Pep Boys agrees to be acquired for about $791M

Customer leaves a Pep Boys - Manny, Moe & Jack auto parts store in Hayward, Calif., Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. The Pep Boys - Manny, Moe & Jack, an auto parts chain founded more than 90 years ago, has agreed to be taken private by the investment firm The Gores Group for about $791 million. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Customer leaves a Pep Boys - Manny, Moe & Jack auto parts store in Hayward, Calif., Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. The Pep Boys - Manny, Moe & Jack, an auto parts chain founded more than 90 years ago, has agreed to be taken private by the investment firm The Gores Group for about $791 million. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

NEW YORK (AP) ? The Pep Boys ? Manny, Moe & Jack, an auto parts chain founded more than 90 years ago, has agreed to be taken private by the investment firm The Gores Group for about $791 million.

The $15 per share offer is a 24 percent premium to Pep Boys' closing price Friday of $12.08. News of the acquisition sent the Philadelphia company's shares up $2.85, or 24 percent, to close at $14.93 on Monday.

Pep Boys brand recognition as well as its moderate pricing appealed to The Gores Group, said Lee Bird, managing director of operations and consumer practice leader at The Gores Group.

"We are excited to help Pep Boys build on this vision," he said in a statement.

The auto parts company began in 1921 with the Naval buddies and original Pep Boys: Emanuel "Manny" Rosenfeld, Maurice "Moe" Strauss, Moe Radavitz and Graham "Jack" Jackson. Their first store opened in Philadelphia under the name Pep Auto Supplies, according to the company's web site. Its name was changed around 1923 after Strauss noticed during a trip to California that many successful businesses there used first names.

Radavitz and Jackson both left the company early on. When Pep Boys went public in 1946, Rosenfeld served as its first corporate president. He held the post until his death in 1959. Strauss served as president from 1960 to 1973 and remained a board member until he died in 1982.

Pep Boys currently has more than 700 locations in 35 states and Puerto Rico.

Cid Wilson of Cabrera Capital Markets said in a client note that Pep Boys has been looking for someone to buy the company for more than seven years, saying Pep Boys' stock has underperformed over the past 10 years while most of its rivals' shares have appreciated.

Pep Boys has faced competition from companies including AutoZone Inc., Advance Auto Parts Inc. and O'Reilly Automotive Inc. Pep Boys stock has dropped about 25 percent over the last decade, while AutoZone's shares have grown more than five times and Advance Auto Parts' stock has jumped approximately 60 percent.

Last month Pep Boys reported that its fiscal third-quarter net income rose nearly 23 percent on stronger tire sales and improving service sales. At the time President and CEO Mike Odell said that the improved business was due in part to new marketing, lower gas prices and pent-up demand.

Auto parts suppliers have done relatively well during the recession and prolonged economic downturn, as many consumers have held on to their cars longer and sought out repairs instead of purchasing new cars. The average age of a car or truck in the U.S. hit a record 10.8 years last year as job security and other economic worries weighed on consumers' minds.

That's up from the old record of 10.6 years in 2010, and it and continues a trend that dates to 1995, when the average age of a car was 8.4 years, according to a study of state vehicle registration data released earlier this month by the Southfield, Mich.-based Polk automotive research firm.

The Gores Group deal for Pep Boys is worth about $791 million, based on the company's almost 53 million shares outstanding. The companies put the total enterprise value of the deal at approximately $1 billion.

The agreement includes a provision, which allows Pep Boys to seek and receive alternative offers for a period of 45 days.

Gores Group said that it has fully committed financing for the buyout, which is not subject to a financing condition.

Wilson does not anticipate another firm making a bid for Pep Boys and pointed out that the deal with The Gores Group includes a $50 million reverse-termination fee if the acquisition doesn't close.

The analyst raised Pep Boys' rating to "Market Perform" from "Underperform" and increased its price target to $15 from $9.

Pep Boys said that Odell, as well as other senior managers, are expected to remain in their positions once the acquisitions closes.

Pep Boys' board unanimously approved the acquisition, which still needs approval from the company's shareholders. Pep Boys said it has suspended its quarterly dividend in anticipation of the deal.

The transaction is expected to close in the fiscal second quarter. Once the acquisition is complete, Pep Boys stock will no longer trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-30-Pep%20Boys-Acquisition/id-c059071f2aa64652905c60185ca45100

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In lab, Pannexin1 restores tight binding of cells that is lost in cancer

Monday, January 30, 2012

First there is the tumor and then there's the horrible question of whether the cancerous cells will spread. Scientists increasingly believe that the structural properties of the tumor itself, such as how tightly the tumor cells are packed together, play a decisive role in the progression of the disease. In a new study, researchers show that the protein Pannexin1, known to have tumor-suppressive properties, plays an important role in keeping the cells within a tissue closely packed together, an effect that may be lost with cancer.

"In healthy tissues, the recently discovered protein Pannexin1 may be playing an important role in upholding the mechanical integrity of the tissue," said first author and Brown University M.D./Ph.D. student Brian Bao. "When we develop cancer, we lose Pannexin1 and we lose this integrity."

The results appeared in advance online in the Journal of Biological Chemistry on Jan. 20.

To conduct their research, the group at Brown University and the University of British Columbia employed a "3-D Petri dish" technology that allows investigators to watch closely how cells interact with each other, without scientists having to worry about additional interactions with surrounding scaffolding or the culture plate itself. How readily the cells form large multicellular structures therefore reflects their interactions with each other, not their in vitro surroundings.

Bao's advisor, Jeffrey Morgan, associate professor of medical science, developed the 3-D Petri dish technology. Morgan is the paper's senior author.

Cancer cells converge

Starting with rat "C6" glioma (brain tumor) cells that do not express Pannexin1, the researchers left some unaltered and engineered others to express Pannexin1. After putting the different cells into the 3-D Petri dishes and watching them interact for 24 hours, they saw that the Pannexin1 cells were able to form large multicellular tissues much faster and more tightly than the unaltered cancer cells.

To confirm that Pannexin1 was indeed causing these changes, Bao and his colleagues treated their samples with the drugs Probenecid and Carbenoxolone, which are well known inhibitors of Pannexin1. They saw that sure enough, the drugs negated Pannexin1's accelerating effect.

Then the team was ready to achieve the the study's main aim, Bao said, namely to determine how Pannexin1 was able to drive these cells to clump together faster and tighter. They found that Pannexin1 sets off a chain reaction involving the energy-carrying molecule ATP and specific receptors for it.

When all experiments were done, Bao, Morgan, and their collaborators had found that as soon as the cells touched each other, Pannexin1 channels were stimulated to open and release ATP. The ATP then bound to cell surface receptors, kicking off intracellular calcium waves that ultimately remodeled the network of a structural protein called actin. This remodeling increases the forces between the cells, driving them to bind together more tightly.

Figuring out that sequence, and Pannexin1's role in it, is perhaps the study's biggest contribution to cancer research, Bao said.

"Using their single-cell systems, others have been able to carefully study individual pieces of this cascade," he said. "We came from a different perspective. Because the strength of our assay is that we can look at gross multicellular behavior in 3-D, we could ask, 'Does this actually manifest into something tangible on the multicellular level?'"

Having gained this understanding of Pannexin1's role in the mechanics of tumors, Bao is now engaged in research to answer the obvious next questions: Does Pannexin1 affect the tumor's ability to spread and invade? When cancerous cells regain Pannexin1 expression, are they less likely to spread and leave the tumor?

###

Brown University: http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau

Thanks to Brown University for this article.

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Russia in talks for Moon base timeshare with European Space Agency, NASA

Whether or not you believe we actually put a man on the moon, there's about to be a whole gaggle of'em bouncing about the place and mucking things up in the name of Science. Taking that whole "one giant leap for mankind" motto a few baby steps further, is an in-development initiative that would see our former, space race frenemy Russia teaming up with the ESA and NASA to develop a Moon base. Citing recently discovered reservoirs of water located near the polar caps, Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin believes the time is ripe to continue exploration of Earth's satellite via the installation of a settlement on its surface or an orbiting station. As with all things outer space, expect this cooperative project to take some time coming to fruition. After all, there are billions of dollars, not to mention a bevy of international egos on the line here.

Continue reading Russia in talks for Moon base timeshare with European Space Agency, NASA

Russia in talks for Moon base timeshare with European Space Agency, NASA originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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INFLUENCE GAME: Online companies win piracy fight (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Outspent but hardly outgunned, online and high-tech companies triggered an avalanche of Internet clicks to force Congress to shelve legislation that would curb online piracy. They outmaneuvered the entertainment industry and other old guard business interests, leaving them bitter and befuddled.

Before Senate and House leaders set aside the legislation Friday, the movie and music lobbies and other Washington fixtures, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, had put in play their usually reliable tactics to rally support for the bills.

There were email campaigns, television and print ads in important states, a Times Square billboard, and uncounted phone calls and visits to congressional offices in Washington and around the country. That included about 20 trips to the Capitol by leaders of the National Songwriters Association International, often accompanied by songwriters who performed their hits for lawmakers and their staffs.

"We bring our guitars on our backs," said songwriter Steve Bogard, the association's president.

Such campaigns are often music to the ears of lawmakers. This time, however, it was smothered by an online outpouring against the legislation that culminated Wednesday. According to organizers, at least 75,000 websites temporarily went dark that day, including the English-language online encyclopedia Wikipedia, joined by 25,000 blogs.

"The U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet," said a message on Wikipedia's home page, which was shrouded in shadows and provided links to help visitors reach their members of Congress.

Thousands of other sites posted messages protesting the bills and urging people to contact lawmakers. Protest leaders say that resulted in 3 million emails.

Google, its logo hidden beneath a stark black rectangle, solicited 7 million signatures on a petition opposing the bills. Craigslist counted 30,000 phone calls to lawmakers and there were 3.9 million tweets on Twitter about the bills, according to NetCoalition, which represents leading Internet and high tech companies.

"It's still something we're trying to comprehend," said Google spokeswoman Samantha Smith. "We had such an overwhelming response to our petition that it honestly far exceeded our expectations."

As co-sponsors of the bills peeled away, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Friday postponed a vote that had been set for this Tuesday on moving to the legislation. The vote seemed doomed well beforehand. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, also put off further work. "I have heard from the critics," he said.

Just weeks ago, the bills seemed headed toward quiet approval with bipartisan backing that ranging from liberals such as Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., to conservatives such as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. The turnabout was so unexpected that some think the online world's triumph signals a pivotal moment marking its arrival as Washington's newest power broker.

"This does serve as a watershed moment," said Jennifer Stromer-Galley, a communications professor at the State University of New York at Albany who studies how political groups use high technology. "Certain channels for communication that people routinely use have the power to get their users to become political activists on their behalf."

Both bills are aimed at thwarting illegal downloads and sales of thousands of American movies, songs and books, as well as counterfeit pharmaceuticals, software and other copyrighted products. They would do so by making it easier to stop American websites and search engines from steering visitors to largely foreign websites that pirate the items.

Supporters estimate that online piracy costs the U.S. at least $100 billion annually and thousands of jobs; even the bills' critics say sales of pirated products must be stopped. But foes say the legislation goes too far, threatening to curb Internet free speech, stifle online innovation and burden online businesses with damaging regulations.

"People love their Internet. They use it every day, they don't want it to change and they don't want Washington messing with it," said Maura Corbett, spokeswoman for NetCoalition.

Claims that "big brother" would oversee the Internet infuriate bill supporters, who say their opponents employed fear-mongering and distortion to foment an online frenzy.

"They've misidentified this issue as an issue about your Internet, your Internet is being jeopardized," said Mike Nugent, executive director of Creative America, a coalition of entertainment unions, movie studios and television networks. "In fact their business model is being asked to be subjected to regulation. They're misleading their huge base."

Misleading or not, the online community had a huge impact on members of Congress, with many saying they heard little from the entertainment industry but plenty from Internet users.

"Everyone's online, and a lot of people online are very inclined to complain about" new fees and other problems, said Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va. "It's a culture of fairly quick mobilization."

The bills' champions said they purposely avoided hauling entertainment celebrities to Washington, saying they preferred to focus on how the measure would help the entire economy.

"If we brought in Hollywood stars, that would play into the other side's narrative that this is all about Hollywood," said Steven Tepp, who helped guide the campaign for the Chamber of Commerce. "We want to keep the focus on the reality that this is much, much broader."

In the end, the outcome showed the lobbying world is changing, said Kathy Garmezy, an official with the Directors Guild of America, which supports the bills.

"Of course you say to yourself, `What can you change?'" she said. "I don't think we've come to conclusions or closure."

Participants say last week's online protests were spawned last fall, as Congress was writing the bills and Internet users started chatting and emailing about them.

The blogging service Tumblr called attention to the measures on its website in November. Other efforts also garnered attention, including a drive by owners to remove their domain names from GoDaddy.com, which sells domain names and was a supporter of the anti-piracy legislation.

Among the first to publicly say they would darken their sites on Wednesday were Reddit and Wikipedia.

"Like most things on the Internet, it was very unorganized and chaotic," said Erik Martin, Reddit's general manager.

In terms of their Washington presence, online businesses are adolescents compared to the well-established industries they are battling.

According to Maplight, a nonpartisan group that analyzes money's role in politics, current senators have received $14.4 million over the past six years from entertainment interest groups supporting the online piracy bills, seven times the $2 million they got from Internet groups opposing the legislation.

The differences are also stark when it comes to lobbying.

Google, one of the Internet world's largest players in Washington, spent $5.9 million lobbying on all issues during the first nine months of 2011, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics. The Chamber of Commerce spent $46 million, the most in town.

Even so, online businesses have been beefing up their representation in Washington, the center's figures show.

Google's $5.9 million paid for 112 lobbyists last year, more than double the $2.8 million it spent for 54 lobbyists in 2008. Facebook's $910,000 for lobbying during the first three quarters of 2011 paid for 21 lobbyists, compared with two lobbyists and $351,000 it spent a year earlier.

High tech companies are also learning the value of big names. One Google lobbyist is former Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt, a House Democratic leader and presidential candidate. Last year, Facebook hired Joe Lockhart, a press secretary for President Bill Clinton, as vice president of global communications.

Bill supporters lost one advantage because former Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, could not personally lobby senators. The Capitol Hill veteran retired from the Senate last year and is legally barred from lobbying his former colleagues for two years.

___

Online:

Senate's Protect Intellectual Property Act: http://tinyurl.com/7lqbgzh

House's Stop Online Piracy Act: http://tinyurl.com/75vtcxg

NetCoalition: http://www.netcoalition.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_hi_te/us_online_piracy_lobbying

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Solving the mystery of an old diabetes drug that may reduce cancer risk

Thursday, January 19, 2012

In 2005, news first broke that researchers in Scotland found unexpectedly low rates of cancer among diabetics taking metformin, a drug commonly prescribed to patients with Type II diabetes. Many follow-up studies reported similar findings, some suggesting as much as a 50-per-cent reduction in risk.

How could this anti-diabetic drug reduce the risk of developing cancer and what were the mechanisms involved?

In a paper published today in the journal Cancer Prevention Research, researchers from McGill University and the University of Montreal reported an unexpected finding: they learned that exposure to metformin reduces the cellular mutation rate and the accumulation of DNA damage. It is well known that such mutations are directly involved in carcinogenesis, but lowering cancer risk by inhibiting the mutation rate has never been shown to be feasible.

"It is remarkable that metformin, an inexpensive, off-patent, safe and widely used drug, has several biological actions that may result in reduced cancer risk ? these latest findings suggest that it reduces mutation rate in somatic cells, providing an additional mechanism by which it could prevent cancer, explained Dr. Michael Pollak, professor in McGill's Departments of Medicine and Oncology, researcher at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research at the Jewish General Hospital and the study's director.

The study, carried out in collaboration with the laboratory of Dr. Gerardo Ferbeyre at Universit? de Montr?al's Department of Biochemistry, suggests that metformin reduces DNA damage by reducing levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS are known to be DNA-damaging agents produced as by-products when cells generate energy from nutrients. This action appears to take place in mitochondria, the cellular organelles that produce energy in cells by "burning" nutrients. Past studies have identified the mitochondria as a site of action for metformin related to its anti-diabetic function, but those studies had not considered that the drug also acted here to reduce ROS production, thereby reducing the rate at which DNA damage accumulates. "We found that metformin did not act as a classic antioxidant," said Ferbeyre. "The drug seems to selectively prevent ROS production from altered mitochondria such as those found in cells with oncogenic mutations."

"This study opens an exciting new direction in cancer-prevention research," said Pollak. "This doesn't imply, however, that metformin is now ready to be widely used for cancer prevention. We do not yet know if the drug accumulates to sufficient concentrations in human tissues at risk for cancer, such as breast or colon, when taken at the usual doses used for diabetes treatment, nor do we know if the findings from the original studies showing reduced cancer risk, which were carried out in diabetics, also apply to people without diabetes. But the possibility of protecting DNA from oxidative damage by the use of a well-tolerated drug was not expected, and this topic now needs further study at many levels."

###

McGill University: http://www.mcgill.ca

Thanks to McGill University for this article.

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Ex-Miss USA appears in Mich. court on DUI charge

Former Miss USA Rima Fakih leaves 30th District Court after being ordered to stand trial on a misdemeanor drunken driving charge in Highland Park, Mich. Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. The judge set a March 14 trial date, but lawyers on both sides said they planned to talk in an attempt to resolve the case sooner. (AP Photo/Gary Malerba)

Former Miss USA Rima Fakih leaves 30th District Court after being ordered to stand trial on a misdemeanor drunken driving charge in Highland Park, Mich. Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. The judge set a March 14 trial date, but lawyers on both sides said they planned to talk in an attempt to resolve the case sooner. (AP Photo/Gary Malerba)

Former Miss USA Rima Fakih appears before Judge Brigette Officer during a hearing and ordered to stand trial on a misdemeanor drunken driving charge at 30th District Court in Highland Park, Mich. Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. The judge set a March 14 trial date, but lawyers on both sides said they planned to talk in an attempt to resolve the case sooner. (AP Photo/Gary Malerba)

Former Miss USA Rima Fakih appears before Judge Brigette Officer during a hearing and ordered to stand trial on a misdemeanor drunken driving charge at 30th District Court in Highland Park, Mich. Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. The judge set a March 14 trial date, but lawyers on both sides said they planned to talk in an attempt to resolve the case sooner. (AP Photo/Gary Malerba)

Former Miss USA Rima Fakih appears with her attorney William Culpepper before Judge Brigette Officer during a hearing on a drunken driving charge at 30th District Court in Highland Park, Mich. Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. The judge set a March 14 trial date, but lawyers on both sides said they planned to talk in an attempt to resolve the case sooner. (AP Photo/Gary Malerba)

Former Miss USA Rima Fakih appears with her attorney William Culpepper before Judge Brigette Officer during a hearing on a drunken driving charge at 30th District Court in Highland Park, Mich. Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. The judge set a March 14 trial date, but lawyers on both sides said they planned to talk in an attempt to resolve the case sooner. (AP Photo/Gary Malerba)

HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. (AP) ? Former Miss USA Rima Fakih on Wednesday made an initial appearance in a Detroit-area courtroom in a drunken driving case that lawyers said could be resolved with a plea deal.

Judge Brigette Officer set a March 14 trial date, but lawyers on both sides said they planned to talk in an attempt to end the case sooner.

Fakih, 26, declined to answer reporters' questions after the hearing, which was held in the Detroit enclave of Highland Park.

"I apologize. My lawyer doesn't want me to talk."

Defense lawyer W. Otis Culpepper said he will prepare for a trial, but knows a plea bargain is possible. He said he anticipates that a "proper conclusion" will be reached.

"Of course she's remorseful," Culpepper said. "She's a model for young women. ... She's a woman of substantial character."

Before the hearing, assistant city attorney Mohammed A. Nasser told The Associated Press that he hadn't spoken to Culpepper about how they might resolve the case, and he told the judge a plea deal hadn't been offered.

Police said Fakih was driving 60 mph and weaving in and out of traffic without signaling when they pulled her over Dec. 3. Officers reported finding an open bottle of champagne on the floor behind the driver's seat of her 2011 Jaguar.

Fakih denied that she had been drinking, but one breath test put her blood alcohol content to be 0.20 percent and another put it slightly lower, but still above the state's legal limit of 0.08 percent.

Fakih was born in Lebanon and moved to the U.S. in 1993 with her family. After settling in New York, the family moved to Michigan in 2003. She won the Miss USA Pageant in May 2010, and her reign ended last June. She was the first Miss Michigan to win the title since 1993 and the first Arab-American winner ever.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-18-Miss%20USA-Drunken%20Driving/id-619206fe7aed46f6a32a4a53360efaf3

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Radiation, rusty metal seen in tsunami-hit reactor (AP)

TOKYO ? Radiation-blurred images taken inside one of Japan's tsunami-hit nuclear reactors Thursday showed steam, unidentified parts and rusty metal surfaces scarred by 10 months' exposure to heat and humidity.

The photos that were the first inside look since the disaster found none of the reactor's melted fuel or its cooling water but confirmed stable temperatures and showed no major damage or ruptures caused by the earthquake last March, said Junichi Matsumoto, spokesman for the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co.

Pipes and grates inside the reactor's containment vessel were seen in some images. Other photos were dark and blurry, resembling abstract paintings. Experts are studying the most obscured photos to identify which reactor parts are there. Radiation was visible as static, or electronic interference with the equipment being used.

The photos also showed the inner wall of the container had been heavily deteriorated by the high temperatures and humidity, Matsumoto said.

TEPCO workers inserted the endoscope ? an industrial version of the kind of endoscope doctors use ? through a hole in the beaker-shaped container at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant's No. 2 reactor, hoping the first look inside since the crisis would help them better assess reactor conditions and make repairs.

High temperatures and radiation leaks had prevented the close-up view until now. Results of the 70-minute operation were mixed.

"Given the harsh environment that we had to operate, we did quite well. It's a first step," Matsumoto said. "But we could not spot any signs of fuel, unfortunately."

He said it would take more time and a better technology to get to the melted fuel, most of which has fallen straight down into the area that the endoscope could not reach. TEPCO hopes to use the endoscope to look inside the two other reactors that had meltdowns but that also would require customization of the equipment and further reduction of radiation levels.

The endoscope failed to find the water surface, indicating less-than-expected levels inside the primary containment vessel and questioning the accuracy of water monitors, Matsumoto said.

Radiation-tainted cooling water has been leaking from all three damaged reactors, pooling in massive amounts around the nuclear plant. Determining the No. 2 reactor's water levels could have helped locate cracks or damage causing some of the leaks.

Better assessment will help workers know how best to plug holes and cracks in the containment vessel ? a protective chamber outside the core ? to contain the radiation leaks and gradually work toward dismantling the reactors.

Three of six reactors at the Fukushima plant melted down after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out the plant's cooling systems and set off the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

TEPCO and nuclear officials have said that melted fuel probably fell to the bottom of the core in each unit, most likely breaching the bottom of the core and falling into the primary containment vessel, some dropping to its concrete floor.

Experts have said those are simulation results and that exact location and condition of the fuel could not be known until they have a first-hand observation inside.

The probe Thursday successfully recorded the temperature inside the containment vessel at 44.7 Celsius (112 F), confirming it stayed below the boiling point and qualifying a "cold shutdown state," the stable condition that the government had declared in December despite skepticism from experts.

The government has said that it would take 40 years until the Fukushima plant is fully decommissioned.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_nuclear

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Next stop South Carolina: Can Romney's train keep chugging ahead?

If the trend so far in the primaries has been for Republican voters to vote for Mitt Romney with their heads and not with their hearts, some in conservative South Carolina are saying: 'Not so fast.'?Most evangelical leaders meeting in Texas Saturday voted to back Rick Santorum.

Ask Fred Kline whom he likes most for president, and he says Ron Paul, the libertarian Republican congressman from Texas. Then ask him whom he voted for in the New Hampshire primary: Mitt Romney.

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"I went with electability," says Mr. Kline, chairman of the board of selectmen in Pembroke, N.H.

That, in a nutshell, may be the story of the 2012 Republican primaries: voters who, above all, want to defeat President Obama, and are going with their heads and not their hearts when they enter the voting booth.

Among the Republican contenders, the moderate former governor of Massachusetts is the most organized and best funded. Polls consistently show Mr. Romney as the strongest potential GOP nominee. In part, it is that sentiment ? practicality, not love ? that has put Romney at the top of polls in conservative, evangelical-heavy South Carolina, scene of the next primary on Jan. 21.?

Election 101: Where the GOP candidates stand on the economy

But on Saturday, at a gathering in Houston, some 150 religious conservative leaders from around the country said ?not so fast.? Most voted to back the candidacy of former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, a devout Catholic known for his conservative social views.

And even before the Santorum endorsement, whose value at this late hour is questionable, some GOP strategists in South Carolina were counseling caution in predicting the outcome next Saturday.

"It's too early to give [Romney] the crown," says J. David Woodard, a political scientist at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C. and a Republican consultant.??"Just because he came in here with some momentum doesn't mean it's over."

After all, Romney came in fourth in South Carolina in 2008 with 15 percent, behind Arizona Sen. John McCain, the eventual GOP nominee, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson.

Of course, Romney has the potential to do what Senator McCain did: take advantage of a divided field and win with a modest plurality. McCain won South Carolina four years ago with only 33 percent of the vote. But the state's Republicans are proud hosts of the first primary in a red state, and some don't rule out the possibility that another candidate could stage a late surge and win.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/C57J4JSKr2s/Next-stop-South-Carolina-Can-Romney-s-train-keep-chugging-ahead

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Newt battles crowd at black church (Politico)

COLUMBIA, S.C. ? Newt Gingrich veered off the traditional GOP primary campaign trail Saturday for an African-American church ? and a colloquy on race relations and urban policy that only seemed to strengthen the audience?s resolve to vote for Barack Obama.

Far from where his rivals spent their time just a week before the make-or-break primary in the state ? and from where many likely Republican voters can be found ? the former House speaker chose to spend his afternoon in front of a hostile audience at the Jones Memorial AME Church.

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The reason, Gingrich said, had more to do with the future of the GOP than his own candidacy.

?Whether it?s La Raza, or it is LULAC or it is the NAACP or it?s the Urban League,? Gingrich said at the church here, ?I think that conservatives and Republicans have to get in the habit of thinking about the whole country.?

African Americans made up just 2 percent of the Republican primary electorate here in 2008 and several members of the church said they thought their fellow congregants leaned heavily toward Obama.

Still, Gingrich offered about 50 minutes of back-and-forth, explaining why he thinks poor children should have part-time jobs and why his brand of bipartisanship is different than the one that Obama offered while campaigning in 2008.

Jobs might help children in poor neighborhoods develop strong work ethics, earn some money and potentially ?slow down the dropout rate and give young people an identity within the community and a desire to go back to school,? Gingrich said, defending a proposal he?s come under fire for on the trail.

?Good response,? the African-American man who asked the question said as Gingrich finished up his answer.

But not everyone in the crowd was so amenable. Minutes later, an African-American woman asked him if his views of minorities changed after he traveled the country with the Rev. Al Sharpton a few years ago to encourage cities to develop charter schools or if he is still ?a racist and a bigot.?

?What I?ve said is that we want everyone ? to be able to use English and be able to rise in the whole country,? Gingrich said as the woman interjected again, reading a quote about ?lazy ghetto black people? that has been misattributed to the candidate.

The woman persisted, asking Gingrich how he could refer to Obama as a ?food stamp president,? as he often does when campaigning, since Obama graduated at the top of his class at Harvard Law School.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories0112_71454_html/44182876/SIG=11mp37v1e/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71454.html

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"The Artist" leads the Golden Globes in nominations, but others not far behind

The Hollywood Foreign Press Asssociation's annual awards are considered strong predictors for Oscar glory.

?The Golden?Globes have equally good comedy and drama masks this year.

Skip to next paragraph

Alongside heavyweight dramas, the category for best musical or comedy at the Globes usually is more of a lark, with nominees rarely emerging with best-picture prospects for Hollywood's top prize, the Academy Awards.

Yet Sunday's musical or comedy contenders make up a strong bunch that could give their best-drama cousins at the Globes a run for their money come Oscar time.

RELATED: Think you're a movie buff? Take our movie quiz!

Leading the Globes, to be televised live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel, is the silent film "The Artist," with six nominations. Among them are best musical or comedy, directing and writing honors for Michel Havanavicius, and acting slots for Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo.

Tied for second with five nominations each are the Deep South tale "The Help" and George Clooney's Hawaiian family story "The Descendants," both of them among best-drama contenders.

With the Oscars choosing up to 10 best-picture contenders when nominations come out Jan. 24, "The Artist" could have some other lighter fare as company there. Globe musical or comedy nominees "Midnight in Paris" and "Bridesmaids" have solid Oscar nomination prospects, along with the weighty dramas academy voters historically prefer.

Most years, the musical or comedy category is filled with nominees that have little or no chance at the Oscars, such as last year's Globe nominees "The Tourist" and "Burlesque." The last time a musical or comedy Globe winner earned the best-picture Oscar was nine years ago, when "Chicago" triumphed at both shows.

This time, the dual categories at the Globes could create an Oscar showdown between the dramatic and musical-comedy winners.

Along with "The Artist," Kristen Wiig's wedding romp "Bridesmaids" and Woody Allen's romantic fantasy "Midnight in Paris," Globe nominees for best musical or comedy are Joseph Gordon-Levitt's cancer tale "50/50" and Michelle Williams' Marilyn Monroe story "My Week with Marilyn."

Besides "The Descendants" and "The Help," best-drama contenders are Martin Scorsese's Paris adventure "Hugo," Clooney's political thriller "The Ides of March," Brad Pitt's sports tale "Moneyball" and Steven Spielberg's World War I epic "War Horse."

Presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of 89 entertainment reporters for overseas outlets, the Globes used to have a strong record predicting the films that would go on to win best-picture at the Oscars. But lately, a best-picture win at the Globes has not translated into victory on Oscar night.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/N6JM1Xx9UKU/The-Artist-leads-the-Golden-Globes-in-nominations-but-others-not-far-behind

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The US Military Relies on Dolphins to Detect Mines [Military]

The US Military invests billions of dollars in technology. But to keep the Strait of Hormuz, close to Iran, open, it's using an unusual, but no less innovative, technique: mine-detecting dolphins. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/vWu5QVcs8hw/the-us-military-relies-on-dolphins-to-detect-mines

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Hands-on with the first Intel Android phone, the China-bound Lenovo K800

Your first time with a Chinese smartphone that marks the beginning of a new era of Android computing is a lot like your first time with a woman. You're pretty sure you know what you're getting into, and you sort of know your way around already. But when you get down to it, you're on your own, wondering if one wrong press of a button is going to blow up the whole damn experience, leaving you naked and alone, quivering at the thought of anyone seeing how badly you just failed at what should have been been a simple task. You had your chance. You blew it. And you're going to have to live with that shame forever. You tool.

The Lenovo K800 has a 4.5-inch display at 1280x720, runs Ice Cream Sandwich and is powered by an Intel Atom Z2460 CPU running at 1.6GHz. It's got an 8MP camera.

You'll never forget your first. Hands-on is after the break.

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/_DLmAnJVs30/story01.htm

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Study: Indoor Tanning Linked With Early Onset of Skin Cancer (Time.com)

Given that indoor tanning beds were officially classified as a human carcinogen in 2009 -- up there with cigarettes and asbestos -- it should be fairly obvious that frequent tanning-booth exposure would increase your risk of skin cancer.

Indeed, the evidence linking indoor tanning with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, and squamous cell carcinoma, one of the more common forms of the disease, is "convincing," according to the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer. But the research concerning tanning beds and basal cell carcinoma, the third and most frequent major type of skin cancer -- which accounts for some 80% of all skin cancer cases in the U.S. -- has thus far been inconsistent. (See pictures of a photographer's intimate account of her mother's cancer ordeal.)

Basal cell carcinoma, a slow-growing cancer, has traditionally been a disease of middle age. But it's been appearing with increasing frequency in people under 40, especially in women -- a demographic that also happens to like indoor tanning -- suggesting a link. So researchers at the Yale School of Public Health sought to study the association.

The study included 376 people under 40, who had been diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma between 2006 and 2010. They were matched with a control group of 390 dermatology patients who were diagnosed with minor skin conditions like cysts and warts. All participants had skin biopsies, and all were drawn from a Yale University database.

The researchers interviewed each participant about their UV exposure -- both in tanning beds and outdoors. They also asked about their history of sunburns, sunscreen use, family history of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers, and their self-reported eye, skin and hair color.

The conclusion: people who had ever used a tanning booth were 69% more likely to develop early-onset basal cell carcinoma than never tanners. Those who used tanning booths more regularly -- for at least six years -- were more than twice a likely to develop basal cell carcinoma, compared with never tanners.

The study found that women were far more devoted than men to indoor tanning, which might help explain why 70% of all early onset basal cell carcinomas occur in females. The authors concluded that about 27% of cases of early onset disease -- including 43% of cases in women -- could be prevented if people simply stopped using tanning booths.

That's a tall order, considering that some 30 million Americans use indoor tanning beds each year. Policy changes, such as the recent California ban on teen tanning, may help, the authors suggest. So would behavioral interventions aimed at women -- at least one study in 2010 found that the best way to get young women to tan less was to warn them about the skin-wrinkling effects of tanning-bed exposure, not the risk of skin cancer.

"Importantly, indoor tanning is a behavior that individuals can change. In conjunction with the findings on melanoma, our results for [basal cell carcinoma] indicate that reducing indoor tanning could translate to a meaningful reduction in the incidence of these two types of skin cancer," said Leah M. Ferrucci, first author of the paper and a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale School of Public Health, in a statement.

See TIME's Pictures of the Week.

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Saluki Athletics to hold fourth-annual Military Appreciation Day versus Indiana State

Military personal, veterans and family members can purchase discounted tickets to Friday's game

Jan. 9, 2012

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Saluki Athletics and the Grassy Lake Hunting Club announced that Friday's men's basketball game versus Indiana State will be the school's fourth-annual Military Appreciation Day.

All military personal, veterans and family members can purchase discounted tickets to the game for $10. Tickets may be purchased in advance or on the day of the game. Military identification (Military ID, DD214, service photo) is required to receive the discount.

Special activities will include Presentation of Colors and halftime recognition of wounded warriors from Southern Illinois University and the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Ky., as well as World War II veterans.

In addition, the Grassy Lake Hunting Club is sponsoring the third-annual Wounded Warrior Duck Hunt on Friday and Saturday. Prior to the hunt, wounded warriors will have lunch with the local Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter in Vienna on Friday, while Saturday's lunch will be hosted by Chancellor Dr. Rita Cheng and Director of Athletics Mario Moccia.

? ?

Source: http://onlyfans.cstv.com/schools/silu/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/010912aaa.html?source=rss_teams_Southern_Illinois_Salukis

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Texans win first playoff game, 31-10 over Bengals

Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt celebrates his touchdown on an interception of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton during the second quarter of an NFL wild card playoff football game Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt celebrates his touchdown on an interception of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton during the second quarter of an NFL wild card playoff football game Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson scores a touchdown with Cincinnati Bengals strong safety Chris Crocker (42) in pursuit during the third quarter of an NFL wild card playoff football game Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson (80) against the Cincinnati Bengals during the fourth quarter of an NFL wild card playoff football game Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/Dave Einsel)

Houston Texans running back Arian Foster (23) celebrates his touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals during the fourth quarter of an NFL wild card playoff football game Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/Dave Einsel)

Houston Texans running back Arian Foster (23) celebrates his touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals during the fourth quarter of an NFL wild card playoff football game Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/Dave Einsel)

HOUSTON (AP) ? Andre Johnson hugged his coach at the end of Houston's first playoff victory ? a moment a decade in the making.

"This is something not just for me, but for the whole organization," the Texans star receiver said. "It's a very special feeling. That's probably the most I've smiled in a long time."

As well he should.

Johnson, the face of this 10-year old franchise, scored on a 40-yard pass that powered the Texans to a 31-10 victory over the bungling Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday in an AFC wild-card game.

Johnson had plenty of help, too, from rookies J.J. Watt and T.J. Yates to running back Arian Foster's two touchdowns and 153 yards.

Watt came through with a leaping interception return for a touchdown late in the first half, Yates threw a pinpoint pass to Johnson in the third quarter and Foster followed with his second touchdown ? a 42-yard run in the fourth quarter ? to finish off the Bengals (9-8).

Houston will play at Baltimore (12-4) next Sunday, a rematch of a regular-season game won by the Ravens.

"I'm just very proud of all the guys, and the job they did," Texans coach Gary Kubiak said. "Hopefully, there are some more to come."

The Bengals were in the playoffs for the third time in seven seasons, but haven't advanced since beating the Houston Oilers following the 1990 season. They were done in this time by mistakes and a lack of pass protection.

"We have to get beyond this," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. "We play in a very difficult division. We have to win games in the division, that is important and it sets up opportunities like this, all the time."

Watt returned the first of rookie Andy Dalton's three interceptions 29 yards for a score that broke a 10-all tie with 52 seconds left in the half. It sent the full house of 71,725 fans at Reliant Stadium into a frenzy, and the Texans into the locker room with all the momentum.

"You can see that they were all so proud of their team," Houston owner Bob McNair said of the team's long-suffering fans. "We want to have a team everybody can be proud of and want to feel an attachment to. I think they have that."

Dalton was 24 of 42 for 257 yards, while Yates was 11 of 20 for 159 yards in the first playoff game in the Super Bowl era matching two rookie quarterbacks. Foster's first TD was an 8-yard run in the first quarter.

The Texans' second-ranked defense had its best performance in several weeks, sacking Dalton a season-high four times. Houston also forced four turnovers.

"We got back to our type of football," Kubiak said, "and that was the key."

Houston used six draft picks on defensive players. The Texans took Watt with the 11th overall pick, a cornerstone for the reconstruction of the defense. He started all 16 games and led the team with 13 tackles for loss.

But he'd never picked off a pass.

Watt saw this one coming, measuring his jump when Dalton dropped back and snatching the ball with both hands. He sprinted to the end zone as the capacity crowd erupted, and he raised both hands after reaching the end zone.

"I was really just trying to put my hands up and get in the way of the passing lane," the 6-foot-5 Watt said. "It happened to kind of stick. I realized I had the ball so I just ran to the end zone just trying not to fall down."

Watt became the sixth defensive linemen to return an interception for a touchdown in postseason history ? excluding the Super Bowl ? and the first rookie to do it.

"It changed the momentum of the game," Houston linebacker Brian Cushing said.

Dalton rolled his eyes and shook his head as he walked to the Cincinnati bench and watched the replay on the giant scoreboard. It was just his second interception in his last seven games.

"We feel like we have a bright future," Dalton said. "It's still unfortunate that it ended this way."

The Bengals outplayed the Texans for most of the first half before that, holding down Houston's offense and controlling time of possession.

Late in the third quarter, Yates got away with a pass that safety Chris Crocker simply dropped. Three plays later, Johnson broke free from cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones and caught Yates' pass down the sideline to put Houston up 24-10.

"It was a touchdown if I would have caught it," Crocker said. "They made those big plays and we didn't and that's why they're moving on."

As Johnson rested on the bench, Foster walked up to him and gave him a bow, the running back's customary celebration after a touchdown. Foster has said that the bow is a Hindu gesture of respect.

The Texans rallied past the Bengals on Dec. 11 in Cincinnati to earn their first playoff berth. But they didn't look like they'd last very long after dropping their last three regular-season games.

Johnson said the losing streak proved to be beneficial.

"Everybody was riding high, the city was going crazy, we were in the playoffs for the first time," Johnson said. "Over those last three weeks, that brought us back down to reality and let us know what we needed to do."

Notes:(at) NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell chatted with fans and posed for photographs on the field about 30 minutes before kickoff. ... Actor Dennis Quaid, a Houston native, wore a blue DeMeco Ryans jersey as he mingled on the sideline before the game. Quaid shook hands with former Oilers coach Bum Phillips, who wore his trademark cowboy hat, a black shirt and blue jeans. The 88-year-old Phillips led the Texans out of their tunnel and tipped his hat to the cheering fans.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-07-Bengals-Texans/id-61beb2b9bf3e4c14912a222102f6417a

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How do you wean college kids off family payroll?

Did you ever want to be a personal-finance advice columnist? Well, here's your chance.

In MONEY magazine's "Readers to the Rescue" department, we publish questions from readers seeking help with sticky financial situations ? and advice from other readers on how to solve those problems. Here's our latest reader question:

I have twin daughters in their senior year of college. I made the mistake of not teaching them much about budgets and budgeting. I need to help them understand that after they graduate, they need to start being financially responsible for themselves. I realize I can't just cut them off, but how do I wean them off of the family payroll?

Got a good answer for that question? Submit it to us in the form below. We'll publish selected reader advice in an upcoming issue. (Your answer may be edited for length and clarity.) Please include your contact information so we can get in touch;?if we use your advice in the magazine,?we'd like to check with you first, and possibly run your picture as well.

Thanks!

To be notified of future "Readers to the Rescue" questions and answers,?find MONEY on Facebook?or?follow MONEY on Twitter.

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NCAA || SMU vs Pittsburgh live stream COMPASS BOWL 2012 College football HD TV

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N.H. GOP Debate:Paul and Gingrich Discuss Military Service

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Source: nation.foxnews.com --- Sunday, January 08, 2012
Heated Exchange Between Paul And Gingrich Over Military Service January 7, 2012 at 11:25 pm - ABC News Dateline: New Hampshire breitbart.tv Ron Paul continued to attack Newt Gingrich as a "chicken hawk" for not serving in the armed forces. The exchange became heated and emotional. ...

Source: http://nation.foxnews.com/new-hampshire-gop-debate-2012/2012/01/08/nh-gop-debatepaul-and-gingrich-discuss-military-service

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M. Basketball. Clemson vs. Florida State Postgame Coaches' Quotes

Jan. 7, 2012

Recap?|? Box Score?|? Photo Gallery?

Clemson Head Coach Brad Brownell

Overall thoughts:
"It was a great win for our guys. I thought we were really ready to play. I was quietly optimistic. I thought we had a great week of practice. Our players were locked in and really focused, and we competed hard. I thought the second half of East Tennessee State put our guys in good spirits. We made a lot of tough plays today. We made 11 straight stops in the first half and we were able to score off of a bunch of those. Then we did a really good job of just keeping them at bay. It's really hard, when you have a lead like that, to keep it at a point where you can relax a little bit. Our guys did a good job of hanging in there, finishing plays, and making free throws. We got contributions from a lot of guys."

On how his team's early run affected the game:
"Games change, and games are different. Certainly, when we jumped out, it changed a little bit of the way Florida State had to play. They had to come out and try to get into us, and it opened the court for us to be able to drive the ball more. That's one of the reasons why we had so many free throws. We were in a situation where we could attack. I'm certainly unbelievably proud of how hard our guys competed and the way they defended at a very high level today. Florida State is the kind of team that crashes the board so much that you know if you can get a defensive rebound, you have a chance to go attack them. They are hard to keep off the glass. They got a bunch of offensive rebounds, but we also got a few layups."

On Andre Young's ability to get to the free throw line:
"Part of it is the way the game was played and the way they defended. It shows his improvement as a player, though, to be able to put the ball on the floor and create more. That's not something that he's done as much throughout his career. We worked really hard with him this spring, and he did a great job this spring and summer working on his skills. That has helped him attack the basket."

On the play of Catalin Baciu, particularly in the first half:
"He's a big kid. When he's comfortable and when he's locked in, he can be a problem for people, especially when we've got them spread out a little bit. I thought our guys did a phenomenal job of leading him to baskets. He's holding the guy off, but our guys are passing it to him where all he has to do is turn and hook it in quickly. We had a couple of guys make feeds to him where that was all he really had to do. I thought they did a good job of really finding him."

On how this team compares to last year's group:
"We're not where we were last year. We played a very good game today, but we're not where we were last year right now. We've got a lot more things that we have to do better. But I do think our team is improving. I thought Hawaii was good for us to get some freshmen some time to play. They didn't all play very well at times, and I reminded them that we didn't win very much in Hawaii. So they didn't play very much against East Tennessee. That was part of a teaching moment for me with those guys. But I also told them that we can't survive the ACC playing six guys, so they're going to have to play and earn their time in practice. This week, they practiced much better. We got their focus back, and they were much more competitive in practice. That's what they have to do. They have to help us. I've been talking all year about how we don't have a home run hitter. We don't have a guy that we can pencil in 18 points for. But we have a lot of guys that, if they play well, we can do good things. But we've had a hard time having multiple players play well, especially offensively, on a given night. Today, we did."

---

Florida State Head Coach Leonard Hamilton

Overall Thoughts:
"That was one of our worst games. It just wasn't a well-played game. I didn't see that coming because we had had a good week of practice. We played with an extreme amount of energy the other night against Auburn, and we didn't bring that type of energy tonight. We had about seven open looks that we only made one of. That was disappointing. They went on that run in the first half and we just couldn't dig ourselves out of that hole. This was uncharacteristic focus for our team. We're usually able to bounce back and go on a run and get back in it, but we just didn't give that kind energy tonight."

On scoreless drought in the first half:
"That's been the norm for this team. We've been on a lot of runs this year where we haven't been able to score, even though we've gotten good shots up. We evaluate all the film and the guys work hard in practice and are focused, but sometimes we can't translate that effort onto the court in a game. We need to fix that, fast."

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Source: http://onlyfans.cstv.com/schools/clem/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/010712aad.html

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bellevillenewsd: Saturday's high school sports scores and schedule: Area high school sports scores and schedule: http://t.co/HWSNPLiy

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Iran holds military exercise near Afghan border (Reuters)

TEHRAN (Reuters) ? Iran launched a military maneuver near its border with Afghanistan on Saturday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, days after naval exercises in the Gulf increased tensions with the West and pushed up oil prices.

Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the Revolutionary Guards' ground forces, said the "Martyrs of Unity" exercises near Khvat, 60 km (40 miles) from Afghanistan, were "aimed at boosting security along the Iranian borders," Fars reported.

The Revolutionary Guards' naval forces' 10-day exercise in the Gulf that ended last Monday worsened relations with Washington days after U.S. President Barack Obama approved sanctions that aim to stop countries buying Iranian oil.

Threats that Iran could close the Strait of Hormuz, which leads out of the Gulf and provides the outlet for most oil from the Middle East, pushed up oil prices and Iran warned Washington not to send an aircraft carrier back into the Gulf.

Forces with the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier strike group, the target of Tehran's threat, rescued 13 Iranian fishermen from Somali pirates days after passing through the Strait. [ID:nL6E8C6004]

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi played down the political significance of the rescue.

"On some occasions, Iran has helped and secured the released of many other countries' sailors that had been caught by pirates," he told state-run Press TV.

"This is a humanitarian gesture and it is not related to the countries' relations with each other."

(Reporting By Mitra Amiri; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120107/wl_nm/us_iran

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