Hill aides: White House recalculates spending cuts

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House budget office is recalculating how to apply automatic spending cuts for a handful of agencies, freeing up almost $4 billion for the Pentagon and another $1 billion or so for Homeland Security Department and NASA.

Capitol Hill aides familiar with the White House changes say the administration has identified almost $5 billion in cuts that can be restored under its reading of the arcane budget rules governing the across-the-board cuts, known as sequestration. The calculations would restore $5 billion of the scheduled $85 billion in automatic sequestration cuts.

An administration official confirmed the calculations Friday but declined to comment further because the process is ongoing. The official and congressional aides spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the changes publicly.

The move comes amid increasing public pressure to find ways to lessen the impact of sequestration. Federal agencies are warning that the mandatory cuts could mean cutbacks in services. Last week, Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed legislation giving the Federal Aviation Administration the ability to avoid furloughs that were causing flight delays by tapping money in other accounts.

The cuts officially began in March after Congress and Obama could not reach an agreement on a broader budget deal. The automatic cuts had been imposed under a hard-fought 2011 debt and budget pact.

The cuts have so far failed to live up to the dire warnings issued by agencies, in part because agency budget officers working with Congress have been permitted to transfer money between accounts. That allowed the Justice Department, for instance, to avoid temporary layoffs called furloughs. But budget experts warn that the grip of sequestration will grow tighter as weeks and months pass, leading to teacher layoffs, reduced funding for infrastructure and economic development projects, and a host of other cuts across the budget.

Many liberal activists were infuriated when Congress last week swiftly moved to address problems with air traffic control that led to widespread flight delays while leaving other problems like cuts to preschool for the poor and Meals on Wheels for the elderly unaddressed. Most lawmakers are frequent fliers.

At issue in the latest recalculation are accounts that were cut more deeply under a full-year funding bill enacted in March than they would have been under the across-the-board cuts. They get funds restored. It's up to the White House Office of Management and Budget to calculate the across-the-board cuts.

The State Department said Friday that cuts to its budget would be only $400 million, less than half of $850 million that was originally estimated. That means it was able to avoid furloughing workers.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hill-aides-white-house-recalculates-193733840.html

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Lindsay Lohan enters rehab at Betty Ford Center

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Lindsay Lohan has checked into a rehab and will not face a probation violation for leaving another treatment facility after a few minutes, a prosecutor said Friday.

Santa Monica Chief Deputy City Attorney Terry White said he has received confirmation that Lohan has checked in to a rehab facility and he is satisfied with her location. He declined to say where Lohan is receiving treatment, but a source close to the actress who was not authorized to speak publicly said she has checked in to the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

The "Liz & Dick" star is required to spend 90 days in rehab as part of a plea deal in a misdemeanor case filed after a June car accident.

Lohan has also re-hired longtime attorney Shawn Holley to handle her case. White said he was in contact with Holley on Thursday evening after hours of uncertainty about the actress' whereabouts.

Attorney Mark Jay Heller told a judge during a hearing Thursday that Lohan had checked in to a different rehab facility, but the starlet left it after a few minutes.

White was given several days to investigate that facility, which a state official said was not licensed to perform residential drug or alcohol rehab treatment. He said Superior Court Judge James R. Dabney will be updated on Lohan's location, but that it may not require a formal hearing.

Lohan's sentence called for her to spend three months at a lockdown rehab facility and also receive 18 months of psychotherapy to avoid a return to jail.

She pleaded no contest in March to lying to police and reckless driving.

Lohan has spent time at Betty Ford before. She served another mandatory rehab sentence at the treatment center, although her stay there was not without drama. Lohan, 26, got into an altercation with a rehab worker and within weeks of her release was charged with taking a necklace from a Los Angeles jewelry store without permission.

Russ Patrick, a spokesman for Betty Ford, said he could not confirm Lohan had returned to the facility, which is a licensed treatment hospital founded in 1982 and has treated numerous celebrities.

Lohan remains on probation in the theft case.

Holley has represented Lohan throughout numerous court proceedings, but the actress opted to have Heller, a lawyer from New York unversed in California law, represent her in recent months.

___

Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lindsay-lohan-enters-rehab-betty-ford-center-165747815.html

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Quick Glance on the Samsung Galaxy S4

Gesture-based feature lets you preview notifications and other info without waking up the phone

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is one of the most feature-laden phones we've ever used, and it's easy to overlook some stuff, especially if you don't go digging in menus. One neat but understated capability of Samsung's new high-ender is its ability to detect gestures at a distance using front-facing sensors, even while the device is sleeping. The GS4 takes advantage of this capability by introducing "Quick Glance," which lets you preview the time, date, notifications and other details without waking up the phone.

Part of the Air Gesture suite of features, Quick Glance can be activated by long-pressing "Air Gesture" in the quick settings pull-down and enabling it in the list that appears. That's also where you control other gesture features like Air jump, Air browse and Air call-accept. (Yeah, this thing's not short on gesture controls.)

Check out our quick video demo above, and subscribe to the Android Central YouTube channel for more awesome GS4 video content. 

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/CESILxohFlU/story01.htm

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How to Hide and Remove Tagged Instagram Photos From Your Profile

Now that you and all of your friends can start tagging people in Instagram shots, it's only inevitable that you'll get tagged in a photo you don't like. Here's how to hide and de-tag those photos.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/vUk_HkC8cEs/

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Shell's renaissance CEO Voser to retire early

By Andrew Callus

LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell's 54-year old chief executive Peter Voser is to retire next year in a surprise early departure he said was driven by a desire for a change of lifestyle.

Over the past nine years the softly spoken and widely respected Swiss national has helped drive the group's structural reorganization and recovery from sector laggard to a leading position in the burgeoning industry of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

He took over as finance director of Europe's top oil company in 2004 amid the board-level bloodshed that followed its shocking downgrade of reserves estimates and became CEO in 2009.

His departure comes as the company and the industry face huge new challenges.

Shell is the western world's number two company by production behind Exxon Mobil . But, like its peers, it is struggling to replace reserves and boost production and faces a squeeze on earnings as costs rise while the price of oil threatens to fall decisively below the psychologically important $100 a barrel level.

Finance director Simon Henry said the company was well-placed for the recent fall in prices.

"We also think there are quite few players in the market, quite a few companies, who actually have bet the farm on $100-plus oil prices. We don't," he said.

"We're structured around a lower oil price so it is not bad for us."

Nevertheless, analysts say that among the world's top oil companies, Shell spends more on exploration per barrel produced than any of its competitors. Its most high-profile exploration failure has been in Alaska, where it has spent $5 billion since 2006, and has yet to drill a single complete hole.

Meanwhile thefts, strikes and other issues dog activity in Nigeria where it is the principle international oil company operator. "We were concerned by the level of oil theft in Nigeria at the end the fourth quarter and we are even more concerned now," Henry said.

LIFESTYLE CHANGE

Voser joined Shell in 1982. He left in 2002 to join Swiss group ABB , but was back within two years as finance director as part of an effort to stabilize the company after the reserves crisis.

He said his decision to go in the first half of 2014 was a personal one. Shell employees, investors and analysts all said they were surprised to see him go.

"After such an exciting executive career I feel it is time for a change in my lifestyle and I am looking forward to having more time available for my family and private life in the years to come," Voser said in a statement.

Shell said it would look outside and inside the company for his replacement. A spokeswoman said Shell had looked outside for CEOs in the past. However, as with most big oil companies, new chief executives traditionally come up through the ranks.

Henry refused to be drawn on his own prospects for becoming CEO of Shell, Europe's second-largest investor-owned company by value behind food company Nestle .

Voser has been named in media reports as a possible chairman of Roche Holding , the drug firm based in his native Switzerland and where he is already non-executive director.

A Shell insider said Voser had indicated he had no plans to take on new non-executive directorships or chairmanships.

STRONG TRADING, LIKE BP

The last of the western world's four biggest oil companies to report results, Shell joined its peers on Thursday in delivering a first-quarter profit that topped market expectations.

Adjusted net profit on a current cost of supply basis rose to $7.5 billion from $7.3 billion a year ago, compared with expectations of around $6.5 billion.

As was the case with BP's results on Tuesday, Shell exceeded expectations by a big margin thanks in large part to its trading activities, which were not split out from the rest of its operations.

Shell's shares climbed 1.4 percent to 2,223 pence, making it the third-best performer among European oil stocks on Thursday.

(Additional reporting by Rosalba O'Brien and Alex Lawler; Editing by Erica Billingham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/shell-boss-retire-early-profits-top-forecast-075831822.html

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Start your day with a beautiful MMA behind-the-scenes video

There are plenty of fight highlight videos, but few give such a stark, behind-the-scenes look as this one. Some of the moments carry more weight when you know the story behind them. Melvin Guillard hugging Donald Cerrone and coach Greg Jackson is a beautiful moment on its own, but takes on more significance when you know Guillard once trained with Jackson and Cerrone. The run-up to their fight was tense, but afterwards they shared a hug.

But most of the images need no background. Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva celebrating after he knocked out Alistair Overeem, Joe Benavidez giving a quick fist-bump through the curtain of the medical area, and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua not wanting to put a hat on his bruised, swollen head say enough.

Thanks to MMA Fighting.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/start-day-beautiful-mma-behind-scenes-video-132154458.html

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NASA Selects U.S. Small Business Technology Transfer Projects for ...

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) ? NASA has selected 14 proposals from small business and research institution teams to continue development of innovative technologies that are needed for future NASA missions and could become viable commercial products and services.

The Phase II selectees in NASA?s Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program may enter negotiations for possible contract awards, worth a combined total of approximately $9.8 million. High-tech firms in seven states submitted proposals in partnership with research institutions in nine states.

?As teams in our Small Business Technology Transfer Program move into their second phase of development, we?ll see innovative concepts mature into viable technologies that can be incorporated into NASA?s exploration plans and benefit our technology based economy,? said Michael Gazarik, NASA?s associate administrator for space technology in Washington. ?Through modest investments in technology development among American small business and research institution teams, we?re planting the seed corn that will keep NASA leading the way forward in space exploration, and America leading the world in high-tech business enterprises.?

Technologies selected for further development under Phase II will demonstrate the feasibility of new propellants for in-space propulsion, increased capabilities to perform autonomous robotic operations and in-situ robotic planetary analysis, and new methods for the manufacturing of advanced alloys.

The STTR Program uses a highly competitive, three-phase award system that provides collaborative opportunities between qualified small businesses, including women-owned and disadvantaged firms, and research institutions to address specific technology gaps in NASA?s programs. Selected projects provide a foundation for future technology developments and are complementary to other NASA research investments.

Firms and research institutions that participated in Phase I of the STTR program submitted 38 Phase II proposals. Selection criteria included technical merit and innovation, Phase I results, value to NASA, commercial potential and company capabilities.

Phase I is a feasibility study to evaluate the scientific and technical merit of an idea. Phase II will expand on the results of last year?s projects, with as much as $700,000 to support research for as long as two more years. Phase III is for the commercialization of the results of Phase II and requires private sector or non-STTR federal funding.

NASA?s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., manages the STTR Program with executive oversight by the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. NASA?s field installations manage individual projects.

For a complete list of selected companies, visit:

http://sbir.nasa.gov

NASA?s Space Technology Mission Directorate is innovating, developing, testing and flying hardware for use in NASA?s future missions. For more information about NASA?s investment in space technology, visit

http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech

FIRM LIST

Applied NanoFemto Technologies, LLC
181 Stedmen Street, Unit #2
Lowell,?MA 01851-5201
Jarrod Vaillancourt (978) 761-4293
University of Massachusetts ? Lowell
600 Suffolk Street, Second Floor
Lowell,?MA 01854-2827
11-2-T4.01-9886?GSFC
Photonic Antenna Enhanced Middle Wave and Longwave Infrared Focal Plane Array with Low Noise and High Operating Temperature

Balcones Technologies, LLC
10532 Grand Oak Circle
Austin,?TX 78750-3851
Joseph Beno (512) 924-2241
University of Texas ? Center for Electromechanics
P.O. Box 7726
Austin,?TX 78713-7726
11-2-T3.01-9950?GRC
Canfield Joint ? Vibration Isolation System for High Precision Pointing

Deployable Space Systems, Inc.
75 Robin Hill, Building B2
Goleta,?CA 93117-3108
Brian Spence (805) 693-1319
University of California, Santa Barbara
552 University Rd.
Santa Barbara,?CA 93106-0002
11-2-T3.01-9785?GRC
Materials and Structures Optimization / Process Development for the Mega-ROSA / ROSA Solar Array

Exquadrum, Inc.
12130 Rancho Road
Adelanto,?CA 92301-2703
Glen Goede (760) 246-0279
The University of Alabama in Huntsville
VBRH E-12
Huntsville,?AL 35899-0000
11-2-T2.01-9811?DFRC
Hybrid Propulsion for Upper-Stage Boosters

Gordon Nelson and Associates
2283 Hamlet Drive
Melbourne,?FL 32934-7609
Gordon Nelson (321) 255-1163
Florida Institute of Technology
150 West University Boulevard
Melbourne,?FL 32901-6975
11-2-T7.03-9842?KSC
New Flexible FR Polyurethane Foams for Energy Absorption Applications

HJ Science & Technology, Inc.
187 Saratoga Avenue
Santa Clara,?CA 95050-6657
Hong Jiao (408) 464-3873
University of Texas ? San Antonio
One UTSA Circle
San Antonio,?TX 78249-1644
11-2-T5.01-9938?JPL
Lab-on-a-Robot Platform for In-Situ Planetary Compositional Analysis

Innovative Imaging and Research Corporation
Building 1103, Suite 140C
Stennis Space Center,?MS 39529-0001
Mary Pagnutti (228) 688-2452
University of Houston Clear Lake
2700 Bay Area Boulevard
Houston,?TX 77058-1002
11-2-T10.02-9974?SSC
Energy Efficient LED Spectrally Matched Smart Lighting

Intelligent Fiber Optic Systems Corporation
2363 Calle Del Mundo
Santa Clara,?CA 95054-1008
Behzad Moslehi (408) 565-9004
The University of Alabama
301 Sparkman Drive, VBRH
Huntsville,?AL 35899-0001
11-2-T4.01-9792?GSFC
Miniaurizable, High Performance, Fiber-Optic Gyroscopes for Small Satellites

Keystone Synergistic Enterprises, Inc.
664 NW Enterprise Drive, Suite 118
Port Saint Lucie,?FL 34986-2250
Bryant Walker (772) 343-7544
Mississippi State University
449 Hardy Road 133 Etheredge Hall P.O. Box 6156
Mississippi State,?MS 39762-0001
11-2-T9.01-9977?MSFC
Closed-Loop Control of the Thermal Stir Welding Process to Enable Rapid Process / Part Qualification

Neurala, LLC
846 East 3rd Street
Boston,?MA 02217-2359
Sean Lorenz (617) 256-0026
Trustees of Boston University
881 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston,?MA 02215-1300
11-2-T8.03-9888?LaRC
Adaptive Bio-inspired Navigation for Planetary Exploration

Sustainable Innovations, LLC
160 Oak Street
Glastonbury,?CT 06033-2336
Trent Molter (860) 652-9690
The University of Connecticut
438 Whitney Road Ext. Unit 1133
Storrs,?CT 06033-9018
11-2-T10.02-9782?SSC
Hydrogen-Based Energy Conservation System

TDA Research, Inc.
12345 West 52nd Avenue
Wheat Ridge,?CO 80033-1916
John Wright (303) 422-7819
University of Colorado at Boulder
572 UCB
Boulder,?CO 80309-0572
11-2-T6.01-9863?JSC
A Self-Regulating Freezable Heat Exchanger for Spacecraft

TRACLabs, Inc.
100 North East Loop 410, Suite 520
San Antonio,?TX 78216-1234
David Kortenkamp (281) 461-7886
Brigham Young University
A-285 ASB
Provo,?UT 84602-1231
11-2-T1.03-9922?ARC
Anytime Summarization for Remote Robot Operations

VectorNav Technologies, LLC
903 North Bowser Road, Suite 200
Richardson,?TX 75081-2897
Jeremy Davis (512) 772-3615
Texas Engineering Experiment Station / Texas A&M University
3141 TAMU
College Station,?TX 77845-3141
11-2-T6.02-9880?JSC
Enabling Large-body Active Debris Removal

Source: http://www.parabolicarc.com/2013/05/01/nasa-selects-u-s-small-business-technology-transfer-projects-for-further-development/

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