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Saturday, December 31, 2011
Moscow rally urges release of opposition activist (AP)
MOSCOW ? Several hundred demonstrators have rallied in downtown Moscow to urge the release of a prominent Russian opposition activist and other political prisoners.
Sergei Udaltsov, the leader of the Left Front movement, has been in custody since the fraud-tainted Dec. 4 parliamentary election. He first was held on claims of staging an unsanctioned rally and then sentenced Sunday to another 10 days in jail on charges of resisting police.
Udaltsov has denied the charges and spent much of the month on a hunger strike.
Thursday's demonstration wasn't sanctioned by authorities, but police didn't intervene.
Russia has been rocked by massive protests against election fraud, which have dented the authority of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who wants to extend his 12-year rule by reclaiming the presidency in March.
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Friday, December 30, 2011
4:01 PM
Verizon drops plans for $2 fee
NEW YORK -- After a customer backlash, Verizon Wireless is dropping a plan to start charging $2 for every payment subscribers make over the phone or online with their credit cards.
3:50 PM
Walgreen pushes to keep Express Scripts clients
Walgreen CEO Greg Wasson says chances are probably slim to none that the drugstore operator will reach an agreement with pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts before their current contract ends Saturday.
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Friday, December 30, 2011
SIM-LEI EV gets a video walk-through: shaped like a fish, has a big screen (video)
Continue reading SIM-LEI EV gets a video walk-through: shaped like a fish, has a big screen (video)
SIM-LEI EV gets a video walk-through: shaped like a fish, has a big screen (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Abortion, immigration changes among new 2012 laws (AP)
Girls seeking abortions in New Hampshire must first tell their parents or a judge, some employers in Alabama must verify new workers' U.S. residency, and California students will be the first in the country to receive mandatory lessons about the contributions of gays and lesbians under state laws set to take effect at the start of 2012.
Many laws reflect the nation's concerns over immigration, the cost of government and the best way to protect and benefit young people, including regulations on sports concussions.
Alabama, with the country's toughest immigration law, is enacting a key provision requiring all employers who do business with any government entity to use a federal system known as E-Verify to check that all new employees are in the country legally.
Georgia is putting a similar law into effect requiring any business with 500 or more employees to use E-Verify to check the employment eligibility of new hires. The requirement is being phased in, with all employers with more than 10 employees to be included by July 2013.
Supporters said they wanted to deter illegal immigrants from coming to Georgia by making it tougher for them to work. Critics said that changes to immigration law should come at the federal level and that portions of the law already in effect are already hurting Georgia.
"It is destroying Georgia's economy and it is destroying the fabric of our social network in South Georgia," Paul Bridges, mayor of the onion-farming town of Uvalda, said in November. He is part of a lawsuit challenging the new law.
Tennessee will also require businesses to ensure employees are legally authorized to work in the U.S. but exempts employers with five or fewer workers and allows them to keep a copy of the new hire's driver's license instead of using E-Verify.
A South Carolina law would allow officials to yank the operating licenses of businesses that don't check new hires' legal status through E-verify. A federal judge last week blocked parts of the law that would have required police to check the immigration status of criminal suspects or people stopped for traffic violations they think might be in the country illegally, and that would have made it a crime for illegal immigrants to transport or house themselves.
California is also addressing illegal immigration, but with a bill that allows students who entered the country illegally to receive private financial aid at public colleges.
Many laws aim to protect young people. In Colorado, coaches will be required to bench players as young as 11 when they're believed to have suffered a head injury. The young athletes will also need medical clearance to return to play.
The law also requires coaches in public and private schools and even volunteer Little League and Pop Warner football coaches to take free annual online training to recognize the symptoms of a concussion. At least a dozen other states have enacted similar laws with the support of the National Football League.
People 18 and under in Illinois will have to wear seat belts while riding in taxis for school-related purposes, and Illinois school boards can now suspend or expel students who make explicit threats on websites against other students or school employees.
Florida will take control of lunch and other school food programs from the federal government, allowing the state to put more Florida-grown fresh fruit and vegetables on school menus. Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam says the change will help children eat healthier.
A California law will add gays and lesbians and people with disabilities to the list of social and ethnic groups whose contributions must be taught in history lessons in public schools. The law also bans teaching materials that reflect poorly on gays or particular religions.
Opponents have filed five potential initiatives to repeal the requirement outright or let parents remove their children while gays' contributions are being taught.
In New Hampshire, a law requiring girls seeking abortions to tell their parents or a judge first was reinstated by conservative Republicans over a gubernatorial veto. The state enacted a similar law eight years ago, but it was never enforced following a series of lawsuits.
In Arkansas, facilities that perform 10 or more nonsurgical abortions a month must be licensed by the state Health Department and be subject to inspections by the department, the same requirements faced by facilities that offer surgical abortions in the state.
It affects two Planned Parenthood facilities that offer the abortion pill, though they're not singled out in the statute.
Among federal laws, a measure Congress passed last week to extend Social Security tax cuts and federal unemployment benefit programs raises insurance fees on new mortgages and refinancings backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration by 0.1 percent beginning Jan. 1.
That covers about 90 percent of them and effectively makes a borrower's monthly payment on a new $200,000 mortgage or refinancing about $17 a month more than it would have been if obtained before the first of the year.
Nevada's 3-month old ban on texting while driving will get tougher, with tickets replacing the warnings that police have issued since the ban took effect Oct. 1. In Pennsylvania, police are preparing to enforce that state's recently enacted ban on texting, scheduled to take effect by spring.
Election law changes in Rhode Island and Tennessee will require voters to present photo ID, a measure that supporters say prevents fraud and that opponents say will make it harder for minorities and the elderly to cast ballots.
In Ohio, a measure that creates one primary in March, instead of two that would have cost the state an extra $15 million, goes into effect later in January.
Ohio is also one of eight states with automatic increases in the minimum wage taking effect Jan. 1. The others, with increases between 28 and 37 cents, are Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.
A few laws try to address budget woes. In Delaware, new state employees will have to contribute more to their pensions, while state workers hired after Jan. 1 in Nevada will have to pony up for their own health care costs in retirement.
Jan. 1 is the effective date in many states for laws passed during this year's legislative sessions. In others, laws take effect July 1, or 90 days after passage.
___
Welsh-Huggins reported from Columbus, Ohio, and can be reached at http://twitter.com/awhcolumbus.
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Thursday, December 29, 2011
The FLOTE Stand for Tablets and eBook Readers
Here’s another Kickstarter project.? The FLOTE Stand is a floor stand that works with most tablets and eBook readers, with or without a cover.? The all-metal stand is machined by US craftsmen, and it’s available in aluminum, black, or white finishes.? It easily adjusts without having to loosen or tighten anything, and it has a [...]
Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/12/27/the-flote-stand-for-tablets-and-ebook-readers/
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New powerful painkiller has abuse experts worried
NEW YORK?? Drug companies are working to develop a pure, more powerful version of a highly abused medicine, which has addiction experts worried that it could spur a new wave of abuse.
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Don't miss these Health stories
-
Why layaway angels touch even Grinches
They've been called layaway angels, Secret Santas and even miracle workers. Whatever you call them, the Frank Capra-esque anonymous donors who have been paying off strangers' layaway bills around the country are touching even the Grinchiest of hearts.
- Holiday hazard: Kids turning into spoiled brats
- First memories may happen as early as 2
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- Cocaine on 9 in 10 UK baby changing stations
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Why layaway angels touch even Grinches
The new pills contain the highly addictive painkiller hydrocodone, packing up to 10 times the amount of the drug as existing medications such as Vicodin. Four companies have begun patient testing, and one of them ? Zogenix of San Diego ? plans to apply early next year to begin marketing its product, Zohydro.
If approved, it would mark the first time patients could legally buy pure hydrocodone. Existing products combine the drug with nonaddictive painkillers such as acetaminophen.
Critics say they are especially worried about Zohydro, a timed-release drug meant for managing moderate to severe pain, because abusers could crush it to release an intense, immediate high.
"I have a big concern that this could be the next OxyContin," said April Rovero, president of the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse. "We just don't need this on the market."
OxyContin, introduced in 1995 by Purdue Pharma of Stamford, Connecticut, was designed to manage pain with a formula that dribbled one dose of oxycodone over many hours.
Abusers quickly discovered they could defeat the timed-release feature by crushing the pills. Purdue Pharma changed the formula to make OxyContin more tamper-resistant, but addicts have moved onto generic oxycodone and other drugs that do not have a timed-release feature.
Oxycodone is now the most-abused medicine in the United States, with hydrocodone second, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration's annual count of drug seizures sent to police drug labs for analysis.
The latest drug tests come as more pharmaceutical companies are getting into the $10 billion-a-year legal market for powerful ? and addictive ? opiate narcotics.
"It's like the wild west," said Peter Jackson, co-founder of Advocates for the Reform of Prescription Opioids. "The whole supply-side system is set up to perpetuate this massive unloading of opioid narcotics on the American public."
The pharmaceutical firms say the new hydrocodone drugs give doctors another tool to try on patients in legitimate pain, part of a constant search for better painkillers to treat the aging U.S. population.
"Sometimes you circulate a patient between various opioids, and some may have a better effect than others," said Karsten Lindhardt, chief executive of Denmark-based Egalet, which is testing its own pure hydrocodone product.
The companies say a pure hydrocodone pill would avoid liver problems linked to high doses of acetaminophen, an ingredient in products like Vicodin. They also say patients will be more closely supervised because, by law, they will have to return to their doctors each time they need more pills. Prescriptions for the weaker, hydrocodone-acetaminophen products now on the market can be refilled up to five times.
Zogenix has completed three rounds of patient testing, and last week it announced it had held a final meeting with Food and Drug Administration officials to talk about its upcoming drug application. It plans to file the application in early 2012 and have Zohydro on the market by early 2013.
Purdue Pharma and Cephalon, a Frazer, Pennsylvania-based unit of Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuticals, are conducting late-stage trials of their own hydrocodone drugs, according to documents filed with federal regulators.
Hydrocodone belongs to family of drugs known as opiates or opioids because they are chemically similar to opium. They include morphine, heroin, oxycodone, codeine, methadone and hydromorphone.
Opiates block pain but also unleash intense feelings of well-being and can create physical dependence. The withdrawal symptoms are also intense, with users complaining of cramps, diarrhea, muddled thinking, nausea and vomiting.
After a while, opiates stop working, forcing users to take stronger doses or to try slightly different chemicals.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45791556/ns/health-addictions/
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Trade Stuff You Don't Want for Things You Do at Swap.com [Saving Money]
You know the old saying that one man's trash is another man's treasure. At Swap.com, a marketplace for trading just about everything, you can take your unwanted "trash" (like bad holiday presents) and turn it into "treasure."
The free service simply facilitates old-fashioned bartering: You add items you have to swap, then browse for stuff available, and work out the details with another swapper (you make an offer and can complete a swap by shipping items or meeting up locally). Because Swap.com claims to be the biggest community of swappers in the world, there's a good chance you'll find something you want. You can even trade Groupons and gift cards.
Swap.com works on the honor system, but swappers are given ratings so you can decide whether or not to trade with certain people.
If you have something you can't find a good use for, check out Swap.com to see if someone else can?and save yourself some money on stuff you actually want.
Swap.com
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Engadget HD Podcast 280 - 12.27.2011
This is the last EHD podcast of the year and the last until we're on the ground at CES, so next week will be one of our rare misses -- we'll make it up to you, we promise. Until then, there's plenty of news to tide us over as LG, Sony and Samsung have all been busy with pre-CES teases of their latest technology. Also seeing a lot of action is the mobile remote apps segment, while newcomer RUWT?! has our attention, Roku, DirecTV, Western Digital, Logitech and Control4 all also had something to contribute. Verizon also has a new media server DVR replacement to talk about, while HBO Go has extended its reach to all major cable providers and the Super Bowl will be streaming online for the first time. We'll check in again from Vegas in a few days, until then press play and have a happy New Year!Get the podcast
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[MP3] Download the show (MP3).
Hosts: Ben Drawbaugh (@bjdraw), Richard Lawler (@rjcc)
Producer: Trent Wolbe
00:16:57 - So, what'd you get?
00:20:17 - DirecTV HDUI is rolling out across the land, iPad app adds 12 more live streaming channels
00:22:28 - Verizon FiOS TV's new media server scheduled for late 2012
00:27:06 - It's not TV, it's HBO Go, and it's finally coming to Cablevision
00:29:15 - Super Bowl to be streamed online and to Verizon phones for the first time
00:35:00 - Boxee 1.5 nears release, will be final desktop version
00:36:45 - Roku brings v3.1 software update to first-gen boxes, Amazon Instant Video channel gets refaced
00:38:00 - WD TV Live, Live Hub get an official iOS remote app, Vudu streaming and more
00:40:45 - Logitech Harmony Link app gets customization-focused iPhone, Android update
00:41:30 - Control4 MyHome app takes up residence on Android while Android@Home is out of town
00:42:33 - Are You Watching This?! sports tracker for Android adds remote control for DirecTV, TiVo, Google TV
00:47:25 - Sony divisions to elope in Vegas, celebrate the marriage of Television and Internet at CES 2012
00:48:57 - LG's Magic Remote enables voice control for its smart TVs
00:52:30 - LG's 55-inch 'world's largest' OLED HDTV panel is official, coming to CES 2012
00:54:13 - Sony sells its stake in Samsung LCD team-up for $939 million
00:55:15 - Samsung releases CES 2012 teaser, hints at upcoming Smart TV products (video)
00:57:42 - Engadget Primed: ports, connectors and the future of your TV's backside
00:59:50 - Must See HDTV (December 26th - January 1st)
Hear the podcast
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Engadget HD Podcast 280 - 12.27.2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Dec 2011 18:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tuesday, December 27, 2011
androidng: Android ICS 4.0.3 Custom ROMs for Galaxy Nexus http://t.co/mmHdAiDr
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Anglican archbishop: Bonds, trust broken in UK (AP)
LONDON ? The summer riots in Britain and the financial crisis have broken bonds and abused trust in British society, the Archbishop of Canterbury said in his Christmas Day sermon.
Archbishop Rowan Williams appealed to those congregated at Canterbury Cathedral on Sunday to learn lessons about "mutual obligation" from the events of the past year.
Citing the four days of U.K. riots and the current European debt crisis, the Archbishop said "the most pressing question" now facing Britain is "who and where we are as a society."
"Bonds have been broken, trust abused and lost," he said. "Whether it is an urban rioter mindlessly burning down a small shop that serves his community, or a speculator turning his back on the question of who bears the ultimate cost for his acquisitive adventures in the virtual reality of today's financial world, the picture is of atoms spinning apart in the dark."
Williams, leader of the world's Anglicans, also quoted from the Book of Common Prayer in his sermon to say that if offenses are against one's neighbors, one should be ready to make restitution.
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Monday, December 26, 2011
Instapundit ? Blog Archive ? INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY: The ...
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Canada?s First High-Ranking Delegation Visits Kurdistan
The visiting Canadian officials Encouraged to Strengthen Political and Economic Relations With Kurdistan Region
Canada?s new Ambassador to Iraq and Jordan, ?Mark Gwozdecky, marked the first Canadian official to visit the Kurdistan Region of Iraq(KRG) ?late last week where ?he was received by ?the Kurdistan Region?s leadership, including ?Kurdistan President, Masoud Barzani, according to a press release published on KRG website.
The Canadian Ambassador said that many of his colleagues have spoken ?very highly of the progress and development in Kurdistan, and ?added that he was glad to be able to witness these developments firsthand. ? ?The KRG statement mentioned. ??I am very happy to hear you are getting on with the business of developing your region notwithstanding the problems around you, moving ahead to make life better for your people. That?s what the people want and that?s what they deserve after all those years of instability and sometimes misery.? ?The Canadian official said.
The Canadian Government warns ?Canadians against all travel?to Iraq, ?except for the areas administered by the Kurdistan Regional Government (the provinces of Dahuk, Erbil, and Sulaymaniyah). Except for those in the Kurdistan region, Canadians currently in Iraq should leave,? ?according to the Canadian Foreign Affairs Ministry website?s ?Warning and Recommendations.??
The Canadian high-ranking officials visit to Kurdistan Region?aimed to? discuss ?potential areas of cooperation in both the public and private sectors.? ?Kurdish statement said. The Canadian Ambassador also spoke of the large Kurdish communities that reside in Canada, many of whom fled the hardships that they had to endure under the previous regime. He added that these communities will play an important role in helping establish stronger relations between Canada and the Kurdistan Region.
The Kurdistan Region President on behalf?of the Kurdish people conveyed thanks via the Ambassador for ?Canada?s support and assistance to the Kurdish people? ?during the now defunct ?regime of Iraq, and hoped that Kurdistan and Canada can develop relations that ?based on mutual understanding and interests.?
There are some Canadian companies that are already active in the Kurdistan Region, mainly in the oil and gas sector. However, Canada has kept its distance from Iraq and Kurdistan Region since the 2003 US-led?invasion?of Iraq which toppled the former Iraqi dictator. ?In March 2004 post-war Iraq, when the ?former Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister?had a plan to discuss Canadian Policy with Canadian-ethnic communities, Kurdish community?Representative?of Vancouver,?Aram Azez,?suggested?establishing Canada-Kurdistan relation committees that would?strengthen bilateral relations, based on common interests and values in political,?economic and cultural ties between Canada and Kurdistan Region.??However, then Liberal?Government?of Canada?s foreign minister didn?t show ?interest in?establishing relationships with the Kurdish region or Iraq at all.
Kurdistan Minister of Foreign Relations,?Falah Mustafa, ?also ?encouraged the ?Canadian ?Ambassador ?and the?delegation?accompanied him?to consider establishing a representative office in Kurdistan to join the other 23 diplomatic and foreign representations already present in Kurdistan. The?Canada?delegation was included the ?Ambassador?Deputy Head of Mission Mr Yves Duval, and the Embassy?s senior Trade Commissioner Mr John Ormond, according to KRG statement.
Source: http://ikjnews.com/?p=2880
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Sunday, December 25, 2011
CALcharters: Happy holidays from all of us at the California Charter Schools Association!
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
2012 brings new laws on California employment
About two dozen state employment laws will take effect Jan. 1, according to a list published by the California Chamber of Commerce.
Some of these laws will prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of their gender expression or genetic information, require more employers to continue health coverage for mothers on pregnancy disability leave, clarify how long employees can take off work to donate organs or bone marrow, and prohibit some employers from doing credit checks on certain types of workers or job applicants.
Many of the laws are designed to protect California workers but will put additional burdens on employers at a time when the economy and job market remain weak. On the plus side for employers, a group of five laws supported by the chamber could lower their workers' compensation costs and streamline some notices and procedures.
A lawyer for the chamber, which publishes an annual rundown of new state workplace laws, says this year's list is longer than the past couple of years but shorter than some earlier years. "It's kind of in the middle," says Susan Kemp, the chamber's senior employment law counsel.
"Not every one of the new laws applies across the board to every employer, but if you take just a couple of laws that apply to most employers and add them up over the number of employees they have, it's going to create more administrative (chores) and more responsibility for the employer," she says.
2 with wide impact
The two laws that will affect the most employers, Kemp says, are:
-- AB469 requires employers to provide workers who are not exempt from overtime a notice at the time of hire that includes certain pay details including their rate of pay and whether it's hourly, salary, commission-based or otherwise; any allowances claimed as part of the minimum wage including meal and lodging allowances; the regular payday; and the name, address and phone number of the employer and of the employer's workers' comp insurer.
Most employers already provide this information in various places such as pay stubs and workplace posters. Starting next year, they will have to put it all in one notice given to new employees. The California labor commissioner will provide a template, but "each notice will be unique to that employee," Kemp says.
If any information in the notice changes, the employer generally must notify each nonexempt employee, in writing, within seven calendar days. This law also increases penalties for wage violations and makes additional changes regarding collection of such penalties, including an increase in the statute of limitations, the chamber says.
-- SB299 requires all employers with five or more employees to maintain health coverage under a group health plan for an eligible female employee who takes pregnancy disability leave for up to four months. The benefits have to be at the same level as if the employee had continued working during the leave period.
If the employer splits the cost of health insurance with employees 50-50, "that's what you have to do when they are on (pregnancy disability) leave," Kemp says.
Current law requires employers with 50 or more employees to provide continued health benefits for new moms, for a maximum of 12 weeks. So the new law expands both the number of companies that must provide this coverage and the maximum length of time they must provide it.
However, increasing the maximum coverage period to four months does not mean all moms will get that much coverage. It will still be up to the mother's health care provider to determine how long she can be on pregnancy disability leave before and after the birth, Kemp says.
Challenge for employer
Stephen Hirschfeld, an attorney with Curiale Hirschfeld Kraemer who represents employers, says another new law, SB459, will pose challenges for some clients. It provides new penalties of $5,000 to $25,000 for the "willful misclassification" of employees as independent contractors.
Source: http://feeds.sfgate.com/click.phdo?i=209c2ba72291448c957965ca022d1162
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Friday, December 23, 2011
Killer flu research to be censored
It was probably the most important research on flu in years, but most people won't be allowed to read it all. As New Scientist revealed in September, researchers at the University of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, created a mutated H5N1 bird flu that could go pandemic ? and would be lethal to half its victims.
Bioterrorism experts in the US immediately questioned whether the method for making such a plague should be published. Now the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity has recommended that the "general conclusions be published, but that the manuscripts not include the methodological and other details that could enable replication of the experiments by those who would seek to do harm".
"We will respect the advice and try to publish in censored form," says the study's lead author, Ron Fouchier of the University of Rotterdam. "But we still believe the detailed data should be published. We have the moral obligation to share the details with those that need to know." Researchers must investigate the threat posed by H5N1 evolving in the wild, he believes, as that far outweighs the harm that hypothetical bioterrorists might do.
"The great benefit of the work is that it shows how easily H5N1 could mutate to cause a pandemic of terrible severity, and that we really can't afford to scale down our preparedness," says Peter Openshaw, head of the centre for respiratory infection at Imperial College London.
The bioterrorism science advisory board says that the US government is developing a mechanism to give "secure access" to risky information "to those with a legitimate need", and an "oversight policy [for] evaluating research that has the potential to be misused".
Not just US
Fouchier does not see how a mechanism outside the standard scientific channels would be possible, but should one be imposed, "public health experts rather than biosecurity officials should decide who to share the information with", and they should not only be US citizens, he says.
"If work on viruses in the western world comes under government control, we will rapidly fall behind the hundreds of well-equipped labs that are not under those controls," fears Openshaw. He says that the existing rules balancing risks and benefits of research "mostly get it about right".
D. A. Henderson of the University of Pittsburgh, who led the eradication of smallpox, notes that virologists already review and regulate work with smallpox virus. But flu could be a worse threat, and "special measures are warranted".
The Rotterdam research will be published in the journal Science accompanied by explanations about why it was done, and the measures taken to ensure the virus did not escape.
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TiPb: Welcome home! RT @acoupleofdroids: @reneritchie im ditching android for ios haven't had an iphone since the orginal one can't wait
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Thursday, December 22, 2011
8 US soldiers charged in comrade's death
FILE - This undated file photo provided by the U.S. Army shows Pvt. Danny Chen,19, who was killed Monday, Oct. 3, 2011 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The U.S. Army says eight American soldiers have been charged in connection with the Oct. 3 death of a fellow soldier in southern Afghanistan. In a statement, the military said the eight soldiers from Chen's company faced charges ranging from dereliction of duty, assault, negligent homicide and involuntary manslaughter. Chen was found in a guard tower in Kandahar province with what the Army described at the time as "an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound." He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Wainwright, Alaska. (AP Photo/U.S. Army, File) (AP Photo/U.S. Army, File)
FILE - This undated file photo provided by the U.S. Army shows Pvt. Danny Chen,19, who was killed Monday, Oct. 3, 2011 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The U.S. Army says eight American soldiers have been charged in connection with the Oct. 3 death of a fellow soldier in southern Afghanistan. In a statement, the military said the eight soldiers from Chen's company faced charges ranging from dereliction of duty, assault, negligent homicide and involuntary manslaughter. Chen was found in a guard tower in Kandahar province with what the Army described at the time as "an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound." He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Wainwright, Alaska. (AP Photo/U.S. Army, File) (AP Photo/U.S. Army, File)
FILE - In a Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011 file photo, a portrait of Pvt. Danny Chen is displayed on a vehicle during his funeral procession in New York. Chen was killed on Oct. 3 in a noncombat-related death in Kandahar province in Afghanistan. The U.S. Army says eight American soldiers have been charged in connection with the Oct. 3 death of Chen. In a statement, the military said the eight soldiers from Chen's company faced charges ranging from dereliction of duty, assault, negligent homicide and involuntary manslaughter. Chen was found in a guard tower in Kandahar province with what the Army described at the time as "an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound." He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Wainwright, Alaska. (AP Photo/Jin Lee, File)
FILE - In a Thursday morning, Oct. 20, 2011 file photo, Sgt. 1st Class Bobby Gates straightens the combat boots on a display before a memorial service for Pvt. Danny Chen of the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment at the Southern Lights Chapel on Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska. The U.S. Army says eight American soldiers have been charged in connection with the Oct. 3 death of Chen. In a statement, the military said the eight soldiers from Chen's company faced charges ranging from dereliction of duty, assault, negligent homicide and involuntary manslaughter. Chen was found in a guard tower in Kandahar province with what the Army described at the time as "an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound." He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Wainwright, Alaska. (AP Photo/Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Eric Engman, File) MAGS OUT
NEW YORK (AP) ? Eight U.S. soldiers have been charged in the death of a fellow GI, a Chinese-American who apparently shot himself in Afghanistan after being subjected to what a community activist said were assaults and ethnic taunts from his comrades.
Pvt. Danny Chen, a 19-year-old from New York's Chinatown neighborhood, was found in a guard tower in Kandahar province Oct. 3 with what the Army said appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
In a statement, the Army said Wednesday that eight soldiers in his company were charged with crimes ranging from dereliction of duty to negligent homicide and manslaughter.
Military officials gave no details on exactly what role the soldiers are alleged to have played in Chen's death. But a community activist raised the possibility that their bullying drove him to suicide.
Chen's fellow soldiers dragged him across the floor, threw stones at the back of his head, forced him to hold liquid in his mouth while upside down as part of an apparent hazing, and called him "Jackie Chen" in a mocking accent in a reference to the action star Jackie Chan, according to Elizabeth OuYang, president of the New York chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans.
The details of his alleged hazing came from Facebook and email messages, discussions with cousins and a few pages of Chen's journal released by the Army, OuYang said at a Chinatown news conference.
"Whether suicide or homicide, those responsible for mistreating Danny are responsible for his death," she said.
Chen's relatives said they were encouraged by the charges.
"We realize that Danny will never return, but it gives us some hope," said Yen Tao Chen, his father, speaking through a translator. Chen's parents are immigrants from China.
Community activists said the Army still has not fully explained the circumstances of Chen's death. They are meeting with Pentagon officials Jan. 4.
"We need to know the whole truth," Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., said. She added: "Racial discrimination and intolerance have no place in today's military."
The Army announced earlier it is investigating Chen's death.
Chen was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, based in Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
The Army identified the soldiers charged as 1st Lt. Daniel J. Schwartz, Staff Sgt. Blaine G. Dugas, Staff Sgt. Andrew J. Van Bockel, Sgt. Adam M. Holcomb, Sgt. Jeffrey T. Hurst, Spc. Thomas P. Curtis, Spc. Ryan J. Offutt and Sgt. Travis F. Carden. Their hometowns were not released.
VanBockel, Holcomb, Hurst, Curtis and Offutt were charged with the most serious offenses, including involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide, and assault and battery.
Schwartz, the only officer among the accused, was charged with dereliction of duty.
The soldiers are still in Afghanistan but have been assigned to a different base, removed from their duty positions and placed under closer supervision, the military said.
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
Google+ update will add new Hangout features, give first dibs to famous people
Google+ update will add new Hangout features, give first dibs to famous people originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Dec 2011 07:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Friday, December 16, 2011
Ky. Rep. Davis won't seek re-election to Congress (AP)
FRANKFORT, Ky. ? Republican U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis says he won't seek re-election to Congress.
In a statement Thursday he said he's leaving so he can spend more time with his family.
The fiscal and social conservative has served a district that stretches along the top of Kentucky from the Louisville suburbs to the West Virginia border since 2005.
National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions said Kentucky is losing an "influential" and "exemplary" representative.
In a written statement, Davis boasted of "an exceptionally competent staff," saying that "together we have passed critical pieces of legislation and enacted laws to reform our government, strengthen our national security, protect our veterans and service members, create economic revival and energy independence, and improve transparency and accountability of the government."
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Olympus meets deadline for revised earnings report (AP)
TOKYO ? Olympus Corp. submitted revised earnings reports Wednesday, meeting a deadline to avoid being removed from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It still risks getting delisted later on because of an accounting scandal.
The piles of documents for the reports dating back five years were accepted by financial regulators three hours before the deadline expired.
The Tokyo bourse has the final say in deciding whether to boot out the once prestigious Japanese camera and medical equipment maker, and is still investigating the company's dubious accounting.
The deception at Olympus, dating back to the 1990s, to hide 117.7 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in investment losses came to light when former President and Chief Executive Michael Woodford blew the whistle, questioning expensive acquisitions and exorbitant fees for financial advice.
Woodford, a 51-year-old Briton and a rare foreigner to lead a major Japanese company, was fired in October after confronting top Olympus executives.
He returned to Japan this week to meet with investors and lawmakers and to try to lead a turnaround at Olympus. Last month, he visited to meet police and other investigators.
Woodford has said he wants to fix Olympus and has expressed hopes shareholders will back him. Woodford has also repeatedly said that he hopes Olympus will not be delisted.
Olympus did not have an immediate comment. President Shuichi Takayama has scheduled a news conference Thursday to go over the earnings filings. Olympus has said the cover-up losses were recouped over the years.
The company reported in its corrected documentation a loss of 32.3 billion yen ($414 million) for the first half of the fiscal year, through September, a reversal from a 3.8 billion yen profit the same period a year earlier.
Takayama, who took helm after the scandal broke, has said Woodford lacks the right teamwork style to lead the company, although now acknowledges the positive side of Woodford's whistleblowing. Olympus initially denied any wrongdoing and lambasted Woodford.
It is still unclear if Woodford will manage a comeback. Some people, such as former board member Koji Miyata, see him as a hero and have begun an online campaign to bring back Woodford. A date has not yet been set for a general shareholders meeting.
The scandal has prompted soul-searching in Japan Inc. on living up to global standards in governance.
Some experts say laws need to be updated, corporate boards needs more outside members and transparency needs to be strengthened. Ruling and opposition legislators met with Woodford to hear his ideas about better corporate practices.
No one has been charged in the scandal. But Olympus management has said several top company men were involved in the scheme and has promised to investigate 70 officials, including former and current executives and auditors, to pursue possible criminal charges.
A third-party panel set up by Olympus, including a former Japanese Supreme Court judge, released the findings of an investigation earlier this month, which said top executives who were "rotten to the core" had orchestrated the accounting cover-up spanning three decades.
The fees for financial advice and overvalued acquisitions were part of an elaborate deception utilizing overseas banks and several funds to keep the massive losses off the company's books, according to Olympus.
Japanese magazine Facta was first to report the dubious money.
Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, who was behind Woodford's appointment as chief executive and later his firing, has since resigned as chairman. He is among several executives suspected of knowing about the scheme.
Last month, Olympus dismissed Executive Vice President Hisashi Mori, saying he was involved in the cover-up along with Kikukawa. A company auditor also resigned.
Olympus stock plunged after the scandal broke but has since recouped some of those losses. It slipped 4.1 percent to 1,314 yen in Tokyo Wednesday.
___
Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at http://twitter.com/yurikageyama
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Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Russia's Putin and party suffer election blow (Reuters)
MOSCOW (Reuters) ? Russian voters have dealt Vladimir Putin's ruling party a heavy blow by cutting its parliamentary majority in an election that showed growing unease with his domination of the country as he prepares to reclaim the presidency.
Incomplete results showed Putin's United Russia was struggling even to win 50 percent of the votes in Sunday's election, compared with more than 64 percent four years ago. Opposition parties said even that outcome was inflated by fraud.
Although Putin is still likely to win a presidential election in March, Sunday's result could dent the authority of the man who has ruled for almost 12 years with a mixture of hardline security policies, political acumen and showmanship but was booed and jeered after a martial arts bout last month.
United Russia had 49.94 percent of the votes after results were counted in 70 percent of voting districts for the election to the State Duma, the lower house of parliament. Exit polls had also put United Russia below 50 percent.
"These elections are unprecedented because they were carried out against the background of a collapse in trust in Putin, (President Dmitry) Medvedev and the ruling party," said Vladimir Ryzhkov, a liberal opposition leader barred from running.
"I think that the March (presidential) election will turn into an even bigger political crisis; disappointment, frustration, with even more dirt and disenchantment, and an even bigger protest vote."
Putin made his mark restoring order in a country suffering from a decade of chaos following the collapse of the Soviet Union. He moved quickly to crush a separatist rebellion in the southern Muslim Chechen region, restored Kremlin control over wayward regions and presided over an economic revival.
He has maintained a tough man image with stunts such as riding a horse bare chested, tracking tigers and flying a fighter plane. But the public appears to have wearied of the antics and his popularity, while still high, has fallen.
Many voters, fed up with widespread corruption, refer to United Russia as the party of swindlers and thieves and resent the huge gap between the rich and poor. Some fear Putin's return to the presidency may herald economic and political stagnation.
PUTIN SAYS OPTIMAL RESULT
Putin and Medvedev, who took up the presidency in 2008 when Putin was forced to step down after serving a maximum two consecutive terms, made a brief appearance at a subdued meeting at United Russia headquarters.
Medvedev said United Russia, which had previously held a two thirds majority allowing it to change the constitution without opposition support, was prepared to forge alliances on certain issues to secure backing for legislation.
"This is an optimal result which reflects the real situation in the country," Putin, 59, said. "Based on this result we can guarantee stable development of our country."
But there was little to cheer for the man who has dominated Russian politics since he became acting president when Boris Yeltsin quit at the end of 1999 and was elected head of state months later.
His path back to the presidency may now be a little more complicated, with signs growing that voters feel cheated by his decision to swap jobs with Medvedev next year and dismayed by the prospect of more than a decade more of one man at the helm.
"It's the beginning of the end," political analysts Andrei Piontkovsky said. "It (the result) shows a loss of prestige for the party and the country's leaders."
COMMUNIST GAINS
Two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the communists were the main beneficiaries, their vote almost doubling to around 20 percent, according to the partial results.
"Russia has a new political reality even if they rewrite everything," said Sergei Obukhov, a communist parliamentarian.
Many of the votes were cast in protest against United Russia rather than in support of communist ideals because the Party is seen by some Russians as the only credible opposition force.
"With sadness I remember how I passionately vowed to my grandfather I would never vote for the Communists," Yulia Serpikova, 27, a freelance location manager in the film industry, said. "It's sad that with the ballot in hand I had to tick the box for them to vote against it all."
Opposition parties complained of election irregularities in parts of the country spanning 9,000 km (5,600 miles) and a Western-financed electoral watchdog and two liberal media outlets said their sites had been shut down by hackers intent on silencing allegations of violations.
The sites of Ekho Moskvy radio station, online news portal Slon.ru and the watchdog Golos went down at around 8 a.m. even though Medvedev had dismissed talk of electoral fraud.
Police said 70 people were detained in the second city of St Petersburg and dozens were held in Moscow in a series of protests against alleged fraud.
Opposition parties say the election was unfair from the start because of authorities' support for United Russia with cash and television air time.
Independent political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin said a separate analysis showed that United Russia fell even further in cities -- where it had between 30-35 percent of the votes and the Communist have 20-25 percent.
"This is a bad climate for Putin. He has got used to the fact that he controls everything, but now how can he go into a presidential campaign when United Russia has embittered people against their leader?" he asked.
Putin has as yet no serious personal rivals as Russia's leader. He remains the ultimate arbiter between the clans which control the world's biggest energy producer.
The result is a blow also for Medvedev, who led United Russia into the election. His legitimacy as the next prime minister could now be in question. ($1 = 30.8947 Russian roubles)
(Writing by Timothy Heritage, Editing by Ralph Boulton)
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