A leaked BlackBerry roadmap, first uncovered by TechnoBuffalo, suggests the Canadian company is gearing up to launch a new tablet, and two "phablet" devices within the next year.?
According to the roadmap, BlackBerry will release a tablet, dubbed the B10, around Q3 of this year. Before Q1 2014, it looks like BlackBerry will introduce a phablet device. And by Q2 2014, we may see a new tablet-like device with a QWERTY keyboard.
The roadmap also depicts the already-released BlackBerry Z10, and the forthcoming Q10 with a QWERTY keyboard ? both devices sport the new BlackBerry 10 operating system.?
BlackBerry made its first attempt at a tablet device with the launch of the 7-inch PlayBook tablet in 2011. Despite it being one of the most-hyped consumer gadgets at the time, it ended up not doing well, as it lacked a lot of basic functions like email and calendar when it first shipped. BlackBerry eventually added that functionality, but by then, it was too late.?
Head on over to TechnoBuffalo to take a look at the leaked roadmap.
To get you in the mood for Sunday night's big meal, feast your eyes on these celebrities stuffing their faces. Surprisingly, they chew it all: burgers, fries, tacos and sweets. And you thought actresses don't eat ...
Believe it or not, this is the Dutch Embassy in Ethiopia. It doesn't look like your average bureaucratic building, but perhaps more government agencies should take cues from not just its unusual aesthetic, but how the architects—Dick van Gameren and Bjarne Mastenbroek—drew influence from two different cultures. More »
29 March 2013Last updated at 20:00 ETBy Roger HarrabinEnvironment analyst
The government has admitted moving slowly to protect wildlife in the seas because of the cost.
The environment minister Richard Benyon said that in the current financial squeeze he cannot designate as many areas for protection as he would like.
He said he was hoping to confirm the designation of the current tranche of 31 Marine Protected Zones under a consultation that ends on Sunday.
Environmentalists have accused the government of dragging its feet.
This is because 127 zones were originally nominated for protection after a compromise deal agreed with other users of the sea.
Jolyon Chesworth from the Wildlife Trusts said: "We are disappointed at the rate of progress. The government has an international obligation to protect wildlife in the seas.
Continue reading the main story
I want to do as many zones as we can for as little as we can?
End QuoteRichard BenyonEnvironment minister
"The marine environment is not as obvious to people as it is when they see wildlife walking through a woodland or downland but it's just as important and equally worthy of protection.
"The 127 zones were only nominated after very long discussions with anglers, sailors and the fishing industry. We are now being asked to compromise on a compromise."
But Mr Benyon told the BBC that with cuts to the Defra budget, the cost of making scientific assessments and then developing rules for the use of different areas could not be dismissed.
"We are constrained by a hugely expensive process at a time when we have little money in government", he said.
"I want to do as many zones as we can for as little as we can. People have waited many years for this; we will designate the first tranche in September and will announce the next lot for consultation then."
Environmentalists are worried that the UK might slither back from its international commitment to create an ecologically coherent network of sites.
They are angry that several key sites have been left out of the first tranche on the grounds that insufficient evidence was supplied to justify them.
Sailors' fears
Mr Chesworth said that in his south of England region there was a cast-iron case for designating, among others, Bembridge Levels on the Isle of Wight - home of the stalked jellyfish and Poole Harbour - a key breeding ground for sea horses.
But both of these zones have been contested by sailors who fear that new rules will prevent them anchoring on sensitive sites. One boat owner on the Isle of Wight told Mr Benyon that the designations were "bonkers".
Boaters are the mainstay of the local economy and have lived in harmony with wildlife for decades, he said.
John Pockett from the Royal Yachting Association told the BBC: "We fear we won't be able to anchor our yachts; we fear we won't be able to train our next Ben Ainslie (the Olympian) because we won't be able to anchor marker boats."
Sailors are not the only ones protesting. In some areas fishing crews object to MPZs, even though they are supposed to provide a breeding ground for fish stocks to recover.
Conservationists warn that recently revealed chalk arches off the North Norfolk coast could be destroyed by one careless pass of a trawl net.
A further complication is the fact that UK jurisdiction ends six nautical miles from the shore, even though its responsibility for wildlife stretches further.
"It would be terrible to stop our own fishermen from exploiting a sensitive areas then allow boats of other nationalities to come in", Mr Benyon said. "We are trying to negotiate this with Brussels."
The proposals stem from the 2009 UK Marine Bill. If all the sites had been approved, just over a quarter of English waters would end up under some kind of protection. Currently, the total is way under 1%.
Globally just 0.6% of the world's oceans have been protected, compared to almost 13% of our planet's land area.
Marine author Callum Roberts told the BBC: "There's no way you'll have an effective network of marine-protected areas the way we are going. It's undermining trust."
But public sector cutbacks are a reality. And the government insists that the state of the economy will inevitably be felt on the sea bed, like everywhere else.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City plans to start sifting through earth and debris recovered from the World Trade Center site on Monday to look for the remains of victims from the attacks of September 11, 2001, officials said on Friday.
The city's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on Friday advised families of the dead about the new sifting operation, the first since 2010, a spokeswoman said in a statement.
The Medical Examiner's office has identified remains of 1,634 people out of 2,752 killed when suicide hijackers crashed into the twin towers, leaving more than 1,000 families without any physical remains of those who died.
After the initial cleanup of the site, the city scaled back operations to search for remains, drawing criticism from families of the dead, who said they could not properly grieve. The city widened its search again in 2006.
The next search will comb through 590 cubic yards (451 cubic meters) of excavated material taken from and near the World Trade Center site, said Caswell Halloway, deputy mayor for operations, in a memo to Mayor Michael Bloomberg made public by the Medical Examiner's office.
Much of the site known as Ground Zero is a construction zone for new skyscrapers and a memorial where the twin towers once stood.
The building under construction known as One World Trade Center has surpassed the Empire State Building as the tallest in New York and, when completed, would be the tallest in the Western Hemisphere at 1,776 feet.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta, Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Leslie Gevirtz)
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela is comfortable and able to breathe without problems as he continues to respond to treatment in hospital for a recurrence of pneumonia, President Jacob Zuma's office said on Saturday.
After the revered 94-year-old statesman and former South African president spent a third night in hospital, the presidency said doctors had drained excess fluid from his lungs to tackle the infection.
"This has resulted in him now being able to breathe without difficulty. He continues to respond to treatment and is comfortable," the statement added.
In the first detailed mention of his medical condition since his latest hospitalisation, the third in four months, the presidency said the Nobel Peace Prize laureate had "developed a pleural effusion which was tapped".
Previous bulletins since he was taken to hospital late on Wednesday have reported him responding well, in "good spirits".
They have appeared to indicate that the recurrence of the lung infection afflicting Mandela is being successfully treated.
Mandela, who became South Africa's first black president in 1994 and stepped down five years later, has been mostly absent from the political scene for the past decade. But he remains an enduring and beloved symbol of the struggle against racism.
Global figures such as U.S. President Barack Obama have sent get well messages and South Africans have included Mandela in their prayers on the Easter weekend, one of the most important dates of the Christian calendar.
Mandela is revered at home and abroad for leading the struggle against white minority rule, then promoting the cause of racial reconciliation when in power.
His fragile health has been a concern for years as he has withdrawn from the public eye and mostly stayed at his affluent homes in Johannesburg and in Qunu, the rural village in the destitute Eastern Cape province near where he was born.
"FATHER OF THE NATION"
South Africans of all ages and walks of life have been following the official medical bulletins closely.
"He is the father of the nation, our Abraham Lincoln, our George Washington," said South African economics student Curtis Richardson, 19, as he visited Nelson Mandela Square in an upscale Johannesburg shopping mall with friends.
Mandela remains an inspirational figure worldwide.
"If he dies, it will be a tragedy, because he's such a symbol," said Kagisho Paterson, 19, a visitor from Britain, snapping photos near a towering statue of Mandela in the square.
English Premiership League soccer team Sunderland AFC designated Saturday "Nelson Mandela Day" to kick off its new deal supporting the ex-president's charitable foundation. The partnership would start with fundraising efforts during the team's home clash with Manchester United, Sunderland added.
Mandela's ruling African National Congress (ANC) is still the dominant force in South African politics, but critics say it has lost the moral compass bequeathed it by the previous generation of anti-apartheid freedom fighters.
Under such leaders as Mandela and the late Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo, the ANC gained wide international respect when it battled white rule.
Once the yoke of apartheid was thrown off in 1994, it began governing South Africa in a blaze of goodwill from world leaders who viewed it as a beacon for a troubled continent and world.
Almost two decades later, this image has dimmed as ANC leaders have been accused of indulging in the spoils of office, squandering mineral resources and engaging in power struggles.
Mandela was in hospital briefly earlier this month for a check-up and spent nearly three weeks in hospital in December with a lung infection and after surgery to remove gallstones.
He has a history of lung problems dating back to when he contracted tuberculosis as a political prisoner.
A Nigerian visitor to Johannesburg, civil engineer Gregory Osugba, 35, called Mandela "an icon of greatness and freedom" for the entire African continent and the world.
"When he goes ... the symbol will remain," he said.
In 2010, almost 2 million American children had at least one parent in active military duty. A new University of Iowa study suggests that deployment of a parent puts these children at an increased risk for drinking alcohol and using drugs.
Using data from a statewide survey of sixth, eighth, and 11th-grade students in Iowa, the researchers found an increase in 30-day alcohol use, binge drinking, using marijuana and other illegal drugs, and misusing prescription drugs among children of deployed or recently returned military parents compared to children in nonmilitary families. The increased risk was consistent across all age groups. The findings are published online in the journal Addiction.
?We worry a lot about the service men and women and we sometimes forget that they are not the only ones put into harm?s way by deployment?their families are affected, too,? says Stephan Arndt, Ph.D., UI professor of psychiatry in biostatistics and senior study author. ?Our findings suggest we need to provide these families with more community support.?
Arndt and colleagues at the Iowa Consortium for Substance Abuse Research and Evaluation and the UI Injury Prevention Research Center, examined data from the 2010 Iowa Youth Survey (IYS) to investigate whether military deployment of a parent was associated with children?s substance use.
The survey, developed by the consortium in 1999, is administered by the state and conducted every two years. Participating students answer questions online about attitudes and experiences with alcohol, drugs, and violence, as well as students? perceptions of their peers, family, school, and community. Of all sixth-, eighth-, and 11th-grade students enrolled in Iowa schools in 2010, 69 percent (78,240 students) completed the IYS.
Students were also asked if they had a parent in the military and about the parent?s deployment status. The researchers focused their analysis on the 59,395 responses that indicated a parent in the military, either deployed (775, 1.3 percent) or recently returned (983, 1.7 percent), or not in the military (57,637, 97 percent).
?Looking at the Iowa Youth Survey, we discovered we were right in regard to our idea that parental deployment would increase the risk for substance use behaviors in children. In fact, the numbers suggested we were a lot more right than we wanted to be,? Arndt says.
?For example, sixth-graders in nonmilitary families had binge drinking rates of about 2 percent. That jumps up to about 7 percent for the children of deployed or recently returned parents?a three-to-four-fold increase in the raw percentage.?
The study showed that rates for drinking alcohol in the past 30 days were 7 to 9 percentage points higher for children of deployed or recently returned parents across all grades, while rates for binge drinking (having had five or more drinks of alcohol in a row) were 5 to 8 percentage points higher for children of deployed parents across all grades. Marijuana use was also higher in children of deployed parents, but the difference in risk was larger for older students; for sixth-grade students the risk difference was almost 2 percentage points, for 11th-grade students it was almost 5 percentage points higher.
Living arrangements matter too
A second important and unexpected finding was the relationship between parental deployment, disruption of children?s living arrangements, and increased risk of substance use.
?When at least one parent is deployed, there is a measurable percentage of children who are not living with their natural parents,? Arndt says. ?Some of these children go to live with a relative, but some go outside of the family, and that change in these children?s living arrangements grossly affected their risk of binge drinking and marijuana use.?
The study found that for children who were not living with a parent or relative, those with a deployed parent had a risk of binge drinking that was 42 percentage points higher than a student from a nonmilitary family. In comparison, children with a deployed parent who still were living with a parent had a risk of binge drinking that was about 8 percentage points higher than children of nonmilitary families who were living with a parent.
?Deployment is going to be disruptive anyway, which is probably why we see the overall increased risk of substance use in these children. And then for those children where parental deployment means they end up living outside of the family, it?s a double whammy,? Arndt says. ?The results suggest that when a parent deploys, it may be preferable to place a child with a family member and try to minimize the disruption of the child?s living arrangements.?
Iowa?s military population may be more affected
Because the study surveyed only Iowa children, the nature of Iowa?s military population may also affect the results, Arndt notes.
In Iowa, along with Vermont, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, the largest portion of military personnel serve with the Reserve or the National Guard. These groups of military personnel live in civilian communities rather than on military bases and may have limited access to support services and resources designed to help military families.
?States like Iowa that have a large proportion of National Guard may be more affected by this increased risk for children,? Arndt says.
Although the UI study findings may be specific to families of National Guardsmen and women, Arndt notes that the results agree with previous research that focused on risky behavior for children of deployed military men and women in Washington state, which unlike Iowa has a large active duty population.
?I think our findings suggest, first, that people need to be aware that for service members and their families this is a real phenomenon, and one that should receive close attention,? Arndt says. ?I would also think that schools should have a heightened awareness that children from deployed parents may need extra help.?
The launch of Vine last month really brought iPhone
video and sharing apps to the fore, and recently I've been testing not only Vine, but competitors like Pincam, Lightt, and now Directr. While Vine lets you shoot 6-second mini movies, it offers little to nothing in the way of editing and enhancing video. Pincam adds Instagram like filters and lets you specify "Highlights" to which your movie gets trimmed, but Directr brings even more game to the genre, with the goal of creating a real mini-movie with multiple scenes. The app can produce more-captivating mini-digital movies than most of its peers, though it still suffers some limitations characteristic of this newly minted class of app.
Setup and Signup On first run, Directr asks you to allow it to send you push notifications, something not necessary with Pincam. Next, and also unlike Pincam but like Vine, you have to sing up for an account, either creating one with an email address or by connecting your Facebook account. I chose the latter method, which is quicker, simply requiring you to tap a Log In button on a Facebook page. After that, I was switched back to the Directr app, which showed me a big "WELCOME!" message. But I wasn't done with setup yet: I had to then choose a username for the app/service.
Using Directr After you've set up your account, Directr takes you through a simple six-page tutorial. As soon as you exit this, you'll see that the app isn't just about your own movies?it's about discovering those from other users, too, ? la Flickr. But not only viewing them: You can actually "direct" other users' movies. The well-designed, clear interface makes this and most what you do in this app perfectly clear.
So what does this "directing" involve? The concept will be familiar to users of recent releases Apple's iMovie, whose Trailers feature has you insert your own video clips into a template of shot types, such as close up, group shot, action shot, and so on. In the biz, this is called a storyboard. When you choose "Direct It" from someone else's movie, it actually means that you'll use your own clips in the template used by their movie. It's definitely a great way to build more compelling video stories, rather than just sending a single clip, even one that's been somehow enhanced.
A Directr representative told me that the preset storyboard templates are designed by professional filmmakers, who also pick appropriate background music. He also noted that most users go the preset template route rather than starting from a blank slate.
Whenever you start shooting video inside Directr, the app does something I've been craving desperately for in a video app but haven?t seen until this: A graphic telling you to hold the phone sideways! How often have we shot mobile video holding the phone in a way more conducive to phone calls than to shooting video. When you upload one of these tall clips to YouTube, it looks awful, with big black bars on each side of the worst kind of pillarbox.
Once you turn the phone on its side, you'll see another example of Directr's ingenuity: A circular control that you can move around to set the focus point. Tapping this starts recording. My first clip only needed 1.7 seconds, and had the helpful text, "Wave to the camera" which I used to instruct my PCMag coworker model/victim, Jill Duffy.
When you've shot all the project's required clips, you tap Finish, and the app will go through a "Printing" phase, which took a couple minutes for my 4-clip test movie. This uploads your movie to Directr's server for processing, which also puts it on your profile page. This, of course, means that you can complete a movie project if you're somewhere without data service, for example, abroad on vacation. After printing is finished, you can watch your creation either on the iPhone or on the Directr site. The movies starts and ends with discreet Directr promotions.
If you're not starting from someone else's video, you tap the Plus button at bottom center, which prompts you to choose one of the preset storyboards or a blank template. As mentioned, most users start with a template, but when you start blank, you have three choices as to length: one, three, or five shots. You get more choices of your own when you start on your own like this: You can type in scene captions and overlay captions.
A musical background track is automatically added to your movie. But soundtrack is currently a weak point in the app: you can't choose your music, either by mood or by using an MP3 of your own, and the music the app chooses for you obliterates any audio from the clips you've included in a project.
Don't want to go it alone? Directr doesn?t limit your lone phone to being the only source of video; you can Add Directors. I must note that I ran into a bug in the app at this point, a forever spinning timer wheel. But in another attempt, the feature worked trouble-free.
In addition to the lack of music customization, a couple other gaps show up in Directr's video-editing prowess. You can't use clips already shot on the phone, there's no clip trimming, and there are no fun Instagram-like filters like you get with Pincam. Nor can you start and stop recording for a stop-motion result like you can with Vine. Of course, some of these are choices on the part of the developer, rather than true shortfalls. A definite area for improvement is stability?a bugaboo for just about all video-editing software even up to the pro level. The app quit or stopped responding a few times during my testing, but I was always able to get back on track.
Sharing On the movie's page, there are very clear buttons for Facebook, Twitter, save to camera roll, copy link, email, and SMS. But Directr, unlike Vine, has a hearty web presence, where users can view and comment on your creations.
No matter what type of sharing you do, your movie appears on the Directr site, but thankfully, you can make it private if you're not comfortable having it exposed to the world. The web presentation lets viewers comment and "heart" your movies. The site appears to use HTML5 video rather than Flash, but one drawback was that I couldn't view them full screen.
Lights, Camera..Direct! As I've said with previous iPhone video-editing-and-sharing apps, it's a nascent category, and like the rest, Directr, while extremely promising and already a blast to use, lacks maturity. Happily, its makers tell me that a new version is coming in the next few weeks, which we can expect to address some of the shortcomings mentioned here. Directr, even in its current form, is a force for good in the world of mobile video, encouraging better practices for creating more-compelling digital mini-movies. Though the app earns an above average PCMag rating, I'm still waiting for a mobile video app with all the qualities of an Editors' Choice.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) ? Kenya is on edge awaiting the Supreme Court decision Saturday on whether it will uphold or invalidate the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as president, a potential flashpoint for unrest.
Kenyatta won by a hair in the March 4 election, with 50.07 percent of the vote, breaking the 50 percent mark by about 8,000 votes out of 12.3 million cast. His top rival, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, said Kenyatta won fraudulently and filed a petition with the court two weeks ago.
Chief Justice Willy Mutunga said that the six justices, including him, have a daunting task in making the decision.
Closing arguments presented Friday focused on a report released by the court that found discrepancies in partial recounts from five of 22 polling stations. The report said discrepancies for the presidential elections were also found in 75 other stations.
Lawyer George Oraro, representing Odinga, urged the court to cancel results from those areas that showed problems.
Kethi D. Kilonzo, representing the civil society group Africa Center for Open Governance, said the audit proved their petition against Kenyatta's election.
The electoral commission's lawyer, Nani Mungai, said there was no mischief behind what he called "clerical errors." And Fred Ngatia, who is representing Kenyatta, said the vote tallying was carried out with a tremendous amount of accuracy.
Disputes over a flawed 2007 election sparked months of ethnic violence that killed more than 1,000 people in Kenya.
Despite vicious online fights between supporters of Kenyatta and Odinga on Facebook and Twitter, the East African country has, for the most part, remained at peace during this latest election period.
However, the Supreme Court decision may change that, depending largely on whether Odinga accepts the court's decision, if it rules against him.
"People are eagerly awaiting the decision in their own calmness," said Bob Mkangi, a legal consultant. "There are people who are talking about it wherever you go in the bar in the streets in the supermarkets. Everyone in the country is captivated by this moment. It is a historic moment for Kenya. It is the first petition initiated under the new constitution."
Kenya adopted a new constitution in 2010 as part of reforms to prevent a recurrence of the postelection violence in 2007. The constitution formed the Supreme Court and scheduled reforms for the rest of the judiciary which was seen as corrupt and lacking independence.
In 2007, Odinga refused to go to the courts for arbitration and took his protests to the streets over the flawed election in which President Mwai Kibaki was declared winner. The street protests degenerated into tribe on tribe violence, where communities settled old scores over land and resources.
The Supreme Court's formation and the newfound trust Kenyans have in the judiciary is frequently cited as one of the reasons Kenya's contentious election this year has not yet sparked any violence.
Millions turned out for election day on March 4, forming long winding lines that took hours to move.
Many had expected a low registration of voters because of apathy following the 2007-08 violence, but hyped up campaigns by Kenyatta, Odinga and other presidential candidates led to the highest registration in the country ever. Kenya's electoral commission registered 14.3 million people.
Election day, though, did not go as planned. An electronic voter ID system intended to prevent fraud failed for reasons yet to be explained by the electoral commission. Vote officials instead used manual voter rolls.
After the polls closed, results were to be sent electronically to Nairobi, where officials would quickly tabulate a preliminary vote count in order to maximize transparency after rigging accusations following the 2007 vote. But that system failed, too. Election officials have indicated that computer servers overloaded but have yet to fully explain the problem.
As the early count system was still being used, election results showed more than 330,000 rejected ballots, an unusually high number. But after the count resumed with the arrival in Nairobi of manual tallies, the number of rejected ballots was greatly reduced, and the election commission said the computer was mistakenly multiplying the number of rejected ballots by a factor of eight.
Odinga's lawyers told the Supreme Court this week that the switch from electronic voter identification to manual voter roll was stage managed to allow inflation of Kenyatta's votes to take him past the 50 percent threshold. That accusation has been vehemently denied by the electoral commission and Kenyatta's legal team.
If the court upholds Kenyatta's win, he will become the second sitting president in Africa to face charges at the International Criminal Court. He and Deputy President-elect William Ruto both face charges related to having helped orchestrate the 2007-08 postelection violence. Both deny the charges. Ruto's trial begins in late May; Kenyatta's begins in July. Kenyatta has promised to report to The Hague.
Because of a vacancy, Kenya's Supreme Court currently has six justices on it, which leaves open the possibility of a split decision
In the case where there is a tie then the declaration by Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission that Kenyatta won will stand, legal consultant Mkangi said. The next stage will be planning for the swearing in ceremony.
"Save for any outright violation of the constitution and the law we are obligated to accept the decision that it (Supreme Court) makes," he said. "Never will we have decisions that please everyone. We might not necessarily agree with the decision but must accept the decision."
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Consumers earned more and spent more in February, helped by a stronger job market that has offset some of the drag from higher taxes.
The Commerce Department said Friday that consumer spending rose 0.7 percent in February from January. It was the biggest gain in five months and followed a revised 0.4 percent rise in January, which was double the initial estimate.
Americans were able to spend more because their income rose 1.1 percent last month. That followed January's 3.7 percent plunge and December's 2.6 percent surge. The huge swings reflected a rush to pay bonuses and dividends in December before taxes increased.
After-tax income increased 1.1 percent last month.
The jump in income allowed consumers to put a little more away in February. The saving rate increased to 2.6 percent of after-tax income, up from 2.2 percent in January.
Consumers spent more at the start of the year even after paying higher taxes. An increase in Social Security taxes has reduced take-home pay for nearly all Americans receiving a paycheck. And income taxes have risen on the highest earners. The tax increases both took effect on Jan. 1.
The jump in spending and income suggests economic growth strengthened at the start of the year after nearly stalling at the end of last year. Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of economic activity.
Most economists predict the economy is growing at an annual rate of roughly 2.5 percent in the January-March quarter. That would be a vast improvement from the 0.4 percent growth rate in the October-December quarter, which was held back by slower company stockpiling and the sharpest defense cuts in 40 years.
Inflation, as measured by a gauge tied to consumer spending, increased 1.3 percent in February compared with a year ago. That's well below the Federal Reserve's 2 percent target, giving the central bank room to keep stimulating the economy without having to worry about price pressures.
One reason the tax increases haven't slowed the economy is companies have accelerated hiring and are slowly but steadily increasing wages.
Employers have added an average of 200,000 jobs a month since November. That helped lowered the unemployment rate in February to a four-year low of 7.7 percent. Economists expect similar strong job gains in March.
Most other signs point to an economy that is gaining momentum. Businesses are investing more in equipment and machinery, which has given factories a lift after a disappointing 2012.
And the housing recovery appears to be strengthening. In February, sales of previously occupied homes rose to the highest level in more than three years. The gains have helped lift home prices, which have made Americans feel wealthier.
Stock prices have also surged. On Thursday, the Standard & Poor's 500 index closed at a record high of 1,569. That surpassed the previous record of 1,565 set in October 2007, a year before the peak of the financial crisis.
Markets are closed Friday for the Good Friday holiday.
Prankster Jack Vale knows how to get under people's skin... let's just hope the guy with the photo of a gun on his t-shirt has a sense of humor. Watch Vale make everyone around him paranoid simply by talking on the phone.
TORONTO (AP) ? Research In Motion Ltd. said Thursday that it sold about 1 million phones running its new BlackBerry 10 system. It also surprised Wall Street by returning to profitability in the most recent quarter.
The earnings provide a first glimpse of how the BlackBerry 10 system, widely seen as crucial to the company's future, is selling internationally and in Canada since its debut Jan. 31. The 1 million new touch-screen BlackBerry Z10 phones were above the 915,000 that analysts had been expecting. Details on U.S. sales are not part of the fiscal fourth quarter's financial results because the Z10 just became available there last week, after the quarter ended.
In another sign of uncertainty, RIM lost about 3 million subscribers to end the quarter with 76 million. It's the second consecutive quarterly decline for RIM, whose subscriber based peaked at 80 million last summer.
Bill Kreyer, a tech analyst for Edward Jones, called the decline "pretty alarming."
"This is going to take a couple of quarters to really see how they are doing," Kreyer said.
The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, had been the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people and other consumers before the iPhone debuted in 2007 and showed that phones can handle much more than email and phone calls. RIM faced numerous delays modernizing its operating system with the BlackBerry 10. During that time, it had to cut more than 5,000 jobs and saw shareholder wealth decline by more than $70 billion.
In the quarter that ended March 2, RIM earned $98 million, or 19 cents a share, compared with a loss of $125 million, or 24 cents a share, a year earlier. After adjusting for restructuring and other one-time items, RIM earned 22 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had been expecting a loss of 31 cents.
Revenue fell 36 percent to $2.7 billion, from $4.2 billion. Analysts had expected $2.82 billion.
The company also announced that co-founder Mike Lazaridis will retire as vice chairman and director. He and Jim Balsillie had stepped down as co-CEOs in January 2012 after several quarters of disappointing results. Thorsten Heins, the chief operating officer, took over and spent the past year cutting costs and steering the company toward the launch of new BlackBerry 10 phones.
Investors appeared happy with the financial results. RIM's stock rose 27 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $14.84 in morning trading Thursday after the release of results.
"I thought they were dead. This is a huge turnaround," Jefferies analyst Peter Misek said from New York.
Misek said the Canadian company "demolished" the numbers, especially its gross margins. RIM reported gross margins of 40 percent, up from 34 percent a year earlier. The company credited higher average selling prices and higher margins for devices.
"This is a really, really good result," Misek said. "It's off to a good start."
The new BlackBerry 10 phones are redesigned for the new multimedia, Internet browsing and apps experience that customers are now demanding.
The Z10 has received favorable reviews since its release, but the launch in the critical U.S. market was delayed until late this month as wireless carriers completed their testing.
A version with a physical keyboard, called the Q10, won't be released in the U.S. for two or three more months. The delay in selling the Q10 complicates RIM's efforts to hang on to customers tempted by the iPhone and a range of devices running Google Inc.'s Android operating system. Even as the BlackBerry has fallen behind rivals in recent years, many users have stayed loyal because they prefer a physical keyboard over the touch screen on the iPhone and most Android devices.
RIM, which is changing is formal name to BlackBerry, said it expects to break even in the current quarter despite increasing spending on marketing by 50 percent compared with the previous quarter.
"To say it was a very challenging environment to deliver improved financial results could well be the understatement of the year," Heins said during a conference call with analysts.
Heins said more than half of the people buying the touch-screen Z10 were switching from rival systems. The company didn't provide details or specify whether those other systems were all smartphones. He said the Q10 will sell well among the existing BlackBerry user base. It's expected in some markets in April, but not in the U.S. until May or June.
Mate choice in mice is heavily influenced by paternal cuesPublic release date: 28-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dr. Diethard Tautz tautz@evolbio.mpg.de 49-452-276-3390 Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Hybrid offspring of different house mice populations show a preference for mating with individuals from their father's original population
This press release is available in German.
Mate choice is a key factor in the evolution of new animal species. The choice of a specific mate can decisively influence the evolutionary development of a species. In mice, the attractiveness of a potential mate is conveyed by scent cues and ultrasonic vocalizations. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Pln investigated whether house mice (Mus musculus) would mate with each other even if they were from two populations which had been separated from each other for a long time period. To do this, the researchers brought together mice from a German population and mice from a French population. Although to begin with all the mice mated with one another randomly, the hybrid offspring of French and German parents were distinctly more choosy: they showed a definite preference for mating with individuals from their father's original population. According to the researchers, this paternal imprinting accelerates the divergence of two house mouse populations and thus promotes speciation.
In allopatric speciation, individuals of a species become geographically isolated from each other by external factors such as mountains or estuaries. Over time, this geographic separation leads to the sub-populations undergoing various mutations, and thus diverging genetically. Animals from the two different sub-populations can no longer successfully reproduce, so two new species evolve.
To find out what role partner selection plays in such speciation processes, Diethard Tautz from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology and his colleagues conducted a comprehensive study on house mice the classic model organisms of biology. "To investigate whether there are differences in the mating behaviour of the mice in the early stages of speciation, we caught wild house mice in southern France and western Germany. The two populations have been geographically separate for around 3,000 years, which equates to some 18,000 generations," says Diethard Tautz. Due to this geographical separation, the French and German mice were genetically different.
The Pln-based researchers created a semi-natural environment for their investigations a sort of "Playboy Mansion" for mice. The research enclosure was several square meters in size and was divided up using wooden walls, "nests" made out of plastic cylinders, and plastic tubes. It also featured an escape tube with several entrances, which led into a cage system nearby. "We constructed the enclosure in such a way that all animals had unimpeded access to all areas, but thanks to the structural divisions were also able to create their own territories or retreat into nests," explains Tautz. "The escape tube was a control element. If the mice retreated to it only very seldom as was the case in our experiment then we could be sure there was no overpopulation in the central enclosure."
In this central enclosure, the French and German mice had both time and space to mate with each other and reproduce. "At first, all the mice mated with each other quite randomly. But with the first-generation offspring, a surprising pattern emerged," says Tautz. When the first-generation hybrid offspring of mixed French and German parentage mated, they showed a specific preference for pure-bred mates whose "nationality" was that of their father only. "There must be some kind of paternal influence that prompts the hybrid mice to choose a mate from a specific population, namely that of their father," concludes the biologist, based on the results of his study. "This imprinting must be learned, however, meaning that the animals must grow up in the presence of their fathers. This was not the case for the original mice, which were kept in cages for a time after being caught."
"We know that mice use ultrasonic vocalizations to communicate with each other and that particularly in the case of male mice these vocalizations can reveal signals of individuality and kinship. We believe that, like birdsong, the vocalizations of the males have a learned component and a genetic component," says Tautz. Therefore, French and German mice really could "speak" different languages, partly learned from their fathers, partly inherited from them. Individual mice thus have a mating preference for mice that speak the same language as they do.
The French and German mouse populations had evidently been geographically separated long enough for preliminary signs of species differentiation to be apparent as regards mating preferences. In addition, another aspect of mating behavior also sped up the speciation process.
Although mice have multiple mates, the researchers found evidence of partner fidelity and inbreeding. The tendency to mate with relatives fosters the creation of genetically uniform groups. When both occur together, this accelerates the speciation process.
In a next step, Diethard Tautz wants to find out whether the vocalizations of the mice play the decisive role in paternal imprinting, or if scent cues are also involved. Furthermore, the biologist wants to identify the genes that are involved in mate selection.
###
Original publication:
Inka Montero, Meike Tesche and Diethard Tautz: "Paternal imprinting of mating preferences between natural populations of house mice (Mus musculus domesticus)", Molecular Ecology (2013), doi: 10.111/mec.122271;
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Mate choice in mice is heavily influenced by paternal cuesPublic release date: 28-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dr. Diethard Tautz tautz@evolbio.mpg.de 49-452-276-3390 Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Hybrid offspring of different house mice populations show a preference for mating with individuals from their father's original population
This press release is available in German.
Mate choice is a key factor in the evolution of new animal species. The choice of a specific mate can decisively influence the evolutionary development of a species. In mice, the attractiveness of a potential mate is conveyed by scent cues and ultrasonic vocalizations. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Pln investigated whether house mice (Mus musculus) would mate with each other even if they were from two populations which had been separated from each other for a long time period. To do this, the researchers brought together mice from a German population and mice from a French population. Although to begin with all the mice mated with one another randomly, the hybrid offspring of French and German parents were distinctly more choosy: they showed a definite preference for mating with individuals from their father's original population. According to the researchers, this paternal imprinting accelerates the divergence of two house mouse populations and thus promotes speciation.
In allopatric speciation, individuals of a species become geographically isolated from each other by external factors such as mountains or estuaries. Over time, this geographic separation leads to the sub-populations undergoing various mutations, and thus diverging genetically. Animals from the two different sub-populations can no longer successfully reproduce, so two new species evolve.
To find out what role partner selection plays in such speciation processes, Diethard Tautz from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology and his colleagues conducted a comprehensive study on house mice the classic model organisms of biology. "To investigate whether there are differences in the mating behaviour of the mice in the early stages of speciation, we caught wild house mice in southern France and western Germany. The two populations have been geographically separate for around 3,000 years, which equates to some 18,000 generations," says Diethard Tautz. Due to this geographical separation, the French and German mice were genetically different.
The Pln-based researchers created a semi-natural environment for their investigations a sort of "Playboy Mansion" for mice. The research enclosure was several square meters in size and was divided up using wooden walls, "nests" made out of plastic cylinders, and plastic tubes. It also featured an escape tube with several entrances, which led into a cage system nearby. "We constructed the enclosure in such a way that all animals had unimpeded access to all areas, but thanks to the structural divisions were also able to create their own territories or retreat into nests," explains Tautz. "The escape tube was a control element. If the mice retreated to it only very seldom as was the case in our experiment then we could be sure there was no overpopulation in the central enclosure."
In this central enclosure, the French and German mice had both time and space to mate with each other and reproduce. "At first, all the mice mated with each other quite randomly. But with the first-generation offspring, a surprising pattern emerged," says Tautz. When the first-generation hybrid offspring of mixed French and German parentage mated, they showed a specific preference for pure-bred mates whose "nationality" was that of their father only. "There must be some kind of paternal influence that prompts the hybrid mice to choose a mate from a specific population, namely that of their father," concludes the biologist, based on the results of his study. "This imprinting must be learned, however, meaning that the animals must grow up in the presence of their fathers. This was not the case for the original mice, which were kept in cages for a time after being caught."
"We know that mice use ultrasonic vocalizations to communicate with each other and that particularly in the case of male mice these vocalizations can reveal signals of individuality and kinship. We believe that, like birdsong, the vocalizations of the males have a learned component and a genetic component," says Tautz. Therefore, French and German mice really could "speak" different languages, partly learned from their fathers, partly inherited from them. Individual mice thus have a mating preference for mice that speak the same language as they do.
The French and German mouse populations had evidently been geographically separated long enough for preliminary signs of species differentiation to be apparent as regards mating preferences. In addition, another aspect of mating behavior also sped up the speciation process.
Although mice have multiple mates, the researchers found evidence of partner fidelity and inbreeding. The tendency to mate with relatives fosters the creation of genetically uniform groups. When both occur together, this accelerates the speciation process.
In a next step, Diethard Tautz wants to find out whether the vocalizations of the mice play the decisive role in paternal imprinting, or if scent cues are also involved. Furthermore, the biologist wants to identify the genes that are involved in mate selection.
###
Original publication:
Inka Montero, Meike Tesche and Diethard Tautz: "Paternal imprinting of mating preferences between natural populations of house mice (Mus musculus domesticus)", Molecular Ecology (2013), doi: 10.111/mec.122271;
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Listen, we're not going to promise you that watching an hour-long episode is the same as going to Expand. The good news for those of you who were unable to attend due to scheduling or geography, however, is that the ticket price is a bit lower, and many of our favorite moments have been saved for posterity. We've done our best to whittle a weekend at San Francisco's beautiful Fort Mason center into one bite-sized chunk of Engadget Show goodness. We'll take you behind the scenes at the event and show you what it takes to run your very own consumer-facing electronics show.
We've got conversations with Google's Tamar Yehoshua, OUYA's Julie Uhrman, Jason Parrish and Corinna Proctor from Lenovo, Chris Anderson, DJ Spooky, Mark Frauenfelder, Veronica Belmont, Ryan Block, plus folks from NASA, 3D Robotics, Oculus, Google Lunar X Prize, TechShop, Lunar and IndieGogo. We'll go for a spin on ZBoard's latest electric skateboard and show off the da Vinci surgical robot, the Ekso robotic exoskeleteon and the latest UAV from 3D Robotics -- we'll also be taking you out on the town in a Tesla Model S. And for a little bit of high drama, there's our first-ever Insert Coin: New Challengers competition, including conversations with the semi-finalists and the big moment of truth. All that plus kids, dogs and your favorite Engadget Editors. Join us after the break for a warm and fuzzy Engadget Show, won't you?
MARIANNA, Florida (Reuters) - Florida officials said on Wednesday they will seek federal money for a forensic investigation into unmarked graves on the grounds of a shuttered state reform school for boys that has been the target of numerous allegations of abuse and mysterious deaths of children.
Dozens of unmarked graves have been uncovered at the Dozier School in the Florida Panhandle city of Marianna and investigators are trying to determine the circumstances surrounding the deaths, which experts say probably occurred between 1914 and 1952.
"We really don't know exactly how many, or who they are," said Erin Kimmerle, a forensic anthropologist at the University of South Florida with a scroll-like map of spots where her ground-piercing radar spotted signs of human remains.
The Dozier School was legend among adolescents for about 100 years in Florida, as the state's major reform school, until it was closed in 2011.
Several years ago, former students told horror stories of sexual abuse and frequent beatings in a mausoleum-like building dubbed the "White House" where nine barren cubicles held boys accused of rules infractions.
Some died under unknown circumstances, according to relatives.
In December, researchers from the University of South Florida in Tampa said they found evidence of at least 50 graves on the school's property and more grave shafts in and around an area called "Boot Hill" across a major highway from the high, razor-wire-topped fences of the closed school.
Kimmerle's work also indicates there could be at least 50 bodies buried on the property.
"All the focus on exact numbers is not really the issue," she said. "Whether it's one or 20 or 40 or 60, we are talking about a child and families that are asking for information."
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and other state officials are seeking a court order to allow the remains to be exhumed.
The U.S. Department of Justice has a program that could provide up to $3 million for forensic sifting of the burial areas, said U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat, who toured the site on Wednesday.
A $200,000 appropriation is pending in the state legislature.
Nelson said he wants to find out as much as possible and let relatives know the truth. He noted that "the statute of limitation on murder never runs out," but said there is little chance of prosecuting anyone.
State Attorney Glenn Hess said only one or two employees from the era are known to be alive, and it's unlikely a trial could prove how a boy died or who was responsible.
"The question is, can we establish probable cause that a crime has been committed, and who did it?" he said. "That's the hard part."
Families could ask their legislators to file "claims" bills for civil compensation, if identity could be established from remains and if negligence might be established on the part of the state.
(Editing by Brendan O'Brien, Kevin Gray and Lisa Shumaker)
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand opened on a steady footing against the dollar on Thursday ahead of important domestic economic data, with traders taking little risk before the four-day Easter holiday.
The rand was at 9.2533 against the dollar at 0609 GMT, a shade firmer than Thursday's New York close of 9.265.
Credit demand growth by South Africa's private sector fell to 7.88 percent year-on-year in February, compared with an unrevised 8.64 percent rise in January, although the data had little impact on the currency.
Trade data for February is due at 1200 GMT.
Economists polled by Reuters forecast a deficit of 11.9 billion rand in February compared to a 24.53 billion rand trade gap in the previous month.
"A much narrower trade deficit could be rand supportive," Tradition Analytics said in a note. "Even with regards to the trade data, one suspects that the reaction even if positive could be muted ahead of the Easter long weekend."
Government bonds firmed after the credit data. Yields on the benchmark bonds fell three basis points, with the 3-year bond moving to 5.485 percent and the longer-dated 2026 paper dropping to 7.415 percent.
Producer inflation data is also due at 0930 GMT.
Economists expect producer price inflation to slow to 5.6 percent in February from 5.8 percent in the previous month.
The 2013 March full moon hangs bright over the Bodie Island Lighthouse in Outer Banks, N.C., in this photo from Greg Diesel Walck.
By Joe Rao Space.com
The first full moon of the new spring season comes Wednesday night (March 27), and it plays a surprisingly important role for the upcoming Easter Sunday.
The moon officially turned full at 5:27 a.m. EDT (2:27 a.m. PDT), but your first view of the full moon at night will likely come later this evening. Traditionally, the March full moon is known as "Worm Moon," supposedly because when the ground softens, the earthworm casts reappear, inviting the return of the robins. But because of its association with Easter, it's also known as the Paschal Moon.?
Other lunar monikers for this month include "Crow Moon," (when the cawing of crows signals the end of winter), "Crust Moon," (because the snow cover becomes crusted from thawing by day and freezing at night) and "Sap Moon," (marking the time of tapping maple trees).
Traditional names for the full moons of the year are found in some publications such as The Farmers' Almanac. We also published the full list of full moon names?here on Space.com earlier this year. The origins of these names have been traced back to Native Americans, though they may also have evolved from old England or, as Guy Ottewell, editor of the annual publication "Astronomical Calendar" suggests, "writer's fancy." [10 Suprising Moon Facts You May Not Know]
The first full moon of spring is also sometimes referred to as the Paschal Full Moon, because it is the moon used to set the date of Easter in a given year. This year, if you have not already noticed, Easter will arrive a bit on the early side, on March 31. The earliest Easter in our lifetimes came five years ago, on March 23 (the last time that Easter fell this early in the calendar was 1913, and before that, in 1856).
Which leads us to ask the question, exactly just how is the date of Easter determined?
Equinox and the full moon Traditionally, Easter is observed on the Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon. If the Paschal Moon occurs on a Sunday, Easter is the following Sunday.
Following these rules, we find that Easter can fall as early as March 22 and as late as April 25 in any given year. Pope Gregory XIII decreed this in 1582 as part of the Gregorian calendar.
This year the Paschal Full Moon falls Wednesday, so according to the current ecclesiastical rules, Easter is to be celebrated four days later, on Sunday.
Interestingly however, these rules also state that the vernal equinox is fixed on March 21, even though at European longitudes from the years 2008 through 2101 it actually will occur no later than March 20.
Hence, there can sometimes be discrepancies between the ecclesiastical and astronomical rules for dating Easter. In the year 2038, for instance, the equinox falls on March 20, with a full moon the next day, so astronomically speaking, Easter should fall on March 28 of that year. In reality, however, as mandated by the rules of the Church, Easter in 2038 will be observed as late as it can possibly come, on April 25!
Adding additional confusion is that there is also an "ecclesiastical" full moon, determined from ecclesiastical tables and whose date does not necessarily coincide with the "astronomical" full moon, which is based solely on astronomical calculations. In 1981, for example, the full moon occurred on Sunday, April 19, so Easter should have occurred on the following Sunday, April 26. But based on the ecclesiastical full moon, Easter occurred on the same day of the full moon, April 19.
So in practice, the date of Easter is determined not from astronomical computations, but rather from other religious formulas such as Epachs and Golden Numbers. In 2013, we are in Epach 17 and the Golden Number is 19. [Who Observes Easter? (Infographic)]
Since the beginning of the 20th century, a proposal to change Easter to a fixed holiday rather than a movable one has been widely circulated, and in 1963 the Second Vatican Council agreed, provided a consensus could be reached among Christian churches. The second Sunday in April has been suggested as the most likely date.
Changeable weather too Interestingly, the fact that Easter occurs at a time of the year when weather patterns are transitioning from winter to spring, means a wide variation in the type of weather that can be expected, depending upon just when the holiday falls in a given year. Ask somebody what type of weather immediately comes to mind when Christmas is mentioned, and likely the answer will be cold and snowy. For the Fourth of July, it's probably sunny and hot.?
Yet Easter can feature both of these extremes!?
In 1970, Easter fell on March 29. In that year, a snowstorm hit the northeastern United States. In New York City, the famous Easter Parade had to be canceled, as four inches of snow fell, with as much as a foot of it?in the northern suburbs.
And yet, just six years later, in 1976, Easter fell on April 18, which ended up going down in New York weather annals as the hottest Easter on record. Not only was the 96-degree Fahrenheit reading that day the hottest temperature recorded in Central Park that year, it was also the very first (and only time) that New York held the distinction of being the hottest location in the United States!??
Editor's note:?If you have an amazing picture of the full moon or any other night sky view that?you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, send photos, comments and your name and location to Managing Editor Tariq Malik at?spacephotos@space.com.
Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for The?New York Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, N.Y.?Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook?and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
Copyright 2013 Space.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Kojima Productions head Hideo Kojima this morning announced that The Phantom Pain and Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes combined is actually Metal Gear Solid V, the first next-gen game from Kojima Productions running on its powerful FOX Engine. The news was revealed today during a FOX Engine panel at the Game Developers Conference. Kojima announced the combination of the previously announced concepts in a dramatic fashion, with his head wrapped in bandages, presumably as his alter ego Joakim Mogren. They provided a sneak peek trailer at the game's opening sequence, where Snake is attempting to escape from a hospital -- the trailer previously teased in late 2012. As FOX Engine is a next-gen platform, we're assuming that the game is heading to next-gen consoles, but Kojima's not saying anything solid just yet.
Update: GamesHQMedia managed to snag a trailer of the game, which we've embedded below.
ROME (AP) ? Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of a dozen inmates at a juvenile detention center in a Holy Thursday ritual that he celebrated for years as archbishop and is continuing now that he is pope. Two of the 12 were young women, a remarkable choice given that the church's current liturgical law says only men should participate.
The Mass was held in the Casal del Marmo facility in Rome, where 46 young men and women currently are detained. Many of them are Gypsies or North African migrants, and the 12 selected for the foot-washing rite included Orthodox and Muslim detainees, news reports said.
Because the inmates were mostly minors ? the facility houses inmates aged 14-to-21 ? the Vatican and Italian Justice Ministry limited media access inside. But Vatican Radio carried the Mass live, and Francis told the detainees that Jesus washed the feet of his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion in a gesture of love and service.
"This is a symbol, it is a sign ? washing your feet means I am at your service," Francis told the youngsters. "Help one another. This is what Jesus teaches us. This is what I do. And I do it with my heart. I do this with my heart because it is my duty, as a priest and bishop I must be at your service."
Later, the Vatican released a limited video of the ritual, showing Francis washing black feet, white feet, male feet, female feet and even a foot with tattoos. Kneeling on the stone floor as the 12 youngsters sat above him, the 76-year-old Francis poured water from a silver chalice over each foot, dried it with a simple cotton towel and then bent over to kiss each one.
As archbishop of Buenos Aires, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio would celebrate the ritual foot-washing in jails, hospitals or hospices ? part of his ministry to the poorest and most marginalized of society. It's a message that he is continuing now that he is pope, saying he wants a church "for the poor."
Previous popes would carry out the foot-washing ritual on Holy Thursday in Rome's grand St. John Lateran basilica. The 12 people chosen for the ritual would always be priests to represent Christ's 12 apostles.
That Francis would include women in this re-enactment is remarkable given current liturgical rules that restrict the ritual to men.
Canon lawyer Edward Peters, who is an adviser to the Holy See's top court, noted in a blog that the Congregation for Divine Worship in 1988 said in a letter to bishops that "The washing of the feet of chosen men ... represents the service and charity of Christ who came 'not to be served, but to serve.'"
Peters noted that bishops over the years have successfully petitioned Rome for an exemption to allow women to participate, but that the law on the issue is clear.
"By disregarding his own law in this matter, Francis violates, of course, no divine directive," Peters wrote Thursday. "What he does do, I fear, is set a questionable example."
Others welcomed the example he set.
"The pope's washing the feet of women is hugely significant because including women in this part of the Holy Thursday Mass has been frowned on ? and even banned ? in some dioceses," said the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author of "The Jesuit Guide."
"It shows the all-embracing love of Christ, who ministered to all he met: man or woman, slave or free, Jew or Gentile," he said.
After the Mass, Francis greeted each of the inmates and gave each one an Easter egg.
"Don't lose hope," he said. "Understand? With hope you can always go on."
One of the inmates then asked him why he had come to visit them. Francis said it was to "help me to be humble, as a bishop should be." He said he wanted to come "from my heart. Things from the heart don't have an explanation," he said.
Italian Justice Minister Paola Severino, who has made easing Italy's woefully overcrowded prisons a priority, attended the Mass.
___
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Public release date: 28-Mar-2013
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