Israel urges maintaining Iran sanctions despite Geneva proposals

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel on Wednesday urged Western powers not to give up economic sanctions on Iran until Tehran proves it is dismantling its nuclear program that the United States and its allies believe is aimed at developing atomic weapons.

The Israeli comments came after Western diplomats said Iran hinted during two days of nuclear negotiations in Geneva that it was ready to scale back sensitive atomic activities to secure relief from the crippling sanctions.

"Iran should be tested by its actions, not its proposals," a senior Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in a message sent from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.

The Israeli official added, "Until substantive steps are carried out that prove that Iran is dismantling its military nuclear program, the international community must continue with its sanctions against it (Iran)."

The United States called the talks the most serious and candid to date, though a senior U.S. official said there had been no apparent narrowing of differences between Tehran and the six nations in the negotiations over its nuclear program.

Follow-up talks have been scheduled for November 7-8.

Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear power in the Middle East.

The United States, Israel and other countries accuse Iran of using its nuclear program to try to develop the capability to produce weapons. Iran says the program is for peaceful energy purposes only. Hassan Rouhani, Iran's new president, told the U.N. General Assembly last month that nuclear weapons "have no place in Iran's security and defense doctrine, and contradict our fundamental religious and ethical convictions."

Israel insists Iran must be forced to give up its enrichment of uranium, which the Jewish state sees as a risk that the nuclear program would be used for weapon development.

Netanyahu has said Israel would not accept Iran becoming a nuclear power and has hinted that his country may resort to military action - and act on its own - to prevent that from coming about.

(Reporting by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israel-dont-let-iran-sanctions-despite-geneva-proposals-211946128.html
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Intel 3Q profit unchanged, but beats predictions

NEW YORK (AP) — Intel said Tuesday that its third-quarter net income was unchanged, stymied by a continued slump in global PC demand.

The chipmaker earned $2.95 billion, or 58 cents per share, compared with $2.97 billion, or 58 cents per share, in the same quarter of 2012.

Revenue also was unchanged at about $13.5 billion.

The drop in PC-related sales came amid another decline in PC shipments. Intel supplies chips for about four out of every five PCs. The rest come from Advanced Micro Devices Inc., which reports financial results on Thursday.

IDC said last week that worldwide PC shipments fell nearly 8 percent during the third quarter, to 81.6 million, while fellow market research firm Gartner Inc. put the decline at almost 9 percent, to 80.3 million. The two firms define PCs slightly differently. The drop marked the sixth-straight quarter of decline for the industry, as computer makers, and the companies that supply them, try to reshape themselves amid the continued shift toward tablets and smartphones.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said on a conference call with investors that while consumer demand in emerging markets was sluggish during the recent quarter, the company started to see early signs of improvement in North America and western Europe. He attributed that to the company's growing product lineup.

Intel's results for the quarter, which ended Sept. 28, beat Wall Street predictions. Analysts polled by FactSet expected a profit of 53 cents per share on revenue of $13.4 billion.

Revenue at the company's personal-computer business fell 3.5 percent to $8.4 billion because of a drop in the number of chips sold, while data center revenue increased 12 percent to $2.9 billion, helped by both higher prices and higher volumes.

For the fourth-quarter, Intel projected revenue of $13.2 billion to $14.2 billion. Analysts were looking for $14.0 billion.

Shares of Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel Corp. fell 59 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $22.80 in extended trading after the release of results.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-10-15-Earns-Intel/id-6ddd69b8995948009e8420b4fc9434a5
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Bibiano Fernandes won’t feel he’s the One FC champion until he beats Soo Chul Kim

Bibiano Fernandes became One FC’s interim bantamweight championship with his win over Koetsu Okazaki last May, but he won’t feel the real champion until he beats Soo Chul Kim.

Kim was sidelined after his TKO victory over Leandro Issa last year when he claimed the 135-pound title, and the bantamweights are set to meet at One FC 11’s main event on Oct. 18 in Singapore.

Fernandes, a former Dream bantamweight and featherweight champion, wants to add another title to his record.

"Soo Chul Kim is the champion and I respect him," Fernandes told MMAFighting.com. "To get where he is today, I need to work. He’s the first, I’m the second until the day I fight him."

A multiple-time jiu-jitsu world champion, Fernandes has worked hard to become a well-rounded fighter, and training with the likes of Matt Hume, Tim Boetsch and UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson is helping him to get there.

"Demetrious and I help each other a lot," he said. "We mix it up, every day he has something to ask and so do I. We learn a lot training together. His stand up game is really good. He’s fast and has a great cardio. This kid’s cardio is impressive, so he’s helping me a lot."

Kim is coming off three consecutive wins, including two knockout stoppages, but the Brazilian doesn’t worry about his opponent’s game.

"I’ve trained a lot and will be ready on fight night," Fernandes said. "I’ve done everything I had to do, now it’s time to make it happen.

"I don’t focus on what the other guy can do," he continued. "Sometimes you can train this thing and other thing happens in the fight. I just watch his tapes to see what he does best, like his right hand, but that’s it. I know what he does, but I’ll be ready to surprise him. I can surprise him in a lot of ways. I know what he does, so I’ll decide what I’ll do against him."

Kim believes he has the one-punch knockout power to finish the fight, but that’s the king of pre-fight talk Fernandes has already heard in the past.

"He can say whatever he wants, but we’ll see what happens inside the cage," he said. "Joachim Hansen had heavy hands, (Kid) Yamamoto had heavy hands, (Hiroyuki) Takaya knocked everybody out. Everybody said they’d knock me out and that they had heavy hands, but they couldn’t do it. I’ll be ready for his hands and for anything else when the time comes."

Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2013/10/16/4800302/bibiano-fernandes-wont-feel-hes-the-one-fc-champion-until-he-beats
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Workers at newly privatized Royal Mail to strike November 4

By Neil Maidment

LONDON (Reuters) - Workers at Britain's newly privatized Royal Mail postal service voted on Wednesday to strike for 24 hours on November 4 if they cannot reach agreement with the firm on pay and working conditions.

The management of Royal Mail, which listed on the London stock market in a high profile float last week, had expected a vote in favor of strike action and criticized the prospect of a disruption to services in the run-up to Christmas, its busiest time.

The Communication Workers' Union (CWU) sent ballot papers to over 115,000 Royal Mail staff and said 78 percent had voted to strike, on a turnout of 63 percent.

The union said further action was under consideration and added that it planned to carry out a second ballot asking workers to support a boycott of the handling of competitors' mail, which Royal Mail delivers on their behalf.

The CWU, which fiercely opposed the privatization over fears it would lead to poorer job conditions and services, in July rejected Royal Mail's offer of an 8.6 percent pay increase over three years, criticizing proposed changes to pensions.

"What we want is a groundbreaking, long-term, legally binding agreement that not only protects postal workers' job security, pay and pensions but will also determine the strategy, principles and values of how Royal Mail will operate as a private entity," CWU deputy general secretary Dave Ward said in a statement.

Royal Mail noted that, with a 63 percent turnout, 51 percent of all its CWU members had abstained or voted against a strike. It also noted that there were 24,000 frontline employees who were not union members and therefore did not vote.

Shares in the firm, which on Wednesday named Barclays as its corporate broker, closed down 2.9 percent at 475 pence, having been down all day on the expected announcement.

The Direct Marketing Association, representing the UK advertising mail industry - which it says accounts for 1 billion pounds of Royal Mail's 9 billion pound turnover - said strike action would have a severe impact on customers.

"The build-up to Christmas is a critical period that typically accounts for more than half of businesses' annual revenues ... Any disruption to service would quickly lead businesses to take their custom elsewhere," DMA's executive director Chris Combemale said in a statement.

The action comes as many Royal Mail workers have seen the value of their free shares in the firm rocket.

As part the stock market listing, 10 percent of shares were handed to Royal Mail's 150,000 eligible UK-based staff, with full-time workers each receiving 725 shares, worth around 3,440 pounds ($5,500) at Wednesday's closing share price.

That figure was much higher than the 2,200 pounds per person initially expected, after the shares peaked on Tuesday almost 50 percent above the privatization price.

Royal Mail said on Wednesday that directors of the company had applied for a total of more than 500,000 pounds worth of shares in the float as part of an employee priority offer, and like others, saw their order scaled back to 10,000 pounds worth each due to strong demand for the shares.

As well as the shares they bought at the 330 pence offer price, they also received the free shares as staff. Royal Mail said its non-executive directors decided to opt out of receiving these shares as they deemed it inappropriate.

Chairman Donald Brydon owns 3,030 shares, worth nearly 14,400 pounds at Wednesday's closing price, while Chief Executive Moya Greene and Chief Financial Officer Matthew Lester both have 3,643 shares, now worth more than 17,300 pounds.

The jump in the share price has sparked criticism by opposition lawmakers, who accuse the government of undervaluing Royal Mail, prompting a parliamentary committee to say it will investigate the sale in an inquiry expected next month. ($1 = 0.6278 British pounds)

(Additional reporting by Kylie MacLellan, Editing by Kate Holton and Kevin Liffey)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/workers-newly-privatized-royal-mail-strike-november-4-171833700--sector.html
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Richman vs. Stepanyan slated for Rampage vs. Ortiz card

A featherweight fight between Mike Richman and Akop Stepanyan has been scheduled for the Spike TV portion of the Rampage vs. Ortiz fight card on Nov. 2 at Long Beach Arena, according to Bellator officials Tuesday.

Richman has won four of his six Bellator fights, but lost to Frodo Khasbulaev via unanimous decision at Bellator 95 this past April.

Stepanyan has lost three of his four Bellator fights. He was submitted by Justin Wilcox via rear-naked choke at Bellator 99 last month.

Rampage Jackson will face Tito Ortiz in the main event.

Here is how the card looks so far below:

Main Card (PPV)
Rampage Jackson (32-11) vs. Tito Ortiz (16-11-1)
Michael Chandler (12-0) vs. Eddie Alvarez (24-3)
King Mo Lawal (11-2) vs. Emanuel Newton (21-7-1)
Pat Curran (19-4) vs. Daniel Straus (21-4)
Cheick Kongo (19-8) vs. Vinicius Spartan (7-3)

Spike TV Preliminary Fights
Joe Riggs (39-14) vs. Mike Bronzoulis (15-5)
Terry Etim (15-5) vs. Patrick Cenoble (9-2)
Mike Richman (15-3) vs. Akop Stepanyan (13-6)

Spike.com Preliminary Fights
Joe Williams (10-3) vs. Jesse Juarez (20-8)
Brandon Halsey (4-0) vs. Hector Ramirez (9-5-1)
Mike Guymon (14-6-1) vs. Aaron Miller (14-8)
Joe Camacho (13-18-3) vs. Cleber Luciano (8-5)
Darren Smith (4-3) vs. Josh Smith (8-5)

Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2013/10/15/4841762/richman-vs-stepanyan-slated-for-rampage-vs-ortiz-card
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Search for Philippine quake survivors as death toll hits 107

Loon (Philippines) (AFP) - Rescue workers raced Wednesday to reach isolated communities on a popular Philippine tourist island that was devastated by a huge earthquake, as aftershocks tormented survivors and the death toll climbed to 107.

The 7.1-magnitude earthquake smashed the central island of Bohol on Tuesday morning, triggering landslides that engulfed entridges and tearing down centuries-old churcheire homes, ripping apart bs.

The national disaster agency said the number of people confirmed killed on Bohol and neighbouring islands had climbed from 93 to 107, and more bad news was expected as rescue workers were yet to reach some villages and towns.

"Our efforts today are focused on reaching isolated areas. We suspect individuals are trapped out there and we have to conduct search and rescue," National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council spokesman Reynaldo Balido told AFP.

With destroyed bridges, ripped-open roads and power outages fragmenting the island of about one million people, Balido said authorities were struggling to reach isolated communities and had no idea how bad the damage was in some areas.

"We don't even have an estimate... we are just assuming that since there were collapsed buildings, we must search for them," Balido said, when asked how many people remained missing.

At Loon, a small coastal town of about 40,000 people just 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the epicentre of the earthquake, shocked survivors wandered around the rubble of collapsed buildings looking for relatives.

Farmer Serafin Megallen said he dug with his hands, brick-by-brick, to retrieve his mother-in-law and cousin from the rubble of their home on Tuesday.

"They were alive but they died of their injuries three hours later. There was no rescue that came, we had to rely on neighbours for help," he told AFP.

Megallen said a neighbour with a truck tried to drive the bodies to Loon's funeral parlour, only to find out the bridge across a river on the way was destroyed.

The bodies were then taken across the river aboard a boat.

"But no one will give them last rites because the church was also destroyed," he said.

Ten churches, many of them dating back centuries to Spanish colonial rule of the Philippines, were destroyed or badly damaged on Bohol and the neighbouring island of Cebu.

Loon's limestone Our Lady of Light church was reduced to mounds of crushed rocks.

'Nothing much we can do'

In front of the rubble an improvised altar had been erected with a lone statue of the Virgin Mary, where teary residents stopped by to make the sign of the cross.

"We're trying our best to keep hopes up, but in this desperate situation there is nothing much we can do beyond giving comforting words," local priest Father Tomas Balakayo told AFP.

"I try to be strong but this is terrible, what have these people done to deserve this?"

Meanwhile, the only people involved in the search and rescue efforts on Wednesday morning at Loon were residents and local police, who themselves had lost their homes or relatives.

They struggled as aftershocks continued to rattle the area. More than 800 aftershocks had been recorded, including one on Wednesday morning with a magnitude of 5.1, according to national disaster authorities.

Most of the confirmed deaths were on Bohol, which is one of the most popular tourist islands in the Philippines because of its beautiful beaches, rolling "Chocolate Hills" and tiny "tarsier" primates.

Nine people died on neighbouring Cebu island, home to the Philippines' second-biggest city of the same name.

No foreign tourists were reported killed.

The Philippines lies on the so-called Ring of Fire, a vast Pacific Ocean region where many of Earth's earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.

The deadliest recorded natural disaster in the Philippines occurred in 1976, when a tsunami triggered by a 7.9-magnitude earthquake devastated the Moro Gulf on the southern island of Mindanao.

Between 5,000 and 8,000 people were killed, according to official estimates.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/philippine-quake-death-toll-reaches-99-010648576.html
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This Adorable Robo-Bottle Provides Cold, Calculated Hydration

With every sugar water-selling corporation directly targeting kids, it's hard to convince the young'ns that water is really their best source of hydration. But what kid in their right mind would choose to sip from an aluminum can when this wonderful robot-shaped bottle could be lurking in their lunchbox?

Designed by Winnif Pang and aptly named the BOT-L, the $12 squeezable bottle is made from non-toxic food-safe plastics, and is free of BPA or phthalates because—and let's be honest here—there are already enough ways for robots to do us in. [Fred & Friends via Swissmiss]

Photos by Fred & Friends

Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-adorable-robo-botttle-provides-cold-calculated-hy-1445753979
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