MPs criticise accounting firms on tax avoidance

By Tom Bergin

LONDON (Reuters) - MPs criticised the role of accounting firms in helping big companies avoid paying tax and said in a report on Friday that close corporate relationships with government raised concerns about undue influence on tax policy.

Corporate tax avoidance has risen to the top of the political agenda in Britain in the past year following reports which showed some major companies paid little or no tax in the country by shifting profits to tax havens.

While the four biggest accounting firms, KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers said they no longer advised on aggressive tax avoidance plans, the Public Accounts Committee said: "They are still devising complex schemes that look artificial".

It went on to say the accounting firms were still prepared to recommend tax arrangements which had as little as a 50 percent chance of being successful if challenged in court.

The report also questioned the way staff from the "Big Four" were seconded to the government to help draft tax rules.

"The large accountancy firms are in a powerful position in the tax world and have an unhealthily cosy relationship with government," Committee chair Margaret Hodge said.

But the firms said they behaved ethically and that the complexity of tax law was largely to blame for any appearance to the contrary. They welcomed the committee's calls for the rules to be simplified.

"We perform an essential function in the UK economy by helping our clients navigate this complexity," Bill Dodwell, Head of Tax Policy at Deloitte said.

The committee called on companies to disclose more information about their tax affairs. The government has also called for more disclosure but has said it wants this to be done on a voluntary, rather than a mandatory, basis.

(Reporting by Tom Bergin; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mps-criticise-accounting-firms-tax-avoidance-013519045--sector.html

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Five murdered in Ill. town, suspect dies after shootout

By Mary Wisniewski

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Five people were slain early on Wednesday in Manchester, Illinois, and a suspect died after a shootout with police, Illinois State Police said.

State Police spokeswoman Monique Bond confirmed the killings and also said that a 6-year-old girl had been injured and taken to hospital. Initial reports were that the victims had been shot, but Bond could not confirm this.

State Police did not discuss any motive nor did they say if the victims were related. The Chicago Tribune reported, citing relatives, that they were a grandmother, a young couple, and two children.

A suspect fled in a white Chevy Lumina, police said, citing witnesses. At about 7:13 a.m., the car was spotted and chased by state and local police who exchanged gunfire with the suspect, state police said.

About 15 minutes later, the suspect was arrested and taken to hospital, and later pronounced dead, Bond said. Police did not release the person's name.

Police said there was no reason to believe that the 300 or so residents of Manchester were in danger.

"Scott County is a small community. Fortunately, this type of thing doesn't happen very often, but this is proof they can happen," Scott County State's Attorney Michael Hill said at the news conference.

"It's been a very tragic scene," said Larry Balthis, pastor of the Manchester Baptist Church. Balthis said he knew the people involved, but he declined additional comment.

Jacksonville School District 117 was closed for the day, according to Debbie McKean, secretary to Superintendent Steve Ptacek. The school district covers 222 square miles and includes the area where the suspect was reportedly apprehended, McKean said.

(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Greg McCune; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/five-people-reported-shot-dead-illinois-town-143459246.html

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George W. Bush - Legacy Watch (The Note) (ABC News)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/301235823?client_source=feed&format=rss

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The Daily Roundup for 04.23.2013

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/23/the-daily-roundup-for-04-23-2013/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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BlackBerry Q10 priced at $249 on two-year contract in US

BlackBerry just confirmed to us the target pricing of its upcoming QWERTY smartphone in the US, and the quick takeaway is that keyboards don't come cheap. According to company representatives, the Q10 is intended to be sold for $249 on a two-year contract, which positions it as more expensive than the Galaxy S 4, iPhone 5, One and Z10. Now, the one hiccup in this equation is that carriers may turn around and do whatever pricing shenanigans they please, but outside of special promotions, you can rightfully expect the Q10 to be one of the most expensive on-contract smartphones of the day. With so few compelling QWERTY handsets on the market, however, it seems that BlackBerry is hoping you'll value a keyboard more than your hard-earned dollar. If it the company's correct, that'll mean a lot more profit. If not, well... you know the rest.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Blackberry

Comments

Source: Bloomberg

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/6hVgsH9FgAk/

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Will Reese Witherspoon's Good-Girl Image Be Tainted By Arrest?

'This will blow over [by the time of her next starring role] and it's not really such a big deal," says box-office analyst Jeff Bock.
By Gil Kaufman

Reese Witherspoon's booking photo provided by the City of Atlanta Department of Corrections
Photo: City of Atlanta Department of Corrections

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1706243/reese-witherspoon-arrest.jhtml

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CoAction Hero board comes with its own OS, simplifies desktop coding (video)

Although we've seen a deluge of tinker-friendly boards, many of them share a dirty secret: they're borrowing someone else's OS. The creator of the new CoAction Hero board, Tyler Gilbert, doesn't think that's good enough for those who want both control and ease of use. His stackable ARM Cortex-M3 design runs its own real-time platform, CoActionOS, that supports Raspberry Pi-style features like file systems and multitasking while abstracting the hardware enough to remove some of the usual headaches. Coding for the CoAction Hero is much like writing a desktop app, and a Qt-based developer kit helps owners write their own interface without knowing the circuitry inside-out. The board is being crowdfunded and won't ship until July if all goes according to plan, but a relatively low $10,000 target and $29 minimum pledge for a device should get the Hero into the hands of intrepid project builders.

Filed under: Misc

Comments

Source: Kickstarter

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/24/coaction-hero-board-comes-with-its-own-os/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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New Zealand Cricket News: Brendon McCullum drops plans of legal ...

Brendon McCullum will not take legal action against former New Zealand captain John Parker, following an apology from Parker for his references to McCullum in connection with the Ross Talyor controversy. McCullum's laywers were expected to file proceedings in the High Court in Hamilton this week over the document titled "The Taylor Affair", which they claim was written by Parker.

When he made public his intention to seek legal redress against Parker, McCullum had said he was not seeking monetary damages but wanted Parker's "acknowledgment that the claims he makes are completely false".

Now, through McCullum's legal team, Parker released a statement saying he did not mean to discredit McCullum. "John Parker's focus in preparing the document was on addressing shortcomings in governance at New Zealand Cricket," the statement said. "However in the document John Parker stated that Brendon McCullum knew of the coach Mike Hesson's movements all along, according to certain players. John Parker did not intend this to mean that Brendon McCullum was involved in the decision to replace Ross Taylor as captain. John Parker did not intend to discredit Brendon McCullum and sincerely apologises to him for any harm to his reputation which may have been caused. Both John Parker and Brendon McCullum have examined and resolved their differences successfully, and no legal proceedings by either party will occur."

Parker, in his document, had been critical of Taylor's removal as captain in controversial manner, as well as the wider governance of New Zealand Cricket.

Following McCullum's declaration that he was seeking legal action last week, coach Hesson too had issued a statement saying was seeking his lawyer's advice on the matter.

Source: http://www.espncricinfo.com/newzealand/content/story/631724.html

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Aunt: Boston bombings suspect struggled with Islam

In this image taken from a video, Patimat Suleimanova, the aunt of USA Boston bomb suspects, speaks to The Associated Press in her home in the Russian city of Makhachkala, Monday April 22, 2013. Suleimanova says Tamerlan Tsarnaev struggled to find himself while trying to reconnect with his Chechen identity on a trip to Russia last year. He "seemed to be more American" than Chechen and "didn't fit into the Islamic world," she said.(AP Photo/AP Television)

In this image taken from a video, Patimat Suleimanova, the aunt of USA Boston bomb suspects, speaks to The Associated Press in her home in the Russian city of Makhachkala, Monday April 22, 2013. Suleimanova says Tamerlan Tsarnaev struggled to find himself while trying to reconnect with his Chechen identity on a trip to Russia last year. He "seemed to be more American" than Chechen and "didn't fit into the Islamic world," she said.(AP Photo/AP Television)

Esta composici?n fotogr?fica muestra a Tamerlan Tsarnaev, de 26 a?os (izquierda), y a Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. El FBI dice que los hermanos son sospechosos en el ataque con explosivos durante el marat?n de Boston. (Foto AP/The Lowell Sun & Robin Young/Archivo)

This June 2012 booking photo released by the Natick, Mass., police shows Zubeidat K. Tsarnaeva, mother of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the two men who set off bombs near the Boston Marathon finish line Monday, April 15, 2013 in Boston. Zubeidat Tsarnaeva was arrested in June 2012 on a shoplifting charge at a Lord & Taylor store in Natick. (AP Photo/Natick Police Department)

MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) ? The elder suspect in the Boston bombings regularly attended a mosque and spent time learning to read the Quran, but he struggled to fit in during a trip to his ancestral homeland in southern Russia last year, his aunt said.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev seemed more American than Chechen and "did not fit into the Muslim life" in Russia's Caucasus, Patimat Suleimanova told The Associated Press. She said when Tsarnaev arrived in January 2012, he wore a winter hat with a little pompom, something no local man would wear, and "we made him take it off."

Tsarnaev and his younger brother are accused of setting off the two bombs at the Boston Marathon on April 15 that killed three people and wounded more than 200. Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a gun battle with police. His 19-year-old brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was later captured alive, but badly wounded.

On Monday, two U.S. officials said preliminary evidence from an interrogation suggests the brothers were motivated by religion but were apparently not tied to any Islamic terrorist groups. The U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.

U.S. investigators are focusing on the six months Tamerlan Tsarnaev spent last year in two predominantly Muslim Russian provinces, Dagestan and Chechnya, to see if he was radicalized by the region's militants who have waged a low-level insurgency against Russian security forces for years.

After returning from Russia, Tsarnaev made his presence known at a Boston-area mosque, where his outbursts interrupted two sermons that encouraged Muslims to celebrate American institutions such as the July 4 Independence Day and figures like Martin Luther King Jr., according to the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center. During one incident congregants shouted at him, telling him to leave, the center said in a statement released Monday.

The Tsarnaev family moved to the United States a decade ago, but the suspects' parents are now in Russia. Their father said he hopes to go to the United States this week to seek "justice and the truth."

Suleimanova, who wore a pea-green headscarf, said her nephew prayed regularly and studied the Muslim holy book. "He needed this. This was a necessity for him," she said.

Every day, using Skype, he spoke to his American-born wife, who had recently converted to Islam, and at times she instructed him on how to observe religious practices correctly when he lapsed, Suleimanova said Sunday from her home in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan. She said her nephew was considering bringing his wife to Dagestan.

His parents insist he spent much of his time visiting relatives in his mother's and father's extended families in Dagestan and Chechnya, but details of his whereabouts are vague and contradictory. His father says Tsarnaev stayed with him in Makhachkala, regularly sleeping late.

His aunt, however, said neither of Tsarnaev's parents was in Russia when he arrived. One reason his father came last year, Suleimanova said, was to make sure his elder son returned to the United States. It was not clear when his father or mother arrived. His mother was arrested in the U.S. in June on charges of shoplifting.

Tsarnaev's father explained his son's trip by saying he needed to get a new Russian passport. But an official with the federal migration service in Dagestan said Monday that Tsarnaev had applied for a new passport in July, but never picked it up, the Interfax news agency reported. Tsarnaev returned to the U.S. on July 17.

His mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, told the AP that her son greatly enjoyed his time with her relatives, but never traveled to her native village in a mountainous region of Dagestan, which is a hotbed of an ultraconservative strain of Islam known as Wahabbism. Wahabbism was introduced to the Caucasus in the 1990s by preachers and teachers from Saudi Arabia.

The mother said her relatives now all live in Makhachkala and the town of Kaspiisk. She refused to say which mosque her son frequented, but Tsarnaev's parents and aunt firmly denied that he met with militants or fell under the sway of religious extremists.

"He used to say, 'I want to go somewhere in the mountains, to be all by myself, to escape from everyday life, to be alone,'" Suleimanova said.

The suspects' father, Anzor Tsarnaev, said he intends to travel to the U.S. "I want normal justice," he said. "I have many questions for the police. You know, I am a lawyer myself and I want to clear up many things. .... I want justice and the truth."

The family said he wants to bring Tsarnaev's body back to Russia.

___

Associated Press writers Eileen Sullivan and Pete Yost in Washington contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-22-EU-Russia-Boston-Suspects/id-cb964a55f5d846dbb03dc46df9cb5ce0

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Louisiana has nation's highest auto insurance rates - again - WWL-TV

Chance Ryan / Houma Courier

Louisiana's auto insurance rates remain the highest in the nation, according to industry studies.

A March report from Insure.com, an insurance industry website, shows Louisiana's average auto insurance rates at $2,699 annually, followed by Michigan at $2,520 and Georgia at $2,155.

By comparison, the national average for car insurance premiums in the U.S. is a little more than $1,500.

This is the third year in a row Louisiana tops the list. Before 2011 it held the No. 2 spot for years, industry reports show.

Maine enjoys the least expensive car insurance rates, at $934 per year, followed by Iowa, $1,028.

A variety of factors dictate how costly auto insurance will be state by state, the report says. Such as the number of insurers competing for business, driving conditions, the portion of uninsured drivers and the way state insurance systems are set up.

Compared to the rest of the country, the study notes that Louisiana drivers who get in wrecks file more injury claims than motorists in other states.

Louisiana also has a high rate of natural disaster damage.

Blue Bunol, general manager for ABC Insurance, a local auto insurance agency with 62 locations throughout Louisiana and Texas, said the litigious nature of people in the state make it difficult for insurance companies to keep costs low.

Louisiana faces issues with high insurance costs because of poor roads and natural disasters, Bunol said. But it's also the personal injury lawyers who advertise heavily on television and on bus stop benches, and the state's direct-action law, which allows people to sue insurers directly.

Louisiana is ranked 13th in the country for attorneys per capita, with 11.1 lawyers per 10,000 residents, according to AveryIndex.com, a law and rankings website.

The state's relatively poor population sees this aggressive advertising, Bunol said, many of which (about 13 percent) don't have car insurance and are more inclined to wring whatever they can out of an insurance policy.

?Attorney advertisement entices people who are looking for a handout to call whether their accident warrants it or not,? he said. ?Then the attorneys build a claim around nothing. Many of these claims are turning into a feeding frenzy.?

Louisiana has the highest frequency of bodily injury claims, according to a report by the Insurance Research Council.

Bunol said drivers can still get good deals if they rely more on insurers, like ABC, who offer mixed packages that drive competition.

He also noted that high car insurance rates are not necessarily statewide. The highest rates are largely concentrated in the New Orleans metropolitan area.

For example, a 21-year-old male with a clean driving record who drives a 2005 Toyota Corolla pays $246.05 per month for basic insurance in New Orleans, according to ABC quotes. Using that same sample, the monthly cost would be only $176.54 in Houma.

Bunol said another factor that contributes to the high costs is the high level of alcohol consumption in Louisiana.

?You don't have many states where you can drive though a daiquiri place and get a highball and a beer to go,? he said.

Deplorable road conditions, as a result of the soft nature of the soil, contribute to the costs as well, he said.

?So you got poor streets and more people drinking and driving ? yeah, that's going to increase the frequency of claims.?

Melissa Landry, director of Louisiana Lawsuit Abuse Watch, a nonprofit judicial-reform organization based in Baton Rouge, said a unique law in Louisiana, which dictates that civil claims under $50,000 must be decided by a judge, not a jury, is unfair to residents and insurance companies.

It puts more power into the hands of elected judges, Landry alleges. And that may encourage some contingency fee attorneys who make a living based on court outcomes to seek out judges who have a track record of siding with plaintiffs ? the people living in the communities they serve ? more than insurers they sue.

While Landry does not want to paint the judiciary with a broad brush, she said it's clear that money contributed to judicial elections may at times add an element of political pressure that juries don't experience.

?In recent analysis of civil jury trial threshold limits for all 50 states, Louisiana Lawsuit Abuse Watch found that the vast majority of states have no threshold for civil jury trials, and among 14 states that do, Louisiana's threshold is by far the highest in the nation,? Landry said. ?At $50,000, Louisiana's jury trial threshold is roughly more than 28 times the national average of $1,742.40.?

The $50,000 threshold was enacted during the last administration of former Gov. Edwin Edwards in 1993 in an effort by legislators to prevent overburdening the courts with more bureaucracy and increased government spending for assembling juries and other costs.

In various reports, legislators have said people who come for jury duty do not want to waste time for minor traffic claims. And if the trial threshold were to be lowered, even more civil jury trials will take place, which will create longer delays in an already backed-up judiciary system.

?It is unfair to ask the citizens of Louisiana to serve on juries for small claims that can be effectively and efficiently handled by judges ? and have been for years,? Michael L. Barras, a personal injury attorney in New Iberia, wrote on his website.

Bunol said the truth is insurance companies don't really care how high the rates go nor do legislators because it all evens out in the end.

?They look at it as another form of welfare,? Bunol said. ?Instead of tax dollars distributed as welfare, it's insurance dollars that are simply paid by the public anyway ? same as tax dollars. Insurance companies are going to pay the claim and ultimately change their rate accordingly. But all of us who pay high insurance rates should be screaming at the legislators to make stiffer laws to keep these attorneys from being able to build up a claim that should have never existed in the first place.?

Source: http://www.wwltv.com/news/local/Louisiana-has-nations-highest-auto-insurance-rates---again-203984451.html

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PSA: Baidu Is *Not* Trying To Buy Zynga

Looks like Baidu and Zynga are the most recent victims of a bogus press release stunt. This morning, a company called PR*Urgent put out a press release saying that Baidu -- known as the "Google of China" -- wanted to acquire Zynga, the social gaming giant. It claimed Baidu offered to pay $10 per Zynga share in cash. But a PR representative for Baidu has categorically denied the news. "Baidu had nothing to do with this news release," he told TechCrunch.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/dGG2lPvyyTo/

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How to change the default font in the Notes app for iPhone and iPad

iOS has always come with a built-in Notes app and serves as a pretty easy way to keep basic notes. While some users may prefer something more powerful like Evernote, the Notes app gets the job done for a lot of people, especially since it supports iCloud sync.

If the default font within the Notes app burns your retinas nearly as it does mine, it may deter you from using the Notes app. There's actually a way to change it.

1. Launch the Settings app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
2. Scroll down and tap on Notes.
3. Here you can switch between three options; the default Noteworthy font, Marker Felt, and Helvetica. Make your selection and then exit.

While Helvetica may be the only acceptable option at this time, it will be a lot easier on the eyes than the default font.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/CwQXU_FVdXs/story01.htm

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Syria opposition voices frustration with international backers

By Mariam Karouny and Nick Tattersall

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Syrian opposition figures voiced frustration with their international backers on Saturday in the face of reluctance from some to supply the rebels with weapons and a call for them to distance themselves from extremist forces.

Speaking at a meeting of the Friends of Syria in Istanbul, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Germany was skeptical about supplying weapons to the rebels but said the subject should be discussed by the European Union.

One senior opposition figure said arms were already being sent from some countries but acknowledging this at the meeting would provide cover for countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar to openly help the rebels.

"The world must know if they don't agree on our right to receive weapons this will be the last meeting the opposition attend. We will not attend any meetings after this," he told Reuters.

Washington plans to provide about $100 million in new non-lethal aid to the Syrian opposition that could include for the first time battlefield support equipment such as body armor and night-vision goggles, a U.S. official said on Friday.

Secretary of State John Kerry was expected to announce the new aid package, which would mark a recalibration of U.S. policy toward Syrian rebel groups at Saturday's meeting. Fresh U.S. humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees is also likely.

The new assistance would stop short of supplying weapons to rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It is also far less than what is sought by Syrian opposition leaders, U.S. allies Britain and France and some U.S. lawmakers.

The senior opposition official called on those reluctant to supply weapons to say so openly, which Westerwelle did on the sidelines of the meeting.

"We expect from the opposition that they clearly distance themselves in Syria from terrorist and extremist forces," he told reporters.

"We are skeptical as the German government when it comes to delivering weapons because we are concerned that weapons could fall into the wrong, namely extremist, hands, but it is a matter that must now be discussed in the European Union."

NEGOTIATION RULED OUT

Another senior opposition source rejected the idea of any foreign interference in the future of Syria.

"The international community cannot ask us for anything. What country we have after Assad is for us the Syrians to decide it is not for the international community," he said.

"After two years of this and the regime now using Scud, chemical weapons and getting help from Iran and Russia they come and tell us they want guarantees from us? How could they do this?" he added.

The 11-nation "core group" of the Friends of Syria, including the United States, European and Arab nations, has been deadlocked over how to remove Assad, whose security forces killed and arrested thousands of protesters who took to the streets to demand democratic reforms in March 2011.

Syria's opposition said earlier it hoped the Istanbul meeting would give teeth to a tacit agreement that arming rebel groups is the best way to end Assad's rule.

One Syrian rebel leader said on Saturday only force could end the country's two-year conflict and ruled out the possibility of any negotiation with Assad's administration other than over its exit.

"There is no solution with this regime through negotiation. This (conflict) will not be settled other than by force," Brigadier Selim Idris, head of a military command, told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Istanbul.

"Maybe in its final stages, when the regime feels it has lost everything, it might want to negotiate for its exit."

More than 70,000 have been killed in the revolt and subsequent civil war. But a military stalemate has set in and much of Syria is left in ruins because of a divided and ineffective opposition, a lack of action by foreign allies and Assad's ability to rely on support from Russia and Iran.

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom; Reporting by Nick Tattersall; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Stephen Powell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-opposition-voices-frustration-international-backers-175133037.html

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HBT: Ortiz says he's ready to rejoin Red Sox

David Ortiz homered this afternoon in a Triple-A game and declared his minor-league rehab assignment over, telling Tim Britton of the Providence Journal: ?I think I go back to the big team tomorrow. ? It?s time.?

Ortiz and the Red Sox have targeted Friday as his return date for a while now, but some recent heel soreness put that in question briefly. Ortiz went 4-for-18 overall on his rehab stint and indicated that he?ll need occasional days off, but feels he?s ready to hit. His last MLB game was August 24 and he?s played just one MLB game since mid-July.

Boston has primarily used Jonny Gomes and Daniel Nava at designated hitter, with Mike Napoli also making a pair of starts there. Ortiz?s return likely means Jackie Bradley Jr. will head back to Triple-A and Gomes and Nava will split time in left field.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/04/18/david-ortiz-homers-at-triple-a-declares-himself-ready-to-rejoin-the-red-sox/related/

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'Real Housewives of New Jersey' Season 5 promo: The family tree is ...

Season 5 of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" is only a few months away (premiering June 2 at 8 p.m. ET) and, if this first promo is any indication, the family drama is only growing.

The trailer, released on Friday (April 19) by Bravo, finds Garden State beauties Melissa Gorga, Jacqueline Laurita and Kathy Wakile pretending to plant a tree and watch it grow, before Teresa Giudice can carve her and husband Joe's initials into the full-grown plant while no-nonsense Caroline Manzo looks on disapprovingly.

"Family is a force of nature," the tagline reads, while a bolt of lightning strikes the tree, spitting it in half.

The trailer marks the second series in the franchise to receive a big-budget trailer for a new season, something the network began with Season 3 of "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" last fall.

Be sure to watch the full trailer above. Is it June yet?

Photo/Video credit: Bravo

Source: http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2013/04/real-housewives-of-new-jersey-season-5-promo-the-family-tree-is-coming-down.html

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UnitedHealth warns of Medicare profit squeeze

UnitedHealth Group, the largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans, warned Thursday that funding cuts for the privately-run versions of the federal Medicare program will force it to reconsider its expectations for earnings growth next year.

CEO Stephen Hemsley told analysts that the government-subsidized coverage for elderly and disabled people faces a reimbursement cut of about 4 percent next year. That's on top of other possible federal funding reductions and an expected 3 percent rise in medical costs.

"We did not expect the fastest-growing, most popular and most effective of the Medicare benefit options serving America's seniors would be underfunded to this extent in 2014," Hemsley said.

More than 13 million people were enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans last year, or about 27 percent of the Medicare population, according to the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.

Insurers offer hundreds of different Medicare Advantage plans around the country. The coverage typically provides extras such as dental and vision care, or rates that are lower than standard Medicare.

UnitedHealth, which is the nation's largest health insurer, has nearly 2.9 million people enrolled, and the plans brought in about 20 percent of the insurer's revenue last year.

Shares of UnitedHealth and other insurers that provide Medicare Advantage coverage slid in February after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released data that pointed to payment cuts as steep as 8 percent next year. The government then softened the blow to a reduction of about 4 percent.

But UnitedHealth said that cut, combined with the other reductions, will be tough to stomach. UnitedHealth said it may have to trim benefits, change provider networks or leave some markets to preserve Medicare Advantage profitability.

Hemsley, UnitedHealth's CEO, called the reimbursement cut "a significantly greater rate setback than anyone could have expected."

The company also said widespread government spending cuts that started earlier this year and hit Medicare will make it hard for the insurer to reach the top end of its forecast for 2013 earnings of $5.25 to $5.50 per share. Analysts expect earnings of $5.51 per share, according to FactSet, a research firm.

Analysts had labeled UnitedHealth's 2013 earnings forecast conservative after it came out last fall, and the insurer normally raises it several times through the year. But so far, the company has just backed the initial projection.

Thursday's outlook warning came as UnitedHealth reported that its first-quarter earnings sank 14 percent, largely due to a lower gain the company recorded due to leftover insurance claims.

UnitedHealth earned $1.19 billion, or $1.16 per share, in the three months that ended March 31. That figure doesn't count a portion of earnings that went to shareholders of Amil Participacoes SA, a Brazilian health benefits and care provider that UnitedHealth is in the process of buying for about $4.9 billion.

The performance was down from $1.39 billion, or $1.31 per share, a year ago. Revenue rose 11 percent to $30.34 billion in the three months that ended March 31.

Analysts expected earnings of $1.14 per share on $30.54 billion in revenue.

The insurer booked a $280 million gain in the quarter because claims left over from previous quarters came in lower than expected, which allowed it to release money held in reserve. That compares to a $530 million gain in last year's quarter. The lower total means actual claims came in closer to what the insurer projected.

UnitedHealth, based in Minnetonka, Minn., is the first major U.S. health insurer to announce earnings every quarter. Many analysts and investors see it as a bellwether for the managed care sector.

Company shares fell 3.77 percent, or $2.34, to close at $59.69 on Thursday. UnitedHealth shares had climbed 14 percent so far this year, as of Wednesday.

UnitedHealth's stark warning about next year ? not its performance so far this year ? motivated investors to sell, said Sheryl Skolnick, an analyst who covers insurers for the CRT Capital Group, an institutional broker and dealer.

"That was a negative surprise," she said.

Skolnick said the problem for investors is that UnitedHealth can't say yet how much its profitability will be affected by the Medicare Advantage business.

Wall Street, as a rule, dislikes uncertainty, and UnitedHealth won't release a forecast for 2014 until later this year.

"The markets are adjusting to that new reality today," Skolnick said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/unitedhealth-warns-medicare-profit-squeeze-175814694--finance.html

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Hooters Bomb Threat In Hollywood Neighborhood Of Los Angeles, Calif.

One man is in custody after allegedly joking about having a bomb in his lunch pail. He made the claim, which police could treat as a false bomb threat, in a Hooters restaurant in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, Calif.

"He said himself that it was just a joke," explained LAPD media relations police officer Christopher No to The Huffington Post. But just to be on the safe side, LAPD's bomb squad evacuated the restaurant and surrounding businesses to make sure there was no explosive device inside the man's pail.

An initial call to authorities was made at 4:45 p.m. PST, reports The Hollywood Reporter. By around 6:30 p.m. PST, HuffPost confirmed that the bomb squad was finishing up their investigation at the restaurant.

It is a crime to make a false bomb threat, explained LAPD Lt. Andy Neiman. Police are still determining what to do with the suspect.

The Hooters restaurant in question is located on Hollywood Boulevard, across the street from iconic TCL Chinese Theater, an area usually packed with tourists. One block of the street was evacuated and blocked off as police investigated the scene, according to THR.

The bomb threat was the second in Los Angeles on Thursday. Earlier Thursday morning, authorities evacuated thousands of people from the Cal State Los Angeles campus after police received two phone calls warning that a bomb would detonate within two hours. Investigators determined there was no bomb threat by around 2:30 p.m. PST.

In the wake of the deadly Boston marathon bombings last Monday, authorities nationwide are on high alert.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/18/hooters-bomb-threat_n_3113613.html

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Russian PM Medvedev defends record after Putin warning

By Darya Korsunskaya and Maya Dyakina

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will resist spending more oil and gas revenues than its fiscal rule allows but will consider more stimulus as falling commodity prices risk pushing the economy into recession, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said.

Medvedev, in an annual speech to the lower house of parliament on Wednesday, gave no details of possible stimulus measures.

Since President Vladimir Putin returned to the Kremlin last year, the government has adopted a new fiscal rule that bases spending plans on the long-term average oil price and caps the budget deficit at 1 percent of GDP.

"This rule is very important in the period when in other countries ... there is recession and ultimately it may happen to us at a time when there is a risk of commodity prices falling," Medvedev said.

Future opportunities to increase budget revenues would be very limited, he said.

His comments came after President Vladimir Putin threatened to sack senior officials over a failure to carry out his orders on social spending.

The government forecasts its budget deficit will widen slightly this year to 0.6 percent of gross domestic product.

The new fiscal rule does not rule out other measures designed to improve Russia's investment climate and boost the flow of credit into the economy.

The government is also considering speeding up sales of state assets to raise funds, including the possible sale of a 19.5 percent stake in state oil major Rosneft.

However, Medvedev said Russia would not sell state assets on the cheap, only when deals look profitable enough.

He also said that Russia would achieve its goal of attracting up to $70 billion in foreign investments annually by 2018. Foreign direct investments into the Russian economy fell to $51.4 billion in 2012.

Medvedev's warning about the risk of an impending recession echoed a statement from the economy ministry last week and helped drag Russian equities and the rouble to multi-month lows.

Treasury bonds yields have stayed near two-month lows on expectations the central bank will cut interest rates to support the economy. However, Moscow may need to tap debt markets more this year due to a shortfall in non-oil revenues, and that could cause a spike in borrowing costs, analysts say.

Russia recently slashed its economic growth estimate for this year by a third to 2.4 percent, half the Kremlin's annual target rate of 5 percent and sparking a debate over whether the economy needs stimulus.

RATE CUTS

Economic growth slowed to 1 percent in the first quarter.

Slower growth has raised expectations the central bank will soon cut interest rates although increased inflationary pressures and a pick-up in the economy in March could prompt it to keep them on hold at its next policy meeting in May.

Investment, however, which economists consider to be a major reason for Russia's slowing economic growth in recent months, fell by 0.8 percent last month, while analysts had expected moderate growth.

"We estimate March's economic performance as generally positive, taking into account the new Russian 'normality' of relatively low economic growth rates. The CBR is likely to keep rates on hold in the coming months," Julia Tsepliaeva, economist at BNP Paribas said in a note. She expects rate cuts in July.

Most of the central bank's main interest rates have been on hold since December. Many analysts expect a rate cut in June, when Putin-appointed Elvira Nabiullina becomes the head of the bank, and possibly before then.

Central Bank Chairman Sergei Ignatyev has said that a cut in interest rates cannot be ruled out if inflation falls. However, inflation rose to 7.1-7.2 percent in April, from 7.0 percent seen in March.

Russia's Finance Ministry met strong demand at two auctions of treasury bonds on Wednesday, for nine-year and four-year paper, worth 30 billion roubles in total.

Raiffaisenbank said a reduction in budget revenues due to slower economic growth this year may result in higher borrowing needs. The Finance Ministry plans to borrow 1.2 trillion roubles ($37.87 billion) on the local bond market in 2013. However, in the first quarter the ministry placed only 60 percent of the planned volume for the period.

"The Finance Ministry should try to place OFZ bonds according to the plan this year. But in reality it will not happen and closer to the year-end the ministry will have to change the strategy, which would lead to a rise in the premium (to the market)," Raiffaisenbank analysts said in a note.

($1 = 31.6880 Russian roubles)

(Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya, Katya Golubkova; Writing by Maya Dyakina; Editing by Megan Davies, Lidia Kelly and Susan Fenton)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russian-pm-medvedev-defends-record-putin-warning-132028571--business.html

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Chinese marathon bomb victim remembered as bright

This undated photo provided by Meixu Lu shows Lingzi Lu in Boston. Boston University confirmed Wednesday, April 17, 2013, that Lingzi Lu, who was studying mathematics and statistics at the school and was due to receive her graduate degree in 2015, was among the people killed in the explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon Monday, April 15, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Meixu Lu)

This undated photo provided by Meixu Lu shows Lingzi Lu in Boston. Boston University confirmed Wednesday, April 17, 2013, that Lingzi Lu, who was studying mathematics and statistics at the school and was due to receive her graduate degree in 2015, was among the people killed in the explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon Monday, April 15, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Meixu Lu)

Two theology students embrace following a vigil for Boston University student Lingzi Lu, who was killed in the Boston Marathon explosions, outside the school's Marsh Chapel, Wednesday, April 17, 2013, in Boston. The city continues to cope following Monday's explosions near the finish line of the marathon, which claimed three lives. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

A Chinese man flips a newspaper with the headline of Boston Marathon bombings that killed three and wounded more than 170 people, in Beijing, China Wednesday, April 17, 2013. A state-run Chinese newspaper says the third person killed in the Boston Marathon bombings is a Chinese graduate student at Boston University originally from China's northeastern city of Shenyang. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

A Chinese man walks past a huge screen which reports Boston Marathon bombings that killed three and wounded more than 170 people, in Beijing, China Wednesday, April 17, 2013. A state-run Chinese newspaper says the third person killed in the Boston Marathon bombings is a Chinese graduate student at Boston University originally from China's northeastern city of Shenyang. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

A woman reflects in front of a makeshift memorial honoring Boston University student Lingzi Lu, who was killed in the Boston Marathon explosions, Wednesday, April 17, 2013, in Boston. The city continues to cope following Monday's explosions near the finish line of the marathon, which claimed three lives. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

BOSTON (AP) ? Less than 24 hours before she died, Lu Lingzi sent an exuberant email to a professor after learning she had passed part of a major final exam.

"I am so happy to get this result!" she wrote. "Thank you very much."

Lu was killed Monday in the Boston Marathon explosions, according to a statement from Boston University. She was a graduate student studying mathematics and statistics and scheduled to receive her graduate degree in 2015.

Lu was at the finish line of the race with two friends from BU. One, Danling Zhou, had surgeries Monday and Tuesday and is in stable condition at Boston Medical Center, the university's statement said. The other was unharmed.

Chinese students gathered in front of the campus chapel Wednesday evening with posters and photographs of Lu to honor her life. As they rolled out a long sheet of white paper on a table, students wandered over off the sidewalk and began writing messages of condolence in both Chinese and English. Another memorial gathering was planned for Thursday evening at a campus arena.

Lili Gu, 22, who is from Shanghai, said a group of about a dozen students went from hospital to hospital, searching for Lu, until they were informed that she had died.

"I was shocked last night as I heard the update," Gu said. "I mean, we were all searching. And we all had our hope on."

On Monday morning, Lu had put the finishing touches on a group research project she was planning to present at a statistics conference. She also posted a photo of the breakfast ? bread chunks and fruit ? she ate the morning she died.

"My wonderful breakfast," she wrote.

Lu was a vivacious chatterbox who had lots of friends on campus, said Tasso Kaper, chair of the mathematics and statistics department, whose face lit up talking about his former student.

"The word bubbly ? that's kind of a corny word ? but that describes her very well," Kaper said.

Lu loved the springtime and kept asking when the trees would bloom in Boston.

"She was very interested in the flowers," he said. "Spring is a very important time of year for her."

Yijiang Lu, a 21-year-old student from Shanghai, said the Chinese student community was banding together to support Lu's friends and family.

"We all are far away from home. We are international students, we are Chinese," she said. "Here we are the family. We have to do something for the girl."

Lu, 23, often shared photos of her home-prepared meals online, including a blueberry-covered waffle. They were almost always served in a shallow, blue-patterned bowl.

She was described as an exceptional student and bright young scientist at Boston University, where she had been enrolled for about a year and had one course left to complete before graduating. She already was searching for a summer internship with her adviser.

There was a small, private gathering of friends and faculty at the math department early Wednesday to "begin the long grieving process," Kaper said, adding that "many of them are still in shock and disbelief."

She had graduated last year from the Beijing Institute of Technology, where she once got a perfect score on a differential equations exam. Her LinkedIn profile said she was awarded "excellent student" at the school and that she held jobs or internships at the Beijing offices of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu consultancy and at Dongxing Securities Co. during her undergraduate years. She also spent a semester at the University of California, Riverside.

Chinese state media said Lu was from the northeastern city of Shenyang.

News of her death drew an outpouring of condolences on Chinese-language blogs, with her Sina Weibo account drawing nearly 25,000 comments as of early Thursday. Her former neighbor in Shenyang, Zhang Xinbo, lamented how the news brought home the tragedy of what he considered a faraway event.

"I saw her grow up, and a few scenes from the past are flashing through my mind. Now, she's becoming a girl, a bit Westernized, but a loud bang has changed everything," he wrote in a blog. "I think of her loved ones, and I don't know how they are coping with this painful news, while still searching for any thread of hope."

Many comments reflect a growing awareness that the burgeoning number of Chinese students and elsewhere in recent years has opened them up to dangers ranging from mundane street crime to terrorist attacks.

"Nearly 12 years after Sept. 11, more and more people have realized terrorists are the global enemy. They not only attack Americans but also Chinese, regardless of nationality or race," the well-known blogger and author Li Chengpeng wrote.

___

Tang reported from Beijing.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-17-Boston%20Marathon-Chinese%20Victim/id-4943264595e744bb88a32191906a849c

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News roundup: Hunting for the Boston bomber | Political Cornflakes ...

Grieving for Boston. Bishop seeks public lands compromise. Utah company has its day before the Supreme Court.

It's Tuesday and Boston is still reeling from the dual bombs that killed three and maimed more than 140 people near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The FBI has made no arrests yet and with so many people losing limbs, its possible that the death toll will climb today. [Globe] [Herald]

Boston Marathon bombing: Some 339 Utahns were registered to run in the marathon ? including a few who were near the blast, which they described as "horrifying." [Trib] [DNews] [Herald] [Fox13] [ABC4] [KUTV]

-> The Salt Lake marathon will go on ? with added security measures, says the city's police department. The race is this weekend. [Trib] [Fox13] [ABC4]

-> President Barack Obama was careful not to call it an act of terror in the immediate aftermath of the bombing, but he promised justice for those who committed the atrocity. [Globe]

-> Pat Bagley honors those who ran towards the explosions. [Trib]

-> Here's the front page of today's Boston Globe. [Newseum]

Tweets about the Boston bombing: From @dangillmor: "Glad to see a new kind of knee-jerk reaction to Boston: people telling each other to wait for actual facts before leaping to conclusions."

From @billyhesterman: "One runner from Provo in the Boston Marathon said the explosions sounded like cannons going off"

From @jasoninthehouse: "God bless the men, women and children dealing with the bombings in Boston. Thanks to the first responders."

From @RepPatriceArent: "My heart breaks for those killed & injured in Boston Marathon, along with their families & friends. Finish line is near where I lived."

From @governorherbert: "Thoughts and prayers are with all those victims, loved ones, family members... in Boston today "

From @jonesnews: "DPS says no 'credible threat' in Utah in the wake of Boston Marathon bombing. salt Lake Marathon scheduled for Saturday."

Happy birthday: To the Trib's Jennifer Dobner.

In other news: While still a strong advocate for drilling, Rep. Rob Bishop is trying to work out his own "grand bargain" by bringing environmental groups, energy companies and locals together to craft consensus public lands legislation. [Trib]

-> The Supreme Court heard a case involving Utah's Myriad Genetics and appeared to be skeptical of patenting genes. [Trib] [LATimes]

-> The Legislature will not override Gov. Gary Herbert's veto of a bill that would allow gun owners to conceal a firearm without a permit after Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, became the 10th lawmaker to pull his support. The Legislature can't achieve a two-thirds majority required to start an override session. [Trib]

-> Rep. Jason Chaffetz's bill that cracks down on federal contractors who are behind on their taxes passed the House unanimously, on tax day no less. [Trib] [WaPost]

-> Salt Lake City DA Sim Gill is tossing an additional 69 drug cases that were being investigated by West Valley City Police. [Trib] [DNews] [Fox13]

-> Spencer Fox Eccles will be awarded for his contributions to athletics in Utah ? especially the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics and the U.'s sports programs ? by Gov. Gary Herbert at an event Tuesday night. [Trib]

Nationally: Standing on already shaky ground, some Senate Democrats who face tough re-election bids say they won't support a bipartisan gun control measure that expands background check requirements for firearm sales. [NYTimes]

-> In a rare interview with the Dallas Morning News, former President George W. Bush opened up about his newly-discovered knack for painting, his record and his detractors, remarking, "Of course, some people are surprised I can even read." [DMN]

-> Republican check writing powerhouse Bob Perry, known for spending generously on backing candidates like Mitt Romney, passed away over the weekend at the age of 80.

[WaPost]

-> Senators will delay unveiling their immigration bill out of respect for those killed and injured in Boston. [YahooNews]

-> A new nonpartisan report says it is "indisputable" that the United States engaged in torture following Sept. 11. [NYTimes]

Where are they?

• Rep. Rob Bishop chairs a public lands subcommittee hearing on the Antiquities Act and later sits down with new Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.
• Rep. Chris Stewart meets with representatives from Utah Beer Wholesale Association, Utah Developmental Disabilities Council, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Utah Bankers Association, Weber State University, Utah Cattlemen's Association and the Washington County Water Conservancy District and meets with SLC Mayor Ralph Becker.
• Rep. Jim Matheson receives the U.S. Chamber's Spirit of Enterprise award, meets with SL Co. Mayor Ben McAdams, SLC Mayor Ralph Becker and UTA General Manager Mike Allegra.
• Gov. Gary Herbert has a conference call with Alan Matheson from the Western Governors Association, hits a State of Sport awards luncheon, prepares a speech and speaks at BYU's Political Affairs Society dinner.
• Utah AG John Swallow is in Washington, attending a National Association of Attorneys General Presidential Initiative Summit.
• SL Co. Mayor Ben McAdams is in Washington, meeting with members of Congress and Department of Transportation officials.
• SLC Mayor Ralph Becker is in Washington, meeting with members of Congress and federal agencies.
• WVC Mayor Mike Winder conducts a City Council meeting.
• President Barack Obama lunches with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates, honors NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski at the White House and meets with Vice President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

Got a tip? A birthday, wedding or anniversary to announce? Email us at cornflakes@sltrib.com. If you haven't already, sign up for our weekday email and get this sent directly to your inbox. [Trib]

-- Matt Canham and Emily Andrews

Twitter.com/mattcanham and Twitter.com/emilytandrews

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsoutofcontext/56165241-64/boston-trib-utah-marathon.html.csp

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Scientists pinpoint brain's area for numeral recognition

Apr. 16, 2013 ? Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have determined the precise anatomical coordinates of a brain "hot spot," measuring only about one-fifth of an inch across, that is preferentially activated when people view the ordinary numerals we learn early on in elementary school, like "6" or "38."

Activity in this spot relative to neighboring sites drops off substantially when people are presented with numbers that are spelled out ("one" instead of "1"), homophones ("won" instead of "1") or "false fonts," in which a numeral or letter has been altered.

"This is the first-ever study to show the existence of a cluster of nerve cells in the human brain that specializes in processing numerals," said Josef Parvizi, MD, PhD, associate professor of neurology and neurological sciences and director of Stanford's Human Intracranial Cognitive Electrophysiology Program. "In this small nerve-cell population, we saw a much bigger response to numerals than to very similar-looking, similar-sounding and similar-meaning symbols.

"It's a dramatic demonstration of our brain circuitry's capacity to change in response to education," he added. "No one is born with the innate ability to recognize numerals."

The finding pries open the door to further discoveries delineating the flow of math-focused information processing in the brain. It also could have direct clinical ramifications for patients with dyslexia for numbers and with dyscalculia: the inability to process numerical information.

The cluster Parvizi's group identified consists of perhaps 1 to 2 million nerve cells in the inferior temporal gyrus, a superficial region of the outer cortex on the brain. The inferior temporal gyrus is already generally known to be involved in the processing of visual information.

The new study, published April 17 in the Journal of Neuroscience, builds on an earlier one in which volunteers had been challenged with math questions. "We had accumulated lots of data from that study about what parts of the brain become active when a person is focusing on arithmetic problems, but we were mostly looking elsewhere and hadn't paid much attention to this area within the inferior temporal gyrus," said Parvizi, who is senior author of the study.

Not, that is, until fourth-year medical student Jennifer Shum, who also is doing research in Parvizi's lab, noticed that, among some subjects in the first study, a spot in the inferior temporal gyrus seemed to be substantially activated by math exercises. Charged with verifying that this observation was consistent from one patient to the next, Shum, the study's lead author, reported that this was indeed the case. So, Parvizi's team designed a new study to look into it further.

The new study relied on epileptic volunteers who, as a first step toward possible surgery to relieve unremitting seizures that weren't responding to therapeutic drugs, had a small section of their skulls removed and electrodes applied directly to the brain's surface. The procedure, which doesn't destroy any brain tissue or disrupt the brain's function, had been undertaken so that the patients could be monitored for several days to help attending neurologists find the exact location of their seizures' origination points. While these patients are bedridden in the hospital for as much as a week of such monitoring, they are fully conscious, in no pain and, frankly, a bit bored.

Over time, Parvizi identified seven epilepsy patients with electrode coverage in or near the inferior temporal gyrus and got these patients' consent to undergo about an hour's worth of tests in which they would be shown images presented for very short intervals on a laptop computer screen, while activity in their brain regions covered by electrodes was recorded. Each electrode picked up activity from an area corresponding to about a half-million nerve cells (a drop in the bucket in comparison to the brain's roughly 100 billion nerve cells).

To make sure that any numeral-responsive brain areas identified were really responding to numerals -- and not just generic lines, angles and curves -- these tests were carefully calibrated to distinguish brain responses to visual presentations of the classic numerals taught in Western schools, such as 3 or 50, as opposed to squiggly lines, letters of the alphabet, number-denoting words such as "three" or "fifty," and symbols that in fact were also numerals but -- because they were drawn from the Thai, Tibetan and Devanagari languages -- were extremely unlikely to be recognized as such by this particular group of volunteers.

In the first test, subjects were shown series of single numerals and letters -- along with false fonts, in which the component parts of numerals or letters had been scrambled but defining curves and angles were retained, and the foreign-number symbols just described. A second test, controlling for meaning and sound, included numerals and their spelled-out versions (for instance, "1" and "one," or "3" and "three") and other words with the same sound or a similar one ("won" and "tree," respectively).

All of our brains are shaped slightly differently. But in almost the identical spot within each study subject's brain, the investigators observed a significantly larger response to numerals than to similar-shaped stimuli, such as letters or scrambled letters and numerals, or to words that either meant the same as the numerals or sounded like them.

Interestingly, said Parvizi, that numeral-processing nerve-cell cluster is parked within a larger group of neurons that is activated by visual symbols that have lines with angles and curves. "These neuronal populations showed a preference for numerals compared with words that denote or sound like those numerals," he said. "But in many cases, these sites actually responded strongly to scrambled letters or scrambled numerals. Still, within this larger pool of generic neurons, the 'visual numeral area' preferred real numerals to the false fonts and to same-meaning or similar-sounding words."

It seems, Parvizi said, that "evolution has designed this brain region to detect visual stimuli such as lines intersecting at various angles -- the kind of intersections a monkey has to make sense of quickly when swinging from branch to branch in a dense jungle." The adaptation of one part of this region in service of numeracy is a beautiful intersection of culture and neurobiology, he said.

Having nailed down a specifically numeral-oriented spot in the brain, Parvizi's lab is looking to use it in tracing the pathways described by the brain's number-processing circuitry. "Neurons that fire together wire together," said Shum. "We want to see how this particular area connects with and communicates with other parts of the brain."

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (grant NS0783961), the Stanford NeuroVentures Program and the School of Medicine's Medical Scholars Research Program. Other co-authors were postdoctoral scholars Dora Hermes, PhD, Brett Foster, PhD, Mohammad Dastjerdi, PhD, and Jonathan Winawer, PhD; research assistant Vinitha Rangarajan; and neurosurgery resident Kai Miller, MD.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stanford University Medical Center. The original article was written by Bruce Goldman.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/_zAqH3vtGZg/130416180022.htm

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