DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- The World Food Prize Foundation on Wednesday took the bold step of awarding this year's prize to three pioneers of plant biotechnology whose work brought the world genetically modified crops.

The private nonprofit foundation, which is in part funded by biotechnology companies, refused to shy away from the controversy surrounding genetically modified crops that organic food advocates say are harmful to people and the environment.

"If we were to be deterred by a controversy, that would diminish our prize," said the foundation's president, Kenneth Quinn, a retired U.S. diplomat.

This year's award goes to Marc Van Montagu, founder and chairman of the Institute of Plant Biotechnology Outreach at Ghent University in Belgium; Mary-Dell Chilton, founder and researcher at Syngenta Biotechnology; and Robert Fraley, chief technology officer at Monsanto.

Van Montagu and Chilton independently developed the technology in the 1980s to stably transfer foreign genes into plants, a discovery that set up a race to develop tools to genetically engineer plants. It allowed other scientists to incorporate genetic traits in plants to better withstand drought, extreme heat and to fight off pests and disease. Fraley was the first to successfully transfer immunity to specific bacteria into a plant.

Fraley genetically engineered the first herbicide-resistant soybean in 1996.

The foundation lists Monsanto and Syngenta Foundation among its annual donors, along with other agribusiness corporations such as DuPont Pioneer, Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Cargill.

The award drew immediate condemnation from opponents of corporate farming.

"We could not ask for a better poster child for what's wrong with the prize than the recipients of this year's World Food Prize," said Frank Cordaro, who organized an Occupy World Food Prize protest last year. "It's all part of the very same system of the corporate elite. The problem is not with the recipients, the problem is with the system that gives the 1 percent all the power and corporate agriculture is built on that system."

Genetically enhanced crops are grown on more than 420 million acres in nearly 30 countries by over 17 million farmers worldwide, the foundation said. More than 90 percent are small, resource-poor farmers in developing countries.

Many U.S. farmers credited genetic modifications in corn with saving last year's crop from all but total devastation as half of the nation endured the worst drought in 60 years. Modern corn plants are more stable and can withstand a wider variety of climate conditions because of genetically improved leaves, roots and reproductive capability.

Fraley said biotechnology will enable the farming industry to meet the needs of a growing global population.

"We know we need from a demand perspective to double food production around the world in the next 30 years," he said.

Some organic farmers warn that widespread planting of genetically modified crops could contaminate organic and traditional crops, destroying their value. Others are concerned about the uncharted long-term impact for those who eat products such as milk and beef from animals raised on genetically modified plants.

"GMO crops have led to the loss of food security worldwide and for small farmers, they have led to the development of factory farms and have destroyed biodiversity in food we do produce and consume," said David Goodner, a community organizer for Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, an environmental and human rights activist group that opposes corporate farming. "The World Food Prize by selecting these people to honor shows that it cares more about corporate profits than it cares about truly feeding the world with healthy food."

Van Montagu said the food prize award should raise understanding of the safety of genetically modified crops.

"We just have to explain to society the science fact and that is not the slightest risk has been identified. These crops are as safe, if not safer, than food that comes from traditional agriculture," he said. "If somebody denies that we bluntly can say they are misinformed."

The World Food Prize was created in 1986 by Norman Borlaug, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to fight hunger. Borlaug was honored in 1970 for work that boosted agricultural production in what has become known as the "Green Revolution."

Recipients will receive the prize, which includes $250,000, at a ceremony in October at the Iowa Capitol in Des Moines attended by hundreds of scholars and agribusiness leaders from around the world.

Parmitano, a 36-year old,spent just over six hours working outside the space station alongside crewmate Chris Cassidy of NASA, and offered his thanks for an exhilarating first spacewalk.

"Thank you," Parmitano said, adding another round of thanks in his native Italian language before signing off.

Among other tasks, Parmitanoand his fellow space station crewmember NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy retrieved a pair of materials science experiments, installed radiator grapple bars and successfully replaced a space-to-ground communications controller unit that failed in December 2012.[]

Because Parmitano and Cassidy ran ahead of schedule, the speedy spacewalkers were able to start in on tasks originally scheduled for their second spacewalk next Tuesday (July 16).

"Life is good," Cassidy said near the end of the spacewalk.

Bernanke told the National Bureau of Economic Research that because unemployment remains high and inflation is below the Fed's target, the policies are still necessary. He also said the economy is being held back by higher taxes and federal spending cuts.

"If you put all of that together, you can only conclude that highly accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future is what is needed for the U.S. economy," Bernanke said.

Stock index futures rose as Bernanke spoke. The Standard & Poor's index futures were up eight points, or 0.5 percent, at 1,656 as of 5:40 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time shortly after Bernanke wrapped up his remarks.

Bernanke's comments were his latest effort to stress that the Fed will continue to stimulate the economy, even after it begins to slow $85-billion-a-month in bond purchases that have kept long-term interest rates down.

The Fed plans to keep its investment holdings constant to avoid causing long-term rates to rise too quickly. It also plans to keep short-term rates at record lows at least until unemployment slides to 6.5 percent.

And Bernanke has said 6.5 percent unemployment is a threshold, not a trigger: The Fed might decide to keep its benchmark short-term rate near zero even after unemployment falls that low.

Unemployment is currently 7.6 percent.

On Wednesday, Bernanke didn't signal any changes in the bond-buying program. But Bernanke defended recent comments he made after the Fed's June meeting.

At his June 19 news conference, Bernanke said the Fed would likely slow its bond purchases later this year and end them around mid-2014 if the economy continued to strengthen. Stocks and bonds plunged in the days after his remarks. Some critics said the Fed bungled its communications strategy.

Bernanke asked his audience to consider what might have happened if the Fed had given no signals on when the bond buying might be curtailed. He said that might have led to an increase in risk-taking on the part of investors "reflecting an expectation for an infinite" program of bond purchases.

"Explaining what we are doing may have avoided a much more difficult situation at another time," he said.

Bernanke also did not provide any clues on his own future. Many expect he will leave when his current term ends in January.

When asked about his legacy, he said others would certainly judge his handling of the 2008 financial crisis. He also said the Fed, under his leadership, has made significant strides in providing the public with more information on how the central bank operates.

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Associated Press writer Tracee Herbaugh contributed to this report from Cambridge, Mass.

BOSTON (Reuters) - A mysterious group of computer hackers has spent four years spying on the South Korea military, U.S. security software maker McAfee said Monday, citing evidence uncovered from malicious software samples.

The findings, which were not confirmed by authorities in Seoul, provide one possible motive for ongoing attacks on South Korea that date to 2009.

McAfee, a division of Intel Corp, did not identify a sponsor for the attacks but said they were carried out by a hackers group known as the New Romanic Cyber Army Team. Seoul has blamed North Korea for some of the cyber attacks although Pyongyang denies responsibility and says it too has been a victim.

Officials at the South Korean Embassy in Washington were not immediately available for comment. A Pentagon spokesman said he was unaware of McAfee's findings and declined comment.

Experts with Symantec Corp, another security software maker, last month definitively linked the four-year string of attacks to a single group of hackers. The attacks hit government and corporate computers.

McAfee released a 29-page technical paper on Monday that analyzed the code of the software used by those hackers, whose identity is still not known.

It said the hacking gang infected PCs with sophisticated software that automatically sought out documents of interest by scanning computers for military keywords in English and Korean.

Once the software identified documents of interest, it encrypted those files then delivered them to the hackers' servers, McAfee said.

The paper also described in detail how the attackers siphoned data from infected computers using a sophisticated infrastructure known as a "botnet."

McAfee named the attacks "Operation Troy," because the word Troy frequently appeared in the code of the malicious software. The New Romanic Cyber Army Team makes frequent use of Roman and classical terms in their code.

On July 4, 2009, it launched its first significant attack, unleashing malicious software that wiped data on PCs and also disrupted some government and business websites in South Korea and the United States.

In March, the gang knocked tens of thousands of PCs off line at South Korean companies by destroying data on their hard drives. It was one of the most destructive cyber attacks on private computer networks to date.

McAfee published its report on the gang on its website: http://bit.ly/1davN52

(Reporting by Jim Finkle. Additional reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Tyco said on Monday it received a notice from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service stating that several of the company's former units, including ADT, owed taxes of $883.3 million and penalties of $154.0 million for tax years from 1997 to 2000. (http://r.reuters.com/nyr39t)

Tyco also said the IRS had disallowed interest and related deductions recognized on the U.S. income tax returns totaling about $2.86 billion related to intercompany debt transactions.

The company said four former subsidiaries would share the liabilities under tax-sharing agreements. The companies are Covidien Plc , TE Connectivity Ltd , ADT and Pentair Ltd . (http://link.reuters.com/saw39t)

Shares of ADT, which was spun off from Tyco in September, were little changed at $40.46 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Mridhula Raghavan in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

Kanye didn't care about satisfying radio with his latest album.

Neither does Jay-Z.

"Magna Carta Holy Grail," the rapper's 12th album, doesn't have the pop or mainstream appeal his past records have offered. The 16-track set, mostly helmed by Timbaland, is full of robust and moody hip-hop beats that maintain a nice groove, but don't expect any booming anthems or party jams here. Like Kanye, there isn't a single or music video ahead of the album's release, which comes out officially on Sunday though up to 1 million Samsung mobile phone users were able to download the album for free on July Fourth.

With the exception of rapping about fatherhood and infant daughter Blue Ivy, lyrically, "Magna Carta" doesn't tell us anything new about the superstar. We all know how he rose from selling drugs in the Brooklyn projects to become arguably the most important rapper of all-time, his multiplatinum feats, his awards, and the benefits of having a superstar wife Beyonce at his side.

But while Jay-Z continues to make headlines away from music, this album treads familiar ground, which makes the album dare we say it? average.

He'll remind you a couple times that Samsung bought 1 million copies of the record and gave it away three days early on songs like "Somewhere In America." There's similar flavor lyrically on "Tom Ford," with its freaky beats, and the bumping "Picasso Baby," where Beyonce gets a shout-out: "Sleeping every night next to Mona Lisa, the modern version, with better features."

It's when he talks about the other lady in his life, his 1-year-old daughter, where we see a rare side of the typically braggadocio rapper.

"Now I got tattoos on my body, psycho (expletive) in my lobby, I got haters in the paper, photos shoots with paparazzi, can't even take my daughter for a walk," he raps on "Holy Grail," a collaboration with Justin Timberlake. It's revealing, and especially special coming from the often-unfazed Jay-Z.

While Timberlake works well with Hova, his collaborations with Beyonce and Frank Ocean on "Part II (On the Run)" and "Ocean" rely too much on the R&B singers. There are other big names on the album, like Rick Ross, Pharrell and Nas, but "Magna Carta," it isn't designed like albums in the past. There are no catchy hooks to grab you in. The most excitement about the album hasn't been generated from the music, but it's promotion plan Jay-Z announced the album in a commercial during the NBA Finals and launched a series of videos explaining the recording process and songs. He's continuing to create new blueprints to debut his music. That should be congratulated, but the songs on "Magna Carta" don't boom like his business plan.

"Knock me to my knees about a million times, uncle said I'll never sell a million records, I sold a million records like a million times," he raps on "Crown."

Yes, you've defied the odds, but we want a little more from the king.

___

Follow Mesfin Fekadu on Twitter: twitter.com/MusicMesfin

* Cameraman breaks bones and set for stay in hospital (Updates with cameraman's condition, fine)

By Mark Meadows

NUERBURGRING, Germany, July 7 (Reuters) - A television cameraman suffered a broken collarbone and two broken ribs after being struck by a wheel which came off Mark Webber's Red Bull during a pitstop in the early stages of the German Grand Prix on Sunday.

Formula One safety has been in the headlines since multiple tyre blow-outs at last weekend's British Grand Prix raised fears about drivers being hit by flying debris, and Sunday's incident will fuel concern about pitlane dangers.

While teams' pit crew routinely wear protective headgear, many others working in the pitlane during the race do not.

An FIA spokesman confirmed the injuries, as well as concussion and bruises, and said he may have to stay in hospital for some days.

Webber came into the pits for a routine tyre change after nine laps but his crew took longer than usual because of a problem with the rear right tyre.

The Australian was released without the wheel being secured properly. It broke free and bounced into the oblivious cameraman, knocking him flat on his back.

"Paul Allen was hit on the lefthand side. Remaining conscious, he was treated at the circuit medical centre and then transported by helicopter to Koblenz Hospital," the governing FIA said in a statement, adding that the cameraman was from F1's commercial arm.

"The Briton was kept there, under observation."

Webber was ordered to turn off his engine and the wheel was reattached, allowing the driver to rejoin the race near the back of the field. He finished seventh and his team were fined 30,000 euros ($38,500) for an unsafe release.

Supplier Pirelli have brought different tyres, with an inner ring of synthetic fibre Kevlar rather than steel, to Germany after the controversial blow-outs at Silverstone. There were no failures in practice or qualifying or on track during the race. ($1 = 0.7792 euros) (Reporting by Mark Meadows, editing by Alan Baldwin)

[More from BGR: ]

[More from BGR: ]

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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who are poor, African American or both are less likely to be prescribed opioids for pain than well-off white patients, according to a new study.

The powerful painkillers, which include codeine and oxycodone, have been in the spotlight recently as deaths from overdoses rise and more drugs end up in the hands of people taking them for non-medical purposes.

Past studies have found that blacks in pain don't receive opioids as often as whites, but the new study suggests economic differences matter in addition to racial ones.

"The disparities are concerning and definitely warrant further investigation," said Dr. Michael Joynt, who led the study at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York.

However, he added, there's probably not "any one single factor" that explains those disparities.

One researcher not involved in the study said cultural differences between doctors and patients and a lack of time to closely evaluate each person in the emergency room may encourage unconscious stereotypes that affect doctors' treatment decisions.

Lack of standardized guidelines on how to treat pain may also be a factor, Joynt told Reuters Health.

He and his colleagues analyzed data from about 1,400 hospital ERs between 2006 and 2009. During that span, the ERs prescribed opioids to just over 50,000 people reporting moderate or severe pain.

Both race and income were linked to a pain patient's chance of being prescribed an opioid.

For example, 46 percent of white patients with moderate or severe pain were given opioids, compared to 39 percent of black patients. And 45 percent of non-Hispanic people received the drugs, versus 40 percent of Hispanics.

Likewise, 47 percent of pain patients from the wealthiest neighborhoods, based on zip code, were prescribed opioids, compared to 41 percent from the poorest areas, the study team reports in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

The disparities held after the researchers took into account patients' injuries and the severity of their pain.

Michelle van Ryn said very few doctors have overt negative attitudes toward minorities or poor people, and all strive to provide equal care.

Prescribing disparities are not about "a conscious, intentional process of harm," van Ryn, from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, told Reuters Health.

"It's that there are factors that prevent clinicians from behaving in ways that are consistent with their best intentions and goals," she added.

That can include busy, crowded ERs and misunderstandings between patients and doctors from different cultural backgrounds, said van Ryn, who has also studied racial disparities in opioid prescribing.

The researchers said they hope their study will spark a conversation about pain control and differences in care on a societal scale. But patients can initiate those talks in the ER too, they said.

"I think it's important for patients presenting for pain to have an open and honest discussion with their providers," said Dr. Robert Fortuna, who also worked on the study.

"The issue of gauging pain is very nuanced."

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/10zL1y1 Journal of General Internal Medicine, June 2013.

Shares are trading at $121.30.

This morning, Virgin CEO Richard Bransonin solidarity with Tesla chief Elon Musk's moves to block auto dealers from preventing direct Tesla sales.

He linked to a White Housethat is just 9,000 signatures short of reaching 100,000, at which point the White House must respond.