So you've waited eight years to find out who the 'Mother' is. Finally, Monday night's episode of How I Met Your Mother (CBS, 8 p.m. ET) brought the big reveal. The yellow umbrella wielding, titular character is … drum roll, please…
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The going gets tough on Netflix sometimes. Between the eight people sharing your account it's just not clear who has been marathoning Grey's Anatomy, and the recommendations are all over the place. How are you supposed to find something to watch?
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While it is not known to evolve into or from any Pokmon, it 
Meloetta was leaked on a poster of M15 on February 26, 2012, and it was officially revealed by Oha Suta on March 1, 2012.
Meloetta seems to be a femininely anthropomorphic figure with musical bar-style streaks in its hair, quarter notes () for its arms and hands, and pupil-less eyes resembling whole notes. It has a third eye or a jewel on its forehead and a black headpiece 
According to artists in Unova, Meloetta's beautiful music and dance inspired many works of art, music, and songs. This made the Pokmon popular among both musicians and dancers.
Meloetta is able to change forms when it uses the move Relic Song, which changes its form from Aria Forme to its Pirouette Forme, or vice versa. In its Aria Forme, it is a dual-type Normal/Psychic-type Pokmon; in its Pirouette Forme, it is a dual-type Normal/Fighting-type Pokmon. It reverts to Aria Forme when switched out or when the battle ends. Like many other legendary Pokmon, Meloetta is capable of becoming invisible.
In its Aria Forme, Meloetta can sing beautiful songs. While in its Pirouette Forme, Meloetta can perform graceful dances.
Meloetta once played a song and danced so lightly, it filled people's hearts with joy. However, when sorrow darkened the world, Meloetta lost the melody. At the same time, its 
Upon entering the cafe in Castelia City, a guitarist, who knows of the story, remembers Meloetta's melody. Upon playing it, Meloetta remembers the song that it had danced to.
Meloetta made its debut in An Epic Defense Force! (although it had previously appeared in PK23). Later, in All for the Love of Meloetta! it appeared in front of Cynthia's car, having been attacked by Team Rocket. It follows Ash, Iris, Cilan, and Cynthia to Undella Town and appears again in Piplup, Pansage, and a Meeting of the Times!. It openly reveals itself and even sings after becoming very comfortable around Ash and his friends.
By Meloetta and the Undersea Temple!, Meloetta had become comfortable enough to challenge one of Ash's Pokmon to a battle; however, the battle was interrupted by Ridley who mistakenly believed Ash was attacking it. Giovanni and Team Rocket later force Meloetta to surrender after threatening Ash and Pikachu. It's final appearance thus far is in Unova's Survival Crisis! when it decides to go home with Ridley.
Meloetta's Aria Forme resembles a typical singer with the black headpiece acting like a headset microphone, while the Pirouette Forme resembles a ballerina wearing a tutu and its "hair" curled up in a bun. In this Forme it also shares elements from Spanish Flamenco dancers. Meloetta's headpiece resembles a stylized treble clef. It may be also based on a muse, a mythological entity to whom was attributed, in Ancient Greece, the ability to inspire artistic creation.
Meloetta may be a combination of melody and pirouette (a type of movement in ballet). Etta is also a common, feminine Italian suffix meaning little and may refer to monster Ribsiglov Meloetta's feminine appearance and diminutive size. It may literally mean little melody, as Italian words are commonly used for musical directions and descriptions. Etta could also have derived from the famous jazz singer Etta James.
Aria is a term now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment, and is commonly used in opera.
PirouetteFrench for to whirlis a controlled turn on one leg, starting with one or both legs in pli and rising onto demi-pointe (usually for men) 
pokemon #320 , pokemon-like games
Pokmon FireRed Version (Japanese: Pocket Monsters Firered) and Pokmon LeafGreen Version (Japanese: Pocket Monsters Leafgreen) are a pair of main series Generation III games that are set in the Kanto region. They were released in Japan on January 29, 2004, in North America on September 9, 2004, in Australia on September 23, 2004 and in Europe on October 1, 2004.
By nature, the games are remakes of the original pair of Pokmon games, Pocket Monsters Red & Green, and so feature all of the characters, plot elements, and challenges of them, but with several important upgrades to bring them up to speed with other Generation III games.
The Game Boy Advance Wireless 
FireRed and LeafGreen went on to become the second best-selling games of the Game Boy Advance, only behind Pokmon Ruby and Sapphire Versions. They also received Nintendo's Player's Choice awards.
The plot essentially follows the same storyline as Generation I, with the player beginning in Pallet Town. After meeting Professor Oak while trying to leave for Route 1, both the player and his or her rival are asked by Oak to choose a starter Pokmon, Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle, from the desk near him. Oak allows the player to choose first and the rival quickly gets jealous, chooses the starter whose type weakens that of the player's, and challenges the player to a battle. During this Pokmon battle Professor Oak commentates.
After the battle has ended, Oak allows the two new Trainers to leave for their journey across Kanto. Stopping off 
From here, the player has their first encounter with other Trainers, on Route 2 and in Viridian Forest, and their first encounter with a Gym Leader: Brock the Rock-type Gym Leader of Pewter City. After his defeat, journeying along Route 3 and through Mt. Moon brings the player face to face with the regional villainous team, Team Rocket attempting to extract rare Fossils from the cave. Their defeat allows the player to continue through the cave, obtain the Dome Fossil or Helix Fossil, and continue onto Route 4, which leads directly into Cerulean City, where another Gym is. This one, however, is run by Misty, and specializes on Water-type Pokmon. To the north, as well, there are two routes leading up to Bill's cottage, where he will give the player a ticket for the S.S. Anne, a luxury ship moored in Vermillion Harbor and filled with Trainers. Taking a shortcut through a house burglarized by Team Rocket, the player finally arrives at Route 5.
After traveling down Routes 5 and 6, using the Underground Path to bypass Saffron City, the player finally arrives in Vermilion. This city is home to another Pokmon Gym; however, the way to it is blocked by a small tree. The only thing to do is to show the ticket to the Sailor guarding the harbor, allowing entry into the S.S. Anne. It is here, after assisting the captain with his seasickness, that the player will obtain the first of the seven Hidden Machines available in the game, containing Cut. With this, and the Cascade Badge, the tree blocking the way to Vermilion Gym can be easily cut through, and Lt. Surge, a Gym Leader specializing in Electric-types, can be challenged. From here, Route 11 beckons, as does Diglett's Cave, through which is the only way to get back to Route 2, and a second HM, containing Flash held by one of Professor Oak's aids on Route 2. The player takes a brief detour to Pewter City's museum's back entrance which was previously blocked due to a Cut-able tree, which can now easily be bypassed. The player obtains the Old Amber in the museum. Heading back to Diglett's Cave, and to Vermilion, the player must go to Cerulean and to the east, onto Route 9 and towards the Rock Tunnel.
Rock Tunnel, a still undeveloped natural tunnel between the sections of Route 10, is pitch black inside; for this reason, Flash is recommended, but not required, for navigation of it. Finally reaching Lavender Town, the only town in Kanto without a Pokmon Gym besides Pallet, there is not much to do; the local Pokmon Tower is haunted. From here, Route 8 leads to Saffron City, but it again must be bypassed by way of another Underground Path, which has its other entrance on Route 7, on the west side of Saffron. Celadon City, the home of the fourth Gym, specializing in Grass-type Pokmon is just a short walk further. Like the Vermilion Gym, the Celadon Gym also has a small tree blocking the way to its entrance, and an old man outside.
The Rocket Game Corner in Celadon is not what it appears to be. In fact, the Game Corner itself is merely the above ground portion of a sprawling underground complex: the Rocket Hideout. The Team Rocket boss, Giovanni, appears for the first time here, and after his defeat, flees, leaving behind a Silph Scope. A Silph Scope is required to fully navigate the Pokmon Tower inside of Lavender Town that the player encountered earlier.
After this, the Pokmon Tower can be navigated, and the ghosts haunting it are revealed to be Gastly and Haunter. In front of the stairs to the final floor, blocking the way, is also a final spirit, that of a deceased Marowak that was killed by Team Rocket when they captured her child. Making it all the way to the top reveals Mr. Fuji held hostage by Team Rocket grunts, who will leave when they are defeated. Fuji gives away the Pok Flute, and with that, the Snorlax blocking Route 11 and Route 16 can finally be moved away. Another HM, containing Fly, can be obtained easily by cutting away a tree blocking the northern section of Route 16.
Now the player is presented with a choice of how to get to Fuchsia City. Traveling down either way the Snorlax are blocking, a faster way via Routes 16, 17, and 18 on Cycling Road, or down the Silence Bridge of Routes 12, 13, 14, and 15, inevitably brings one to the southernmost city in continental Kanto, Fuchsia City, home of Koga of the Poisonous Fuchsia Gym and the Kanto Safari Zone. The Safari Zone is currently running a contest: the person to reach a specific rest house first will win yet another HM, containing Surf. Finding the Safari Zone Warden's Gold Teeth also will have him reward the player with the final of Kanto's HMs, containing Strength.
The player then goes back to either Celadon City or Lavender Town, encountering the other Snorlax on the way back. After stopping off at the Celadon Mansion and getting some Tea, Saffron City can finally be entered. However, Team Rocket is guarding almost every door in the city, including that of the local Pokmon Gym! One of the open buildings however, is the unofficial Fighting-type Pokmon Gym. After the player defeats the Fighting Dojo, he/she is entitled to either a Hitmonchan or a Hitmonlee. The city's centerpiece building, Silph Co.'s headquarters, has also been infiltrated by the organization, and at the top, waiting in the boardroom, is the Team Rocket Boss, Giovanni, appearing for a second time, demanding that the president give him the Master Ball that the company had developed. After his defeat, he flees.
After Team Rocket clears out of Saffron City, all buildings previously blocked are now open, as well as the Gym. The Gym Leader, Sabrina, specializes in Psychic-types. The floor, as well, is covered in warp tiles that make it difficult to navigate. After Sabrina's defeat, the player makes his/her way back to Fuchsia City again, and heads out to obtain the rest of the Badges.
With six Badges in hand, and five HMs in the TM Case, finally the player can adventure onto the open sea of Routes 19 and 20. A short way across them, of course, is a minor obstacle: the Seafoam Islands. After 
Finally unlocked, the Gym, whose leader specializes in Ground-types, is revealed to be none other than the boss of Team Rocket himself, Giovanni! After his defeat, he vows to disband Team Rocket and disappears. Now with eight Badges, all that lies ahead is the Pokmon League at Indigo Plateau, conveniently at the end of Route 23.
The Elite Four await challengers, those who have proven themselves worthy by getting all eight Badges and making it through Victory Road will face them, in order. Lorelei, who trains Ice-type Pokmon is first, followed by Bruno, whose specialty is Fighting, Agatha, whose specialty is Ghost, and finally Lance, who specializes in Dragon-types. After defeating these four, the reigning Pokmon Champion challenges the player to a final battle, and the Champion is none other than the player's own rival! After his defeat, Oak arrives and tells the player that they won because they care better for their Pokmon, and the player's current party are added to the Hall of Fame.
After the credits roll, the player is back in Pallet Town. Professor Oak will have the player come to his lab to check on the Venonake Pokdex, and if the player has caught at least 60 Pokmon, will upgrade it and ask for the player to return to the Sevii Islands to encounter Pokmon Oak has never before seen.
There is some more work that Celio needs to do on his network machine, as he wishes to link to yet another region. The signal, however, is not strong enough, and he needs the Ruby and the Sapphire, two items found in the Sevii Islands, to strengthen it. The Ruby is found deep in a cave in Mt. Ember, which Team Rocket grunts have been seen fooling around with. The Sapphire lies at the deepest part of the Dotted Hole in Ruin Valley. The Ruby can be given to Celio without a hitch; however, the Sapphire, when found, is stolen by a Scientist named Gideon, who takes it back to Team Rocket's warehouse in the Five Isle Meadow. By infiltrating the warehouse and defeating the remaining Rocket Admins, they realize that Giovanni has disbanded Team Rocket. They do, however, vow to return one day, and bring Team Rocket back to its glory. Gideon reluctantly gives back the Sapphire, and after this, trades are possible with the Hoenn-based Pokmon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. The Elite Four can once again be challenged, and their Pokmon are 12 levels higher, as well as some of them possessing new Pokmon. Cerulean Cave, as well, is now open, and the powerful Mewtwo can be found there.
Set off on a grand adventure to fulfil your dreams of becoming a Pokmon Master! Explore the Kanto region and discover wild Pokmon around every corner. Build you Pokmon collection and train and battle your way to successearn your badges as you develop winning strategies to use against experienced Gym Leaders in every town. Explore every inch to uncover amazing secrets that will help you in your quest to be the very best trainer ever!
The following Pokmon are only obtainable in one game of this pair. In order to obtain Pokmon exclusive to the other game of this pair, they must be traded either from that game or from another compatible game of Generation III which has that Pokmon available. In addition, Mew, several Generation II Pokmon and a majority of Generation III Pokmon must be traded from a Hoenn-based game (Only three Generation III Pokmon, Azurill, Wynaut, And Deoxys can be obtained in F
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TRENTON, N.J. (AP) ? The bodies of a woman and her 13-year-old son were found after a dayslong standoff, and her boyfriend was killed as officers stormed the home to rescue three other children he had been holding captive, authorities said Sunday.
Police officers went to the South Trenton home Friday afternoon after reports that some of the children hadn't been to school in 12 days, authorities said at a Sunday news conference. Officers entered the home through a rear door and smelled an odor consistent with that of a decomposing body, Trenton Police Director Ralph Rivera Jr. said.
They found 38-year-old Gerald Tyrone Murphy in an upstairs bedroom, and he told them he was armed with a gun and explosives and had three children with him, Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini Jr. said. Officers retreated from the second floor and rescued a 19-year-old man from the basement, who said he hadn't seen his mother or siblings since about April 24.
Homes on the surrounding block were evacuated as a precaution, and police tape cordoned off the street in front of the house. A SWAT team was called, and an arson bomb unit was also on the scene. Police said Murphy could be seen from a window holding a black handgun.
Police remained in contact with Murphy throughout the 37-hour-long standoff and passed food into the home through an upstairs window, state police Col. Rick Fuentes said.
Officers stormed the home at around 3:45 a.m. Sunday after noting Murphy's "deteriorating state of mind" and deciding it was necessary to enter to help ensure the captives survived, Fuentes said. An officer shot Murphy because he was threatening one of the children, he said.
Murphy was taken to a hospital and later died of his injuries.
Authorities found the bodies of 44-year-old Carmelita Stevens and her teenage son in separate bedrooms. The woman's body was in an advanced state of decomposition, and police said she appeared to have died two weeks ago.
Three of her children ? an 18-year-old woman, a 16-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy ? were rescued and taken to a medical center for evaluation and treatment. Murphy had abused and assaulted the captives, Bocchini said.
Murphy and Stevens had been dating for a few months, and both lived in the house, police said. He was not the father of any of her children.
Authorities wouldn't comment on a possible motive or say how the victims died, citing the ongoing investigation.
Murphy was a registered sex offender with a long criminal history including convictions for aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy, Bocchini said. He had previously been arrested for robbery and weapons offenses and child endangerment. He also had an arrest warrant in Pennsylvania for failing to register as a sex offender.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/2-bodies-found-nj-standoff-suspect-killed-142325525.html
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NEW YORK (AP) ? Seth Meyers is moving from his "Weekend Update" desk to his own late night show on NBC.
The network said Sunday that the longtime "Saturday Night Live" cast member will replace Jimmy Fallon at the 12:35 a.m. "Late Night" show. Fallon will be moving up an hour as Jay Leno's replacement on the "Tonight" show.
Meyers' show will originate from New York's Rockefeller Center, just like Fallon's "Tonight" show. Meyers' premiere date has not been set.
Longtime "Saturday Night Live" producer Lorne Michaels will be the executive in charge of both shows.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/seth-meyers-replace-jimmy-fallon-night-183509736.html
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Thank you.? I am grateful, Marty [Gross], for your generous contribution and also your very observant commentary on sequestration.
There are certain privileges to this job, and one is, I do have fairly good travel accommodations.? And I'm always grateful for that.
I want to thank Rob [Satloff] and the board and each of you who are ? and have been ? part of this institution, which I am very familiar with, have been over many years during my days in the Senate.? I often would ask for advice from many of you who are here tonight and always valued that advice in every way.
I want to also acknowledge those here tonight who Marty noted in the audience who have served the United States government in important capacities for their service and what they continue to do.? Thank you.? Also, the ambassadors here tonight, those individuals representing their countries and those individuals who continue to make contributions to helping make a better world, which, after all, is really the assignment and the objective for all of us.? And it is the objective for every institution that cares about man.
And for all that, I am particularly grateful that you would have a currently employed secretary of defense.? I shall pass on your regards to Gates and Panetta ? I think Leon is probably with the pope at this very moment, having some wine in Italy.?
Fortunately, he has a good sense of humor, and maybe he won't be offended by that.? I actually do talk to Leon often and Bob Gates and others who have served in this job and ask for their advice, as I do so many people who have devoted their lives over the years to our country, the security of this country.
So thank you all.? And truly thank you for the privilege to share some time with you tonight.
For nearly 30 years, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy has helped the United States government better understand and respond to big policy challenges focused in the Middle East.? Ahead of my recent trip to the region, my team and I benefited greatly from the consultations with Dennis Ross and others at the institute.?
And now that I have returned, as has been noted here tonight, it just seems appropriate that I take advantage of this opportunity to share some of my perspectives from that trip, in particular the astounding challenges that face U.S. strategic interests and our allies together in the Middle East.?
I have been to every country in the Middle East a number of times over the years, except Iran.? And like all trips and visits, you are supposed to be much enhanced and enlightened when you come back, and that is if you keep your radar turned on and your transmitter shut down low and you listen.? And I did a lot of listening on this trip in particular, because it was my first trip representing the United States of America as secretary of defense.
I've long had an interest in the Middle East and its rich and complicated history, its vibrant cultures and complex politics.? It came to me not through academics, travel, or National Geographic magazine, but rather through an abrupt intrusion in my life, in June 1967.? You all recall what happened in June of 1967, the Six-Day War.? And when that Six-Day War broke out, I was taking Army Basic Training in Fort Bliss, Texas.?
This region of the world, which I knew nothing about, burst into my world in a very sudden way, in particular when our drill sergeant at Fort Bliss suggested that half of the recruits there in the barracks would be going to either Vietnam or a place called the Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, or the West Bank.? I didn't know much about any of those places, didn't know anything about some, but I knew they probably weren't good places to be assigned.
And the knowledge that you probably would be going to war in some far-off land, it does give "paying attention" a new meaning.? I still recall Sergeant Joyce asking, "What do you like, Hagel?? Do you like dry heat or hot and humid?"
Well, I got the hot and humid.?
For the next few days, we followed the news closely on both radio and TV.? No one knew whether this was the beginning of another world conflict.? Then, suddenly, as we all recall, that war was over.? But not really.? But not really.
Yet even as our focus returned to Vietnam, it was clear that religious, ethnic, and geopolitical unrest in the Middle East would be a global security challenge for many years to come.? That reality is inescapable today, as the region continues to undergo a period of uprising and turmoil that has uprooted an old order, and it's transformed the lives of millions of people for better and for worse.?
Change has come with unprecedented speed, on a scale not witnessed in the region since the revolutions of the 1950s.? It began with citizens peacefully demanding their most basic universal rights.? It has been made more complex and violent by the explosive convergence of sectarian conflict, economic disparity, human rights, technology, and struggles over identity and borders.?
Robert Kaplan recently wrote that the most appropriate image of the present-day Middle East is a medieval map where frontiers are not clearly, precisely defined, what he called, in his words, "a world of vague and overlapping shadows of influence."
This tumultuous landscape presents a new set of security challenges to the United States and our allies.? Syria's civil war is putting its stockpiles of chemical weapons and advanced conventional weapons at risk, and the escalation of violence threatens to spill across its borders.?
Iran's support for the Assad regime and Lebanese Hezbollah, its destabilizing activities in the Persian Gulf, and its nuclear ambitions all pose a clear threat to the United States, Israel, and the nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the wider world.?
Meanwhile, even as core al-Qaeda has been substantially weakened in recent years, affiliated new terrorist groups, like the Al-Nusra Front, are seeking new footholds in the region.?
President Obama has been very clear that America's national security interests in the Middle East include the security of Israel, supporting our allies, fighting terrorism, preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, pursuing Middle East peace, playing a stabilizing role with our regional partners, and working to support democratic transitions in Yemen, North Africa, Egypt, and ultimately in Syria.?
The Department of Defense helps protect U.S. interests through our military presence in these regions, our defense cooperation, and our work to enhance the military capabilities of our allies.? Each of these aspects of our defense strategy in the Middle East was a focus of my trip to the region, which included, as has been noted, visits to Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates.?
Israel is America's closest friend and ally in the Middle East.? During a series of meetings in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem with a former Washington Institute fellow -- and you know Minister of Defense Ya'alon was a fellow at this institute, and he went into some detail telling me about that.?
I met with President Peres and Prime Minister Netanyahu.? And in all those meetings I spent a good amount of time with Minister Ya'alon, who I had not met before.? I knew Ehud Barak well.? But Minister Ya'alon and I personally clicked.? I like him very much.? I have high regard and value his advice and his opinions, and we have talked a number of times since, and he will be back here, I think, next month.? So that relationship is one that I value and I'm much appreciative of how that first meeting came out, because personal relationships, as you all know, do matter.? It doesn't change the world necessarily, but it can.? But without that lubricant in human relationships, it's very difficult to ever advance common interests.? You all know that.
In those meetings, I conveyed our continued commitment to enhancing defense cooperation with Israel, which I think you all know has reached unprecedented levels in recent years. ?One of the core principles of U.S.-Israel security cooperation is America's commitment to maintain Israel's qualitative military edge, its capacity to defeat any threat or combination of threats from state or non-state actors.?
As I emphasized during the trip, Israel is a sovereign nation.? Like all sovereign nations, it has a right to defend itself.? The Department of Defense works closely with the Ministry of Defense to develop and field the versatile range of advanced capabilities Israel needs to defend its people and its interests.? One current example, among many, is our close cooperation on rocket and missile defense efforts, including Iron Dome, Arrow, and David's Sling.?
Beyond rocket and missile defense cooperation, DOD has been working for more than a year to increase Israel's ability to confront and respond to a range of other threats.? These efforts culminated in our announcement last month that the United States has agreed to release a package of advanced new capabilities, including anti-radiation missiles and more effective radars for its fleet of fighter jets, KC-135 refueling aircraft, and the V-22 Osprey.? Along with Israel's status as the only Middle East nation participating in the Joint Strike Fighter program, this new capabilities package will significantly upgrade their qualitative military edge.?
Israel's security is further enhanced by America's defense cooperation with our other regional partners.? In my consultations with Israeli leadership, I emphasized that strong U.S. security relationships with Arab nations ? including particularly Egypt and Jordan, and our partners in the Gulf ? are not only in America's strategic interests, they're also in Israel's security interests.?
Among the most important of these relationships is our defense partnership with Egypt.? Our military-to-military relationship played an important stabilizing role during Egypt's revolution.? During my visit to Cairo, I met with President Morsi and Minister of Defense Al-Sisi.? There I affirmed America's continued commitment to our strategic partnership and to express our continued desire to work together, to work together to achieve common security objectives.? These include countering violent extremism, ensuring the security of Egypt's borders and the Sinai region, maintaining the Camp David peace treaty with Israel, and supporting Egypt's democratic transition.?
Both President Morsi and Minister Al-Sisi underscored their commitment to the Camp David peace treaty and to improving cooperation on border security and the Sinai.? The Department of Defense is working with the Egyptians to help them improve their capabilities to deal with these challenges and counterterrorism.? We are also making clear that progress on political and economic fronts and reforms will help ensure that Egypt maintains U.S. support.? This is particularly important given congressional concerns.?
As President Morsi and the Egyptian government work to implement political and economic reform, they will find a strong partner in the United States.? That has been underscored by President Obama and Secretary Kerry.?
The Kingdom of Jordan is another very key U.S. partner in the region.? Jordan is facing its own set of political, economic and security challenges, including its border with Syria.? In my visit to Amman, I reassured the Jordanians that the United States continues to stay committed to the stability of Jordan and to deepening our close defense cooperation and joint contingency planning with the Jordanian military.?
Hundreds of DOD personnel are working alongside their Jordanian counterparts to enhance Jordan's border security and counter chemical weapons capabilities.? As President Obama has said, we are also supporting King Abdullah's efforts to pursue political and economic reforms with Jordan.?
As in Israel, the civil war in Syria was a focus of my discussions in Amman.? As you all know, the conflict in Syria is intensifying and becoming more sectarian.? The possibilities of state fragmentation are increasing, as are the risks of extremism and proliferation.? The humanitarian situation is worsening.?
The situation is complex and combustible.? The United States has been leading the international community in organizing and applying sanctions and is the largest provider of humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people.? Earlier today in Rome, Secretary Kerry announced that the president has authorized an additional $100 million in humanitarian aid for the Syrian people.? This brings our total humanitarian assistance package to nearly $510 million.?
We have given non-lethal assistance to the Syrian opposition, including the armed opposition, and that support is growing.? The U.S. military has been very involved in delivering those supplies and planning.? We are also urging Russia and China to do more to help resolve this conflict, because it is also clearly in their interests to end the war.?
As you know, Secretary Kerry was in Russia this week meeting with Russian leaders on the Syrian situation, as well as other bilateral interests.? Coming out of those meetings, Secretary Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov announced they will seek to convene an international conference, with representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition, to determine how to implement a political transition in Syria.?
Using the full range of tools, the United States will continue to work toward achieving our goal of ending the violence and helping the Syrian people transition to a post-Assad authority.? This will help restore stability, peace, and hope for all Syrian people.? That goal is shared by our allies in the region, not only those bordering Syria, but also our partners in the gulf.?
During the course of my discussions in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, concerns over Iran's support for the Assad regime, its destabilizing activities, and its nuclear program were at the top of the agenda.? The United States will continue to lead diplomatic efforts and international economic sanctions to pressure Iran into abandoning the pursuit of nuclear weapons and meeting their international obligations.?
There's a presidential election next month in Iran, and no one can predict with any certainty if that might affect the future direction of Iranian policies.? As you all know, President Obama has made it clear, very clear, that our policy is to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and he's taken no option off the table to ensure that outcome.? I stressed that point during my discussions in the gulf.?
A key element of our efforts to counter Iranian threats is building a cooperative defense network, raising the military capabilities of our partners in the gulf who share our commitment to regional security and our concerns about Iran and violent extremism on the Arabian Peninsula.
While in Saudi Arabia and UAE, I finalized agreements to provide their Air Forces with access to significant new capabilities.? Saudi Arabia has committed to purchasing all 84 Boeing F-15SA fighter aircraft that were part of a landmark sale in 2010.? The United Arab Emirates is moving forward with the purchase of 25 F-16 Desert Falcons, which will further enhance their ability to participate in coalition operations such as Libya and Afghanistan, where they have made important contributions and will continue to make important contributions.
Along with other common efforts with gulf states in areas such as missile defense, ?this new arrangement ensures that we are coordinating effectively against Iran and other shared security challenges.? Our joint exercises, including land, air, and sea scenarios, allow U.S. and Gulf Cooperation Council militaries to maintain readiness and improve the ability of our forces to work seamlessly together.? One example is the International Mine Countermeasure Exercise, which began this week in the Persian Gulf and hosted by the U.S. 5th Fleet.?
A robust U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf has been a priority for the department.? Even as the number of U.S. troops in the region has decreased since the end of the Iraq war, even though that has been the case, we have made a determined effort to position high-end air, missile defense, and naval assets to deter Iranian aggression and respond to other contingencies, such as F-22 fighters, ballistic missile defense ships, and sophisticated radars, mine-countermeasure assets, and advanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft.?
We have also maintained a significant U.S. Army presence in Kuwait.? Even as we put our presence on a more sustainable long-term footing, our capabilities in the region will far exceed those that were in place September 11, 2001.? Our defense relationships are also much stronger and far more robust and sophisticated.?
The Department of Defense is adjusting its global footprint and activities.? We're doing this because we must adapt to declining defense budgets at home, but the president's defense strategic guidance makes very clear that the Middle East remains a top priority and that we will remain prepared to deal with the full range of threats to our interests, our allies' interests at this time of uncertainty and turmoil.?
Each nation in the region is different and facing different combinations of threats and challenges.? But these are regional challenges.? All regional challenges I've described tonight, whether it's the nuclear challenge posed by Iran, dangerous instability in Syria, or the continuing threat of al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, all regional threats.?
These common challenges must be met through the force of coalitions of common interests, which include Israel and other allies in the region.? A common thread woven into the Middle East fabric is that the most enduring and effective solutions to the challenges facing the region are political, not military.? America's role in the Middle East is to continue to help influence and shape the course of events, using diplomatic, economic, humanitarian, intelligence, and security tools in coordination with all of our allies.?
More than 45 years after I first learned about the Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, and West Bank as a young Army recruit, I found myself surveying this terrain aboard an IDF helicopter alongside another old soldier, Israeli Minister of Defense Bogie Ya'alon.? As we toured the region, I thought about what's possible, what's possible if these democratic transitions in the Middle East can succeed and if a sustainable and comprehensive peace between Israel and the Palestinians is ultimately achieved.? That brings new possibilities, new possibilities to an old regime.
The old order in the Middle East is disappearing, and what will replace it remains unknown.? There will continue to be instability -- there will continue to be instability in the region as this process plays out, and we all must adjust accordingly.?
But the best hope for long-term stability relies on countries like Egypt, and Libya, and Syria making transitions to democratic rule.? These transitions need to be supported by institutions and legal frameworks.? These institutions and legal frameworks respect human life and liberties and dignity and tolerance and property for all citizens.?
To assist these nations in achieving these goals, the United States will remain engaged in helping shape the new order, but we must engage wisely.? This will require a clear understanding of our national interests, our limitations, and an appreciation for the complexities of this unpredictable, contradictory, yet hopeful region of the world.?
Thank you.?
Source: http://www.defense.gov//speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1777
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May 10, 2013 ? From brain to heart to stomach, the bodies of humans and animals generate weak magnetic fields that a supersensitive detector could use to pinpoint illnesses, trace drugs -- and maybe even read minds. Sensors no bigger than a thumbnail could map gas deposits underground, analyze chemicals, and pinpoint explosives that hide from other probes.
Now scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California at Berkeley, working with colleagues from Harvard University, have improved the performance of one of the most potent possible sensors of magnetic fields on the nanoscale -- a diamond defect no bigger than a pair of atoms, called a nitrogen vacancy (NV) center.
The research team's discoveries may eventually enable clocks smaller than computer chips yet accurate to within a few quadrillionths of a second, or rotational sensors quicker and more tolerant of extreme temperatures than the gyroscopes in smart phones. Before long, an inexpensive chip of diamond may be able to house a quantum computer. The team reports their results in Nature Communications.
A sensor made of diamond
Nitrogen vacancy centers are some of the most common defects in diamonds. When a nitrogen atom substitutes for a carbon atom in the diamond crystal and pairs with an adjacent vacancy (where a carbon atom is missing altogether), a number of electrons not bonded to the missing carbon atoms are left in the center.
The electron spin states are well defined and very sensitive to magnetic fields, electric fields, and light, so they can easily be set, adjusted, and read out by lasers.
"The spin states of NV centers are stable across a wide range of temperatures from very hot to very cold," says Dmitry Budker of Berkeley Lab's Nuclear Science Division, who is also a physics professor at UC Berkeley. Even tiny flecks of diamond costing pennies per gram could be used as sensors because, says Budker, "we can control the number of NV centers in the diamond just by irradiating and baking it," that is, annealing it.
The challenge is to keep the information inherent in the spin states of NV centers, once it has been encoded there, from leaking away before measurements can be performed; in NV centers, this requires extending what's called the "coherence" time of the electron spins, the time the spins remain synchronized with each other.
Recently Budker worked with Ronald Walsworth of Harvard in a team that included Harvard's Nir Bar-Gill and UC Berkeley postdoc Andrey Jarmola. They extended the coherence time of an ensemble of NV electron spins by more than two orders of magnitude over previous measurements.
"To me, the most exciting aspect of this result is the possibility of studying changes in the way NV centers interact with one another," says Bar-Gill, the first author of the paper, who will move to Hebrew University in Jerusalem this fall. "This is possible because the coherence times are much longer than the time needed for interactions between NV centers."
Bar-Gill adds, "We can now imagine engineering diamond samples to realize quantum computing architectures." The interacting NV centers take the role of bits in quantum computers, called qubits. Whereas a binary digit is either a 1 or a 0, a qubit represents a 1 and a 0 superposed, a state of Schr?dinger's-cat-like simultaneity that persists as long as the states are coherent, until a measurement is made that collapses all the entangled qubits at once.
"We used a couple of tricks to get rid of sources of decoherence," says Budker. "One was to use diamond samples specially prepared to be pure carbon-12." Natural diamond includes a small amount of the isotope carbon-13, whose nuclear spin hurries the decoherence of the NV center electron spins. Carbon-12 nuclei are spin zero.
"The other trick was to lower the temperature to the temperature of liquid nitrogen," Budker says. Decoherence was reduced by cooling the samples to 77 degrees Kelvin, below room temperature but still readily accessible.
Working together in Budker's lab, members of the team mounted the diamond samples inside a cryostat. A laser beam passing through the diamond, plus a magnetic field, tuned the electron spins of the NV centers and caused them to fluoresce. Their fluorescent brightness was a measure of spin-state coherence.
"Controlling the spin is essential," Budker says, "so we borrowed an idea from nuclear magnetic resonance" -- the basis for such familiar procedures as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in hospitals.
While different from nuclear spin, electron spin coherence can be extended with similar techniques. Thus, as the spin states of the NV centers in the diamond sample were about to decohere, the experimenters jolted the diamond with a series of up to 10,000 short microwave pulses. The pulses flipped the electron spins as they began to fall out of synchronization with one another, producing "echoes" in which the reversed spins caught up with themselves. Coherence was reestablished.
Eventually the researchers achieved spin coherence times lasting over half a second. "Our results really shine for magnetic field sensing and for quantum information," says Bar-Gill.
Long spin-coherence times add to the advantages diamond already possesses, putting diamond NVs at the forefront of potential candidates for practical quantum computers -- a favorite pursuit of the Harvard researchers. What Budker's group finds an even hotter prospect is the potential for long coherence times in sensing oscillating magnetic fields, with applications ranging from biophysics to defense.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/physics/~3/DsQ6cooMeIQ/130510102109.htm
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