A spokesman for Willow Garage said, "There are some changes afoot at Willow Garage" but the company is not planning to shut down. Willow Garage, the robotics maker that created the PR2, will likely shut down within the next few months, reports IEEE Spectrum, citing multiple sources within the company.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/KuhZ8pR5JoI/
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ABOARD RMS QUEEN MARY (Reuters) - Posted between septuagenarian passengers in deck chairs, lookouts stand watch over the Gulf of Aden, scanning the horizon for pirates.
After more than half a decade of Somali men attacking Indian Ocean shipping from small speedboats with AK-47s, grappling hooks and ladders, the number of attacks is falling fast.
The last merchant ship to be successfully hijacked, naval officers monitoring piracy say, was at least nine months ago. It's a far cry from the height of the piracy epidemic two years ago, when several ships might be taken in a single week to be traded for airdropped multi-million dollar ransoms.
But as the Queen Mary 2, one of the world's most recognisable ocean liners, passes through the Red Sea, Indian Ocean and out towards Dubai, its owners and crew are taking few chances.
"The pirates have weapons and are not afraid to use them," Commander Ollie Hutchinson, the British Royal Navy liaison officer aboard the liner for its trip through the Indian Ocean, tells a briefing of passengers in the ship's theatre. "Once the pirates have identified their target, they will try whatever means they can to get on board."
To underline his point, he displays a picture of an Italian helicopter hit by small arms fire from a pirate dhow late last year followed by assorted images of gunmen holding AK-47 assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades.
In truth, the Queen Mary 2 - carrying 2,500 passengers and 1,300 crew from Southampton to Dubai on the first leg of a world cruise - is not particularly at risk.
Some 345 metres long and 14 stories high, even its promenade deck is seven floors above the sea. The liner is fast, hard to board and - on this passage at least - moderately well armed.
Like many merchant vessels, the QM2 now carries armed private contractors when passing through areas of pirate risk.
Cunard will not discuss precise security arrangements. But contractors on other vessels routinely carry M-16-type assault rifles and sometimes belt-fed machine guns, often picked up from ships acting as floating offshore armouries near Djibouti and Sri Lanka.
Additional lookouts from the ship's regular onboard security force - mostly Filipinos - are also posted on the main deck to give warning of any suspicious craft.
"Depending on what happens with attacks, I'm hopeful we may be able to reduce our security measures when we pass through the same waters next year," says Commodore Christopher Rynd, senior captain of the British-based Cunard line and current master of the QM2. "But that's not a decision we will be making at this stage."
A CHANGING GAME?
When ships do come under attack, the first phone to ring is usually in a nondescript white bungalow in the gardens of the British Embassy in Dubai.
The UK Maritime Trade Organisation (UKMTO) was set up shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks to provide security advice to British shipping in the area. As pirate attacks soared in the second half of the last decade, it found itself coordinating international shipping across much of the Indian Ocean.
Most vessels passing through the area - container ships, tankers, cruise liners and dhows - now register daily with UKMTO. If they believe they are in danger, they will contact the British team to request military support.
"We've had calls when you could hear gunfire and rocket propelled grenades in the background," says Lieutenant Commander Simon Goodes, the current officer in charge. "But lately, the phones are ringing much less."
The only confirmed attack this year, Goodes said, was on a merchant vessel in early January as it sailed towards the Kenyan port of Mombasa. On-board private security guards repelled the assault after a 30 minute firefight.
According to the European Union anti-piracy task force EU NAVFOR, 2012 saw only 36 confirmed attacks and a further 73 "suspicious events" - incidents in which a crew report a suspicious craft that might be pirate but could also be simply an innocent fishing boat. That itself was a substantial fall from 2011, with 176 attacks and 166 "suspicious events".
Only five ships were captured in 2012, down from 25 in 2011 and 27 in 2010.
"This is an important year," says Lieutenant Commander Jacqueline Sheriff, spokeswoman for EU NAVFOR. "We will find out whether this fall in piracy is really sustainable."
Sea-borne attacks off West Africa, however, appear to be on the rise in what some analysts believe is a sign that Nigerian and other criminal gangs may be tempted by the Somali pirate model.
PIRATE BUSINESS MODEL FAILING?
Exactly what is behind the fall in Somali piracy is a matter of debate.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the navies patrolling the Indian Ocean say the numbers show they are finally having an impact. Since piracy first grabbed global attention in 2008, a number of nations have sent ships to the region.
Sailing through the Internationally Registered Transit Corridor, a protected route between Somalia and Yemen, the QM2 passed warships from the United States, France, India and Australia.
As well as the EU force, there are separate flotillas from NATO and U.S.-led coalition forces that often include Asian vessels. Several other nations including China and Russia also keep ships there, running convoys through the "high-risk zone".
In May last year, EU NAVFOR launched its first onshore raid, targeting a suspected pirate group on the beach as it prepared to head to sea with helicopter and small arms fire.
Not everyone, however, believes that explains the fall. For many in the shipping industry, the fall in attacks is a vindication of the decision to massively ramp up the use of armed guards.
So far, not a single ship with armed guards has been taken by pirates - although naval officers and other piracy specialists say hired guards can be excessively trigger-happy and have fired on innocent fishermen from India, Oman and Yemen.
The situation is also changing in Somalia, which has been without a functioning government for two decades. The present administration is becoming more effective, as is an African military force tasked with tackling Islamist rebels.
RETIRED PIRATE, DARKENED LINER
Last month, one of Somalia's highest profile pirates told Reuters he was giving up his life of crime at sea.
"I have given up piracy and succeeded in encouraging more youths to give up piracy," said Mohamed Abdi Hassan. "It was not due to fear of warships. It was just a decision."
In an apparently separate development, three Syrian hostages held since 2010 were released without the payment of a ransom. Four vessels are currently still held by pirates along with 108 hostages, the EU says.
The bottom line, some military officers and analysts believe, may be that the lower success rate for pirates in the last year has prompted those bankrolling them to stop.
But no one is taking the pirates for granted. An apparent attempted night-time attack on a merchant ship only a handful of miles from the entrance to the Gulf at the Strait of Hormuz was a reminder attacks can take place across a huge area.
Shortly before entering the Suez Canal, QM2 held a security drill to instruct passengers in what to do if the ship comes under attack.
Passengers were urged to return below and sit in the companionway outside their rooms until the danger passed.
As dusk falls, orders are given to darken ship. Passengers close the curtains over their portholes or balcony windows, while crew members install blackout curtains in public areas. Basic running lights remain on to avoid collision, however.
The purpose, Commodore Rynd says, is to make it harder for any pirates to identify what kind of ship the QM2 might be and how far away. The darkened ship also makes it easier for the lookouts, equipped with night vision goggles, to see.
Other more vulnerable ships - particularly the "low and slow" - take more precautions. Shortly after first light, QM2 passes a bulk carrier, its fire hoses blasting over its stern to make it harder for pirates to clamber aboard.
In more remote parts of the Indian Ocean, the nearest naval support can be eight or nine hours away.
Aboard the liner, however, passengers seem largely unconcerned.
"It doesn't worry me at all," says Kiki O'Connell, 66, from Portland, Maine, as the ship approached Dubai. "Although I don't suppose we'll see any pirates now. I was hoping for Johnny Depp."
(This story was fixed to correct paragraph 15 to UK Maritime Trade Organisation, not UK Marine Transport Operation)
(Editing by Giles Elgood)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hired-guns-finally-scuppered-somali-pirates-175735263.html
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CLEVELAND ? Criticized for not spending enough on free agents in recent years, the Indians splurged on another star.
The club agreed to terms Monday with outfielder Michael Bourn on a four-year, $48 million contract. It's the second major deal this winter for the Indians, who signed free agent Nick Swisher to a four-year, $56 million contract in January.
Bourn, who was an All-Star with Atlanta last season, must pass a physical later this week in Goodyear, Ariz., before the deal can be completed. Bourn batted .274 with nine homers, 57 RBIs and 42 steals last season for the Braves. It's not yet known when Bourn will have his medical exam.
As long as there isn't a hang-up, the 30-year-old Bourn, who has remained on the market all winter, will move into the Indians' starting lineup. The speedster played center field last season and would give an immediate boost to a Cleveland team that has reloaded with the acquisition of Swisher, manager Terry Francona and starter Brett Myers.
Fox Sports first reported Bourn's deal.
Bourn, a two-time All-Star, Gold Glove winner and three-time steals leader in the NL, had also been pursued by the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs.
Getting Bourn will cost the Indians picks in June's amateur draft. But it's a small price for a player who will help them score more runs, improve their attendance ? Cleveland averaged just 19,797 fans at home ? and maybe even close the gap on Detroit in the AL Central.
The surprise signing caught one of Bourn's new teammates off guard.
"Did we just sign Michael Bourn?" second baseman Jason Kipnis asked on his Twitter page.
Bourn, a .272 career hitter in seven seasons with Philadelphia, Houston and Atlanta, could wind up in a starting outfield alongside Swisher and Michael Brantley. The Indians also acquired center fielder Drew Stubbs in a trade with Cincinnati, giving Francona options and depth. It's possible Swisher could be moved to first or even be used as the club's designated hitter. Mark Reynolds, also signed during the offseason, can play first or DH.
The deal for Bourn also comes after the Indians signed slugger Jason Giambi and pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka to minor league deals this last weekend. Matsuzaka must still pass a physical with the club.
The Indians collapsed in the second half last season, finishing 68-94 and 20 games behind the first-place Tigers. Manager Manny Acta was fired after Cleveland lost at least 90 games for the third time in four seasons.
But beginning with the hiring of Francona, the Indians have shown they're not going to sit around and wait for things to improve.
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/11/michael-bourn-indians-deal-agree_n_2666207.html
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MUMBAI (Commodity Online):?Copper futures for February delivery on India's Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) is positive supported by depreciation of Indian rupee against US dollar. However, week long holidays in China may influence trade volumes.
For intra day, the base metal is expected to trade in positive zone.
?MCX Copper futures has support at 445 while 448 is the resistance. If futures break 448 level then it is expected to move towards 450 level,? said Amrita Mashar, Research Analyst at Commodity Online.
?Chinese markets are closed on account of spring festival for entire week and trading volumes may get influenced on account of holidays,? she added.
MCX Copper futures for February delivery was up by 0.26 percent at Rs.446.85 per kg as of 06.03 on Monday.
Earlier, MCX Copper February contract opened positive by 0.20% and touched intra-day high of 447.10. Also, copper prices were well supported by depreciation in INR against USD.
Copper futures for March delivery on COMEX was down by 0.22 percent at $ 3.752 per pound as of 06.12 PM IST on Monday.
Markets in Hong Kong will remain closed until Thursday on account of Chinese Lunar New Year holidays. Markets in China will be closed for the entire week.
China is the world?s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption last year.
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Rhodes's job is to read such documents, catalog them, and make them available to historians, journalists, and the curious. The paper was crisp, like new. Rhodes began to read.
He soon realized that the file box contained highly unusual material. "As I was processing the collection, I glimpsed this weird red flying-disc icon in the corners," Rhodes says. Inside the box was a trove of oddities: cutaway schematics of disc-shaped aircraft, graphs showing drag and thrust performance at more than Mach 3, black-and-white photos of Frisbee shapes in supersonic wind tunnels. The icon was a flying saucer on a red arrow?the insignia of a little-known and strange sideshow in aeronautical design. Rhodes was leafing through the lost records of a U.S. military flying saucer program.
A Canadian aviation firm began developing a disc-shaped aircraft for the U.S. military in the mid-1950s, and, though the details were secret, the project itself was not unknown. POPULAR MECHANICS mentioned the Air Force's "vertical-rising, high-speed" craft in 1956 and published a photo in 1960. In the decades since the program was canceled in 1961, aviation buffs and UFO researchers have unearthed technical papers written near the end of America's flying saucer experiment, but the document that originally convinced the government to invest in a military flying disc has languished in the NDC under the SECRET designation. This recently discovered report describes in previously unknown detail how aviation engineers tried to harness what were then cutting-edge aerodynamic concepts to make their improbable creation fly. Although Avro's saucer never completed a successful flight, some of the most sophisticated aircraft flying today adopted many of the same technologies.
In 2001, U.S. Air Force personnel cleared the document cache for public release, according to Neil Carmichael, director of the declassification review division at the NDC, which is run by the National Archives and Records Administration. But it took 11 years to crack open the boxes in College Park and glimpse the saucer secrets within?the staff is buried in a backlog of nearly 2 billion pages of declassified material, some of it dating to World War II. "These records probably have been classified since their creation," Carmichael says. "It's like somebody emptied out a filing cabinet, stuck it in a box, sealed it, and sent it off to the federal records center."
In pop culture, flying saucers are the ride of choice for extraterrestrials. What the newly released documents show is that they actually came from Ontario, Canada. That's where a visionary aeronautical engineer at the now-defunct Avro Canada convinced his bosses to support the unlikely project. "During the Cold War the Army, Air Force, and Navy were experimenting with all sorts of things," Carmichael says. As the NDC releases its declassified documents, "the records are going to tell the rest of those stories." The most sensational of the disclosures so far?Project 1794.
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As New York City and New Jersey slowly began digging out Tuesday, the scale of the devastation of Superstorm Sandy became heartbreakingly apparent, leaving 46 people dead and authorities with an enormous undertaking to restore power and transit for millions of others.
New in this version
"That recovery is a mammoth job," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday evening, assessing the scope of a once-in-a-generation hurricane that swept homes into the ocean, flooded large swaths of coastal areas, left millions of people without power and crippled transportation.
Sandy by the numbers
NBC News special report
Contributing to this report were Chris Clackum, Bill Dedman, Jay Gray, Ian Johnston, Justin Kirschner, Shawna Thomas and Brittany Tom of NBC News; The Weather Channel; Telemundo Puerto Rico; and NBC stations NBC 4 in New York, NBC 10 in Philadelphia, NBC Connecticut in Hartford, WBIR of Knoxville, Tenn., WBOY of Clarksburg, W.Va., WCMH of Columbus, Ohio, and WVIR of Charlottesville, Va. Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook.
President Barack Obama declared major disasters in New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut, promising that the federal government would do all it could to help local authorities cope with damage. The president was scheduled to visit damaged areas in New Jersey on Wednesday, the White House said.
BreakingNews.com's coverage of Sandy
Details of the devastation became clearer late Tuesday after authorities made their way through severely damaged areas across 20 states stretching from New England to Tennessee:
Sandy leaves NYC subway system, infrastructure licking its wounds
In Breezy Point, a seaside community in Queens, N.Y., a massive fire of undetermined origin destroyed at least 110 homes and damaged 20 others. Firefighters had difficulty reaching the blaze because of the severe weather.
"To describe it as looking like pictures we've seen of the end of World War II is not overstating it," Bloomberg said. "The area was completely leveled. Chimneys and foundations were all that was left of many of these homes."
It remained impossible to put a dollar value on Sandy's destruction. Insured losses alone will run from $7 billion to $15 billion, according to an estimate published late Tuesday by AIR Worldwide, a catastrophe modeling firm.
"I think the losses will be almost incalculable," Christie said on NBC's TODAY show.
Video: NYC flooded by record storm surge (on this page)Even as attention was riveted on New York and New Jersey, Sandy had already moved on, remaining a dangerous storm as it dispersed north and south.
Get live coverage on the storm from Weather.com
About 90,000 customers were without power Tuesday in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, the Energy Ministry said. At least one death was reported in Toronto after a woman in her 50s was hit in the head by a sign Monday night, NBC News Channel reported.
Sandy hit the mountains of West Virginia and North Carolina with full-blown blizzards, part of a storm-generated snow system stretching as far west as Kentucky and Ohio, where several inches of snow fell in Champaign County.
Officials said the 14 to 16 inches that blanketed Newfound Gap, on the Tennessee-North Carolina line, was believed to be biggest October snowfall on record. Parts of eastern Virginia were under a blizzard warning through Wednesday morning, with snowfall at 1 to 2 inches an hour expected.
'The worst that we have ever experienced'
Tuesday's disaster declarations for New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut mean federal funds will be available to people affected by the storm.
"This was a devastating storm, maybe the worst that we have ever experienced," Bloomberg said, adding that schools would remained closed Wednesday.
The historic storm, which made landfall at 6:45 p.m. ET Monday, hurled a wall of water up to 13 feet high at the Northeast coast. It surged into Lower Manhattan and areas of Brooklyn, submerging entire streets and parks. A record tide of 13.88 feet was set at The Battery in Lower Manhattan on Monday night, breaking the previous record of 11.2 feet in 1821.
Slideshow: Sandy slams into East Coast (on this page)The powerful storm flooded sections of Atlantic City and other areas of the New Jersey shore. Part of the Atlantic City boardwalk was washed away.
Atlantic City's casinos, which were closed Sunday afternoon, may not reopen until Thursday, officials said. Although they sustained only minor damage, the flooding and heavy damage to surrounding infrastructure means employees and customers can't get to them.
Officials estimated that the casinos alone are losing $5 million every day they're shuttered.
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This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49605748/ns/weather/
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At least 13 people were reported killed in the United States by Sandy, which dropped just below hurricane status before going ashore in New Jersey on Monday, according to officials and media reports. More than 1 million people across a dozen states were under orders to evacuate as the massive system continued to plow westward.
One disaster forecasting company predicted economic losses could ultimately reach $20 billion, only half insured.
The storm also slowed the presidential campaign at a key time ahead of next week's vote and closed U.S. markets for two days.
Sandy, which was especially imposing because of its wide-raging winds, brought a record surge of almost 14 feet to downtown Manhattan, well above the previous record of 10 feet during Hurricane Donna in 1960, the National Weather Service said.
Water poured into the subway system and tunnels that run under the rivers around Manhattan, raising concerns that the world's financial capital could be hobbled for days to come.
"Hitting at high tide, the strongest surge and the strongest winds all hit at the worst possible time," said Jeffrey Tongue, meteorologist for the weather service in Brookhaven, New York.
Hurricane-force winds as high as 90 miles per hour were recorded, he said.
"Hopefully it's a once-in-a-lifetime storm," Tongue said.
Large sections of New York City were in darkness without power and transportation in the metropolitan area was at a standstill.
"In 108 years our employees have never faced a challenge like the one that confronts us now," Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Joseph Lhota said in a statement.
It could take anywhere from 14 hours to four days to get the water out of the flooded subway tunnels, the MTA said.
"The damage has been geographically very widespread throughout the entire subway, bus, LIRR (Long Island Railroad) and Metro North system, MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said.
50-PLUS HOMES BURN
The unprecedented flooding was hampering efforts to fight a massive fire in one of the city's barrier island neighborhoods, Breezy Point in the borough Queens, the New York Fire Department said. More than 170 firefighters battled a fire that destroyed more than 50 homes.
Two people were reported dead in New York City - a man in a house hit by a tree and a woman who stepped into an electrified puddle of water. Two other people were killed in suburban Westchester County, north of New York City, and a motor vehicle death in Massachusetts was blamed in part on the bad weather.
Two others were killed in Maryland in storm-related incidents, state authorities said, and deaths also were reported in Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, CNN said.
Toronto police also recorded one death - a woman hit by flying debris.
Some 6.8 million people in several states were left without electrical power by the storm, which crashed ashore late on Monday near the gambling resort of Atlantic City, New Jersey.
In New Jersey, Exelon Corp declared an alert around its Oyster Creek nuclear power plant because of rising waters, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said. Officials said if waters rose further, they might be forced to use emergency water supplies to cool spent uranium fuel rods.
An alert-level incident, the second-lowest of four action levels, means there's a "potential substantial degradation in the level of safety" at a reactor.
The storm's wind field stretched from South Carolina north to the Canadian border and from West Virginia to a point in the Atlantic Ocean halfway to Bermuda, easily one of the largest ever seen, the National Hurricane Center said.
Heavy snow fell in higher elevations of the Appalachian Mountain inland, and the population centers of Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., were in the slow-moving storm's path.
In New York, a crane partially collapsed and dangled from a 90-story luxury apartment building under construction in midtown Manhattan, and authorities evacuated residents in the area out of fear that high winds would bring the entire rig down.
Much of the city was deserted, as its subways, buses, commuter trains, bridges and airports were closed.
Neighborhoods along the East and Hudson rivers were underwater, as were low-lying streets near Ground Zero, where the World Trade Center once stood.
Power and back-up generators failed at New York University Hospital, forcing patients to be moved elsewhere for care.
In lower Manhattan, firefighters used inflatable orange boats to rescue utility workers stranded for three hours by rising floodwaters inside a power substation.
One of the Con Ed workers pulled from the floodwater, Angelo Amato, said he was part of a crew who had offered to work through the storm.
"This is what happens when you volunteer," he said.
MARKETS, CAMPAIGN IMPACTED
Trees were downed across the region, falling debris closed a major bridge in Boston and floodwater and gusts of wind buffeted coastal towns such as Fairfield, Connecticut, home to many commuters into New York City.
With eight days to go before the election, President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney canceled scheduled campaign events and acted cautiously to avoid coming across as overtly political while millions of people are imperiled.
U.S. stock markets were set to be closed on Tuesday. They closed on Monday for the first time since the attacks of September 11, 2001.
The federal government in Washington was closed and schools were shut up and down the East Coast.
NYSE Euronext said there had been no damage to the New York Stock Exchange headquarters that could impair trading floor operations but it was making contingency plans in case of such damage.
Sandy killed 66 people in the Caribbean last week before pounding U.S. coastal areas.
(Additional reporting Edith Honan, Greg Roumeliotis, Janet McGurty, Scott DiSavino and Martinne Geller in New York Tabassum Zakaria in Washington; writing by Ellen Wulfhorst; editing by Dan Burns and Bill Trott)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/massive-storm-sandy-crashes-ashore-jersey-001837944--finance.html
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