SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Groupon Inc lost a quarter of its market value on Wednesday after the company revealed it began to take a smaller cut of revenue on daily deals during the holidays, sacrificing revenue and profits to attract and keep merchants.
The cut in its "take rate", which some analysts had said was needed to revive flagging interest among merchants in its Internet offers, was a blow to fourth-quarter results. And a sharper-than-expected post-holiday slowdown in its new e-commerce business contributed to a disappointing first-quarter sales forecast.
The stream of bad numbers, which included a surprise loss in the fourth quarter, drove Groupon's stock down 26 percent to $4.43 in after hours trade. Overall, the company has shed more than three-quarters of its value since debuting at $20 in November of 2011.
"This raises questions about how these guys are going to be able to scale the business," said Tom White, an analyst at Macquarie. "The forecast is underwhelming."
Groupon is among a group of consumer-focused Internet startups that went public to much fanfare in 2011 - before losing massive chunks of market value as investors realized they had over-rated their prospects.
Within a year, Groupon had run into problems dealing with European merchants and sustaining interest among users as deals fever receded. In 2012, analysts speculated that Chief Executive Andrew Mason, known for a quirky sense of humor, may have fallen out of favor with the board.
A company spokesman said Mason remained in charge and the CEO addressed analysts on Wednesday's post-results call.
Groupon reported fourth-quarter revenue rose 30 percent to $638.3 million from $492.2 million in the year-ago period. But it slid into the red with a 1 cent per share loss excluding items, versus expectations for a slim profit of 3 cents a share.
It forecast first-quarter revenue of $560 million to $610 million, sharply below the $650 million average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Chief Financial Officer Jason Child told Reuters that Groupon began sharing more money from its deals with merchants early in the fourth quarter, to persuade them to come onboard and run an offer for the first time, or work on another.
This was done selectively in the United States and in Europe, he added.
Historically, Groupon has kept about 40 percent of the money generated by daily deals. That declined to about 35 percent in the fourth quarter. Groupon then "fine tuned" take rates later in the quarter and Child said the company expects profitability to improve as a result.
"We are focused on driving growth," he said in an interview. "We will make the investments we feel we need to optimize for growth and merchant profitability."
THE GOODS ON EUROPE
Merchants have complained that Groupon takes too large a cut of online offers.
Groupon executives forecast long-term take rates of 30 percent to 40 percent for the daily deals business, during a conference call with analysts. One of the reasons Groupon reduced take rates was to create more daily deals for a new business called Local Marketplace, which launched in November.
Groupon has mostly focused on sending daily emails to customers offering vouchers for activities in their area. Local Marketplace relies instead on people searching for something to do or buy nearby, such as an oil change or a massage. By the end of the third quarter, before the launch, Groupon had amassed an online store of more than 27,000 deals for the new marketplace.
Analysts have said the move has potential because Groupon's deals may be more likely to show up in Google searches. By the end of 2012, Groupon claimed almost 37,000 active deals running in North America, and many were longer-term offers for Local Marketplace.
For now, Groupon Goods, the company's discounted product sales business, generated a lot of the fourth-quarter revenue growth, though it's seasonally volatile and generates lower margins than daily deals.
Groupon's limp outlook revived fears its business model may be in jeopardy. Chief among their concerns have been intensifying competition in e-commerce, and a struggling European division walloped by the recession there.
Executives warned a turnaround effort there would take time, and signaled that cost cuts are coming for the company's International business.
Groupon is trying to fix it by reducing the size of discounts on deals there and testing faster payments to higher-quality merchants. Technology used to automate its U.S. operations and sales efforts is being rolled out in Europe now.
Kal Raman, chief operating officer, said more than the twice the number of people are needed to handle and process an International division deal, than in the United States.
A Groupon spokesman said there are no "definite" plans for International job cuts, but there were staff reductions in the United States when the company automated.
"That is an enormous opportunity to organize Groupon's operations to be both more efficient," Raman told analysts during the conference call.
(Reporting by Alistair Barr; Editing by David Gregorio, Richard Chang and Tim Dobbyn)
Research supports promise of cell therapy for bowel diseasePublic release date: 28-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Karen Richardson krchrdsn@wakehealth.edu 336-716-4453 Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. Feb. 28, 2013 Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and colleagues have identified a special population of adult stem cells in bone marrow that have the natural ability to migrate to the intestine and produce intestinal cells, suggesting their potential to restore healthy tissue in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Up to 1 million Americans have IBD, which is characterized by frequent diarrhea and abdominal pain. IBD actually refers to two conditions ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease in which the intestines become red and swollen and develop ulcers, probably as the result of the body having an immune response to its own tissue.
While there is currently no cure for IBD, there are drug therapies aimed at reducing inflammation and preventing the immune response. Because these therapies aren't always effective, scientists hope to use stem cells to develop an injectable cell therapy to treat IBD.
The research findings are reported online in the FASEB Journal (the journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) by senior researcher Graca Almeida-Porada, M.D., Ph.D., professor of regenerative medicine at Wake Forest Baptist's Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and colleagues.
The new research complements a 2012 report by Almeida-Porada's team that identified stem cells in cord blood that are involved in blood vessel formation and also have the ability to migrate to the intestine.
"We've identified two populations of human cells that migrate to the intestine one involved in blood vessel formation and the other that can replenish intestinal cells and modulates inflammation," said Almeida-Porada. "Our hope is that a mixture of these cells could be used as an injectable therapy to treat IBD."
The cells would theoretically induce tissue recovery by contributing to a pool of cells within the intestine. The lining of the intestine has one of the highest cellular turnover rates in the body, with all cell types being renewed weekly from this pool of cells, located in an area of the intestine known as the crypt.
In the current study, the team used cell markers to identify a population of stem cells in human bone marrow with the highest potential to migrate to the intestine and thrive. The cells express high levels of a receptor (ephrin type B) that is involved in tissue repair and wound closure.
The cells also known to modulate inflammation were injected into fetal sheep at 55 to 62 days gestation. At 75 days post-gestation, the researchers found that most of the transplanted cells were positioned in the crypt area, replenishing the stem cells in the intestine.
"Previous studies in animals have shown that the transplantation of bone-marrow-derived cells can contribute to the regeneration of the gastrointestinal tract in IBD," said Almeida-Porada. "However, only small numbers of cells were successfully transplanted using this method. Our goal with the current study was to identify populations of cells that naturally migrate to the intestine and have the intrinsic ability to restore tissue health."
Almeida-Porada said that while the two studies show that the cells can migrate to and survive in a healthy intestine, the next step will be to determine whether they can survive in an inflamed intestine.
###
The research was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute under award number NHL097623 and HL073737 and grant P20 RR-016464 from the Idea Network of Biological Research Excellence Program of the National Center for Research Resources.
Co-authors were Saloomeh Mokhtari, Christopher D. Porada, and Melisa Soland, Wake Forest Baptist; and Evan Colletti, Craig Osborne, Karen Schlauch, Deena El Shabrawy, Takashi Yamagami, and Esmail D. Zanjani, University of Nevada. The two projects were performed while Almeida-Porada was at the University of Nevada prior to joining Wake Forest Baptist.
Media Contacts: Karen Richardson, krchrdsn@wakehealth.edu, (336) 716-4453 or Main Number (336) 716-4587.
About the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine
The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine is dedicated to the discovery, development and clinical translation of regenerative medicine technologies. The institute has used biomaterials alone, cell therapies, and engineered tissues and organs for the treatment of patients with injury or disease. Institute scientists were the first in the world to engineer a replacement organ in the laboratory that was successfully implanted in patients. The Institute is based at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, a fully integrated academic medical center located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The institution comprises the medical education and research components of Wake Forest School of Medicine, the integrated clinical structure and consumer brand Wake Forest Baptist Health, which includes North Carolina Baptist Hospital and Brenner Children's Hospital, the commercialization of research discoveries through the Piedmont Triad Research Park, as well a network of affiliated community based hospitals, physician practices, outpatient services and other medical facilities.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Research supports promise of cell therapy for bowel diseasePublic release date: 28-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Karen Richardson krchrdsn@wakehealth.edu 336-716-4453 Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. Feb. 28, 2013 Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and colleagues have identified a special population of adult stem cells in bone marrow that have the natural ability to migrate to the intestine and produce intestinal cells, suggesting their potential to restore healthy tissue in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Up to 1 million Americans have IBD, which is characterized by frequent diarrhea and abdominal pain. IBD actually refers to two conditions ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease in which the intestines become red and swollen and develop ulcers, probably as the result of the body having an immune response to its own tissue.
While there is currently no cure for IBD, there are drug therapies aimed at reducing inflammation and preventing the immune response. Because these therapies aren't always effective, scientists hope to use stem cells to develop an injectable cell therapy to treat IBD.
The research findings are reported online in the FASEB Journal (the journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) by senior researcher Graca Almeida-Porada, M.D., Ph.D., professor of regenerative medicine at Wake Forest Baptist's Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and colleagues.
The new research complements a 2012 report by Almeida-Porada's team that identified stem cells in cord blood that are involved in blood vessel formation and also have the ability to migrate to the intestine.
"We've identified two populations of human cells that migrate to the intestine one involved in blood vessel formation and the other that can replenish intestinal cells and modulates inflammation," said Almeida-Porada. "Our hope is that a mixture of these cells could be used as an injectable therapy to treat IBD."
The cells would theoretically induce tissue recovery by contributing to a pool of cells within the intestine. The lining of the intestine has one of the highest cellular turnover rates in the body, with all cell types being renewed weekly from this pool of cells, located in an area of the intestine known as the crypt.
In the current study, the team used cell markers to identify a population of stem cells in human bone marrow with the highest potential to migrate to the intestine and thrive. The cells express high levels of a receptor (ephrin type B) that is involved in tissue repair and wound closure.
The cells also known to modulate inflammation were injected into fetal sheep at 55 to 62 days gestation. At 75 days post-gestation, the researchers found that most of the transplanted cells were positioned in the crypt area, replenishing the stem cells in the intestine.
"Previous studies in animals have shown that the transplantation of bone-marrow-derived cells can contribute to the regeneration of the gastrointestinal tract in IBD," said Almeida-Porada. "However, only small numbers of cells were successfully transplanted using this method. Our goal with the current study was to identify populations of cells that naturally migrate to the intestine and have the intrinsic ability to restore tissue health."
Almeida-Porada said that while the two studies show that the cells can migrate to and survive in a healthy intestine, the next step will be to determine whether they can survive in an inflamed intestine.
###
The research was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute under award number NHL097623 and HL073737 and grant P20 RR-016464 from the Idea Network of Biological Research Excellence Program of the National Center for Research Resources.
Co-authors were Saloomeh Mokhtari, Christopher D. Porada, and Melisa Soland, Wake Forest Baptist; and Evan Colletti, Craig Osborne, Karen Schlauch, Deena El Shabrawy, Takashi Yamagami, and Esmail D. Zanjani, University of Nevada. The two projects were performed while Almeida-Porada was at the University of Nevada prior to joining Wake Forest Baptist.
Media Contacts: Karen Richardson, krchrdsn@wakehealth.edu, (336) 716-4453 or Main Number (336) 716-4587.
About the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine
The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine is dedicated to the discovery, development and clinical translation of regenerative medicine technologies. The institute has used biomaterials alone, cell therapies, and engineered tissues and organs for the treatment of patients with injury or disease. Institute scientists were the first in the world to engineer a replacement organ in the laboratory that was successfully implanted in patients. The Institute is based at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, a fully integrated academic medical center located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The institution comprises the medical education and research components of Wake Forest School of Medicine, the integrated clinical structure and consumer brand Wake Forest Baptist Health, which includes North Carolina Baptist Hospital and Brenner Children's Hospital, the commercialization of research discoveries through the Piedmont Triad Research Park, as well a network of affiliated community based hospitals, physician practices, outpatient services and other medical facilities.
[ | 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.
The first hour or so of Flatliners is one of the coolest horror movies of the '90s. It's a tight, creative, bristling thriller that really digs into the mind of academia gone wrong. After that things get a little wonky, but when it's Kevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, William Bladwin and Oliver Platt pushing the boundaries of science (and common sense) by intentionally killing (and then reviving) one another for the pursuit of ultimate enlightenment, it's fantastic. That room for improvement is why news of a Flatliners remake isn't as disheartening to hear as, say, news of another Kevin Bacon horror movie from 1990 would be.
Bloody Disgusting brings news of the remake, which?its source says is set to be directed by original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo director Niels Arden Oplev. And if that news wasn't intriguing enough, the script will be written by Source Code scribe Ben Ripley. A fine thriller director and a fine sci-fi?writer working on a remake of a fine sci-fi thriller? Flatiners is off to a, uh, good start.
The people behind the camera and typewriter isn't quite as important to the success of Flatliners as those who will end up in front of it. The original has an utterly perfect cast, so we don't envy the casting director who has to top that ensemble. But we're certainly curious to see them try. Who would you like to see in a new generation's Flatliners?
Whilst the government comes under fire for reforms and policies on the budget deficit, welfare, education and health, the majority of the general public seem to be unaware that the Government has also pushed through its devastating attack on Access to Justice for injured people in spite of vociferous opposition from the trade unions, the Labour Party, victim support groups and civil rights organisations.
As a result of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act 2012, those who are injured in workplace accidents, road traffic accidents or those who develop diseases related to their work, such as asbestosis, will now find it much harder to find a specialist lawyer to take on their compensation claim.
The reforms of civil litigation funding and costs in England and Wales will come into effect in April of this year. These reforms turn the rules currently in place upon their head and expose those genuinely injured people needing legal representation to run the risk of having to pay from their own pocket if they lose their case as the existing ?No Win, No Fee? system will be no more.
The current system is knocked by government and the media because they say it encourages a so-called ?compensation culture?. Under the existing rules, the lawyer for the injured person doesn?t get paid for the work they have done if that case fails, whilst a success fee is payable by the guilty party in successful cases.
In April the guilty party will no longer have to pay the success fee. Insurance policies purchased by victims of accidents to protect themselves from any adverse costs orders will no longer be met by the guilty party.
In addition, the government is seeking to amend the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 which will radically change the way injured workers claim compensation from their employers.
Currently an injured person will recover a 100% of their compensation with the new rules, this is unlikely to be the case.
It does not seem right that an innocent victim is not entitled to receive their compensation in full but this is the new regime as proposed by insurers and the government.
The real danger for anyone who suffers an injury or illness through the negligence of others, is that come April they will have difficulty in finding a lawyer who is able to take on their case, have the ability to recover an insurance premium to safeguard them with any costs they may incur in taking the matter to a trial and even if successful they will not recover 100% of any damages awarded.
The reason for these reforms is to curb the alleged rise in compensation claims for ?whiplash? injuries and yet the reforms that are being introduced are aimed at all accident and occupational illness victims.
Yes there are fraudulent claims out there and these must be stamped out with the full force of the law. However, the vast majority of claims are not fraudulent or exaggerated as the government and insurance industry would have us believe. The proverbial sledgehammer is being applied to crack the ?whiplash nut?.
More injured people will become reliant on the NHS and benefits when compensation for their accident would have helped pay for their loss of earnings, need for care and rehabilitation of injuries caused through no fault of their own.
If you or a member of your family think you have been injured through no fault of your own, do not delay in contacting Attwaters Jameson Hill on 01279 638888 for advice and assistance.? Click here for further information on our Personal Injury department.
Claiming before the 1st April will make all the difference.
If you think you need to carry all of your digital files (especially videos and multimedia) with you at all times, stop reading this and go read a review for a more power user-oriented system. Still here? Okay, the Dell XPS 10 ($679.99 bundled with keyboard dock) has one of the longest battery life test results we've seen. You can use this convertible tablet on the longest flight in the world, and still have battery power left over to check your email when you land. An even better use would be for a busy student or business corridor nomad who rarely has a chance to plug in: 20+ hours of battery life means that you can stay connected all day and well into the night. If "Office and the Internet" are your primary needs on a computer, then our new (and first) Editors' Choice winner for Windows RT tablets is the everyday computer you can carry everywhere.
Design and Features
The XPS 10 follows the now familiar hybrid tablet format. Primarily, it's a slate tablet, measuring a slim 0.36 by 11 by 7 inches (HWD) and weighing 1.36 pounds. Connected to its keyboard dock, the system grows to just under an inch thick (0.94 inch) while keeping its other dimensions, and the combo weighs in at 2.63 pounds.
Like other tablets, the XPS 10 is constructed from magnesium alloy and has a soft touch finish. The screen is covered by seamless Asahi Dragontail glass, and has a five-point touch capability. (Asahi Dragontail glass is a strengthened glass competitor to Corning's Gorilla Glass.) The tablet latches to the keyboard dock easily, and can be removed just as easily by pushing a sliding tab on the keyboard dock hinge. When the two are connected, the XPS 10 looks and acts like a small laptop, with a comfortable keyboard and one-piece multitouch trackpad.
Around the edges of the XPS 10 are the tablet's docking/charging connector, a micro-USB port (with included full sized USB port dongle), volume control, micro-SD card slot, and headset jack. The keyboard dock has a pair of USB 2.0 ports, a mini-HDMI port (with included mini-HDMI to full HDMI dongle), and charging port. You can plug the AC adapter into the dock or the tablet's docking connector for charging, one AC adapter is included with the tablet, and one with the keyboard dock ($180). Since you have both chargers, you can leave one at home and carry the other with you in your travel bag. If you're in a pinch, you can use a standard micro-USB cable and USB charger to recharge or power the XPS 10, albeit at a slow trickle rate.
One nicety we found during testing are the keyboard dock's built-in speakers. When the tablet is used alone, the sound is fine for Web surfing and alert sounds. When you connect the keyboard dock, the speakers in the dock work in concert with the speakers in the tablet to give you a louder, richer audio experience. The combo won't replace an external soundbar for critical viewing/listening, but with this combo you won't have to turn on closed captioning to understand what's going on (in dialogue-heavy movies), especially if you're sharing the screen with a friend.
The XPS 10's IPS screen measures 10.1 inches (diagonally), which matches the screen size of its other hybrid docking tablet rival, the Asus VivoTab RT. Both screens are physically smaller than the 10.6-inch screen on the Microsoft Surface with Windows RT, even though all three screens sport a 1,366-by-768 resolution. The XPS 10's IPS screen is easily viewable from many angles, and its resolution supports 720p HD video. Any 1080p HD video can be downscaled for viewing on the system's screen, but it's a better viewing experience to watch 720p videos natively instead.
Accelerometers make sure the screen is always pointing "up" whether you are holding the system in portrait or landscape mode. Taps and swipes on the screen were responsive, as were the controls on the physical keyboard dock and trackpad. The responsive trackpad is an improvement over the VivoTab RT and even some ultrabooks like the Vizio 14-Inch Thin + Light (CT14-A4) .
There are two major drawbacks with Windows RT: compatibility and the closed ecosystem. Since the XPS 10 and other RT-based systems run a version of Windows over an ARM processor (the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4), older programs are not compatible with RT. The only source for programs is the Windows Store in the system's Start screen. You can't download and install your favorite browser, you can't buy programs from a third party site (like Steam or Origin), and you can't install many browser plug-ins either. The one plus on the program side is that the system comes with Microsoft Office 2013 RT (Home and Student) pre-loaded, and that the system is somewhat protected from viruses (through Windows Defender and the fact that x86 code won't run on it).
The system is bloatware free, since the only pre-loaded programs are Office, Skype, Dell Shop (physical products from Dell), Getting Started with Windows RT (a help program), and Dell dock settings. Getting Started with Windows RT is a good set of videos and documentation to help new users learn how to use Windows RT and the new user interface. When we pulled the XPS 10 out of its box, we noticed that it only has 15.9GB free out of a 23.8GB indicated. This means that you better view most of videos from online, as you won't have too much local storage unless you pop a microSD card into the XPS 10. Still, 16 GB should be enough for Office files like Word documents and Excel spreadsheets. You can also use Microsoft's SkyDrive for cloud storage.
When connected to the Web, the XPS 10 is an excellent tool. Internet Explorer starts up quickly, and websites load quickly as well. Programs like Netflix and Hulu+ work as you'd expect. However, as stated above, the number of Windows RT compatible apps is still severely limited compared with those for Android Tablets and iPads. About the only thing that RT tablets have over the other mobile platforms are the fully compatible copy of Office and the fact that the OS on RT tablets acts like a typical Windows OS. The XPS 10 comes with a one-year warranty standard with options for extending that warranty through Dell's ProSupport service.
Performance
Because of its ARM-based processor, the Dell XPS doesn't run our Windows benchmark tests like 3DMark 11 or PCMark 7. The test that we can run is one of the most important: battery life. The XPS 10 lasts a staggering 11 hours and 34 minutes alone, and tops 20-and-a-half hours (20:36) when connected to its fully charged keyboard dock. This is a phenomenal amount of battery life. It's certainly enough to last the whole flight between virtually any two nonstop points on the planet (currently the Newark to Singapore flight SQ21, at 18 hours, 50 minutes). This means the XPS 10 and dock last a lot longer than the Asus VivoTab RT with its dock (16:03) or alone (9:37). The XPS 10 also outlasted the Microsoft Surface RT (7:45). While all of the RT tablets outlast laptops and tablets with ultrabook-class processors like the Microsoft Surface Pro (4:58), Atom-powered tablets can give you full Windows 8 compatibility and long battery life like the Dell Latitude 10 (19:38 with extended battery).
Essentially, it comes down to what you need out of your tablet. If you need the ultimate in portability and don't care at all about compatibility with Windows, then grab an iPad or Google Nexus 7. If you absolutely, positively need legacy program support or Windows 8 Pro compatibility, then a full-blown Windows 8 tablet like the Editors' Choice Dell Latitude 10 or Microsoft Surface Pro is worth the added expense. However, if you need insanely long battery life and your critical "Windows compatibility" needs are limited to Office documents, then you can get a Windows RT tablet like the Dell XPS 10. It's one of the better RT tablets we've seen so far, and our new Editors' Choice for Windows RT tablets.
COMPARISON TABLE Compare the Dell XPS 10 with several other laptops side by side.
More laptop reviews: ??? Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 ??? Dell XPS 10 ??? Dell Latitude 10 ??? MSI GT70 One-609US Dragon Edition ??? Microsoft Surface Windows 8 Pro ?? more
Aereo today announced that the cloud DVR/live TV streaming service will be expanding past New York City to more than 19 million people living in the surrounding NYC metropolitan area. The expansion will cover 29 new counties across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Before today, only residents in New York's five boroughs had access to the service. Alongside the announcement of expansion, Aereo has also said that its new advertising blitz will launch this week in New York. The multimillion dollar ad campaign was first revealed earlier this month, after Aereo hired former Apple exec, Alex Moulle-Berteaux, as the company's new CCO.
Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius leaves the Boschkop police station, east of Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013 en route to appear in court charged with murder. Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius was taken into custody and was expected to appear in court Thursday, after a 30-year-old woman who was believed to be his girlfriend was shot dead at his home in South Africa's capital, Pretoria. (AP Photo/Chris Collingridge) SOUTH AFRICA OUT
Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius leaves the Boschkop police station, east of Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013 en route to appear in court charged with murder. Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius was taken into custody and was expected to appear in court Thursday, after a 30-year-old woman who was believed to be his girlfriend was shot dead at his home in South Africa's capital, Pretoria. (AP Photo/Chris Collingridge) SOUTH AFRICA OUT
In this photo taken Friday July 13, 2012, Associated Press Sports Writer Gerald Imray, left, is shown by Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, mobile images of his bloodied limbs after extensive training at an athletics training camp in Gemona, Italy. Pistorius trained in Gemona before competing as an able-bodied competitor at the London Olympics. (AP Photo/Paolo Giovannini)
Olympic athlete, Oscar Pistorius , in court Friday Feb. 22, 2013 in Pretoria, South Africa, for his bail hearing charged with the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. The defense and prosecution both completed their arguments with the magistrate soon to rule if the double-amputee athlete can be freed before trial or if he must stay behind bars pending trial) (AP Photo)
Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius stands in the dock during his bail hearing at the magistrates court in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. The fourth and likely final day of Oscar Pistorius' bail hearing opened on Friday, with the magistrate then to rule if the double-amputee athlete can be freed before trial or if he has to remain in custody over the shooting death of his girlfriend. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Olympic athlete, Oscar Pistorius , in court Friday Feb. 22, 2013 in Pretoria, South Africa, for his bail hearing charged with the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. The defense and prosecution both completed their arguments with the magistrate soon to rule if the double-amputee athlete can be freed before trial or if he must stay behind bars pending trial. (AP Photo)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? His head shrouded by a sports hoodie, the young man walked unnoticed through a bustling crowd outside the gates of the Olympic village in London last year. When he got close, I saw a familiar face smiling at me.
It was Oscar Pistorius. "Gerald!" he called and then raised both hands for a double high-five greeting followed by a hug.
On Feb. 14, I saw Pistorius in a hood again, and this time he stared straight at the ground, hands thrust into the pockets of a gray sports jacket. He was flanked by officers as he left a police station. Hours earlier, he'd been charged with killing his girlfriend.
It is hard to reconcile the easygoing, charismatic man I interviewed on several occasions with the man accused of premeditated murder in the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp in his South African home. Prosecutors painted him as a man prone to anger and violence, though he had no prior criminal record. The Olympian says he shot Steenkamp by mistake, thinking she was a nighttime intruder, while prosecutors allege he intentionally shot her after the couple argued.
Who is Oscar Pistorius? I thought I had some idea, and in a sense, so did the millions around the world who cheered the double-amputee athlete as a symbol of determination over adversity.
Now he is as much of a mystery as whatever happened in his home in the early hours of Valentine's Day.
My meeting with Pistorius in London was one of several in the three years I have been covering his remarkable story for The Associated Press, from South Africa to Italy to London ? and last week to Courtroom C on the first floor of the red-bricked and gray-walled Pretoria Magistrate's Court in the South African capital.
On reflection, Pistorius' narrative is partly an exploration of how hard it is to truly know someone who lives so much in the public eye. Journalists witnessed or heard reports of occasional flashes of anger ? with hindsight, do they loom as potentially more meaningful? At the time the outbursts passed largely unnoticed.
What I do know is that the public Pistorius seemed to have a soft spot.
Weeks before his debut at the Olympics, he stopped an interview with me to talk to a little girl who walked up to give him a strawberry from the gardens of the rural hotel at his training base in Gemona, in northern Italy.
"Oscar, Oscar," the little girl said, holding out the berry. Behind her, a woman called the child away to stop her from bothering Pistorius.
"Ciao, baba. Grazie," Pistorius replied with a smile, unfazed by the interruption, showing off his Italian and pretending to eat the strawberry.
"She brings me something to eat every night," he told me delightedly, pointing up to the windows of his hotel room.
Now the world knows Pistorius owns a 9 mm Parabellum pistol, licensed for self-defense, and that he applied for licenses to own six more guns ? listed for his private collection ? weeks before the shooting death of Steenkamp.
His relationships with women have been spread over the gossip pages in South Africa.
We spoke about his running, his love of sneakers and nice clothes but also about his history with fast cars and motorbikes and the high-speed boat crash in 2009 that left him in a serious condition in the hospital with head wounds. He conceded that the crash caused him to rethink how he lived.
"I just realized that I need to make some changes and some of them need to be with my lifestyle," Pistorius told me last year in that interview in northern Italy. "I was messing around a lot with motorbikes and just playing around and taking unnecessary risks."
Again with hindsight, was he grappling with anything deeper than just the high spirits and penchant for thrills of many young men flushed with success and money to burn?
Covering Pistorius' track career, he became more comfortable with me, remembering my name and shouting it when he would see me among a pack of journalists.
During his Olympic preparations in Italy, Pistorius pulled out his cellphone to show me pictures of his bleeding leg stumps, rubbed raw from the friction of pounding around the track on his blades.
It was around the time when people were again questioning whether he should be allowed to run in the 400 meters against able-bodied athletes. The message in showing these graphic photos was: Do you still think I have an unfair advantage?
Until that moment, I hadn't fully realized what Pistorius went through every time he slipped on his prosthetic blades to compete or train. Not many people had, I guess.
It was rare for Pistorius to show images of his amputated limbs, but he grinned and shrugged. He said it was just part of the job.
It took a long time for him to get used to people filming and taking photographs of him putting on his carbon-fiber blades. He used to ask people not to film him without his prosthetics.
When he finished a race at the South African national championships last year, he quickly disappeared to a secluded part of the track to swap his blades for artificial legs, complete with sponsored sneakers that his agent was holding for him. It was his regular post-race routine. He then came bounding back to give me an interview.
He often apologized when he had to end an interview because he was running out of time. It always seemed people wanted more of his time than he could give. After we talked in London, Pistorius stayed a little longer to pose for photographs with Olympic security staff, even convincing one shy lady to get into one of the pictures.
Then he popped on his identity-concealing hood and, on his prosthetic legs, he walked off, anonymous in the crowd.
___
Follow Gerald Imray at http://twitter.com/GeraldImrayAP
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Park Geun-hye took office as South Korea's first female president Monday, returning to the presidential mansion she had known as the daughter of a dictator, and where she will respond to volatile North Korea, which tested a nuclear device two weeks ago.
Elected in December, Park also must answer victims of her father's 18-year dictatorship and address worries about a lack of jobs, a growing gap between rich and poor and a stagnant economy. There's pressure for her to live up to her campaign suggestion that she can return the country to the strong economic growth her father oversaw, the so-called Miracle on the Han River.
North Korea's underground atomic detonation tests her vow to soften Seoul's current hard-line approach to its northern rival. Park called the Feb. 12 test, the North's third since 2006, "a challenge to the survival and future of the Korean people" and said Pyongyang should abandon its nuclear ambitions and work for peace.
"There should be no mistake that the biggest victim will be none other than North Korea itself," Park said in her first speech as president during a ceremony where troops in formal uniforms shouted "loyalty" and fired cannons in salute.
At her inauguration, a band played a military march before a crowd of tens of thousands, including U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso. Before Park took her oath of office, South Korean superstar PSY performed his global hit "Gangnam Style." Children and the elderly alike joined him in the contagious horse-riding dance he made famous in the song's video.
As Park was sworn in as president, North Korea's state media continued their typical rhetoric against South Korea and the U.S. over annual military drills that Pyongyang says are an invasion rehearsal.
"The U.S. warmongers should think what consequence will be brought out for getting on the nerves of the DPRK, a dignified nuclear power," the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. DPRK refers to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name. It warned the allies would "die in flames" if they start a northward invasion.
Pyongyang, Washington, Beijing and Tokyo are all watching to see if Park pursues an ambitious engagement policy meant to ease five years of animosity on the divided peninsula, or if she sticks with the tough stance of her fellow conservative predecessor, Lee Myung-bak.
Park's decision will likely set the tone of the larger diplomatic approach that Washington and others take in stalled efforts to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons ambitions.
"If Park Geun-hye wants to contain, the U.S. will support that," said Victor Cha, a former senior Asia adviser to President George W. Bush. "But if Park Geun-hye, months down the road, wants to engage, then the U.S. will go along with that too."
Park's first weeks in office will be complicated by North Korea's warning of unspecified "second and third measures of greater intensity," a threat that comes as Washington and others push for tightened U.N. sanctions as punishment for the nuclear test.
That test is seen as another step toward North Korea's goal of building a bomb small enough to be mounted on a missile that can hit the United States. The explosion, which Pyongyang called a response to U.S. hostility, triggered global outrage.
Park has said she won't yet change her policy, which was built with the high probability of provocations from Pyongyang in mind. But some aren't sure if engagement can work, given North Korea's choice of "bombs over electricity," as American scientist Siegfried Hecker puts it.
The economic aid and other benefits that North Korea would have received by "choosing electricity over bombs ... will be made much more difficult, if not impossible, for at least the next five years," Hecker, a regular visitor to North Korea, said in a posting on the website of Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation.
As she takes office, however, Park will be mindful that many South Koreans are frustrated at the state of inter-Korean relations after the Lee government's five-year rule, which saw the North conduct two nuclear tests and three long-range rocket launches. In addition, attacks blamed on North Korea that killed 50 South Koreans in 2010.
Park's policy calls for strong defense but also for efforts to build trust through aid shipments, reconciliation talks and the resumption of some large-scale economic initiatives as progress occurs on the nuclear issue. Park has also held out the possibility of a summit with new North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Park's last stint in the presidential Blue House was bookended by tragedy: At 22, she cut short her studies in Paris to return to Seoul and act as President Park Chung-hee's first lady after an assassin targeting her father instead killed her mother; she left five years later, in 1979, after her father was shot and killed by his spy chief during a drinking party.
Park's transition to power has been rocky, reflecting deep rifts in South Korea that many trace back to her father's dictatorship.
She began her first day as president with lawmakers deadlocked over her government restructuring plans, which include newly created or revamped ministries. Some of the people she has nominated for ministry posts have been accused of tax evasion, real estate speculation and ethical lapses.
Many of Park's nominations for top posts came as surprises, and she was criticized for relying only on a handful of close associates, and for being secretive.
Much has also been made of Park's role as a trailblazer for women in South Korea, which is still a largely male-dominated society. The income gap between men and women is the widest among the world's most developed countries. But Park gave only two of 18 Cabinet posts to women. Late liberal former President Roh Moo-hyun, Lee's predecessor, named four women to his Cabinet when he took over in 2003.
Park also has handed top jobs to people with ties with her late father, reviving claims in the campaign that she doesn't fully understand her father's complicated legacy. Park Chung-hee is both reviled as a dictator and human-rights abuser, and revered for leading South Korea from the economic rubble of the Korean War.
Critics have said Park Geun-hye's North Korea policy lacks specifics. They also question how far she can go given her conservative base's strong anti-Pyongyang sentiments.
But Park has previously confounded ideological expectations. She travelled to Pyongyang in 2002 and held private talks with the late Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un's father and predecessor. During the often contentious presidential campaign, she responded to liberal criticism by reaching out to the families of victims of her father's dictatorship.
"I don't think this latest spike in the cycle of provocation and response undermines her whole platform of seeking to somehow re-engage the North," said John Delury, an analyst at Seoul's Yonsei University, noting that North Korea wants a return of large-scale aid and investment from South Korea.
App.net, the project that emerged from founder Dalton Caldwell's desire to build a social platform that wasn't driven by advertising, is adding its first free option today. Given Caldwell's emphasis on creating a product that people are actually willing to pay for, this might seem like a step backwards, or one of those infamous startup "pivots." However, Caldwell told me that this actually isn't a change of plans, and to back that up he pointed to his initial blog post announcing the project back in July. The post didn't explicitly say that that there are going to be both paid and free tiers, but the two positive examples of non-advertising companies that Caldwell cited are Dropbox and particularly Github, which both offer free services and then charge for additional features.
HAVANA (AP) ? Cuba's parliament reconvened Sunday with new membership and was expected to name Raul Castro to a new five-year-term as president. All were watching whether younger politicians might be tapped for other top leadership posts, providing hints of a possible future successor.
Castro fueled speculation on Friday when he talked of his possible retirement and suggested he has plans to resign at some point. It was unclear whether the 81-year-old leader was joking, but he promised his speech Sunday would be "interesting."
If a fresh face is named as one of his top deputies, it could indicate that his administration is settling on who might carry the country forward when those who fought in the 1959 revolution can no longer do so.
Raul Castro turns 82 this year and would be 86 when a new term ends. His top two lieutenants are also in their 80s.
"This National Assembly is important because it formally is going to govern the fate of the country for the next five years, which will be decisive for changing personnel ? what I call the intergenerational transition," said Arturo Lopez-Levy, a Cuban economist and analyst who lectures at the University of Denver. "The intergenerational transition cannot be put off any longer."
The 612 members of parliament are due to be sworn in during the morning and then pick a new National Assembly president for the first time in 20 years, as longtime chief Ricardo Alarcon was not on the ballot this year.
The assembly will also nominate the Council of State, Cuba's maximum governing body, which is made up of the president, a first vice president, five vice-presidents, a secretary and 23 other members.
The president also oversees the Council of Ministers, or Cabinet.
Castro has spoken in the past of implementing two-term limits for public officials up to and including the president, as well as the importance of grooming new leaders to take over from his graying generation.
This would be his second full term after formally assuming the presidency in 2008. He took over provisionally in 2006 when his elder brother, Fidel, was stricken with a life-threatening intestinal illness.
Raul Castro is about halfway through a program of key social and economic reforms that have already seen the expansion of private business activity, legalized home and car sales, an easing of restrictions on foreign travel and the handover of fallow state land to independent farmers.
Cuban state media said both Castros received a standing ovation when they arrived at a Havana convention center for Sunday's parliamentary gathering.
A photo posted online by the news agency Prensa Latina showed the brothers sitting next to each other at the assembly, along with first vice president Jose Ramon Machado Ventura.
Foreign media were not invited to the early parts of the gathering, but were promised access to its closing moments.
___
Associated Press writer Andrea Rodriguez in Havana contributed to this report.
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Feb. 22, 2013 ? Electrodes have been permanently implanted in nerves and muscles of an amputee to directly control an arm prosthesis, for the first time. The result allows natural control of an advanced robotic prosthesis, similarly to the motions of a natural limb.
A surgical team led by Dr Rickard Br?nemark, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, has carried out the first operation of its kind, where neuromuscular electrodes have been permanently implanted in an amputee. The operation was possible thanks to new advanced technology developed by Max Ortiz Catalan, supervised by Rickard Br?nemark at Sahlgrenska University Hospital and Bo H?kansson at Chalmers University of Technology.
"The new technology is a major breakthrough that has many advantages over current technology, which provides very limited functionality to patients with missing limbs," says Rickard Br?nemark.
Big challenges There have been two major issues on the advancement of robotic prostheses:
1) how to firmly attach an artificial limb to the human body;
2) how to intuitively and efficiently control the prosthesis in order to be truly useful and regain lost functionality.
"This technology solves both these problems by combining a bone anchored prosthesis with implanted electrodes," said Rickard Br?nemark, who along with his team has developed a pioneering implant system called Opra, Osseointegrated Prostheses for the Rehabilitation of Amputees.
A titanium screw, so-called osseointegrated implant, is used to anchor the prosthesis directly to the stump, which provides many advantages over a traditionally used socket prosthesis.
"It allows complete degree of motion for the patient, fewer skin related problems and a more natural feeling that the prosthesis is part of the body. Overall, it brings better quality of life to people who are amputees," says Rickard Br?nemark.
How it works Presently, robotic prostheses rely on electrodes over the skin to pick up the muscles electrical activity to drive few actions by the prosthesis. The problem with this approach is that normally only two functions are regained out of the tens of different movements an able-body is capable of. By using implanted electrodes, more signals can be retrieved, and therefore control of more movements is possible. Furthermore, it is also possible to provide the patient with natural perception, or "feeling," through neural stimulation.
"We believe that implanted electrodes, together with a long-term stable human-machine interface provided by the osseointegrated implant, is a breakthrough that will pave the way for a new era in limb replacement," says Rickard Br?nemark.
The patient The first patient has recently been treated with this technology, and the first tests gave excellent results. The patient, a previous user of a robotic hand, reported major difficulties in operating that device in cold and hot environments and interference from shoulder muscles. These issues have now disappeared, thanks to the new system, and the patient has now reported that almost no effort is required to generate control signals. Moreover, tests have shown that more movements may be performed in a coordinated way, and that several movements can be performed simultaneously.
"The next step will be to test electrical stimulation of nerves to see if the patient can sense environmental stimuli, that is, get an artificial sensation. The ultimate goal is to make a more natural way to replace a lost limb, to improve the quality of life for people with amputations," says Rickard Br?nemark.
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ATHENS, Greece (AP) ? Torrential rainfall in Greece's capital Friday crippled traffic, inundated basements and streets, and was blamed for the death of woman whose car was trapped in floodwater, authorities said.
The overnight storm swept across greater Athens, flooding hundreds of homes, causing blackouts in parts of the city and forcing authorities to close major roads and a central subway station in Athens.
"We have many, many problems ? it's hard to know where to begin describing it," Deputy Fire Chief Vassilis Papageorgiou said.
"We have more than 60 crews working to get people out of stranded vehicles."
Police closed underpasses and highways in low-lying parts of the city after they were submerged, while parked cars were swept away by racing waters.
A 23-year-old woman who had been trapped in her car on a flooded suburban road died shortly after being pulled free by other motorists and taken to a hospital, police said. Doctors said a preliminary examination suggested she had died of heart failure.
The fire department said it received about 1,500 calls to pump out water in greater Athens. During five hours of heavy rainfall, more than 100 millimeters (3.9 inches) fell in some parts of the city ? more than the monthly average of 50 millimeters (1.9 inches).
An abandoned house collapsed in the city center, but no injuries were reported, while a factory north of Athens was seriously damaged when floodwater eroded the ground beneath the structure.
The capital's tram system was also shut down for more than an hour, while urban rail schedules were disrupted after a tree fell onto the tracks. The rain also caused power cuts in parts of the city.
In Parliament, a worker clearing water from the roof of the main assembly hall during a session tripped and went through a glass skylight, but was pulled to safety by a policeman.
The accident occurred as Cabinet members were preparing to answer questions.
"The worker could have landed on our heads," Sports Minister Yiannis Ioannidis said.
INDIANAPOLIS -- When asked to name the best receiver in this year?s draft class ? other than himself, mind you ? Kenbrell Thompkins didn?t miss a beat.
?Kenbrell Thompkins,? replied Thompkins, the Miami Northwestern High graduate who played his college ball at Cincinnati.
He wasn?t joking.
A few hours earlier, West Virginia?s Tavon Austin went one better. He didn?t limit his greatness to the wide receiver position. Austin said he was the best all-around player in the entire draft.
If this year?s group of draft-eligible wideouts has half as much talent as it does confidence, the Dolphins should have no trouble finding a playmaking receiver the team so desperately craves.
Thompkins, Austin and roughly a dozen other pass-catching prospects took their turn behind the mic Friday, speaking at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Many are also in the process of cycling through the Dolphins? interview room. Still, the team brass will likely care more about what they do this weekend than what they say.
Wide receiver is the ultimate position of need for the Dolphins, who got just three touchdowns catches from their group in 2012.
And despite what Thompkins and Austin believe, the consensus No.?1 prospect at that position is Tennessee?s Cordarrelle Patterson, whose news conference Friday was as well-attended as a White House daily briefing.
?Speed, catching and scoring,? Patterson said, when asked to name his three best attributes. ?I expect to be a good rookie and hopefully a Pro Bowler.?
Again, humility isn?t often associated with the receiving position, although Baylor?s Terrance Williams was the rare exception. Williams? voice barely rose above a whisper Friday.
He is more of a carry-a-big-stick kind of guy. Williams checked in at 6-2, 208 pounds this week, one of several wideouts apparently not afraid of the weight room.
?They?re big and fast,? Chiefs general manager John Dorsey said. ?It?s amazing. I was at the weigh-ins here, and I was looking at the receivers, just thinking to myself how much bigger these guys really are.
?It shows you how big that position is getting.?
Like the Dolphins, Kansas City ? which owns the No.?1 overall pick ? will likely be in the market for a receiver, particularly if the team loses Dwayne Bowe to free agency.
There?s a chance the Chiefs will put the franchise tag on Bowe for the second consecutive season, but Dorsey wouldn?t address that scenario Friday.
?It?s been an ongoing communication with his representatives,? Dorsey said. ?We?ve had those discussions for the last couple of weeks. We?ll continue to have those conversations as we get to free agency.?
Likewise, Packers GM Ted Thompson wouldn?t say much about Greg Jennings ? another potential Dolphins target ? other than saying Green Bay would like to have Jennings back.
Should the Dolphins fail in their bid to land a top-flight receiver ? it?s believed their top choice is Pittsburgh?s Mike Wallace ? the draft will be imperative. That?s why they?ve brought 55 coaches and scouts to town, and given close attention to the group this week that will continue throughout the spring.
Dolphins coach Joe Philbin had California?s Keenan Allen draw up plays on the board during an interview.
?The connection was there,? Allen said of his meeting with Philbin.
Thompkins, who is training in South Florida, also huddled with the Dolphins and has been asked back for a visit to the team?s training facility. And Stedman Bailey ? who played his high school ball at Miramar before joining Austin at West Virginia ? said he will work out at the team?s local pro day, which will presumably be held in early April.
??Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas alum Gio Bernard played just two years at North Carolina ? he tore his ACL during training camp in his freshman year ? but said durability should not be a concern for teams considering drafting him.
?I?m still on the field; I?m still producing,? said Bernard, who rushed for 1,228 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2012.
Bernard has been invited to participate in the Dolphins? local prospect day but is undecided on whether he will do so.
??The Dolphins and Reggie Bush?s agent, Joel Segal, have discussed a contract extension within the last week, a league source said Friday.
Miami Herald sportswriter Armando Salguero contributed to this report.
Michael Phelps still hops in the pool these days, but only to escape questions about whether he'll swim competitively again.
Published: Feb. 21, 2013 at 12:57 p.m. PST ? Updated: Feb. 21, 2013 at 12:57 p.m. PST
SARASOTA, Fla. ? Michael Phelps still hops in the pool these days, but only to escape questions about whether he'll swim competitively again.
The most decorated Olympian is too busy enjoying retirement to think about a Michael Jordan-like comeback. Phelps is filming a reality TV series for the Golf Channel with swing coach Hank Haney. The two visited the Baltimore Orioles in spring training on Thursday.
Phelps donned a helmet for batting practice. After getting warm he found the outfield with more than a few swings, impressing manager Buck Showalter.
Phelps wore a No. 18 jersey, the same number of Olympic gold medals he won during his unparalleled swimming career.
Scientists believe the massive goldfish may be the result of aquarium dumping, and could threaten the ecosystem of the lake. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
By Tanya Lewis LiveScience
A new kind of lake monster has been found, in the depths of Lake Tahoe: gigantic goldfish. Researchers trawling the lake for invasive fish species scooped up a goldfish that was nearly 1.5 feet long and weighed 4.2 pounds.
"During these surveys, we've found a nice corner where there's about 15 other goldfish," environmental scientist Sudeep Chandra of the University of Nevada, Reno, told LiveScience. "It's an indication that they were schooling and spawning." The arrival of the fish, which were probably dumped there by aquarium owners, has Chandra worried ? goldfish are an invasive species that could interfere with Lake Tahoe's ecosystem.
It's unclear whether the giant fish were introduced as fully grown adults, or while they were still small, Chandra said. But even a small creature can have a big impact, if there are enough of them.
The goldfish are just one of several species of invasive warm-water fishes in Lake Tahoe. "The invasion is resulting in the consumption of native species," Chandra said. What's more, the invasive fish excrete nutrients that cause algal blooms, which threaten to muddy Tahoe's clear waters. [Photos: Giant Goldfish & Other Freaky Fish]
Fish out of water Aquarium dumping has become a common practice in the United States and elsewhere, and it's taking a toll on native wildlife. A recent report on California's aquarium trade?found that fish owners and importers are introducing hardy, nonnative aquatic species to California waters. "Globally, the aquarium trade has contributed a third of the?world's worst aquatic and invasive species," Williams, who was lead author of the report, told OurAmazingPlanet, a sister site of LiveScience, in January.
While the exact number of aquarium owners dumping fish is unknown, scientists know the practice is occurring because these species could not have ended up in these waters naturally. Between 20 percent and 69 percent of fish keepers surveyed in Texas admitted to dumping, according to Williams.
Other ways that invasive species find their way into natural ecosystems include aquaculture, live seafood, live bait, and fishing and recreation vessels. More than 11 million non-native marine organisms representing at least 102 species arrive at ports in San Francisco and Los Angeles alone, Williams has found.
The invaders include tropical fish, seaweed and snails. One of the nastiest is a deadly type of seaweed known as Caulerpa. A type of algae that produces toxic compounds?that kill off fish, Caulerpa was eradicated in 2000 (at great expense) from lagoons in Southern California.
Don't dump fish Aquarium owners should be more careful when disposing of unwanted fish and other animals, Williams cautioned. "It's pretty simple: Don't dump your fish," she said. Instead, she suggests calling the pet shop that sold the fish or your state department of fish and wildlife. (Euthanasia is another option, but simply flushing fish down the toilet can be problematic ? for the fish and for your plumbing.)
So why do people dump fish? Studies of dumping have shown that size and aggressiveness of the fish are two main factors, Williams said.
The largest pet goldfish, according to the BBC, was a fish named Goldie that was 15 inches (38 centimeters) long and weighed more than 2 pounds (0.9 kg).
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