Vodafone in talks to sell Verizon Wireless stake

"LONDON (AP) — Britain's Vodafone PLC, one of the world's largest cellphone companies, confirmed Thursday that it was talking to Verizon Communications about selling its stake in Verizon Wireless, the No. 1 mobile carrier in the U.S.

The U.K. company is mulling its options for its 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless. Verizon Communications owns the other 55 percent.

Analysts have suggested that Verizon wants to pay around $100 billion for Vodafone's stake, although reports have said that U.K. group is pressing for as much as $130 billion.

Verizon shares rose $3.55, or 7.6 percent, to $50.11 in premarket trading about an hour before the U.S. stock market opening. Meanwhile Vodafone's London-listed share price rose 8.8 percent to 2.06 pounds.

Vodafone, which has wide-ranging interests and is expanding in Europe, has long been rumored to be interested in a U.S. exit. Talks on a sale earlier reportedly broke down over price and tax concerns — and Vodafone stressed that there was no certainty a deal could be reached.

But competition among cellphone providers and other companies moving into the cellphone space is pushing both companies toward a deal, said Ronald Klingebiel, a telecommunications specialist with Warwick Business School. Vodafone also had little influence on Verizon Wireless' day-to-day operations, which made its stake more of an investment than a base from which to expand into the U.S. market.

"This would be a happy moment to exit," Klingebiel said.

At the same time, Vodafone is pushing ahead with a takeover bid for Germany's biggest cable operator, Kabel Deutschland, as part of its strategy to dominate media services in Europe, its biggest market.

If approved by regulators, Vodafone would gain 32.4 million mobile, 5 million broadband and 7.6 million direct TV customers in Germany. It has 19.2 million mobile customers in the UK, where it has been under intense competition.

Any proceeds from a Verizon Wireless sale would add to Vodafone's war chest for further acquisition or allow the company to pay down debt.

But analysts have been cautious, wary of Vodafone's track record on mergers.

The research company Dealogic lists Vodafone Airtouch PLC's merger with Mannesmann AG as a $171.3 billion deal — the biggest ever. Many analysts at the time believed the German company was overvalued."

Scientists grow "mini human brains" from stem cells

"By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent

LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have grown the first mini human brains in a laboratory and say their success could lead to new levels of understanding about the way brains develop and what goes wrong in disorders like schizophrenia and autism.

Researchers based in Austria started with human stem cells and created a culture in the lab that allowed them to grow into so-called "cerebral organoids" - or mini brains - that consisted of several distinct brain regions.

It is the first time that scientists have managed to replicate the development of brain tissue in three dimensions.

Using the organoids, the scientists were then able to produce a biological model of how a rare brain condition called microcephaly develops - suggesting the same technique could in future be used to model disorders like autism or schizophrenia that affect millions of people around the world.

"This study offers the promise of a major new tool for understanding the causes of major developmental disorders of the brain ... as well as testing possible treatments," said Paul Matthews, a professor of clinical neuroscience at Imperial College London, who was not involved in the research but was impressed with its results.

Zameel Cader, a consultant neurologist at Britain's John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, described the work as "fascinating and exciting". He said it extended the possibility of stem cell technologies for understanding brain development and disease mechanisms - and for discovering new drugs.

Although it starts as relatively simple tissue, the human brain swiftly develops into the most complex known natural structure, and scientists are largely in the dark about how that happens.

This makes it extremely difficult for researchers to gain an understanding of what might be going wrong in - and therefore how to treat - many common disorders of the brain such as depression, schizophrenia and autism.

GROWING STEM CELLS

To create their brain tissue, Juergen Knoblich and Madeline Lancaster at Austria's Institute of Molecular Biotechnology and fellow researchers at Britain's Edinburgh University Human Genetics Unit began with human stem cells and grew them with a special combination of nutrients designed to capitalize on the cells' innate ability to organize into complex organ structures.

They grew tissue called neuroectoderm - the layer of cells in the embryo from which all components of the brain and nervous system develop.

Fragments of this tissue were then embedded in a scaffold and put into a spinning bioreactor - a system that circulates oxygen and nutrients to allow them to grow into cerebral organoids.

After a month, the fragments had organized themselves into primitive structures that could be recognized as developing brain regions such as retina, choroid plexus and cerebral cortex, the researchers explained in a telephone briefing.

At two months, the organoids reached a maximum size of around 4 millimeters (0.16 inches), they said in a report of their study published in the journal Nature.

Although they were very small and still a long way from resembling anything like the detailed structure of a fully developed human brain, they did contain firing neurons and distinct types of neural tissue.

"This is one of the cases where size doesn't really matter," Knoblich told reporters.

"Our system is not optimized for generation of an entire brain and that was not at all our goal. Our major goal was to analyze the development of human brain (tissue) and generate a model system we can use to transfer knowledge from animal models to a human setting."

In an early sign of how such mini brains may be useful for studying disease in the future, Knoblich's team were able to use their organoids to model the development of microcephaly, a rare neurological condition in which patients develop an abnormally small head, and identify what causes it.

Both the research team and other experts acknowledged, however, that the work was a very long way from growing a fully-functioning human brain in a laboratory.

"The human brain is the most complex thing in the known universe and has a frighteningly elaborate number of connections and interactions, both between its numerous subdivisions and the body in general," said Dean Burnett, lecturer in psychiatry at Cardiff University.

"Saying you can replicate the workings of the brain with some tissue in a dish in the lab is like inventing the first abacus and saying you can use it to run the latest version of Microsoft Windows - there is a connection there, but we're a long way from that sort of application yet."

(Editing by Mark Trevelyan)"

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Saturn Moon Titan Sports Thick Icy Shell & Bizarre Interior

" The tough icy shell of Saturn's largest moon Titan is apparently far stronger than previously thought, researchers say.

These surprising new findings add to hints Titan possesses an extraordinarily bizarre interior, scientists added.

Past research suggested Titan has an ocean hidden under its outer icy shell 30 to 120 miles (50 to 200 kilometers) thick. Investigators aim to explore this underground ocean in the hopes of finding alien life on Titan, since virtually wherever there is water on Earth, there is life. [See more photos of Titan, Saturn's largest moon]

To learn more about Titan's icy shell, planetary scientist Doug Hemingway at the University of California, Santa Cruz, analyzed the Cassini probe's scans of Titan's gravity field. The strength of the gravitational pull any point on a surface exerts depends on the amount of mass underneath it. The stronger the pull, the more the mass.

The researchers then compared these gravity results with the structure of Titan's surface. They expected that regions of high elevation would have the strongest gravitational pull, since one might suppose they had extra matter underneath them. Conversely, they expected regions of low elevation would have the weakest gravitational pull.

What the investigators discovered shocked them. The regions of high elevation on Titan had the weakest gravitational pull.

"It was very surprising to see that," Hemingway told SPACE.com. "We assumed at first that we got things wrong, that we were seeing the data backwards, but after we ran out of options to make that finding go away, we came up with a model that explains these observations."

To explain these gravity anomalies, Hemingway said to imagine mountains on Titan having roots. "It's like how most of an iceberg actually lies submerged underwater," he said. "If that root is really big, bigger than normal, it would displace water underneath it."

Ice has a lower density than water — a chunk of ice weighs less than a similar volume of water. These high-elevation areas on Titan apparently have roots large enough to displace a lot of water under them, meaning they exert a weaker gravitational pull.

Ice is buoyant in water. "In order to essentially hold these big icebergs down and keep them from bobbing up, that means Titan's shell has to be extremely rigid," Hemingway said.

It remains uncertain what makes Titan's shell this rigid. The ice might possess cage-like molecules known as clathrates that could make it stiffer. Also, "if the ocean underneath the shell is colder than before thought, that could make the ice shell thicker and thus more rigid," Hemingway said.

This rigidity could mean Titan's shell is less geologically active than once thought. "If at least the top 40 kilometers (25 miles) is very stiff and cold and dead, if you want something like cryovolcanoes that erupt water instead of lava on Titan's surface, you have to be more creative about how that might happen," Hemingway said.

Their model also suggests Titan's shell has seen an extensive amount of erosion, with features carved more than 650 feet (200 meters) deep on it surface. "We now need different groups of people to figure out how so much material could get broken up and transported long distances across Titan's surface," Hemingway said.

One implication of these new findings relates to whether or not Titan's interior is separated into distinct layers. If researchers have underestimated Titan's gravity field, one might suspect its core is a giant blob of matter that is not made up of distinct layers as one would expect from such a large body. For instance, Earth is separated into a crust, mantle and core, and even large asteroids such as Vesta seem to have interiors divided into several layers.

"Maybe Titan is a mixture of ice and rock from the core nearly all the way out, and it's only in the last part near its surface that it's differentiated into ice and water," Hemingway said. "But we could be wrong there."

To help solve this mystery, "what we need is a Titan orbiter," Hemingway said. "That way we can have much better readings of Titan and learn more about its ice shell and its interior."

The scientists detailed their findings in the Aug. 29 issue of the journal Nature.

Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com."

Saturn Moon Titan Sports Thick Icy Shell & Bizarre Interior

" The tough icy shell of Saturn's largest moon Titan is apparently far stronger than previously thought, researchers say.

These surprising new findings add to hints Titan possesses an extraordinarily bizarre interior, scientists added.

Past research suggested Titan has an ocean hidden under its outer icy shell 30 to 120 miles (50 to 200 kilometers) thick. Investigators aim to explore this underground ocean in the hopes of finding alien life on Titan, since virtually wherever there is water on Earth, there is life. [See more photos of Titan, Saturn's largest moon]

To learn more about Titan's icy shell, planetary scientist Doug Hemingway at the University of California, Santa Cruz, analyzed the Cassini probe's scans of Titan's gravity field. The strength of the gravitational pull any point on a surface exerts depends on the amount of mass underneath it. The stronger the pull, the more the mass.

The researchers then compared these gravity results with the structure of Titan's surface. They expected that regions of high elevation would have the strongest gravitational pull, since one might suppose they had extra matter underneath them. Conversely, they expected regions of low elevation would have the weakest gravitational pull.

What the investigators discovered shocked them. The regions of high elevation on Titan had the weakest gravitational pull.

"It was very surprising to see that," Hemingway told SPACE.com. "We assumed at first that we got things wrong, that we were seeing the data backwards, but after we ran out of options to make that finding go away, we came up with a model that explains these observations."

To explain these gravity anomalies, Hemingway said to imagine mountains on Titan having roots. "It's like how most of an iceberg actually lies submerged underwater," he said. "If that root is really big, bigger than normal, it would displace water underneath it."

Ice has a lower density than water — a chunk of ice weighs less than a similar volume of water. These high-elevation areas on Titan apparently have roots large enough to displace a lot of water under them, meaning they exert a weaker gravitational pull.

Ice is buoyant in water. "In order to essentially hold these big icebergs down and keep them from bobbing up, that means Titan's shell has to be extremely rigid," Hemingway said.

It remains uncertain what makes Titan's shell this rigid. The ice might possess cage-like molecules known as clathrates that could make it stiffer. Also, "if the ocean underneath the shell is colder than before thought, that could make the ice shell thicker and thus more rigid," Hemingway said.

This rigidity could mean Titan's shell is less geologically active than once thought. "If at least the top 40 kilometers (25 miles) is very stiff and cold and dead, if you want something like cryovolcanoes that erupt water instead of lava on Titan's surface, you have to be more creative about how that might happen," Hemingway said.

Their model also suggests Titan's shell has seen an extensive amount of erosion, with features carved more than 650 feet (200 meters) deep on it surface. "We now need different groups of people to figure out how so much material could get broken up and transported long distances across Titan's surface," Hemingway said.

One implication of these new findings relates to whether or not Titan's interior is separated into distinct layers. If researchers have underestimated Titan's gravity field, one might suspect its core is a giant blob of matter that is not made up of distinct layers as one would expect from such a large body. For instance, Earth is separated into a crust, mantle and core, and even large asteroids such as Vesta seem to have interiors divided into several layers.

"Maybe Titan is a mixture of ice and rock from the core nearly all the way out, and it's only in the last part near its surface that it's differentiated into ice and water," Hemingway said. "But we could be wrong there."

To help solve this mystery, "what we need is a Titan orbiter," Hemingway said. "That way we can have much better readings of Titan and learn more about its ice shell and its interior."

The scientists detailed their findings in the Aug. 29 issue of the journal Nature.

Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com."

Saturn Moon Titan Sports Thick Icy Shell & Bizarre Interior

" The tough icy shell of Saturn's largest moon Titan is apparently far stronger than previously thought, researchers say.

These surprising new findings add to hints Titan possesses an extraordinarily bizarre interior, scientists added.

Past research suggested Titan has an ocean hidden under its outer icy shell 30 to 120 miles (50 to 200 kilometers) thick. Investigators aim to explore this underground ocean in the hopes of finding alien life on Titan, since virtually wherever there is water on Earth, there is life. [See more photos of Titan, Saturn's largest moon]

To learn more about Titan's icy shell, planetary scientist Doug Hemingway at the University of California, Santa Cruz, analyzed the Cassini probe's scans of Titan's gravity field. The strength of the gravitational pull any point on a surface exerts depends on the amount of mass underneath it. The stronger the pull, the more the mass.

The researchers then compared these gravity results with the structure of Titan's surface. They expected that regions of high elevation would have the strongest gravitational pull, since one might suppose they had extra matter underneath them. Conversely, they expected regions of low elevation would have the weakest gravitational pull.

What the investigators discovered shocked them. The regions of high elevation on Titan had the weakest gravitational pull.

"It was very surprising to see that," Hemingway told SPACE.com. "We assumed at first that we got things wrong, that we were seeing the data backwards, but after we ran out of options to make that finding go away, we came up with a model that explains these observations."

To explain these gravity anomalies, Hemingway said to imagine mountains on Titan having roots. "It's like how most of an iceberg actually lies submerged underwater," he said. "If that root is really big, bigger than normal, it would displace water underneath it."

Ice has a lower density than water — a chunk of ice weighs less than a similar volume of water. These high-elevation areas on Titan apparently have roots large enough to displace a lot of water under them, meaning they exert a weaker gravitational pull.

Ice is buoyant in water. "In order to essentially hold these big icebergs down and keep them from bobbing up, that means Titan's shell has to be extremely rigid," Hemingway said.

It remains uncertain what makes Titan's shell this rigid. The ice might possess cage-like molecules known as clathrates that could make it stiffer. Also, "if the ocean underneath the shell is colder than before thought, that could make the ice shell thicker and thus more rigid," Hemingway said.

This rigidity could mean Titan's shell is less geologically active than once thought. "If at least the top 40 kilometers (25 miles) is very stiff and cold and dead, if you want something like cryovolcanoes that erupt water instead of lava on Titan's surface, you have to be more creative about how that might happen," Hemingway said.

Their model also suggests Titan's shell has seen an extensive amount of erosion, with features carved more than 650 feet (200 meters) deep on it surface. "We now need different groups of people to figure out how so much material could get broken up and transported long distances across Titan's surface," Hemingway said.

One implication of these new findings relates to whether or not Titan's interior is separated into distinct layers. If researchers have underestimated Titan's gravity field, one might suspect its core is a giant blob of matter that is not made up of distinct layers as one would expect from such a large body. For instance, Earth is separated into a crust, mantle and core, and even large asteroids such as Vesta seem to have interiors divided into several layers.

"Maybe Titan is a mixture of ice and rock from the core nearly all the way out, and it's only in the last part near its surface that it's differentiated into ice and water," Hemingway said. "But we could be wrong there."

To help solve this mystery, "what we need is a Titan orbiter," Hemingway said. "That way we can have much better readings of Titan and learn more about its ice shell and its interior."

The scientists detailed their findings in the Aug. 29 issue of the journal Nature.

Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com."

NASA Drops Chopper in Crash Test

" NASA researchers intentionally dropped a helicopter fuselage packed with 13 crash test dummies on Wednesday (Aug. 28) to collect data intended to improve aircraft safety.

Around 1:15 pm ET, the chopper body was hoisted 30 feet (9 meters) into the air by cables attached to a huge gantry at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. About 10 minutes later, the fuselage was dropped, and it slammed into the ground with a thud.

NASA officials said earlier week that the airframe would hit the ground at 30 mph (48 km/h). [Photos: NASA Conducts Crash Test of Chopper Body]

To monitor how the vehicle and the dummies handled the impact, the researchers had installed a suite of cameras and sensors inside and outside the helicopter, including an Xbox Kinect, a motion-sensing device used to play video games.


The test was supposed to mimic a survivable crash scenario, and the data collected will help researchers improve safety features like seat belts.

The airframe used in the test once belonged to a CH-46 Sea Knight used by the U.S. Marine Corps. One side of it was painted white with black polka dots, though not for aesthetic reasons. In pictures taken on the ground, those dots will act as data points so that the researchers can reconstruct the crash to see just how the chopper's body bent and broke when it hit the ground.

Though the crash is instantaneous, these tests can take years to plan. The researchers say they are planning a 2014 crash test of a similar helicopter outfitted with additional materials, such as composite airframe retrofits. The tests are being conducted under the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate's Fundamental Aeronautics Program Rotary Wing Project, which aims to improve the performance, safety and efficiency of rotorcraft.

Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience."

Las Vegas casino seeks to evict raunchy nightclub

"LAS VEGAS (AP) — It turns out that even in Sin City, some sins are hard to overlook.

The Palazzo hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip is trying to evict a 10-month-old nightclub for shows it says are so raunchy that they violate obscenity laws. It says actors — some nearly naked — toss condoms into the crowd and simulate sex acts and bestiality on stage.

The club is seeking a restraining order to halt the closure, arguing that simulated sex acts don't constitute obscenity.

Casino officials "were well aware of our brand," said Sean Dunn, special events director at The Act, in an email statement, adding that representatives of the hotel-casino have frequently attended shows and did not complain.

Las Vegas Sands, which owns the casino, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Act remains open for business while a district judge considers its fate, but the fight over its future has exposed an underlying reality in Vegas: While the city sells itself as a racy, no-holds-barred destination, there are limits.

"I think there's the perception that anything goes in Vegas — there's no boundaries, no lines," said Lynn Comella, a professor of sexuality and women's studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "In reality, nothing could be further from the truth."

That perception, in part, is fueled by what tourists see.

Trucks roll down Las Vegas Boulevard advertising "hot babes" delivered directly to hotel rooms, the phone book is full of come-ons for escorts and private dancers, and taxis and billboards feature scantily clad women who leave little to the imagination.

While Las Vegas is also rife with strip clubs, tourists won't find them along the Strip or in the city's hotel-casinos. They can take in a topless stage show or lounge at a European-style topless pool, but they have to catch a ride to a side street to see strippers.

"The goal for Las Vegas was to be naughty enough to attract you but not naughty enough to repel you," said Michael Green, a history professor at the College of Southern Nevada.

The city — which rises and falls on the pocketbooks of its 40 million annual visitors — must balance the sexiness with the sensibilities of foreign tourists and large, multinational casinos.

"It's highly sexualized and gets a lot of mileage out of that, but it's a very particular version of that," Comella said.

In The Act's case, Sands executives notified club officials on April 26 that they'd crossed a line with the show and were no longer welcome in the $15 million space. The casino giant wants to evict it, ending a 10-year lease.

The casino notified club officials after undercover security officers went into the venue in March. The details of the show were laid bare this week in court, when an investigator apologized for getting graphic and looked pained while describing some kinky scenes.

The club contends Sands "manufactured this 'breach' in an attempt to improperly evict" it.

"We believe we are on the leading edge of the next evolution of nightlife in Las Vegas and that The Act fills a niche for patrons looking for an alternative to the typical Las Vegas big-box club scene," Dunn said.

Those who stray outside the limits of what is considered acceptable in the city risk invoking the wrath of the state's powerful Gaming Control Board and losing their lucrative gambling permits.

The board smacked the Planet Hollywood casino with a $750,000 fine in 2009 amid accusations that employees at the independently owned Prive nightclub allowed toplessness, turned a blind eye to prostitution and physically and sexually assaulted patrons.

The board isn't investigating The Act and is waiting for the lawsuit to play out, according to chairman A.G. Burnett.

There's no doubt that Las Vegas markets itself as an adult playground, said Oscar Goodman, the larger-than-life former Las Vegas mayor who's often flanked by scantily clad showgirls, martini in hand.

"We have standards and we're not going to advocate illegal activity," he said. "Unless the sex goes out of the line, we embrace it.""

House speaker presses Obama for answers on Syria

"WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker John Boehner called on President Barack Obama on Wednesday to deliver a specific rationale for using U.S. military force against Syria as a growing number of congressional Republicans and Democrats expressed concerns about war with a Mideast nation roiled by civil conflict.

In a letter to the president, the Ohio Republican underscored that he has been supportive of administration policy to date as Obama has called for Syrian President Bashar Assad to resign and insisted that the use of deadly chemical weapons would be a gross violation of international norms.

Boehner wrote that in light of the administration's contention that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons against its people, Obama should provide "a clear, unambiguous explanation of how military action — which is a means, not a policy — will secure U.S. objectives."

The administration signaled Wednesday that it would act against the Syrian government even without the backing of allies or the United Nations in response to the alleged chemical weapons attack outside the Syrian capital last week. The United States has not presented proof publicly, but Obama said his administration has concluded that the Assad government carried out the large-scale attack on civilians.

Obama said he had not made a decision about how the United States would respond.

The administration was planning a teleconference briefing Thursday on Syria for leaders of the House and Senate and national security committees, U.S. officials and congressional aides said.

Boehner asked Obama to "personally make the case to the American people and Congress for how potential military action will secure American national security interests, preserve American credibility, deter the future use of chemical weapons, and, critically, be a part of our broader policy and strategy."

The speaker also pressed the president to provide a legal justification for any U.S. military action. There was no immediate reaction from the White House to Boehner's request.

In the House, 98 Republicans and 18 Democrats have signed a letter to Obama demanding that he seek congressional authorization for any military action against Syria. The letter written by Rep. Scott Rigell, R-Va., argues that intervention without a direct threat to the United States and without Congress' approval would be unconstitutional.

Washington Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, cautioned that an attack might be ineffective and draw the United States into the Syrian civil war, now in its third year.

"Simply lashing out with military force under the banner of 'doing something' will not secure our interests in Syria," Smith said in a statement.

Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he informed the administration that he could not support any military strike against Syria unless Obama presents a detailed strategy to Congress and provides a defense budget to support any action.

An increasing number of Republicans and Democrats insist that Congress should have a vote on whether to authorize any military steps against Syria, dismissing the notion that the commander in chief can act unilaterally and ignoring Congress' constitutional power to declare war.

"The war in Syria has no clear national security connection to the United States and victory by either side will not necessarily bring in to power people friendly to the United States," Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said.

In his letter, Boehner raised 14 questions that he asked Obama to answer, including what the administration would do if Syria retaliates against U.S. allies in the region, whether the administration would launch additional military strikes if the initial ones proved ineffective and what was the intended effect of such a step.

Boehner alluded to the 10-plus years of fighting in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and the need for the administration to have strong public and congressional support for U.S. involvement in a Mideast war.

"Our military, as well as their families, deserve to have the confidence that we collectively have their backs — and a thorough strategy in place," the speaker wrote."

Does Stacy Keibler Have a New Billionaire Boyfriend?

"Has Stacy Keibler already moved on from ex George Clooney? Well, … yes and no.

A new report from Life & Style on Wednesday claims the 33-year-old beauty has a new man in her life.

"She's dating millionaire Jared Pobre, and it's pretty serious," a pal tells the tabloid. "She was in Europe with him and all over Italy a couple of weeks ago."

However, sources close to the former WWE wrestler tell omg! that's not entirely true.

"They aren't dating," an insider tells omg!. "They have been friends for years."

Don't take that to mean Stacy is still pining over Clooney, 52.

"They ended on good terms," another source tells omg!. "They remain friends, she's doing just fine."

Clearly!

The 5'11" stunner was photographed yacht hopping with recently single Naomi Campbell earlier this month in Ibiza, Spain.

"She's having a great time hanging with friends," the second Keibler insider insists.

Sounds like this "Supermarket Superstar" is still very much on the market."

U.S.: Not trying to take out Assad with Syria response

"The United States restated Tuesday that it means to drive Bashar Assad from power in Syria, but denied it would use potential U.S.-led military strikes in response to his forces' alleged chemical weapons attack to do so.

"I want to make clear that the options that we are considering are not about regime change," White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters at his daily briefing. "They are about responding to clear violation of an international standard that prohibits the use of chemical weapons."

Overall United States policy in Syria is to push Assad from power, and any (successful) military strike would plainly aim to weaken his ability to attack the rebels his forces have battled for 2½ years. But Carney repeatedly said that President Barack Obama is weighing a response narrowly tailored to the alleged chemical weapons attack.

"It is our firm conviction that Syria's future cannot include Assad in power, but this deliberation and the actions that we are contemplating are not about regime change," the spokesman insisted.

Obama has not made a final decision on the course of action and might still stop short of using force, Carney said.

At the same time, Carney escalated the rhetoric about the Assad regime's alleged Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack, saying that failing to punish Syria would pose a "significant" threat to the United States.

"Absolutely, allowing the use of chemical weapons on a significant scale to take place without a response would present a significant challenge to or threat to the United States' national security interests," Carney said.

Including the United States itself? "Correct," he said. "To allow it to happen without a response would be to invite further use of chemical weapons."

Carney also renewed the Obama administration's pledge to disclose evidence it has gathered to buttress the charge that the Assad regime carried out a large-scale chemical weapons attack on civilians aligned with the opposition. "I think you can expect it this week," he said.

But Carney, prodded by reporters to explain why the United States is so sure Syrian government forces carried out the attack, seemed to argue that the report was unnecessary to make the case against Assad.

"I'm not aware of any doubt that exists," he said.

"We see no evidence of any alternative scenario. The regime has already used chemical weapons in this conflict against its own people on a small scale," he said.

"It has maintained firm control of the stockpiles of chemical weapons in Syria. It has the rockets and the rocket capability that were employed in this chemical weapons attack. And it was engaged in an assault against these neighborhoods prior to the use of chemical weapons and in the aftermath of the use of these chemical weapons. You would have to be credulous indeed to entertain an alternative scenario that could only be fanciful," he said.

But other possibilities exist: Accidental launch. Launch by a rogue Syrian military officer. A conventional shell striking a chemical weapons cache (depending on the substance). Launch by a third party like forces fighting for Assad but answering to Iran.

Asked whether the United States government had looked into those possibilities and ruled them out, National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan referred Yahoo News to past statements from Carney and Secretary of State John Kerry.

Asked whether Syria's government could still take steps to forestall the United States reaction, whatever that turns out to be, Meehan demurred.

"Since the president hasn't made a decision on how to respond, we can't speculate on the second question," she said."

Justin Timberlake Defends Miley Cyrus' VMAs Performance: "It's Not Like She Did It at the Grammys"

"Much ado about nothing? Justin Timberlake thinks so. Fans and fellow celebs can't stop talking about Miley Cyrus' raunchy VMAs performance with "Blurred Lines" singer Robin Thicke, but Timberlake, for one, says the uproar is uncalled for.

"Listen, man, you know, it's the VMAs. What did you guys expect?" the "Suit & Tie" singer, 32, told Fresh 102.7 radio host Jim Douglas on Tuesday, Aug. 27, two days after the show. "I like Miley. I like her a lot. I think, you know, she's young. She's letting everybody know that she's growing up." (Timberlake can relate. He's a former Disney star himself.)

The singer also pointed out that the VMAs have historically been the one awards show where pretty much anything goes. "I just think it's the VMAs. It's not like she did it at the Grammys," he said. "Let her do her thing, you know?"

He then went on to note several other "scandalous" moments in the show's past, including one involving ex-girlfriend Britney Spears, another Disney alum. "Madonna: wedding suit, humping the stage. Britney: strip tease. This is not an uncommon thing," he said. "I actually thought all the bears were really cool." (Cyrus' now-infamous performance featured her twerking with giant teddy bears, a nod to her music video for "We Can't Stop.")

The 'N Sync alum -- who reunited with his former bandmates at the VMAs before accepting the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award -- said the best part of the whole spectacle, though, was the audience. "My favorite part of the Miley Cyrus performance is the Smith family reaction," he joked, referring to a viral picture of Will Smith and kids Willow and Jaden looking aghast while watching the action onstage. (In fact, the funny snapshot was part of a widespread mixup; the trio were actually reacting to Lady Gaga's performance, not Cyrus'.)

"I was late to the game on that," the star said of the photo. "I was just shown that this morning, so it's fresh in my mind."

Incidentally, Timberlake isn't the only one coming to Cyrus' defense. The 20-year-old "We Can't Stop" singer's dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, also spoke out on Aug. 27, telling Entertainment Tonight that he'll "always be here" for her. "She's still my little girl, and I'm still her dad, regardless of how this circus we call show business plays out," he said. "I love her unconditionally and that will never change."

This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Justin Timberlake Defends Miley Cyrus' VMAs Performance: "It's Not Like She Did It at the Grammys""

New Windows operating system sent to computer makers

"Microsoft on Tuesday began sending a revamped version of Windows to makers of computers, smartphones or tablets powered by the software.

"We've hit an important milestone for Microsoft," Windows team executive Antoine Leblond said in a blog post.

"In many ways, this marks a new day for Microsoft, reflecting a number of rapid-release firsts."

Developers of applications tailored to run on Windows devices were irked, however, to find out that they will not get their hands on the finished version of Windows 8.1 until it hits the market in October.

In the past, developers had early access to new versions of Windows to allow time to make sure their applications work with the software.

"Seriously, has Microsoft fallen off its rocker?" a developer asked rhetorically in a chat forum below Leblond's blog post.

"This decision is yet another that leaves me questioning the judgment of Microsoft's current management."

Microsoft in June provided developers with a preview version of the "re-blended" Windows 8 operating system released late last year.

Windows 8.1 incorporated feedback from users and developers, and came with the promise that the US software giant was speeding up its release cycle to adapt to the dizzying pace of innovation in consumer technology.

"Windows 8.1 is a significant update," Leblond said.

"As we consider the code we just handed off, and the new intuitive and fluid computing experience it provides -- anytime, anywhere, across all devices -- we're confident we made the right bet."

Windows 8.1 remains true to the vision of an operating system tuned for touch-screen controls and multi-gadget lifestyles increasingly revolving around tablets and smartphones, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft is under pressure to adapt to a huge shift in how people engage with computers.

Smartphones and tablets have vanquished the days when people devoted the bulk of computer time to Windows-powered desktop or laptop machines.

The overhauled Windows 8 operating system released in November was designed to power the array Internet-linked devices.

Better adapting to the shifting Internet landscape is believed to be among the reasons behind the unexpected announcement last week that Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer will retire within 12 months.

"There is never a perfect time for this type of transition, but now is the right time," Ballmer said Friday in a written release.

"My original thoughts on timing would have had my retirement happen in the middle of our company's transformation to a devices and services company. We need a CEO who will be here longer term for this new direction."

Ballmer took over as CEO in 2000 from co-founder Bill Gates, a classmate and friend from their days at Harvard University in the 1970s.

While its Windows software is used on the vast majority of personal computers, Microsoft has had little impact in the fast-growing segments of tablets and smartphones."

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