeowners. He was walking back to the house after buying snacks at a nearby convenience store when he was shot in the chest during a confrontation with Zimmerman.

Also on Tuesday, lawyers will continue to dissect witness testimony about Zimmerman's call to police. Jurors heard the 'suspicious person' call three times on Monday, twice during the opening statements and again during witness testimony.

In opening statements Monday, the prosecution portrayed Zimmerman as a man with a concealed weapon who committed a vigilante-style killing. The defense suggested that Martin was the aggressor, and Zimmerman acted to protect his own life.

Six jurors, all women, were selected last week to hear the case. Florida law requires a minimum of six jurors except in cases where the death penalty is sought.

Under Florida's Stand Your Ground law, which was approved in 2005 and has since been copied by about 30 other states, people fearing for their lives can use deadly force without having to retreat from a confrontation, even when it is possible.

(Editing by David Adams and Doina Chiacu)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mystery-girl-testify-trayvon-martin-murder-case-100754829.html

mario balotelli

Scientists find neighbor star with three planets in life-friendly orbits

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Tue Jun 25, 2013 8:27pm EDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A neighbor star has at least six planets in orbit, including three circling at the right distance for water to exist, a condition believed to be necessary for life, scientists said on Tuesday.

Previously, the star known as Gliese 667C was found to be hosting three planets, one of which was located in its so-called "habitable zone" where temperatures could support liquid surface water. That planet and two newly found sibling worlds are bigger than Earth, but smaller than Neptune.

"This is the first time that three such planets have been spotted orbiting in this zone in the same system," astronomer Paul Butler, with the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C., said in a statement.

Scientists say the discovery of three planets in a star's habitable zone raises the odds of finding Earth-like worlds where conditions might have been suitable for life to evolve.

"Instead of looking at 10 stars to look for a single potentially habitable planet, we now know we can look at just one star and have a high chance of finding several of them," astronomer Rory Barnes, with the University of Washington, said in a statement.

Additional observations of Gliese 667C and a reanalysis of existing data showed it hosts at least six, and possibly, seven planets.

The star is located relatively close to Earth, just 22 light years (129 trillion miles/207 trillion km) away. It is about one-third the size of the sun and the faintest star of a triple star system.

In addition to the three well-positioned "super-Earths," two more planets may orbit on the fringe of the star's habitable zone and also could possibly support life.

The research will be published this week in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

(Editing by Kevin Gray and Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/MB2kdLFrTs0/story01.htm

Pa Lottery

Essential or irrelevant? Zimmerman prosecutor fights to reveal previous calls to cops

In opening statements the prosecution began by playing an expletive-laced audio tape of George Zimmerman from a taped call he made to police, while the defense began with a knock-knock joke, then later apologized. Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. NBC's Ron Mott reports.

By James Novogrod, Tom Winter and Tracy Connor, NBC News

A Florida judge will decide Tuesday whether calls George Zimmerman made to a police dispatcher in the months before he killed Trayvon Martin can be admitted as evidence.

A jury on Monday afternoon heard one of the calls to a non-emergency police number, in which Zimmerman previously reported a suspicious person in his neighborhood ? before the defense objected and said it was irrelevant.

---

Prosecutors said the prior calls would give the jury insight into Zimmerman?s state of mind when he encountered Martin in a gated community of Sanford, Fla., on Feb. 26, 2012.

Judge Debra Nelson called a recess in the trial to give both sides to prepare arguments about whether the jury can hear and consider the calls in deciding Zimmerman?s fate.

While the defense contends that the prior calls have nothing to do with the issue at hand, prosecutor Richard Mantei said the calls support a case about Zimmerman's state of mind -- important for proof of second degree murder, which in Florida requires proving a so-called "depraved mind."

Courtesy of Sybrina Fulton

Trayvon Martin on February 18, 2012 in a photo taken at his mother's birthday party. Martin was killed on February 26, 2012.

Zimmerman, 29, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the shooting death of Martin, 17. His trial began in earnest Monday with opening statements and a few witnesses.

Prosecutors say Zimmerman profiled Martin, followed him even after the dispatcher told him not to, and then shot him at such close range that it left burn marks on his sweatshirt.

The defense says Martin was the aggressor in the confrontation, straddled Zimmerman and slammed his head against the pavement ? putting him in fear of his life before he fired his 9mm.

The call that Zimmerman made to a non-emergency dispatcher just after 7 p.m. on the night in question was played repeatedly for jurors, who listened intently and took notes.

On the call, Zimmerman reports that Martin is walking around in the rain and looks like ?he?s up to no good,? then says the teen is staring at him and approaching with his hand in his waistband.

After Zimmerman reports that Martin has started to run away, dispatcher Sean Noffke, hearing the sound of movement and wind, asks if he is following. When Zimmerman says he is, Noffke tells him, ?You don?t need to do that.?

Under questioning Monday, Noffke said he didn?t order Zimmerman to stay put because dispatchers are only supposed to make suggestions for liability reasons.

Under cross-examination, he said that when he asked Zimmerman which way Martin was running, he didn?t expect him to give chase, but allowed that someone could misinterpret his words.

"There was no need for him to follow and no concern for his safety? because Martin had left the immediate area, Noffke said.

In their opening statements, the prosecution and defense gave starkly different accounts of how and why Zimmerman shot Martin during the confrontation.

"George Zimmerman is not guilty of murder. He shot Trayvon Martin after being viciously attacked," said defense attorney Don West.

Joe Burbank / Pool / EPA

George Zimmerman waits for his defense counsel to arrive in court on Monday.

?This is a sad case, of course,? West said. ?A young man lost his life. Another is fighting for his. There are no winners here ... There are no monsters here.?

Prosecutor John Guy said the evidence does not support a self-defense claim.

?George Zimmerman did not shoot Trayvon Martin because he had to. He shot him for the worst of all reasons ? because he wanted to,? he said.

Guy said Zimmerman had used ?hate-filled words? during his conversation with Noffke, referring to ?punks.?

?These a------- always get away,? he quoted Zimmerman as saying.

He said another call ?? this one from a neighbor who dialed 911 after hearing a commotion. ? would support the prosecution?s charges.

?In the background, you will hear the gunshot that killed Trayvon Martin and you will hear screaming in the background. Listen carefully, please, to that call and listen carefully when the screaming stops. It?s right when the gunshot goes off. Trayvon Martin was silenced immediately when the bullet the defendant fired was shot through his heart,? Guy said.

West, who played the call for the jury, suggested it was Zimmerman yelling for help as he was attacked and said all the witnesses ?agree those are the screams of someone in a life-threatening situation.?

?If I?ve heard it once, I?ve heard it a thousand times, that Trayvon Martin was unarmed,? West said.

?Trayvon Martin armed himself with a concrete sidewalk and used it to smash George Zimmerman?s head,? he added. ?That is a deadly weapon.?

Editor?s note: George Zimmerman has sued NBC Universal for defamation. The company has strongly denied the allegation.

This story was originally published on Mon Jun 24, 2013 10:22 PM EDT

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2dbd5948/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A60C240C1911660A70Eessential0Eor0Eirrelevant0Ezimmerman0Eprosecutor0Efights0Eto0Ereveal0Eprevious0Ecalls0Eto0Ecops0Dlite/story01.htm

2012 kids choice awards

Overweight causes heart failure: Large study with new method clarifies the association

June 25, 2013 ? An international research team led by Swedish scientists has used a new method to investigate obesity and overweight as a cause of cardiovascular disease. Strong association have been found previously, but it has not been clear whether it was overweight as such that was the cause, or if the overweight was just a marker of another underlying cause, as clinical trials with long-term follow-ups are difficult to implement.

A total of nearly 200,000 subjects were included in the researchers' study of the causality between obesity/overweight and diseases related to cardiovascular conditions and metabolism, which is being published for the first time in PLOS Medicine. The goal was to determine whether obesity as such is the actual cause of these diseases or whether obesity is simply a marker of something else in the subject's lifestyle that causes the disease.

"We knew already that obesity and cardiovascular disease often occur together. However, it has been hard to determine whether increased BMI as such is dangerous. In this study we found that individuals with gene variants that lead to increased body-mass index (BMI) also had an increased risk of heart failure and diabetes. The risk of developing diabetes was greater than was previously thought," says Tove Fall, a researcher at the Department of Medical Sciences and the Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, who coordinated the study together with researchers from the Karolinska Institutet and Oxford University.

These scientists studied whether a gene variant in the FTO gene, which regulates the appetite and thereby increases the individual's BMI, is also linked to a series of cardiovascular diseases and metabolism. The risk variant is common in the population, and each copy of the risk variant increases BMI by an average of 0.3-0.4 units. Since an individual's genome is not affected by lifestyle and social factors, but rather is established at conception, when the embryo randomly receives half of each parent's genome, the method is thus called "Mendelian randomization." To achieve reliable results a large study material was needed, and nearly 200,000 individuals from Europe and Australia participated.

"Epidemiological studies look for associations in large populations, but it is usually difficult to reliably determine cause and effect -- what we call causality. By using this new genetic method, Mendelian randomization, in our research, we can now confirm what many people have long believed, that increased BMI contributes to the development of heart failure. We also found that overweight causes increases in liver enzymes . This knowledge is important, as it strengthens the evidence that forceful societal measures need to be taken to counteract the epidemic of obesity and its consequences," says Erik Ingelsson, professor at the Department of Medical Sciences and the Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University.

The results show that an increase of one unit of BMI increases the risk of developing heart failure by an average of 20 per cent. Further, the study also confirms that obesity leads to higher insulin values, higher blood pressure, worse cholesterol values, increased inflammation markers, and increased risk of diabetes.

The present study was carried out within the framework of the major research consortium ENGAGE, which brings together more than 35 studies and more than 130 co-authors. The study was coordinated by Erik Ingelsson's research group in collaboration with the Karolinska Institutet and Oxford University.

The study was funded by, among others, the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (ENGAGE), the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research, and the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/x3-K-iv2mww/130625172248.htm

Sam Bacile

Guardian: Snowden won't return voluntarily to US

WASHINGTON (AP) ? NSA leaker Edward Snowden defended his disclosure of top-secret U.S. spying programs in an online chat Monday with The Guardian and attacked U.S. officials for calling him a traitor.

"The U.S. government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me," he said. He added the government "immediately and predictably destroyed any possibility of a fair trial at home," by labeling him a traitor, and indicated he would not return to the U.S. voluntarily.

Congressional leaders have called Snowden a traitor for revealing once-secret surveillance programs two weeks ago in the Guardian and The Washington Post. The National Security Agency programs collect records of millions of Americans' telephone calls and Internet usage as a counterterror tool. The disclosures revealed the scope of the collections, which surprised many Americans and have sparked debate about how much privacy the government can take away in the name of national security.

"It would be foolish to volunteer yourself to" possible arrest and criminal charges "if you can do more good outside of prison than in it," he said.

Snowden dismissed being called a traitor by former Vice President Dick Cheney, who made the allegations in an interview this week on Fox News Sunday. Cheney was echoing the comments of both Democrats and Republican leadership on Capitol Hill, including Senate Intelligence committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein.

"Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give an American, and the more panicked talk we hear from people like him, Feinstein ... the better off we all are," Snowden said.

The Guardian announced that its website was hosting an online chat with Snowden, in hiding in Hong Kong, with reporter Glenn Greenwald receiving and posting his questions. The Associated Press couldn't independently verify that Snowden was the man who posted 19 replies to questions.

In answer to the question of whether he fled to Hong Kong because he was spying for China, Snowden wrote, "Ask yourself: if I were a Chinese spy, why wouldn't I have flown directly into Beijing? I could be living in a palace petting a phoenix by now."

He added later, "I have had no contact with the Chinese government."

Snowden dismissed the U.S. government's claims that the NSA surveillance programs had helped thwart dozens of terrorist attacks in more than 20 countries, including the 2009 al-Qaida plot by Afghan American Najibullah Zazi to blow up New York subways.

"Journalists should ask a specific question: ... how many terrorist attacks were prevented SOLELY by information derived from this suspicionless surveillance that could not be gained via any other source? Then ask how many individual communications were ingested to acheive (sic) that, and ask yourself if it was worth it."

He added that "Bathtub falls and police officers kill more Americans than terrorism, yet we've been asked to sacrifice our most sacred rights for fear of falling victim to it."

Snowden was working as a contractor for NSA at the time he had access to the then-secret programs. He defended his actions and said he considered what to reveal and what not to, saying he did not reveal any U.S. operations against what he called legitimate military targets, but instead showed that the NSA is hacking civilian infrastructure like universities and private businesses.

"These nakedly, aggressively criminal acts are wrong no matter the target. Not only that, when NSA makes a technical mistake during an exploitation operation, critical systems crash," he said, though he gave no examples of what systems have crashed or in which countries.

"Congress hasn't declared war on the countries ? the majority of them are our allies ? but without asking for public permission, NSA is running network operations against them that affect millions of innocent people," he said. "And for what? So we can have secret access to a computer in a country we're not even fighting?"

Snowden was referring to Prism, one of the programs he disclosed. The program sweeps up Internet usage data from all over the world that goes through nine major U.S.-based Internet providers. The NSA can look at foreign usage without any warrants, and says the program doesn't target Americans.

U.S. officials say the data-gathering programs are legal and operated under secret court supervision.

Snowden explained his claim that from his desk, he could "wiretap" any phone call or email ? a claim top intelligence officials have denied. "If an NSA, FBI, CIA, DIA, etc. analyst has access to query raw SIGINT (signals intelligence) databases, they can enter and get results for anything they want," he wrote in the answer posted on the Guardian site. "Phone number, email, user id, cell phone handset id (IMEI), and so on ? it's all the same."

The NSA did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. But Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has said that the kind of data that can be accessed and who can access it is severely limited.

Snowden said the restrictions on what could be seen by an individual analyst vary according to policy changes, which can happen "at any time," and said that a technical "filter" on NSA data-gathering meant to filter out U.S. communications is "weak," such that U.S. communications often get ingested.

The former contractor also added that NSA provides Congress "with a special immunity to its surveillance," without explaining further.

Snowden defended U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning for his disclosures of documents to Wikileaks, which he called a "legitimate journalistic outlet," which "carefully redacted all of their releases in accordance with a judgment of public interest." He said the Wikileaks release of unredacted material was "due to the failure of a partner journalist to control a passphrase," which led to the charge against Manning that he dumped the documents, which Snowden called an attempt to smear Manning.

Manning is currently on trial at Fort Meade ? the same Army base where the NSA is headquartered ? on charges of aiding the enemy for releasing documents to Wikileaks.

Snowden defended his description of his salary as being $200,000 a year, calling that a "career high," but saying he did take a pay cut to take the job at Booz Allen Hamilton, where he worked as a contractor at an NSA facility in Hawaii. When Booz Allen fired him, they said his salary was $122,000.

In one of his final replies, Snowden attacked the "mainstream media" for its coverage, saying it "now seems far more interested in what I said when I was 17 or what my girlfriend looks like rather than, say, the largest program of suspicion-less surveillance in human history."

__

On the web:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/17/edward-snowden-nsa-files-whistleblower#start-of-comments

Follow Dozier on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kimberlydozier

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/guardian-snowden-wont-return-voluntarily-us-175208935.html

robert kennedy

Why firefighter deaths have hit historic lows

When Ken Willette started firefighting 35 years ago, his uniform left much to be desired. Little more than a raincoat with rubber boots and plastic gloves, the outfit was more likely to melt than sustain his job responsibilities.

Now, with improvements to firefighting equipment, as well as better safety standards, and a decrease in overall fires, the number of firefighter deaths has dropped by more than a third in the past three decades and has fallen to historic lows the past two years.

A total of 64 on-duty firefighters died in the US in 2012, marking the second consecutive year that the total has been below 65 deaths, the lowest level since statistics began to be tracked in 1977. The number of fatalities that occurred during actual firefighting also dropped to a record low.

RECOMMENDED: Wildfire season: 7 ways you can help save lives and property

It?s a significant improvement from the late 1970s, when the average number of on-duty firefighter deaths reached 151. The numbers have been trending downward since then, according to a new report by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). By the 1990s, the average number of on-duty deaths fell to 97 and the first decade of the 21st century saw the figure drop to 88. In the past five years the number fell further to 77 average annual fatalities.

The US Fire Administration records slightly higher statistics due to a broader definition that includes some deaths more than 24 hours after duty. Firefighters killed fighting wildfires are included in the NFPA report, but account for a small number of annual deaths.

?On one hand, the number of firefighter fatalities is decreasing in part because the number of fires are decreasing. That?s a very good thing,? says Denise Smith, a research scientist at the University of Illinois Fire Service Institute and professor at Skidmore College. Ms. Smith credits the reduction in fires to more fire alarms, sprinklers, and better building codes.

The NFPA reports that the number of residential fires dropped from about 723,000 in 1977 to 370,000 in 2011.

Yet the sharp decrease in the number of line-of-duty firefighter deaths is disproportionate to the number of fires, Smith says, meaning there are other causes at work. Smith and others credit the fire industry with making a concerted effort to address on-duty deaths during the past decade. In 2002, the US Fire Administration set a goal of reducing the number of line-of-duty deaths by 50 percent during the next decade. Industry groups like the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and National Volunteer Fire Council started programs in support of the goal.

In 2004, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation gathered the major industry associations for a life safety summit that resulted in the ?Everyone Goes Home? program. It created 16 initiatives to reduce firefighter deaths, which were widely adopted by fire departments across the country. In 2006 they started a seat belt pledge to address the high number of firefighters who died in vehicle crashes while on-duty.

Industry analysts also point to a decade-long emphasis on reducing firefighter heart attacks as a significant factor in the decline. Sudden cardiac arrest has consistently been the leading cause of death for on-duty firefighters. But in the past decade, industry groups have started awareness programs and now recommend firefighters be held to stricter health standards, including a medical evaluation before they are hired.

In 2012, heart attacks were still the leading cause of death, but affected a smaller number of firefighters than anytime in the past three decades. The 27 on-duty firefighters deaths of heart attacks is the lowest number since the study began and the fifth consecutive year of decline.

Experts say that in order to keep the fatality rate decreasing, firefighter health will continue to be an important issue, as will finding better ways to deal with fires that now burn faster due to more synthetic and lightweight construction materials.

?We need to look at standards of overweight and obesity. Firefighters come from the general population, and like the general population there is a lot of [obesity],? says Smith, who notes that firefighters who love their job but aren?t in top physical shape may resist getting help in fear of losing their jobs.

Mr. Willette, who ran two fire departments in Massachusetts after his early firefighter days, says that even though fewer firefighters are dying at fires, fires are reaching "flashover" points, where all combustible materials ignite at the same time, sooner.

?It?s a point of no survival for the firefighter or the occupant. We want to get firefighters there within 10 minutes. We?re now finding flashover occurring at the six minute mark or sooner,? says Willette. He advocates installing sprinklers in residential homes, where the majority of firefighter deaths occur, but says many homeowners and builders are resistant due to cost.

?There are tools to make the firefighters job safer and people safer, we have to wait for the public to accept that.?

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/why-firefighter-deaths-hit-historic-lows-184353030.html

Ready for Love

NHL?s national anthem singers are rock stars themselves

>> reporter: when jim cornelsen goes to work in chicago he has 22,000 people waiting for him. o say can you see

>> reporter: he belts out the star spangled banner before blackhawks games in a building fans call the mad house on madison.

>> this is as close to being a rock star as an opera singer is ever going to get.

>> reporter: for years in chicago the anthem has become a deafening show of pride and spirit. but now with the blackhawks playing the boston bruins in the stanley cup finals there's a little friendly competition.

>> reporter: because this fellow warming up his vocal cords is the bruins anthem singer rene rancor.

>> it's getting there.

>> reporter: he's been doing it for nearly 40 years.

>> i imagine that i'm in an opera house and it's a great thrill each time.

>> reporter: he is so popular many purchase t-shirts to look just like him. he was also present in the aftermath of the boston bombings where he simply led the fans as they stood and sang. were so gallantly streaming

>> when the fans started in so strongly with such feeling i was just moved to tears. it was just an incredible moment.

>> reporter: both men say they're honoring u.s. servicemen and women when they sing. cornelson shares his little corner of the ice with two of them. and it's when he gestures toward the flag that the crowd takes its cue and roars.

>> the focus is what the anthem is about. we're cheering as americans. we're cheering in support of feeling good about being patriotic. and the home of the free

>> reporter: for today kevin tibbles nbc

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2d5d2559/l/0Lvideo0Btoday0Bmsnbc0Bmsn0N0Cid0C52222328/story01.htm

Dancing With the Stars 2013