Serbia hints willing to talk about UN seat for Kosovo

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BELGRADE: Serbia, which fiercely opposes independence for Kosovo, hinted for the first time on Tuesday that it may give up its opposition to the breakaway territory's bid to join the United Nations.

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said Belgrade was looking for a "comprehensive settlement" with its former southern province, which may include talking about a seat for Kosovo at the UN.

Since Kosovo unilaterally proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008 -- a move Belgrade persistently rejects -- Kosovan authorities have repeatedly said their ultimate goal is UN membership.

Backed by its traditional ally Russia, which wields a veto on the UN Security Council, Serbia had vowed never to allow Kosovo to join the UN and other related international organisations.

But Dacic on Tuesday for the first time hinted at a change in Belgrade's attitude.

"We can agree on everything," Dacic told reporters.

"We are seeking a comprehensive settlement, but for that to happen something has to be given," he said ahead a new round of talks with Kosovo counterpart Hashim Thaci in Brussels later this week.

Serbia's parliament on Sunday adopted a resolution calling for autonomy for the Serb minority in Kosovo as a part of ongoing EU-backed talks with Pristina.

In return, Serbia would finally recognise Pristina's authority over the entire territory, including the Serb-populated north of Kosovo, currently under Belgrade's control.

Improvement of relations with Pristina is a key condition for Serbia to move toward eventual membership in the European Union.

"They (Kosovo) are pressuring us through the European Union, and we are not letting them into the United Nations. Are we supposed to be spiteful like that for years?" Dacic said.

Ever since the 1998-1999 war, when its forces were driven out of Kosovo by NATO, Serbia has had no control over the territory, except in areas dominated by the Serb minority.

However, Dacic recently told parliament that "Serbia's sovereignty (in Kosovo) is almost non-existent," the first time a top Serbian official admitted so.

More than 90 countries, including the United States and 22 out of 27 EU member states, have recognised Kosovo as an independent state.

- AFP/jc



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Best Android Jelly Bean smartphones you can get now

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After waiting for what seemed like an eternity for Android Jelly Bean phones to ship, I'm glad to see that a flood of handsets with the coveted software have burst onto the mobile scene. Some of these devices such as the HTC Droid DNA and LG Nexus 4 rolled straight off the assembly line boasting Google's most modern OS. Older phones, like the Samsung Galaxy S III and Motorola Droid Razr HD Maxx, just received this significant upgrade.


Take a look at this stellar list of smartphones which all offer a state-of-the-art
Android experience. From the pure flavor only a true Nexus device can bring, to the tricked-out tweaks phone designers like to bring to the table, chances are good there's a Jelly Bean handset here that will suit your specific tastes.





HTC Droid DNA (Verizon)
Unquestionably the best Droid device to have ever graced Verizon's ranks, the HTC Droid DNA is not only the fastest smartphone we've tested yet. Running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean from the moment you turn it on and powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, there's also no doubt this phone was genetically engineered for one purpose -- to eat lesser handsets for breakfast. Read a full review of the HTC Droid DNA.



HTC One X+ (AT&T)

A worthy follow up to HTC's last flagship device, the HTC One X+ puts a powerful quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, big 4.7-inch LCD (1,280x720-pixel) screen, and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean in palm of your hand. Its vast 64GB of internal storage, AT&T LTE 4G data connection, and excellent camera are icing on the cake. Read a full review of the HTC One X+.




LG Nexus 4 (T-Mobile)
As the newest official Nexus handset, the LG Nexus 4 offers both a premium glass design and a clean, elegant Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean user interface to match. Boasting the most recent version of Android you can currently get your hands on, the Nexus 4 which is also driven by a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon CPU and will likely be the first device to receive any fresh Android updates direct from Google. Read a full review of the LG Nexus 4.




LG Optimus G (Sprint and AT&T)
A close cousin to the Nexus 4, the Optimus G offers a bigger 5-inch screen and faster LTE 4G data connection courtesy of AT&T. A Sprint version of the Optimus G supports LTE too but finding a signal in the carrier's smaller 4G network will be harder. Sweetening the deal is the Sprint Optimus G's sharper 13 Megapixel camera compared with the AT&T model's 8MP sensor. Both phones flaunt the same premium glass design and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Read a full review of the LG Optimus G.




Samsung Galaxy Note II (multiple carriers)
Big, bad, and strutting the power of Samsung's quad-core Exynos processor, the massive 5.5-inch
Galaxy Note II now has Android Jelly Bean thanks to a recent update. Available on all five of America's major wireless carriers, a few of the Note II's other impressive skills are a superb 8MP camera, and yes a stylus. Read a full review of the Samsung Galaxy Note II.




Samsung Galaxy S III (multiple carriers)
Samsung's Galaxy S III has certainly been a big hit, but the dual-core handset which really shook up the iPhone's apple cart is showing its age. Helping to extend the Galaxy's shelf life is a fresh infusion of software, namely Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Also sold by practically all U.S. cellular providers, the GSIII's 8MP camera takes excellent images and video and is still a mobile device to be respected. Read a full review of the Samsung Galaxy S III.




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A Wild Start for Weather in the New Year

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Here we go again. The weather's going to extremes: a snowstorm in Jerusalem, wildfires in Australia, a cold snap in China, a heat wave in Brazil. Based on the first two weeks of the new year, 2013's picking up right where 2012 left off.

(What's up with the weather? Read the September 2012 National Geographic story and see a gallery of extreme weather pictures.)

As much as 8 inches (20 centimeters) of snow fell on Jerusalem (map) last Thursday, closing roads across the city. It was the biggest winter storm there in 20 years. Scores of trees fell from the weight of the snow, snowball fights broke out in the parks, and Israeli President Shimon Peres was photographed building a snowman outside his residence with help from his bodyguards.

In Australia, where a heat wave was smashing records across the country, the national weather agency added two new colors to its maps to handle the possibility of unprecedented temperatures: deep purple for above 122°F (50°C) and pink for above 125.5°F (52°C). The first eight days of the year were among the warmest on record, with January 7 ranking as Australia's hottest day ever, with an average temperature of 104.6°F (40°C). Some beaches were so hot swimmers couldn't walk to the water without burning their feet on the sand.

Elsewhere around the globe, the weather has been equally extreme. While much of the eastern U.S. and northern Europe basked in springlike weather, Tokyo (map) saw 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) of snow fall on the city this weekend, nearly half of its typical total for a full year.

In China, the average temperature fell to 25°F (-4°C) in early January, the lowest in nearly three decades. More than a thousand ships in China's Laizhou Bay (map) have been frozen into the ice.

At the same time, a heat wave and drought in northeast Brazil prompted officials to consider rationing electricity for the first time in a decade, and the temperature in Rio de Janeiro (map) reached a record 109.8°F (43°C).

The New Normal

Extremes like these are becoming the norm, a team of 240 U.S. scientists warned in a draft report released Friday. In an open letter to the American people, the authors of the latest National Climate Assessment said that the frequency and duration of extreme conditions are clear signs of a changing climate.

"Summers are longer and hotter, and periods of extreme heat last longer than any living American has experienced," they wrote. "Winters are generally shorter and warmer. Rain comes in heavier downpours, though in many regions there are longer dry spells in between."

The impacts of such changes are easy to see, they added. "Corn producers in Iowa, oyster growers in Washington State, and maple syrup producers in Vermont have observed changes in their local climate that are outside of their experience. So, too, have coastal planners from Florida to Maine, water managers in the arid Southwest and parts of the Southeast, and Native Americans on tribal lands across the nation."

Their report followed by a week the announcement by NOAA's National Climatic Data Center that 2012 ranked as the warmest year on record for the lower 48 states. Across the nation, more than 99 million people sweltered in temperatures above 100°F (38°C) for more than ten days. The average temperature last year was more than three degrees higher than the average for the 20th century.

On top of all the heat waves, the nation suffered 11 disasters with damages of at least $1 billion each, including the severe drought across the Midwest and superstorm Sandy along the East Coast. (See top reader photos of superstorm Sandy.)

Rough Waters Ahead

In another troubling sign of a changing climate, the amount of ice covering the Arctic Ocean shrank to its lowest level ever in late 2012. Nearly half of the ocean was free of ice in mid-September, the National Snow and Ice Data Center reported. Some scientists have speculated that the warming ocean is changing the pattern of the jet stream over the Arctic, increasing the likelihood of extreme weather for lower latitudes. (Related: "Polar Ice Sheets Shrinking Worldwide, Study Confirms.")

Even with all this weird weather, things could have been even worse if El Niño conditions had developed this winter, as many experts had predicted. During an El Niño phase, the pattern of storms across the Pacific typically increases the amount of warm, dry weather that reaches places like Australia, leading to severe drought or extended heat waves.

But last November, the anticipated El Niño fizzled out. If it hadn't, the Australian heat could have been even worse. "The fact that we have neutral El Niño conditions this year is helping to keep things less extreme than they might be otherwise," said meteorologist Jeff Masters of Weather Underground.

Looking ahead to the spring, Masters cautioned that the U.S. may be in for still more extreme weather. "The great drought of 2012 is now a two-year drought," he said, referring to the record-breaking dry spell that wiped out crops across the Midwest last summer. "If we come into spring with drought conditions as widespread and intense as they are now, we're at high risk of another summer of extreme drought, which could cost tens of billions of dollars—again." (Pictures: Surprising Effects of the U.S. Drought.)


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NY Passes Nation's Toughest Gun Law

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Today New York became the first state to pass a gun control law -- the toughest in the nation -- since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre last month.


Acting one month and a day since the rampage killing that left 20 first-graders and six educators dead, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law shortly after 5 p.m.


Called the New York Safe Act, the law includes a tougher assault weapons ban that broadens the definition of what constitutes an assault weapon, and limits the capacity of magazines to seven bullets, down from 10. The law also requires background checks of ammunition and gun buyers, even in private sales, imposes tougher penalties for illegal gun use, a one-state check on all firearms purchases, and programs to cut gun violence in high-crime neighborhoods.


As he signed the bill into law, Cuomo said it was not only "the first bill" but the "best bill."


"I'm proud to be a New Yorker, because New York is doing something, because we are fighting back, because, yes, we've had tragedies, and yes, we've had too many innocent people lose their lives, and yes, it's unfortunate that it took those tragedies to get us to this point, but let's at least learn from what's happened, let's at least be able to say to people, yes, we went through terrible situations, but we saw, we learned, we responded, and we acted, and we are doing something about it," Cuomo said. "We are not victims.








'The View' on NRA Shooting App: Think It Out Watch Video









"You can overpower the extremists with intelligence and with reason and with commonsense," Cuomo continued, "and you can make this state a safer state."


New York's law also aims to keep guns out of the hands of those will mental illness. The law gives judges the power to require those who pose a threat to themselves or others get outpatient care. The law also requires that when a mental health professional determines a gun owner is likely to do harm, the risk must be reported and the gun removed by law enforcement.


The legislation also includes what is called a "Webster provision," named for the two firefighters ambushed on Christmas Eve in Webster, N.Y. The measure would mandate a life sentence with no chance of parole for anyone who kills a first responder.


The National Rifle Association issued a statement after the bill's signing, saying it was "outraged at the draconian gun control bill that was rushed through ... late Monday evening."


"Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature orchestrated a secretive end-run around the legislative and democratic process and passed sweeping anti-gun measures with no committee hearings and no public input," the statement read. "These gun control schemes have failed in the past and will have no impact on public safety and crime. Sadly, the New York Legislature gave no consideration to that reality. While lawmakers could have taken a step toward strengthening mental health reporting and focusing on criminals, they opted for trampling the rights of law-abiding gun owners in New York, and they did it under a veil of secrecy in the dark of night. The legislature caved to the political demands of a governor and helped fuel his personal political aspirations."






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Today on New Scientist: 14 January 2013

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Activist's death sparks open-access tribute on Twitter

Hundreds of researchers have been offering free access to their work in tribute to internet freedom activist Aaron Swartz, who committed suicide on Friday



Exploding microchip could make arms dumps safer

Shrapnel and bullets can set off huge explosions if they hit weapons stores. But microchip-based detonators could help keep them safe



The hologenome: A new view of evolution

Far from being passive hangers-on, symbiotic microbes may shape the evolution of the plants and animals that play host to them



White House uses Death Star request to plug science

The White House has politely declined to build a version of the planet-destroying space station from Star Wars but took the opportunity to promote science



Wolves bite back in the human world

Grey wolves are an evolutionary success story, giving rise to the domestic dog 10,000 years ago and now rebounding from centuries of persecution



Mariko Mori: From stone circles to stardust

The artist's new exhibition tethers human history to the life of the entire cosmos



Why we called off hunt for ancient Antarctic life

Geoscientist Martin Siegert says that drilling through 3 kilometres of ice to reveal the secrets of an entombed lake was never going to be easy



Give video games a sporting chance

Traditional fans will turn their noses up at e-sports, but they risk missing some compelling action



Benefits of emissions cuts kick in only next century

Even rapid action now to curb emissions will bring only modest results this century, but the earlier we act, the greater the eventual rewards



Video games take off as a spectator sport

Professional gaming has been huge in Asia for years, and improved technology means it is now going global




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Euro gains against US dollar in positive market

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NEW YORK: The euro gained ground against the US dollar Monday as positive market sentiment spurred buying of riskier assets, such as the European currency.

The euro fetched US$1.3376 around 2200 GMT, up from US$1.3341 at the same time last Friday. Earlier, the unit brushed US$1.3404, its highest level in almost 11 months.

The euro continued to rise against the Japanese currency, to 119.65 yen from 119.00 yen late Friday, while the US dollar rose to 89.45 yen from 89.18 yen.

The market showed little reaction to a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on the challenges facing the US economy, analysts said.

"I saw nothing very different from what has already been announced by the Fed," whether it be in the minutes from the last Federal Open Market Committee policy meeting in December or the FOMC statement, Charles St-Arnaud, a Nomura economist, said.

Wading into the Washington political fray over the federal budget and the borrowing limit, Bernanke called on Congress to lift the debt limit to avoid putting the country into default.

Kathy Lien of BK Asset Management said the market was waiting for Tuesday's US retail sales data for December, which covers the important holiday-shopping season.

"Consumer spending is the backbone of the US economy, and the only reason why investors obsess over the labour market is because they hope that stronger job growth will translate into stronger spending," Lien said.

The euro rise was buoyed by last week's upbeat comments by European Central Bank president Mario Draghi.

The yen, meanwhile, remained under selling pressure after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday unveiled a US$226.5 billion stimulus plan in the latest bid to boost the world's fragile number-three economy.

The US dollar rose against the Swiss currency, buying 0.9216 francs compared with 0.9135 francs late Friday.

The pound fell to US$1.6074 from US$1.6129.

- AFP/jc



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Homeland Security still advises disabling Java, even after update

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Despite an emergency software update issued yesterday by Oracle, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is still advising computer users to disable Java on their Web browsers, fearing that an unpatched vulnerability remains.


Oracle released a software update on Sunday to address a critical vulnerability in Oracle's Java 7 after the DHS' Computer Emergency Readiness Team issued an advisory last week recommending users disable the cross-platform plugin on systems where it was installed. The flaw could allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code when a vulnerable computer visits a Web site that hosts malicious code designed to take advantage of the hole.


Oracle said in an advisory yesterday that it "strongly" recommended users update their Java software to repair the vulnerability. But the DHS is still worried that further, unknown flaws may exist in Java.


"Unless it is absolutely necessary to run Java in Web browsers, disable it as described below, even after updating to 7u11," CERT said in an updated note today that included instructions for disabling the plugin. "This will help mitigate other Java vulnerabilities that may be discovered in the future."




DHS cited security company Immunity as reporting that Oracle's update addressed only one vulnerability and that another still existed.


"The patch did stop the exploit, fixing one of its components," Immunity said in a blog post today. "But an attacker with enough knowledge of the Java code base and the help of another zero day bug to replace the one fixed can easily continue compromising users."


CNET has contacted Oracle for comment and will update this report when we learn more.

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Space Pictures: 7 Ways You Could Blast Off by 2023

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Arias Denied Guilt Despite Sex Photos, DNA

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A defiant Jodi Arias insisted she was innocent of killing her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander even after a detective told her that he had nude photos of them together on the day he died.


"Are you sure it's me? Because I was not there," Arias is heard saying in the police interrogation tape played for the Arizona jury today.


When Detective Esteban Flores tells Arias she is seen in pigtails in the photos, she asks with a tone of incredulity, "Pigtails?"


As Flores laid out more incriminating evidence, including that investigators found DNA of their blood mixed together, her hair stuck with blood and her palm print in blood, Arias was insistent.


"I would not hurt Travis. I would not hurt Travis. I would not do that to him," she told Flores.


At another point Arias said, "If I hurt Travis I would beg for the death penalty."


"Jodi, this is over. … you have to tell me the truth," Flores says. The detective suggests a motive for the killing to be jealousy, and cites the opinion of Alexander's friends.


"They don't just say you were jealous. You were absolutely obsessed… a fatal attraction," Flores in heard on the tape.


Arias, now 32, has since admitted to killing Alexanderfollowing their tryst in 2008, but has claimed it was self-defense. She is accused of stabbing Alexander 27 times in the chest, back, and head, slashing his throat from ear to ear, and shooting him the head with a .25 caliber handgun.


Arias is charged with murdering her ex-boyfriend in a "heinous and depraved" way and could face the death penalty if convicted.


The interrogation tape was played after the jury was shown sexually graphic photos that police recovered from Alexander's digital camera. Among the pictures were shots of Arias and Alexander posing naked on Alexander's bed, as well as pictures of Alexander in the shower.


Those photos were the last pictures of Alexander while he was alive.










Jodi Arias Trial: Jurors See Photos of Bloody Handprint Watch Video









Jodi Arias Murder Trial: Who Is the Alleged Killer? Watch Video





The final photos in the series show a body partly covered in blood on the bathroom floor.


See Full Coverage of Jodi Arias Trial


Watch the Jodi Arias Trial Live


See Jodi Arias Trial Videos


Arias looked away from the screen in the courtroom where the sexual photos were shown, as her mother watched from the gallery. Alexander's sisters, also seated in the gallery, looked away from the photos of their brother.


Computer analysts for the city of Mesa, Ariz., where Alexander lived, went over the photos in detail during the sixth day of testimony in the trial. The photos were time stamped June 4, 2008, beginning around 1:45 p.m.


Prosecutors have said that Arias drove from her California home to Alexander's house, arriving early in the morning on June 4. The pair had sex in the afternoon, took photos of one another, and then Arias killed Alexander, age 30, around 5:30 p.m., they said.


The photos on the bed occurred around 1:45 p.m., according to the data on the camera. The shower photos and the pictures of a bloody body part occurred around 5:30 p.m.


In earlier testimony today, the jury watched video taped interrogations of Arias as she repeatedly denied to police stealing and using the handgun that killed Alexander.


Arias told police that she had never seen a .25 caliber handgun and had no idea her grandparents owned one until they reported it stolen a week before Alexander's killing, according to the police interrogation tapes played in court today.


Police from Yreka, Calif., where Arias lived with her grandparents, described the scene of the home when Arias's grandparents reported a break-in. The door was pushed in, breaking the door jamb, and many drawers were opened in Arias' bedroom and her grandparents' room.


The only things reported taken were the handgun, a DVD player, and $30, while other valuable items, including a large pile of quarters and three other guns, were left untouched. Arias told police that her laptop computer was not taken because she had hidden it in a laundry basket covered with clothes.


Officer Kevin Friedman of the Yreka police department told the court today that burglary struck him as odd.


"I believed it was unusual that small items worth money or money, for instance, that the change was not taken," said Officer Kevin Friedman, of the Yreka police department, who investigated the alleged robbery. "I also thought it was strange that only one of the firearms was stolen from the cabinet."


In the police videos, Arias is seen calmly denying stealing the gun from her grandparents' home and using it when she killed Alexander in June 2008, a week after the burglary.






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Benefits of emissions cuts kick in only next century

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Are we the altruistic generation? Do we care what happens to our grandchildren, and to their children? Or are we with Groucho Marx when he said: "Why should I care about future generations? What have they ever done for me?"











A new study of climate change lays out in detail why this matters. According to its author, Nigel Arnell of the University of Reading, UK, the unpalatable truth is that even rapid action now to curb greenhouse gas emissions would have only a "negligible effect by 2030, and the benefits in 2050 would remain small". The big dividend – cooler temperatures, fewer floods and droughts and better crop yields, compared to carrying on as we are – would only become clear by about 2100.












Arnell and colleagues used climate models to look at how different policies to curb greenhouse gases would affect temperature, sea levels, crop yields and the incidence of droughts and floods. Two findings emerged. The first is that lags in the climate system mean the real benefits of cutting emissions will only show up late this century. This, says Arnell, underlines that there is a lot of global warming "in the pipeline" that cannot now be prevented.












But the study also shows that tackling climate change early brings big rewards. Arnell compared a policy of letting emissions peak in 2016 and then cutting them by 2 per cent a year with one that delays the peak till 2030 and then cuts by 5 per cent a year. He found that both restricted warming in 2100 to about 2 °C, but the climate disruption over the next century would be much less with the early start. Coastal flooding from sea-level rise in particular would be much reduced. This, he told New Scientist, contradicts a common view that drastic action to curb warming should wait for renewable energy to become cheaper.













"Arnell has shown just how crucial the emissions pathway we take today will be for our children and grandchildren," said Dave Reay, geoscientist at the University of Edinburgh, UK. Bill McGuire of University College London agrees: "It shows taking effective action now is far better than putting it off until later."












It's a shame, then, that even if all goes well with UN negotiations, no global deal to bring down emissions will come into force until at least 2020. Our great-great-grandchildren will be cursing our delay.












Journal reference: Nature Climate Change, DOI: 10.1038/NCLIMATE1793


















































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