Ghosts and stress haunt Japan's tsunami survivors

HIGASHI-MATSUSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) - The tsunami that engulfed northeastern Japan two years ago has left some survivors believing they are seeing ghosts.

In a society wary of admitting to mental problems, many are turning to exorcists for help.

Tales of spectral figures lined up at shops where now there is only rubble are what psychiatrists say is a reaction to fear after the March 11, 2011, disaster in which nearly 19,000 people were killed.

"The places where people say they see ghosts are largely those areas completely swept away by the tsunami," said Keizo Hara, a psychiatrist in the city of Ishinomaki, one of the areas worst-hit by the waves touched off by an offshore earthquake.

"We think phenomena like ghost sightings are perhaps a mental projection of the terror and worries associated with those places."

Hara said post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) might only now be emerging in many people, and the country could be facing a wave of stress-related problems.

"It will take time for PTSD to emerge for many people in temporary housing for whom nothing has changed since the quake," he said.

Shinichi Yamada escaped the waves that destroyed his home and later salvaged two Buddhist statues from the wreckage. But when he brought them back to the temporary housing where he lived, he said strange things began to happen.

His two children suddenly got sick and an inexplicable chill seemed to follow the family through the house, he said.

"A couple of times when I was lying in bed, I felt something walking across me, stepping across my chest," Yamada told Reuters.

Many people in Japan hold on to ancient superstitions despite its ultra-modern image.

Yamada, like many other people in the area, turned to exorcist Kansho Aizawa for help.

Aizawa, 56, dressed in a black sweater and trousers and with dangling pearl earrings, said in an interview in her home that she had seen numerous ghosts.

"There are headless ghosts, and some missing hands or legs. Others are completely cut in half," she said. "People were killed in so many different ways during the disaster and they were left like that in limbo. So it takes a heavy toll on us, we see them as they were when they died."

In some places destroyed by the tsunami, people have reported seeing ghostly apparitions queuing outside supermarkets which are now only rubble. Taxi drivers said they avoided the worst-hit districts for fear of picking up phantom passengers.

"At first, people came here wanting to find the bodies of their family members. Then they wanted to find out exactly how that person died, and if their spirit was at peace," Aizawa said.

As time passed, people's requests changed.

"They've started wanting to transmit their own messages to the dead," Aizawa said.

Shinichi Yamada said life had improved since he put the two Buddhist statues in a shrine and prayed. He still believes the statues are haunted, but now thinks their spirits are at peace.

In this Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 photo, a fishing boat washed ashore during the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami sits in the devastated area in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture. (AP Photo/Junji ... more? In this Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 photo, a fishing boat washed ashore during the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami sits in the devastated area in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa) less?

(Writing by Elaine Lies)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/haunted-trauma-tsunami-survivors-japan-turn-exorcists-182857421.html

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Dow closes at record high, soaring past 14,200

JeeYeon Park , CNBC ? ? ? 6 hrs.

Riding a wave of optimism, the Dow Jones industrial average closed Tuesday above levels not seen since before the financial crisis and before the Great Recession.

It was a journey more than five years in the making, as investors slowly and then with greater urgency over that time, plowed money into stocks, mainly because there were few other places in the economy in which to make more money.

The blue-chip index, the best known and most widely followed measure of stock prices, rose 125.95 points, or 0.89 percent, to end at 14,253.77, led by Boeing and United Technologies. The Dow Jones Transportation Average also touched a record high.

More than 100 companies ranging from retailers to Internet giants, food makers and industrial companies rose to annual, multiyear or all-time highs. Since the Dow's last all-time high in 2007, Home Depot and IBM have been the biggest gainers, while Alcoa and Bank of America have been the worst performers.

So far, the Dow is up nearly 9 percent in 2013, surpassing the 7.3 percent gain for all of 2012.

The broader S&P 500 index closed up 14.59 points, or .96 percent, to 1,539.79. The tech-laden Nasdaq jumped 42.10 points, or 1.32 percent, to 3,224.13.

Stocks got a big boost Tuesday from upbeat economic data from Europe. China helped too, pledging to meet its growth targets.

But the main fuel for the record-setting climb has been near-zero interest rates from the Federal Reserve, which have spurred the housing market, but also made it difficult to make money buying bonds or holding money in savings accounts.

But what does the new high mean for the economy?

"It's meaningful in the sense it obviously has a lot of media potential - it's likely to move stories about the stock market to the front page from the financial section," said investor Hugh Johnson. "From that point of view it is good news in that it tends to lift spirits or raise confidence. There is the wealth effect of the fact that when you start to lift confidence it leads to stronger consumer spending. From that point of view it will have positive feedback on the economy," he added.

In Johnson's view, the gridlock in the nation's capital is unlikely to bring the market down.

"The question it is going to raise - which this market has raised continuously - is how is it this market is doing so well in the face of meaningful spending cuts coming out of Washington with the sequester? The message of the markets is although the sequester is likely to impact gross domestic product, it is not likely to end the current stock market business cycle, or the bull market expansion. It is not likely to interrupt the current cycle."

(Read More: Cramer: Near All-Time Highs, Should You Buy?)

On the economic front, the Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) non-manufacturing index, which tracks monthly changes in the services sector, said the pace of growth in the vast U.S. services sector accelerated to its fastest pace in a year in February, helped by a rise in new orders and demand for exports.

ISM said its services index rose to 56 from 55.2 in January, exceeding economists' forecasts for 55. It was the highest level since February 2012. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector.

The new orders index jumped to 58.2 from 54.4, while orders for exports rose to their highest level since May 2007 with that gauge at 60.5, up from January's 55.5.

"This was no question a positive number," said Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at BNY Mellon. "It reflects improvement in reinforces the view that the economy continues to improve and should contribute to gains that have driven the stock market to a new record."

European shares were boosted by the news that euro zone finance ministers have struck an agreement to bail out Cyprus by the end of March, although they have yet to work out the details of the 17 billion euro ($22.1 billion) financial aid package.

Shares in mainland China recovered 2 percent after hitting a six-week closing low in the previous session, as outgoing Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao set out a reform plan at the National People's Congress in order to achieve a 2013 growth target of 7.5 percent.

(Read More: Why China's Property Market Is Getting Scary)

The Senate Budget Committee is meeting to discuss reducing the fiscal deficit by eliminating wasteful spending in the tax code.

"We are seeing money going into the asset class," said Shawn Matthews, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, but at some time investors can expect a "pause," he added.

House Speaker John Boehner said President Barack Obama and he had made no headway on a deal to avoid sequestration over the weekend. Meanwhile, House Republicans are expected to introduce a bill to extend government funding through September, to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month.

While stocks so far have largely ignored sequester concerns, analysts say signs the cuts are beginning to impact the economy could eventually move markets.

On Monday afternoon, Stephen King, chief global economist at HSBC, said that the U.S. was living in "a fantasy world" over the impact sequestration would have on growth.

"If you look at the projections from the Congressional Budget Office, they assume that growth goes back to between four to five percent in real terms between 2014 and 2018. Their numbers suggest that the U.S. will post the fastest rate of productivity growth of any decade in the last 50 or 60 years," King told CNBC Europe. "Even allowing for the fact that there's some debt reduction, coming through sequestration, there's still a degree of wishful thinking with regard to the economy which probably isn't going to come true."

Information from The Associated Press was included in this report.

? 2013 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/dow-skyrockets-sets-record-highest-close-1C8685444

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Dayton envisions minimum wage between $9 and $9.50 (Star Tribune)

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Verizon executive thinks carriers can slash smartphone subsidies without hurting consumers

Researchers say they know how the Hindenburg airship came to its fiery end: static electricity. Seventy-six years ago, the German dirigible was promoted as the future of trans-Atlantic flight, but instead it became the notorious poster child of air disasters. As the hydrogen-filled blimp was landing in Lakehurst, N.J., on May 6, 1937, it suddenly [...]

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Oberlin College: Still manufacturing hate crimes hoaxes after all these years (Michellemalkin)

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Obama outside groups forming influence network

FILE - This May 10, 2007, file photo shows David Plouffe, who led President Barack Obama's winning campaign in the 2008 presidential race, in Obama's Chicago campaign headquarters. Obama veterans are building a wide network of deep-pocketed groups and consulting firms independent of government, the Democratic Party and traditional liberal groups, a sweeping _ if not unprecedented _ effort outside the White House gates aimed at promoting the president's agenda and shaping his legacy. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

FILE - This May 10, 2007, file photo shows David Plouffe, who led President Barack Obama's winning campaign in the 2008 presidential race, in Obama's Chicago campaign headquarters. Obama veterans are building a wide network of deep-pocketed groups and consulting firms independent of government, the Democratic Party and traditional liberal groups, a sweeping _ if not unprecedented _ effort outside the White House gates aimed at promoting the president's agenda and shaping his legacy. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 28, 2011 file photo shows Obama 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina at the Chicago headquarters. Obama veterans are building a wide network of deep-pocketed groups and consulting firms independent of government, the Democratic Party and traditional liberal groups, a sweeping _ if not unprecedented _ effort outside the White House gates aimed at promoting the president's agenda and shaping his legacy. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama learned in his first term that he couldn't change Washington from the inside, saying in the heat of his re-election race: "You can only change it from the outside." Months later, his former White House aides and campaign advisers are embracing Obama's words as a call to action.

Obama veterans are building a wide network of deep-pocketed groups and consulting firms independent of government, the Democratic Party and traditional liberal groups, a sweeping ? if not unprecedented ? effort outside the White House gates aimed at promoting the president's agenda and shaping his legacy.

From campaign strategists to online gurus and policy hands to press agents, Obama loyalists ? including many who discovered that a second term yields fewer administration job vacancies ? are slicing his agenda into smaller parts and launching highly targeted efforts on subjects including health care, job creation and electoral politics.

The lynchpin of the effort is Organizing for Action, a nonprofit run by former Obama advisers that has essentially transformed his re-election campaign into a grassroots machine to support his initiatives. In its early stages, the group is raising millions from big and small donors alike and whipping up support for issues like gun control and an immigration overhaul.

Known by its initials, OFA is chaired by Jim Messina, a former White House aide who ran Obama's 2012 campaign, and several former Obama aides sit on its board. David Plouffe, who until February served as Obama's senior adviser, is expected to join the board soon.

OFA's close ties to the West Wing and its control over the former campaign's resources has raised questions about where the nonprofit group ends and the White House starts. The group controls Obama's massive email list and also his campaign Twitter handle, which has more than 27 million followers and frequently tweets links to his government website.

As a tax-exempt entity, OFA by law can't intervene in elections and is subject to strict limits on lobbying. The group accepts unlimited donations from individuals and corporations but plans to release the names of its donors. The corporate funding is a shift: many of the same operatives involved with OFA were once loud critics, along with Obama, of big money- and corporate-fueled entities that emerged after a series of court rulings, especially the Citizens United case, loosened restrictions on money and politics.

The arrangement has also opened the White House to criticism that contributors, in exchange for supporting the groups, could receive special access to Obama that the public is denied. White House press secretary Jay Carney fielded repeated questions last week over whether bundlers who raised $500,000 or more for OFA were promised quarterly meetings with the president ? a claim that OFA disputed.

"They have created literally a cottage industry solely devoted to access and making money off the access," said Sean Spicer, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee.

As advocacy groups, OFA and the smaller organizations can coordinate with the White House on messaging and tactics. Carney said the administration interacts with a variety of such groups, adding that administration officials may appear at OFA events but won't be raising money.

An OFA "founders' summit" for donors on March 13 at a Washington hotel will include addresses by Messina, Plouffe and others, according to an invitation obtained by The Associated Press. The next day will include briefings on immigration, gun control and climate change, with former Environmental Protection Agency head Lisa Jackson expected to attend.

But when OFA asks supporters to cut a check, it will be competing with a growing list of pro-Obama factions making appeals to a limited pool of Democratic donors.

Business Forward, a 3-year-old trade group that has facilitated meetings between businesses and Obama officials, is ramping up operation as a liberal counterweight to the conservative-leaning U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Business Forward is funded by corporate money that was banished from Obama's campaign coffers in 2008 and 2012.

More than 50 corporate members pay $25,000 or $50,000 a year to be involved in briefings between Obama administration officials and business leaders, small businesses and entrepreneurs. Its members include AT&T and Microsoft, which donated to Obama's inaugural committee, and Citi, Comcast and Facebook, whose executives served on Obama's jobs council.

"The goal is to bring new people into the process and help them tell Washington how to create jobs and accelerate our economic recovery," said Jim Doyle, Business Forward's president.

On health care, former White House official Anne Filipic recently took control of a nonprofit called Enroll America, which plans a massive push to get people to sign up for insurance under Obama's health care law, a key part of his legacy. The group is preparing for the opening of new insurance exchanges in October with on-the-ground organizing, online efforts and paid advertising.

Another team of Obama campaign aides, including field director Jeremy Bird and battleground state director Mitch Stewart, have formed a consulting firm called 270 Strategies that aims to bring grassroots organizing to political and industry clients. One early project, dubbed Battleground Texas, has set a long-term goal to make GOP-heavy Texas competitive for Democrats.

Although there's no one group formally coordinating the efforts, outside organizations allied with Obama hold regular check-in meetings and conference calls. Representatives compare notes about strategy, priorities and budgets.

"Many of us have spent at this point six years or longer together," said Teddy Goff, Obama's 2012 digital director, who is not affiliated with the fledgling bodies. "I have no doubt that people are talking to their old friends and making sure they're efficient as possible."

And while the various groups supporting Obama's agenda operate independently, the overlap in tactics, messaging and staff is tough to miss. For example, Blue State Digital, a firm founded by the campaign's digital strategist, Joe Rospars, is providing the same technology platform the campaign used to both OFA and Battleground Texas.

The blurring of the lines between outside groups, the campaign and the White House has rubbed some the wrong way. Critics say it's a sign that Obama has reversed course since rebuking the role of money in politics during his first campaign and at the start of his presidency.

"Organizing for Action is unlike any entity we have ever seen before tied to a president," said Fred Wertheimer, a campaign finance reform advocate with Democracy 21, a Washington nonprofit. "This group is so tied to Obama himself, that it creates opportunities for corporations and individuals to buy corrupting influence with the administration ? and at a minimum, to create the appearance of such influence."

___

Follow Ken Thomas at: http://twitter.com/AP_Ken_Thomas and Josh Lederman at: http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-04-US-Obama's-Network/id-8a59f521cf8647be8c49bdaddcc50b4c

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As emotions over US-Russia adoptions intensify, a rift widens into a chasm

Some 20,000 people turned out for a protest in Moscow this weekend over the death of a 3-year-old adoptee in Texas, which was ruled an accident. Russian officials are demanding more evidence.?

By Fred Weir,?Correspondent / March 4, 2013

People take part in a rally in defense of Russian children in Moscow, March 2, 2013. Demonstrators walked along Moscow streets to support the new law prohibiting the adoption of Russian children by Americans and to commemorate the adopted Russian-born children who later died in the United States, according to participants. The board displays portraits of boys and read "Maxim Kuzmin" (l.) and "Dima Yakovlev."

Maxim Shemetov/REUTERS

Enlarge

Angry demonstrators in the streets of Moscow echoed top Russian government officials over the weekend in casting doubt on a Texas autopsy finding that the January death of a Russian-born adoptee, 3-year-old Max Shatto, was an accident.

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In a diplomatic rift that's becoming increasingly shrill, the Kremlin children's rights ombudsman, Pavel Astakhov, who had earlier accused the child's adoptive US parents of "murder," suggested Sunday that the US government was guilty of a cover-up and of whitewashing the case.

The official autopsy report issued Friday, representing the conclusions of three local medical examiners and one outside expert, found that Max, born Maxim Kuzmin in Pskov, Russia, almost certainly died accidentally due to a self-inflicted blow.

Astakhov and other Russian officials are demanding that Max's younger brother Kirill, whose American name is Kristopher, be taken away from the same adoptive family and be repatriated to Russia.

In an interview with the official Voice of Russia radio station, Mr.?Astakhov listed the reasons to doubt the report, including differences with preliminary information, what he described as "rushed forensics," and the fact that Max was buried in Louisiana, not Texas, which he said would make a second autopsy more difficult.

The Russian foreign ministry's human rights commissioner, Konstantin Dolgov, posted a statement Saturday calling the autopsy results "incomplete" and demanding US authorities turn over all relevant documentation to Russia, including the boy's death certificate.

"Only an examination of these documents will enable meaningful conclusions to be reached about the circumstances surrounding the Russian child's death and determine our possible future steps," Mr. Dolgov said.?"We are expecting that the US side will fulfill its obligations on this matter fully and without delay."

Deepest chasm of public misunderstanding

Experts say the emotional nature of the controversy is starting to turn what started out as a diplomatic flap between the US and Russia, including dueling human rights laws, into the deepest chasm of public misunderstanding between East and West since the cold war ended.

"President Vladimir Putin is using populist campaigns like this and aggressive foreign policy positions to strengthen his own legitimacy in the eyes of Russians," says Nikolai Petrov, an expert with the Moscow Carnegie Center.

"This is a very emotive issue, involving allegations of deliberate abuse of Russian children by American parents, and sounds like the Kremlin is standing up for the defense of those children.... ?Astakhov in particular, and the Kremlin in general, also need to keep face, after making a lot of allegations about the death of that little boy before the facts were all in. This is all for domestic consumption, but it has serious implications for Russia's image around the world," he says.

Russia's 'lost children' march

On Saturday, Russian officials got a boost from the streets, as up to 20,000 people marched through downtown Moscow to support the ban on all adoptions of Russian orphans by US citizens passed by the State Duma late last year.

The march was organized by a new pro-Kremlin group called Russian Mothers, which says its goal is to bring home all Russia's lost children and work to find homes in Russia for all the country's approximately 120,000 institutionalized children.

Critics say Russian Mothers is a Kremlin pocket group, and the Russian blogosphere was full of allegations that many of the marchers were paid to come out, or ordered by their bosses in state companies and institutions.

But Irina Bergset, one of the founders of Russian Mothers, says the organization was started a year ago to defend Russian families against what she claims is rampant abuse of Russian children by foreigners.

"We want to draw the world's attention to the forced confiscation of Russian children," Ms. Bergset says.

"Our purpose is to unite all forces and political organizations to protect our children, all political, religious, and other forces who believe that international adoption should be stopped... The mass media is full of stories that show there is an epidemic of violence against children in the US, some 6 million cases per year. We have child abuse in Russia too, but there is no such epidemic. We need to cope with this problem, and quickly," she says.

Cases of neglect

A January poll by the independent Levada Center in Moscow found that about half of Russians approve of the Dima Yakovlev Act, which bans all US adoptions of Russian children, while about 30 percent disapprove.

Bergset, who addressed Saturday's rally, says that Max's case has touched a public nerve in Russia and that people should no longer believe that the US, or Americans, can be trusted.

"We do not believe that the adoptive parents of Maxim are innocent," she says. "We have a different attitude toward children here in Russia, perhaps due to cultural differences, we don't treat them like cats and dogs....? This autopsy verdict is a slap in the face of Russian civil society; we cannot accept it," she says.

There have been 19 documented cases of Russian children dying due to abuse or neglect in adoptive American homes, out of approximately 60,000 US-Russia adoptions in the past two decades.

That's a far lower rate than the 1,220 Russian children who've died at the hands of adoptive Russian parents in Russia, out of approximately 170,000 adoptions in the same period.

Experts say rates of child abuse in Russia are extremely high, and efforts to address the problem are hampered by lack of public education, media reluctance to cover the issue, and an unwillingness on the part of authorities and courts to prosecute offenders.

Astakhov has argued that the adoption ban is just the first step toward implementing his Russia Without Orphans program, which he says will eventually provide happy homes inside Russia for all its children.

But Tatiana Tulchinskaya, director of Here and Now, a charity that works with orphanages, says that all the negativity building up around the issue is not helping Russian children.

"I wish I could say that all the discussion around this is a good thing, and will lead us to better understanding of the issues. But it's unfortunate that the starting point was that law banning US adoptions rather than a real conversation about why we have so many orphans in Russia," she says.

"In the specialist community we've been talking about the real problems for a long time before all this hysteria began. Child care specialists are certainly ready to offer serious advise to our authorities, but are they ready to listen?"

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/u-vEyWYMs00/As-emotions-over-US-Russia-adoptions-intensify-a-rift-widens-into-a-chasm

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Readers Write: The advantages of a decreasing Western birth rate

PLUSES OF A DECLINING BIRTHRATE

I was very surprised and dismayed that in the Feb. 4 article "Behind a looming baby bust" there was no mention of the problem of overpopulation worldwide. The burgeoning birthrate adds to the problems of global warming, pollution, hunger, disease, and warfare. Perhaps in the United States it is desirable to have more babies from the standpoint of the economy, but if a broader global view is taken, a decreased birthrate seems like a good thing.

Lynda Sayre

Big Sur, Calif.

Reducing the population in Europe, North America, Japan, and Russia could help improve the imbalance between Earth's natural resources and population. The true measure of overpopulation is the ability of ecological processes to break down human waste such as CO2.

Human population should be managed, rather than societies having to react to the consequences of too many or too few people. That management of numbers need not be as desperate as the Chinese effort, but could be as simple as removing the US dependent tax deduction that rewards having more children than the planet can support. As populations shrink, the gross national product could actually shrink without negatively affecting the standard of living.

David M. Fitch

Astoria, Ore.

The article asserts that with a decreased US birthrate there won't be enough workers to maintain product output or to be able to support "unproductive" seniors, which make up a higher proportion of the population. But didn't John Yemma's UpFront column in this same issue ("Machines versus people") point out that fewer people are needed to maintain productivity each year as machines replace them? So why do we need more kids who will grow up facing fewer jobs?

Germany's economy is the envy of the necktie set, and that nation's birthrate is way below replacement. It's the same with Sweden, which consistently ranks among the best places in the world to live. A world where a person has only three functions ? to work enough to consume enough and to raise enough babies so our numbers can increase ? isn't a very satisfying one, at least to me.

Robert Weeden

Salt Spring Island, British Columbia

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Biden leads re-enactment of voting rights march

SELMA, Ala. (AP) ? The vice president and black leaders commemorating a famous civil rights march on Sunday said efforts to diminish the impact of African-Americans' votes haven't stopped in the years since the 1965 Voting Rights Act added millions to Southern voter rolls.

More than 5,000 people followed Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma's annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee.

The event commemorates the "Bloody Sunday" beating of voting rights marchers ? including a young Lewis ? by state troopers as they began a march to Montgomery in March 1965. The 50-mile march prompted Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act that struck down impediments to voting by African-Americans and ended all-white rule in the South.

Biden, the first sitting vice president to participate in the annual re-enactment, said nothing shaped his consciousness more than watching TV footage of the beatings. "We saw in stark relief the rank hatred, discrimination and violence that still existed in large parts of the nation," he said.

Biden said marchers "broke the back of the forces of evil," but that challenges to voting rights continue today with restrictions on early voting and voter registration drives and enactment of voter ID laws where no voter fraud has been shown.

"We will never give up or give in," Lewis told marchers.

Jesse Jackson said Sunday's event had a sense of urgency because the U.S. Supreme Court heard a request Wednesday by a mostly white Alabama county to strike down a key portion of the Voting Rights Act.

"We've had the right to vote for 48 years, but they've never stopped trying to diminish the impact of the votes," Jackson said.

Referring to the Voting Rights act, the Rev. Al Sharpton said: "We are not here for a commemoration. We are here for a continuation."

The Supreme Court is weighing Shelby County's challenge to a portion of the law that requires states with a history of racial discrimination, mostly in the Deep South, to get approval from the Justice Department before implementing any changes in election laws. That includes everything from new voting districts to voter ID laws.

Attorneys for Shelby County argued that the pre-clearance requirement is outdated in a state where one-fourth of the Legislature is black. But Jackson predicted the South will return to gerrymandering and more at-large elections if the Supreme Court voids part of the law.

Attorney General Eric Holder, the defendant in Shelby County's suit, told marchers that the South is far different than it was in 1965 but is not yet at the point where the most important part of the voting rights act can be dismissed as unnecessary.

Martin Luther King III, whose father led the march when it resumed after Bloody Sunday, said, "We come here not to just celebrate and observe but to recommit."

One of the NAACP attorneys who argued the case, Debo Adegbile, said when Congress renewed the Voting Rights Act in 2006, it understood that the act makes sure minority inclusion is considered up front.

"It reminds us to think consciously about how we can include all our citizens in democracy. That is as important today as it was in 1965," he said.

Adegbile said the continued need for the law was shown in 2011 when undercover recordings from a bribery investigation at the Alabama Legislature included one white legislator referring to blacks as "aborigines" and other white legislators laughing.

"This was 2011. This was not 1965," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/biden-leads-enactment-voting-rights-march-210955154.html

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Justin Bieber Thanks Fans for Birthday Support

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Cuts in place, Obama and GOP brace for next fight (tbo)

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15 weapons taken from shop on 'American Guns' show

WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. (AP) ? Police in suburban Denver say 12 handguns and three rifles were taken from the gun shop featured on Discovery Channel's "American Guns."

Wheat Ridge police had said earlier this week that they didn't have an immediate tally of what was taken during a break-in at the Gunsmoke Gun Shop early Wednesday. They said Friday that no assault weapons were stolen.

Police were alerted to the break-in by a silent alarm and found a burglar or burglars had entered the shop through a hole in the roof.

A witness across the street reported seeing a silver two-door car leaving the gun shop's parking lot, but investigators say they need more help from the public to solve the case.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-03-01-Gun%20Shop%20Burglary/id-188b656263304ece986a93f99239c86d

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7 Scientifically-Backed Copywriting Tips | Copyblogger

The practice of persuasive copywriting is a necessity, if you want to sell products, services, or ideas online.

While great writing is truly an art, those looking to improve their craft as a copywriter can find a lot of help from behavioral psychology and neuroscience studies.

The only problem is, good writers are often busy people, and they don?t have time to slog through dry research papers to find an interesting nugget or two.

Fortunately, I?ve done the heavy lifting for you, and today you?ll get to look at 7 fascinating studies on the mind ? and see how you can apply their findings to produce more persuasive copy.

Sound good?

Let?s jump in!

1. Make em? feel something

Imagine with me if you will ?

You?re watching football, and your team?s quarterback gets slammed with a bone-crunching tackle, and snaps a rib.

Ooh ?

Can?t you just feel yourself cringing at the thought?

That?s the power of mirror neurons and how they affect the human mind.

According to research on the subject, these neurons activate when you ?observe? something happening, and then transfer some of the feeling (if it?s powerful enough) on to you.

It?s likely that they?re biologically useful for necessary evolutionary traits, such as empathy or ?walking in someone else?s shoes.?

Although a majority of the current research on mirror neurons focuses on literal observation, great writers know that strong emotions can be conveyed through words as well.

Think about my first example ? if you did cringe at the thought of a man breaking his ribs, you?re already experiencing this effect in action!

When crafting compelling copy, you have to understand what keeps your potential reader up at night.

It?s easy for me to write out, ?Envision this ?,? but it?s not as easy to get people to care.

You have to speak to a feeling that?s already there, not try to force one on your reader.

If you?re selling software that takes the hassle out of content optimization, you need to speak to the frustrated entreproducer who?s tired of nitpicking and game-playing for Google, and who wants to get back to writing.

If you?re selling beer (now we?re talkin?), you need to invoke memories of good times spent with friends over an ice-cold beer.

Using this information on mirror neurons to transfer a desired feeling onto readers is effective, but it?s only going to work if you know what makes them tick.

2. Be wary of ?selling? savings

Here?s something you should know ? if you?re using precious real estate to chest thump about your low prices, you?re doing it wrong.

Not only has research shown us that asking customers to directly compare prices is a bad idea, but new research from Stanford University has revealed that that selling ?time? is far more effective (for most businesses) than selling money.

Jennifer Aaker, the lead researcher, sought to explain why companies like Miller would use a slogan such as ?

It?s Miller Time!

As an inexpensive beer, shouldn?t they be promoting their reasonable prices instead? (I like that we?re back to talking about beer.)

It turns out, no ?

A person?s experience with a product tends to foster feelings of personal connection with it, referring to time typically leads to more favorable attitudes ? and to more purchases.

What does this have to do with writing great copy?

Simple ? it helps you speak to what really matters to your buyer, and that?s their time, troubles, and objectives.

We know that customers are willing to pay more for exceptional service, but you also need to understand that they?re willing to pay your prices if you speak to them in a way that shows you value what they hope to achieve, which is far more genuine (and effective) than trying to sell them on bottom-dollar prices.

Or, as Professor Mogliner would put it:

Ultimately, time is a more scarce resource ? once it?s gone, it?s gone ? and therefore it?s more meaningful to us.

3. Sweat the small stuff

This is an incredibly important study for copywriters and conversion experts.

A fascinating piece of research from Carnegie Mellon University was able to show that the devil really is in the details, especially when it comes to creating copy that converts.

In the study, researchers tested how changing a single phrase would affect conversions over the long haul.

They did this by setting up a free DVD trial program (remember DVDs?) that customers could sign up for, and testing it between two different phrases ?

1. ?a $5 fee? to
2. ?a small $5 fee?

? wait a minute, seriously? Yup, and here?s the best part:

They found that the second phrase was able to increase sign-up rates by over 20%.

The science behind it is actually pretty interesting: they found that this emphasis on the ?small? fee made it far easier to deal with for conservative spenders, also known as ?tightwad? customers.

When it comes to great copywriting, however, the lesson is more in the art of great writing rather than in the ?science.?

You must take the time to measure, improve, and track the success of your craft. Great writers today have no excuses for not testing their work, so make sure you?re sweating the small stuff, and keeping tabs on how it performs.

4. Embrace your devilish side

A big mistake that many copywriters make is taking little effort to be authentic.

Everything is high-level: they promise the world, and since many consumers are hesitant to believe claims like that, they?re more likely to glaze over your copy, rather than get swept up by it.

The answer?

Create strong copy that addresses their objections head-on.

You might be familiar with the term ?devil?s advocate,? which is when someone takes a position that they don?t inherently agree with in order to prove a point.

What you might not know is that the Catholic church used to use a person called the ?devil?s advocate? when they canonized someone into sainthood. Their job was to find flaws with the person so that the debate around them was impartial.

They ended the practice ? and with good cause, because you?ll soon see that playing the devil?s advocate actually enhances the persuasiveness of the original argument!

A study by social psychologist Charlan Nemeth was able to show that arguments framed in the ?devil?s advocate? style were more likely to persuade listeners to support the original argument, rather than to disagree with it.

Nemeth (and a few other researchers) have concluded that this occurs because potential flaws and concerns are brought up (and subsequently addressed) when engaging in the devil?s advocate style, either by the speaker, or ? subliminally ? by the listener.

When you?re listening to a persuasive argument and you think to yourself:

But will that address ____?

? you?re much more likely to be persuaded if the speaker says something like:

Many of you are probably worried about ____ right now.

? because your concerns are put in the spotlight instead of never being brought up.

Copywriters, are you listening?

Instead of trying to paint a picture of an infallible offer, point out common concerns that customers may have, and then assure them with facts and evidence that they have nothing to worry about.

5. Don?t rely on adjectives alone

Some writers might not agree with this, but college kids will tell you: an admissions letter is one of the most stressful pieces of persuasive copy you can write.

And believe me, it is very much a piece of selling copy ? you?re selling you to some person who decides the fate of your future.

Interestingly enough, in this analysis of persuasive admission letters ? as discussed by the Harvard MBA admissions director who read them ? verbs beat out adjectives more often than not.

Verbs get specific and are harder to ignore, especially in a vain world where everybody describes themselves with the same trite adjectives.

How about this example ?

I know this guy Brian who is intelligent, hard-working, and really insightful.

Big whoop.

Now what if I told you that he founded a successful company, he created a popular blog, and he leads a talented team.

Much more impressive, right?

In fact, the only thing you should hold against him is that he used to be an attorney.

Verbs get in your face, and since your competitors will be fluffing up their copy with adjectives they found in a thesaurus, you can win people over by describing what you actually do.

6. Include ?power? words

Smart copywriters know that there are certain persuasive words that hold more sway than others.

You?ll recall from my previous post on Copyblogger that the top 5 are as follow:

1. ?You? (in actuality, someone?s name, such as when sending an email newsletter)
2. Free
3. Because
4. Instantly
5. New

Here?s the breakdown ?

?You? ? According to recent research examining brain activation, few things light us up quite like seeing our own names in print or on the screen. Our names are intrinsically tied to our self-perception, and we become more engaged, and even more trusting of a message when our name appears in it.

Free ? Dan Ariely, in his book Predictably Irrational, revealed a study with chocolate truffles and Hershey?s Kisses that was quite startling: when the Kisses were advertised as free, people chose them over the truffles by 38% ? despite the fact that most people had chosen the truffles when the Kisses were just a penny!

Because ? A classic study from Robert Cialdini, the research found that people were more willing to heed to a request (in this case, to cut in line) when people used the word ?because?? even if the request was nonsensical (ie, ?Can I use the copy machine first because I need to make a copy??).

Instantly ? We all want things yesterday. According to certain MRI studies, few words light up our mid-brain quite like those that invoke a sense of fast reward. Let people know you?ll solve their problems quickly, and they?ll be more prone to buy.

New ? Novelty plays an incredibly important role in activating our brain?s reward center and in keeping us happy with our purchases. The research shows that perceived ?newness? is important for a product, but can actually be damaging for a brand (people trust brands that have been around for a long time).

7. Use transportation for persuasion

Why do good stories consume us so completely?

No other form of writing can keep you up into the wee hours of the night (willingly!) quite like stories.

According to research from social psychologists Melanie Green and Timothy Brock, there?s a very simple reason why stories are so persuasive:

Transportation leads to persuasion.

People can block out sales pitches ? but everybody loves listening to stories.

Their research shows that stories have a tendency to get in ?under the radar,? and transport us to another place, and in this place we may embrace things we?d likely scoff at in the harsh ?real world.?

This is great news for those adept at telling an enchanting tale, but how can the rest of us write more persuasive stories?

According to additional research by the duo, the following tactics work well:

1. Detailed imagery: Imagery paints the picture for story. It?s hard to understand how scary Mordor is without Tolkien giving you detailed descriptions of the barren landscapes, the looming presence of Mt. Doom, and the horrifying screams of the Nazgul.
2. Suspense: How do you get people to finish a story? Leave them begging to know the end in the very beginning. It?s hard for us to not finish things that catch our attention, so lead with something exciting first, not later.
3. Metaphors and irony: The reason that stories like Animal Farm are so popular is because they tell a hidden tale through metaphor (such as depicting the rise of Stalin). Many good stories include these elements so that readers will have ?Aha!? moments, allowing them to truly grasp the author?s message.
4. Modelling: If you?re looking to have someone change a behavior (or take a desired action), you can ?model? the action via a story. When we listen to transformation tales, we re-imagine ourselves as the main character, and according to the research, it makes the action easier to understand.

Here?s what to do next ?

1. Leave a comment below telling me which study surprised, inspired, or taught you the most.
2. For those who want more research-backed content, check out my free tactical kit on 10 Ways to Convert More Customers (with Psychology), which is free to download.

About the Author: Gregory Ciotti is the marketing guy at Help Scout, the invisible email support software built for solopreneurs and small business owners. Get more brainy content from Greg by joining their free newsletter.

Source: http://www.copyblogger.com/scientific-copywriting/

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Harlem Shake protesters push for change in Egypt

Youth activists gathered in front of the Muslim Brotherhood's headquarters in Cairo to dance the Harlem Shake in protest of Egypt's ruling party. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

By Charlene Gubash, Producer, NBC News

CAIRO -- It is the latest Internet phenomenon that has the world laughing, but in Egypt the Harlem Shake has caught the imagination of revolutionaries who are using it as a new way to challenge the country's new Islamist rulers.

"It?s a funny way to protest how [the Muslim Brotherhood] have taken control of the country,? said law student Tarek Badr, 22, who was one of more than 100 thrusting their hips in front of the political movement?s Cairo headquarters on Thursday. "People won?t be silent. They will protest in all ways and this is a peaceful way."

One of his fellow white-clad protesters wore a Mickey Mouse head mask.

The unusual protest captured the attention of Egypt?s protest-weary press corps -- who almost outnumbered the gyrating protesters -? as well as a dozen stern-faced members of the Muslim Brotherhood. The movement's figurehead Mohammed Morsi was named president in June after the country's first democratic election in decades.

Organizer Noor al Mahalaawi, a 22-year-old engineering student, and three friends started a group that they have dubbed the "Satiric Revolutionary Struggle".

Charlene Gubash / NBC News

A protester wearing a Mickey Mouse mask dances the Harlem Shake in Cairo on Thursday.

The group intends to stage innovative weekly protests in front of the party headquarters, which will be posted on its increasingly popular Facebook page.

"People are very supportive,? Mahalaawi said. ?It?s a change from violence to sarcasm and it?s peaceful. There has been enough blood, enough arrests, enough trials.?

He said the message to the party was that many Egyptians ?do not like their way of rule? with human-rights violations every day."

After their Harlem Shake ended, participants took up the new revolutionary chant: ?"The people want the fall of the ?Murshid? [the supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood]."

An impromptu conga line snaked through crowd shouting, "Leave, leave, leave.?

One onlooker, wearing red velvet devil horns, cheered them on. "The Muslim Brotherhood are the friends of the devil," explained Iman Abdul Munim, a women?s rights activist.

A handful of the Muslim Brotherhood's supporters somberly kept guard. They ushered journalists and onlookers off the thin strip of grass in front of the gated building.

"It?s not allowed to stand here," said Wala?a Mohamed Omar, a 35-year-old telecom employee, who heard about the event and came to protect party headquarters. "I have not been paid to do this, I came for the sake of God."

Move over, PSY and Carly Rae Jepsen: There's a new video craze that has exploded online. The Harlem Shake involves massive dance parties breaking out to a catchy beat seemingly out of nowhere. TODAY's Matt Lauer reports, and the TODAY anchors and staff show off their Shake skills.

He was visibly unamused by the Harlem Shake antics, but conceded: ?Everybody is free to express themselves as they wish. We are all Egyptians and don?t differ. We respect our opinion and theirs. That is what the two-year revolution was all about.?

But in Egypt, the rise of Islamists to power has changed the fabric of society, now sharply split between fundamentalists, who favor the implementation of Islamic law, and moderates who want secular government.

Many young Egyptians feel their freedom is under siege and the Harlem Shake protest is one small way to reclaim it. "It is all about freedom of expression," insisted Mohamed Mostafa, a 19-year-old law student. "We are free people and we will do what we want."

Despite the end of the military state, Egypt?s police were accused in January of a?return to Mubarak-era abuses after a video showed riot police?stripping and beating a middle-aged man.

And a series of missteps by Morsi -- including a bid to grab sweeping powers even before the dust had settled on the country?s constitution ??has brought protesters back onto the streets.

On Tuesday, a coalition of leftist and liberal parties known as the National Salvation Front announced it would boycott upcoming parliamentary elections, claiming Morsi is driving through an Islamist agenda and breaking a promise to govern on behalf of all Egyptians.

Anis Mili / Reuters

Students from Tunis Carthage Private University dance the Harlem Shake on Wednesday in Tunisia.

The Harlem Shake protest idea has also taken on elsewhere. In Tunisia, the Harlem Shake dance became a rallying cry for high school and university students after the Minister of Education Abdellatif Abid threatened? to expel Tunisian high school students at a high school where it was performed and to sack complicit staff.

Tunisian Salafists - Islamic extremists - clashed with students on Wednesday as they tried to film the dance at a university.

Related:

Egypt's liberals ponder return to military rule

Meet Omar, the face of Egypt's 'unfinished revolution'

Egyptians fear decades of Muslim Brotherhood rule, warn Morsi is no friend of US

This story was originally published on Fri Mar 1, 2013 6:56 AM EST

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/01/17144225-how-the-harlem-shake-is-being-used-to-push-for-change-in-egypt?lite

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Forensic Exam of King Richard the Lionheart Reveals Embalming Practices

An analysis of Richard I's heart shows that Christians in the Middle Ages practiced embalming, which the Church has tried to downplay due to its pagan origins

By Mark Peplow and Nature magazine

Pictured: Richard the Lionheart. Image: Flickr/Michael Coghlan

They called him Lionheart ? a name that has become the epitome of courage in battle. More than eight centuries after the death of King Richard I of England, forensic scientists have now revealed the secrets of his most feted organ.

Richard was a warrior king who fought against the Muslim sultan Saladin during the third Crusade in the twelfth century. But domestic difficulties were waiting when he returned to Europe, and he spent the last years of his life trying to suppress revolt in his French territories.

On 25 March 1199, while laying siege to the castle of Ch?lus-Chabrol in the Limousin region, he was pierced in the left shoulder by an enemy crossbow bolt. Richard I died 12 days later, probably from infection in the wound.

His entrails were removed and stored in a coffin in Ch?lus, and his body was sent to Fontevraud Abbey in Anjou; but his heart was embalmed so that it would be preserved for the 500-kilometer journey to Notre Dame cathedral in Rouen, the base for English forces in Normandy at the time.

During an excavation of the cathedral in 1838, local historian Achille Deville found the remains of the heart inside a lead reliquary roughly the size of a shoebox, now kept at the Museum of Natural History in Rouen. A Latin inscription on the lid proclaims: ?Here is the heart of Richard, King of England?.

Deville and others examined the contents of the reliquary, but until now the remains have never been subjected to a rigorous forensic analysis.

Enter Philippe Charlier, a forensic pathologist and anthropologist at the Raymond Poincar? University Hospital in Garches, France. Charlier has previously found that sacred bones thought to belong to Joan of Arc, the fifteenth-century martyr, were in fact taken from an Egyptian mummy. He also identified an anonymous preserved head as that of Henry IV of France, who was assassinated in 1610 and posthumously decapitated during the French Revolution.

For their analysis of Richard's embalmed heart published today in Scientific Reports, Charlier and his team took just 2 grams of the heart?s powdered remains and subjected it to a battery of tests. Scanning electron microscopy identified pollen grains from myrtle, mint and other known embalming plants, as well as poplar and bellflower, which were in bloom when the king died.

Elemental analysis turned up high concentrations of calcium, suggesting that lime may have been used as a preservative. Mass spectrometry identified organic molecules characteristic of creosote and frankincense, both used for preserving tissue.

The scientists also found bacteria, although none could be related to Richard?s cause of death. ?We were surprised to get so much information,? says Charlier. He believes that this is the first forensic analysis of an embalmed heart ever done and the first physical evidence of ancient embalming using frankincense.

?It proves that embalming of Christians did happen,? says Stephen Buckley, an archaeological chemist at the University of York, UK, who has conducted forensic analyses of Egyptian mummies. ?The Church has tried to downplay the use of embalming in religious leaders and royalty? in the past because of the pagan origins of the practice, he adds. But medieval texts show that many elite members of society could have expected similar treatment.

Charlier was not allowed access to heart-residue samples large enough for carbon dating or genetic analysis, but he insists that the regal provenance of the samples is not in doubt. For his next project he plans to investigate the body of John of Lancaster, First Duke of Bedford, who ordered the execution of Joan of Arc.

This article is reproduced with permission from the magazine Nature. The article was first published on February 28, 2013.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=8d59a1acc4620c82341126afab50f97d

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1st Polaroid-branded photo store opens in Fla.

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (AP) ? The first in a chain of Polaroid-branded photo shops opened here Friday, with its backers hoping to reinvigorate the digital world's interest in printed images by capitalizing on an iconic name.

Polaroid Fotobar aims to tap into unprecedented interest in photography with its inaugural 2,000-square-foot store. The trick will be to coax consumers who snap pictures on cellphones and other devices to give their memories new life on paper.

"Maybe it's on a smartphone, maybe it's on Instagram, maybe it's on Facebook," said Warren Struhl, the founder and CEO of Fotobar. "But digital is not permanent. Physical is permanent."

In the glistening new store, customers can pay a visit to the bar where "fototenders" will assist in wireless uploads of photos. From there, a visitor can purchase prints made on-site, or order products sporting their images on canvas, metal, bamboo and other materials.

The cheapest item is a $1 print replicating a traditional Polaroid, though the purchase requires a minimum of six. The priciest product is a 7-foot-by-4-foot, 150-pound slab of acrylic with a customer's image on it, running $2,500. All of the prints made on-site take the form of the original Polaroid, in varying sizes, with its familiar white border. It is thicker, at 1.2 millimeters, and sturdier, but is instantly recognizable.

Struhl says he has heard time and again that photography's transition to digital has brought "a pain point" for people, who feel a sense of guilt that their images may reside on a hard drive but not in a frame.

"It makes them sad," he contends. "Most people are afraid they're going to lose that favorite picture on top of the fact that they wish it was up on a shelf."

Whether that is true, and whether it drives people into Struhl's stores will determine the fate of the Fotobar. But even some with deep nostalgia for the Polaroid brand wonder how the business will fare in a digital world.

Phillip Block of the International Center of Photography said he grew up with Polaroids and is "thrilled that anyone is interested in picturemaking and the physical print." But he said digital cameras have replicated the immediate gratification and emotional impact people experienced when their Polaroid camera spit out a floppy print.

Polaroid cameras were the ultimate in convenience, he said, and "anything other than that is a step backwards."

But as customers began to file in, there was no sign of discontent. Among the first to take a seat at the Fotobar was Jami Bloch, 12, who was uploading photos from her Facebook and Instagram accounts. She frequently takes photos on her iPhone but never has them printed.

"You can actually like see them," she said of the prints, "it's actually like real."

Besides offering a sleek, sparkling white atmosphere, the store also has a studio that will offer free classes, host parties and allow customers to come in for portraits with local photographers. Struhl says he's negotiating at least 10 leases for other Fotobar sites and expects new locations may open elsewhere in Florida, in New York, Boston and Las Vegas, in the next year.

Customers can also find refurbished Polaroid cameras selling for $159.95 and eight-packs of film for $29.95.

Polaroid itself, which pioneered instant photography, ultimately went bankrupt and doesn't produce its iconic cameras or film anymore. Film compatible with old Polaroid cameras is now manufactured by The Impossible Project. Polaroid is paid for the use of its name on the stores through a licensing agreement. Fotobar is owned by Struhl and other investors.

Fotobar faces competition from chain drugstores and other retail sites that allow customers to print their digital pictures, not to mention an array of websites that will deliver prints without someone ever having to leave their computer.

Struhl insists Fotobar is different, though.

"Four-by-six prints are available lots of places," he said. "We're the only place that makes Polaroids."

___

Online:

Polaroid Fotobar: http://www.polaroidfotobar.com/

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/1st-polaroid-branded-photo-store-opens-fla-205011565.html

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Video: Dow Flirts With All-Time Highs

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Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/51006072/

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Watson ponders careers in cooking, drug research as IBM makes it earn its keep

While mad game show skills are nice and all, IBM has started to nudge Watson toward the door to begin paying its own freight. After a recent foray into finance, the publicity-loving supercomputer has now brought its number-crunching prowess to the pharmaceutical and pastry industries, according to the New York Times. If the latter sounds like a stretch for a hunk of silicon, it actually isn't: researchers trained Watson with food chemistry data, flavor popularity studies and 20,000 recipes -- all of which will culminate in a tasting of the bot's freshly devised "Spanish Crescent" recipe. Watson was also put to work at GlaxoSmithKline, where it came up with 15 potential compounds as possible anti-malarial drugs after being fed all known literature and data on the disease. So far, Watson projects haven't made Big Blue much cash, but the company hopes that similar AI ventures might see its prodigal child finally pay back all those years of training.

Filed under: Science

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Source: New York Times

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/XcwUAg7r_Sc/

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Facebook Confirms It Will Acquire Atlas Advertiser Suite From Microsoft To Close The Ad Spend Loop

After weeks of speculation and leaks, Facebook today announced it will buy the Atlas Advertiser Suite away from Microsoft. The Seattle-based Atlas team will stay put, but Facebook plans to invest in back-end scaling and better measurement to help advertisers "close the loop" and understand how their spend earns them money.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/yJsW8IwvfYw/

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