Harvard University probes mass exam 'cheating'

Up to 125 students in one undergraduate course are suspected of sharing answers or plagiarising.

Possible cheating was found in about half of exam papers handed in by the class, which has at least 250 students.

If confirmed, the scandal would be the biggest to hit the "Ivy League" of top US universities in recent memory.

Suspicions were first aroused when a teaching assistant noticed several problems with the exam papers, including long passages of identical text in different students' answers, the Associated Press reports.

The university has not named the course or class in question.

Possible punishments for students found to have cheated range from a first-offence warning to being excluded from the university for a year, according to the agency.

"These allegations, if proven, represent totally unacceptable behaviour that betrays the trust upon which intellectual inquiry at Harvard depends," the university's president, Drew Faust, said.

Jay Harris, the dean of undergraduate education, stressed there was no evidence of widespread cheating at Harvard.

"The facts that are before us are that we have a problem in this one course," Mr Harris told AP.

"Looking at the students we have and the work that they do, I would be loath to say this is something that represents Harvard students generally."

Source & Image : BBC

Shell gets OK for Arctic drilling prep

Shell's purpose-built oil spill response vessel Nanuq will be on standby at all times in the Chukchi Sea.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The Obama administration has granted Royal Dutch Shell permission to begin drilling preparations off the coast of Alaska, bringing the region a step closer to offshore oil production.

The news drew swift criticism from environmental groups that claim such drilling can't be done safely in the Arctic.

The government's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said Thursday that Shell (RDSA) has been authorized to perform "certain limited preparatory activities" in the Chukchi Sea off the Alaskan coast. The activities include the installation of a safety feature below the sea floor related to blowout prevention.

The company's applications to drill into potential oil reservoirs "remain under review," the bureau said.

"Shell will not be authorized to drill into areas that may contain oil unless and until the required spill containment system is fully certified, inspected, and located in the Arctic," bureau director James Watson said in a statement.

If Shell's final permits are granted, it will be performing one of the first Arctic offshore drilling operations in recent memory. Industry competitors such as BP (BP) and ExxonMobil (XOM, Fortune 500) are also hoping to get in on the action.

Shell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Why Shell is betting billions to drill for oil in Alaska

The government was set to approve new drilling in Arctic waters off Alaska before BP's disastrous 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico prompted a review of existing plans.

The oil companies say they can drill safely in the region. Shell has repeatedly pointed out its numerous preparations, and says it can respond quickly to contain any problems.

But environmental groups remain skeptical, with memories of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill still lingering.

"It is clear that drilling of any kind in the Arctic is just too dangerous. It is time for Shell and the Obama administration to start looking toward a renewable energy future rather than spending billions of dollars on dirty fossil fuels," Greenpeace Deputy Campaigns Director Dan Howells said in a statement.

The Arctic is estimated to contain 90 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and 1,670 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas, according to the United States Geological Survey. That's 22% of the world's undiscovered, recoverable oil and gas resources.

Other countries have already begun drilling, and supporters of the industry say the United States needs to get in on the action.

First Published: August 30, 2012: 5:12 PM ET

Source & Image : CNN Money

Valencia ups bailout request from Spain government

The region will ask for 4.5bn euros (£3.6bn; $5.6bn), more than had been suggested when it first made the plea earlier this summer, a spokeswoman confirmed.

This week, debt-ridden Catalonia also asked for a bailout of 5bn euros.

A 18bn-euro public fund was set up by Madrid to aid its 17 autonomous regions, which are in deep debt.

Valencia, along with Murcia, had already indicated in July that it would need help.

The area has become symbolic for its so-called white elephant projects, absorbing large amounts of government spending. For example, Castellon Airport, which cost billions, has yet to have a flight take off or land.

As a nation, Spain's struggling economy has declined for three consecutive quarters, as it continues to suffer from the effects of its property bust caused by the financial crisis.

In June, Spain requested 100bn euros of loans from the eurozone's bailout fund to help support its banks, which are struggling with bad debts from loans made in the property sector.

Speculation has persisted that the country will have to request a full financial rescue.

Source & Image : BBC

Summer 'wettest in 100 years', Met Office figures show

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The wettest summer - defined as June, July and August - since national records began was in 1912.

Figures up until 29 August show that 366.8 mm of rain fell across the UK this summer, compared with 384.4 mm rainfall in 1912.

The April to June period was also the wettest recorded in the UK.

The figures are provisional as there are still two days remaining in August, but the BBC Weather Centre said the rainfall was not expected to exceed the total amount in 1912. Records began in 1910.

BBC weather presenter Laura Tobin said this summer had been so wet because a jet stream - a fast moving band of air high in atmosphere - from America, which should be sitting across Scotland and the north of England, was much further south this year.

"It meant June was the wettest on record - most places had over one-and-a-half times more rain than they should have.

"July was also one of the wettest months ever, with some areas like Dorset breaking records. August has been about average," she said.

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She said September was expected to be a typical September, and no heatwave was expected in the next 10 days.

In April, seven water companies across southern and eastern England brought in hosepipe bans after two unusually dry winters left some groundwater supplies and rivers as low as in the drought year of 1976.

But the restrictions were followed by record rainfall across the UK in April, and more rain in May and June led to flooding in some areas. The hosepipe bans were lifted in June and July.

The Environment Agency issued more than 1,000 river flood alerts and warnings between 1 June and 15 July, the most issued in a summer since 2007.

August 2012 looks set to be the driest and sunniest of the three summer months across the UK, with 105.5 mm of rain to 29 August, and 140 hours of sunshine up to 28 August.

The mean temperature for August was 15.7 °C - in a month that also saw the hottest day of the year so far, reaching 32.4 °C at Cavendish, Suffolk, on 18 August.

Summer 2012 is also likely to be one of the dullest summers on record, with just 399 hours of sunshine up to 28 August.

It is the dullest summer since 1980, when the UK saw only 396 hours of sunshine.

Source & Image : BBC

China to buy 50 Airbus planes for $3.5bn

The agreement is part of a slew of trade deals signed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the start of a two-day visit to China.

An agreement on Airbus plane assembly in China was also signed, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Thursday his country would continue to invest in the EU.

This is the first significant deal in China for Airbus, whose parent company is EADS, since a dispute between the country and the European Union over the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

Effective from 1 January this year, the ETS charges airlines for the carbon they emit.

China and other countries say the system is not fair, as it charges airlines for the full journey, not just over European airspace.

Following this in March, EADS chief executive Louis Gallois said Airbus was facing "retaliation measures" by China.

According to him, China had blocked firms from buying planes made by Airbus. Beijing did not comment on the allegation.

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Ms Merkel is in China for the second time this year, as she tries to improve relations and drum up business for European companies.

She is being accompanied by several ministers, as well as top German executives.

Bilateral trade between Germany and China totalled about $180bn dollars last year. That is nearly double what it was five years ago.

On Thursday, the two countries signed 10 further agreements, in the sectors of communication, energy, health and maritime co-operation, among others, Xinhua said.

Source & Image : BBC

'Difficult' demand for refugee camps in Syria vexes UN

Turkey told the UN to step in "without delay", but the UN deputy head said the issue raised "serious questions".

The opposition Syrian National Council has again demanded a no-fly zone.

Earlier, Egypt's president prompted a walkout by Syrian delegates at a summit in Tehran, when he called Syria an "oppressive regime" without legitimacy.

Fighting continued in Syria on Thursday, with rebels saying they had shot down an air force fighter jet in the north-western province of Idlib.

Activists said government forces had responded with shelling in the province, killing 20 people, including eight children.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called on the United Nations to act "without delay" to set up refugee camps inside Syria.

"Needless to say these camps should have full protection," he said.

Mr Davutoglu said more than 80,000 Syrians were housed inside Turkey, with another 4,000 crossing each day, and 10,000 more waiting at the frontier.

He has said Turkey will not be able to cope when the number reaches 100,000.

However, ahead of the UN meeting, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said there would be "considerable difficulties" with the idea.

"We have to be clear that anything like a safe zone requires military intervention and that of course is something that has to be weighed very carefully."

But Mr Hague added: "We are excluding no option for the future."

France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said "large-scale" military resources would be needed to protect refugees but if the conflict worsened "we will have to look at the different solutions".

Going into the UN meeting, the organisation's Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said of the camps issue: "Such proposals raise serious questions."

The Security Council remains deeply divided on Syria, with both Russia and China staunchly opposed to any external intervention.

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They are unlikely to back any military element to the creation of refugee camps.

The difficulties were highlighted by the fact that of the 15 council members, only France, Britain, Colombia, Morocco and Togo sent ministers to the current meeting.

On Wednesday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad dismissed as "unrealistic" the idea of creating humanitarian buffer zones within Syria.

The Syrian National Council again called for a no-fly zone, to cancel the government's air power monopoly.

In their joint press conference, Mr Hague and Mr Fabius also announced new financial help for the UN's refugee work in Syria.

France will add 5m euros ($6.2m) to its current 20m euro pledge and the UK will add £3m ($4.75m) to its £27.5m commitment.

Both called on other nations to increase their pledges.

Earlier, Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi, making the first visit to Iran by an Egyptian leader since 1979, told the Non-Aligned Movement (Nam) summit in Tehran that the Syrian uprising was a "revolution against an oppressive regime".

He told delegates of the 120-member body: "Our solidarity with the struggle of the Syrian people against an oppressive regime that has lost its legitimacy is an ethical duty, as it is a political and strategic necessity."

His comments sparked a walkout by the Syrian delegation.

Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Mr Mursi's speech "incites continued bloodshed in Syria".

The US, which questioned Mr Mursi's attendance at the summit, praised his "very clear and very strong" remarks.

The BBC's Iran correspondent, James Reynolds, says Tehran's hope for the summit was to show the West the Islamic Republic had plenty of friends elsewhere, but Mr Mursi's comments would certainly have upset the hosts.

Iran has been solid in its support for the Assad government.

Our correspondent says that for many years both countries have seen themselves as the natural leader of the Middle East and this fight is being played out at the summit.

Separately on Thursday, in an interview with BBC Arabic, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Martin Dempsey warned that Syria might turn into "a failed state" as there was no end in sight to the conflict.

"It will be a terrible outcome, especially for the Syrian people, but also for the region," he said.

In Thursday's fighting in Syria, Free Syrian Army chief for Idlib province, Col Afif Mahmoud Suleiman, told Agence France-Presse: "A MiG [fighter] was shot down this morning by our men using automatic weapons, shortly after taking off from Abu al-Zohur military airport."

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Amateur footage broadcast by Arabic satellite TV stations of the purported incident showed smoke billowing and two figures parachuting to the ground.

The UK-based opposition activist group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that 20 people, including eight children and nine women, were killed in bombardments by security forces in Abu al-Zohur that were carried out in response to the rebel attacks.

Clashes were said to be continuing elsewhere in the country on Thursday, with activists reporting pre-dawn fighting in the eastern suburbs of Damascus.

Activists also said fierce fighting was continuing in the bitterly contested commercial city of Aleppo.

Source & Image : BBC

CNN camerawoman speaks about RNC flap

The black CNN camerawoman who had nuts thrown at her at the Republican National Convention said she's "not surprised" by the incident.

"This is Florida, and I'm from the Deep South," Alabama native Patricia Carroll told journalist Richard Prince of the Maynard Institute. "You come to places like this, you can count the black people on your hand. They see us doing things they don't think I should do."

Carroll, 34, was doing her job inside the Tampa Bay Times Forum on Tuesday when two RNC attendees threw nuts at her and said: "This is how we feed animals." They were immediately removed from the forum and were later ejected from the convention, according to media reports.

Carroll said CNN has supported her throughout. And she told Prince that this "could happen to me at the Democratic convention or standing on the street corner. Racism is a global issue."

This should be a wake-up call, she said.

"People were living in euphoria for a while," she told Prince. "People think we've gone further than we have."

Source & Image : Yahoo

Federal court rejects Texas voter ID law

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal court on Thursday rejected a Texas law that would require voters to present photo IDs to election officials before being allowed to cast ballots in November.

A three-judge panel in Washington unanimously ruled that the law imposes "strict, unforgiving burdens on the poor" and noted that racial minorities in Texas are more likely to live in poverty.

The decision involves an increasingly contentious political issue: a push, largely by Republican-controlled legislatures and governors' offices, to impose strict identification requirements on voters.

Republicans are aggressively seeking the requirements in the name of stamping out voter fraud. Democrats, with support from a number of studies, say fraud at the polls is largely non-existent and that Republicans are simply trying to disenfranchise minorities, poor people and college students — all groups that tend to back Democrats.

In the Texas case, the Justice Department called several lawmakers, all of them Democrats, who said they detected a clear racial motive in the push for the voter ID law. Lawyers for Texas argued that the state was simply tightening its laws. Texas called experts who demonstrated that voter ID laws had a minimal effect on turnout. Republican lawmakers testified that the legislation was the result of a popular demand for more election protections.

The judges in the Texas case are Rosemary Collyer, an appointee of President George W. Bush; Robert Wilkins, an appointee of President Barack Obama; and David Tatel, an appeals court judge appointed by President Bill Clinton.

Tatel, writing for the panel, called the Texas law "the most stringent in the nation." He said it would impose a heavier burden on voters than a similar law in Indiana, previously upheld by the Supreme Court, and one in Georgia, which the Justice Department allowed to take effect without objection.

The decision comes the same week that South Carolina's strict photo ID law is on trial in front of another three-judge panel in the same federal courthouse. A court ruling in the South Carolina case is expected before the November election.

During an appearance in Houston in July, Attorney General Eric Holder said Texas' photo ID requirement amounts to a poll tax, a term that harkens back to the days after Reconstruction when blacks across the South were stripped of their right to vote. The attorney general told the NAACP that many Texas voters seeking to cast ballots would struggle to pay for the documents they might need to obtain the required photo ID.

Last December, South Carolina's voter ID requirement became the first such law to be rejected by the Justice Department in nearly 20 years. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said the attorney general made a "very serious error" by blocking it. Romney said the requirement is easy to meet and will stem voter fraud.

"We don't want people voting multiple times" and "you can get a photo ID free from your state. You can get it at the time you register to vote," Romney said.

Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, the Justice Department's chief civil rights enforcer, has said the Texas and South Carolina photo ID laws will hinder many citizens, particularly minorities, in exercising their right to vote.

Across much of the South, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is viewed as an overly intrusive burden on the states — a relic once used by the Justice Department's civil rights division to remedy discriminatory practices that no longer exist. Under Section 5 of the act, Texas, South Carolina and all or parts of 14 other states must obtain clearance from the Justice Department's civil rights division or a federal court before carrying out changes in elections. The states are mostly in the South and all have a history of discriminating against blacks, American Indians, Asian-Americans, Alaskan Natives or Hispanics.

Last year, new voter ID laws passed in Kansas, Mississippi, Rhode Island and Wisconsin. In addition to Texas and South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee tightened existing voter ID laws to require photo ID. Governors in Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire and North Carolina vetoed strict new photo ID laws.

This year, Pennsylvania enacted its own law and voting-rights groups who filed suit in an effort to stop it are appealing to the state Supreme Court. A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 13 in Philadelphia. The Republican administration of Gov. Tom Corbett says a U.S. Justice Department inquiry into the state's tough new voter identification law is politically motivated. The department is requesting the state's voter registration list, plus any database of registered voters who lack a valid photo ID that the law requires voters to show before their ballots can be counted.

In Wisconsin, a county judge ruled in July that the state's new photo ID law impairs the right to vote. In an appeal, Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, a Republican, is arguing that the ID law doesn't impose an undue burden because voters can get free state ID cards.

Since the last election, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Wisconsin and Texas and other states have tried to limit or ban the use of student IDs as voter identification. In Florida, lawmakers tried to limit "third party" organizations, including student groups, from registering new voters.

At a recent congressional hearing, Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa said the decision to contest the Texas and South Carolina laws shows insensitivity by the Justice Department to voter fraud.

Election administrators and academics who monitor the issue said in-person fraud is rare because someone would have to impersonate a registered voter and risk arrest.

A report by the Brennan Center for Justice determined that new voting restrictions could suppress the votes of more than 5 million young, minority, low-income and disabled voters.

___

Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report.

Source & Image : Yahoo

Volt monthly sales to hit record in August

The electric Chevrolet Volt roll along the assembly line in the Detroit-area plant. GM said the car to set a monthly sales record in August..

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Chevrolet Volt's August sales are expected to set a monthly record for the General Motors plug-in hybrid.

GM spokesman Jim Cain said the company expects the Volt's August sales to top 2,500, the best month by far since its December 2010 launch. That would mark a 35% increase over July sales and more than a 700% jump from year ago results.

Following a splashy debut, the Volt has been dogged by disappointing 2011 sales, concerns about crash-test fires and political attacks from Republicans.

But those concerns are beginning to fade. Demand is particularly strong in California, where about a third of the Volts are sold. In February the state gave approval for Volt drivers to use car pool lanes on its highways, even if they're driving alone. The previous best sales month -- when 2,289 Volts were sold -- was in March, immediately after the vehicle was approved for car pool lane use.

Cain said the car is also being helped by simply becoming more established as it approaches the second anniversary of its launch.

"The buzz is starting to build," he said.

Related: America's best-loved cars

But Chintan Talati of sale tracker TrueCar says General Motors (GMPRB) is also offering dealers the best incentives it's ever had on the model to move the cars.

Those deals have brought the price of a two-year lease down as low as $169 a month at some dealerships from the standard $279 lease price. Considering that the manufacturer's suggested retail price of $31,500 -- after a $7,500 federal tax credit -- is relatively pricy for a compact car, Talati said he'd expected sales to have been boosted even higher by GM's incentives.

"With the lease specials and discounts on the Volt currently, I'm surprised there isn't a line out the door for Volt buyers," he said.

Gas prices: The Volt is a plug-in car that can go about 40 miles on a charge, but also has a a gasoline engine to provide power for longer drives. Prices at the pump have risen nearly 10% nationwide so far this month, to an average $3.826 a gallon, according to AAA.

Cain said that while higher gas prices can get consumers looking at more fuel efficient models, the Volt enjoyed some of its stronger sales months at the beginning of the summer when gas was comparatively cheap.

"It's hard to separate out the impact of gas prices [on Volt sales]," he said.

First Published: August 30, 2012: 1:37 PM ET

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Voters React to Ryan's Speech: Charming and Witty or Smug and Deceptive?

Yahoo! News asked voters to share their reactions to Paul Ryan's address at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday. In their own words, here are perspectives from voters across the nation.

***

Paul Ryan's acceptance speech at the RNC was hyped and full of hope, but he answered the call, with the bases loaded, and hit it out of the park.

First, how cute are his kids! The one boy seemed to relish the spotlight a bit more than his siblings, waving a little longer. There's Betty, his mom. Ryan showed genuine emotion talking about her success, getting an education and starting a business after his father died suddenly. There was the priceless snuggle between Betty and his daughter.

My favorite line was about college graduates in their 20s in their childhood bedrooms staring at faded Obama posters, wondering when their life would begin. I had my college graduate home in her childhood bedroom last year. The humor but also hopelessness of that hit home!

He had substance. He exercises great efficiency with a quip or a one-liner. He makes each point cogent and uncluttered. I got the impression that he's a straight shooter, without being the at-times bombastic Chris Christie.

-- Jennifer Morrison

***

Ryan's use of imagery, one part of his speech particularly, resonated: "What did the taxpayers get out of the Obama stimulus? More debt. That money wasn't just spent and wasted--it was borrowed, spent, and wasted. Maybe the greatest waste of all was time. Here we were, faced with a massive job crisis--so deep that if everyone out of work stood in single file, that unemployment line would stretch the length of the entire American continent. You would think that any president, whatever his party, would make job creation, and nothing else, his first order of economic business."

I am one of the unemployed in that line. Ryan's speech reminds me that President Obama has held 106 fundraisers and played golf during the last six months without meeting with his jobs creation council. I think I am becoming tired of "standing in line."

-- Lyn Brooks

***

While Ryan's speech didn't convince me to vote for Romney, it didn't convince me not too, either. I like the idea of having a younger leader in that position, someone of my generation who likes the same music I do. Ryan brought a laugh from the crowd when he compared his musical tastes to Romney's and said his ranged from "AC/DC to Zeppelin." I also liked when he highlighted that he and Romney were a generation apart, which I think is a good thing.

One part of the speech that did resonate with me was when he said, "For those who feel left out or passed, over, you have not failed. Your leaders have failed you."

-- Freddy Sherman

***

Wow. (Note the lack of exclamation point.)

I'm traditionally a very decided voter, but not this election year. I was hoping Paul Ryan's speech would give me a push toward one party or the other, but it really fell short.

I agree that Obama should have put jobs first instead of Obamacare. Ryan says he and Romney will build 12 million jobs within four years if elected. I'm skeptical because Obama has also promised jobs. Maybe seeing details of their 12-million-jobs plan could cinch my vote for the Republicans in 2012. Republicans refer to Reagan like Democrats turn to JFK and Clinton.

I was not impressed that he referenced Reagan's "trickle down" economics. That plan didn't work in the 1980s, and it won't get us out of this horrible mess now. I went into this convention as an undecided voter, and I'm leaving Paul Ryan's speech as one.

--- Ronna Ross Pennington

***

Ryan's speech was full of smugness and carefully worded deceptions, and I didn't like it. It didn't engender trust or confidence for me. What he could have done was talked straight about issues that matter to me--women's rights, education, and global relationships. Somehow, they did not make his list of priorities. He did say that he has a simple answer to our problems: stop spending money we don't have. He says he and Mitt will solve the nation's economic problems--but doesn't say how. Simply put, his attempts at showing sincerity and confidence turned me off.

The strong protect the weak, he says, and our rights come from nature and God and not from government… but his platform didn't explain how the "weak" would be protected. He said, "The best among us have protected our freedoms and they're protecting us now," but didn't prove what those freedoms are.

Paul Ryan certainly revved up the crowd, but he didn't rev up me.

-- Jennifer Wolfe

***

I may not yet be sold on Mitt Romney for president, but one thing is for sure: I am sold on Paul Ryan for vice president.

Ryan was charming, witty, and downright truthful.

Ryan appealed to young voters--like me--who are concerned whether they will find a job once they graduate college. 

Finally, Paul Ryan made me breathe a little easier concerning Romney's religion. While I am no advocate of Mormonism, the fact that Romney is devoted to his church is a positive trait that he can take to the White House.

Thank you, Paul Ryan, for restoring my faith in the Republican Party.

-- Josh McKinney

***

The economy and Obamacare were high points in vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan's Republican National Convention address. Looking not a year over the age 35, the 42-year-old Ryan appeared as elegant as he spoke. With not even a slight stutter in his words, he drove his points across with authority and a deliverance that pre-law students could only dream of possessing.

I must admit Ryan grabbed my attention and simply refused to let go. I knew very little about him until tonight. I feel a little more clearly about his platform and what he feels Mitt Romney could potentially do if in office. As of this moment, the GOP has a strong lead with my vote.

-- D. Emile Delaney

***

Ryan's strength is that, instead of threatening to throw out the government programs that so many rely on, he and Mitt Romney will work with Congress to cut spending and create a national government that will live within its means. Ryan understands the importance of family and our country's values, which are founded on a legacy of hard work and thrift.

His speech gave me hope that with Mitt Romney's business acumen and Ryan's determination for real government change, together they will provide the leadership we need to steer our economic future onto a course of prosperity.

-- William Ray Fullmer

***

Ryan said, "We have suffered no shortage of words in the White House. What's missing is leadership in the White House." I am in total agreement. I know I am not the only voter who supported Obama in '08 only to realize that for the past 44 months, people are not really that much better off.

Ryan took the time to bring to our attention that it is good to be successful, that accomplishing good things is something Americans should be proud of and strive to accomplish. Unfortunately, it seems as if some people feel that being successful is cause for shame.

A Romney-Ryan ticket may take us to a better destination.

-- Morris Armstrong

Source & Image : Yahoo

Buffett gives $3 billion to his kids' foundations

Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has been leading a push to increase philanthropy among wealthy individuals.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Warren Buffett celebrated his 82nd birthday Thursday by announcing an additional $3.1 billion in donations to the charities run by his three children.

In 2006, Buffett pledged 17.5 million Class B shares of his firm, Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB), to each of his children's foundations. In an open letter to the three dated Thursday, Buffett said they had "exceeded my high expectations" in making use of the gifts so far, and that he was upping his pledge by 12.2 million shares each.

At Thursday's market price of $84.19 a share, that translates to an additional $3.1 billion in total. Buffett has been distributing a portion of the gift each year, with the three foundations in line to eventually receive roughly $7.5 billion, or more than $2.5 billion each.

Buffett is the world's third-richest person, according to Forbes Magazine, which pegged his net worth earlier this year at $44 billion. He has previously announced plans to give away more than 99% of his fortune during his lifetime or at death.

Buffett's son Peter, along with his wife, Jennifer, runs the NoVo Foundation, which is dedicated to fighting inequality and gender inequities. Another son, Howard, runs the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, which works in the developing world to improve agriculture and clean water delivery. Buffett's daughter, Susan, runs the Sherwood Foundation, which supports non-profits in his hometown of Omaha and funds early childhood education initiatives nationally.

Representatives of the three foundations did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Along with Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) founder Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, Buffett has spearheaded a push to get other wealthy individuals to commit to giving away at least half of their fortunes to charity. The initiative, known as the Giving Pledge, has landed commitments from members of the super-rich including Facebook (FB) founder Mark Zuckerberg, Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500) chairman Larry Ellison and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.

First Published: August 30, 2012: 2:49 PM ET

Source & Image : CNN Money

'Mysterious' Baltic Sea Object Is a Glacial Deposit

A feature on the floor of the Baltic Sea that was discovered last summer by Swedish treasure hunters is making headlines once again. The latest media coverage draws upon an hour-long radio interview with Peter Lindberg, head of the Ocean X Team (which made the "discovery"), in which Lindberg delivers a string of cryptic and titillating statements about the "strange" and "mysterious" seafloor object his team has been exploring for a year.

Lindberg discusses various possibilities for what the object might be: "It has these very strange stair formations, and if it is constructed, it must be constructed tens of thousands of years ago before the Ice Age," he said in the radio interview. (The peak of the most recent Ice Age occurred some 20,000 years ago.)

"If this is Atlantis, that would be quite amazing," he said. Atlantis is a mythical underwater city referred to in ancient legends.

Lindberg acknowledges that the object could instead be a natural formation, such as a meteorite that penetrated the ice during the Ice Age, or an underwater volcano; however, he gives the impression that scientists are baffled by it. Geologists, for example, have supposedly told him the object "cannot be a volcano." [Image Album: Baltic Sea 'Anomaly']

Also adding titillation, Lindberg says a documentary is being made about the seafloor anomaly — the location of which he has not disclosed — and he's saving some juicy details for the footage. "We're not telling everything," he said. "We will reveal some quite interesting things in the documentary."

The divers recently gave samples of stone from the object to Volker Brüchert, an associate professor of geology at Stockholm University. Swedish tabloids quote Brüchert as saying: "I was surprised when I researched the material I found a great black stone that could be a volcanic rock. My hypothesis is that this object, this structure was formed during the Ice Age many thousands of years ago."

In other words, an expert appears to back up their claims that this seafloor object is unexplained, and perhaps is an Atlantis-like ancient building complex. To double check, Life's Little Mysteries consulted that expert. Turns out, neither he, nor any of the other experts contacted about the Baltic Sea object, think there is anything mysterious about it.

"It's good to hear critical voices about this 'Baltic Sea mystery,'" Brüchert wrote in an email. "What has been generously ignored by the Ocean-X team is that most of the samples they have brought up from the sea bottom are granites and gneisses and sandstones."

These, he explains, are exactly what one would expect to see in a glacial basin, which is what the Baltic Sea is — a region carved out by glacial ice long ago.

Along with the mundane rocks, the divers also gave him a single loose piece of basaltic rock, a type of rock that forms from hardened lava. This is out of place on the seafloor, but not unusual. "Because the whole northern Baltic region is so heavily influenced by glacial thawing processes, both the feature and the rock samples are likely to have formed in connection with glacial and postglacial processes," he wrote. "Possibly these rocks were transported there by glaciers."

Glaciers often have rocks embedded in them. At the end of the Ice Age, when glaciers across Northern Europe melted, the rocks inside them dropped to the Earth's surface, leaving rocky deposits all over the place. These are sometimes called glacial erratics or balancing rocks. [Gallery of the Weirdest Balancing Rocks]

Lindberg and the Ocean X Team did not respond to a request for comment on the glacial deposit theory.

Aside from a widely-reproduced illustration recently created by a graphics artist in which the Baltic seafloor object is rendered as a beautiful, Atlantis-like archaeological site, there has only ever been one actual image of the Baltic Sea object: the original sonar scan image captured by the divers last summer, in which the object resembles a crashed UFO spaceship. But experts told us that sonar image should be disregarded.

"The sonar image has numerous artifacts in it that make it difficult to interpret, and I would not place too much confidence in any interpretation until a better processing is done and the details of the type of sonar and particulars are provided," said seabed sonar-scanning expert Dan Fornari, a marine geologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. "I'm saying the data are lacking in resolution, detail and quantification."

The expert analysis suggests this is just a glacial deposit that the Ocean X Team "discovered" in a low-resolution sonar scan. Widespread media coverage, fame and a worldwide Internet following have since ensued. Lindberg laments the fact that no organizations will sponsor his investigation. Some organizations have supposedly told him funding the dives isn't worth their time because the anomaly "might be something very unexplainable." He asks people to support his and his fellow divers' work by purchasing apparel from the Ocean X website.

Follow Natalie Wolchover on Twitter @nattyover or Life's Little Mysteries @llmysteries. We're also on Facebook & Google+.

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Source & Image : Yahoo

Opinion: Why being a boss is like a hostage crisis

Ex-hostage negotiator George Kohlrieser says that leaders walk a thin line based on trust.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• As a former hostage negotiator, George Kohlrieser has been held hostage four times


• He says hostage negotiators are successful because they build trust through dialogue


• Today, Kohlrieser works mostly with corporate leaders instead of hostage takers


• He says building a "secure base" to employees is essential for good leadership

Editor's note: George Kohlrieser is an organizational and clinical psychologist. Formerly a hostage negotiator he is now professor of leadership and organizational behavior at IMD (International Institute for Management Development). His new book, "Care to Dare. Unleashing Astonishing Potential through Secure Base Leadership," has just been published.

(CNN) -- I'm no stranger to the kind of dehumanized violence we saw happen in a Colorado movie theater earlier this summer.

As a hostage negotiator, I've been held hostage myself four times in the line of duty. That's never a comfortable place to be, but I kept in mind that the success rate of hostage negotiators is as high as 95% and I knew why. Hostage negotiators are successful because they build trust through dialogue.

That dialogue changes the mindset of the hostage taker so he will surrender his weapons and hostages, even though he is aware he will probably go to prison.

In essence, the hostage negotiator becomes a "secure base" to the hostage taker. A secure base provides a sense of safety and stretch, just as a parent, grandparent, or caretaker provides their child both protection and encouragement to go out and explore and take risks.

George Kohlrieser

Today, I work mostly with corporate leaders instead of hostage takers. In my book "Care to Dare" I define a secure base as "someone or something that gives protection or sense of protection, inspires or brings forth energy within an individual." With this inspiration and energy, individuals step out of their comfort zones and strive to fulfill their untapped potential.

I believe this quality is the single most important criterion for delivering sustainable high-performance leadership.

See also: Want be a leader? Act like one

Many hostage takers have few secure bases in their lives. Hostage taking is always preceded by a loss or a series of losses. The most dangerous hostage taker is the person who has no attachments and refuses to talk. However, when a hostage negotiator offers hopes, options, and positive solutions by gaining the trust of the hostage taker, he or she can become a secure base.

To become a secure base to my hostage takers meant caring about them as people and gaining their trust to explore positive solutions both for them and their hostages. Once I understood the motivation behind the hostage taking, I could begin the search for options.

By tactfully leading the way and while acting as a "secure base," I was able to disarm my four hostage takers without force. Each time, I survived precisely because I cared for the person who had a weapon trained on me.

Each time, I survived precisely because I cared for the person who had a weapon trained on me.
George Kohlrieser

That process involved creating a relationship -- an emotional bond -- with the hostage taker. Neuroscience explains why this bonding works. The human brain has one goal: to survive. That's why humans are always searching for the negative and instinctively act defensively. However, when a secure base creates a bond, the resulting sense of protection lets the brain shut down its defensive focus. Then the brain can look for positives and opportunities.

James Holmes, the accused shooter in the Aurora mass murder, is a typical example of a "loner" who has no secure bases or recently lost them: his university position as student, his identity, his apartment, his girlfriend, his father, to name just a few. As someone with extensive experience with severely troubled people, I see his lack of secure bases as a key contributing factor to his alleged crimes.

These days, I am a professor of leadership and organizational behavior, yet I still focus on the most basic human needs that drive behavior. If leaders are not secure bases to their employees, employees cannot trust them and they will be defensive and even feel like hostages.

Gallup studies show extremely low rates of employee engagement: 7% in France, 12% in Germany, 17 % in the UK, and 28% in the United States. The major finding was that high engagement was connected to high emotional care from the immediate boss -- a boss who became a secure base.

When caring was present, the employees would "dare" to take risks and stretch themselves to achieve great things. This winning combination of caring and daring not only shuts down defenses, it can also unleash extraordinary potential.

Source & Image : CNN Opinion

Taylor Swift on her bold new direction

"I really want to go out on the road in the spring," said Taylor Swift, whose fourth studio LP is due out October 22.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Lyrically, "Red" is full of Swift's usual themes of romance and heartbreak


• Swift co-wrote "Red" with pop hitmakers such as Max Martin and Adele collaborator Dan Wilson


• The album, which features "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," is due out on October 22

(Rolling Stone) -- "I went through a few roller coasters," says Taylor Swift, reflecting on her relationships over the past two years. She channeled the turmoil into her fourth studio LP, "Red," out October 22. "Trying to chronicle each step of the way was challenging, because you go to some really dark places with the lyrics. Then in the next track, you're talking about how amazing it is to meet somebody new."

After writing 2010's smash "Speak Now" by herself, Swift veered in the opposite direction, co-writing with pop hitmakers such as Max Martin and Adele collaborator Dan Wilson. She wound up with nearly 40 potential songs; in between stops on the yearlong world tour that she wrapped in March, Swift joined her writing partners in L.A. and Nashville. "I felt like an apprentice," Swift says. "They taught me so much about melodic sense, and they let me do what I love, which is the lyrics."

The result is Swift's most eclectic set ever, ranging from "State of Grace," a howling, U2-style epic with reverb-drenched guitars, to a sweet acoustic duet with U.K. singer Ed Sheeran. Another key track even features a dubstep-inspired bass breakdown. So far, the new direction isn't hurting Swift's career: Lead single "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," a bitter breakup anthem with a hip-hop-flavored Max Martin beat, has shattered chart records, selling a stunning 623,000 digital singles in its first week.

Taylor Swift to Release New 'Red' Album in October

To Swift, the musical excursions aren't surprising, given how much hip-hop and R&B she listens to. "I have so many play-lists full of Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Chris Brown," she says. "I love Wiz Khalifa."

Lyrically, the album is full of Swift's usual themes of romance and heartbreak. "I know general things about love," she says. "How to treat people well, what you deserve and when to walk away. Other than that, love is a complete mystery -- and that's why I like to write about it."

Taylor Swift: My Fourth Album Is About 'Crash-and-Burn Heartbreak'

Swift has spent much of the summer with her new boyfriend, Conor Kennedy (the son of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.), in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. She's even looked into buying a house near the Kennedy compound. "That would be so amazing," she says. But Swift won't be resting for long: She's already thinking about how to top her last tour, which featured aerialists, costume changes and a mock wedding onstage every night.

"I really want to go out on the road in the spring," she says. "After I write a song, I always end up laying awake at night thinking, 'What are the lighting cues going to be on this? How big is the pit going to be?' I have been thinking of some big moments that are going to happen."

Source & Image : CNN Entertainment

Michaela DePrince: From war orphan to teen ballerina

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Sierra Leonean ballet dancer Michaela DePrince lost both of her parents aged three


• She was adopted by an American couple and became a ballet dancer in the United States


• DePrince made her professional debut last month in South Africa


• She wants to change traditionally held views about black ballet dancers

African Voices is a weekly show that highlights Africa's most engaging personalities, exploring the lives and passions of people who rarely open themselves up to the camera. Follow the team on Twitter.

(CNN) -- Professional ballet dancer Michaela DePrince was just three years old when she saw a ballerina for the first time.

She was standing near the gate of the orphanage she was living in the West African country of Sierra Leone when she found a magazine with a female ballet dancer on the cover.

The image of the beautiful, smiling ballerina mesmerized the young orphan, who had just lost both of her parents.

"I was just so fascinated by this person, by how beautiful she was, how she was wearing such a beautiful costume," she remembers. "So I ripped the cover off and I put it in my underwear."

At the time, DePrince -- or Mabinty Bangura as she was then called -- had no idea what ballet was. But she kept onto the picture, dreaming of one day becoming as happy as the ballerina on the magazine cover.

"It represented freedom, it represented hope, it represented trying to live a little longer," she recalls. "I was so upset in the orphanage, I have no idea how I got through it but seeing that, it completely saved me."

Shortly after, DePrince was adopted by an American couple and began a new life in the United States. Today, at the age of 17, she is one of the ballet world's rising stars -- last month she traveled to South Africa to make her professional debut in Johannesburg.

"I worked very hard and I was on point by the time I was seven years old," says DePrince. "I just moved along fast because I was so determined to be like that person on the magazine and she was what drove me to become a better dancer, a better person -- to be just like her was what I wanted to be."

Read related: Sierra Leone 'will become aid donor in next 50 years'

Tens of thousands of people died during Sierra Leone's brutal civil war from 1991 to 2002. The horrors of the decade-long conflict defined DePrince's early memories: Her father was murdered by rebels while her mother starved to death shortly after.

One of her uncles took her to an orphanage hoping she'd be adopted and taken to a safer place.

But life in the orphanage was tough for the three-year-old girl.

She remembers being called "the devil's child" and being ill-treated by the orphanage's carers because she had vitiligo -- a skin condition that causes blotches of lightening skin. Children in the orphanage were given numbers ranking them from the most favored to the least -- DePrince was ranked 27th out of 27 children.

"I didn't get enough food, I didn't get the best clothes, I got the last choice of toys," she says. "I was in the back and they didn't really care if I died or whatever happened to me."

Hopelessness and despair engulfed DePrince even further when she witnessed the murder of one of her teachers at the orphanage, a pregnant woman "who was the only person who actually took time to care for me," she says.

I'm still trying to change the way people see black dancers, that we can become delicate dancers, that we can be a ballerina.
Michaela DePrince

"She was going outside the gate and I was walking with her, I was going to say bye, and then these three rebels come -- two older and a younger one and they see that she's pregnant and what they used to do is if it was a boy, they would keep the baby, if it was a girl they would kill the mother and the baby," she says.

"So they cut her stomach and they saw that it was a girl, so then they were angry and they cut her arms and legs off and left her and the baby there. I was trying to save her and so I went underneath the gate and the little boy saw all these older people doing these things and I guess he wanted to impress them and thought it was funny, so he stabbed me and so I have actually a scar from it and it was a black out after that -- I have no idea how I survived that, it was awful."

Watch: Former child soldier speaks out

But DePrince's life changed once and for all in 1999 when at the age of four she was adopted by a couple from New Jersey.

Passionate about dancing, she earned a full scholarship to the prestigious American Ballet Theater's summer intensive in New York aged 13.

A year later she took part in the youth America Grand Prix, the biggest ballet competition in the world, where she walked with yet another scholarship.

The teenage dancer also became the subject of "First Position," an award-winning documentary about the competitive contest and performed on hit TV show "Dancing with the Stars."

Graced with talent and strength, DePrince says she has had to work even harder to get accepted into the rarefied world of ballet dancing -- a predominantly white preserve.

Read related: South African ballet dancer confounds racial stereotypes

She says she almost quit dancing when she was 10 years old after a teacher told her mother that she didn't want to put "a lot of effort and money into the black dancers because they just get fat and get big boobs and big thighs."

But those words only served to make DePrince even more determined.

"I'm still trying to change the way people see black dancers, that we can become delicate dancers, that we can be a ballerina."

DePrince also says she'd like to start an art school in Sierra Leone. She wants to use her remarkable story to teach little girls on the continent that if they have a dream they can definitely achieve it.

"Even though you might have had a terrible past and even though you might have been through a lot and might be still going through a lot, if you have something that you love and that makes you happy and that gives you that feeling inside to continue growing up and that makes you want to have a good future then you should focus on that and not focus on the negative."

Source & Image : CNN World