YouTube in Turkey

Turkish authorities were moving to block access to YouTube on Thursday following similar action against Twitter, the country's state-run news agency said.

While the Anadolu Agency said the national telecommunications authorities had instituted the block, the website was still widely accessible following the announcement nu skin. The block against YouTube is likely to provoke further outrage in Turkey, where social media is widely used.

Key allies, including the U.S. and the European Union, had criticized the earlier move against Twitter as a restriction of free speech and a step backward for Turkish democracy. That ban came shortly after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to "rip out the roots" of Twitter, which has been a conduit for links to recordings suggesting government corruption. Turkey holds crucial local elections Sunday, widely regarded as a referendum on Erdogan's rule.

A telecommunications authority webpage gave the following information for YouTube.com: "After technical analysis and legal consideration based on the law, an administrative measure has been taken for this website."

The ban comes after an alleged audio recording of a meeting between the Turkey's foreign minister, intelligence chief and top military and Foreign Ministry officials was leaked on YouTube. The four are allegedly heard discussing a military intervention in Syria, a sensitive political issue in Turkey. Though the context of the conversation is not clear.

A government official said access to the website was closed down out of "national security concerns and because of the urgency of the situation." The official said the move aimed to prevent the "posting of other recordings that may threaten national security." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of government rules that bar civil servants from speaking to journalists without prior authorization.

Erdogan railed against the leak of the audio recording during a campaign rally, saying: "this is immoral, this is sleaze nu skin hk, this is shameful, this is dishonorable."

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called the leak an act of espionage and an "open declaration of war against the Turkish republic."

His office released a statement saying eavesdropping on a top-secret meeting was an attack on Turkey's security and a grave crime. It said those responsible for the leak would be severely punished.

In an emailed statement from Google Inc., which owns YouTube, spokeswoman Abbi Tatton said the company had seen reports that some users in Turkey weren't able to access YouTube.

"There is no technical issue on our side and we're looking into the situation," she said.

Shortly after Thursday's announcement, European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes in a tweet called the block against YouTube "another desperate and depressing move in Turkey."

"I express my support for all those supporters of real freedom and democracy," she said. "We in Europe stand for an open Internet and free expression on it."

The attempted crackdown on Twitter came after links to other wiretapped recordings suggesting corruption were spread on the microblogging site, causing Erdogan's government major embarrassment before Sunday's local elections.

Erdogan has confirmed that he personally ordered the block on Twitter, alleging that the company wasn't following Turkish laws. Despite the block g-suite manchester, many Turkish users have found ways to access Twitter.

Erdogan has blamed a movement led by U.S.-based moderate Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former political ally of Erdogan. Also on Thursday, a television station linked to Gulen said that Turkish authorities have withdrawn its license to broadcast nationally.

The church service

As workers tried to clear away the last of the rubble that once was two New York City apartment buildings, a pair of congregations gathered to mourn Sunday — one for its lost church and one for two members who lost their lives in the massive explosion nu skin.

At Bethel Gospel Assembly, tears mixed with the sounds of gospel music as the church remembered Griselde Camacho and Carmen Tanco, two of the eight people killed in the massive East Harlem explosion that leveled a pair of five-story buildings on Wednesday.

"We feel the void," said Michelle Robinson, the church's business administrator. "Both women were very active members."

Tanco often served as an usher at services and would greet her fellow congregants at the door, Robinson said.

"We are a family and we're all just missing the big hugs she used to give," she said.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the women "were examples to all of us" because of the faith and spirit they demonstrated. He spoke at a podium with a screen above him displaying photos of the women.

"We will not let you fall," de Blasio said, speaking at a podium with a screen above him displaying photos of the women. "We are all a family in the end."

His wife, Chirlane McCray, told the crowd about the launch of a fundraising drive to help those affected by the explosion. The money would support a relief plan that includes a victims' assistance fund, which would cover costs connected to funeral arrangements, as well as rent and household expenses. The plan also includes counseling and outreach to immigrant communities.

De Blasio also visited the house of worship where members of the Spanish Christian Church, which had been located on the first floor of one of the destroyed buildings, were spending Sunday. On Saturday a crew at the blast site found a large Bible in the rubble and returned it to the church's pastor.

At the scene of the explosion on Park Avenue at 116th Street, there were signs the initial cleanup was ending while the investigation into the cause of the blast could begin.

The theory that Wednesday's explosion was due to a gas leak gained momentum Friday after the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates pipeline accidents, said underground tests conducted in the hours after the explosion registered high concentrations of natural gas. The NTSB will conduct its own inquiry after police and fire officials determine what might have caused the explosion.

City Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano said Saturday that investigators should be able to get to the gas pipes and meters in the front of the buildings' basements Sunday, nuskin hong kong adding, "We'll be in full swing with the investigation."

Arson detectives and fire marshals have been waiting to enter the basements to examine meters, check pipes and inspect any possible ignition sources, such as light switches, that might have caused the blast.

Cassano said all but 15 percent of the rubble from the buildings had been cleared away late Saturday.

Truckloads of scattered material will be sifted for any traces of human remains that might not have been found at the site, Cassano said. Although the bodies of all eight people reported missing have been recovered, the rescue operation was continuing in case others may be buried beneath the rubble, he said.

More than 60 people were injured in the explosion, and more than 100 others were displaced.

Police have identified six of those who died: Camacho, 45, a Hunter College security officer; Tanco, 67, a dental hygienist who participated in church-sponsored medical missions to Africa and the Caribbean; Andreas Panagopoulos, 43, a musician; Rosaura Hernandez, 22, a restaurant cook from Mexico; George Ameado, 44, a handyman who lived in one of the buildings that collapsed; and Alexis Salas, 22, a restaurant worker.

Mexican officials said another Mexican woman, Rosaura Barrios Vazquez, 43, was among those killed. The name of the eighth person recovered cardinal manchester, a woman, hasn't been released.

The blast erupted about 15 minutes after someone from a neighboring building reported smelling gas, authorities said. Con Edison said it immediately sent workers to check out the report but they got there too late.

Fire and utility officials said that if the buildings were plagued in recent days or weeks by strong gas odors, as some tenants contend, they have no evidence anyone reported it before Wednesday. An Associated Press analysis of the city's emergency call database from Jan. 1, 2013, through Tuesday also found no calls from the buildings about gas.

Alzheimer's disease

CHICAGO (AP) — At age 80, retired Chicago physician and educator Dan Winship is getting a bittersweet last chance to teach about medicine — only this time he's the subject. In the early stages of Alzheimer's disease g-suite cardinal manchester, Winship is giving a young medical student a close-up look at a devastating illness affecting millions of patients worldwide.

The two are part of a "buddy" program pairing doctors-to-be with dementia patients, pioneered at Northwestern University and adopted at a handful of other medical schools.

Besides offering students a unique perspective on a disease they're likely to encounter during their careers, the programs give patients a sense of purpose and a chance to stay socially engaged before their illness eventually robs their minds.

Winship and his "buddy," first-year medical student Jared Worthington, are building a friendship — dining together, visiting museums, chatting about Winship's medical career and Worthington's plans for his own.

The programs help erase the stigma of Alzheimer's and are laudable for introducing students to medical opportunities related to aging and dementia, said Beth Kallmyer, an Alzheimer's Association vice president who oversees outreach services.

More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's or some other form of dementia, a number that could triple by 2050, the group estimates.

Data presented at an Alzheimer's Association conference last year showed the programs are increasing medical students' knowledge of the disease beyond what they learn in the classroom.

About 75 percent of Northwestern students who participate become doctors in fields that deal with Alzheimer's patients, said program director Darby Morhardt.

For everyone, the diagnosis is a cruel blow. For Winship, it was nothing less.

"You can't remember anything," Winship said, sometimes faltering to find the right words. "You lose your ability ... to keep your wits about you."

Alzheimer's "wreaks havoc," he said. But Winship has grown to see it as a chance to meld his loves of medicine and teaching.

His career included stints as medical school dean at Chicago-based Loyola University; professorships at Rush Medical College and the University of Illinois in Chicago, nu skin hk and as an associate dean at the University of Missouri's medical school. He retired in 2010 from the American Medical Association.

Early last year, he got the dreaded diagnosis. Jean Schmidt Winship, 53, his wife of 10 years, says at first she thought his occasional forgetfulness and difficulty learning new computer programs were just signs of aging. But his symptoms gradually worsened.

Jean Winship scrambled to learn more about their options after the diagnosis and found the buddy program online.

"Everyone in the buddy program is very committed to understanding that people at this stage of any kind of dementia still need to live and enjoy life," she said. Alzheimer's "is not Dan, it's just a disease that he has. And so, that was huge for us ... realizing we have a lot of living to do here."

In the program, first-year students are matched for a school year with patients, based mostly on common interests.

Winship is an open, engaging man with twinkly dark eyes and a groomed salt-and-pepper beard. He was the first choice for many students who joined the program last fall, said Morhardt, the program founder and director. She had a hunch, though, that he and Jared Worthington would click.

Worthington, 25, from Ontario, Canada, is perhaps more reserved than his Texas-born mentor, but with obvious earnestness and empathy for what Winship is going through. Worthington's grandmother is in the later stages of Alzheimer's.

He said he hopes being a "buddy" will "inform how I interact with patients and hopefully treat them with more compassion and understanding."

"It's something scary and difficult but just because you have Alzheimer's doesn't mean that ... your life is over," Worthington said. "You can still contribute and give back and participate meaningfully."

During a recent visit to Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, he and Winship shared banter watching dolphins leaping in an indoor pool, g-suite and curiosity over the anatomy of colorful specimens in an ethereal jelly fish exhibit.

"I'm so fond of Jared because we talk together, we talk the same language. He is a very good student, he's learning and learning, learning and that means everything to me," Winship said.

Winship said he hopes the program will train a new generation of doctors to find new treatments "so we can do away with that stinking disease. "

For him, though, just hanging out with Jared "is the best part of all."