Where does that Earl Grey tea come from? | Eat Drink Better

I was sitting at my desk last week staring at my tea cup, which is ALWAYS full of some form of earl grey tea during the daylight hours. My love of this tea goes back far enough that I?m not really sure when I became hopelessly hooked, but it was probably my summer in England in the early 80s. THAT is a whole other story, but I know it was before I met and dated my wild Englishman for several years in the later 80s, because to my shock and horror he drank plain ole Lipton?s (although he did school me on the proper way to prepare a pot of tea ? yes, there was a cozy involved).

Tea is one of those commodities that should be subject to?Fair Trade?standards and in my humble opinion should be?organic?and?non-GMO?as well ? for the enjoyment and health of the tea drinker as well as those who work on the farms, which are often in faraway places where the potential for unsafe and unfair practices has been common.

Listen to the Green Divas 5-minute?Sleeping Naked is Green segment on Fair Trade Tea

It was in my afternoon early grey haze that I pondered the journey this tea made to my pantry and while I knew the brand I was drinking was all of the above (fair trade, organic, non-GMO), I wondered about how some of the other popular earl grey brands would compare . . . ooooo! An idea?

GD Mizar, Gina and I decided to each do some research on one popular brand and see what we could come up with. Because there are literally THOUSANDS of types of tea, from white to green to black to red and too many herbal and flavor combinations to try to categorize, we decided to just focus on one type of tea. As I was writing this, one additional company, which is worthy of a mention got my attention with a timely press release, so there will be 4 brands featured.

The main questions we asked were:

1. Where was the tea grown?

2. How was the tea grown? Using chemical fertilizers and pesticides or organically or other?

3. Who actually grew and harvested the tea, and how were they treated?

4. How much does it cost?

but first . . .

Who is this Earl Grey anyway?

The 2nd Earl Grey was prime minister of England back in the 1830s, when tea drinking was already a national obsession. There are several stories about the origins of Earl Grey tea in England. One debunked legend that one of the Earl?s men saved a young Chinese boy from drowning and the grateful father presented the Earl with tea that was flavored with the oil of bergamot, which is an aromatic citrus fruit ? a small orange tree?(Citrus bergamia). Of course, as it turns out the Earl never went to China, so there goes that fun story. It is likely that a Chinese diplomat presented the then prime minister with a gift of this specially flavored tea, and apparently he liked it.?Jacksons of Piccadilly?claims to have been given the original recipe by the Earl himself back in 1830, and continue to produce it as it was originally formulated.

There are many variations, like one of my favorites, lady grey, which is generally earl grey tea with lavender and Seville oranges. But, if you are like me, you become accustomed to your favorite blend.

A little more about black tea in general

Most of us know that tea originated in China as a medicinal drink way back around 1500 ? 1050 BC. Tea played and continues to play many roles in Asian cultures from a formal tea ceremony that originated in China, but was developed by Buddhist monks in Japan into a mindful art. India, which is now well-known for growing some of the most popular brands of tea in the west, was introduced to tea by the British, who were fed up with the Chinese monopoly of this addictive commodity, in the 1800s.

Tea was introduced to western culture via Portugal via priests and traders who had dealings with the Chinese in the 16th century. The English, who elevated tea drinking to a cultural obsession, didn?t catch on till the 17th century. In my research, I found a page devoted to the?history of tea in Englandthat is pretty informative for anyone who is interested. Then you have the defiant Americans, who were as attached to their tea as the Brits (remember, they were still English at that point), who got all uppity because of the oppressive British tax on tea and dumped a mess of tea from English ships into Boston harbor in 1773 ? making tea (or the addiction to it) a catalyst in a historic revolution.

The many colors of tea

Black, green and white tea is made from the camillia sinensis plant. Their ultimate color is determined by how they are processed.

I?ll take mine?black?? the leaves are crushed and fermented. Black tea is fully oxidized.?Black tea contains theaflavins and thearubigens, which help to reduce bad cholesterol and lower the risk of stroke and heart attack. And, of course it has 2 to 3 times more caffeine (unless it is a decaffeinated variety).

Go green?? the leaves are withered and steamed. Green tea is un-oxidized, which is why it retains its color.?Green tea has loads of a powerful antioxidant, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which is lost in the fermentation process of black tea.

White tea??? well it isn?t actually white, but because it is made from the buds and the leaves and is oxidated in a certain way, it has a silvery appearance. It?s all good. And while it has all the health benefits of its black and green siblings, it has the most antioxidants.

Health benefits of black tea

There are literally thousands of claims and studies about all varieties of tea and it?s benefits to our health ? well, we have to rationalize this socially acceptable addiction, right? From increasing cardiovascular function to decreasing chances of many cancers to its effectiveness in treating intestinal stress because of??its high level of?tannins, tea also is credited with some surprising things.

Did you know . . .?

• black tea prevents tooth decay because of the fluoride it contains
• black tea is loaded with antioxidants, such as flavonoids, and is known to prevent the oxidation of LDL cholesterol, preventing damage in both the bloodstream and at artery walls, and lowering the risk of heart disease
• a compound in black tea called TF-2 causes some cancer cells to go into apoptosis (cancer cell suicide ? yes!) while normal cells stay healthy
• all tea has?phytochemicals. studies show that tea drinkers have stronger bones than non-tea drinkers, and these phytochemicals are the likely cause
• the list goes on and on and on . . .

Here?s what we found out about
4 different brands of earl grey tea

legend:

non-GMO

?Fair Trade

?Organic

Numi Organic Tea ??Aged Earl Grey

No one was assigned this one, but I got a press release at the last minute and I have always liked Numi teas, so I asked if they had an early grey we could feature and they did. I haven?t tried this one yet, but hope to soon!

Where is it grown?
Numi works with the?Sewpur Tea Estate, a cooperative consisting of more than 330 workers in Assam, India.

How is it grown?
Certified Organic and Verified NON-GMO

Who grows it?
Sewpur Tea Estate?has been working with Numi for two years. Fair Trade funds have been used to build a new school and provide scholarships; distribute fuel-efficient cooking stoves (chullas) and mosquito nets; build new roads; and develop women?s empowerment programs.How much does it cost?
$6.99 ? 18 tea bags

This is my current go-to tea that started this fun project. Love the taste, love the price, and I love paisley designs. Here?s a silly pic I took of the inner bag, which is plastic, but I can?t help admire the design:
anyway, about the tea . . .

Where is it grown?

South India

How is it grown?

Organic. Only natural, approved fertilizers are used

How much does it cost?

$5.99 ? 24 tea bags

GD Mizar focused on this one . . .

Where is it grown?

Assam and Kenya

How is it grown?
Using conventional chemical pesticides and fertilizers (although the packaging says natural)Who grows it?
Don?t know

How much does it cost?*
$4.99 ? 25 tea bags

?

Twining?s of London ??Earl Grey?

GD Gina did the research on this one . . .

Where is it grown?
Kenya, Sri Lanka, China, some is even grown in?Poland.?Everything is processed, packaged and produced in the UK

How is it grown?
The majority of their tea is conventional and grown with the use of pesticides, but they do have an organic blend

Who grows it?
They weren?t clear on exactly how the conventional tea growers were?treated, but they stressed their new fair-trade certified varieties?meeting the?EPP (Environmentally Preferable Purchasing)?standards.

How much does it cost?*
$3.00 ? 25 tea bags

*as I wrote this question down for these last two that are not organic or fair trade certified, I wish I had the time, energy and brain power to calculate the REAL cost of using chemical fertilizers and pesticides ? for the people working on the farms and the environment. Also, what is value of a worker, who is fairly treated and is afforded reasonable living conditions? There are costs for the abuse of people, whether it is economic, ethical, spiritual or cultural but I believe it all of those. I hope that the demand for safe, sustainable tea (and food) becomes great enough that no matter WHAT the cost, it is the standard rather than a specialty.

Meanwhile,

eat. drink tea. be merry!

image of earl grey tea via?shutterstock
image of woman in tea field via?shutterstock?

Source: http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2013/04/09/where-does-that-earl-grey-tea-come-from/

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Advancing secure communications: A better single-photon emitter for quantum cryptography

Public release date: 9-Apr-2013
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Contact: Nicole Casal Moore
ncmoore@umich.edu
734-647-7087
University of Michigan

ANN ARBORIn a development that could make the advanced form of secure communications known as quantum cryptography more practical, University of Michigan researchers have demonstrated a simpler, more efficient single-photon emitter that can be made using traditional semiconductor processing techniques.

Single-photon emitters release one particle of light, or photon, at a time, as opposed to devices like lasers that release a stream of them. Single-photon emitters are essential for quantum cryptography, which keeps secrets safe by taking advantage of the so-called observer effect: The very act of an eavesdropper listening in jumbles the message. This is because in the quantum realm, observing a system always changes it.

For quantum cryptography to work, it's necessary to encode the messagewhich could be a bank password or a piece of military intelligence, for examplejust one photon at a time. That way, the sender and the recipient will know whether anyone has tampered with the message.

While the U-M researchers didn't make the first single-photon emitter, they say their new device improves upon the current technology and is much easier to make.

"This thing is very, very simple. It is all based on silicon," said Pallab Bhattacharya, the Charles M. Vest Distinguished University Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and the James R. Mellor Professor of Engineering.

Bhattacharya, who leads this project, is a co-author of a paper on the work published in Nature Communications on April 9.

Bhattacharya's emitter is a single nanowire made of gallium nitride with a very small region of indium gallium nitride that behaves as a quantum dot. A quantum dot is a nanostructure that can generate a bit of information. In the binary code of conventional computers, a bit is a 0 or a 1. A quantum bit can be either or both at the same time.

The semiconducting materials the new emitter is made of are commonly used in LEDs and solar cells. The researchers grew the nanowires on a wafer of silicon. Because their technique is silicon-based, the infrastructure to manufacture the emitters on a larger scale already exists. Silicon is the basis of modern electronics.

"This is a big step in that it produces the pathway to realizing a practical electrically injected single-photon emitter," Bhattacharya said.

Key enablers of the new technology are size and compactness.

"By making the diameter of the nanowire very small and by altering the composition over a very small section of it, a quantum dot is realized," Bhattacharya said. "The quantum dot emits single-photons upon electrical excitation."

The U-M emitter is fueled by electricity, rather than lightanother aspect that makes it more practical. And each photon it emits possesses the same degree of linear polarization. Polarization refers to the orientation of the electric field of a beam of light. Most other single-photon emitters release light particles with a random polarization.

"So half might have one polarization and the other half might have the other," Bhattacharya said. "So in cryptic message, if you want to code them, you would only be able to use 50 percent of the photons. With our device, you could use almost all of them."

This device operates at cold temperatures, but the researchers are working on one that operates closer to room temperature.

The paper is titled "Electrically-driven polarized single-photon emission from an InGaN quantum dot in a GaN nanowire." The first author is Saniya Deshpande, a graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science. The work is supported by the National Science Foundation. The device was fabricated at the U-M Lurie Nanofabrication Facility.

###

Pallab Bhattacharya: https://www.eecs.umich.edu/eecs/etc/fac/facsearchform.cgi?pkb+

---

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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: 9-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Nicole Casal Moore
ncmoore@umich.edu
734-647-7087
University of Michigan

ANN ARBORIn a development that could make the advanced form of secure communications known as quantum cryptography more practical, University of Michigan researchers have demonstrated a simpler, more efficient single-photon emitter that can be made using traditional semiconductor processing techniques.

Single-photon emitters release one particle of light, or photon, at a time, as opposed to devices like lasers that release a stream of them. Single-photon emitters are essential for quantum cryptography, which keeps secrets safe by taking advantage of the so-called observer effect: The very act of an eavesdropper listening in jumbles the message. This is because in the quantum realm, observing a system always changes it.

For quantum cryptography to work, it's necessary to encode the messagewhich could be a bank password or a piece of military intelligence, for examplejust one photon at a time. That way, the sender and the recipient will know whether anyone has tampered with the message.

While the U-M researchers didn't make the first single-photon emitter, they say their new device improves upon the current technology and is much easier to make.

"This thing is very, very simple. It is all based on silicon," said Pallab Bhattacharya, the Charles M. Vest Distinguished University Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and the James R. Mellor Professor of Engineering.

Bhattacharya, who leads this project, is a co-author of a paper on the work published in Nature Communications on April 9.

Bhattacharya's emitter is a single nanowire made of gallium nitride with a very small region of indium gallium nitride that behaves as a quantum dot. A quantum dot is a nanostructure that can generate a bit of information. In the binary code of conventional computers, a bit is a 0 or a 1. A quantum bit can be either or both at the same time.

The semiconducting materials the new emitter is made of are commonly used in LEDs and solar cells. The researchers grew the nanowires on a wafer of silicon. Because their technique is silicon-based, the infrastructure to manufacture the emitters on a larger scale already exists. Silicon is the basis of modern electronics.

"This is a big step in that it produces the pathway to realizing a practical electrically injected single-photon emitter," Bhattacharya said.

Key enablers of the new technology are size and compactness.

"By making the diameter of the nanowire very small and by altering the composition over a very small section of it, a quantum dot is realized," Bhattacharya said. "The quantum dot emits single-photons upon electrical excitation."

The U-M emitter is fueled by electricity, rather than lightanother aspect that makes it more practical. And each photon it emits possesses the same degree of linear polarization. Polarization refers to the orientation of the electric field of a beam of light. Most other single-photon emitters release light particles with a random polarization.

"So half might have one polarization and the other half might have the other," Bhattacharya said. "So in cryptic message, if you want to code them, you would only be able to use 50 percent of the photons. With our device, you could use almost all of them."

This device operates at cold temperatures, but the researchers are working on one that operates closer to room temperature.

The paper is titled "Electrically-driven polarized single-photon emission from an InGaN quantum dot in a GaN nanowire." The first author is Saniya Deshpande, a graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science. The work is supported by the National Science Foundation. The device was fabricated at the U-M Lurie Nanofabrication Facility.

###

Pallab Bhattacharya: https://www.eecs.umich.edu/eecs/etc/fac/facsearchform.cgi?pkb+

---

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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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/uom-asc040913.php

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New study shows meditating before lecture leads to better grades

Public release date: 9-Apr-2013
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Contact: Tara Laskowski
tlaskows@gmu.edu
703-993-8815
George Mason University

Practicing a little Zen before class can lead to better grades, according to a new experimental study by George Mason University professor Robert Youmans and University of Illinois doctoral student Jared Ramsburg.

The pair of researchers conducted three classroom experiments at a California university to see if meditation might help students focus better and retain information. A random selection of students followed basic meditation instructions before a lecture, and the students who meditated before the lecture scored better on a quiz that followed than students who did not meditate. In one experiment, the meditation even predicted which students passed and which students failed the quiz.

The study was published last month in the journal Mindfulness.

Interestingly, the researchers also showed that the effect of the meditation was stronger in classes where more freshmen students were enrolled, showing that meditation might have a bigger effect on freshmen students. The researchers speculate that freshmen courses likely contain the types of students who stand to benefit the most from meditation training.

"One difficulty for researchers who study meditation is that the supposed benefits of meditation do not always replicate across different studies or populations, and so we have been trying to figure out why. This data from this study suggest that meditation may help students who might have trouble paying attention or focusing. Sadly, freshmen classes probably contain more of these types of students than senior courses because student populations who have difficulty self-regulating are also more likely to leave the university," says Youmans, an assistant professor of psychology.

Youmans believes that self-reflection might therefore have an important place in freshmen seminars or institutions with high attrition rates. Their study showed a significant improvement with only six minutes of written meditation exercises and the researchers believe with more extensive training and coaching that the results could improve.

"Personally, I have found meditation to be helpful for mental clarity, focus and self-discipline," says Ramsburg, lead author of the study and a practicing Buddhist. "I think that if mindfulness can improve mental clarity, focus and self-discipline, then it might be useful in a variety of settings and for a variety of goals."

Youmans also suggests that, in theory, other forms of active self-reflection such as prayer, taking long walks or even just taking the time to mindfully plan out your day in the morning could have some of the same positive effects as meditation. "Basically, becoming just a little bit more mindful about yourself and your place in the world might have a very important, practical benefit in this case, doing better in college."

###

About George Mason University

George Mason University is an innovative, entrepreneurial institution with global distinction in a range of academic fields. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., Mason provides students access to diverse cultural experiences and the most sought-after internships and employers in the country. Mason offers strong undergraduate and graduate degree programs in engineering and information technology, organizational psychology, health care and visual and performing arts. With Mason professors conducting groundbreaking research in areas such as climate change, public policy and the biosciences, George Mason University is a leading example of the modern, public university. George Mason University-Where Innovation Is Tradition.

---

[ | 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: 9-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Tara Laskowski
tlaskows@gmu.edu
703-993-8815
George Mason University

Practicing a little Zen before class can lead to better grades, according to a new experimental study by George Mason University professor Robert Youmans and University of Illinois doctoral student Jared Ramsburg.

The pair of researchers conducted three classroom experiments at a California university to see if meditation might help students focus better and retain information. A random selection of students followed basic meditation instructions before a lecture, and the students who meditated before the lecture scored better on a quiz that followed than students who did not meditate. In one experiment, the meditation even predicted which students passed and which students failed the quiz.

The study was published last month in the journal Mindfulness.

Interestingly, the researchers also showed that the effect of the meditation was stronger in classes where more freshmen students were enrolled, showing that meditation might have a bigger effect on freshmen students. The researchers speculate that freshmen courses likely contain the types of students who stand to benefit the most from meditation training.

"One difficulty for researchers who study meditation is that the supposed benefits of meditation do not always replicate across different studies or populations, and so we have been trying to figure out why. This data from this study suggest that meditation may help students who might have trouble paying attention or focusing. Sadly, freshmen classes probably contain more of these types of students than senior courses because student populations who have difficulty self-regulating are also more likely to leave the university," says Youmans, an assistant professor of psychology.

Youmans believes that self-reflection might therefore have an important place in freshmen seminars or institutions with high attrition rates. Their study showed a significant improvement with only six minutes of written meditation exercises and the researchers believe with more extensive training and coaching that the results could improve.

"Personally, I have found meditation to be helpful for mental clarity, focus and self-discipline," says Ramsburg, lead author of the study and a practicing Buddhist. "I think that if mindfulness can improve mental clarity, focus and self-discipline, then it might be useful in a variety of settings and for a variety of goals."

Youmans also suggests that, in theory, other forms of active self-reflection such as prayer, taking long walks or even just taking the time to mindfully plan out your day in the morning could have some of the same positive effects as meditation. "Basically, becoming just a little bit more mindful about yourself and your place in the world might have a very important, practical benefit in this case, doing better in college."

###

About George Mason University

George Mason University is an innovative, entrepreneurial institution with global distinction in a range of academic fields. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., Mason provides students access to diverse cultural experiences and the most sought-after internships and employers in the country. Mason offers strong undergraduate and graduate degree programs in engineering and information technology, organizational psychology, health care and visual and performing arts. With Mason professors conducting groundbreaking research in areas such as climate change, public policy and the biosciences, George Mason University is a leading example of the modern, public university. George Mason University-Where Innovation Is Tradition.

---

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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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/gmu-nss040913.php

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13 dead after house-to-house shooting spree in Serbian village

A man in a small village outside Belgrade, Serbia went door to door, gunning down 13 people including his own son, six women and one baby. The man tried to kill himself and his wife but they survived and are gravely wounded.

By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News

A 60-year-old man fatally shot 13 people, including a baby, in a house-to-house rampage in a quiet village in Serbia Tuesday, before trying to kill himself and his wife.

The gunman, identified by police as Ljubisa Bogdanovic - a former soldier and veteran of the early-1990s regional conflict? was in a critical condition in hospital along with his wife, Javorak,?police told reporters.

Serbian police official Milorad Veljovic said the victims included 6 women, 6 men and a two-year-old boy, according to Serbian news site Press Online?and other reports.

The shooter came from a ?quiet family? and had no criminal record, Veljovic said. ?We'll see what the motive is for this gruesome murder, we're all just stunned,? he told reporters.

Marko Djurica / Reuters

A policeman stands guard in the village of Velika Ivanca, Serbia, on Tuesday.

Bogdanovic had lost his job last year, Veljovic said according to Reuters, and had a firearms permit for his CZ88 pistol, according to Press Online and Novosti.

"We have never seen a tragedy like this in Serbia, and for that reason a motive must be ascertained - what prompted this man to kill so many people in their sleep," Veljovic added, according to news site B92.

'Good neighbor'
Residents of the village of Velika Ivanca, 30 miles southeast of the capital Belgrade, said Bogdanovic first killed his son, before leaving the house and shooting his neighbors, some of whom were still asleep.?

"He knocked on the doors, and as they were opened he just fired a shot," villager Radovan Radosavljevic told The Associated Press. "He was a good neighbor and anyone would open their doors to him. I don't know what happened."

The killings occurred between 5 a.m. and 5:30 a.m local time (11 p.m. to 11.30 p.m. ET Monday), the AP said.

Nada Macura, an official at the Belgrade hospital in Belgrade where the two were being treated, told the AP that Bogdanovic had no history of mental illness. However,?Kostadinovic's wife Stanica said the man's father had hanged himself when he was a young boy and his uncle had a history of mental illness.?

The AP added:

Although such apparently random shootings are rare in Serbia, weapons are readily available mostly from the regional conflicts that tore through the Balkans in the 1990s and there is a tradition of possessing firearms.

The last similar shooting spree happened in Serbia in 2007 when a 39-year-old man gunned down nine people and injured two in a village in the east of the country.

Bogdanovic served as Serbian army soldier in the war in Croatia that began in 1991 and lasted until 1995, Reuters reported.

?

This story was originally published on Tue Apr 9, 2013 3:21 AM EDT

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653387/s/2a7f83d9/l/0Lworldnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A40C0A90C176660A220E130Edead0Eafter0Ehouse0Eto0Ehouse0Eshooting0Espree0Ein0Eserbian0Evillage0Dlite/story01.htm

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China's Xi offers to reduce friction over hotspots

China's President Xi Jinping, right, listens during a meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, unseen, in Boao town, Hainan province, China, Sunday, April 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Tyrone Siu, Pool)

China's President Xi Jinping, right, listens during a meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, unseen, in Boao town, Hainan province, China, Sunday, April 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Tyrone Siu, Pool)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, shakes hands with Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard during their meeting in Boao town, Hainan province, Sunday, April 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Tyrone Siu, Pool)

China's President Xi Jinping speaks at the opening ceremony of the annual Boao Forum in Boao, in southern China's Hainan province, Sunday, April 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan, Pool)

BOAO, China (AP) ? With pressure growing on Beijing to get North Korea to step back from its war-like footing, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that no one country should be allowed to upset world peace and added China would work to reduce tensions over regional hotspots.

In a speech to a regional business forum with political leaders from Australia to Zambia present, Xi did not offer any concrete plans for how to deal with China's neighbor, North Korea, which has elevated regional tensions through war-like rhetoric and missile deployments in recent weeks. Nor did Xi offer concessions to other neighbors locked in fraught disputes with Beijing over outlying islands: Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam.

It isn't clear whether Xi was taking a swipe at North Korea or at the United States, a frequent target of Chinese criticism, when he criticized unilateral acts that threaten stability.

"The international community should advocate the vision of comprehensive security and cooperative security, so as to turn the global village into a big stage for common development rather than an arena where gladiators fight each other. And no one should be allowed to throw the region, or even the whole world, into chaos for selfish gains," Xi said Sunday at the Boao Forum for Asia, a China-sponsored talk shop for the global elite.

Ambiguity aside, Xi's speech stands in contrast to more strident remarks he has made in recent months and marks an effort to strike an active, cooperative posture to calm regional tensions. This year's Boao meeting ? an annual event billed as Asia's version of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland ? is being watched for signs of whether Xi, installed in power five months ago, is ready to stake out new directions in a foreign policy that has been bullying toward some neighbors and passive on many international security issues.

The new Xi government is being especially challenged over North Korea. Pyongyang's ratcheting up of tensions in recent months ? from tests of a long-range missile and a nuclear device to threats of nuclear strikes ? have concerned South Korea and the United States, important economic partners for China which have looked to Beijing to rein in its longtime, if estranged communist ally.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard of Australia, whose economy has been booming due to Chinese demand, appealed to Beijing to use its leverage to get Pyongyang to climb down.

"All countries in the region share a deep interest in strategic stability. But the consequences of conflict are even more severe for us all. This is nowhere more clear than on the Korean Peninsula. There, any aggression is a threat to the interest of every country in the region. For this reason, I do welcome the growing cooperation of all regional governments to prevent conflict on the Korean Peninsula and to counter North Korean aggression," Gillard told the forum.

Outside of North Korea, expectations of any change in Chinese policy have been focused on Japan. Months of friction over East China Sea islands led to frosty political ties, tense cat-and-mouse games between their maritime forces and flagging trade between the world's second and third largest economies.

Xi didn't address any dispute by name but he promised a constructive approach to regional tensions.

"China will continue to properly handle differences and frictions with the relevant countries," Xi said in his speech. "On international and regional hotspot issues, China will continue to play a constructive role, adhere to peace and facilitating talks and make unremitting efforts to properly handle relevant issues through dialogue and negotiations."

Still, Xi did not present any compromise. He insisted that China would safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity, language that makes it harder for Beijing to back away from territorial claims.

Xi also reminded countries that China represents a good business opportunity for neighbors and the world, saying over the next five years China's imports will reach $10 trillion while its companies plan to invest $500 billion overseas. "The more China develops, the more opportunities for development it brings the world and Asia," Xi said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-07-China-Tensions/id-eebc8f4f13bd40e18b00a0f4904110db

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Taylor Swift and cancer survivor Kevin McGuire finally

Image Credit: Mike Windle/Getty Images

One year after she pledged to bring teenage leukemia survivor Kevin McGuire to the ACM Awards, Taylor Swift has finally had a chance to make good on her promise. (Kevin couldn?t attend the 2012 ceremony due to a chemo-induced fever, though Swift did give him a heartfelt shout-out in her Entertainer of the Year acceptance speech.) McGuire and his family attended the show in Las Vegas yesterday, after enjoying a private pre-telecast meeting with Swift. No word on whether the singer and her ?date? planned their complementary outfits, though.

McGuire first got Swift?s attention last winter, when his older sister Tori launched a Facebook campaign asking Taylor to take her brother to prom. The page went viral almost instantly, prompting a response from Swift herself after just a few days. Kevin, naturally, was thrilled. ?She?s classy, sweet, and kind,? he told Philadelphia?s CBS affiliate ? what?s more, his sister says that her upbeat music helped him fight his cancer.

And now that Kevin?s finally had his long-awaited date, he can use it as a launchpad to move forward with his life: ?Going through what we?ve been through? it?s symbolic, in a way. It started my chapter with my cancer. Now it?s behind me; I can close the book on it,? he told CBS.

So to recap: Taylor Swift brings joy to an entire family, essentially cures cancer. Your move, Kate Upton!

Read more:
ACM Awards: Best and worst of the broadcast
ACM Awards: What They Wore
Miranda Lambert: Carrie Underwood deserved to win at the ACM Awards

Source: http://music-mix.ew.com/2013/04/08/taylor-swift-leukemia-survivor-kevin-mcguire-acm-date/

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Google Play Android redesign and Babel chat branding surface on Google+

Google I/O may still be a solid month away, but folks on Mountain View's social network are already stumbling across leaks and notifications hinting at what might be in store. Google Play's 4.0 redesign, for instance, briefly appeared on a YouTube employee's profile before being deleted, matching the holo-themed leak we saw last month. The update shows a landing page we didn't see in the previous walkthrough, and includes a message introducing the redesign that promises to make it "easier to browse and discover new favorites." Google's rumored Babel chat rebranding is making the rounds too, apparently surfacing in Gmail when certain messages are moved to trash. Neither are surefire announcements for I/O, but the timing is about right. Skip on past the break for a screen grab of the Babel notification.

Filed under: Mobile, Google

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Source: Droid Life, Google+

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/gFMaKd-ot-8/

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