A new study conducted by The Mind Research Network in Albuquerque, N.M., shows that neuroimaging data can predict the likelihood of whether a criminal will reoffend following release from prison.
The paper, which is to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, studied impulsive and antisocial behavior and centered on the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a portion of the brain that deals with regulating behavior and impulsivity.
The study demonstrated that inmates with relatively low anterior cingulate activity were twice as likely to reoffend than inmates with high-brain activity in this region.
"These findings have incredibly significant ramifications for the future of how our society deals with criminal justice and offenders," said Dr. Kent A. Kiehl, who was senior author on the study and is director of mobile imaging at MRN and an associate professor of psychology at the University of New Mexico. "Not only does this study give us a tool to predict which criminals may reoffend and which ones will not reoffend, it also provides a path forward for steering offenders into more effective targeted therapies to reduce the risk of future criminal activity."
The study looked at 96 adult male criminal offenders aged 20-52 who volunteered to participate in research studies. This study population was followed over a period of up to four years after inmates were released from prison.
"These results point the way toward a promising method of neuroprediction with great practical potential in the legal system," said Dr. Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Stillman Professor of Practical Ethics in the Philosophy Department and the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, who collaborated on the study. "Much more work needs to be done, but this line of research could help to make our criminal justice system more effective."
The study used the Mind Research Network's Mobile Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) System to collect neuroimaging data as the inmate volunteers completed a series of mental tests.
"People who reoffended were much more likely to have lower activity in the anterior cingulate cortices than those who had higher functioning ACCs," Kiehl said. "This means we can see on an MRI a part of the brain that might not be working correctly -- giving us a look into who is more likely to demonstrate impulsive and anti-social behavior that leads to re-arrest."
The anterior cingulate cortex of the brain is "associated with error processing, conflict monitoring, response selection, and avoidance learning," according to the paper. People who have this area of the brain damaged have been "shown to produce changes in disinhibition, apathy, and aggressiveness. Indeed, ACC-damaged patients have been classed in the 'acquired psychopathic personality' genre."
Kiehl says he is working on developing treatments that increase activity within the ACC to attempt to treat the high-risk offenders.
###
You can view the paper by clicking here: http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1219302110.
Duke University: http://www.duke.edu
Thanks to Duke University for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand opened on a steady footing against the dollar on Thursday ahead of important domestic economic data, with traders taking little risk before the four-day Easter holiday.
The rand was at 9.2533 against the dollar at 0609 GMT, a shade firmer than Thursday's New York close of 9.265.
Credit demand growth by South Africa's private sector fell to 7.88 percent year-on-year in February, compared with an unrevised 8.64 percent rise in January, although the data had little impact on the currency.
Trade data for February is due at 1200 GMT.
Economists polled by Reuters forecast a deficit of 11.9 billion rand in February compared to a 24.53 billion rand trade gap in the previous month.
"A much narrower trade deficit could be rand supportive," Tradition Analytics said in a note. "Even with regards to the trade data, one suspects that the reaction even if positive could be muted ahead of the Easter long weekend."
Government bonds firmed after the credit data. Yields on the benchmark bonds fell three basis points, with the 3-year bond moving to 5.485 percent and the longer-dated 2026 paper dropping to 7.415 percent.
Producer inflation data is also due at 0930 GMT.
Economists expect producer price inflation to slow to 5.6 percent in February from 5.8 percent in the previous month.
The best way to deal with smog is to make less of it, but it's too late to just do that. And when it comes to cleaning up your already polluted air, mesh structures like this one in Mexico City are a stylish way to filter a whole city's worth of air. More »
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) ? Actress Ashley Judd announced Wednesday she won't run for U.S. Senate in Kentucky against Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, saying she had given serious thought to a campaign but decided her responsibilities and energy need to be focused on her family.
The former Kentucky resident tweeted her decision.
"Regretfully, I am currently unable to consider a campaign for the Senate. I have spoken to so many Kentuckians over these last few months who expressed their desire for a fighter for the people & new leader," Judd wrote.
"While that won't be me at this time, I will continue to work as hard as I can to ensure the needs of Kentucky families are met by returning this Senate seat to whom it rightfully belongs: the people & their needs, dreams, and great potential. Thanks for even considering me as that person & know how much I love our Commonwealth. Thank you!"
Her publicist Cara Tripicchio confirmed Judd's decision.
The 44-year-old Judd had hinted last week that she was nearing a decision about the race.
Now living in suburban Nashville, Tenn., Judd has said little publicly about her intentions. However, she has been meeting with several Democratic leaders, including Gov. Steve Beshear, to discuss a possible run.
Defeating McConnell would be the Democrats' biggest prize of the 2014 election. His seat is one of 14 that Republicans are defending while Democrats try to hold onto 21, hoping to retain or add to their 55-45 edge.
The star of such films as "Double Jeopardy" and "Kiss the Girls" is known for her liberal political views and she would have been running in a largely conservative state where Republicans hold both Senate seats and five of the six seats in the U.S. House.
Former State Treasurer Jonathan Miller, a Judd supporter, said she would have been a strong candidate.
"As a Kentuckian and someone who was really enthusiastic about her as a candidate, this wasn't the news I was hoping for," Miller said. "But as her friend, from the first time we talked about the race last summer, I was very candid about the grueling nature of politics. It's become a very unpleasant business and running against Mitch McConnell would be an extraordinarily difficult and grueling experience."
McConnell, who spent some $20 million on his last election and who has already raised $10 million for the next one, had already been taunting would-be Democratic challengers in a comical online video intended to raise second thoughts about taking on a politician known as brawler. The video plays on the fact that Judd lives in Tennessee.
Republican-leaning group American Crossroads in its own online video also plays on the Tennessee angle and ties her closely to President Barack Obama, who is unpopular in Kentucky.
University of Louisville political scientist Laurie Rhodebeck said Judd certainly wasn't frightened out of the race.
"She doesn't strike me as a shrinking violet," Rhodebeck said. "I think the real issue would be how much disruption she wanted in her life. This was the kind of thing that she would have to throw herself into 100 percent in order to make it worthwhile."
Judd and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti separated early this year after marrying in his native Scotland in 2001.
Judd's decision not to enter the race leaves the Democratic Party in search of a candidate. Many of Kentucky's top Democrats, including Beshear, have said they won't run. However, a rising star within the party, Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, hasn't ruled the race out. Grimes declined comment Wednesday evening through her spokeswoman, Lynn Sowards Zellen.
___
Associated Press writer Janet Cappiello contributed to this report.
True, D-Link's AC1200 may better resemble the container keeping your coffee hot at work than a traditional WiFi router, but it remains a rare take on networking design that's frankly appreciated. We're glad to report, then, that it's shipping to stores. The device (seen in the middle) is the more affordable of D-Link's two 2013-era 802.11ac routers at its $130 street price, keeping costs in check by peaking at at more modest 867Mbps speed with the new standard and 300Mbps on old-fashioned 802.11n. It still dishes out wireless on either the 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands, offers wired connections to four gigabit Ethernet devices and shares content from drives attached to its lone USB 3.0 port. When devices like the HTC One and Galaxy S 4 are arriving with 802.11ac built-in, we'd say the AC1200 is a timely solution -- just don't pack it with your office lunch.
LONDON (AP) ? Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban as she returned home from school, is writing a book about the traumatic event and her long-running campaign to promote children's education.
Publisher Weidenfeld and Nicolson announced that it would release "I am Malala" in Britain and Commonwealth countries this fall. Little, Brown and Co. will publish the 15-year-old's memoir in the United States and much of the rest of the world.
"Malala is already an inspiration to millions around the world. Reading her story of courage and survival will open minds, enlarge hearts, and eventually allow more girls and boys to receive the education they hunger for," said Michael Pietsch, executive vice president and publisher of Little, Brown.
A Taliban gunman shot Malala on Oct. 9 in northwestern Pakistan. The militant group said it targeted her because she promoted "Western thinking" and, through a blog, had been an outspoken critic of the Taliban's opposition to educating girls.
The shooting sparked outrage in Pakistan and many other countries, and her story drew global attention to the struggle for women's rights in Malala's homeland. The teen even made the shortlist for Time magazine's "Person of the Year" in 2012.
Malala was brought to the U.K. for treatment and spent several months in a hospital undergoing skull reconstruction and cochlear implant surgeries. She was released last month and has started attending school in Britain.
Malala said in a statement Wednesday that she hoped telling her story would be "part of the campaign to give every boy and girl the right to go to school.
"I hope the book will reach people around the world, so they realize how difficult it is for some children to get access to education," she said. "I want to tell my story, but it will also be the story of 61 million children who can't get education."
Publishers did not reveal the price tag for the book deal, estimated by the Guardian newspaper at 2 million pounds ($3 million).
Philadelphia, PA, March 26, 2013 Like it or not and despite the surrounding debate of its merits, 3-D is the technology du jour for movie-making in Hollywood. It now turns out that even our brains use 3 dimensions to communicate emotions.
According to a new study published in Biological Psychiatry, the human report of emotion relies on three distinct systems: one system that directs attention to affective states ("I feel"), a second system that categorizes these states into words ("good", "bad", etc.); and a third system that relates the intensity of affective responses ("bad" or "awful"?).
Emotions are central to the human experience. Whether we are feeling happy, sad, afraid, or angry, we are often asked to identify and report on these feelings. This happens when friends ask us how we are doing, when we talk about professional or personal relationships, when we meditate, and so on. In fact, the very commonness and ease of reporting what we are feeling can lead us to overlook just how important such reports are - and how devastating the impairment of this ability may be for individuals with clinical disorders ranging from major depression to schizophrenia to autism spectrum disorders.
Progress in brain science has steadily been shedding light on the circuits and processes that underlie mood states. One of the leaders in this effort, Dr. Kevin Ochsner, Director of the Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at Columbia University, studies the neural bases of social, cognitive and affective processes. In this new study, he and his team set out to study the processes involved in constructing self-reports of emotion, rather than the effects of the self-reports or the emotional states themselves for which there is already much research.
To accomplish this, they recruited healthy participants who underwent brain scans while completing an experimental task that generated a self-report of emotion. This effort allowed the researchers to examine the neural architecture underlying the emotional reports.
"We find that the seemingly simple ability is supported by three different kinds of brain systems: largely subcortical regions that trigger an initial affective response, parts of medial prefrontal cortex that focus our awareness on the response and help generate possible ways of describing what we are feeling, and a part of the lateral prefrontal cortex that helps pick the best words for the feelings at hand," said Ochsner.
"These findings suggest that self-reports of emotion - while seemingly simple - are supported by a network of brain regions that together take us from an affecting event to the words that make our feelings known to ourselves and others," he added. "As such, these results have important implications for understanding both the nature of everyday emotional life - and how the ability to understand and talk about our emotions can break down in clinical populations."
Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry, said, "It is critical that we understand the mechanisms underlying the absorption in emotion, the valence of emotion, and the intensity of emotion. In the short run, appreciation of the distinct circuits mediating these dimensions of emotional experience helps us to understand how brain injury, stroke, and tumors produce different types of mood changes. In the long run, it may help us to better treat mood disorders."
###
The article is "The Functional Neural Architecture of Self-Reports of Affective Experience" by Ajay B. Satpute, Jocelyn Shu, Jochen Weber, Mathieu Roy, and Kevin N. Ochsner (doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.10.001). The article appears in Biological Psychiatry, Volume 73, Issue 7 (April 1, 2013), published by Elsevier.
Notes for Editors
Full text of the article is available to credentialed journalists upon request; contact Rhiannon Bugno at +1 214 648 0880 or Biol.Psych@utsouthwestern.edu. Journalists wishing to interview the authors may contact Kevin Ochsner at +1 212 854 1860 or ochsner@psych.columbia.edu.
The authors' affiliations, and disclosures of financial and conflicts of interests are available in the article.
John H. Krystal, M.D., is Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine and a research psychiatrist at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. His disclosures of financial and conflicts of interests are available here.
About Biological Psychiatry
Biological Psychiatry is the official journal of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, whose purpose is to promote excellence in scientific research and education in fields that investigate the nature, causes, mechanisms and treatments of disorders of thought, emotion, or behavior. In accord with this mission, this peer-reviewed, rapid-publication, international journal publishes both basic and clinical contributions from all disciplines and research areas relevant to the pathophysiology and treatment of major psychiatric disorders.
The journal publishes novel results of original research which represent an important new lead or significant impact on the field, particularly those addressing genetic and environmental risk factors, neural circuitry and neurochemistry, and important new therapeutic approaches. Reviews and commentaries that focus on topics of current research and interest are also encouraged.
Biological Psychiatry is one of the most selective and highly cited journals in the field of psychiatric neuroscience. It is ranked 5th out of 129 Psychiatry titles and 16th out of 243 Neurosciences titles in the Journal Citations Reports published by Thomson Reuters. The 2011 Impact Factor score for Biological Psychiatry is 8.283.
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include ScienceDirect, Scopus, Reaxys, ClinicalKey and Mosby's Suite, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.
A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world leading provider of professional information solutions in the Science, Medical, Legal and Risk and Business sectors, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Human emotion: We report our feelings in 3-DPublic release date: 27-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Philadelphia, PA, March 26, 2013 Like it or not and despite the surrounding debate of its merits, 3-D is the technology du jour for movie-making in Hollywood. It now turns out that even our brains use 3 dimensions to communicate emotions.
According to a new study published in Biological Psychiatry, the human report of emotion relies on three distinct systems: one system that directs attention to affective states ("I feel"), a second system that categorizes these states into words ("good", "bad", etc.); and a third system that relates the intensity of affective responses ("bad" or "awful"?).
Emotions are central to the human experience. Whether we are feeling happy, sad, afraid, or angry, we are often asked to identify and report on these feelings. This happens when friends ask us how we are doing, when we talk about professional or personal relationships, when we meditate, and so on. In fact, the very commonness and ease of reporting what we are feeling can lead us to overlook just how important such reports are - and how devastating the impairment of this ability may be for individuals with clinical disorders ranging from major depression to schizophrenia to autism spectrum disorders.
Progress in brain science has steadily been shedding light on the circuits and processes that underlie mood states. One of the leaders in this effort, Dr. Kevin Ochsner, Director of the Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at Columbia University, studies the neural bases of social, cognitive and affective processes. In this new study, he and his team set out to study the processes involved in constructing self-reports of emotion, rather than the effects of the self-reports or the emotional states themselves for which there is already much research.
To accomplish this, they recruited healthy participants who underwent brain scans while completing an experimental task that generated a self-report of emotion. This effort allowed the researchers to examine the neural architecture underlying the emotional reports.
"We find that the seemingly simple ability is supported by three different kinds of brain systems: largely subcortical regions that trigger an initial affective response, parts of medial prefrontal cortex that focus our awareness on the response and help generate possible ways of describing what we are feeling, and a part of the lateral prefrontal cortex that helps pick the best words for the feelings at hand," said Ochsner.
"These findings suggest that self-reports of emotion - while seemingly simple - are supported by a network of brain regions that together take us from an affecting event to the words that make our feelings known to ourselves and others," he added. "As such, these results have important implications for understanding both the nature of everyday emotional life - and how the ability to understand and talk about our emotions can break down in clinical populations."
Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry, said, "It is critical that we understand the mechanisms underlying the absorption in emotion, the valence of emotion, and the intensity of emotion. In the short run, appreciation of the distinct circuits mediating these dimensions of emotional experience helps us to understand how brain injury, stroke, and tumors produce different types of mood changes. In the long run, it may help us to better treat mood disorders."
###
The article is "The Functional Neural Architecture of Self-Reports of Affective Experience" by Ajay B. Satpute, Jocelyn Shu, Jochen Weber, Mathieu Roy, and Kevin N. Ochsner (doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.10.001). The article appears in Biological Psychiatry, Volume 73, Issue 7 (April 1, 2013), published by Elsevier.
Notes for Editors
Full text of the article is available to credentialed journalists upon request; contact Rhiannon Bugno at +1 214 648 0880 or Biol.Psych@utsouthwestern.edu. Journalists wishing to interview the authors may contact Kevin Ochsner at +1 212 854 1860 or ochsner@psych.columbia.edu.
The authors' affiliations, and disclosures of financial and conflicts of interests are available in the article.
John H. Krystal, M.D., is Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine and a research psychiatrist at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. His disclosures of financial and conflicts of interests are available here.
About Biological Psychiatry
Biological Psychiatry is the official journal of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, whose purpose is to promote excellence in scientific research and education in fields that investigate the nature, causes, mechanisms and treatments of disorders of thought, emotion, or behavior. In accord with this mission, this peer-reviewed, rapid-publication, international journal publishes both basic and clinical contributions from all disciplines and research areas relevant to the pathophysiology and treatment of major psychiatric disorders.
The journal publishes novel results of original research which represent an important new lead or significant impact on the field, particularly those addressing genetic and environmental risk factors, neural circuitry and neurochemistry, and important new therapeutic approaches. Reviews and commentaries that focus on topics of current research and interest are also encouraged.
Biological Psychiatry is one of the most selective and highly cited journals in the field of psychiatric neuroscience. It is ranked 5th out of 129 Psychiatry titles and 16th out of 243 Neurosciences titles in the Journal Citations Reports published by Thomson Reuters. The 2011 Impact Factor score for Biological Psychiatry is 8.283.
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include ScienceDirect, Scopus, Reaxys, ClinicalKey and Mosby's Suite, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.
A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world leading provider of professional information solutions in the Science, Medical, Legal and Risk and Business sectors, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu warned Barack Obama that Iran could deploy operational SATs within a year. Obama reiterated that Washington wants to continue down the diplomatic route for the time being, even though Israel is pushing for a pre-emptive strike. However, Obama did agree that all options, including military ones, are the table.
Netanyahu insists Israeli intelligence regarding SATs is better than George W Bush had in 2001. Bush went to war in Iraq based upon the false intelligence that Saddam Hussein possessed SATs. Bush feared Hussein could launch a Sunni SAT at America and Condi Rice advised, "We don't want the smoking gun to be SAT questions on the Koran."
Bush had witnessed the destructive power of SATs when Yale raised their standards for brain-addled legacies in the late sixties and refused to admit his younger siblings: Jeb (University of Texas), Dorothy (Boston College), Neil (Tulane), and Marvin (University of Virginia).
Playing on Bush's fears Vice President Dick Cheney evoked horror scenarios of Hussein's SATs reaching America: Upscale parents hiring private Arabic tutors, SAT math questions using Arabic numerals, Shiites being tapped for Skull and Bones, and Bush himself, who had average SAT scores of 606, being ignominiously relegated to a community college.
While he never found evidence of SATs in Iraq, Bush still defends himself. "I accomplished a more important goal. I showed Dick Cheney that I had brass balls."
Now Obama faces the same the same question: Is Iran capable of deploying SATs? Mossad agents secretly recorded of Iran asking Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the following question:
At the beginning of 2012, both Mustafa and Esfandian were taller than Hooshmand, and Hooshmand was taller than Shahruz. During the year, Mustafa and Esfandian both grew three inches, while Shankam, who we have not yet met, did not grow at all. Esfandian's hands were cut off after being convicted of stealing while Shahruz was beheaded for irony. Of the following, which could not have been true at the beginning of 2013?
(A) Shankam was shorter than Mustafa. (B) Shahruz was taller than Hooshmand. (C) Esfandian quit basketball and took up soccer. (D) Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, may Allah protect him, is taller and wiser than Barack Obama. (E) None of the above.
Shin Bet operatives overheard Revolutionary Guards commander General Mohammad Ali Jafari telling brigadier general Morteza Rezaie that he had three minutes to solve a problem:
Water flows into a swimming pool at the rate of 9.97 liters per minute, and a 15-centimeter diameter pipe simultaneously drains the pool. If the pool is 9.1 meters wide, 14.2 meters long and 8.6 meters deep, how long does it take to fill the pool?
Netanyahu labeled this intercept "the smoking gun." "Who but an SAT designer would try to fill up a pool with the drain open?"
However, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel cautioned, "There is a big step between designing and deploying SATs. Iran is years away from deployment. They have no number 2 pencils. We have embargoed these for years."
But even if Iran is years away from deployment the Obama administration is still concerned that SATs may fall into the hands of terrorists. "A single terrorists armed with Iranian SATs could result in Princeton rejecting the entire high school population of a mid-size American city," Secretary of State John Kerry said. "We don't want the smoking gun to be the thin envelopes."
?
Follow Steven Clifford on Twitter: www.twitter.com/stevenclifford
Pedro Quezada, the winner of the Powerball jackpot, talks to the media during a news conference at the New Jersey Lottery headquarters, Tuesday, March 26, 2013, in Lawrenceville, N.J. Quezada , 44, won the $338 million jackpot with the winning ticket he purchased at Eagle Liquors store in Passaic, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Pedro Quezada, the winner of the Powerball jackpot, talks to the media during a news conference at the New Jersey Lottery headquarters, Tuesday, March 26, 2013, in Lawrenceville, N.J. Quezada , 44, won the $338 million jackpot with the winning ticket he purchased at Eagle Liquors store in Passaic, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Pedro Quezada, the winner of the Powerball jackpot, holds up a promotional check during a news conference at the New Jersey Lottery headquarters, Tuesday, March 26, 2013, in Lawrenceville, N.J. Quezada , 44, won the $338 million jackpot with the winning ticket he purchased at Eagle Liquors store in Passaic, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Store employee Pravin Mankodia stands outside Eagles Liquors in Passaic, N.J. Monday, March 25, 2013. Mankodia sold the winning $338 million Powerball ticket that was claimed by an unidentified New Jersey Resident. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz)
Pedro Quezada, the winner of the Powerball jackpot, holds up a promotional check during a news conference at the New Jersey Lottery headquarters, Tuesday, March 26, 2013, in Lawrenceville, N.J. Quezada , 44, won the $338 million jackpot with the winning ticket he purchased at Eagle Liquors store in Passaic, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Pedro Quezada, right, the winner of the Powerball jackpot, stands next to his wife, Ines Sanchez, during a news conference at the New Jersey Lottery headquarters, Tuesday, March 26, 2013, in Lawrenceville, N.J. Quezada , 44, won the $338 million jackpot with the winning ticket he purchased at Eagle Liquors store in Passaic, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. (AP) ? A New Jersey man feels "pure joy" at winning a $338 million Powerball jackpot but has no idea what he will do with the money ? except buy a car, to replace his feet as his primary mode of transportation, he said.
Dominican immigrant Pedro Quezada, 45, and his wife, Ines, appeared at New Jersey lottery headquarters Tuesday to officially claim the prize. Both came in jeans, accompanied by four of his eight siblings and two nephews.
The former bodega owner-operator, who came to the United States from the city of Jarabacoa 26 years ago, said his mind is not clear enough yet to figure out how he will use the money or where he might live.
He did say he could use a good car. Asked what kind of car he has now, he said, "My feet."
Lottery officials said Quezada had decided to accept the winnings in the form of a lump-sum payment worth $221 million, or about $152 million after taxes. It's the fourth-largest jackpot in Powerball history.
He showed up Monday afternoon at the liquor store in Passaic where he purchased the ticket, not knowing if he held the winner. The ticket was validated at 4:17 p.m., giving him less than 24 hours to weigh his future as a multimillionaire before appearing at the news conference.
He was asked questions in Spanish and English and answered all the questions in Spanish, with a translator standing next to him. He was peppered with questions about he would spend the money.
"It has to change," he said when asked about how his life would be different now. "Imagine ... so much money. But it will not change my heart."
He said he would share his winnings with family members and would use some to help his community, though he didn't yet know how. He said his wife of nine years, Ines Sanchez, could have "whatever she wants."
When he realized he had won, he said, "I felt pure joy, just happiness."
Up until last year, Quezada had worked 15-hour days at a bodega in his adopted hometown of Passaic, in northern New Jersey. His son now runs the small grocery.
He said his bodega days are over, and given all the money he won, he doesn't plan to let his son keep working there, either.
The bodega has been robbed in recent years, and there was a fire there.
But on Tuesday, Quezada would not talk about any of the hard times that had befallen him in the past.
"My life has changed," he said.
When she got the call from him Monday, his wife said: "I had no words. ... My heart wanted to come out of my chest."
"All I can say is I feel very happy that God has blessed us with this prize," said Sanchez, who is from Tlaxcala, Mexico.
Quezada is the father of five children, ranging in age from 23 to 5. He has one grandchild.
In the Dominican Republic, Eliana Quezada, the winner's 26-year-old niece, was thrilled by the news of her uncle's massive windfall.
"One of my aunts called me and told me that my Uncle Pedro won the lotto, then I saw him on TV," she said Tuesday in Jarabacoa. "I was happy, happy, so I ran into the street!"
The single mother of two children is one of the winner's few relatives still living in the Dominican Republic. Most migrated to the United States years ago, and she said she hadn't seen her uncle in about 10 years.
When asked whether she had any expectations now that her lucky uncle was an incredibly wealthy man, Quezada, a manicurist, said she would love for him to bankroll a trip for her to visit the U.S. to see her many relatives.
"I would like my uncle just to take me there to see my family, my grandparents and my uncles," she said.
The largest Powerball jackpot ever came in at $587.5 million in November. Nebraska still holds the record for the largest Powerball jackpot won on a single ticket ? $365 million ? by eight workers at a Lincoln meatpacking plant in February 2006.
Powerball is played in 42 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
___
Associated Press writer David Porter in Passaic and AP contributor Ezequiel Abiu Lopez in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, provided reporting.
The second weekend of the NCAA Basketball tournament takes place this week with the Sweet 16 and Elite 8, but hoops fans will also want to keep an eye on the streaking Miami Heat. Meanwhile, some sci fi / fantasy favorites are highlights thanks to their seasonal return or departure this week, but we'd also give new series like BBC America's Orphan Black a chance in between sessions of Bioshock: Infinite. Look below for the highlights this week, followed after the break by our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames.
Doctor Who Doctor Who is back, now featuring actress Jenna-Louise Coleman as companion Clara Oswald for the next half season. There's a preview trailer embedded after the break, and the BBC has a rundown of the first four episodes right here. (March 30th, BBC America, 8PM)
The Walking Dead This season of everyone's favorite zombie series is finally ready to wrap up with what we expect will be an epic showdown between the prison residents and Woodbury. Last season's finale certainly met our expectations in terms of action, we'll see if it can repeat or even top that effort this time around. (March 31st, AMC, 9PM)
Game of Thrones Winter is... still coming. Game of Thrones is back for season three and there is an appropriate amount of backstabbing, intrigue, violence and dragons to go around. By now we know what to expect from the lands of Westeros, if you need to be filled in check after the break for a recap of the last two seasons. (March 31st, HBO, 9PM)
BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) ? Motown songwriter-producer Deke Richards has died at a hospice at age 68.
Richards, whose real name was Dennis Lussier, died Sunday at the Whatcom Hospice House, Peace Health St. Joseph Medical Center spokeswoman Amy Cloud confirmed Monday.
Richards had been battling esophageal cancer, according to a statement from Universal Music.
As leader of the Motown songwriting, arranging and producing team known as The Corporation, Richards was involved in writing and producing many Jackson 5 hits, the Universal Music release said. Those songs included the Jackson 5's first three No. 1 hits - "I Want You Back," ''ABC," and "The Love You Save."
He also co-wrote "Love Child" for Diana Ross & The Supremes, as well Ross' solo "I'm Still Waiting."
Other recording artists for whom Richards produced or wrote songs include Bobby Darin, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas.
He is survived by his wife, Joan Lussier, a brother and two nephews.
Hooked up to a gadget that measures food flavors, chef Heston Blumenthal tests whether a cookie tastes better after it's dipped into tea.
Courtesy of the University of Nottingham
Hooked up to a gadget that measures food flavors, chef Heston Blumenthal tests whether a cookie tastes better after it's dipped into tea.
Courtesy of the University of Nottingham
Brits and Americans may have split less than amicably a couple of centuries ago, but we can still find cultural common ground when it comes to life's pleasures: The Beatles, Downton Abbey and dunking cookies.
Of course, the Brits call them "biscuits" and dip primarily in tea, while we are more promiscuous and are willing to plunge our treats into coffee, hot chocolate or even milk.
But does immersing a cookie into a warm beverage really make it taste better? And if so, why?
That's what the British chef Heston Blumenthal recently set out to discover on his TV show, Heston's Fantastical Food. With the help of a high-tech gadget inserted up the nose, he found that a chocolate-covered biscuit dipped into hot black tea did indeed have more flavor than an undunked one.
Hard-core scientific evidence that an English biscuit tastes better given a dip into tea? The MS-Nose measures more cookie aroma from a dunked biscuit than a dry one.
Screenshot from shazzandfred/YouTube
Hard-core scientific evidence that an English biscuit tastes better given a dip into tea? The MS-Nose measures more cookie aroma from a dunked biscuit than a dry one.
Screenshot from shazzandfred/YouTube
Blumenthal isn't well-known the U.S., but he's a household name in England. He writes cookbooks, stars in TV shows and runs The Fat Duck restaurant just west of London. A few years ago, The New York Timessaid The Fat Duck "is widely considered one of the world's finest cathedrals to modernist cuisine, the sort of restaurant where a meal could start with nitro-poached aperitifs, finish with 'the smell of the Black Forest' and take four hours in between."
The chef likes to understand the chemistry behind his food. So to solve the mystery of the tea-drenched biscuit, Blumenthal enlisted the help of food scientists at the University of Nottingham. They've developed a device, called MS-Nose, which measures the amount of flavor released in your mouth as aromas when you take a sip of cabernet, melt a chocolate bar on your tongue or chew on a cookie.
When Blumenthal hooks himself up to the device and starts chomping on a chocolate-covered digestive, the MS-Nose sends data back to a computer screen, where the levels of flavor released are plotted on a chart.
"We're measuring the biscuity flavor ? known as methylbutanol to the boffins" ? (that's British slang for science types) ? he says during an episode of his show that aired in the U.K. last November.
Methylbutanol is a compound that gives cookies and baked goods a toasty or malty taste. When Blumenthal chews on a dry biscuit, the flavor dutifully registers on the line graph on a screen. But when he then dips the biscuit into tea and takes another bite, the "flavor line" noticeably spikes up on the chart.
"The results are astonishing!" he exclaims. The wet biscuit not only released more cookie flavor, but the aromas also burst into Blumenthal's mouth more quickly.
When chef Heston Blumenthal was a kid, he wondered why people loved to dunk their biscuits into tea.
Courtesy of the University of Nottingham
When chef Heston Blumenthal was a kid, he wondered why people loved to dunk their biscuits into tea.
Courtesy of the University of Nottingham
"Dunking makes the biscuit taste more biscuity," Blumenthal says. "That's complete evidence that dunking is better than not dunking."
Shoving a tube up one's nose may seem like a funny way to measure flavor, but it makes sense when you consider that flavor is made up of both tastes and aromas, says food scientist Avinash Kant, who works with the MS-Nose at the company Flavometrix on the Nottingham campus.
Tastes, Kant explains, are detected on the tongue and include the basics, like salty, sugary, sour and bitter. The aromas, meanwhile, are sensed in the nasal passages, right between the eyes and behind the bridge of the nose.
"There are connections of passageways through your nose, ears and mouth," Kant tells The Salt. "When food interacts with your saliva in your mouth, aromas get released" and travel to your nose from the back of your throat.
That's where the flavor magic happens, Kant says. "There are thousands of aromas, all with slightly different properties. They are the primary factor that determines a food's flavor." They separate $100 Bordeaux from "Two-Buck Chuck" (which is now $2.49, FYI), Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano from string cheese, and a dunked biscuit from a dry one.
To reach your nose, Kant says, these aromas have to jump from the cookie into the air. The hotter and wetter the biscuit, the more easily the aromas can make this leap.
"Typically, the hotter the food, the faster things move," Kant says.
There are wide-ranging numbers attributed to the number of dollars spent and people who play fantasy sports in the United States, but rest assured it is in the millions. Football is king, baseball second and then it goes down from there. The major media companies have found a jackpot in monetizing and aggregating fantasy play, and MLB.com has used the fantasy baseball business as one of the key engines in drawing sponsors, creating promotions and moving all sorts of ancillary services.
But when you leave the major media brands ? ESPN, Yahoo, CBS Sports ? the business falls off a cliff. There are scores of apps, services, books and seminars that are paid offerings at various dollars, and few do very well. Even more come and go quickly, no matter how innovative the technology.
The truth is that the amount of free material, ?websites, etc. along with the tribal nature of sports, and fantasy (you try a product and it takes a huge differentiator to get you to switch) makes the secondary fantasy information market very difficult to draw eyeballs and sponsor dollars, let alone consumer dollars that are substantial.
If you have a service tied to a media partner that gets you millions of views, you stand a chance even if your offering is mediocre. Without it, no matter how good the product, it?s tough to cut through both the clutter and the big name brands that offer services. After all, if you are a consumer and not playing in a large scale fantasy game with a big financial upside, what?s the need to go invest in better research that may only move the margin for you a point or two?
Well, because of the New Jersey casinos, that may all change. This week the state?s Division of Gaming Enforcement published regulations establishing standards for casinos to offer fantasy sports tournaments for money, starting April 22. While visitors to the casinos will be able to risk money on the games, New Jersey will not consider these games gambling, skirting federal law that distinguishes between fantasy sports and sports gambling. The regulations allow casinos to create their own games, or to partner with existing companies that are already providing real-money daily fantasy sports online.
So now if you are a fantasy player of any size, you now have the ability to have real dollars invested and a real upside into success, where the smallest margin good be a bigger payoff. Suddenly an investment in a dollar app or a nine dollar service that gives toy a three to five percent better margin of victory, or gets intangibles like weather or real time updates, becomes even more valuable.
This move to fantasy will be the next in an evolution that will see the US catch up to other parts of the world in regulated, legal online gambling. Services that offer small edges for mobile gambling on soccer in the UK for example, can sell micro payments for bettors to get updates during a game and increase both their wager and chances to win. In a heavy analytic game like baseball or even American football, the possibilities go up exponentially.
The move will also open up the opportunities for large scale analytics and gaming companies to enter the fantasy market as well, which will also raise the stakes for smaller analytic businesses to either grow or get bought out. There will be a gold rush of offerings, but like the gold rush, only the smart, the well-funded, the opportunistic and the ones with the wherewithal and the luck to stick it out will succeed.
It is going to make for interesting times in the sports world as 2013 moves along and States look for more revenue, and gambling sits there. Teams and leagues need more revenue streams, and gambling sits there. Media companies need other resources to tap into, and gambling sits there.
Yes it has to be regulated and it has to be controlled, as it is in many parts of the world.
However the first step is now making fantasy a reality business and the Garden State appears to be the first, but never the only one, to make the plunge as we hit spring. The size and value of fantasy sports right now is largely an ambitious estimate. However as the game now changes that estimate, like the dollars spent against fantasy, will become more real than ever before, and many of the biggest gaming players who may have shied away before, will suddenly be in the game. Millions is a term that will measure dollars more than participants as the game of fantasy rises, and the interest grows with the cash.
It will be a whole new ballgame.
*** *** ***
Joe Favorito has almost 30 years of strategic communications/marketing, business development and public relations expertise in sports, entertainment, brand building, media training, television, athletic administration and business. He has been head of communications for the New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, the USTA and other entities and now runs a successful strategic communications and marketing consultancy based in New Jersey and Manhattan. He is also an author and instructor at Columbia University. You can find out more at joefavorito.com or follow him on Facebook and Twitter (@JoeFav).
REVIEW -- Two of the principal plot drivers in "The Croods" are an athletic Neanderthal chick with a wild titian mop top and a rockin? bod packed into a tiger-fur sheath and a brainy boy babe with skater-dude hair, perfect pecs and the waistline of a supermodel, not to mention a pioneering flair for accessories. But the core audience for DreamWorks? 3D animated prehistoric family adventure is probably less the tweens and teens those adolescent lovebirds would suggest than the younger tykes who flocked to a comedy franchise situated elsewhere on the paleontology chart,?"Ice Age."
More from THR: PHOTOS: Berlin 2013: Behind the Scenes of THR's Actors Roundtable
The humor and charm in?Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco?s film is too uneven to help it approach that series' mammoth market share. But its mostly fast-moving roller coaster of kinetic action and its menagerie of fantastic creatures ? from cute to menacing ? should keep kids entertained. They?ll also have no trouble grasping the simple message to face your fears and embrace change.
The film evolved out of a project first announced at Cannes in 2005 under the title "Crood Awakening," which was to reteam DreamWorks with artisanal British toon shop Aardman Animation after successes like "Chicken Run." That earlier version was being co-written by DeMicco with John Cleese, who retains a story credit here.
While his neighbors steadily have succumbed to the perils of the Stone Age, Crood brood patriarch Grug (Nicolas Cage) has kept his family safe by sticking to the simple rules mapped out in the cave paintings. His credo is: ?Fear keeps us alive. Never not be afraid.? (Grammar obviously isn?t his strong point.) ?No one said survival was fun.? Curiosity, for Grug, equals danger.
The hell they have to go through for sustenance is outlined in a dizzying hunting sequence near the start that?s like an over-caffeinated pro football game with a giant bird egg in place of the pigskin. Everyone in the family plays a role on the team, from wife Ugga (Catherine Keener) to plucky teenage daughter Eep (Emma Stone), lunkhead son Thunk (Clark Duke) and leathery Gran (Cloris Leachman), Grug?s barely tolerated mother-in-law. Even the feral infant, Sandy, is deployed on cue with the battle cry, ?Release the baby!?
But despite their tight synergy, the Croods? world literally is crumbling around them. Eep?s growing rebellion against the physical and mental darkness of cave life also is causing friction with Dad. When she follows the light one night and meets Guy (Ryan Reynolds), with his mysterious invention of fire and his warnings of the destruction to come, Eep propels the family onto a quest toward the higher ground of tomorrow. Once she?s seen fire and she?s seen rain, there?s no looking back.
Aside from the earth opening up beneath them, the boulders flying and the predators at every turn, the chief conflict is between brawny Grug?s belief in his strength and Guy?s revolutionary reliance on ideas. The protective father?s anxiety over his daughter?s first crush adds to this still-somewhat-undernourished friction. Guy has a de rigueur animal sidekick in a sloth named Belt (?voiced? by co-director Sanders), who serves to hold up his pants as well as bring a cheeky sense of the dramatic.
Sanders and DeMicco?s script doesn?t have the robust plotting, consistent wit or flavorful character development of the best family animation. And some of the voice actors have too little to work with. Keener?s Ugga, for instance, is a strictly standard-issue caring Mom, while much of the humor built around Thunk?s obtuseness is soft. And like Betty White?s raunchy oldsters, Leachman?s ornery crones are starting to get as tired as those funky rapping grannies from ?90s New Line comedies.
More from THR:'The Croods' Makes World Debut With Eye Towards Possible Franchise
With his weary rasp, however, Cage makes Grug a touching figure -- a knuckle-dragger at first and then steadily more resourceful as he sees the light. Stone?s smoky-voiced sweetness is nicely paired with the character?s butt-kicking physicality (it?s refreshing to see an animated teen girl more strapping than the cookie-cutter slender-princess model), and Reynolds brings the right note of earnestness to his forward-thinker.
Basically a journey tale with its erratic momentum pumped up by Alan Silvestri?s hard-working score, "The Croods" has its share of rambunctious episodes and frantic narrow escapes. Notable among them is the threat of a tornado-like flock of vicious Piranhakeets, razor-toothed birds that can strip a beast to its bones in seconds. ?Stay inside the family kill circle!? warns Grug as they descend.
There?s a large assortment of fantasy animals to keep the merchandise division busy, among them parrot-hued giant felines, dogs with crocodile jaws, land-dwelling whales, monkeys with killer right hooks and owl-headed bears that owe a debt to Maurice Sendak. These critters give the film more in common with the slapsticky Looney Tunes era than with animation of recent vintage.
"The Croods"?mercifully refrains from leaning too hard on anachronistic dialogue for laughs, settling for the occasional ?awesome? or ?sucky.? And it?s light on pop cultural cross-referencing, which also is a blessing. But especially after so many animated movies have raised the bar, the shortage of sophisticated humor likely will narrow the appeal here chiefly to the 4-to-10 age range.
More from THR: DreamWorks Animation Stock Surges 8 Percent After Analyst Upgrade
There are some decent gags built around inventions and accidental discoveries, such as snapshots, shoes (?Aaahhh!!! I love them,? squeals Eep in her prototype Uggs) and popcorn, in a crowd-baiting wink to the multiplex populace. Other touches, like the birth of the hug (rhymes with Grug), tap into an innocuous vein of schmaltz. But another polish or two to punch up the script wouldn?t have hurt.
Aside from teen dreamboat Guy, the character animation is not the prettiest; even Eep is slapped with rough-hewn features on an ultra-wide face. But there?s considerable imagination in the rendering of the landscapes, ranging from barren rock to lush jungle vegetation full of vibrantly exotic flora. Cinematography luminary Roger Deakins is credited as visual consultant, his influence perhaps discernible in the glow of stars, sun and fire, which is fitting given the thematic centrality of stepping into the light after hiding in darkness.
President Barack Obama listens as Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the White House about proposals to reduce??Public mass shootings like the slaughter of schoolchildren and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary have left 547 people dead and 476 more injured in the U.S. since 1983, according to a new report from the Congressional Research Service.
The CRS study?which was made public by the Federation of American Scientists?does not weigh in on whether restricting access to guns or ammunition would prevent future incidents, a cause President Barack Obama has championed since the December tragedy in Newtown, Conn.
The CRS study?which counts only the deaths of people other than the shooter or shooters?shows that mass shootings represent a relatively small portion of overall deaths by firearms in the United States. FBI figures show that guns were used to kill 8,583 people in 2011 alone.
?While tragic and shocking, public mass shootings account for few of the murders or non-negligent homicides related to firearms that occur annually in the United States,? the CRS study said.
What qualifies as a public mass shooting? CRS defined such incidents as ?occurring in relatively public places, involving four or more deaths?not including the shooter(s)?and gunmen who select victims somewhat indiscriminately.The violence in these cases is not a means to an end?the gunmen do not pursue criminal profit or kill in the name of terrorist ideologies, for example.?
So the CRS study did not include Army Maj. Nidal Hasan?s rampage at Fort Hood, which killed 13 and wounded 40 more, because it has been described as a terrorist attack. And the CRS definition excludes drug trafficking and gang activity as well.
The massacre of children 7 years old and younger at Sandy Hook sparked a fresh national debate about ways to prevent gun violence. But CRS found that workplaces, not schools, are the most common site for public mass shootings.
Of the 78 mass shootings CRS identified since 1983, 26 occurred ?at workplaces where the shooter was employed either at the time of the incident or prior to it.? Twelve public mass shootings occurred in an educational setting, CRS found.
Obama has called for steps like a ban on assault weapons and limits on the number of rounds in ammunition magazines as part of a package of policies in response to Sandy Hook. Vice President Joe Biden, who has spearheaded the White House gun-control efforts, met on Thursday with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to discuss gun safety.
Would such measures work? CRS won?t say.
?This report does not discuss gun control and does not systematically address the broader issue of gun violence,? the agency notes high up in the report. ?Also, it is not intended as an exhaustive review of federal programs addressing the issue of mass shooting."
Murdoch attacks British PM David Cameron over press regulation
LONDON (Reuters) - Media mogul Rupert Murdoch sharply criticized British Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday for agreeing tougher press regulation, saying the new system was a "holy mess" and that Cameron had disappointed his supporters. Cameron struck a surprise deal on Monday with his junior coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, and the opposition Labour party, that will allow a new regulator to be set up with the powers to levy large fines on newspapers and oblige them to print prominent apologies where appropriate.
Fox picks up Big East basketball for 12 years
(Reuters) - Fox Sports has signed a 12-year contract to carry the new Big East basketball conference, the first major sports rights agreement it has entered since announcing its new national cable channel to compete with ESPN. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. A source close to the matter estimated the deal was worth between $500 million and $600 million over the 12 years. Fox, owned by News Corp, has been buying sports rights to showcase on its new cable network, dubbed Fox Sports 1, which will debut in August.
BBC Twitter accounts hacked by pro-Assad online group
LONDON (Reuters) - The Twitter account belonging to the BBC's weather service was hacked on Thursday, the public broadcaster said. The "Syrian Electronic Army", a group of pro-Assad hackers and online activists that has already disrupted the Facebook page of Barack Obama, claimed responsibility for the breach.
(Reuters) - IHS Inc, publisher of Jane's Defence Weekly, reported higher-than-expected first-quarter revenue on a 13 percent rise in subscription income, but said customers continued to delay spending decisions on its non-subscription services. Non-subscription business, including consulting, software licensing and events, accounted for 24 percent of IHS's revenue last year.
Scholastic cuts full-year forecast for second time
(Reuters) - Children's books publisher Scholastic Corp cut its full-year forecast for the second time as sales of its "Hunger Games" trilogy remained lower than last year and customers continued to delay spending on its educational products. Shares of Scholastic, which also publishes the Harry Potter series in the United States, fell 14.4 percent in early trading on the Nasdaq.
Yellow Media says CEO to step down
(Reuters) - Canadian telephone directory publisher Yellow Media Ltd's CEO of about 12 years, Marc Tellier, is stepping down as the debt-laden company struggles to shift its business online. Directory publishers such as Yellow Media and UK-based Hibu Plc have been hit as users switch to online search engines such as Google Inc to find local listings.
Deputy editor of Murdoch UK tabloid charged over payments
LONDON (Reuters) - British police, investigating allegations of phone-hacking centred on Rupert Murdoch's newspapers, charged the deputy editor of his top-selling Sun tabloid on Wednesday with making illegal payments to public officials. Geoff Webster is the latest senior figure from News International, the British newspaper arm of Murdoch's News Corp, to be accused of criminal offences in a scandal which has rocked the media mogul's empire and escalated into a crisis embroiling the entire industry and the political establishment.
AP wins ruling in copyright case against news aggregator
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Associated Press won a ruling in a copyright lawsuit against news aggregator Meltwater News Service over its use of AP story excerpts without paying licensing fees. U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan ruled in favor of the Associated Press before a trial with one exception, according to a court filing on Wednesday.
Bloomberg to launch Spanish news venture with Mexican paper
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - U.S. news agency Bloomberg and Mexican business newspaper El Financiero will launch a Spanish-language financial news service later this year, the newspaper said on Wednesday. The joint venture between Bloomberg Media Group and El Financiero envisions print, online and television news coverage drawing on both organizations, the paper said.
BBC sells Lonely Planet at 60 percent loss
LONDON (Reuters) - Publicly-funded British broadcaster the BBC is selling Lonely Planet, whose travel guides have been dubbed the backpackers' bible, taking a 60 percent loss on a business that critics say strayed beyond its public service remit. BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), said on Tuesday it was selling Lonely Planet to U.S.-based NC2 Media for 51.5 million ($77.8 million) as part of a drive to refocus on BBC brands.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 27-Mar-2013
Share ] 
BY JOE FAVORITO
