French minister says 'no confidence' in steel tycoon Mittal

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PARIS: A French minister cast doubt Sunday on whether the world's top steelmaker ArcelorMittal would keep its end of the bargain after a compromise deal on a key plant that Paris had threatened to nationalise.

The dispute over the closure of blast furnaces at the Florange plant risked damaging France's image among investors, after a virulent attack by a minister on the company owned by Indian-born steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal.

"There has been an agreement but there is no confidence," French Ecology Minister Delphine Batho told the iTele network.

"Mittal has never kept his promises in the past," she said. "We are absolutely mobilised and the arm-wrestling with Mittal will continue to ensure that the pledges are respected."

Unions also echoed her fears, while Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault defended the compromise deal.

"Our negotiations with Mittal had been bitter and difficult because we refused vague statements and wanted unconditional and specific commitments," Ayrault told the regional daily Le Republicain Lorrain.

The head of the French employers federation Medef, Laurence Parisot, also hailed the accord, saying it was "very clear: there is no job loss".

She added, however, that the doubts regarding Mittal's good faith were "dramatic", as union representatives voiced their concerns.

"The government's decision has created a lot of disappointment and left a bitter taste," said Jean-Claude Mailly, secretary general of Force Ouvriere, one of France's top three unions.

Mailly told the weekly Journal du Dimanche that he was "very sceptical" about Mittal's promises.

"He had (earlier) promised 320 million for Florange but we never saw the cash," he said.

"We have the feeling we have once again been betrayed," said Edouard Martin, a spokesman for the CFDT union at the Florange plant. "We don't trust Mittal at all."

The unions are due to meet Ayrault on Wednesday.

Ayrault announced a deal Friday in which he said ArcelorMittal had committed to invest at least 180 million euros ($234 million) over five years at the Florange site in northeastern France.

The government and the steelmaker had been waging high-stakes brinkmanship for weeks over the fate of two blast furnaces at the plant.

ArcelorMittal wanted to shut them for good because of a slump in demand for low-end steel products.

It had given the government until December 1 to find a buyer for the blast furnaces after which it would begin laying off around 630 employees.

The government responded by threatening to nationalise the entire site, which contains facilities to produce higher-end products that ArcelorMittal wanted to keep. Paris said it could not find a buyer for just the furnaces.

Under Friday's deal, the two blast furnaces ArcelorMittal had closed would be left intact until EU financing was confirmed for an existing carbon-capture project, while ArcelorMittal agreed not to proceed with forced job cuts.

A decision on funding the project will be taken on December 20, a week after it is examined by the member states, a top European source told AFP in Brussels.

The dispute had left President Francois Hollande's government caught between a pledge to protect jobs and the need to improve industrial competitiveness in the face of rising unemployment and stagnant growth.

It also came at a difficult time for ArcelorMittal. The company is saddled with a debt mountain that is expected to rise to $22 billion by the end of the year, with Moody's recently downgrading its credit rating to junk status.

- AFP/fa



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Some iMacs labeled 'Assembled in USA,' teardown shows

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Some new iMacs, including the 21.5-inch iMac, are labeled as 'assembled in USA.'

Some new iMacs, including the 21.5-inch iMac, are labeled as 'assembled in USA.'



(Credit:
Apple)


Could Apple be assembling some new iMacs in the U.S.? A teardown of a new model introduced on Thursday shows an
iMac with this marking.


A teardown by iFixit revealed markings on the back of an iMac that say, "Designed by Apple in California, Assembled in USA."


What isn't clear at this point is whether this is a new Apple policy to assemble new products in the U.S. or imprecise Apple labeling.


Refurbished products and some custom-ordered Apple products are modified in the U.S. -- but that's different than assembling a standard product at a factory.


9to5Mac believes that etching "assembled in USA" into the product's aluminum (see image below) indicates that this may be more than refurbished or custom-ordered units.


Indeed, it would be a departure from Apple's policy of making virtually all of its marquee products in Asia.


Apple has a long history of assembling products in the U.S. -- including assembly operations in California -- but that strategy ended many years ago when it off-shored assembly and manufacture of virtually all of its computer products to Asia.



The 'assembled in USA' marking on the back of an iMac that iFixit got

The 'assembled in USA' marking on the back of an iMac that iFixit got.



(Credit:
iFixit)


And this raises the question of, what does "assembled in USA" mean exactly? In an interview with CNET in October, Lenovo described its new assembly operations in North Carolina as follows:


Long conveyor belts, if you will, and kits moving from worker to worker with specific assembly tasks, starting with a basic chassis of the computer and plugging in the various components to the end of the line. Then there will be a testing station and then a boxing station.
It's not unlike the assembly work that's done in China, though some of the facilities in China may do a little bit more work on subsystem assembly. It's the same model we use at our facility in Monterrey, Mexico, which supports North America, and the same model we use in Europe.

The "correct designation" under U.S law is "assembled in the U.S. with some foreign content," according to Lenovo.


Apple has yet to respond to a request for comment.


[Via 9to5Mac ]



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Photos: Kilauea Lava Reaches the Sea

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Chiefs: Jovan Didn't Have 'Long Concussion History'

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The death of Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher, the latest in a string of tragic NFL suicides, has left the player's teammates, coaches, family and friends wondering what could have led a man described as generous and caring to murder his girlfriend -- the mother of his 3-month-old daughter -- and then kill himself.


Kansas City police say Belcher, 25, shot and killed his girlfriend Saturday morning before going to the team stadium and and committing suicide by shooting himself in the head as he was talking to coaches.


"When the officers arrived, when they were pulling up, they actually observed a black male who had a gun to his head and he was talking to a couple of coaches out in the parking lot," Kansas City Police spokesman Darin Snapp told ABC News Radio. "As officers pulled up, and began to park, that's when they heard the gunshot and it appears the individual took his own life."


It's not yet clear what prompted Belcher's actions, but his suicide follows those of former NFL players Junior Seau, 43, and Dave Duerson, 50, both of whom died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the chest in the last two years.


The suicides of Seau, Duerson and a number of other NFL players have been blamed on concussions racked up from playing the violent sport, and a condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, but that may not be the case for Belcher.








Kansas City Chiefs Player Jovan Belcher's Murder-Suicide Watch Video









Did Brain Injury Lead to NFL Star's Suicide? Watch Video







Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said today that Belcher was "a player who had not had a long concussion history," even though he was a three-time all-America wrestler and a star on the football team at his West Babylon, N.Y., high school.


Seau's and Duerson's brains are both being studied at Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, where researchers have already learned that Duerson had CTE, which may have led to his suicide.


CTE is a progressive, degenerative disease found in people who have had brain trauma from repeated blows to the head, according to the Center. It includes brain tissue degeneration and a buildup of an abnormal protein called tao, resulting in symptoms including confusion, aggression, and depression. Ultimately, CTE results in dementia.


In 2006, former Pittsburgh Steelers player Terry Long killed himself by drinking antifreeze, and former Philadelphia Eagles player Andre Waters shot himself in the head. Both of them suffered from CTE.


Researchers at Boston University found evidence of CTE in 12 of the 13 professional football players' brains they received between 2008 and 2010, according to the university. CTE can also be found in hockey players, wrestlers, and boxers.


"Football is entertainment in which the audience is expected to delight in gladiatorial action that a growing portion of the audience knows may cause the players degenerative brain disease," ABC News' George Will wrote in a Washington Post column published Aug. 3 just before he appeared on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."


Will cited Seau and Duerson in his column, both of whom committed suicide after 2010, adding that 62-year-old former NFL safety Ray Easterling committed suicide in April 2012. Esterling's autopsy revealed that he had dementia and depression brought on by CTE.





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McAfee comes out of hiding

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WASHINGTON: Anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee, wanted by authorities in Belize, has come out of hiding to insist he did not kill his neighbour or hire someone to do the crime.

"I will certainly not turn myself in, and I will certainly not quit fighting," McAfee told CNN on Friday in his first on-camera interview since going on the run from Belizean authorities.

"It hasn't been a lot of fun. I miss my prior life. Much of it has been deprivation. No baths, poor food."

Police say they simply want to question the 67-year-old about the murder of fellow American Gregory Faull, a Florida native who was found dead at his home last month in a pool of blood on the Caribbean island of Ambergris Caye.

A police report said that Faull, 52, was shot in the back of the head. There were no signs of a break-in, and a laptop and cell phone were missing.

McAfee says he fears for his life and is fleeing authorities with whom he has been at odds ever since refusing to make a donation to a local politician's campaign.

The Internet security guru only agreed to the CNN interview after a series of cloak and dagger steps that involved middle-men, telephone calls with different numbers and a meeting at a safe house that required a secret phrase and response, according to the television network.

McAfee said he is so fearful that he carries up to a dozen disposable cell phones at a time, and estimates he has gone through 200 of the devices since fleeing nearly a month ago.

He has launched a blog, whoismcafee.com, to counter what he sees as erroneous claims by the media or authorities about him.

"I'm going to fight until something changes," McAfee said, declining to indicate how long he would remain in hiding.

McAfee predicted the saga would only end with his arrest or if he manages to elude corrupt officials.

"Get away doesn't mean leave the country," he said. "It means they will, number two, find the murderer of Mr. Faull and, number two, the people of this country -- who are by and large terrified to speak out -- start speaking out."

McAfee claims that someone poisoned four of his dogs, and that he shot each in the head to put them out of their misery and buried them on his property. On his blog, McAfee said that another one of his dogs was poisoned while police raided his home.

The dogs' barking and aggressive behaviour are said to have been a cause of friction between McAfee and Faull.

McAfee, who made millions when he sold his anti-virus software company in the early 1990s, has been living in Belize for the past four years.

In a separate investigation, police searched McAfee's mansion earlier this year looking for weapons and drugs, and detained him for several hours.

- AFP/fa



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A new use for your power drill: Eating corn

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Revolutionary.



(Credit:
NewsinWorld/YouTube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)


I have a friend called Shirley.


She is from very refined stock. One of the results of this is that she can eat corn on the cob with such speed and precision that what remains when she's finished is a perfectly smooth stick.


Not everyone can do this.


Which is why I was especially moved by a YouTube video that suggests a new way to eat corn if not with utter precision, at least with astounding speed.



Here is a gentleman (he might well be French) who places the corn on a drill bit and then, well, inserts it into his power drill.



More Technically Incorrect



Then he turns it on.


I wouldn't for a moment suggest that you should try this at home. Or, indeed, anywhere.


But there is something inspiring in the lateral thinking that must have led him to take a simple domestic gadget and find a revolutionary use for it.


I can see an exclusive restaurant -- say Thomas Keller's Per Se in New York or Grant Achatz' Alinea in Chicago -- giving their customers little power drills with which they eat not only corn but also, perhaps, a little quail, a pigeon, or even a kabob.


The human mind has surely seen only a minimum of its potential in action.


The possibilities are infinite, as this gentleman proves.


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Photos: Kilauea Lava Reaches the Sea

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Police: KC Chiefs Player Killed Girlfriend, Self

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Jovan Belcher, a linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs, committed suicide today in front of his coaches and police officers outside the team's stadium, shortly after he fatally shot his girlfriend, police said.


"We heard that they had been arguing in the past [and] as far as recently, they'd been arguing before the shooting occurred this morning," Kansas City Police spokesman Darin Snapp told ABC News Radio.


The victim was identified Kasandra Perkins, 22. Snapp said the couple had lived together and had a 3-month-old daughter.


Perkins' mother first alerted police this morning that her daughter had been shot by her boyfriend, who was a Kansas City Chiefs player, Snapp said.


It is believed Belcher drove to Arrowhead Stadium shortly after the shooting and police were called.


"When the officers arrived, when they were pulling up, they actually observed a black male who had a gun to his head and he was talking to a couple of coaches out in the parking lot," Snapp said. "As officers pulled up, and began to park, that's when they heard the gunshot and it appears the individual took his own life."


Snapp said the coaches told officers they didn't feel they were in any danger from Belcher.












Idaho Teacher Accused of Locking Boy, 5, in Dark Closet Watch Video





"They said the player was actually thanking them for everything they'd done for him," he said. "They were just talking to him and he was thanking them and everything. That's when he walked away and shot himself."


Kansas City is scheduled to host the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, and the league has told the Panthers to go ahead with their travel plans because the game will be played as scheduled.


In a statement posted on their website, the Chiefs said they are "cooperating with authorities in their investigation" and did not mention Belcher by name.


The 6-foot-2, 228-pound linebacker joined the Kansas City Chiefs in 2009, and had spent all four seasons of his career with the team. He has played every in game since joining the team.


Originally from West Babylon, N.Y., where he was a three-time all-America wrestler in addition to playing on the football team, Belcher went undrafted out of the University of Maine, where he started all 45 games in which he played.


Maine Head Football Coach Jack Cosgrove described Jovan as a "tremendous student-athlete."


"His move to the NFL was in keeping with his dreams," Cosgrove said in a statement released by the university today. "This is an indescribably horrible tragedy. At this difficult time, our thoughts and prayers are with Jovan, Kasandra and their families."


Belcher signed with the Chiefs as a rookie free agent, started 15 of 16 games his second season and last year started all 16 games as left inside linebacker.


Belcher expressed gratitude for his NFL career in an article posted on Nov. 21 on the Chiefs' website that has since been taken down.


"First and foremost, God. Family and friends just keeping me focused, coaches and just everyone," he said.



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Today on New Scientist: 30 November 2012

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Dinosaurs might have once gazed into the Grand Canyon

It had been thought that the canyon formed 6 million years ago, but now two geologists say it is actually closer to 70 million years old



Saturn's rings may double up as a moon factory

A new model suggests Saturn's famous rings spawned the planet's moons. Could the mechanism explain the moons of Uranus, Neptune and even Earth?



Gaming the future: the best of 2012

New Scientist looks back at the video games that explored the boundaries of science and technology this year



Friday Illusion: Mystery mirror reveals missing banana

A prize for the first person to figure out how a strange mirror image remains in view



Syria again disconnects nation from the internet

Once again, the Syrian government appears to have pulled the plug on the internet, cutting off its citizens from the rest of the world



Crowdfund your area's projects one brick at a time

As the recession bites and budgets are cut, websites are springing up that allow citizens to club together to fund everything from parks to bridges



Omniphobia: the stuffs that stick at nothing

Whether it's water, oil, ketchup or ants, materials that repel everything that touches them are on the way, says Jessica Griggs



Feedback: Commas in breach of copyright

Why these words break the law, impure apples, Google rewrites the history of everything, and more



A quantum of... We want to see your movies!

The deadline for the Quantum Shorts Film Competition is hard on us and we've already had some amazing entries - submit yours before Sunday



LHC sees hint of high-speed particle pancake

Purely by accident, the Higgs-boson-hunting Large Hadron Collider may have stumbled upon a rare state of matter called a colour-glass condensate



Social bee-haviour: The secret life of the hive

Bees have a brain the size of a pinhead, yet their daily activities rival the range of behaviours seen in many mammals



Florida pet spa mystery link to China's great firewall

China's censors have innovative ways of stopping its citizens accessing banned websites, including poisoning internet servers



Giant tortoises bounce back in the Galapagos

A slow and steady rescue mission has seen the population of the iconic creatures on Española Island leap from just 12 into the thousands



Messenger finds hints of ice at Mercury's poles

The innermost planet of the solar system could harbour a small polar habitable zone - but the chances of finding life there are remote



Projections of sea level rise are vast underestimates

Estimates made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007 were wildly wrong





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Mexico's incoming president unveils cabinet

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MEXICO CITY: Mexico's incoming president Enrique Pena Nieto named his cabinet Friday, picking close advisors for key posts managing the drug war and the economy on the eve of his inauguration.

Pena Nieto takes the oath of office on Saturday, marking the return of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) after a 12-year absence from the presidency. The PRI ruled Mexico for most of the 20th century.

His 20-member cabinet includes only three women, a few independents from the left and one holdover from the administration of President Felipe Calderon of the conservative National Action Party (PAN).

The cabinet was presented by Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, a 48-year-old former Hidalgo state governor and friend of Pena Nieto's who will become interior minister, one of the most high-profile jobs.

Pena Nieto wants to bestow more powers to the interior ministry, giving it the responsibility of coordinating a drug war that has left more than 60,000 people dead in the last six years.

The congress, however, must still approve changes that will transfer the responsibilities of the public security ministry, including the scandal-plagued federal police, to the interior ministry.

The new finance minister will be Luis Videgaray, a 44-year-old economist who is considered the "brain" of the new president's circle. Videgaray managed Pena Nieto's campaign and headed the transition team.

His tasks will include steering structural reforms that the next president wants to implement in order to boost the economy.

Pena Nieto also decided to bring on board Calderon's finance minister, Jose Antonio Meade, who will become foreign minister, handling ties with the world, especially the United States, Mexico's powerful neighbor and drug war partner.

-AFP/ac



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