US-PEOPLE Summary

Muppets matriarch Jane Nebel Henson dies at age 78

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Jane Nebel Henson, the former wife of Muppets creator Jim Henson who was influential in the creation of the popular U.S. TV puppet program, died on Tuesday following a long bout with cancer, The Jim Henson Company said. She was 78 years old. Henson, who died at her home in Connecticut, was an "integral creative and business partner" in the Muppets, the company, owned by the Hensons' five children, said in a statement.

Angelina Jolie to sell jewelry line to fund overseas schools

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Angelina Jolie has opened another girls school in Afghanistan and plans to fund more from the proceeds of a jewelry line going on sale this week that she helped to design, celebrity website E! News reported on Monday. Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, funded the girls-only primary school in an area outside Kabul that has a high refugee population, E! News said in an exclusive report.

Harry Potter actor Richard Griffiths dies after surgery

LONDON (Reuters) - British actor Richard Griffiths, best known for his roles in 'Withnail and I' and the Harry Potter films, has died at the age of 65 after complications following heart surgery, his agent said on Friday. Griffiths spent almost four decades in radio, film, on television and on stage, and received some of his industry's top awards for his role in Alan Bennett's play "The History Boys".

Post head-injury, Kristin Chenoweth goes on a "Family Weekend"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Tony and Emmy Award winning singer and actress Kristin Chenoweth is known for her perky personality ranging from roles in Broadway's "Wicked" to television's "Glee" and performing a closing number at February's Oscar ceremony with host Seth MacFarlane. On Friday, the diminutive (4ft 11in) actress moves to the dark side in the indie movie "Family Weekend." She plays a mother so consumed by work that she ignores her own children and squabbles with her husband, until her teenage daughter kidnaps and ties up both parents in a bid to get their attention.

Trailblazing TV journalist Barbara Walters to retire in 2014

(Reuters) - Pioneering journalist Barbara Walters, the first woman to co-anchor a U.S. evening news program, plans to retire in May 2014 after more than five decades as a prominent figure on U.S. television, a source familiar with her plans said on Thursday. Walters, 83, is expected to announce her retirement to viewers herself in the coming weeks, the source said.

France's Bruni makes emotional defense of husband Sarkozy

PARIS (Reuters) - Former French first lady Carla Bruni took up a passionate defense of her husband Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday, saying it was unthinkable he could have tricked an old lady out of millions of euros. In a blitz of interviews with French media, Bruni said a formal investigation of the ex-president opened last week for allegedly exploiting the mental frailty of 90-year-old L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt was causing her great pain.

U.S. rapper Gucci Mane jailed for alleged assault

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Rapper Gucci Mane was jailed in Georgia on Wednesday for allegedly hitting a fan in the head with a champagne bottle at an Atlanta nightclub earlier this month. Mane, whose real name is Radric Davis, turned himself in to authorities late on Tuesday, according to Fulton County Sheriff's Office records.

French actress files complaint over Hollande liaison rumor

PARIS (Reuters) - A French actress has filed a complaint with the Paris prosecutor for breach of privacy over Internet rumors alleging she has a relationship with President Francois Hollande, the prosecutor's office said on Thursday. A spokesperson for the prosecutor's office told Reuters that actress Julie Gayet had filed a complaint against "persons unknown", a common formulation under French law, on March 18 over rumors circulating on Twitter and blog sites for some weeks.

Justin Bieber flies back to Los Angeles and into more trouble

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop sensation Justin Bieber flew from Europe back to his Los Angeles area home on Tuesday and into an argument with one of his neighbors - the latest in a series of odd incidents involving the teen singer. Deputies were called to the 19-year-old's house in Calabasas, California, on Tuesday morning after a neighbor claimed that he had been threatened and struck by Bieber, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.

Pioneering rock journalist Paul Williams dies at 64

By Steve Pond LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Paul Williams, a pioneering music journalist who started the first magazine devoted to rock 'n' roll criticism, died on Wednesday in Southern California. He was 64.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-people-summary-022715257.html

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Cyprus plans tax breaks, casinos to kickstart economy

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus plans to lift a ban on casinos and offer firms tax exemptions on profits reinvested on the island under a package of reforms to kickstart its ailing economy, its president said on Monday.

The country's euro zone partners agreed on a 10 billion euro rescue package last Monday after weeks of tense negotiations that showed the debt crisis racking the 17-nation currency union is far from over.

The tough terms of the deal look set to deepen the island's recession, shrink its banking sector and lead to thousands of job losses, while the capital controls imposed to prevent a run on Cypriot banks may test the ties that bind the single-currency bloc as a whole.

President Nicos Anastasiades, who briefed ministers on the economy at an informal meeting on Monday, said the 12-point growth plan would be put to the cabinet for approval within the next 15 days.

The program includes measures to attract foreign investment to the island - a hub for offshore finance - as well as tax exemptions on business profits reinvested there, and the easing of payment terms and interest rates on loans.

With about 68 billion euros in its banks, Cyprus has a vastly outsized financial system that attracted deposits from abroad, especially Russia.

In a bid to attract more tourists to the south of the island, it also hopes to lift a ban on casinos, which so far only operate legally in Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus.

Speaking to reporters after a memorial service to commemorate the 1955 armed campaign against British rule, Anastasiades said the government would focus on "growth and incentives for growth."

Cyprus's bailout is the first to impose steep losses on depositors with more than 100,000 euros in their accounts, and is expected to hit business activity especially hard.

Asked to make a forecast on the likely depth of recession Cyprus faces, government spokesman Christos Stylianides said: "It's not possible at this time to put numbers on the recession."

"The government, having inherited an atomic bomb, tried to deactivate it and in doing so spared this country from total bankruptcy. It is now dealing with a post-earthquake period with the aim to kickstart the economy," he said.

Stylianides said the cabinet discussed pending issues in the country's negotiations with its international lenders relating to the financial sector, fiscal adjustment measures, structural measures in the public sector and energy issues.

He said Anastasiades would also chair a meeting of party leaders at 1800 GMT (2 p.m. ET) on Monday to brief them on the matter.

Under the bailout deal, major depositors in Cyprus's biggest lender, Bank of Cyprus, will lose around 60 percent of savings above 100,000 euros.

The country's banks reopened on Thursday after a nearly two-week hiatus aimed at averting a bank run, but the ripple effect of their closure is likely to strangle business on the island for a long time to come.

There are also concerns that depositors in other struggling euro zone nations could take fright at the conditions imposed on Cyprus, although there have been no signs of bank runs.

The capital controls imposed on the country raise questions about the long-term viability of the euro.

There is also the risk that euros on the island may be valued differently to those in the rest of the bloc due to them being less liquid as a result of the controls.

Anastasiades has defended the rescue deal as painful but essential, saying that without it, Cyprus had faced certain banking collapse and risked becoming the first country to be pushed out of the European single currency.

(Reporting by Karolina Tagaris; Editing by John Stonestreet)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cyprus-plans-tax-breaks-casinos-kickstart-economy-122651032--business.html

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New Android apps worth downloading: Springpad and Optia update, Magicka

Keep and organize all kinds of information, from notes to yourself to articles and recipes from the Internet, with the help of Springpad, today's first app worth downloading. It just got a big new update with a complete new redesign, plus new search features and more. There's also a new update to Optia, which lets users share control of their Android devices remotely for troubleshooting, and Magicka, a parody role-playing title that let's you team with three other players for spell-casting action.

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Also on Android Apps

The Indianapolis 500 is one of the world?s oldest auto races. You can learn more about the cars and the people who race them thanks to this Guest Post from Zinio.

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What?s it about? Springpad is an app for saving everything ? from articles and recipes you find online, to receipts you need and ideas you want to remember for later.

What?s cool? Springpad is something of a note-taking app on steroids. It encourages you to make lists, jot down ideas, and save things you want to remember for later, but it provides a huge number of avenues and additional features to do it. Say you jot down some recipes to try; Springpad can help by making a shopping list out of ingredients, for example. The app helps you save articles you want to read but haven't gotten around to yet, lets you jot down simple things to remember, and also supports saving photos and voice memos as well. And everything you save can be shared with others for collaboration or reminders. Springpad's latest update brings a whole new redesign, and enhanced search and navigation features.

Who?s it for? Anybody who might want to save or organize information can use Springpad.

What?s it like? Evernote is another well-loved app for saving and organizing information.

Optia update (Free)

What?s it about? Share what you're seeing on your Android device's screen with others with the help of Optia, which can make it easier to troubleshoot your device.

What?s cool? Remote screen-viewing app Optia gives you a feature on your Android device that you've probably enjoyed on your computer at some point or another. That's the ability to let another person take remote control of your machine in order to help with things such as troubleshooting. If you've ever called tech support for a computer, you've likely had a technician take control of your computer over the Internet to try options to fix issues, and Optia gives you that ability with your Android device, allowing someone such as a friend to take control of your device remotely while you watch and help with issues. Optia's new update adds new features such as pointers that make conveying information between users easier, and irons out some bugs as well.

Who?s it for? If you ever find yourself bugging friends and family for help with your Android device, try using Optia.

What?s it like? You can also use your Android device to remotely operate your computer with the help of Onlive Desktop and Remote Desktop Client.

What?s it about? Side-scrolling action role-playing spoof Magicka lets players team up in teams of as many as four wizards, taking down monsters as well as each other (?accidentally,? of course).

What?s cool? Cooperating with other players is almost always a good time, and Magicka captures the fun of teaming with friends by mixing it with hectic spell-casting action. The game lets you team with as many as three other players as you work through its parody fantasy world, engaging enemies on the battlefield and taking them down with various types of spells executed through taps and gestures. Magicka can be played with users on both Android and Apple's iOS platform, and you can also work through the game on your own if you prefer. It also features elements that are unique to the Android version and a funny story that's made all the better by the fact that you will often accidentally take out your teammates (and sometimes take them out on purpose) while you play.

Who?s it for? If you're a fan of team-based multiplayer, RPG parodies or the Magicka series on PC, you should play this version.

What?s it like? Try Arcane Legends and Order & Chaos Online for more multiplayer role-playing adventures.

Download the Appolicious Android app

Source: http://www.androidapps.com/tech/articles/13350-new-android-apps-worth-downloading-springpad-and-optia-update-magicka

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Obama to unveil brain initiative (Washington Bureau)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/296144151?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Video: Toys 'R' Us Pulls IPO Filing

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Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/51396992/

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Google Nose: Search the Internet By Smell!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/google-nose-search-the-internet-by-smell/

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For Mammoth Lakes weatherman, always a climate of learning

MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. ? Howard Sheckter was a painfully shy 10-year-old when he found his calling in a Glendora hailstorm.

As lightning and thunder crackled all around him, he looked up and felt chunks of ice bounce off his cheeks.

The experience ignited an obsession.

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FOR THE RECORD:
An earlier version of this article misspelled Sheckter's name as Schecter.

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"My mother's telephone bills were huge because I was calling the weather service 10 times a day," said Sheckter, now 62. "One day, my mother called the operator and asked, 'What number is this?' The operator said, 'It's the weather service. You must have a weatherman in the family.'"

She did, and her son's fascination only grew. Sheckter taught himself meteorology, and through it the withdrawn, nerdy boy found a way to relate to the world ? and for the world to relate to him.

For the last three decades, the lanky real estate agent has doubled as the weather sage of the eastern Sierra, with forecasts presented daily on his Mammoth Weather website and on KMMT, KIBS and KRHV radio. His predictions trigger flurries of excitement or anxiety in the Mammoth Mountain ski resort, which draws about 1.3 million skiers a year.

Sheckter is still quite shy. But when he's talking about the weather, as they say around here, you can't shut Howard up. His forecasts can be spellbinding and numbingly complex.

"When there's a storm coming in, Howard gets real excited and tends to go on about oscillations, flows and millibars," Stacy Powell, news director at KMMT in Mammoth Lakes, said with a laugh. "So, I break in and ask the question keeping our listening audience at the edges of their seats: Howard, is it going to snow or not?"

On a recent weekday, Sheckter sat in a small home office, his desk covered with computer screens filled with isobars ? those squiggly concentric circles that encircle high- and low-pressure areas.

With animated expressions and rapid-fire explanations, he spoke of meteorological challenges ahead. It's springtime in the eastern Sierra, he explained, and the warmer temperatures, rain and melting snow mean that the ski season is coming to an end in a town where skiing and related operations employ nearly half of the area's 7,500 residents.

Business owners were praying for a few more forecasts of snow in March and April.

"I can feel the pressure," he said, poring over satellite photos, data from weather stations and three decades' worth of personal records. "The business community up here thrives on snow."

Sheckter tries to lighten the technical load in his forecasts with corny jokes, some of them borrowed from Bill Keene, the late Los Angeles traffic and weather reporter who peppered his bulletins with cheesy puns such as: "The temperature is going lower than a snake's vest button."

But trying to suss out the bottom line from his forecasts ? is it going to snow or not? ? requires patience and concentration.

"The fact is, nobody knows what the hell Howard is talking about most of the time ? and I find that totally charming," mused George Shirk, managing editor of Mammoth Times/Mammoth Sierra magazine. "It's endearing to listen to him ramble on about how an isometric low system bulging over Iceland and breaking down over the Azores signals a certain weather pattern just over the horizon."

Sheckter has been studying local weather patterns since he moved to Mammoth Lakes in 1978 and landed a job as a boot fitter in a sporting goods store. The owner of that store nicknamed him "Dr. Howard" because Sheckter spent his lunch hours drawing isobars on a chalkboard.

He's been known as "Dr. Howard" ever since. Today, his forecasts help snowplow companies determine how many days they can expect to remain working, and how much the town should allocate for road maintenance. They are also used to predict when the region's 26 black bears will be coming out of winter hibernation.

"Howard has his finger on the pulse," said Steve Searles, a wildlife specialist who has gained a national reputation as a bear whisperer, someone who can deal with problem bears without killing them. "Around here, if the subject is weather, sure as heck someone will pipe up, 'What does Howard have to say?'"

That was not an easy question to answer on March 20, the first day of spring.

"A high-pressure block near Greenland has been correlated with a drier winter for California," Sheckter mumbled to himself, scanning data streaming over multiple computer screens. "However, this pattern is forecasted to break down over the next week to 10 days, allowing the possibility of storminess to return.

"If the upper wind flow at 10,000 feet has a lot of moisture and moves from the southwest," he added with a smile, "I predict that the storms that arrive around the end of March and early April will produce more precipitation. In fact, I'm banking on it."

louis.sahagun@latimes.com

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/U7nBQkg5nxs/la-me-mammoth-weatherman-20130331,0,1783344.story

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