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SACRAMENTO, Calif. ? Investigators on Sunday were trying to determine what motivated the driver of a sport utility vehicle to ignore a downed crossing arm and flashing lights and pull the vehicle into the path of an oncoming commuter train in Sacramento.
Three died after the Saturday afternoon collision south of downtown, including Damian Williams, a 21-month-old boy, county coroner's officials said.
One of the four people inside the Nissan Pathfinder remained in the hospital Sunday at the University of California, Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where she was being treated for serious injuries.
Authorities also were trying to sort out the relationships of those involved and had not released the identities of the adults.
In addition to the toddler, the dead included a 25-year-old woman and a 62-year-old man, who was ejected from the Pathfinder when it was struck by the southbound light rail train traveling at 55 mph shortly after 4 p.m. The impact pushed the SUV about 30 yards down the track and flipped it.
Officer Laura Peck, a spokeswoman for the Sacramento Police Department, said the woman taken to the hospital was the man's wife.
Investigators and officials with the Sacramento Regional Transit District said video from cameras mounted on the intersection showed the SUV drive around the crossing arms just before impact. That video and other pictures captured by a camera mounted on the train are part of the investigation and were not being released publicly, Peck said.
Witness accounts appear to support the video evidence that the crossing arms were down and warning lights were flashing when the SUV tried to get across the tracks.
Davis resident Ravin Pratab, 42, was in a car that was waiting to cross the tracks when he said he heard a loud bang and then "saw a light-rail train heading south with a big truck smashed on it."
Authorities said six of the roughly 50 passengers on the light rail train were taken to local hospitals but had only minor injuries.
On Sunday, the tracks were cleared and the intersection was open, with no sign of the previous day's collision. A white teddy bear was placed at the base of the pole holding the crossing arm, on the same side of the tracks where the SUV had been before it attempted to cross.
Regional transit officials said trains were operating on their regular schedule after a section of track was repaired Saturday night.
One question investigators are trying to answer is the length of time the crossing arms were down. The light rail train passed through the intersection after two Union Pacific freight trains, going in opposite directions and using different tracks, had passed by.
Neither Peck nor a spokeswoman for the transit district said they knew the length of the interval between the time the freight trains cleared the intersection and the commuter line came through. The light rail system has its own dedicated tracks.
Drivers in Sacramento often can wait up to 10 minutes for a freight train to pass, then might have to wait several minutes more because of an approaching light rail train. The extended wait times can be a source of irritation ? and missed appointments ? in California's capital.
Alane Masui, a spokeswoman for the Sacramento Regional Transit District, said Sunday that determining the length of time the crossing arms were down and the interval between the trains was part of the ongoing investigation.
Sacramento's light rail system, started in 1987, carries an average of 50,000 passengers a day. On weekdays, it's packed with those commuting between the suburbs and state government jobs downtown.
Masui could not immediately say whether Saturday's collision was the deadliest in the system's history or how many collisions between light rail trains and vehicles had occurred in the past.
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TOKYO?? Japan's rapid aging means the national population of 128 million will shrink by one-third by 2060 and seniors will account for 40 percent of people, placing a greater burden on the shrinking work force population to support the social security and tax systems.
The population estimate released Monday by the Health and Welfare Ministry paints a grim future.
In 2060, Japan will have 87 million people. The number of people 65 or older will nearly double to 40 percent, while the national work force of people between ages 15 and 65 will shrink to about half of the total population, according to the estimate, made by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.
The total fertility rate, or the expected number of children born per woman during lifetime, in 2060 is estimated at 1.35, down from 1.39 in 2010 ? well below more than 2 needed to keep the country's population from declining. But the average Japanese will continue to live longer. The average life expectancy for 2060 is projected at 90.93 for women, up from 86.39 in 2010, and 84.19 years for men, up from 79.64 years.
"The trend of the aging society will continue and it is hard to expect the birth rate to rise significantly," Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told a news conference. "Thus, comprehensive tax and social security reform is needed."
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has pledged to push for social security and tax reforms this year. A bill he promised to submit by the end of March would raise the 5 percent sales tax in two stages to 8 percent in 2014 and 10 percent by 2015, although opposition lawmakers and the public pose challenges to its approval.
Experts say that Japan's population will keep losing 1 million every year in coming decades and the country urgently needs to overhaul its social security and tax system to reflect the demographic shift.
"Pension programs, employment and labor policy and social security system in this country is not designed to reflect such rapidly progressing population decline or aging," Noriko Tsuya, a demography expert at Keio University, said on public broadcaster NHK. "The government needs to urgently revise the system and implement new measures based on the estimate."
The population projection is compiled roughly every five years based on data including a census and demographic statistics and serves as reference materials for government's social security policy.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46187200/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/
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TEHRAN, Iran ? U.N. nuclear inspectors began a critical mission to Iran on Sunday to probe allegations of a secret atomic weapons program amid escalating Western economic pressure and warnings about safeguarding Gulf oil shipments from possible Iranian blockades.
The findings from the three-day visit could greatly influence the direction and urgency of U.S.-led efforts to rein in Iran's ability to enrich uranium ? which Washington and allies fear could eventually produce weapons-grade material. Iran has declined to abandon its enrichment labs, but claims it only seeks to fuel reactors for energy and medical research.
The International Atomic Energy Agency team is likely to visit an underground enrichment site near the holy city of Qom, 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of Tehran, which is carved into a mountain as protection from possible airstrikes. Earlier this month, Iran said it had begun enrichment work at the site, which is far smaller than the country's main uranium labs but is reported to have more advanced equipment.
The U.N. nuclear agency delegation includes two senior weapons experts ? Jacques Baute of France and Neville Whiting of South Africa ? suggesting that Iran may be prepared to address some issues related to the allegations that it seeks nuclear warheads.
In unusually blunt comments ahead of his arrival, the IAEA's Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts ? who is in charge of the agency's Iran file ? said he wants Tehran to "engage us on all concerns."
Iran has refused to discuss the alleged weapons experiments for three years, saying they are based on "fabricated documents" provided by a "few arrogant countries" ? a phrase authorities in Iran often use to refer to the United States and its allies.
"So we're looking forward to the start of a dialogue," Nackaerts told reporters at Vienna airport. "A dialogue that is overdue since very long."
In a sign of the tensions that surround Iran's disputed nuclear program, a dozen Iranian hard-liners carrying photos of slain nuclear expert Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan were waiting at Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport early Sunday.
Iranian state media allege that Roshan, a chemistry expert and director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran, was interviewed by IAEA inspectors before being killed earlier this month in a targeted bomb attack that Iran claims is part of an Israeli-led covert campaign of sabotage and slayings. Roshan was at least the fourth member of Iran's scientific community to be killed in apparent assassinations.
In Vienna, the IAEA said it does not know Roshan and has never talked to him.
But the IAEA team will be looking for permission to talk to key Iranian scientists suspected of working on a weapons program. They also plan to inspect documents related to nuclear work and secure commitments from Iranian authorities to allow future visits. It's unclear how much assistance Iran will provide, but even a decision to enter a discussion over the allegations would be a major departure from Iran's frequent simple refusal to talk about them.
Iran also has accused the IAEA in the past of security leaks that expose its scientists and their families to the threat of assassination by the U.S. and Israel.
The visit was to coincide with a vote in Iran's parliament on a bill that would require the government to immediately cut the flow of crude oil to Europe in retaliation for sanctions. Lawmakers postponed the vote Sunday to further study the bill, and no date for a vote has been set.
The draft bill is Iran's response to an EU decision last week to impose an embargo on Iranian oil. The measure is set to take full effect in July.
The head of Iran's state oil company said Sunday that pressures on Iran's oil exports ? the second biggest in OPEC ? could drive prices as high as $150 a barrel.
"It seems we will witness prices from $120 to $150 in the future," Ahmad Qalehbani was quoted by the official Islamic Republic News Agency. He did not give a timeframe for the prediction, nor any other details.
The price of benchmark U.S. crude on Friday was around $99.56 per barrel. About 80 percent of Iran's foreign revenue comes from exporting around 2.2 million barrels of oil per day.
Oil prices have been driven higher in recent weeks by Iran's warnings that it could block the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf, the route for about one-fifth of the world's oil. Last week, the American aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, joined by French and British warships, entered the Gulf in a show of strength against any attempts to disrupt oil tanker traffic.
___
Associated Press writer George Jahn in Vienna contributed to this report.
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BERLIN ? Germany is proposing that debt-ridden Greece temporarily cede sovereignty over tax and spending decisions to a powerful eurozone budget commissioner before it can secure further bailouts, an official in Berlin said Saturday.
The idea was quickly rejected by the European Union's executive body and the government in Athens, with the EU Commission in Brussels insisting that "executive tasks must remain the full responsibility of the Greek government, which is accountable before its citizens and its institutions."
But the German official said the initiative is being discussed among the 17-nation currency bloc's finance ministers because Greece has repeatedly failed to fulfill its commitments under its current euro110 billion ($145 billion) lifeline.
The proposal foresees a commissioner holding a veto right against any budgetary measures and having broad surveillance ability to ensure that Greece will take proper steps to repay its debt as scheduled, the official said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are confidential.
Greece's international creditors ? the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank ? already have unprecedented powers over Greek spending after negotiating with Athens stringent austerity measures and economic reforms in return for the first bailout.
The so-called troika of creditors is currently negotiating another euro130 billion rescue package for the heavily indebted country. German news magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday cited an unnamed troika official as saying Greece might actually need a euro145 billion package because of its prolonged recession.
The German proposal, first reported by the Financial Times, is likely to spark controversy in Greece.
Despite the quick rejection from the EU Commission, Germany's demand underlines the frustration of the eurozone with Greece's slack implementation of the promised reforms, spending cuts and privatizations. During every verification mission last year, the troika found huge implementation shortfalls, which in turn increased gaps in Athens' budget and intensified the need for a second bailout.
A powerful budget commissioner would further diminish the political leeway of Greece's government, just as politicians there are gearing up for an election set to take place this spring.
A government official in Athens said a similar proposal had been floated last year but got nowhere. Greece would not accept such a measure, he added. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because no formal proposal has been made by the EU or Germany yet.
The unprecedented and sweeping powers for creditors would indeed deal a huge blow to Greece's sovereignty, but they could help mobilize more support for the government in Athens from its European partners.
Several German lawmakers have repeatedly said that giving more money to Greece is unthinkable without stricter enforcement and control of the conditions attached to the rescue packages.
Greece is currently locked in a twin effort, seeking to secure a crucial debt relief deal with private investors while also tackling the pressing demands from its European partners and the IMF for more austerity measures and deeper reforms.
Failure on either front would force the country to default on its debt in less than two months, pouring new fuel on the fires of Europe's debt crisis.
In that case, Greece would likely leave the eurozone, which would bring disaster to the country, destabilize the currency bloc, fuel panic on financial markets and ultimately threaten the fragile world economy.
Despite two weeks of intensive talks, a debt relief agreement with private investors worth some euro100 billion has yet to be reached.
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos met anew with representatives of international banks and other private institutions Saturday, but the talks ended without a final deal and were expected to resume Sunday, officials in Athens said.
With the current troika mission still ongoing and no final deal with the private sector creditors, Greece is unlikely to feature prominently at a summit of the EU's 27 leaders Monday, according to officials in Brussels.
___
Demetris Nellas in Athens and Gabriele Steinhauser in Brussels contributed to this report.
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LONDON ? Chris Isaak is returning to the roots of rock 'n' roll and doing it old-school: All in one take.
The U.S. soul singer headed back to the original Sun Studios in Memphis to record a collection that includes cover versions of hits by Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. The album, "Beyond the Sun," was released this week and Isaak will soon embark on a string of U.S. concert dates.
The 56-year-old, well known for his mesmerizing vocals on the now-classic 1989 hit "Wicked Game," says the decision to make the new album was easy.
"I just went 'I'll sing a bunch of those songs I like singing. I got a band, I'll just call them up and tell them to come over,'" he told the Associated Press in an interview in London.
To make it truly authentic, Isaak and his band recorded with no headphones, no separate takes, just everyone listening to each other and going with the flow.
"It scared the hell out of the band because they go, you know, 'If I screw up the guitar solo then everybody is going to look at me,'" Isaak said.
Sun Studios, the record label owned by Sam Phillips, launched the careers of some of the greatest U.S. singer/songwriters ? including Elvis, Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison.
Influenced by those big names while growing up as a child in California, Isaak delivers his interpretations of "Ring of Fire," "Great Balls of Fire," "Can't Help Falling In Love," "Oh, Pretty Woman," while also penning his own original songs.
The first single to be released is one of Isaak's own, "Live It Up."
Fortunately for the band, the old-school approach to recording meant they ended up producing more songs than they had bargained for. Even Isaak's manager was surprised at the speed of production.
"She goes '38 songs? You finished 38 songs?' I said 'Yeah.' She said 'Well, you have to mix all those, that's going to cost a fortune.' I said 'No, they're all done. We just did it all at one time in a room.'"
The singer says he's never missed a show and neither has his drummer Kenney Dale Johnson or his bass player Rowland Salley in the 27 years they've been playing together.
"I'm very proud of them," he said.
Before forging a career in music, Isaak tried his hand at many different occupations: roofing, truck-driving, being a bouncer and even a boxer. He claims he was "lousy" at all of them, it was only with music that he finally found a job he can do well.
"Singing is something that I'm always happy to do it and going in the studio I never felt any pressure. I just feel like I get to sing, you know. It's fun," he said.
While many musicians decry the strain of touring, Isaak says he's lucky to be able to travel the world doing what he loves.
"I come from a small town and I come from a background where we didn't have money to travel," he said. "I thought I'd have to join the military to get to Europe. So I'm thrilled to travel."
U.S. fans will get a chance to see Isaak in action starting in Austin, Texas, on Feb. 13 and ending in Napa, California, on April 27.
But, despite the stereotypes about rockers, don't expect him to be raising hell on tour.
"I liked the rock n' roll, I never wanted the drugs and I never saw the sex because ...nobody ever suggested anything wild to me!" he said. "I think I look too much like a cop."
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NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Sitting in a dimly lit New York City bar wearing a trilby hat and a dark suit, no tie, singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen pauses before responding to a question about how his ideas have changed over his lengthy career.
He smiles and recalls something his close friend, the late Canadian poet Irving Layton, once said.
"'Leonard's mind has not been contaminated by a single idea,'" the 77-year-old Cohen quipped dryly, eliciting laughter from an audience gathered for a preview of his first studio album of new material in eight years, 'Old Ideas.'
The album, which sees its release on January 31, touches on themes the Montreal-born poet has spent a lifetime exploring -- love, sex, faith, mortality and others. But there is a lightness to the work, and Cohen refuses to take himself too seriously.
'I love to speak with Leonard/He's a sportsman and a shepherd/He's a lazy bastard/Living in a suit,' he croons in his
gravelly baritone on the opening track, 'Going Home.'
The 10 new songs are minimalist in construction, recalling some of Cohen's earlier and most well-known works, like 'Suzanne,' 'Bird on a Wire,' and the often-covered 'Hallelujah.'
Long-time Cohen collaborators, Jennifer Warne, Sharon Robinson, and Anjali Thomas also lend their voices to the album, which is lightly peppered with guitar, keyboards, horns and strings.
Cohen said the album came together more quickly than many of his previous 11 studio recordings, but it is still a struggle to try to manifest one's self in song.
"You are trying to do one of the few things you barely know how to do," he told Reuters following the listening session. "You are dealing with an almost unbreakable silence, and you're grateful if anything comes through."
Cohen also has released several live and best-of albums, and published 10 books of poetry and two novels.
'OLD IDEAS'; NEW COHEN?
In New York, many of the critics at the preview -- there were dozens -- sat through around 40 minutes of music, listening with eyes closed, heads tilted back, and smiling slightly as though basking in the sunshine of his melodies. Others bobbed their heads gently. Some closely read the lyrics as he sang.
Cohen later entered the room to generous applause and then took questions, offering a glimpse into his reclusive life: His crush on Edie Sedgwick, the beautiful New York socialite, in the mid-1960s; his feelings of deep loss and discomfort after Hurricane Katrina; the honor of sharing a drink from the golden bowl of his 104-year-old Zen Buddhist teacher.
The poet and singer-songwriter, who divides his time between Montreal and Los Angeles, battled depression for much of his life, but in recent years has been in a better mental space.
He said his two-year world tour "warmed some part of my heart that had taken on a chill," and that he would like to go out on the road again in the near future.
The tour, which concluded in 2010, was Cohen's first in 15 years and was born of necessity after his former manager stole the bulk of his savings while Cohen was on a five-year Buddhist retreat in California, forcing the singer to go on the road to rebuild his bank account.
Now, Cohen said he is looking forward to getting back on stage and that it might be a good time to polish another half-dozen songs that he has been working on, but which were not ready for the release of 'Old Ideas.'
"The words are written," he told Reuters. "It's a matter of finding the voice, the right voice, so that it's true, and not just a slogan."
(Reporting By John McCrank, Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
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Organisers of a project to create a series of new woods to commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee hope to plant one million trees during February.
The Woodland Trust said next month marked the 60th anniversary of the Queen's accession to the throne.
Free tree-planting packs would be available for groups wanting to take part in the project, it added.
The centrepiece of the Trust's plans will be a Diamond Park - a 460-acre site containing 500,000 trees.
Continue reading the main story
End Quote Dame Judi DenchThe more trees I see, the happier I am?
Dame Judi Dench, the Oscar-winning actress, has lent her support to the Jubilee Woods project.
"Whenever a friend or relative dies, I make a point of planting a tree in my garden," she explained.
"As soon as I heard about the Jubilee Woods project, I felt I wanted to be a part of it," Dame Judi added.
"I support the Woodland Trust because I think too many forests are being destroyed and we should do all we can to conserve what we have and to plant more.
"The more trees I see, the happier I am."
Digging deep
Georgina McLeod, head of the Trust's Jubilee Woods project, said there were a number of ways that people could take part and become "one in a million".
Georgina McLeod talks about the Woodland Trust's plan to create the flagship Diamond Wood
"From helping to create 60 new Diamond Woods, planting new woodland with communities, donating funds to help plant trees, to planting trees in school grounds or a single tree in your garden or pot, it's easy to plant trees for the jubilee and help us reach a million trees in a month," she said.
She added that more details were available on a website that had created for people interested in participating.
As well as creating the flagship 460-acre (186ha) Diamond Wood, located in the National Forest in Leicestershire, the project also aims to create a further 59 diamond woods around the UK - each covering more than 60 acres (24ha).
The Trust is also providing thousands of free tree-planting pack in an effort to encourage people to help it achieve its goal of planting six million trees during the jubilee year.
Community groups can apply for packs contain 105 or 420 native species, with each pack containing a "royal oak" sapling, grown from acorns collected on Royal estates.
School packs contain 60 hedge/copse species as well as a royal oak sapling. The kits will be made available in time for planting during the autumn.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/science-environment-16741078
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FILE - In this Saturday, April 19, 2008 file photo, Kelly Clarkson performs during a youth rally for Pope Benedict XVI at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y. Clarkson wasn't expecting such a harsh response when she tweeted on Dec. 29, 2011, her endorsement in the Republican presidential race. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, Pool/file)
FILE - In this Saturday, April 19, 2008 file photo, Kelly Clarkson performs during a youth rally for Pope Benedict XVI at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y. Clarkson wasn't expecting such a harsh response when she tweeted on Dec. 29, 2011, her endorsement in the Republican presidential race. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, Pool/file)
FILE - In this July 17, 1948 file photo, South Carolina Gov. Strom Thurmond reacts to applause from Dixiecrat's State's Rights Convention delegates in Birmingham, Ala. after being nominated by the Dixiecrats for the presidency of the United States. At left is Walter Sillers, convention chairman, using a gavel to call for order. Since the late Sen. Strom Thurmond ran for president in 1948 as a States' Rights Democrat, or "Dixiecrat," the phrase has sometimes been labeled a "dog whistle" for racist elements in the electorate. (AP Photo/file)
FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 16, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential candidates, from left, Texas Gov. Rick Perry. former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, pose for a photo at the start of the South Carolina Republican presidential candidate debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, gestures during a Republican Presidential debate Monday Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich accompanied by his wife Callista speaks during an event at a Holiday Inn, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Cocoa, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ? Pop singer Kelly Clarkson wasn't expecting such a harsh response when she tweeted her endorsement in the Republican presidential race.
"I love Ron Paul," she wrote late last month. Later, in a radio interview, she elaborated, "He believes in states having their rights, and I think that that's very important."
Clarkson received hundreds of replies, some lambasting Paul and at least one suggesting that the "American Idol" winner choose her words more carefully.
In particular, two words: "states" and "rights" ? which for some stir memories, even when unintended, of an era of racial injustice.
As the Republican presidential campaign has turned south, into the region that seceded from the Union 150 years ago, old debates about state and federal authority echo anew in phrases used by candidates, their supporters and the news media.
Even before the Civil War, "states' rights" had become a byword for the protection of black slavery. And since the late Sen. Strom Thurmond ran for president in 1948 as a States' Rights Democrat, or "Dixiecrat," the phrase has sometimes been labeled a "dog whistle" for racist elements in the electorate.
None of that was on Clarkson's mind. After a barrage of responses to her Dec. 29 tweet, the 29-year-old Texan told fans, "My eyes have been opened to so much hate." And she emphasized, "I do not support racism."
Sociologist and author John Shelton Reed, a professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was not surprised that someone of Clarkson's youth would fail to recognize the "baggage that 'states' rights' carries."
Still, he says, hearing the term employed by people like Paul ? and also by Texas Gov. Rick Perry before he quit the race ? "it's clear that we've turned some kind of page."
Paul, Perry and others referred to the Constitution's 10th Amendment, which states, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
The shorthand "states' rights" came later.
"Any time I hear it, I get this sort of little twitch, because I associate it with Ross Barnett or George Wallace," says University of Georgia historian James Cobb, referring to the governors of Mississippi and Alabama who, five decades ago, defied efforts to integrate their states' flagship universities. "But members of the younger generation, it doesn't have that kind of connotation to them at all. And whether this is to some extent the fault of those of us who are supposed to be educating the younger generations about their past, I can't say."
As Republicans prepared for the primary season, writer David Azerrad drafted a list of "New Year's Resolutions for Conservatives." No. 1 was "Speak of Federalism, not 'States' Rights.'"
"Not only is it incorrect to speak of states' rights, but the expression has more baggage than Samsonite and Louis Vuitton combined," Azerrad, assistant director of The Heritage Foundation's B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics, wrote on the organization's "Foundry" blog. "In case you didn't know, 'states' rights' was the rallying cry of segregationists. Since no right-thinking conservative will keep company with such people, let's just drop the term states' rights once and for all."
In a speech before the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas last April, Perry warned that the idea behind the term was in danger: "Over the years and decades, Washington has extended its reach bit by bit, until the sound concepts behind the 10th Amendment were blurred and lost and the idea of states' rights has become increasingly disregarded."
In an October candidates' debate in Las Vegas, Paul, a 12-term congressman from Texas who ran for president as a Libertarian in 1988, used the term to describe his position on the proposed national nuclear waste disposal facility at Nevada's Yucca Mountain.
"I approach it from a states' rights position," he said. "What right does 49 states have to punish one state and say, 'We're going to put our garbage in your state?' I think that's wrong."
Others in the GOP field make a point of supporting the 10th Amendment while avoiding the sensitive language. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who won last week's South Carolina primary, is a case in point.
Back in 2005, when blogger John Hawkins asked him about a constitutional amendment to protect marriage, Gingrich replied, "Well, I think that the question is whether or not the Congress could pass a law which protected marriage or whether, because of states' rights, Congress does not have the ability to then enforce that without a constitutional amendment."
More recently, Gingrich appears to have dumped the loaded term. For example, in announcing the formation of Team 10, his Facebook page described it as an effort to work with Americans "to develop ideas for enforcing the 10th Amendment and returning power back home."
Asked at a recent candidate event whether he thought states had the right to nullify a law under the 10th Amendment if they believed it to be unconstitutional, former Sen. Rick Santorum answered carefully. "We had a war about nullification," he said, adding that states could instead litigate such an issue in federal court.
Paul, appearing last month on "The Tonight Show," parsed the concept, too. "Well, you know, we all use the word 'states' rights,'" he said. "But in a way, states don't have rights. Only individuals have rights. But the authority and the power goes to the states."
In a Jan. 4 column on STLtoday.com, former Missouri state Sen. Jeff Smith, a Democrat, called the "exaltation" of states' rights a "dog whistle to Republican voters conditioned by a generation of Republican politicians and operatives before them who exploited racial fears for personal and partisan advancement."
Candidates denied any such hidden agenda or secret coding.
Whatever reaction it evokes, Cobb, the Georgia historian, said the term has clearly lost much of its sting.
"It's just become part of the lexicon, without any particular meaning," he says. "It's been historically decontextualized to the point that it can be thrown around by a lot of people without a second thought."
Reed, the UNC professor, said that's not necessarily a bad thing.
"I do believe states' rights was a sound doctrine that got hijacked by some unsavory customers for a while ? like, 150 years or so," he said. "I'm professionally obliged to believe that knowledge is better than ignorance, but some kinds of forgetting are OK with me."
___
EDITOR'S NOTE ? Allen G. Breed is a national writer, based in Raleigh, N.C. He can be reached at features(at)ap.org.
Follow him on Twitter: http://twitter.com/(hash)!/AllenGBreed
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Recovery efforts at the site of the cruise ship disaster off the coast of Italy has entered a new phase Tuesday, with crews ready to remove oil from the wreckage. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports.
By NBC News and msnbc.com news services
Updated at 11:15 a.m. ET: GIGLIO, Italy -- The official overseeing the search effort of the capsized Costa Concordia has acknowledged it would take a miracle to find any survivors from the Jan. 13 cruise ship grounding.
Franco Gabrielli, head of the national civil protection agency, told reporters Wednesday that recovery operations would nevertheless continue until the ship, which is half-submerged off the Tuscan island of Giglio, was searched as much as possible.
Operations continued Wednesday as crews set off more explosions on the submerged third floor deck to allow easier access for divers. On Tuesday, the body of a woman was found on the deck.
Rescuers have found 16 bodies. At least six of the bodies remain unidentified, and are presumed to be among some of the 17 passengers and crew still unaccounted for.
The Concordia ran aground and capsized off the island of Giglio on Jan. 13 after the captain veered from his planned course and gashed the ship's hull on a reef, forcing the panicked evacuation of 4,200 passengers and crew.
Citing Italian civil protection officials, NBC News reports that a woman was identified Wednesday, but no name has been released yet. Officials also said that bodies may have floated away in recent days and that it may take more time to find victims of the accident.? Divers are now limited to searching for 20 minutes at a time as a result of poor conditions.
On Tuesday, the U.S. ambassador to Italy David Thorne was at Giglio's port with relatives of two missing Americans, Gerald and Barbara Heil of Minnesota. The Heil's children posted on their blog Monday that they are still waiting for word about their parents. The Heils are the only Americans missing in the wreck.
The search and rescue operation will continue in tandem with the fuel removal operation.
Workers kept up preparations to remove a half-million gallons of fuel from the ship before it leaks into the Tuscan sea. Pumping is expected to begin Saturday, and according to officials, tests will begin Wednesday.
Spokesman Martin Schuttevaer said "based on what we have seen the position of the tanks are in line with what we expected."
Officials have identified an initial six tanks that will be tapped, located in a relatively easy-to-reach area of the ship. Gabrielli told reporters Tuesday that once the tanks are emptied, 50 percent of the fuel aboard the ship will have been extracted.
The pumping will continue 24 hours a day barring rough seas or technical glitches in this initial phase, he said.
Survivors of the Costa Concordia are realizing the limits of their legal claims, as they signed away their rights when they bought their tickets. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports on what travelers should know.
The wife of the captain accused of grounding the Costa Concordia cruise ship said in an interview published Tuesday she was outraged over the way her husband had been portrayed by the media.
Captain Francesco Schettino, who is charged with multiple manslaughter and with abandoning ship before the evacuation of passengers and crew was complete, has told prosecutors he had been instructed to perform the maneuver by operator Costa Cruises.
"My husband is at the center of an unprecedented media storm," his wife, Fabiola Rossi, told French magazine Paris Match. "I cannot think of any other naval or air tragedy in which the responsible party was treated with such violence ... This is a man hunt, people are looking for a scapegoat, a monster."
Schettino has been branded a coward in Italian newspapers, after a recording of his conversation with a coast guard agent during the disaster was leaked to the press and widely circulated on the Web.
Asked if she was angry about his treatment, she said "wouldn't you be?"
He is "someone determined, firm and lucid. He is able to analyze situations, to understand and manage them. At home he is organized and meticulous, and otherwise he is a friendly and funny person who earns people's esteem," Rossi added in a version of the interview published on Paris Match's website.
In the recording with the coast guard, Schettino sounds bewildered and out of control as he is ordered back onto the ship and threatened with arrest.
Schettino's lawyer, who says his client admits partial responsibility for the disaster, is seeking to widen the investigation to include third parties with whom he was in contact, notably from ship owners, Costa Cruises.
The company, a unit the world's largest cruise ship operator Carnival Corp, has suspended Schettino and declared itself an injured party in the case. It has said "unfortunate human error" by Schettino caused the disaster.
Giglio and its waters are part of a protected seven-island marine park, favored by VIPs and known for its clear waters and porpoises, dolphins and whales.
The disaster prompted the U.N. cultural organization to ask the Italian government to restrict access of large cruise ships to Venice, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. UNESCO charged that the liners cause water tides that erode building foundations, pollute the waterways and are an eyesore.
DigitalGlobe
The Costa Concordia, carrying more than 4,200 passengers, ran aground Jan. 13 off the coast of Italy. At least 15 people died in the accident, and rescuers continue to search for others missing.
Related stories:
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
?
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If this week's raging solar storm was any indication, the sun is ramping up its activity ? and scientists will be ready for it. By meticulously studying our planet's star, they are able to predict these potentially dangerous space weather events better than ever before.
A huge solar flare erupted Jan. 23, triggering the strongest radiation storm in nearly a decade. A wave of charged particles, called a coronal mass ejection (CME), bombarded Earth yesterday (Jan. 24). The bombardment is over now, but some minor disruptions to spacecraft and power grids were reported.
Scientists' forecast for the arrival of the disruptive wave was off by only 13 minutes, far more accurate than in the past. And with much of the world's networks interconnected and populations increasingly reliant on technology, the ability to predict and track potentially harmful space weather events will become ever more crucial. [Photos: Huge Solar Flare Sparks Major Radiation Storm]
Solar flares and CMEs are expected to increase in frequency as the sun emerges from the dormant phase of its 11-year activity cycle. ?
When a CME hits Earth, the resulting geomagnetic storm interacts with the planet's magnetic field lines. This not only amps up Earth's auroras (the northern and southern lights), but, in the case of a strong CME aimed directly at Earth, can disrupt the operations of satellites in orbit and power grids and other communications infrastructures on the ground.
"There was a major event back in 1989 that led to a major power failure in Quebec that had broad implications for the province," Harlan Spence, an astrophysicist at the University of New Hampshire, told SPACE.com. "Because the world has highly connected power grids, the effects of that particular geomagnetic storm were also felt through many parts of the continental U.S."
Yesterday's CME hit Earth at an angle, so the electromagnetic burst was largely shielded by the planet's magnetic field. Still, some commercial airlines implemented safety precautions by rerouting flights over the Earth's polar regions.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center also recorded some minor disruptions in space and on the ground.
"This is typical with space weather, but what I have heard is some science instruments and spacecraft saw increases in single-event upsets," Doug Biesecker, a physicist at NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, told SPACE.com. "Some instruments were returning bad data, but this is the sort of thing they can handle. Some power grids did hear reports on fluctuations, but I don't have specifics on which grids and where they were."
Biesecker noted that these types of interferences are not unusual during intense solar storms, and the rate of reported disruptions has been relatively low. Furthermore, new observations show that things appear to be returning to normal.
"After the arrival of a CME yesterday and the subsequent activity which ensued, conditions are now beginning to trend back towards a return to quiet," NOAA officials wrote in an update on the Space Weather Prediction website.
Scientists rely on several spacecraft, including the Solar Dynamics Observatory, the Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and the Stereo spacecraft, to constantly monitor the sun's activity. Scientists use data from these satellites to make models and predictions of solar flares and CMEs.
"By incorporating the information from multiple points of view, we can determine to a very good degree the CME properties, such as its speed and direction," said Yihua Zheng, a lead researcher for the Space Weather Center at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "We put all that into the model and we get a prediction."
Once scientists understand the strength and path of a CME, forecasts can be made about how the ejection might affect things in space and on the ground. As these predictions become more refined, they can act as an early warning system for space weather, much like how meteorologists track storms and weather patterns.
"A CME is kind of like a space hurricane," Zheng told SPACE.com. "You have to predict how it will form and evolve. From the models, we can see which spacecraft will be in its path and what will be impacted."
For yesterday's CME, Zheng and her colleagues at the Space Weather Center succeeded in making the most accurate predictions to date on when it would arrive at Earth.
"We predicted it would arrive at 9:18 a.m., and in reality it arrived at 9:31 a.m., so ours has a 13-minute error," Zheng said. "Usually for this kind of model, the average error is seven hours, so this is the best case."
These types of advances indicate how far the field of space weather prediction has come, she added.
The sun's activity ebbs and flows in its 11-year cycle. Currently the sun is coming out of a dormant phase of Solar Cycle 24, and the star is expected to become more active, with more solar flares and CMEs, as it heads into the so-called solar maximum in 2013.
"If you look back to the last time that the sun was entering into this state, our physical understanding was much less mature," Spence said. "In the intervening decade we have developed improved knowledge, improved techniques, faster computers, faster algorithms, and better real-time capability to get data to the scientists and customers who worry about space weather. Certainly 20 years ago, you'd be sitting more or less blind, waiting for data to come down and be processed."
You can follow SPACE.com staff writer Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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"Bridesmaids" ? in or out? Brad Pitt ? in or out? Rooney Mara ? in or out? George Clooney ? in and out?
The Academy Award nominations are set to be announced Tuesday morning, and undaunted by our so-so performance at the Golden Globes (we called eight of the 14 movie winners), we're right back with a new set of stone-cold locks, otherwise known as guesses.
Let the nomination speculation begin:
The nominees will (probably) be ...
The show has given viewers little glimpses of Pandora's wedding through the season, but we have an exclusive clip of the f...
Best Picture: "The Artist," "Bridesmaids," "The Descendants," "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," "The Help," "Hugo," "Midnight in Paris," "Moneyball"
Story: Backstage surprises from the Golden GlobesSorry, but thanks for playing: Clooney's "The Ides of March," Steven Spielberg's "War Horse" ? and 2011's other 200-plus eligible films. FYI: As a reminder, the field will consist of anywhere from five to 10 nominees. The thinking here, based on how the guild nominations went, is that the magic number will be eight.
Story: Did 'Bridesmaids' get a boost in race for Oscar?Best Actress: Viola Davis, "The Help," Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady," Tilda Swinton, "We Need to Talk About Kevin," Charlize Theron, "Young Adult," Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn."
Story: Silent 'Artist' shouts loudest at Critics Choice AwardsSorry, but thanks for playing: "Albert Nobbs'" Glenn Close, "Dragon Tattoo's" Rooney Mara and "The Artist's" B?r?nice Bejo, who, despite her lead-actress nod at the so-called British Oscars, we're going to say doesn't rate ? in this category. FYI: Theron gets the edge over the on-the-bubble competition because Diablo Cody, like Woody Allen, writes nominations as much as she writes characters.
Story: Five biggest jaw-droppers of the GlobesBest Actor: George Clooney, "The Descendants," Jean Dujardin, "The Artist," Michael Fassbender, "Shame," Gary Oldman, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," Brad Pitt, "Moneyball."
Sorry, but thanks for playing: "J. Edgar's" Leonardo DiCaprio and "A Better Life's" Demian Bichir. FYI: It only looks like we cribbed from the BAFTA nominations. Truth is, we're skittish about departing from the SAG script, but especially can't see DiCaprio getting in for a film with zero momentum.
Best Supporting Actress: B?r?nice Bejo, "The Artist," Jessica Chastain, "The Help," Marion Cotillard, "Midnight in Paris" Octavia Spencer, "The Help," Shailene Woodley, "The Descendants."
Story: It was a big night for big names at Golden GlobesSorry, but thanks for playing: "Albert Nobbs'" Janet McTeer and Mia Wasikowska, and, yikes, "Bridesmaids'" Melissa McCarthy. FYI: One, very funny movies (and the very funny people in them) get little Oscar respect. Two, actors in Allen films, comedies though they are, get a lot of respect. Add 'em up, and McCarthy is out, and Cotillard, as her beloved movie's most Academy-friendly option, is in.
Slideshow: Golden Globes red carpet (on this page)P.S.: Streep's shout-out to Wasikowska during "The Iron Lady" star's Golden Globes speech might have swung some votes the younger actress' way had Oscar voting not closed the Friday before. (And, yes, we know, Streep name-checked Wasikowska's other noteworthy 2011 movie, "Jane Eyre," but same difference ? the pub came too late, unless, that is, Streep was lobbying for the Aussie behind-the-scenes.
And, by the by, if Streep was talking up Wasikowska to her Academy friends, then we take back everything we said about Theron in the Best Actress race, and we hereby give that slot to Wasikowska. How's that for conviction?
SNUB ALERT: Angelina Jolie, no; Christian Bale, yes
Best Supporting Actor: Kenneth Branagh, "My Week With Marilyn," Albert Brooks, "Drive," Jonah Hill, "Moneyball," Ben Kingsley, "Hugo," Christopher Plummer, "Beginners."
Sorry, but thanks for playing: "J. Edgar's" Armie Hammer, "The Ides of March's" Philip Seymour Hoffman and "Warrior's" Nick Nolte. FYI: What we said about DiCaprio? The same goes, unfortunately, for Hammer.
? 2012 E! Entertainment Television, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46099855/ns/today-entertainment/
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BRUSSELS (Reuters) ? EU finance ministers and officials met on Tuesday to discuss a new treaty which aims to tighten fiscal discipline in the euro zone.
Following are comments after the end of the meeting:
GERMAN FINANCE MINISTER WOLFGANG SCHAEUBLE ON GREECE:
"Greece must implement the agreed measures and reforms. And of course all Greek parties must agree to the measures and a new program, independently of the upcoming election.
"The contribution of private creditors is about reaching debt sustainability defined as 120 percent of GDP by 2020 as the heads of state and governments decided last year. In the current negotiations with private creditors we are still some way from that.
"Of course it is clear the IMF has to be part of a second package for Greece and so the talks will be continued in the next days on that basis.
"The (EU-IMF) troika sometimes has the impression that not everything agreed in the first program has been implemented. We told Greece clearly that what has not been implemented yet must be implemented. It strengthens the confidence that what is agreed is implemented.
"Without the commitment of all (parties) and without assurance that independently of the outcome of elections the commitment is valid, it would be irresponsible for me as finance minister to sign."
ON TALKS ON PRIVATE SECTOR INVOLVEMENT IN GREECE:
"As long as we do not have debt sustainability, we do not have a new program.
"That (people saying this is my last offer) happens in every bazaar. You do not need to be impressed by that. At least I do not. I am a good negotiator but that does not intimidate me."
ON EFSF AFTER S&P DOWNGRADE:
"(EFSF CEO) Klaus Regling said that the EFSF was fully able to act and anyway, the low reaction on capital markets show that we reacted properly with certain calmness. The most important was that we decided to get the ESM into place as quickly as possible."
ON ESM PERMANENT BAILOUT FUND:
"It will be a lot more trustworthy because of course nothing convinces investors as much as when the euro zone member states have paid capital into a stabilization mechanism.
"We have the option in the treaty to pay in tranches more quickly but the head of the Eurogroup said it is clear all countries would have to agree to it. That may be a topic at the meeting of heads of state and government. In any case, we are ready to do it and we would welcome it if payments would be made more quickly.
"The upper limit has been set at 500 billion euros, that is no surprise. You know the heads of state and government will check that again in March but the EFSF is fully capable of acting and so is the ESM."
Two tranches of the five that were initially planned would be useful this year.
ON "FISCAL COMPACT" TREATY:
"We are very confident that we will decide the fiscal compact much quicker than the summit in December had planned, when it set March as a timeline.
"There must be a tight link between the fiscal compact and the ESM treaty as that is exactly where solidity and solidarity come together, two sides of the same coin... That is sorted. In terms of national debt brakes, it is about a very concrete design, anchoring them in the national legal systems and a control of that by the European Court of Justice, also with the possibility of imposing fines.
"The agreement should be transposed into EU law as quickly as possible. I use every opportunity to convince my British colleague."
ON THE OUTLOOK:
"We are not over the hill but we have reason to feel confirmed in the path we have taken. Reason to be confident we are...solving the problems step by step, just like the chancellor keeps saying.
"The more the rest of the world... sees that we are implementing what is agreed and not just announcing things, the more we win back trust."
Following are comments from earlier in Tuesday, before the talks began:
GERMAN FINANCE MINISTER WOLFGANG SCHAEUBLE ON MONDAY'S MEETING OF EURO ZONE FINANCE MINISTERS:
"We made good progress but it's decisive we finished negotiations on the ESM yesterday."
ON PROGRESS TO SOLVE THE EURO ZONE CRISIS:
"We're not over the hill but the auctions in the first weeks of the year of Italian, Spanish and other countries' debt show that we have reason to be confident that we're not just on the right path but that we'll be continuing on this path successfully this year."
ON THE FISCAL COMPACT:
"The goal remains that one day in the not too far future we can put it into treaty law."
GREEK FINANCE MINISTER EVANGELOS VENIZELOS ON PRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPATION IN A GREEK BAILOUT:
"We have the green light from the Eurogroup to close the deal with the private sector in the next few days."
DUTCH FINANCE MINISTER JAN KEES DE JAGER ON GREECE'S FINANCIAL TROUBLES AND THE BAILOUT PLAN:
"We have to wait. Obviously Greece and the banks have to do more in order to reach a sustainable debt level. A sustainable debt level is a precondition for the next program."
AUSTRIAN FINANCE MINISTER MARIA FEKTER ON THE GREEK POLITICAL PROCESS:
"We will only be able to finalize (the bailout plan) positively when the governing party and the other parties agree."
ON GREECE'S FISCAL PROGRESS:
"They have agreed on measures but expenditure has not really decreased. We are not satisfied ... The political level in Greece must know that we expect them to do more."
ON THE WIDER GREEK ECONOMY:
"I am skeptical, however, with regards to the implementation of reforms that should bring growth in Greece."
ON PRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPATION IN THE BAILOUT:
"I expect the private sector will certainly make a significant contribution."
ON THE IDEA OF THE EFSF FUNCTIONING ALONGSIDE THE ESM:
"I think it would be possible to reach consensus on that."
(Reporting by Annika Breidthardt, John O'Donnell and and Robin Emmott)
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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In the second season premiere of WE TV's reality program "Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?," Melissa Rivers tries to persuade her 78-year-old comedian mother Joan not to undergo another cosmetic surgery procedure by staging a "skintervention."
Melissa, 44, calls in the pair's circle of friends and employees -- one and the same in the Rivers' world -- but before long Joan has won over the room and is handing out cosmetic procedures like party favors.
"It's like I'm the teacher from Charlie Brown, 'womp, womp, womp,'" Melissa complains in the episode. But her protests may not have gone completely ignored. Joan tweeted on Saturday, "The next time I go under the knife is for my autopsy."
"Joan & Melissa," which returns Tuesday, January 24, follows the day-to-day life of the famously close Rivers duo as they live and work together in California.
Joan moved in with Melissa after the September 2010 launch of "Fashion Police," a comedy program critiquing celebrity fashion, which Joan hosts and Melissa produces. The E! television network announced this month that "Fashion Police" would be extended from 30 minutes to a full hour in March.
New Yorker Joan took over the basement of the Los Angeles home Melissa shared with her 10-year-old son, Cooper, and then-boyfriend Jason Zimmerman, although Joan likes to tell Melissa that she isn't actually living with her but rather "just staying with you four to five nights a week."
After an early screening of their show in New York, the Rivers said they agreed early on that very little of their private lives would be off-limits to the TV cameras, which catch a tear-filled, heart-to-heart conversation between mother and daughter in Tuesday's premiere episode.
"If it's going to be reality, it's got to be the truth," Joan said after the screening. "You can't just show one side."
Joan even expressed delight that the cameras were there at a tough time for her daughter.
"Wait 'til you see Melissa's breakup," said Joan. "So lucky the cameras were in the house when it was happening. We could've been on hiatus."
JOAN GETS INKED
This season will see Joan getting a tattoo to celebrate her 78th birthday and relieving stress by smoking marijuana. The notoriously raunchy comic's words were bleeped out several times during the premiere episode.
Danny Salles, executive producer of "Joan & Melissa," said Joan's colorful language causes "a fair amount" of footage to end up on the cutting-room floor but insists that "if we put the bridle on and say, 'Don't talk like yourself,' then you don't get the reality. So, we figure say it all and we'll figure it out in the edit room. "
Most of the program's drama takes place at home. According to Melissa, it's home life with her mother, not work, that's a challenge.
"Being her daughter is much harder than being her executive producer because she's a really good talent to work with. She's very prepared, she comes in on time, she delivers the goods every week," Melissa said.
Those who saw the 2010 documentary "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work" are used to the elder Rivers' language and mystifying work ethic. That film, about her continuous efforts to stay relevant as an entertainer, as well as her 2009 win on TV reality contest "Celebrity Apprentice," marked the beginning of an upswing for Rivers, whose career has seen many highs and lows.
"I've never stopped performing," Joan said. "Every week when I'm here in New York I perform at a place called the West Bank. I do concerts all over the world, every weekend."
(Editing By Bob Tourtellotte)
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Continue reading KDJ-One: the Game Boy of music making is real(ly coming, in a bit) (video)
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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) ? Can't remember the lyrics to your favorite songs? A new iPhone app might help.
Shazam Player, released last week, is a music player that, in addition to playing songs, shows the lyrics too. The app also provides access to the song's music video, album reviews and artist tour dates.
Shazam is already well-known for its song identification app that uses the smartphone's built-in microphone to gather a sample of a song being played in a room, and then instantly reveals the title and artist name. The service has over 60 million users in the United States and 175 million users globally.
While the core Shazam app is focused on providing a simple and straightforward way to discover new music, the Player app is designed to provide a rich experience for discovering additional information about the music that people already own.
"This is a great way to rediscover that music," explained David Jones, Shazam's executive vice president of marketing, adding that many people have forgotten the details about the music on their smartphones.
When playing a song, lyrics scroll across the screen in sync with the music, and visualizations are tailored to the album being played.
"People are figuring out what the lyrics actually are that may be in some fast moving rap songs or hard-to-hear songs," Jones said.
Lyrics are available for approximately 50,000 songs, with thousands being added weekly prioritized based on song popularity.
According to Jones, Shazam is the largest mobile affiliate for iTunes in the world, selling more than $100 million worth of music each year. The Player app is positioned to give people the opportunity to buy more music by the artists they already like.
"I bought two of Adele's songs, but I haven't bought the whole album. So when I play those songs, there's a convenient button there to click off to iTunes to buy the album," Jones said.
Since launching on the App Store, some users have complained about issues with lyrics being out of sync, and other user interface bugs. Jones said the company is working on the issues, and also has a feedback button for user input.
"If you think the lyrics are out of sync or wrong, all you do is press one button and that gets fed back to us and our team jumps on it right away," he said.
Jones said that in addition to focusing on the apps, the company is forging ahead with campaigns that incorporate Shazam with television content.
"In our shows that are shazamable, more people shazam the show than are tweeting about it," Jones said.
With television commercials, users can learn more about brands and products such as accessing product discounts, discovering the closest place to test drive a car, or getting a quote from an insurance company.
"Advertisers are spending tens of millions on their television ad campaigns and these campaigns before Shazam were not clickable," he said.
(Reporting by Natasha Baker; editing by Patricia Reaney)
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