Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Earthquakes turn water into gold

About alberto de leon(Earthquakes Turn Water Into Gold)vox-4b http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/earthquakes-turn-water-gold-180356174.html .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Previously, scientists suspected fluids would effervesce, bubbling like an opened soda bottle, during earthquakes or other pressure changes. This would line underground pockets with gold. Others suggested minerals would simply accumulate slowly over time. During an earthquake, the fault jog suddenly opens wider. It's like pulling the lid off a pressure cooker: The water inside the void instantly vaporizes, flashing to steam and forcing silica, which forms the mineral quartz, and gold out of the fluids and onto nearby surfaces, suggest Weatherley and co-author Richard Henley, of the Australian National University in Canberra. ..............................................................................................................................................

Earthquakes Turn Water Into Gold

By Becky Oskin, OurAmazingPlanet Staff Writer | LiveScience.com – Sun, Mar 17, 2013

Earthquakes have the Midas touch, a new study claims.

Water in faults vaporizes during an earthquake, depositing gold, according to a model published in the March 17 issue of the journal Nature Geoscience. The model provides a quantitative mechanism for the link between gold and quartz seen in many of the world's gold deposits, said Dion Weatherley, a geophysicist at the University of Queensland in Australia and lead author of the study.

When an earthquake strikes, it moves along a rupture in the ground — a fracture called a fault. Big faults can have many small fractures along their length, connected by jogs that appear as rectangular voids. Water often lubricates faults, filling in fractures and jogs.

About 6 miles (10 kilometers) below the surface, under incredible temperatures and pressures, the water carries high concentrations of carbon dioxide, silica and economically attractive elements like gold.

Shake, rattle and gold

During an earthquake, the fault jog suddenly opens wider. It's like pulling the lid off a pressure cooker: The water inside the void instantly vaporizes, flashing to steam and forcing silica, which forms the mineral quartz, and gold out of the fluids and onto nearby surfaces, suggest Weatherley and co-author Richard Henley, of the Australian National University in Canberra.

While scientists have long suspected that sudden pressure drops could account for the link between giant gold deposits and ancient faults, the study takes this idea to the extreme, said Jamie Wilkinson, a geochemist at Imperial College London in the United Kingdom, who was not involved in the study.

"To me, it seems pretty plausible. It's something that people would probably want to model either experimentally or numerically in a bit more detail to see if it would actually work," Wilkinson told OurAmazingPlanet.

Previously, scientists suspected fluids would effervesce, bubbling like an opened soda bottle, during earthquakes or other pressure changes. This would line underground pockets with gold. Others suggested minerals would simply accumulate slowly over time.

Weatherley said the amount of gold left behind after an earthquake is tiny, because underground fluids carry at most only one part per million of the precious element. But an earthquake zone like New Zealand's Alpine Fault, one of the world's fastest, could build a mineable deposit in 100,000 years, he said.

Surprisingly, the quartz doesn't even have time to crystallize, the study indicates. Instead, the mineral comes out of the fluid in the form of nanoparticles, perhaps even making a gel-like substance on the fracture walls. The quartz nanoparticles then crystallize over time. [Gold Quiz: From Nuggets to Flecks]

Even earthquakes smaller than magnitude 4.0, which may rattle nerves but rarely cause damage, can trigger flash vaporization, the study finds.

"Given that small-magnitude earthquakes are exceptionally frequent in fault systems, this process may be the primary driver for the formation of economic gold deposits," Weatherley told OurAmazingPlanet.

The hills have gold

Quartz-linked gold has sourced some famous deposits, such as the placer gold that sparked the 19th-century California and Klondike gold rushes. Both deposits had eroded from quartz veins upstream.Placer gold consists of particles, flakes and nuggets mixed in with sand and gravel in stream and river beds. Prospectors traced the gravels back to their sources, where hard-rock mining continues today.

But earthquakes aren't the only cataclysmic source of gold. Volcanoes and their underground plumbing are just as prolific, if not more so, at producing the precious metal. While Weatherley and Henley suggest that a similar process could take place under volcanoes, Wilkinson, who studies volcano-linked gold, said that's not the case.

"Beneath volcanoes, most of the gold is not precipitated in faults that are active during earthquakes," Wilkinson said. "It's a very different mechanism."

Understanding how gold forms helps companies prospect for new mines. "This new knowledge on gold-deposit formation mechanisms may assist future gold exploration efforts," Weatherley said.

In their quest for gold, humans have pulled more than 188,000 tons (171,000 metric tons) of the metal from the ground, exhausting easily accessed sources, according to the World Gold Council, an industry group.

Email Becky Oskin or follow her @beckyoskin. Follow us @OAPlanet, Facebook or Google+. Original article on LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Saudi death from SARS-like virus: WHO

About alberto de leon(Saudi death from SARS-like virus: WHO)-3b http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/saudi-death-sars-virus-215307668.html ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................."The WHO does not advise special screening at points of entry with regard to this event nor does it recommend that any travel or trade restrictions be applied," it said. . The United Nations agency said the Saudi health ministry informed it that a 39-year-old man, who developed symptoms on February 24 and was hospitalised four days later, died on March 2. Novel coronavirus -- known in health jargon as nCoV -- was first detected in the middle of last year.

Including the latest victim, a total of 15 cases have now been reported.

The nine fatalities have been clustered in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Britain. In the latter country, it affected a family, one of the members of which had visited the Middle East and Pakistan. ............................................................................................................................................

Saudi death from SARS-like virus: WHO

By AFP | AFP – 7 hours ago

A SARS-like virus that has struck in Britain and the Middle East has claimed a new victim in Saudi Arabia, bringing the global toll from the mystery illness to nine, the World Health Organisation said Tuesday.

The United Nations agency said the Saudi health ministry informed it that a 39-year-old man, who developed symptoms on February 24 and was hospitalised four days later, died on March 2.

"Preliminary investigation indicated that the patient had no contact with previously reported cases," the WHO said in a statement. "Other potential exposures are under investigation."

Novel coronavirus -- known in health jargon as nCoV -- was first detected in the middle of last year.

Including the latest victim, a total of 15 cases have now been reported.

The nine fatalities have been clustered in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Britain. In the latter country, it affected a family, one of the members of which had visited the Middle East and Pakistan.

On Tuesday the WHO reiterated calls on its member states to remain vigilant for cases of severe acute respiratory infections and to carefully review any unusual patterns.

"The WHO is currently working with international experts and countries where cases have been reported to assess the situation and review recommendations for surveillance and monitoring," it said.

Member states should promptly assess and notify WHO of any new case of infection with nCoV, along with information about potential exposures that may have resulted in infection, it added.

"The WHO does not advise special screening at points of entry with regard to this event nor does it recommend that any travel or trade restrictions be applied," it said.

Coronaviruses cause most common colds and pneumonia, but are also to blame for unusual conditions such as severe acute respiratory syndrome, better known by its acronym SARS.

A SARS epidemic killed more than 800 people when it swept out of China in 2003, sparking a major international health scare.

The new virus however is different from SARS, especially in that it causes rapid kidney failure.

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Sunday, March 10, 2013

CMHA security officer wins $13.2 million verdict for civil rights violation by Cleveland detectives

About alberto de leon(Security officer wins $13.2 million verdict)vox-b3 http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/03/post_113.html ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................."They manipulated the evidence, and didn't look at anyone else except the most convenient suspect to convict. The word 'railroaded' was thrown around the jury room during deliberations." ..............................................................................................................................................Ayers continued to maintain his innocence, filing appeals while serving a life prison term for aggravated murder. He finally prevailed in 2011, when DNA tests proved that a single pubic hair found in Brown's mouth did not come from him.
The lawyers representing Ayers in the civil rights lawsuit argued that anti-gay sentiments caused the two detectives to frame their client for the slaying despite evidence that Brown also had been sexually assaulted. ................................................................................................................................................

CMHA security officer wins $13.2 million verdict for civil rights violations by Cleveland detectives

By James F. McCarty, The Plain Dealer
on March 08, 2013 at 6:22 PM, updated March 08, 2013 at 6:39 PM

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David Ayers, center, walks out of the Cuyahoga County Justice Center a free man in 2011 after serving 11 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. Ayers won a $13.2 million verdict in federal court Friday. At right is Carrie Wood of the Innonence Project.Plain Dealer file photo

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A federal jury awarded $13.2 million to a former housing authority security officer Friday after finding two Cleveland detectives fabricated or withheld evidence at his 2000 murder trial.
David Ayers, 56, who spent 11 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit, and several jurors wept as the verdict against detectives Denise Kovach and Michael Cipo was read in U.S. District Court.
"These detectives didn't do their jobs at all," juror Stephanie Kocian told The Plain Dealer in an interview. "They manipulated the evidence, and didn't look at anyone else except the most convenient suspect to convict. The word 'railroaded' was thrown around the jury room during deliberations."
At the time of his 1999 arrest, Ayers had been working for more than eight years as a security officer with the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority. He was accused and eventually convicted of the beating death 76-year-old Dorothy Brown, who lived in a CMHA high rise in Cleveland.
Ayers continued to maintain his innocence, filing appeals while serving a life prison term for aggravated murder. He finally prevailed in 2011, when DNA tests proved that a single pubic hair found in Brown's mouth did not come from him.
The lawyers representing Ayers in the civil rights lawsuit argued that anti-gay sentiments caused the two detectives to frame their client for the slaying despite evidence that Brown also had been sexually assaulted.
Brown's body was found naked from the waist down, and her top pulled up, exposing her chest.
A statement released by Ayer's Chicago lawyers on Friday said the detectives had "no reason to suspect Mr. Ayers of having murdered Ms. Brown. Mr. Ayers was innocent and had nothing to do with the crime. Moreover, as a gay man, Mr. Ayers did not fit the profile of the killer in the case, given the obvious sexual nature in which the victim had been attacked."
Kovach and Cipo blamed the pubic hair on Brown's messy apartment.
The 11-member jury reached its verdict after four days of testimony and one day of deliberation.
"This should have been stopped a long time ago," Ayers told The Plain Dealer minutes after the vedict was read. "My goal is that it never happens to anyone else ever again."
Cleveland Law Director Barbara Langhenry, whose office defended the detectives, released a one-sentence statement: "We are disappointed in the verdict and are considering our options."
Attorney Rachel Steinback of Chicago, who represented Ayers, said the city is self-insured, so the $13.2 million will come from taxpayer money, not an insurance company.
Kocian said she was proud of the jury's verdict and troubled by the poor quality of the homicide detectives' investigation. She said she was "appalled" that the case even made it to trial.
"We did him justice," she said. "He deserved it. I found him absolutely credible and believed every word he said."
In 2008, the Ohio Innocence Project went to work on Ayers' case, and in 2009, the 8th Ohio District Court of Appeals ordered Common Pleas Judge Nancy Margaret Russo to allow the DNA testing -- which absolved Ayers.
Subsequently, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Ayers' conviction, ruling that his constitutional rights were violated when Russo admitted the testimony at trial of a jailhouse informant.
Ayers denied confessing to the murder or telling anything to the informant.
Ayers walked out of prison a free man in 2011. The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's office announced they would not retry Ayers for the murder, although they left open the possibility if new evidence was discovered.

"Hopefully, this verdict will convince the prosecutors to run a DNA search to find the real killer who is still on the loose," said Russell Ainsworth, one of the Chicago lawyers who presented the civil rights case in federal court. ............................................................................................................................................................

Friday, March 1, 2013

Bradley Manning pleads guilty to misusing classified data in WikiLeaks case

About alberto de leon(WikiLeaks case update)vox-b1 http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/bradley-manning-pleads-guilty-misusing-classified-data-wikileaks-001101327--sector.html ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Manning, an Army intelligence officer, testified that he first tried to give the information to his "local paper," the Washington Post, but when a journalist there was not interested he left a message at The New York Times, which never returned his call. He then planned to visit the offices of Politico, but when a winter storm canceled his plans, he turned to WikiLeaks.

Manning was arrested in May 2010 while serving in Iraq and charged with downloading thousands of intelligence documents, diplomatic cables and combat videos and forwarding them to WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks began exposing the U.S. government secrets in the same year, stunning diplomats around the world and outraging U.S. officials who said damage to national security from the leaks endangered U.S. lives. ...............................................................................................................................................

Bradley Manning pleads guilty to misusing classified data in WikiLeaks case

By Medina Roshan | Reuters – Fri, Mar 1, 2013

FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) - The U.S. Army private accused of providing secret documents to the WikiLeaks website pleaded guilty on Thursday to misusing classified material he felt "should become public," but denied the top charge of aiding the enemy.

Private First Class Bradley Manning, 25, entered the pleas prior to his court martial, which is set to begin on June 3, in a case that centers on the biggest leak of government secrets in U.S. history.

Military judge Colonel Denise Lind accepted the guilty pleas late in the afternoon. Manning pleaded guilty to a series of 10 lesser charges that he misused classified information and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for those offenses.

"I believe that if the general public ... had access to the information ... this could spark a domestic debate as to the role of the military and foreign policy in general," Manning, dressed in full military uniform, testified calmly.

Reading from a 35-page statement as he remained seated next to his lawyers, the short, slight private described his feelings after he submitted the secret information to WikiLeaks.

"I felt I accomplished something that would allow me to have a clear conscience," said Manning, who spoke under oath for more than an hour.

"This was the type of information... should become public," he said.

At the hearing, through his attorney Manning pleaded not guilty to the most serious charge, of aiding the enemy.

Manning, who has been jailed at Quantico Marine Base in Virginia for more than 1,000 days, could face life imprisonment if convicted of that charge at his June trial.

Under a ruling last month by Lind, Manning would have any sentence reduced by 112 days to compensate for the markedly harsh treatment he received during his confinement. While at Quantico, Manning was placed in solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day with guards checking on him every few minutes.

Manning admitted to unauthorized possession and willful communication of classified information from the Combined Information Data Network Exchange Iraq and the Combined Information Data Network Exchange Afghanistan, two military databases. He called the two tables of documents he sent to WikiLeaks "two of most significant documents of our time."

He also admitted to misuse of documents from the U.S. Southern Command pertaining to Guantanamo Bay, a memo from the United States Army Intelligence Center, and records from a military operation in Farah province in Afghanistan.

One of the classified U.S. military videos he said he leaked showed the 2007 attack by Apache helicopters that killed a dozen people in Baghdad, including two Reuters news staff, photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, and his assistant and driver Saeed Chmagh, 40.

Manning, an Army intelligence officer, testified that he first tried to give the information to his "local paper," the Washington Post, but when a journalist there was not interested he left a message at The New York Times, which never returned his call. He then planned to visit the offices of Politico, but when a winter storm canceled his plans, he turned to WikiLeaks.

Manning was arrested in May 2010 while serving in Iraq and charged with downloading thousands of intelligence documents, diplomatic cables and combat videos and forwarding them to WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has taken refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since June to avoid extradition to Sweden for alleged sex crimes.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg, Paul Simao and Tim Dobbyn)

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Tuesday, March 19, 2013