Jobless claims edge lower, remain elevated

By Patrick Rizzo

New claims for unemployment benefits declined slightly?in the latest week, but remain at levels which?raise concerns that employers are gradually reducing staff in the face of economic uncertainty.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that new jobless claims dropped a seasonally-adjusted 2,000 to 387,000 from a upwardly revised 389,000 the prior week. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims falling to 380,000 last week.

The four-week moving average, considered a more accurate gauge of labor market conditions, surged 3,500 to 386,250, which is a six-month high.

"This confirms the weak labor market we have. This is another disappointing number," Wells Fargo senior economist Sam Bullard told Reuters.

The job market has been struggling recently as employers face a slew of uncertainties, including a stumbling U.S. recovery, fiscal deadlock in Washington and a financial crisis in Europe.

The Federal Reserve?warned Wednesday that businesses had slowed hiring. The central bank ratcheted down its projections for economic growth in 2012 and extended a program known as "Operation Twist" aimed at pushing down long-term interest rates?to aid the economy.

At a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said?there had been a great deal of new developments since the Fed?s last meeting in April and that a lot of the incoming data were ?disappointing.???

"There's been a very dramatic decrease in the numbers of hires and there's been a decrease in the numbers of quits," says Edward Lazear, Stanford University economics professor, providing perspective on why hiring levels are falling.

vanessa williams nicklas backstrom discovery shuttle allure jane goodall saturday night fever glamping

Oil falls below $90 for first time since Dec 2010

[ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]

[ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

les miles les miles beyonce dance for you video beyonce dance for you video asu football asu football arkansas lsu

'Prometheus' FX Supervisor Gives Inside Look At First Scene

Martin Hill tells the Daily how he set the stage with the visually arresting opening scene.
By Kevin P. Sullivan

An Engineer in "Prometheus"
Photo:

This article contains "Prometheus" spoilers.

Ridley Scott's "Prometheus" begins with some of the film's most arresting images. A hairless, pale-skinned Engineer stands atop a waterfall. He drinks a liquid that we may never learn more about, disintegrates and, in turn, creates all of life on Earth.

The visuals set the stage for the rest of the film and show Scott's use of 3-D simultaneously, and now, new videos from the Daily explore the effects work that went into making that shot and the Prometheus' crash with the Engineer ship.

Visual effects supervisor Martin Hill from WETA Digital goes into great detail during his interview about the opening sequence, the creation of life. Not only was the team challenged with creating an impressive visual, but one that succinctly told a complex story.

"Because we had such a short amount of time to tell the story of the DNA getting infected, breaking apart, and then re-forming and recombining to show Earth DNA, we had to make the designs of the different DNA quite graphical, quite illustrative of what they were," Hill said.

After some time, the sequence shifts to the microscopic level, traveling inside the veins of the Engineer. For those sequences, Scott instructed the visual effects team to emphasize the destruction being done.

"The Engineer's DNA, we thought, 'This needs to be quite sinister, but we know it's going to get infected, and the infection has to look more messed up than the Engineer's DNA,' " Hill said. "We used quite a light color palette for Engineer's DNA, and then the infection comes on and it's very melted looking. Ridley actually said to us, 'It has to feel like war in there. The DNA is just being torn apart.' "

The actual scene of genetic destruction came together from computer-generated elements, but the inspiration for the look came from a very real-life source of inspiration.

"We try to use as much reality as possible, so we were looking at all different kinds of reference, so eventually we settled on fish bones, actual decayed fish spines, to represent the structure of the DNA," Hill said. "For the infection that rolls across the infected DNA, what we did was carve actual blocks of silicone with the vein structures in there and pumped black ink and oils and all kinds of different materials through those, filmed them, and used the motion of those as the basis for all of our effects for the veins and the effect coursing through his body."

Check out everything we've got on "Prometheus."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

washington capitals elizabeth warren delmon young amare stoudemire tallest building in the world the pitch brandon inge

Famous Oregon Coach And Star Protege Are A Study In Contrasts

Support KUOW

Portland's Galen Rupp (center, all?black uniform) tuned up for the Olympic Trials with a 5,000 meter race in Eugene on June 2. (N3/Tom Banse)

Tom Banse
06/18/2012

Forty?eight years have passed since an American has won an Olympic medal in the men's 10,000 meter run. The USA's best hope for the upcoming London Games is Portland distance runner Galen Rupp.

Read the full transcript ?

? Copyright 2012, Northwest News Network

KUOW does not endorse or control the content viewed on these links as they appear now or in the future.

sassafras mardi gras 2012 the secret world of arrietty cee lo allen iverson jr smith chris anderson

Nas Producer Compares Life is Good To Amy Winehouse, Fugees

Salaam Remi compares Nas' 10th solo album to Back to Black and The Score
By Rob Markman

Nas
Photo:

Despite having more than 20 years in the game and a number of classic albums already under his belt, Nas admitted to MTV News he's "a little nervous" about completing his 10th solo album, Life is Good. Luckily, he has friends like producer Salaam Remi to reassure him.

When Nas and Salaam were putting the finishing touches on the album, the rapper admitted doubt started to creep in. "At this point when we're mastering, I start to get a little nervous," Nas told MTV News on June 12. "I start thinking about those records I could've, should've, would've done that didn't make it."

Remi, who worked with God's Son on the majority of Life is Good, made it clear to Nas he has no doubts. The producer told him that the upcoming album reminded him of Amy Winehouse's 2006 breakout Back to Black and the Fugees' 1996 Grammy Award-winning LP The Score. Sounds like a lofty comparison, but Salaam produced on both Winehouse's and the Fugees' classic albums, so he is an authority on the matter.

It's not that Nas lacks confidence, but in the past he has been known to leave some pretty amazing records on the cutting-room floor. In fact, on 2002's The Lost Tapes, he unearthed gems like the soulful "Doo Rags" and "No Idea's Original." For Life is Good, however, Nas firmly believes that he has all the right songs on there.

Last November, Salaam spoke with MTV's Mixtape Daily and described his friend's recording process. "It's always way more songs, Nas's process is that he really records a lot and goes through different ideas and gets to that point," he said.

With Life is Good, the rap great thinks he has the right mix of tracks, however. "I feel like the record is definitely one of my more focused records," he said. "It's only the mastering part that I get nervous [about], because I'm like, 'After it's mastered, that's it.' "

Already Nasir has released "Nasty" and "The Don," two street singles that are reminiscent of New York's mid-1990s hip-hop movement. His latest single, "Daughters," is a reflective jewel where he examines his role as a dad. So far it sounds like Esco has a quality album on his hands and he doesn't want to look back with any regrets. "Three years from now, when I'm listening to it, I don't want to always think what I should've put on this record ... just so it could be a complete piece of work," he said. "But it is a complete piece of work."

What are your expectations for Nas' upcoming Life is Good LP? Tell us in the comments!

Related Artists

• Nas

angelina jolie oscars chardon high school christopher plummer viola davis school shooting in ohio shooting at chardon high school sasha baron cohen

Resveratrol may be a natural exercise performance enhancer: U of A medical research

Public release date: 19-Jun-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Raquel Maurier
raquel.maurier@ualberta.ca
780-492-5986
University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry

Natural compound found in fruit, nuts and wine led to improved strength and endurance

A natural compound found in some fruits, nuts and red wine may enhance exercise training and performance, demonstrates newly published medical research from the University of Alberta.

Principal investigator Jason Dyck and his team found out in experiments that high doses of the natural compound resveratrol improved physical performance, heart function and muscle strength in lab models.

"We were excited when we saw that resveratrol showed results similar to what you would see from extensive endurance exercise training," says Dyck, who works in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry as a researcher in the department of Pediatrics and the department of Pharmacology. "We immediately saw the potential for this and thought that we identified 'improved exercise performance in a pill.' "

His team's findings were published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Physiology in late May.

Dyck and his team will soon start starting testing resveratrol on diabetics with heart failure to see if the natural compound can improve heart function for this patient group. The 10-week study is expected to start within the next few months.

"I think resveratrol could help patient populations who want to exercise but are physically incapable. Resveratrol could mimic exercise for them or improve the benefits of the modest amount of exercise that they can do," says Dyck. "It is very satisfying to progress from basic research in a lab to testing in people, in a short period of time."

###

The research was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Dyck is an Alberta Innovates Health Solutions senior scholar and the director of the Cardiovascular Research Centre at the U of A. He is also a member of both the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute and the Women and Children's Health Research Institute.

---

[ | 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.

Public release date: 19-Jun-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Raquel Maurier
raquel.maurier@ualberta.ca
780-492-5986
University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry

Natural compound found in fruit, nuts and wine led to improved strength and endurance

A natural compound found in some fruits, nuts and red wine may enhance exercise training and performance, demonstrates newly published medical research from the University of Alberta.

Principal investigator Jason Dyck and his team found out in experiments that high doses of the natural compound resveratrol improved physical performance, heart function and muscle strength in lab models.

"We were excited when we saw that resveratrol showed results similar to what you would see from extensive endurance exercise training," says Dyck, who works in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry as a researcher in the department of Pediatrics and the department of Pharmacology. "We immediately saw the potential for this and thought that we identified 'improved exercise performance in a pill.' "

His team's findings were published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Physiology in late May.

Dyck and his team will soon start starting testing resveratrol on diabetics with heart failure to see if the natural compound can improve heart function for this patient group. The 10-week study is expected to start within the next few months.

"I think resveratrol could help patient populations who want to exercise but are physically incapable. Resveratrol could mimic exercise for them or improve the benefits of the modest amount of exercise that they can do," says Dyck. "It is very satisfying to progress from basic research in a lab to testing in people, in a short period of time."

###

The research was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Dyck is an Alberta Innovates Health Solutions senior scholar and the director of the Cardiovascular Research Centre at the U of A. He is also a member of both the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute and the Women and Children's Health Research Institute.

---

[ | 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.

hurd christopher hitchens ron paul 2012 zynga stock zynga stock sam houston state university sam houston state university

Omaha ready for 38,000 sports fans

An upwards of 24,000 baseball fans are filling up downtown Omaha this week for the College World Series. Starting Monday, an estimated 14,000 additional fans will pour into the area for the start of the 2012 Olympic Swim Trials.

"We are not really anticipating a major issue, but we are preparing for it," Chief Operating Officer for the 2012 Olympic Swim Trials Harold Cliff said.

On Monday, TD Ameritrade will host the second championship game of the College World Series. Over at the CenturyLink Center, it's the first night of the Olympic Swim Trials. That means an estimated 38,000 people in downtown Omaha.

"We have a plan in place that has worked in the past and we feel prepared to handle that volume," Omaha Police Officer Todd Schmaderer said.

That plan includes extra law enforcement as well as alternative parking options. Both Mutual of Omaha and Midtown Crossing will offer parking and shuttle services for fans attending the Swim Trials.

Mutual of Omaha employee parking lots on Dodge Street between 36th Street to 38th Street will open for Swim Trials parking. Fans with a Swim Trials ticket can park and ride a shuttle bus to CenturyLink Center for free. Six shuttles will run continuously from Mutual of Omaha to the arena from 5 to 7 p.m., and return to Mutual from 8 to 10 p.m.

Midtown Crossing shuttle service information is available online.

Metro offers 12 routes that provide service within walking distance of TD Ameritrade Park and CenturyLink Center Omaha. More information can be found at OMetro.com.

leap pad lauren alaina lowes best buy black friday frys ad a very gaga thanksgiving black friday walmart 2011