Mayhem marks start of 100th Tour de France

BASTIA, Corsica (AP) ? Riders at the Tour de France know to expect the unexpected. But nothing could have prepared them for the mayhem that turned Saturday's first stage of the 100th Tour into a demolition derby on two wheels.

Seemingly for the first time at the 110-year-old race, one of the big buses that carry the teams around France when they're not on their bikes got stuck at the finish line, literally wedged under scaffolding, unable to move. The timing couldn't have been worse: The blockage happened as the speeding peloton was racing for home, less than 12 miles out.

Fearing the worst ? a possible collision between 198 riders and the bus ? race organizers took the split-second decision to shorten the race. Word went out to riders over their radios and they adapted tactics accordingly, cranking up their speed another notch to be first to the new line, now 1.8 miles closer than originally planned.

Then, somewhat miraculously, the bus for the Orica Greenedge team wriggled free. So organizers reverted to Plan A. Again over the radios, word went out to by-now confused riders and teams that the race would finish as first intended ? on a long straightaway alongside the shimmering turquoise Mediterranean, where an expectant crowd waited to cheer the first stage winner of the 100th Tour.

Then, bam! Two riders collided and one of them went down, setting off a chain of spills that scythed through the pack like a bowling ball.

And this was just Day One. The bad news for riders: They've still got another 20 stages and1,982 more miles to survive to the finish in Paris.

Keeping his head and riding his luck amid the chaos, Marcel Kittel sprinted for the win, claiming the first yellow jersey.

"It feels like I have gold on my shoulders," said the German rider for the Argos-Shimano team.

The 22 teams know from experience that the first days of any Tour are always tough. Everyone is nervous, full of energy and jostling for position. Adding to the stress this year is the race start in Corsica. The island's winding and often narrow roads that snake along idyllic coastlines and over jagged mountains are superbly telegenic but a worry for race favorites ? the likes of Team Sky's Chris Froome and two-time former champion Alberto Contador ? because a fall or big loss of time here could ruin their Tour before it really begins.

Froome survived Day One more or less unscathed. Contador didn't. The Spaniard, back at the Tour after a doping ban which also cost him his 2010 victory, crossed the line grimacing in pain, his left shoulder cut and bruised. He was tangled in the crash that threw about 20 riders to the tarmac. Contador said he'll be sore for a few days, "but I still have enough time to recover."

Even for the Tour, which has seen more than its fair share of dramas in 99 previous editions, Saturday's calamitous chain of events was exceptional.

"We've never had to change the finish line before," said Jean-Francois Pescheux, the event director who helps pick the route each year. "There's never been a bus stuck before."

The blockage at the line presented organizers with two solutions: cancel the stage entirely or shorten it, he said. They took the second option.

"We announced that in French, English, and Spanish on the Tour radio so that everybody was up-to-date," he said. Then, "in the following three minutes, we were told that the finish line was cleared. At that point, we announced that the finish was back to the real, original finish line."

Because of what Pescheux called "the little bout of panic and crashes" caused by this confusion, organizers subsequently decided to give everyone the same time as Kittel ? 4 hours, 56 minutes, 52 seconds over the 132-mile trek from the port town of Porto Vecchio to Bastia in the north of the island.

That means no one was penalized by Saturday's events.

"It's clear there was a moment of panic, and that's why we put everybody on equal footing," said Pescheux.

"The lesson learned is that buses, that heavy vehicles, they should avoid going through the finish line," he added.

"Everybody helped out, we deflated the tires of the bus so we could move it away as the peloton was fast approaching," said Jean-Louis Pages, who manages the finish-line area.

Organizers fined the Orica Greenedge team the equivalent of $2,100. The team's sporting director, Matt White, called the incident "really unfortunate."

"We took for granted that there was enough clearance. We've had this bus since we started the team, and it's the same bus we took to the Tour last year," he said. "Our bus driver was told to move forward and became lodged under the finish gantry."

Managers at other teams couldn't agree who to blame or be angry with most.

Marc Madiot of French team FDJ.FR was forgiving of the bus driver but furious with race organizers for changing their mind about where to finish the stage.

But the sporting director for Contador's Saxo-Tinkoff team, Philippe Mauduit, sided with the organizers.

"It's not the Tour's fault if there's a guy who doesn't know the height of his bus," he said.

"What caused the problems was changing the finish," said Mark Cavendish, the British sprinter who was counting on his great speed to win the stage but who instead was slowed by the crash. "It's just carnage."

His Omega Pharma-Quick Step teammate Tony Martin suffered concussion in the crash. Peter Sagan of Cannondale, another rider who was expecting to challenge for the win, finished with sticking plasters covering cuts on both legs and his left elbow. Other riders also suffered cuts and bruises. Froome's teammate Geraint Thomas flipped over his handlebars and "really whacked the back of his pelvis," said Dave Brailsford, the Team Sky manager.

"The goal for us is to get off this island in one piece, having lost no time," he said. "It's a much tougher ask than it may seem."

"You don't know what's going to happen. But you know something is going to happen," he added.

Perhaps as soon again as Sunday. The tricky second stage features four climbs along the 97-mile ride from Bastia to Ajaccio, crossing the island's mountainous spine.

Before Saturday's stage, French Sports Minister Valerie Fourneyron met with a delegation of riders unhappy that pre-race media coverage of the race dwelt heavily on doping in cycling.

That was partly the fault of Lance Armstrong. The disgraced former champion now stripped of his seven Tour wins caused a stir by telling Le Monde that he couldn't have won the race without doping.

___

AP Sports Writer Jerome Pugmire and Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mayhem-marks-start-100th-tour-france-210626611.html

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Cuba: 100 produce markets to become private coops

cuba

Marc Frank Reuters

17 hours ago

STR / AFP/Getty Images

An elderly man sells fruit and vegetables in a market of Havana, on April 20, 2012. One hundred Cuban produce markets are shifting to member-owned cooperatives.

HAVANA - One hundred state-run produce markets and 26 other establishments were scheduled to become private cooperatives on Monday as Communist-run Cuba continues to shed secondary economic activity in favor of individual initiative and markets.

The cooperatives will be the first outside of agriculture since all businesses were nationalized in 1968.

The government says many more establishments will follow, beginning in 2014, as an alternative to small and medium-sized state businesses in retail and food services, transportation, light manufacturing and construction, among other sectors.

The produce markets were supplied exclusively by the state, which also set prices and wages.

As cooperatives they will now purchase produce from any source and set their own prices, with the exception of a few state supplied staples, for example rice, chick peas and potatoes in Havana.

At one of the dozens of Havana markets set to become cooperatives this week, the mood was festive on Saturday as workers painted the dark and dingy premises, fixed broken bins and in general spruced up the place on their last day as state employees.

"We were given the choice of working as a cooperative member or being laid off," Antonio Rivera, a worker turned member, said.

"I think we will be better off so I joined," he said.

On Sunday the 100 markets took inventory and made other preparations, before their adventure into the country's growing "non-state" sector began.

President Raul Castro, who took over from his brother Fidel in 2008, has already taken steps to deregulate small private businesses in the retail sector, lease small state shops and taxis to individual employees and fallow state lands to would-be small farmers in search of improved production and efficiency.

According to the government, more than 430,000 people now work in the non-state sector which consists of private entrepreneurs, their employees and individuals who own or lease taxis and the like.

The figure does not include some 2,000 agricultural cooperatives and 400,000 small farmers.

Market economics hailed

The new cooperative markets average 15 or fewer members and will lease their premises from the state.

They will function independently of state entities and businesses, set prices in cases where they are not fixed by the state, operate on a democratic basis, divide profit as they see fit and receive better tax treatment than individually owned businesses, according to a decree law published in December.

The law allows for an unlimited number of members and use of contracted employees on a three-month basis.

The newly elected administrator of one market said that for weeks they had been making contact with farm cooperatives in preparation for Monday, and could also buy from individual farmers and state farms and wholesale markets.

"I'm sure the public will benefit. The produce will be of better quality, there will be better service and people will go where the prices are the lowest," he said, asking his name not be used because he feared he would get into trouble for talking to a foreign journalist.

"There will be more competition and the winners will be those who do the best job," he said, adding, "everything will depend on us and we will have to look for merchandise wherever because if we don't we will not make anything."

Consumers appeared to support the measure, though some fretted over a possible increase in prices.

"They should have done this long ago," Soledad Martinez said as she shopped at the market on Saturday.

"Now there will be a greater variety and we will be treated better. I just hope prices decrease a bit and do not go up," she said.

Cuban authorities began discussing three years ago how to transform bankrupt small and medium-sized state businesses - plagued by pilfering, embezzlement and general inefficiency - into cooperatives.

The Communist Party adopted a sweeping five-year plan to "update" the economy in 2011, which included moving more than 20 percent of the state labor force of 5 million people into a new "non-state" sector of private and cooperative businesses.

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Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663286/s/2e017b50/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Ccuba0E10A0A0Eproduce0Emarkets0Ebecome0Eprivate0Ecoops0E6C10A488676/story01.htm

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Diamond catalyst shows promise in breaching age-old barrier

Public release date: 30-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Robert J. Hamers
rjhamers@wisc.edu
608-262-6371
University of Wisconsin-Madison

MADISON -- In the world, there are a lot of small molecules people would like to get rid of, or at least convert to something useful, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison chemist Robert J. Hamers.

Think carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas most responsible for far-reaching effects on global climate. Nitrogen is another ubiquitous small-molecule gas that can be transformed into the valuable agricultural fertilizer ammonia. Plants perform the chemical reduction of atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia as a matter of course, but for humans to do that in an industrial setting, a necessity for modern agriculture, requires subjecting nitrogen to massive amounts of energy under high pressure.

"The current process for reducing nitrogen to ammonia is done under extreme conditions," explains Hamers, a UW-Madison professor of chemistry. "There is an enormous barrier you have to overcome to get your final product."

Breaching that barrier more efficiently and reducing the huge amounts of energy used to convert nitrogen to ammonia by some estimates 2 percent of the world's electrical output has been a grail for the agricultural chemical industry. Now, that goal may be on the horizon, thanks to a technique devised by Hamers and his colleagues and published today (June 30, 2013) in the journal Nature Methods.

Like many chemical reactions, reducing nitrogen to ammonia is a product of catalysis, where the catalytic agent used in the traditional energy-intensive reduction process is iron. The iron, combined with high temperature and high pressure, accelerates the reaction rate for converting nitrogen to ammonia by lowering the activation barrier that otherwise keeps nitrogen, one of the most ubiquitous gases on the planet, intact.

"The nitrogen molecule is one of the happiest molecules around," notes Hamers. "It is incredibly stable. It doesn't do anything."

One of the big obstacles, according to Hamers, is that nitrogen binds poorly to catalytic materials like iron.

Hamers and his team, including Di Zhu, Linghong Zhang and Rose E. Ruther, all of UW-Madison, turned to synthetic industrial diamond a cheap, gritty, versatile material as a potential new catalyst for the reduction process. Diamond, the Wisconsin team found, can facilitate the reduction of nitrogen to ammonia under ambient temperatures and pressures.

Like all chemical reactions, the reduction of nitrogen to ammonia involves moving electrons from one molecule to another. Using hydrogen-coated diamond illuminated by deep ultraviolet light, the Wisconsin team was able to induce a ready stream of electrons into water, which served as a reactant liquid that reduced nitrogen to ammonia under temperature and pressure conditions far more efficient than those required by traditional industrial methods.

"From a chemist's standpoint, nothing is more efficient than electrons in water," says Hamers, whose work is funded by the National Science Foundation. With the diamond catalyst, "the electrons are unconfined. They flow like lemmings to the sea."

While the method was demonstrated in the context of reducing nitrogen to a valuable agricultural product, the new diamond-centric approach is exciting, Hamers argues, because it can potentially fit a wide range of processes that require catalysis. "This is truly a different way of thinking about inducing reactions that may have more efficiency and applicability. We're doing this with diamond grit. It is infinitely reusable."

The technique devised by Hamers and his colleagues, he notes, still has kinks that need to be worked out to make it a viable alternative to traditional methods. The use of deep ultraviolet light, for example, is a limiting factor. Inducing reactions with visible light is a goal that would enhance the promise of the new technique for applications such as antipollution technology.

###

Contact:

Terry Devitt
608-262-8282
trdevitt@wisc.edu

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 30-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Robert J. Hamers
rjhamers@wisc.edu
608-262-6371
University of Wisconsin-Madison

MADISON -- In the world, there are a lot of small molecules people would like to get rid of, or at least convert to something useful, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison chemist Robert J. Hamers.

Think carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas most responsible for far-reaching effects on global climate. Nitrogen is another ubiquitous small-molecule gas that can be transformed into the valuable agricultural fertilizer ammonia. Plants perform the chemical reduction of atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia as a matter of course, but for humans to do that in an industrial setting, a necessity for modern agriculture, requires subjecting nitrogen to massive amounts of energy under high pressure.

"The current process for reducing nitrogen to ammonia is done under extreme conditions," explains Hamers, a UW-Madison professor of chemistry. "There is an enormous barrier you have to overcome to get your final product."

Breaching that barrier more efficiently and reducing the huge amounts of energy used to convert nitrogen to ammonia by some estimates 2 percent of the world's electrical output has been a grail for the agricultural chemical industry. Now, that goal may be on the horizon, thanks to a technique devised by Hamers and his colleagues and published today (June 30, 2013) in the journal Nature Methods.

Like many chemical reactions, reducing nitrogen to ammonia is a product of catalysis, where the catalytic agent used in the traditional energy-intensive reduction process is iron. The iron, combined with high temperature and high pressure, accelerates the reaction rate for converting nitrogen to ammonia by lowering the activation barrier that otherwise keeps nitrogen, one of the most ubiquitous gases on the planet, intact.

"The nitrogen molecule is one of the happiest molecules around," notes Hamers. "It is incredibly stable. It doesn't do anything."

One of the big obstacles, according to Hamers, is that nitrogen binds poorly to catalytic materials like iron.

Hamers and his team, including Di Zhu, Linghong Zhang and Rose E. Ruther, all of UW-Madison, turned to synthetic industrial diamond a cheap, gritty, versatile material as a potential new catalyst for the reduction process. Diamond, the Wisconsin team found, can facilitate the reduction of nitrogen to ammonia under ambient temperatures and pressures.

Like all chemical reactions, the reduction of nitrogen to ammonia involves moving electrons from one molecule to another. Using hydrogen-coated diamond illuminated by deep ultraviolet light, the Wisconsin team was able to induce a ready stream of electrons into water, which served as a reactant liquid that reduced nitrogen to ammonia under temperature and pressure conditions far more efficient than those required by traditional industrial methods.

"From a chemist's standpoint, nothing is more efficient than electrons in water," says Hamers, whose work is funded by the National Science Foundation. With the diamond catalyst, "the electrons are unconfined. They flow like lemmings to the sea."

While the method was demonstrated in the context of reducing nitrogen to a valuable agricultural product, the new diamond-centric approach is exciting, Hamers argues, because it can potentially fit a wide range of processes that require catalysis. "This is truly a different way of thinking about inducing reactions that may have more efficiency and applicability. We're doing this with diamond grit. It is infinitely reusable."

The technique devised by Hamers and his colleagues, he notes, still has kinks that need to be worked out to make it a viable alternative to traditional methods. The use of deep ultraviolet light, for example, is a limiting factor. Inducing reactions with visible light is a goal that would enhance the promise of the new technique for applications such as antipollution technology.

###

Contact:

Terry Devitt
608-262-8282
trdevitt@wisc.edu

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/uow-dcs062713.php

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5.0-magnitude quake hits China-Tajikistan border: CENC

BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) -- A 5.0-magnitude earthquake jolted the border region between China and Tajikistan at 12:59 p.m. Sunday (Beijing Time), according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.

The epicenter, with a depth of 10 km, was at 39.2 degrees north latitude and 73.4 degrees east longitude, the center said in a statement.

Source: http://english.sina.com/world/2013/0629/603904.html

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iPhone 5s Rumors Continue: Sept. 20 Release Date?

Ready? Here we go! More predictions are flying around the Web regarding the rumored next moves by Apple, specifically surrounding the "iPhone 5s" smartphone that numerous pundits and Apple fans are expecting to see come down Apple's pipeline sooner than later.

The International Business Times' Dave Smith is joining the fray with a prediction that the iPhone 5s ? Apple's sixth-generation device ? will hit retail channels this year, accompanied by Apple's rumored low-cost, color-cased iPhone that's designed to appeal to emerging markets and/or those who can't otherwise break the bank for an Apple smartphone.

So, without further ado, the predictions: According to Smith, Apple's going to launch the iPhone 5s on September 20. It'll likely announce said speedier device at an event right around September 10. The low-cost iPhone ? be it the iPhone 6, the iPhone Light, or the iPhone Lil' (our suggestion) ? would have to wait a week or two before its official launch, likely on September 27 or October 4.

Got it? Now, the reasoning: Smith's not just pulling out a crystal ball and picking days at random. Rather, he opines that Apple is likely to use the same timeframe for the official release of iOS 7 as it did for iOS 6 ? 100 days after the operating system was officially unveiled. Since CEO Tim Cook showed off iOS 7 at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10, flashing forward 100 days puts the (alleged) consumer release date of the operating system on September 18.

"That said, Apple would never release its newest iOS without some new hardware to go with it. This is why we fully expect Apple to release the iPhone 5S just two days after the release date for iOS 7, on Sept. 20," Smith writes.

As for the launch of the to-be-named low-cost iPhone, Smith speculates that Apple would want to delay the release a bit as to not make its retail stores too crowded with simultaneous launches of two big devices.

How well do Smith's predictions track against the rest of the Apple punditry as of late? Pretty well, in fact: AppleInsider recently reported that Avago Technologies, which makes wireless chips found in Apple's iPhones, has teased that one of its larger customers is gearing up for a new product launch. Some analysts see that "larger customer" as Apple, and that "new product launch" as a sign that Apple's gearing up for an iPhone 5s September launch.

However, Citigroup's Glen Yeung has recently taken to the airwaves to comment that iPhone 5s production has likely been delayed anywhere from two to four weeks, based on comments he's heard from manufacturers and suppliers within Apple's supply chain.

"And while this does not preclude a September iPhone 5S launch date, we suspect volumes in September may consequently be challenged," Yeung said.

As for the low-cost iPhone Apple allegedly has in the works, a recent report from the China Times suggests that supplies have already started shipping parts for the device. That bodes well for a fall release date? but when, specifically, is anybody's guess. And expect to see a lot more guessing as we head through the summer months.

Source: http://feeds.ziffdavis.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/breakingnews/~3/eARbWss8t9E/0,2817,2421221,00.asp

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Final Texas visit wows Arrion Springs

June, 29, 2013

Jun 29

7:27

PM ET

A seemingly easy decision has suddenly become far more difficult for Arrion Springs

Before departing for The Opening, the ESPN 300 cornerback from San Antonio Roosevelt gave Texas one final chance to woo him and his mother with an unofficial visit on Friday.

To continue reading this article you must be an Insider

Source: http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/ncfrecruiting/midlands/post?id=12915

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Ian Somerhalder Calls Out Justin Bieber: Be a Role Model!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/ian-somerhalder-calls-out-justin-bieber-be-a-role-model/

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