Japan's H-IIB Launches HTV4 to the ISS

Japan's H-II Rocket Launches the HTV4 Spacecraft to the Space Station, NASA

"The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) HTV-4 Transfer Vehicle launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan for a rendezvous with the International Space Station.

Once there, the HTV-4 will deliver 3.6 tons of dry cargo, water, experiments and spare parts to the International Space Station. Unlike a Russian Progress vehicle which docks automatically, the HTV-4 will be captured by the Canadarm2 and berthed to the Harmony module. The cargo spacecraft will be commanded to fly within about 40 feet and then hold where Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg will operate the Canadarm2 during the approach and rendezvous of the space stations latest visitor."

Source: http://www.portaltotheuniverse.org/rview/277813/

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Victim in fatal California boardwalk hit-run identified as Italian woman on honeymoon; suspect arrested

A vehicle plowed through a group of people near Venice Beach, Calif., killing a woman, in an incident caught on security video cameras. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

By Miguel Almaguer and M. Alex Johnson, NBC News

A California man was held on suspicion of murder after a car plowed through Los Angeles' popular Venice Beach boardwalk Saturday night, killing a young Italian woman in the U.S. for her honeymoon and injuring 11 other people, authorities said Sunday.

Police said Nathan Louis Campbell, 38, of Los Angeles, was being held on $1 million bail after he fled the scene in a dark sedan in an incident that was captured on security camera video.

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The video shows a man parking a black car along the boardwalk, watching for several minutes and then speeding into the crowd about 6 p.m. (9 p.m. ET).?It shows the car careening around barriers intended to block automobiles from reaching the boardwalk's pedestrian area.

Alice Gruppioni, 32, of Italy was killed, the Los Angeles County coroner's office told NBC News. Eleven other people, all of them believed to have been pedestrians on the boardwalk, were injured, one of them critically.

The Italian news agency ANSA reported that Gruppioni, of Bologna in northern Italy, was married July 20 to Christian Casadei, an architect from Cesena.

Casadei suffered minor injuries and was at his wife's side when she died, it said, quoting Giuseppe Perrone, the Italian consul general in Los Angeles, who accompanied Casadei to the hospital.

Perrone told ANSA in a telephone interview that Casadei and his new wife were strolling along the boardwalk when the car came barreling through.

"We were walking, we were happy, we were on our honeymoon and everything, and suddenly everything changed," Casadei said, according to Perrone.

"I still can't believe it, and I don't even remember exactly what happened. It's all very confusing."

Perrone described Casadei as "destroyed and in disbelief."

Witnesses said it appeared that the driver took aim at people on the boardwalk.

"All I saw was a car emerging from the crowd driving southbound on the boardwalk just plowing through whomever was in its way," said Scott Levinsky, a vendor at the packed tourist attraction.

"We're never going to forget that moment," he said. "I'm still thankful to God that we are still alive and surviving."

Chelsea Alvarez, who was visiting the boardwalk Saturday night, said the scene was "really bad."

"There was tables, there was people everywhere, blood everywhere," she said. "There was scattered stuff. It was horrible. It was the ugliest scene I've ever seen."

Alvarez told NBC Los Angeles that her grandmother Linda Alvarez, 75, was among those hit, suffering broken ribs.

"She's good. She's just resting. She's sleeping right now," Alvarez said.

Los Angeles City Council member Mike Bonin told the station that the barriers in place at the Venice boardwalk are insufficient. He said he would ask the council to move quickly to install new barriers before the end of the year.

Gruppioni was the daughter of Valerio Gruppioni, president of Sira Group, based in Bologna, one of the world's largest producers of radiators for heating. Bologna FC, a club in the top flight of Italian soccer, confirmed her death in a statement offering condolences to Valerio Gruppioni, a former president of the club.

"President (Albano) Guaraldi and all of Bologna FC are with the Gruppioni family in this time of unspeakable pain," the club said.

In a statement Sunday, rival club AC Milan, one of the world's premier teams, expressed its "condolences to former Bologna president Valerio Gruppioni and his family following the passing of his daughter Alice."

Watch US News videos on NBCNews.com

Gil Aegerter and Hasani Gittens of NBC News contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Sun Aug 4, 2013 2:48 PM EDT

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663306/s/2f8cd220/sc/8/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A80C0A40C198551190Evictim0Ein0Efatal0Ecalifornia0Eboardwalk0Ehit0Erun0Eidentified0Eas0Eitalian0Ewoman0Eon0Ehoneymoon0Esuspect0Earrested0Dlite/story01.htm

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Coach Moss after Jacksonville's win over the Storm in the first round of the pla...

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Fantasy Football Draft 2013: QB or Not QB?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/08/fantasy-football-draft-2013-qb-or-not-qb/

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China July HSBC services PMI holds steady at 51.3

BEIJING (Reuters) - Activity in China's services sector defied the country's economic cool down and expanded modestly in July, a private survey showed, as new business orders recovered from a multi-year low in a rare sign of resilience.

But the show of strength was tempered by a fall in prices charged by companies, suggesting demand was still too weak for firms to raise prices, which hit a nine-month low in July.

The HSBC/Markit Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the services industry stood at 51.3 in July, unchanged from June and just a whisker above a 20-month low of 51.1 struck in April.

A reading above 50 suggests business grew compared to a month ago, while an outcome below 50 points to contraction.

China's economy is at risk of posting its weakest annual growth in over two decades this year as flagging foreign and domestic demand weigh on exports and factory production. A slowdown in investment has further dragged on growth.

"China's service sector has stabilized at a relatively low level of growth," said Qu Hongbin, an economist at HSBC.

"But profit margins continue to be squeezed. Without a sustained improvement in demand, services growth is likely to remain lackluster, putting downside pressures to employment growth."

The sub-index for new business orders rebounded to 52.3 from June's reading, which was the lowest in over four years. Anecdotal evidence suggested the rise in new orders was driven by stronger demand, HSBC said.

But companies remained guarded in their expectations of new business in coming months due to fragile economic conditions. The sub-index for business expectations hovered near lows unseen since records started in 2005.

Financial markets have grown increasingly nervous about China's economic health despite reassurances from Beijing that the world's second-biggest economy is on track to meet its 7.5 percent growth target this year. If achieved, the rate of growth would be the worst since 1990.

A similar, official survey released on Saturday showed growth in China's non-manufacturing sector picked up in July as Beijing's recent support measures for small firms helped improve sentiment, though companies noted that inflation is picking up and pushing up costs.

The government's non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to 54.1 last month from June's 53.9.

JOBS

The HSBC survey showed the employment sub-index slipped in July, although it remained above a four-year trough touched in April.

HSBC said 6 percent of survey respondents increased their payrolls, with a particular focus on hiring graduates. In contrast, 2 percent of companies had shed jobs.

The services sector accounted for 46 percent of China's economy in 2012, so a sharp slowdown in the industry would exacerbate concerns about slackening Chinese economic growth.

Crucially, services companies are also the biggest employer in China, at a time when the government is worried that the economic downturn could threaten social stability by driving up unemployment.

Services firms created 35 percent of all jobs in China in 2011, overtaking manufacturers who accounted for 30 percent of hiring.

A pair of PMI surveys of Chinese manufacturers last week showed factory production was slightly stronger than expected in July among larger Chinese manufacturers. Smaller factories, however, were shown to have remained under pressure.

(Reporting by Koh Gui Qing; Editing by Kim Coghill)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-july-hsbc-services-pmi-holds-steady-51-020302278.html

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KRAUTHAMMER: How fractured is the GOP?

WASHINGTON ? A combination of early presidential maneuvering and internal policy debate is feeding yet another iteration of that media perennial: the great Republican crackup. This time it?s tea party insurgents versus get-along establishment fogies fighting principally over two things: (a) national security and (b) Obamacare.

National security

Gov. Chris Christie recently challenged Sen. Rand Paul over his opposition to the National Security Agency metadata program. Paul has also tangled with Sen. John McCain and other internationalists over drone warfare, democracy promotion and, more generally, intervention abroad.

So what else is new? The return of the most venerable strain of conservative foreign policy ? isolationism ? was utterly predictable. GOP isolationists dominated until Pearl Harbor and then acquiesced to an activist internationalism during the Cold War because of a fierce detestation of communism.

With communism gone, the conservative coalition should have fractured long ago. This was delayed by 9/11 and the rise of radical Islam. But now, 12 years into that era ? after Afghanistan and Iraq, after drone wars and the NSA revelations ? the natural tension between isolationist and internationalist tendencies has resurfaced.

In fact, both parties are internally split on domestic surveillance, as reflected in the very close recent House vote on curbing the NSA. This is not civil war. It?s a healthy debate that helps recalibrate the delicate line between safety and security as conditions (threat level and surveillance technology, for example) change.

The more fundamental GOP divide is over foreign aid and other manifestations of our role as the world?s leading power. The Paulites, pining for the splendid isolation of the 19th century, want to leave the world alone on the assumption that it will then leave us alone.

Which rests on the further assumption that international stability ? open sea lanes, free commerce, relative tranquility ? come naturally, like the air we breathe. If only that were true. Unfortunately, stability is not a matter of grace. It comes about only by Great Power exertion.

In the 19th century, that meant the British navy, behind whose protection America thrived. Today, alas, Britannia rules no waves. World order is maintained by American power and American will. Take that away and you don?t get tranquility. You get chaos.

That?s the Christie/McCain position. They figure that America doesn?t need two parties of retreat. Paul?s views, more measured and moderate than his fringy father?s, are still in the minority among conservatives, but gathering strength. Which is why Christie?s stroke ? defending and thus seizing the party?s more traditional internationalist consensus ? was a signal moment in the run-up to the 2016 campaign. The battle lines are drawn.

Obamacare

The other battle is about defunding Obamacare. Led by Sens. Mike Lee and Ted Cruz, the GOP insurgents are threatening to shut down the government on Oct. 1 if the stopgap funding bill contains money for Obamacare.

This is nuts. The president will never sign a bill defunding the singular achievement of his presidency. Especially when he has control of the Senate. Especially when, though a narrow majority (51 percent) of Americans disapprove of Obamacare, only 36 percent favor repeal. President Obama so knows he?ll win any shutdown showdown that he?s practically goading the Republicans into trying.

Never make a threat on which you are not prepared to deliver. Every fiscal showdown has redounded against the Republicans. The first, in 1995, effectively marked the end of the Gingrich revolution. The latest, last December, led to a last-minute Republican cave that humiliated the GOP and did nothing to stop the tax hike it so strongly opposed.

Those who fancy themselves tea party patriots fighting a sold-out cocktail-swilling establishment are demanding yet another cliff dive as a show of principle and manliness.

But there?s no principle at stake here. This is about tactics. If I thought this would work, I would support it. But I don?t fancy suicide. It has a tendency to be fatal.

As for manliness, the real question here is sanity. Nothing could better revive the fortunes of a failing, flailing, fading Democratic administration than a government shutdown where the president is portrayed as standing up to the GOP on honoring our debts and paying our soldiers in the field.

How many times must we learn the lesson? You can?t govern from one house of Congress. You need to win back the Senate and then the presidency. Shutting down the government is the worst possible way to get there. Indeed, it?s Obama?s fondest hope for a Democratic revival.

Charles Krauthammer is a syndicated columnist for the Washington Post. Email him at letters@charleskrauthammer.com.

Source: http://www.rockdalecitizen.com/news/2013/aug/03/krauthammer-how-fractured-is-the-gop/

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Ranking the 10 Most Underrated Guards of 2013-14 College Basketball

Duke?s Quinn Cook is an outstanding player who deserves more props than he is currently receiving.

As a freshman, Cook was an irregularly used as a backup who was never at full capacity because of injuries.

The most notable of his first-year stats was his assist-to-turnover ratio, which was an outrageous 3.5 (63 assists with only 18 turnovers).

Last year as a sophomore, the 6?1? PG from D.C. locked down the starting job, averaging a more-than-solid 11.7 points, 3.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game.

In most cases, those are the kinds of numbers that help you stand out and get recognized. However, Cook was no better than the No. 4 (maybe No. 5) option in last year?s Blue Devils attack. When you play with the likes of seniors Mason Plumlee, Seth Curry and Ryan Kelly, what do you expect?

Duke?s 2013-14 roster has plenty of star power. All-everything freshman Jabari Parker arrives and Mississippi State-transfer Rodney Hood?will now be eligible. Rasheed Sulaimon and Andre Dawkins return to Coach K?s backcourt.

Cook is a vital part to the Blue Devils' success in the upcoming season, but the question lingers: To what degree will he continue to labor in relative obscurity?

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1723544-ranking-the-10-most-underrated-guards-of-2013-14-college-basketball

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