Circuit Court Judge Kenneth Lester is apparently weighing whether to grant bail to George Zimmerman after Friday's hearing. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports.
By NBC's Jamie Novogrod and msnbc.com's Kari Huus
A bail hearing in Sanford, Fla. for George Zimmerman concluded Friday after a heated exchange in which prosecutors argued for denying bond and the defense called on the judge to reinstate the defendant's?$150,000 bail, which was revoked in early June.
Circuit Court Judge Kenneth Lester was weighing the arguments and will issue his ruling by written order, a public information officer for the Seminole County court said. The spokesman did not offer the timing of that order.
Zimmerman, charged with second-degree murder in the February shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, is seeking release on bail for the second time. His initial bail of $150,000 was revoked and he was rearrested on June 3, after prosecutors argued that Zimmerman, with the aid of his wife's testimony, had misled the court about?their financial picture in the first bail hearing on April 20.
Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to the?charge, and asserted that he acted in self-defense.
Earlier in the three-hour proceedings, ????Zimmerman's father, Robert John Zimmerman, took the stand briefly.
After the elder Zimmerman was sworn in, defense attorney Mark O'Mara played a witness 911 tape that captured the sounds of screaming and a shot being fired during the fatal encounter between Trayvon and Zimmerman.
Under questioning by O'Mara, the elder Zimmerman said he told state investigators that the voice of the man screaming "was absolutely George's."
Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda then questioned Robert Zimmerman, asking how his son could make those screaming noises if, ?as George Zimmerman told police, Martin was covering his nose and mouth.
Robert Zimmerman responded: "From the look of my son's injuries, Trayvon Martin's hands were not just on his nose and mouth."
The court heard testimony from firefighter Kevin O'Rourke, of the Sanford Fire Department, who was called to the scene after the shooting.?O'Rourke, who said he attended to Zimmerman, answered questions about the severity of the shooter's injuries.
"I observed that he had blood on his face and the back of his head," O'Rourke said.
He said that Zimmerman's nose was "obviously deformed," agreeing with defense attorney Don West that the injury was consistent with a broken nose. But under questioning by prosecutor de la Rionda, O'Rourke said he didn't diagnose Zimmerman with a broken nose.
The court was also shown the last minutes of a video taken by Sanford police on Feb. 27 in which Zimmerman discusses wounds to his nose and head.
Zimmerman appeared at the hearing wearing a grey suit, after?O'Mara had successfully argued that showing up in prison garb and shackles could damage his client's chances of getting a fair trial.
Martin's older brother Jahvaris Martin attended the hearing, along with Trayvon's parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton. The family was escorted -- and sat with -- family attorney Benjamin Crump.
Following the money At the start of the hearing, the first witness to testify, at the request of Zimmerman's defense attorney Mark O'Mara, was an accounting expert Adam MaGill, who detailed a series of money transfers conducted by the defendant's wife, using money contributed for his legal defense.
MaGill, who was called by the defense, said he was asked by O'Mara to look at records of money transfers from Zimmerman's PayPal account to the official legal defense fund later established by O'Mara.
Prosecutors charge that Zimmerman, and his wife Shellie misled the court about their finances his first bail hearing.
Shellie Zimmerman?testified at that April 20 proceeding that she did not know how much money was in a PayPal account set up for contributions to her husband's legal defense.
In recorded telephone conversations from jail prior to that date, Zimmerman and his wife appear to discuss ? in thinly?disguised code ? the amount of money in the account, and he instructs her to make a series of transfers to other accounts, the prosecution charges. (Read original report.)
Special Prosecutor Angela Corey used the recordings to persuade?the judge to revoke the original bond for George Zimmerman.?Shellie Zimmerman was arrested on June 12, charged with perjury and released on $1,000 bond.
She was not present at Friday's bond hearing for her husband.
O?Mara told NBC on Thursday that if Zimmerman is released on bond, he would go back into hiding for his own safety. The shooting death of Martin, an unarmed black teenager, in February has stirred an emotional national debate about race, gun rights and "stand your ground" laws like the one in Florida that use a broad definition of self-defense.
NBC's Lisa Lampkin contributed to this report.
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CRE Finance Council Europe, the trade association dedicated to promoting the strength and liquidity of commercial real estate finance, is hosting a best practice property finance seminar in two weeks to debt recent industry publications centring on real estate finance tax, loan documentation and standardisation.
The Thursday 12 July seminar ? in association with the Loan Market Association (LMA) ? is offered on a complimentary basis, will be hosted at Allen & Overy?s One Bishops Square offices, from 8am, at which the content and implication of three recent industry documents will be debated:
? The CREFC Europe and Ernst & Young Real Estate Lending Tax Guide, intended to assist market participants in developing an understanding of the multiple tax issues a Lender should consider when undertaking a transaction;
? The CREFC Europe Commercial Real Estate Lending Principles, which offers a layout of key principles to be considered and issues to be addressed when advancing secured investment loans; and
? The LMA Commercial Real Estate Finance (REF) Document; which delivers a standardised loan agreement for use in commercial real estate investment transactions.
The seminar will provide an overview of the goals and relevance of these documents and enable those involved in their development to address questions from Seminar attendees. Seminar presenters will be:
? Mark O?Neill, partner, Allen & Overy.
? Richard Johnston, senior tax manager, Ernst & Young;
? Clare Dawson, managing director, Loan Market Association; and
? Peter Denton, head of European debt, Starwood Capital Europe;
CREFC Europe and the LMA recently delivered three key industry documents to the marketplace:
Christian Janssen, co-head of lending for Renshaw Bay and chairman of CRE Finance Council, said: ?The introduction of these documents to the marketplace has been a collaborative milestone for CREFC Europe.
?Each of them reflects the desire of our industry constituents to create a more transparent, liquid and solid CRE finance market. To that end, we wish to highlight the outstanding collaboration with Ernst & Young and LMA in creating these products. We encourage market participants to take advantage of our upcoming Seminar and learn more about how these initiatives will improve and strengthen the European CRE finance market.?
This event is CPD accredited.
For more information or to register for the Seminar, please contact Hannah Liebing, CRE Finance Council Europe, at +44 (0) 20.7073.2815 or by email at hliebing@eu.crefc.org
CREFC Europe?s Autumn Conference 2012 will be co-chaired by Allen & Overy?s Christian Lambie, Bank of America Merrill Lynch?s Mark Nichol, and K&L Gates? Andrew Petersen.
The annual two-day conference will be hosted by Allen & Overy over 14 and 15 of November.
The co-chairs are in the process of developing the conference programme, if you would like to be considered as a speaker please contact Carol Wilkie.
Sponsorship for our Autumn Conference is NOW available, if you would like to sponsor please contact CREFC Europe soon as possible to avoid disappointment, please contact Carol Wilkie on +44 (0)20 7073 2771.
Registration is NOW open. Contact Hannah Liebing for further information.
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Plasma startup creates high-energy light to make smaller microchipsPublic release date: 28-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Hannah Hickey hickeyh@uw.edu 206-543-2580 University of Washington
A University of Washington lab has been working for more than a decade on fusion energy, harnessing the energy-generating mechanism of the sun. But in one of the twists of scientific discovery, on the way the researchers found a potential solution to a looming problem in the electronics industry.
To bring their solution to market two UW engineers have launched a startup, Zplasma, that aims to produce the high-energy light needed to etch the next generation of microchips.
"In order to get smaller feature sizes on silicon, the industry has to go to shorter wavelength light," said Uri Shumlak, a UW professor of aeronautics and astronautics. "We're able to produce that light with enough power that it can be used to manufacture microchips."
The UW beam lasts up to 1,000 times longer than competing technologies and provides more control over the million-degree plasma that produces the light.
For more than four decades the technology industry has kept up with Moore's Law, a prediction that the number of transistors on a computer chip will double every two years. This trend has allowed ever-smaller, faster, lighter and less energy-intensive electronics. But it's hit a roadblock: the 193-nanometer ultraviolet light now being used cannot etch circuits any smaller.
The industry has determined that the future standard for making microchips will be 13.5-nanometer light, a wavelength less than 1/14 the current size that should carry the industry for years to come. Such extreme ultraviolet light can be created only from plasmas, which are high-temperature, electrically charged gases in which electrons are stripped from their nuclei.
The electronics industry is trying to produce this extreme ultraviolet light in various ways. One takes a droplet of tin and shoots it with a laser to make plasma that releases a brief spark of light. But so far this spark is too brief. Chip manufacturers use a $100 million machine to bounce light off a series of mirrors and eventually project the light onto a silicon wafer; each step absorbs some of the light's energy.
"Over the past decade, the primary issue with these extreme ultraviolet light sources is they just can't produce enough power," Shumlak said. "It's a stumbling block for the whole semiconductor industry."
Fusion scientists, it turns out, are plasma experts. The hydrogen plasma in the sun is so hot that hydrogen nuclei fuse together and release energy. Scientists around the world, including at the UW, are working to replicate this on Earth. A fusion reactor would use hydrogen as its fuel and emit helium as a waste product, a technically challenging
but clean source of energy.
The UW group's specialty is a lower-cost version of a fusion reactor that uses currents flowing through the material, rather than giant magnets, to contain the million-degree plasma. Their method also produces plasma that is stable and long-lived.
"It's a completely different way to make the plasma that gives you much more control," said Brian Nelson, a UW research associate professor of electrical engineering.
The first time they triggered the experiment in 1999, an engineer looking through the glass said, "That was really bright!" That was when the proverbial light bulb went off, Nelson said, and the team began to explore applications for bright high-energy light.
They may have found that application in the microchip industry. Light produced through techniques now being considered by the chip industry generate a spark that lasts just 20 to 50 nanoseconds. Zplasma's light beam lasts 20 to 50 millionths of a second, about 1,000 times longer.
"That translates directly into more light output, more power depositing on the wafer, such that you can move it through in some reasonable amount of time," Shumlak said.
An initial grant from the UW's Center for Commercialization allowed the team to verify that it could produce 13.5-nanometer light. A gift last fall from the Washington Research Foundation helped the team shrink the equipment from the size of a broomstick to a new version the size of a pin, which can produce a sharp beam.
The company was established last year with help from the UW's Center for Commercialization and Henry Berg, a technology entrepreneur who met the researchers through the center's Entrepreneurs in Residence program. Berg is now CEO of Zplasma.
The company is seeking "smart money" from corporate investors who can integrate the new technology with existing industrial processes.
"I hope this gets implemented into the industry and has an impact," Shumlak said.
The group will continue its fusion research project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. Raymond Golingo, a UW research scientist in aeronautics and astronautics, is co-author of the patent for the technology issued in 2008.
###
For more information, contact Shumlak at 206-616-1986 or shumlak@uw.edu; Nelson at 206-543-7143 or nelson@ee.washington.edu; and Berg at henry.berg@zplasma.com.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Plasma startup creates high-energy light to make smaller microchipsPublic release date: 28-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Hannah Hickey hickeyh@uw.edu 206-543-2580 University of Washington
A University of Washington lab has been working for more than a decade on fusion energy, harnessing the energy-generating mechanism of the sun. But in one of the twists of scientific discovery, on the way the researchers found a potential solution to a looming problem in the electronics industry.
To bring their solution to market two UW engineers have launched a startup, Zplasma, that aims to produce the high-energy light needed to etch the next generation of microchips.
"In order to get smaller feature sizes on silicon, the industry has to go to shorter wavelength light," said Uri Shumlak, a UW professor of aeronautics and astronautics. "We're able to produce that light with enough power that it can be used to manufacture microchips."
The UW beam lasts up to 1,000 times longer than competing technologies and provides more control over the million-degree plasma that produces the light.
For more than four decades the technology industry has kept up with Moore's Law, a prediction that the number of transistors on a computer chip will double every two years. This trend has allowed ever-smaller, faster, lighter and less energy-intensive electronics. But it's hit a roadblock: the 193-nanometer ultraviolet light now being used cannot etch circuits any smaller.
The industry has determined that the future standard for making microchips will be 13.5-nanometer light, a wavelength less than 1/14 the current size that should carry the industry for years to come. Such extreme ultraviolet light can be created only from plasmas, which are high-temperature, electrically charged gases in which electrons are stripped from their nuclei.
The electronics industry is trying to produce this extreme ultraviolet light in various ways. One takes a droplet of tin and shoots it with a laser to make plasma that releases a brief spark of light. But so far this spark is too brief. Chip manufacturers use a $100 million machine to bounce light off a series of mirrors and eventually project the light onto a silicon wafer; each step absorbs some of the light's energy.
"Over the past decade, the primary issue with these extreme ultraviolet light sources is they just can't produce enough power," Shumlak said. "It's a stumbling block for the whole semiconductor industry."
Fusion scientists, it turns out, are plasma experts. The hydrogen plasma in the sun is so hot that hydrogen nuclei fuse together and release energy. Scientists around the world, including at the UW, are working to replicate this on Earth. A fusion reactor would use hydrogen as its fuel and emit helium as a waste product, a technically challenging
but clean source of energy.
The UW group's specialty is a lower-cost version of a fusion reactor that uses currents flowing through the material, rather than giant magnets, to contain the million-degree plasma. Their method also produces plasma that is stable and long-lived.
"It's a completely different way to make the plasma that gives you much more control," said Brian Nelson, a UW research associate professor of electrical engineering.
The first time they triggered the experiment in 1999, an engineer looking through the glass said, "That was really bright!" That was when the proverbial light bulb went off, Nelson said, and the team began to explore applications for bright high-energy light.
They may have found that application in the microchip industry. Light produced through techniques now being considered by the chip industry generate a spark that lasts just 20 to 50 nanoseconds. Zplasma's light beam lasts 20 to 50 millionths of a second, about 1,000 times longer.
"That translates directly into more light output, more power depositing on the wafer, such that you can move it through in some reasonable amount of time," Shumlak said.
An initial grant from the UW's Center for Commercialization allowed the team to verify that it could produce 13.5-nanometer light. A gift last fall from the Washington Research Foundation helped the team shrink the equipment from the size of a broomstick to a new version the size of a pin, which can produce a sharp beam.
The company was established last year with help from the UW's Center for Commercialization and Henry Berg, a technology entrepreneur who met the researchers through the center's Entrepreneurs in Residence program. Berg is now CEO of Zplasma.
The company is seeking "smart money" from corporate investors who can integrate the new technology with existing industrial processes.
"I hope this gets implemented into the industry and has an impact," Shumlak said.
The group will continue its fusion research project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. Raymond Golingo, a UW research scientist in aeronautics and astronautics, is co-author of the patent for the technology issued in 2008.
###
For more information, contact Shumlak at 206-616-1986 or shumlak@uw.edu; Nelson at 206-543-7143 or nelson@ee.washington.edu; and Berg at henry.berg@zplasma.com.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) ? A strong explosion rocked the Syrian capital Thursday near a busy market and the country's highest court, wounding at least three people and sending clouds of black smoke into the sky.
The blast came as tensions threatened to spread across the region. Neighboring Turkey deployed anti-aircraft guns and other weapons alongside its border with Syria, nearly a week after Syrian forces shot a Turkish military plane out of the sky, Turkish state TV said Thursday.
Major world powers will meet Saturday in Geneva for talks on Syria, but few observers expect a major breakthrough. Syria has the protection or Russia, a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, and has so far been impervious to international pressure.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday that Moscow will not endorse a call for Assad to give up power.
"We are not supporting and will not support any external meddling," he said. "External players must not dictate ... to Syrians, but, first of all, must commit to influencing all the sides in Syria to stop the violence."
It was not clear who was behind Thursday's blast in Damascus.
Much of the violence that has gripped Syria since the uprising began has been sanctioned by the government to crush dissent. But rebel fighters are launching increasingly deadly attacks on regime targets, and several massive suicide attacks this year suggest al-Qaida or other extremists are joining the fray.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene of the blast said some cars were charred and many had their windshields blown out.
"I did not see any wounded people, but cars and nearby shops were damaged," said Fawaz Mishhim, a witness who was in a nearby market when he heard the explosion.
Syria's state-run TV said the explosion was in the parking lot of the Palace of Justice, a compound that houses several courts. The blast happened at 1 p.m. near the capital's famous Hamidiyeh Market, an area crowded with families stocking up on food and other supplies for the weekend, which begins on Friday in Syria.
Witnesses reported hearing one blast, but state-run TV said two explosions struck the area. The report also said a roadside bomb was found but did not explode.
Syria has been hit by a wave of massive explosions in recent months, killing dozens of people. Most of the explosions targeted the security agencies of President Bashar Assad, who is fighting to end a 15-month-old uprising against his rule.
Last month, an explosion targeted a military intelligence compound south of Damascus killing 55 people. It was Syria's deadliest blast.
Elsewhere in Syria, activists reported clashes between troops and rebels and said more than a dozen people were killed nationwide. Some of the heaviest battles were in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, activists said.
Activists say more than 14,000 people have been killed since the Syrian uprising began in March 2011.
Turkey, a former ally, has become one of the strongest critics of the Assad regime. Tensions between the two countries spiked following the downing of the Turkish plane last week.
Syria insists the Turkish military plane violated its air space on Friday. Turkey says the jet had unintentionally strayed into Syria's air space and was inside international airspace when it was brought down over the Mediterranean by Syria.
The search for two missing pilots continued in Syrian waters but hopes for their survival are dim, Turkish authorities said. The Turkish military said Thursday that research teams have found some pieces of the plane as well as equipment belonging to the pilots.
A small convoy of military trucks towing anti-aircraft guns entered a military outpost in the border village of Guvecci, which faces a Syrian military outpost, according to TRT television footage.
Several anti-aircraft guns also have been deployed elsewhere alongside the border. Some trucks were seen carrying self-propelled multiple rocket launchers, the footage showed.
Ties between Turkey and Syria have not been so low since the late 1990s, when the two countries almost went to war. Tensions ran high in the 1980s and 1990s as Turkey developed military ties with Israel and Syria sheltered Turkish Kurd guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan.
Now, Turkey is hosting civilian opposition groups as well as hundreds of army defectors who are affiliated with the rebel Free Syrian Army.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul was holding a National Security Council meeting on Thursday, TRT said. The meeting, attended by Cabinet members and the military's top brass, is expected to focus on tensions with Syria.
Phew! On the heels of big events from Apple and Microsoft, Sergey and co. got their time to shine at the Google I/O event this week in San Francisco. The show kicked off with a a keynote that featured insight into Android Jelly Bean, the unveiling of the Nexus 7 tablet and Nexus Q media streaming device, plus some seriously amazing demos of Project Glass, among others. Was the two-hour-and-change press conference enough to push Google out in front of the competition? Check out our thoughts after the break.
Online dating has been around for over 20 years, and has grown in popularity each year. Today, with over 1,500 dating sites, it is a $4 billion dollar industry with hundreds of millions of members.
As online dating becomes more prevalent, so does the existence of 'romance scammers'.
Who are romance scammers? They are individuals often located in Africa or Western Europe who join dating sites with a fake name and fake profile. They message several dozen (or hundreds of) members, and attempt to start a dialogue via Email (away from the dating site).
Their objective is to start a virtual relationship with someone, and then at some point request money, sight unseen. Sadly, this is a common occurrence, and people are duped every day.
Having said that, there are some red flags an online dater can watch for to ensure they don't fall victim to one of these scams. Here are some of the biggest ones:
1. There are no plans to meet in person. Romance scammers will never want to meet face to face, because they are not what their photo suggests. They will usually make up a story about being abroad for work. If there are no plans to meet face to face, move on.
2. Their grasp of English is typically poor. Romance scammers are usually not native English speakers, and this usually comes across in their messages. This is not to suggest that everyone with poor grammar is a scammer; however, if they claim to be native speakers and you notice many glaring errors, it is a red flag.
3. Their photo seems too perfect. It's common for romance scammers to use the most attractive photo they can find as their profile photo. They want to attract attention, of course, and this is the best way. If you are surprised that such a gorgeous person reaches out to you first with a desire to speak, it may be a red flag.
4. Insistence in communicating outside the dating site. If the first message you receive is accompanied by an Email address and an insistence to speak directly via Email, beware - unless there is a good reason, there should be no problem communicating on the dating site's messaging system.
5. They ask you for money. This is, by far, the biggest and most obvious red flag, and yet people are still often duped. It should be an unbreakable personal rule that you never give money to anyone whom you met on a dating site, under any circumstances.
Online dating is so popular for a reason - it is an efficient way to communicate with and meet other singles, and it can be a springboard to a meaningful relationship. Simply heed this advice and make sure you are not fooled by someone who it out for your money.
Michael Alexander, Founder, TruConnection.com is an innovative new online dating site in NYC and Boston, with plans to expand to new cities. It is a place to write and meet others; no detailed profiles or matching algorithms. Launched in February 2012. No fees at all - give it a try! Providing quality reviews, articles and writings on dating online.
The Thursday 12 July seminar ? in association with the Loan Market Association (LMA) ? is offered on a complimentary basis, will be hosted at Allen & Overy?s One Bishops Square offices, from 8am, at which the content and implication of three recent industry documents will be debated:![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u9nHM7SFKxdWMumtzEXVk2hAqT4kn7qnyGQHqdr_nax6vA9GTRXg31ZmzF5wGUvQjxINtvTFm6Lav6vkzZzTfbdktG9CpTVtFHSIHv5z0=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 28-Jun-2012
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