US freedom of navigation operations targeted China

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WASHINGTON - The U.S. military carried out freedom of navigation operations challenging the maritime claims of China, Iran and 10 other nations last year, asserting its right to use the seas in defiance of their restrictions, a Pentagon report said Thursday.

The Defense Department's annual Freedom of Navigation Report to Congress for the 2013 fiscal year showed the U.S. military targeted not only countries such as Iran, with whom it has no formal relations, but treaty allies like the Philippines, too.

The U.S. military conducted multiple operations targeting China over what Washington believes are "excessive" claims about its maritime boundaries and its effort to force foreign warships to obtain permission before peacefully transiting its territorial seas.

U.S. operations challenged Iran for trying to restrict the use of the Strait of Hormuz to ships from countries that have signed the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, an accord the United States has not formally adopted but treats as generally accepted customary law.

The report covers activity in the 2013 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, before the latest tensions over an incident between U.S. and Chinese warships in the South China Sea and Beijing's declaration of an air defense identification zone over the East China Sea, which Washington rejected.

The United States carries out freedom of navigation operations by sending Navy ships into disputed areas in an effort to show that the international community has not accepted claims made by one or more countries.

The operations, which began in 1979, are coordinated by the State and Defense departments and are meant to be consistent with the U.N. Law of the Sea Convention, even though Washington has not formally adopted the agreement.

A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the country whose laws are being challenged often are not even aware a U.S. ship has been there, which is one reason for issuing an annual report after the fact to note the complaint.

"There are times that coastal states detect us executing the operation and we respond (with a) bridge-to-bridge query and they tend to be professional," the official said.

Incidents like the 1988 bumping of two U.S. ships by Soviet vessels during a freedom of navigation operation in the Black Sea are uncommon, he said. That incident led the two countries to reach a bilateral understanding on the rights warships have in transiting the territorial seas of other states.

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US freedom of navigation operations targeted China

Eyes of Freedom Memorial arrives in Lynchburg

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LYNCHBURG, Va. -

It's called the Eyes of Freedom and you have to see it with your own eyes to realize how special it is.

Veterans gather every Friday at Monument Terrace in Lynchburg but on this Friday something different was going on.

As the veterans gathered, the Eyes of Freedom Memorial rolled in. Life sized portraits arrived of 22 young Marines and one Navy Corpsman - all from Ohio- all who lost their lives in Iraq.

Mike Strahle served with those men. "I was injured in one of the blasts that took six of these guys," Strahle said. "It's just dumb luck that I'm here and able to do this."

Strahle now travels the nation helping tell their story.

"We help a lot of veterans everywhere and I always tell people 'it's helped me the most,'" Strahle said.

Perhaps it's therapeutic, helping him deal with the loss by keeping their memory alive.

"It's done wonders for me and my family and I've seen it do wonders for veterans all over the country," Strahle said. "It's a really powerful thing."

The portrait artist from Ohio, Anita Miller, was inspired to paint these men even though she never knew them. She visited each family to learn their story.

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Eyes of Freedom Memorial arrives in Lynchburg

Freedom Laser Therapy Exposes the Ins and Outs of Smoking on Sexual Performance

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Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) March 07, 2014

Panayiotis M. Zavos, PhD., Director of the Andrology Institute of America and professor of reproductive physiology and andrology at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, stated in an April 2nd, 2011 WebMD report that, "Smoking has a direct, negative effect on the sexuality of a man on every level. Zavos and his fellow researchers who are conducting an ongoing federally funded study found, that men's smoking not only had a significant and negative effect on the ability to conceive, but they also turned up a surprise: Smoking significantly diminishes a man's sexual desire and satisfaction -- even for young men in their 20s and 30s.

"Sexual performance is more than just erectile function; it involves many of the systems of the body," says Zavos. "When a man's ability to perform decreases, his overall desire will greatly diminish soon thereafter." Freedom Laser Therapy puts forth, "There are enough issues that complicate one's ability to perform sexually that we seem to have little if any control over, why accelerate the aging process with smoking?"

In addition to the fact that smoking is widely accepted as being a cause of impotence, there's some evidence that smoking actually affects erection size as well. In a Men's Health study researchers found that smokers' penises are significantly smaller than nonsmokers'. "In addition to damaging blood vessels, smoking may cause damage to penile tissue itself, making it less elastic and preventing it from stretching," says Irwin Goldstein, M.D., a urologist at the Boston University Medical Center.

In an article released on September 26, 2010 http://www.reclaimyoursexuality, Madeleine Castellanos, MD, Sexual Health, Stated "Dont think that men are the only ones affected. Nicotine has the same effect on the arterial flow to the genitals in women as it does in men. For women, this translates into less engorgement of the erectile tissue of the clitoris and the spongy erectile tissue that fills up in front of the G-spot and over the U-spot. This results in less sensitivity in these areas, less vasocongestion, less pleasure, and a longer time to lubricate. And since the body works on the use it or lose it principle, these effects get worse over time as a person continues to smoke or use nicotine."

Freedom Laser Therapy says, "The long and the short of it, if sexual performance and pleasure are important to you- Dont Smoke!"

----------- Corporate Information:

Freedom Laser Therapy established in April 2003 has treated 10,000+ smokers for nicotine addiction. After a decade of research and clinical experience of helping smokers quit, Founder Craig Nabat invented the new Freedom Quit Smoking System, a 10-day nicotine free and all natural at home program developed to free smokers from the addictive grip of nicotine.

Freedom Laser Therapy is presently testing a nationwide direct response television commercial to place their As Seen on TV product, the new Freedom Quit Smoking System in 30,000 retail outlets such as CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Target, GNC, Vitamin Shoppe, Kmart, Walmart, and specific Bed Bath Beyond Stores. The short form infomercial DRTV campaign and retail rollout will be conducted over a six to nine month time period. A nationwide leading rep firm has been secured to assist with domestic retail placement for the Freedom Quit Smoking System.

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Freedom Laser Therapy Exposes the Ins and Outs of Smoking on Sexual Performance

Durham medic-turned-author explores Nazi eugenics in new thriller

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Durham medic-turned-author explores Nazi eugenics in new thriller

1:50pm Friday 7th March 2014 in News By Mark Tallentire, Reporter (Durham)

Author Quentin Smith

A NORTH-EAST medic has published his second novel, exploring the horrors of Nazi eugenics.

Quentin Smith, a consultant anaesthetist at Sunderland Royal Hospital, set Hubers Tattoo in London in 2011.

Several loosely connected murders are gradually traced back to the Third Reichs attempts to produce a master race.

DCI Webber of Scotland Yard begins to uncover his own links to Himmlers Lebensborn birthing project and the murders themselves are closer than he could have imagined.

Mr Smith, who lives in Durham City, said: I have always been in awe of the history of the Second World War because it still feels very alive around us.

But he added: Its well recognised that were very fortunate to know the little that we do about the Nazis Lebensborn birthing programme.

In 1944 the retreating Germans hastily disbanded all operations and destroyed virtually every record. Only a few clandestine photographs and a handful of documents survived.

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Airtel Ghana upgrades mobile money system

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Business News of Friday, 7 March 2014

Source: GNA

Airtel Ghana, the leading telecommunications network in mobile banking has upgraded and expanded its mobile money platform by making it simpler for its customers to transact business.

Mr Philip Sowah, Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Ghana who launched the new platform in Accra said, since the introduction of the Airtel Money, customers have enjoyed variety of services and it is important to expand the system by working with numerous partners to bring convenience to the door stop of consumers.

He said the new platform allows customers to transfer money from their bank accounts to their mobile wallet across the banks within the eco-system. One can also transfer money from the mobile wallet to his or her bank accounts and also requests for bank balances and mini statements, he explained.

Mr Sowah said, in addition to the mobile banking system, Airtel has also expanded its cash outs services where customers can take out money at Fidelity and Ecobank ATMs, Airtel shops, partner banks and agents outlets across the country.

He said Airtel has also introduced the innovative cardless ATM service where customers could withdraw money from the ATM without using a card. Mr Ishmael Adams, Head of Banking Supervision at the Bank of Ghana said the central bank is mandated to regulate, supervise and promote payment and settlement system.

He said the mobile banking system is very important as it helps to promote cashless society. He said the system also helps to reduce cost of printing money as bills such electricity and DSTV among others could be paid by using the platform.

He commended Airtel Ghana for introducing innovative ways of the mobile money system and urged its management team to continue in that direction.

Mr Yaw Akosa, Acting Director of Airtel Money said the old Airtel money service platform has been replaced with a new and more robust platform. Instead of looking for the AM menu on the phone, a customer can now dial *500# and the menu will show up automatically. Accessing the Airtel Money is now simpler, better and faster, he said.

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Robotic arm gives amputee drummer better beats

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Georgia Tech's Gil Weinberg has made music-playing robots in the past. Now he's tapped that technology to help a musician likely become the world's first drumming "cyborg."

One drumstick is controlled by muscle movement, the other "listens" and plays on its own.

When drummer Jason Barnes lost his lower right arm to electrocution two years ago, his future as a musician didn't look too promising. But thanks to a new robotic arm invented by Professor Gil Weinberg, founding director of the Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology, he may soon be the envy of the drumming world.

That's because the new mechanical arm effectively gives Barnes the ability to use three different drumsticks while playing his kit. He holds the first in his left hand, as always. The other two are held by the robotic arm attached to Barnes' right bicep. One of those sticks is controlled by the up-and-down motion of Barnes' arm, as well as electrical impulses from his body measured by electromyography muscle sensors.

The other stick however, analyzes the rhythm being played and uses a built-in motor to improvise on its own, adding a dimension to drumming that's heretofore not seen on any stage we know of.

"The second drumstick has a mind of its own," Weinberg said in a statement. "The drummer essentially becomes a cyborg. It's interesting to see him playing and improvising with part of his arm that he doesn't totally control."

Barnes finds it more than interesting. "I'll bet a lot of metal drummers might be jealous of what I can do now," he said. "Speed is good. Faster is always better," he said, referring to the fact that the autonomous stick can move more quickly than humanly possible.

The drumming arm is an extension of Weinberg's previous work; among other thing, he has created one robot that could play the drums and one that could play the marimba. Both robots could jam with human counterparts thanks to programmed algorithms. The autonomous third stick uses similar technology to "listen" to what's being played and add its own appropriate track. If the drummer doesn't want to hear the extra stick, he can simply rotate his arm so it doesn't strike the drum.

I'll bet a lot of metal drummers might be jealous of what I can do now. Speed is good. Faster is always better. --Jason Barnes, drummer

Beyond making music, Weinberg sees applications for his technology in outer space or the operating room, where a third arm could help astronauts or surgeons orchestrate complex operations.

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Robotic arm gives amputee drummer better beats