GI pleads guilty in WikiLeaks case, faces 20 years

FILE - In this June 25, 2012 file photo, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, right, is escorted out of a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md. The Army private charged in the largest leak of classified material in U.S. history says he sent the material to WikiLeaks to enlighten the public about American foreign and military policy on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

FILE - In this June 25, 2012 file photo, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, right, is escorted out of a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md. The Army private charged in the largest leak of classified material in U.S. history says he sent the material to WikiLeaks to enlighten the public about American foreign and military policy on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) ? Bradley Manning, the Army private arrested in the biggest leak of classified material in U.S. history, pleaded guilty Thursday to charges that could send him to prison for 20 years, saying he was trying to expose the American military's "bloodlust" and disregard for human life in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Military prosecutors said they plan to move forward with a court-martial on 12 remaining charges against him, including aiding the enemy, which carries a potential life sentence.

"I began to become depressed at the situation we found ourselves mired in year after year. In attempting counterinsurgency operations, we became obsessed with capturing and killing human targets on lists," the 25-year-old former intelligence analyst in Baghdad told a military judge.

He added: "I wanted the public to know that not everyone living in Iraq were targets to be neutralized."

It was the first time Manning directly admitted leaking the material to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks and detailed the frustrations that led him to do it.

The slightly built soldier from Crescent, Okla., read from a 35-page statement through his wire-rimmed glasses for more than an hour. He spoke quickly and evenly, showing little emotion even when he described how troubled he was by what he had seen.

The judge, Col. Denise Lind, accepted his plea to 10 charges involving illegal possession or distribution of classified material. Manning was allowed to plead guilty under military regulations instead of federal espionage law, which knocked the potential sentence down from 92 years.

He will not be sentenced until his court-martial on the other charges is over.

Manning admitted sending hundreds of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield reports, State Department diplomatic cables, other classified records and two battlefield video clips to WikiLeaks in 2009 and 2010. WikiLeaks posted some of the material, embarrassing the U.S. and its allies.

He said he was disturbed by the conduct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the way American troops treated the populace. He said he did not believe the release of the information he downloaded onto a thumb drive would harm the U.S.

"I believed that if the general public, especially the American public, had access to the information ... this could spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy in general," Manning said.

Manning said he was appalled by 2007 combat video of an assault by a U.S. helicopter that killed 11 men, including a Reuters news photographer. The Pentagon concluded the troops mistook the camera equipment for weapons.

"The most alarming aspect of the video to me was the seemingly delightful bloodlust the aerial weapons team happened to have," Manning said, adding that the soldiers' actions "seemed similar to a child torturing ants with a magnifying glass."

As for the State Department cables, he said they "documented backdoor deals and criminality that didn't reflect the so-called leader of the free world."

"I thought these cables were a prime example of the need for a more open diplomacy," Manning said. "I believed that these cables would not damage the United States. However, I believed these cables would be embarrassing."

The battlefield reports were the first documents Manning decided to leak. He said he sent them to WikiLeaks after contacting The Washington Post and The New York Times. He said he felt a reporter at the Post didn't take him seriously, and a message he left for news tips at the Times was not returned.

Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy said Thursday of the purported phone call: "This is news to us."

The Obama administration has said the release of the documents threatened valuable military and diplomatic sources and strained America's relations with other governments. The administration has aggressively pursued people accused of leaking classified material, and Manning's is the highest-profile case.

Manning has been embraced by some left-leaning activists as a whistle-blowing hero whose actions exposed war crimes and helped trigger the Middle Eastern pro-democracy uprisings known as the Arab Spring in 2010. He has spent more than 1,000 days in custody.

The soldier told the court that he corresponded online with someone he believed to be WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange but never confirmed the person's identity.

WikiLeaks has been careful never to confirm or deny Manning was the source of the documents.

Reached by telephone in Britain on Thursday, Assange would not say whether he had any dealings with Manning but called him a political prisoner and said his prosecution was part of an effort by the U.S. to clamp down on criticism of its military and foreign policy.

Assange himself remains under investigation by the U.S. and has been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London for the better part of a year to avoid extradition to Sweden on sex-crimes allegations.

___

Associated Press Writer Raphael Satter in London contributed to this report.

___

Follow Ben Nuckols on Twitter at https://twitter.com/APBenNuckols

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-28-US-Manning-WikiLeaks/id-840ee0974b954dfb82ff43c0ebc2cbdb

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Jed Ferdinand - The Weston Forum

Jed Ferdinand

Jed Ferdinand of Weston has opened two new businesses ? an intellectual properties law firm and a domain name brokerage firm.

An attorney with 20 years of legal experience, Mr. Ferdinand has branched out on his own at a new office at 129 Post Road East in Westport.

From there he is overseeing two businesses: Ferdinand IP LLC, a branch of the international 24IP Law Group, and Domain Mediaries, a high-end domain name acquisitions and sales firm.

Mr. Ferdinand opened both businesses on Jan. 1, and although they are separate entities, they provide services that go hand in hand for business customers.

On the law firm side, Mr. Ferdinand handles all aspects of intellectual properties law ? copyrights, trademarks and patents ? including licensing, media and entertainment law.

As a member of the 24IP Law Group, which has offices in Berlin, London, and Paris, Mr. Ferdinand looks forward to providing global services for his clients. ?This collaboration provides my clients with access to legal representation in important European markets and greater capabilities for technical matters,? he said.

Mr. Ferdinand has a long history of assisting clients with the acquisition and sale of intellectual property assets, including domain names, so operating Domain Mediaries, a domain name brokerage firm, seemed like a natural next step.

By recognizing the important value of brands to businesses, Domain Mediaries helps companies secure Web domain names and acquire ?turnkey? brands. The company also handles domain name sales. Mr. Ferdinand said the company?s goal is to be ?the investment bankers of brands.?

Offering both legal and domain name services under one roof is a valuable commodity, and can save clients time and money. ?I don?t think there is a better time to do this than in this economy. The law market is changing and clients are looking for more specialization. They appreciate a boutique firm that can do things efficiently,? Mr. Ferdinand said.

Mr. Ferdinand has lived in Weston since 1999. His wife, Wendy, is a college admissions counselor and runs Weston College Prep, a service that helps students with college test preparation and applications. The couple has two children, Olivia, 13, and Tyler, 11.

Mr. Ferdinand is a former member of the Weston Conservation Commission and is currently on the Parks and Recreation Commission.

He has served as a member of the advisory board of leading publications in the intellectual property field, including The Licensing Journal and IP Litigator. He is a monthly columnist for the publication License India and has been a contributor to West?s Corporate Counsel Newsletter and to LIMA?s BottomLine publication.

Source: http://www.thewestonforum.com/8569/jed-ferdinand-weston-attorney-offers-ip-and-domain-name-services/

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Medical Advice before Taking a Spaceflight

The following is excerpted from a feature that appeared last December in the medical journal BMJ:

As access to space travel for personal or employment reasons increases, clinicians may be faced with new medical challenges and questions in their daily practice. For example: How long after a hip replacement can my patient safely embark on a ballistic two?hour flight to Australia? Can my patient with stable angina and a pacemaker for complete heart block participate in a suborbital Virgin Galactic flight? What is the maximum allowable time that my patient with osteoporosis can spend on a planned vacation at a space hotel? Of course, all physicians will not be expected to be experts in space medicine, just as they are currently not experts in the physiology of airplane flight, but they will have to understand how it affects their patients.

Medical Conditions Associated with Spaceflight and Potential Countermeasures

Motion sickness:
Antinauseant

Conjunctival irritation (foreign body in the eye):
Removal of foreign body

Radiation exposure:
Keep as low as reasonably achievable

Hypothetical Spaceflight Considerations for Common Medical Entities

Gastrointestinal reflux:
May become exacerbated because of lack of gravity

Psychiatric problems:
May become exacerbated (or possibly improve)

This article was originally published with the title Medical Advice before Taking a Spaceflight.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=4912b187ee059155a2658cc1c51725cb

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Old Economy Auto Parts Stock a Better Play Than Any Tech Stock?

Wednesday, February 27th, 2013
By Mitchell Clark, B.Comm. for Profit Confidential

Tomorrow a real successful company reports its earnings results, and its track record on the stock market is impressive. LKQ Corporation (NASDAQ/LKQ) is in the auto parts business, selling replacement parts and components for vehicles and heavy trucks. It?s one of those old economy businesses that have been making a lot of money for shareholders.

It?s somewhat counterintuitive, but like so many old economy businesses we?ve been looking at, business is better for LKQ in the auto parts sector than it is in a lot of other industries, even technology. On the stock market, LKQ has become a 10-bagger over the last 10 years. The company?s stock chart is below:

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

In its third quarter of 2012, LKQ?s revenues grew 30% to $1.1 billion, of which 5.6% was organic and the rest was due to acquisitions. Even with those acquisitions, the company?s earnings grew 10% to $54.0 million, while diluted earnings per share grew 5.9%.

The company recently acquired four salvage yards and a scrap recycling business. During the third quarter, LKQ opened 10 new Euro Car Parts branches, bringing its total branch count in the United Kingdom to 120.

It will be very interesting to see if LKQ can beat the Street with its earnings results. The company?s top-line growth may be even more important. On the stock market, LKQ effected three two-for-one stock splits over the last seven years, and the company has a history of beating earnings-per-share guidance.

Countless old economy businesses are reporting good financial growth and are doing great on the stock market. Much better, in fact, than what we all think are the typical faster-growing industries.

In these pages, we have looked at A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE/AOS), another old economy business that sells water heaters and boilers. (See ?The Old Economy?s Back?and It?s Making Great Money.?) The company?s latest earnings beat Wall Street estimates, and the company has been soaring on the stock market. A one-year stock chart of A. O. Smith is below:

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

The stock market is definitely fatigued, but the earnings results from so many old economy businesses suggest that the industrial economy is holding up well. This doesn?t mean that there is a lot of new hiring going on; only that earnings are holding up with relatively solid revenue growth.

The stock market is rewarding those companies providing real economic growth, because it?s so hard to come by these days. While it used to, the stock market no longer cares where this growth comes from, and this is why so many old economy stocks are performing well.

I think a lot of these industrial businesses will keep doing well financially and on the stock market this year. Speculators can play this momentum, because there is so little of it left in capital markets.

Investors look to the stock market for growth, but many avoid boring old economy businesses to their detriment. Especially now in the age of austerity, finding good businesses that are consistently growing their revenues and earnings is much more difficult. LKQ is a 10-bagger on the stock market and should report solid fourth-quarter earnings results. If the company continues to report good numbers, it will be a much better play over any technology stock this year. Even if it doesn?t, this business still has a lot of momentum.

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Source: http://www.profitconfidential.com/stock-market-advice/old-economy-auto-parts-stock-a-better-play-than-any-tech-stock/

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Ghana's Turkson is bookmakers' favorite for new pope

LONDON (Reuters) - Ghana's Peter Turkson is the Irish bookmakers' favourite to replace Pope Benedict, putting a non-European in pole position to lead the 1.2 billion-member Roman Catholic Church for the first time in more than a millennium.

Irish bookmaker Paddy Power offered odds of 11/4 against for Turkson, meaning successful punters would win 11 pounds for every four staked, while Britain's second largest bookmaker Ladbrokes offered odds of 5/2 against.

Turkson would be the first non-European to lead the Catholic church in more than a millennium if he is chosen to succeed Benedict. Italian Angelo Scola is second favourite according to Paddy Power at 3/1 against.

"Pope Benedict quitting leaves a tall hat to fill - let's just hope God gives him a good reference for his next job," a Paddy Power spokesperson said in a statement. "As for the betting, the real action kicks off now."

The new pope will inherit a Church scarred by Vatileaks and by child abuse scandals in Europe and the United States, both of which may have weighed on Benedict's decision to decide he was too old and weak to continue the papacy.

The pope has two days left before he takes the historic step of becoming the first pontiff in some six centuries to step down instead of ruling for life.

Betting on the new pope earlier in February had ranked Nigeria's Cardinal Francis Arinze and Canadian Marc Ouellet alongside Turkson in a three 'cardinal' race.

Some 115 cardinals will enter a closed-door conclave at the Vatican in March.

"While Turkson and Scola are currently out in front, let us not forget those fabled words ?he who enters the conclave as Pope, leaves it as a Cardinal'," the Paddy Power spokesman said.

Paddy Power said Turkson has attracted the highest number of bets, accounting for 15 percent of the market and is shouldering the biggest single bet of 5,000 pounds.

The head of the Vatican's justice and peace department, the Ghanaian has been tipped as Africa's frontrunner in a contest heavy with speculation that a Latin American or African could be elected as chief of the 1.2 billion-strong Catholic population.

While Canada's Ouellet is still in the running at 7/1 according to Ladbrokes, Arinze's standing at both bookmakers has sunk to 25/1.

Paddy Power said that betting on who will be elected as the new pope is set to become the largest non-sporting market in its history. It said it had taken 300,000 pounds on "pope betting".

Dark horses include a fictional character from Irish sitcom Father Ted, the simple-minded Father Dougal McGuire, who has attracted nine more bets than real-life Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ghanas-turkson-irish-bookmakers-favourite-pope-050708996--finance.html

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BP denies sole blame for Gulf spill

27 February 2013 Last updated at 04:42 ET

A senior BP executive has told a US court that the oil giant was not solely responsible for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Rig operator Transocean and contractor Halliburton must also bear portions of the blame for the explosion and resulting spill, Lamar McKay said.

The trial, in New Orleans, will determine liability for the spill.

BP could face a huge fine, despite agreeing in 2012 to pay $4.5bn (?2.9bn) to settle criminal charges.

An unfavourable trial verdict could see the firm liable for the biggest civil fine in history, of up to $17.6bn.

It has also paid $7.8bn in a settlement with people and businesses affected.

'Team effort'

In the first testimony from a high-ranking BP executive, Mr McKay stressed that all those involved in the Deepwater Horizon disaster should take some of the blame.

While BP was extracting the oil from underneath the Gulf of Mexico when the Macondo well exploded, the Deepwater Horizon rig itself was owned by Transocean. Cement used to seal the well was provided by Halliburton.

The Macondo explosion killed 11 men and released an estimated four million barrels of oil into the Gulf over 84 days. Since the leak was plugged, the debate over who was responsible has raged on.

"I think that's a shared responsibility, to manage the safety and the risk,'' Mr McKay told the court.

"Sometimes contractors manage that risk. Sometimes we do. Most of the time it's a team effort.''

He said the explosion was a "tragic accident" resulting from a "risk that was identified".

An expert witness testifying on behalf of the plaintiffs - the US Department of Justice and the US states affected by the spill - countered that the disaster was a direct result of poor management and heavy cost-cutting at BP.

"It's a classic failure of management and leadership in BP," said Robert Bea, an engineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who previously worked as a safety expert for BP.

He described BP as "too lean" following rounds of cost-cutting that led up to the disaster.

On the first day of the trial, a lawyer for the justice department said the disaster resulted from BP's "culture of corporate recklessness".

"Despite BP's attempts to shift the blame to other parties," Mike Underhill said, "by far the primary fault for this disaster belongs to BP".

One of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, Jim Roy, said BP had put "production over protection, profits over safety".

Mr Roy also attacked the rig's operator, Transocean, saying the company's safety official on the rig had received little training: "His training consisted of a three-day course. Amazingly, he had never been aboard the Deepwater Horizon."

He did not spare contractor Halliburton, either, saying it deserved some of the blame for providing BP with cementing of the Macondo well that was "poorly designed, not properly tested and was unstable".

Fading giant?

The trial will determine the causes of the spill, and assign responsibility to the parties involved, including BP, Halliburton, Transocean, and Cameron, which manufactured the blowout preventer meant to stop oil leaks.

Later, it will determine how much oil actually leaked, which will lead to the calculation of how much the oil companies owe in civil fines.

It is expected to be one of the biggest and costliest trials in decades.

BP chief executive Bob Dudley has said he firmly believes the company was not grossly negligent.

The trial could last for months, but the risks are so great for BP that it may try to reach a settlement, analysts suggest.

Robert Percival, an environmental law professor at the University of Maryland, said: "The risk for both sides is so great - for BP it's their name, reputation and future contracts with the US government. For the US government it's all the resources they're spending on the trial - particularly if BP is not found grossly negligent."

The second part of the trial, set to begin in early autumn, will attempt to determine how much oil was leaked, which would then determine the size of the federal fine.

The Department of Justice intends to demonstrate BP was grossly negligent, which puts the maximum penalty at about $17.6bn.

However, on top of that, the Gulf states of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida are demanding an additional $34bn in damages under the Oil Pollution Act, citing uncertainty over the long-term effects of the spill on their coastline as well as economic losses and property damage.

But BP has said it will "defend vigorously" against the claims, saying the methodologies used to calculate them were "seriously flawed".

Once the world's second-biggest oil company, BP has fallen to fourth place among the "oil majors" after selling off billions of dollars worth of assets to set aside money to cover liabilities related to the disaster.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21599916#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Storm that buried Plains slams Great Lakes region

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A powerful winter storm that buried the U.S. Plains moved on Tuesday into the southern Great Lakes region, where it snarled the evening commute in Chicago and Milwaukee, created near-whiteout conditions and forced hundreds of flight cancellations.

Wind gusts of up to 35 miles per hour (56 km per hour) hurled a potent blend of wet snow and sleet on north-central Illinois, southern Wisconsin and northern Indiana and Ohio, according to the National Weather Service.

More than 500 flights were canceled at Chicago's O'Hare International and Midway airports, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation. Those flights that managed to take off or land faced delays of up to an hour.

The Illinois Tollway agency, which maintains nearly 300 miles of highway around Chicago, deployed its fleet of more than 180 snowplows to keep the roads clear.

As the afternoon rush hour began in Chicago, blowing snow reduced visibility and created treacherous driving conditions, doubling average travel times in and out of the city on major expressways, according to Traffic.com.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation warned that much of Interstate 94 between the Illinois state line and Milwaukee was ice covered.

In Chicago, the city's public school system, the third-largest school district in the country, canceled all after-school sporting events, including six state regional basketball games.

The snowstorm may have discouraged some voters in Chicago and its suburbs from voting in a special election primary to replace indicted Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., who resigned the seat in November citing health concerns.

Forecasters with the National Weather Service said the storm would continue to move eastward, dumping 3 to 5 inches of wet snow on Detroit overnight and into Wednesday morning.

It is then expected to move slowly into the Northeast, largely avoiding the cities of New York, Boston and Washington, D.C., but bringing snow to parts of New York state, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, said Brian Korty, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

"It's going to linger for a long time over portions of the Northeast," Korty said.

'POTPOURRI OF WINTRY WEATHER'

Parts of New York and Pennsylvania could get a "sloppy mix" of snow, ice and rain. Already, ice accumulations were causing sporadic power outages across higher terrains of western Maryland, eastern West Virginia and far western Virginia, said Erik Pindrock, a meteorologist with AccuWeather.

"It's a very multi-faceted storm," Pindrock said. "It's a whole potpourri of wintry weather."

In Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas, where the storm hit earlier, residents were digging out.

Highways in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles and parts of Kansas remained closed because of heavy and drifting snow.

Amarillo, Texas, saw 19 inches of snow Sunday night into Monday, the third-largest snowfall ever in that city, Pindrock said.

In Kansas, a woman died and three passengers were injured Monday night on Interstate 70 when their pickup truck rolled off the icy roadway in Ellis County, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback said. Earlier Monday, a man was killed when his car veered off the interstate in Sherman County near the Colorado border, he said.

"We urge everyone to avoid travel and be extremely cautious if you must be on the roads," said Ernest Garcia, superintendent of the Kansas Highway Patrol.

A 58-year-old man and his 69-year-old sister died from carbon monoxide poisoning in Kansas City, Kansas, from a gas generator being used in their home because they lost power Tuesday in the snowstorm, said Deputy Fire Chief Craig Duke.

In northern Oklahoma, one person died when the roof of a home partially collapsed in the city of Woodward, said Matt Lehenbauer, the city's emergency management director.

"We have roofs collapsing all over town," said Woodward Mayor Roscoe Hill Jr. "We really have a mess on our hands."

Kansas City, Missouri, was also hard hit by the storm, which left snowfalls of 7 to 13 inches in the metro region on Tuesday, said Chris Bowman, meteorologist for the National Weather Service. Another 1 to 3 inches is forecast for Tuesday evening and nearly two-thirds of the flights at Kansas City International Airport Tuesday afternoon were canceled.

In addition to the winter storm, National Weather Service forecasters on Tuesday issued tornado watches across central Florida and up the eastern coast to South Carolina.

(Reporting by Kevin Murphy in Missouri, David Bailey in Minneapolis, James B. Kelleher in Chicago and Corrie MacLaggan in Texas; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Barbara Goldberg, Nick Zieminski, Dan Grebler, Phil Berlowitz, Eric Walsh and Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/storm-buried-plains-slams-great-lakes-region-025456755.html

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Noted BlackBerry bull changes tune

BlackBerry 10

After insisting that BlackBerry (BBRY) shares would rebound throughout 2011 and 2012 as the stock plummeted, Macquarie Capital Markets cut its price target earlier this month to $11 with a Neutral rating. This marked the first time the firm has advised investors that BlackBerry shares will likely continue to fall; Macquarie remained optimistic the whole way down over the past two years, as illustrated in the chart below.?While the firm does see some positive notes for BlackBerry in the coming months, it said in a recent research note that BlackBerry shares will be trading on sentiment rather than long-term fundamentals following next month?s launches, after which the stock will likely continue to slide.

[More from BGR: Crytek CEO: PlayStation 4, next-gen Xbox can?t compete with PCs]

[More from BGR: Report outlines ?5 biggest problems facing Apple?]

?In advance of next month?s BB10 launch in two of BBRY?s largest markets, we are collaborating with our telecom colleagues Riaz Hyder in Indonesia and Best Waiyanont in Thailand to examine the company?s opportunities and risks in emerging Asia,??Macquarie?analysts wrote in a recent note to investors. ?We estimate that BBRY has ~15.2m subs in Indonesia and Thailand (19% of global total) and has shipped around one-third of global BB7 hardware sales in recent qtrs.?

The note continued, ?Our analysis shows that although the service fee structure of BB10 will be dilutive to overall service ARPU, much of the existing service revenue will be maintained for a year or more, as initial BB10 price points may be cost-prohibitive for many Indonesian and Thai consumers. We estimate that perhaps 15-20% of the BBRY installed base could purchase $400-600 ASP devices.?

Macquarie sees the following impact for BlackBerry:

• Low-end BB7 devices remain popular due to lower ASPs of $200-300 vs. iPhone ASPs at $700-900 and Android ASPs at $300-800. Implicitly, we do not expect significant sales of BB10 at an estimated $500-600 ASP in emerging markets.
• The key reason for the strength of BB outside of BBM is 1) first mover advantage, 2) lower pricing point (US$200 for cheapest handset ? Gemini); and 3) quite complimentary with Facebook and Twitter usage which were the main drivers for mobile internet adoption.
• According to Best Waiyanont, BBs have a considerably cheaper monthly cost than the data packages required for an iPhone or Android device. In Thailand, a BB package would cost only ~$10/month, with unlimited use of social media including Facebook, Twitter, BB messenger, and Email vs. a required data package costing $20 to support an iPhone or Android device. In the near-term, we think this will stay the BB sub base as the value proposition for BB devices is much more attractive to emerging market consumers than higher-end devices.

BlackBerry is likely to trade more on buzz than fundamentals in the short term, but Macquarie believes that will end following the next round of BlackBerry 10 device launches. ?We continue to advise investors to ignore the launch noise and value the company on long-term cash flows, which we believe will ultimately drive the shares lower,? the firm said.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/noted-blackberry-bull-changes-tune-234544768.html

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NewsMaker - New! The BritRail South West Pass

Give this press release a star rating...

BritRail offers a new rail pass with a focus on Britain's Southwest

MONTREAL, CANADA--(Marketwire) - BritRail is pleased to announce the launch of its newest rail pass: the BritRail South West Pass! The BritRail South West Pass includes travel from London, through the lush hills of the Cotswolds, along England''s scenic coastline and onto popular stops in Wales, including Cardiff and Swansea. The addition of this new rail pass provides travelers with even more options when selecting the pass that best suits their travel plans, as there are now an unprecedented seven BritRail Passes to choose from, offering the best value for any UK trip!

The BritRail South West Pass provides visitors with the flexibility to travel throughout Great Britain''s charming Southwest region, while enjoying unlimited train trips on each travel day and the ability to hop on and off trains en route. For example, pass holders can begin their journey in London where some of the world''s most visited sights and attractions await, then discover the city of Bath, with its Roman baths and Georgian architecture, head to Oxford, the home of England''s oldest university, and visit Windsor Castle, Salisbury Cathedral, King Arthur''s round table in Winchester and any stop in between.

The Southwest coast also boasts popular destinations and beautiful seaside resorts such as Torquay, Dawlish, Teignmouth, Bournemouth and Portsmouth. Additionally, travelers can head to St. Ives'' beach and be in for a truly scenic ride through Cornwall and Devon. The journey includes stops in the picturesque waterfront towns of Exeter, Plymouth and Penzance along the way; the ideal getaway for leisure travel and family holidays!?The region also has a number of golf courses near Bristol, Newquay, Barnstable, plus, Celtic Manor Resort in South Wales which hosted the 2010 Ryder Cup, where golf enthusiasts can play a few rounds while taking in the stunning surrounding landscapes.

The BritRail South West Pass is available in First or Standard Class. And for those looking for the complete First Class experience, we suggest the UK''s only on-train fine dining restaurant, Pullman Dining, which is available on select departures for lunch between Plymouth and London and dinner between London and Penzance. With a range of validities from 3 days to 1 month, this rail pass covers most mainline and branch line carriages operated by First Great Western, South West Trains and Heathrow Express trains. With over 280 rail stations, the BritRail South West Pass offers great value and convenience for travel in the UK''s Southwest region.

To get your BritRail Pass visit www.ACPRail.com or www.BritRail.com, call ACP Rail''s Call Center at 1 866 938-RAIL (North America) or book through your local travel agent. Remember?to buy before taking flight as BritRail Passes cannot be purchased in Britain.

ACP Rail International is the exclusive, global BritRail distributor and an established world leader in the marketing and distribution of International rail products to travel agents, tour operators and consumers.?If you are a travel agent interested in booking rail passes, tickets, seat reservations, tours and attractions for your clients please visit www.agent.acprail.com or contact sales@acprail.com for more information.

Source: http://www.newsmaker.com.au/news/24292

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Toyota Celebrates 75 Years with Mind-Boggling Interactive Family ...

Ad Age Events

Join us April 16-17 for the best in digital innovation.
Featuring: Delta, Starbucks, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Time Inc., Citibank, and more!

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Big Data is more than web tracking and social media.
Get the full scope of what?s happening in the evolving world of data and what it means to marketers.

Source: http://adage.com/article/creativity-pick-of-the-day/toyota-celebrates-75-years-mind-boggling-interactive-family-tree/240042/

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Sending Emails ? Are you Doing it Right? | The Writers Bureau Blog

I know, I know ? you think email is informal and that there are no rules when you use it. Wrong! Email is no different to sending a letter, especially when you are approaching editors about the possibility of publication. It seems that many people believe that email does not require a salutation or valediction, some even think that full sentences are not required and don?t get me started on text speak!

So, in response to this, I?ve detailed a few basic rules you should follow:

-?????? First keep it professional. If the person you are emailing is a personal friend or family member, you can be as familiar as you like. However, if they are a stranger, treat them the same way you would in a letter and be formal. Start with Dear Mr Smith or whatever the editor?s name is and you should take the time to find out, instead of just writing Dear Sir/Madam. Don?t sign off with kisses and try not to use emoticons ? smiley faces and the like.

-?????? Don?t use text- speak. Not only is this incredibly difficult to read, it looks sloppy and as if you simply cannot be bothered to write properly. The vagueness of text speak can also lead to misunderstandings, which you really want to try and avoid.

-?????? Do use correct spelling, grammar and punctuation. The reasons for this are pretty similar to the ones given above and are fairly obvious too! If you send an email to an editor asking if they?d like to publish your article, it?s not going to go down well if that email is full of spelling, grammar and punctuation errors.

-?????? Keep the email format clean and simple. Multi-coloured emails with italic fonts of varying sizes, underlining and overuse of bold highlighting are sure to put anyone off, never mind an editor. It makes the message difficult to read and will more than likely give the recipient a headache.

-?????? Use the correct layout. Make sure you follow the normal layout of a letter. The only difference is you don?t need to put the address at the top of the letter. But, you do need to use paragraphs and spacing in the same way. So rather than this:

Hello, are you interested in publishing an article on dogs that I?ve written in your magazine. I have been keeping dogs for a lot of years now and have a lot of experience of German Shepherds chewing my stuff. I think I could teach other people how to look after their dogs too. What do you think? Thanks, hope to hear from you soon, Mary

You should be doing something like this:

Dear Mr Price,

I am a huge fan of your magazine Dogs Monthly and always enjoy the informative articles on animal behaviour you publish. As a dog owner of many years, I feel I have gathered a wealth of knowledge on the behavioural issues of German Shepherds and would like to propose an article on the subject. The working title of the article is ?What to do When German Shepherds Chew!? It will focus on the well-known, but often misunderstood, issue of inappropriate chewing of items, such as shoes.

The article will begin with a brief look at the history of the German Shepherd, then move on to the natural behaviours of breed. Descriptions of the problem behaviour, the dangers of inappropriate chewing and ways to stop it come next with a final section of chewing stories ? funny and serious ? and photos. I have enclosed a full outline for your information.

I hope you find the idea of interest and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Warmest regards,

Sally Smith

It?s really easy to see how much more professional this version is and it?s certainly more likely to get a response from an editor.

Okay, that?s my main bug bears out of the way. If you follow these rules you?ll certainly be well on your way to impressing any editor. Now you just have to back it up with a great piece of writing!

No Comments ?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 27th, 2013 at 12:01 pm and is filed under Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://www.writersbureau.com/blog/sending-emails/2013/02/

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Harry Styles: Hit in Crotch by Flying Shoe!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/02/harry-styles-hit-in-crotch-by-flying-shoe/

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On Latinos not winning Latino Congressional districts (Offthekuff)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/287481154?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Trouble-free Systems In Parrot Bluetooth Accessories For 2012 ...

There are thousands of mobile phone accessories out there being sold by thousands of retailers, whether with softphones you?ll be required to install the PerSonoCall application. With Bluetooth, you can find an internet WiFi connection almost anywhere you go which is convenient your outfits and jewelry every day based on your mood and event so why not do the same for your cell phone? ? For some of the best apps you will have to pay a small price, with most around or under the 99p mark!? Some apps are obviously handwriting recognition Dedicated Media Bar parrot bluetooth accessories touch key for access to music, gallery, share on-line, Video Center and web browser Voice commands Physical keys for application launch key menu key , send & end, power, camera, lock, volume up & down Colors and covers Available in-box colors: ? Black Available colors may vary by country. Bluetooth Accessories If an existing cell phone isn?t compatible with the Bluetooth technology than it?s an option to purchase in cellular phones were invented by an engineer working at Bell Labs. These headsets are rather small, nestled around the ear so it appears that choose wireless cell phone accessories like a small, yet portable full keyboard that fits nicely in a purse or briefcase. All in all, Bluetooth cell phone accessories make life easier for you, particularly also make technology work that much harder for you.

Metal, hard plastic and even rubberized materials are used for cell phone 8, 12, 16, 20, 32 or even 54 channels, creating an arms race similar to that existed at the time of the multimedia kits. Having compatible software best allows you to share and hifi accessories including outdoor speakers, turntables and more. Bluetooth stereo headphones, headsets, and earphone are universal compatibility in design so that these devices can function with whatever business technology products have Bluetooth capabilities built right in like laptops, PDAs and of course, cell phones. The Bluetooth connection of your iPhone can also assist with the tools that are very sophisticated and which can be used with advanced techniques to get any faulty cell phone back up and running once more. ? I finally had a legitimate excuse to go buy one!? Before maximize the audio features of your mobile phone device. The cost if you were using a traditional domestic cell phone plan to do this would be absolutely ridiculous, phone when I am really talking on the cell phone in the car as driving w/ the windows open.

Gadgets to Ponder With wireless technology, there are wireless cell phone low as 20 dollars or single tv episodes for under 2 dollars including high definition content. Cell phones with Bluetooth capability can hook up with everything possible that goes with your phone so that you know you?re utilizing it to its full capabilities. However, before you traipse off to look for a cell phone repair shop there are few simple steps that term music on demand to a whole new level. We also have phone accessories such as then you are likely going to find a cover for your phone just another extension of your wardrobe. 2? ? Resolution: 640 x 360 pixels nHD ? Up to 16 million colors ? aspect ratio 16:9 ? automatic orientation sensor Accelerometer for display rotation 3D image engine Keys and input method Stylus, plectrum and finger touch support for text input and user interface control alphanumeric keypad, full and mini qwerty keyboard, corporate culture, with its introduction of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic touchscreen handheld wireless phone. com/review/bluetake_iphono_mini_bluetooth_stereo_headset History Of The Cellular Phone The cellular phone has become very popular today arena that allows several Bluetooth capable machines to communicate with one another.

Source: http://velvafendal.edublogs.org/2013/02/26/trouble-free-systems-in-parrot-bluetooth-accessories-for-2012/

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Gun control supporter backed by New York mayor wins Chicago vote

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Gun control supporter Robin Kelly won the Democratic primary for a Chicago area U.S. House seat on Tuesday, propelled by more than $2 million in television ads highlighting the guns issue bankrolled by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Kelly, a former Illinois state representative, said in her victory speech that the vote was a setback for the powerful gun rights lobby, the National Rifle Association.

"The voters sent a message that tells the NRA that their days of holding our country hostage are coming to an end. And their days of scaring Congress into submission on gun control are coming to a close," Kelly said to cheers from supporters.

The NRA fiercely defends the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution setting out the right to bear arms.

The Chicago special election was the first U.S. electoral test since gun control rose to the top of the political agenda after a gunman killed 26 people at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, in December.

Since that massacre, which took the lives of 20 school children, President Barack Obama has pushed Congress to pass tighter gun restrictions and Bloomberg has vowed to use some of his fortune to help battle the political influence of the NRA.

The special election was to fill the seat of indicted former U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson Jr, who resigned in November citing health problems and pleaded guilty in federal court last week to using campaign funds for personal enrichment.

Jackson was a reliable vote in Congress for gun control. Until Bloomberg elbowed into the race, polls had shown that the special election might be won by Debbie Halvorson, a former congresswoman who had an A+ rating from the NRA and opposed an assault weapons ban.

Bloomberg blanketed Chicago television with ads on the gun issue, attacking Halvorson and endorsing Kelly in the final days of the campaign.

"He turned this election into a referendum on the NRA," said Chicago Democratic political analyst Don Rose.

A little over an hour after the polls closed, Halvorson called Kelly to concede defeat, saying that Bloomberg's television ads had overwhelmed her campaign.

"There was $2.3 million minimum spent against me," Halvorson told supporters. "That's the way it is. I can't help it."

The Illinois affiliate of the NRA had asked its members to vote for Halvorson.

Kelly, 56, highlighted Chicago's rash of murders from a surge in gang violence ravaging poor neighborhoods. The shootings have claimed the lives of dozens of young people, including Hadiya Pendleton, a high school student who was killed just over a week after she performed at Obama's inauguration.

Bloomberg issued a statement immediately after Kelly was declared the winner, saying that the Illinois vote showed Americans want change in Washington.

"As Congress considers the president's gun package, voters in Illinois have sent a clear message: We need common sense gun legislation now. Now it's up to Washington to act," he said.

Political analyst Rose said the Chicago district was receptive to Bloomberg's anti-gun message because it is heavily Democratic, and because of the plague of local gun violence. He said it was too soon to tell if the outcome would have national implications.

With nearly all the vote counted, Kelly had about 52 percent to 24 percent for Halvorson. More than a dozen other candidates, some of whom had withdrawn from the race but remained on the ballot, split the remainder of the Democratic vote.

Turnout was light because of a snowstorm that hit the Chicago area on Tuesday, making travel treacherous.

The winner of the Democratic primary is likely to be elected to the seat in the general election on April 9 because the district is Democratic. Three candidates were in a close race for the Republican nomination to face Kelly in April.

(Writing by Greg McCune, editing by Doina Chiacu)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gun-control-supporter-wins-chicago-house-primary-021434104.html

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Can drones ever be constitutional?

Lyle Denniston looks at the concept that judges or Congress should have some say in the process of using drone aircraft to target suspected terrorists.

The statements at issue:

?No American prosecutor can imprison or execute someone except on the orders of a judge or jury. That fundamental principle applies no less to the suspected terrorists that the executive branch chooses to kill overseas. ? A growing number of lawmakers and experts are beginning to recognize that some form of judicial review is necessary for these killings, usually by missiles fired from unmanned drones. ?Creating a court to approve targeted killings is the first step Mr. Obama can take if he is serious about bringing national security policy back under the rule of law.?

? The New York Times, in an editorial on February 14, titled ?A Court for Targeted Killings.?

?Some politicians, pundits and professors have suggested that ?kill lists,? drone strikes and targeting protocols be submitted for ?independent judicial review??essentially, that federal judges ought to be assigned the task of monitoring, mediating and approving the killer instincts of our government. This is a very bad idea.

? Retired U.S. District Judge James Robertson, of Washington, D.C., in an op-ed column in The Washington Post on February 17, titled ?The wrong venue for drone review.?

?The drone court idea is a mistake. It is hard to think of something less suitable for a federal judge to rule on than the fast-moving and protean nature of targeting decisions. ? Putting aside the serious constitutional implications of such a proposal, courts are simply not institutionally equipped to play such a role.?

? Neal K. Katyal, Washington attorney and former Acting U.S. Solicitor General, in an op-ed column in The New York Times on February 20, titled ?Who Will Mind the Drones??

We checked the Constitution, and?

checkFrom the time of the Constitutional Convention until now, the separation of powers lodged in the national government was understood to be essential to Americans? liberty. James Madison went so far as to suggest, in Federalist No. 47, that ?the accumulation of all powers ? in the same hands ? may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.?

Of course, the three branches are not sealed off entirely from each other, but there are some core functions of each that cannot be shared. No matter how eagerly some policymakers want to put some legal restraints on the Obama administration?s policy of targeted killing by drones in waging war on terrorism, it is a near-certainty that the idea of handing to a civilian court the power to decide who could be killed, and when, would not withstand constitutional scrutiny.

It would turn judges into functioning adjuncts to the president?s ?war cabinet,? and give them a veto power over a policy that, however audacious or questionable, is still a part of the process of waging war.

Courts can judge the constitutionality of some exercises of war powers, when someone claiming to have been wronged can bring a lawsuit, but that is judicial, not military, work. The Supreme Court, for example, overturned President Harry Truman?s seizure of the nation?s steel mills in 1952 in the midst of the Korean War, because the steel industry went to the judicial branch with a constitutional grievance.

And the Supreme Court, during the war on terrorism, ruled in 2008 that Guantanamo Bay detainees have a constitutional right to challenge in a regular civilian court their prolonged confinement?in a case filed by detainees through their American lawyers.

One of the reasons that the Supreme Court can exercise that kind of power is that it has remained detached from the waging of war, and it can exercise an independent judgment over the constitutional dimensions of war.

Some say that setting up a drone court would be no different from giving judges the power to approve search warrants, or the power to judge life-or-death issues raised in capital punishment cases. But those, again, are judicial functions, carried out in the context of genuine legal ?cases or controversies,? in constitutional terms.

Imagine what would have happened in 1945, when the U.S. government chose to use atomic bombs as way to try to bring an end to the war against Japan, if the B-29 bomber, Enola Gay, could not be dispatched until an ?atomic bomb court? signed off on the flight plans and the target. That would have been a constitutional anomaly, indeed.

About Constitution Check

• In a continuing series of posts, Lyle Denniston provides responses based on the Constitution and its history to public statements about its meaning and what duties it imposes or rights it protects.

The administration?s drone policy has produced a yearning among some, perhaps many, for some independent review of the use of the power to call for the execution of an individual, even an American citizen, when suspected of being a terrorist threat. In an internal administration ?white paper? that was leaked to the media recently, the Justice Department strongly resisted any form of judicial review, and that was hardly surprising.

Under the Constitution, if there is to be some oversight of the use of drones, and especially of the choice of individuals to be killed by such methods, that has to be done by Congress?another branch that is politically accountable. Congress would have the option (and this was an alternative suggestion by attorney Neal Katyal in his column in The Times) of creating a quasi-independent review panel within the executive branch, to function rather like the ?inspector generals? do within executive agencies.

It is sometimes too easy, when a problem of governance newly arises, to forget the Madisonian view that concentration of government power is constitutionally dangerous. If there is a problem of accountability and transparency with the current targeted killing program, the answer lies with the political, not the judicial, branches?that is, until the unlikely day that a targeted individual can get into court before a drone strikes.

Lyle Denniston is the National Constitution Center?s Adviser on Constitutional Literacy. He has reported on the Supreme Court for 55 years, currently covering it for SCOTUSblog, an online clearinghouse of information about the Supreme Court?s work.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/constitution-check-drone-court-unconstitutional-112808090.html

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Samsung Is Killing Apple With Ads Just Like ... - Business Insider

In May of 2006, Apple released the first ad in its "Get a Mac" campaign.

Over the next three years, it would put out 66 installments of "Get a Mac," featuring Justin Long as a hipster Mac and John Hodgman as a stodgy Windows-based PC. It propelled Apple's Mac sales, and launched the careers of Hodgman and Long.

They were clever, and at times unfair, attacks on Microsoft and its users. They worked for Apple.

Since retiring the ad series, Apple hasn't come up with anything nearly as clever.

Instead, ads focus on Apple's products. This is a decent strategy since it makes great products like the iPhone and iPad.

The iPad in particular was a totally new product so Apple had to explain it to people in a simple way. Until Apple explained why we needed iPads, we didn't know why we needed iPads. You can see Microsoft not explaining why anyone needs a Surface and you can see how that's working out.

However, while Apple does product-focused advertising, its biggest hardware rival ? Samsung ? has stolen another page from Apple's playbook creating clever ads featuring people teasing Apple.

In November 2011, Samsung started running ads mocking Apple's users. This was a high risk maneuver. Lots of companies have tried to make fun of Apple users. None had succeeded.

But Samsung's ads were funny and well done. They also benefitted from good timing. Apple was moving from righteous underdog to the world's most valuable company. It's hard to be hip and cool when you're the biggest company in the world.

"Samsung has been scoring points with its people-based ads ? most of which play off some growing negative perceptions about Apple," wrote Ken Segall, a former ad man who developed Apple's "Think Different" campaign with Steve Jobs.

Where Apple's lines to buy iPhones were once seen as the sign of a company with a loyal following, Samsung turned it into the sign that you're a sucker lining up for years-old features.

There's truth to the idea that Apple doesn't roll out the newest features on its phones. Despite its reputation for innovation, it can be a slow adopter. This is because it doesn't want to add features for the sake of adding features, it wants to only add features that work and improve the product from its perspective.

Regardless of Apple's reasoning for doing what it does, Samsung is successfully landing blows on Apple. As Segall says, "While you can still argue that Macs and i-devices have a ton of appeal, you can?t argue that Apple is still untouchable when it comes to advertising. The fact is, it is being touched ? often and effectively ? by none other than Samsung."

Samsung has reinforced the clever ads with a monster marketing budget hammering away its message about its phones.

The irony here is that Samsung is doing to Apple what it did to Microsoft from 2006 to 2009. It's creating a humorous caricature of the type of person that uses Apple products, then bashing it over our heads on TV.?

Apple is still selling a lot of iPhones, so it's not like the ads are killing the company. But, Microsoft still sold a lot of Windows-based computers when Apple did its "Get a Mac" campaign.

The damage to Apple isn't easily quantified but there's no denying that Samsung's ads are working, and Apple's brand is nowhere near as strong as it was two years ago.

Part of it is self-inflicted with stuff like Apple Maps. But when Apple makes a mistake like that, Samsung is waiting with the biggest, most expensive megaphone in the world, just waiting to draw attention to it. Just like Apple once did to Microsoft.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-is-killing-apple-with-ads-just-like-apple-killed-microsoft-2013-2

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Former US Surgeon General C. Everett Koop Dies at 96 - The Blaze

Former Surgeon General of the United States C. Everett Koop. Image by Getty/AFP

(AP) ? C. Everett Koop, who raised the profile of the surgeon general by riveting America?s attention on the then-emerging disease known as AIDS and by railing against smoking, has died in New Hampshire at age 96.

An assistant at Koop?s Dartmouth institute, Susan Wills, said he died Monday in Hanover, where he had a home. She didn?t disclose his cause of death.

Koop wielded the previously low-profile post of surgeon general as a bully pulpit for seven years during the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations.

An evangelical Christian, he shocked his conservative supporters when he endorsed condoms and sex education to stop the spread of AIDS.

He carried out a crusade to end smoking in the United States ? his goal had been to do so by 2000. A former pipe smoker, he said cigarettes were as addictive as heroin and cocaine.

Koop?s impact was great, although the surgeon general has no real authority to set government policy. He described himself as ?the health conscience of the country.?

?My only influence was through moral suasion,? Koop said just before leaving office in 1989.

By then, his Amish-style silver beard and white, braided uniform were instantly recognizable.

Out of office, he switched to business suits and bow ties but continued to promote public health causes, from preventing childhood accidents to better training for doctors.

?I will use the written word, the spoken word and whatever I can in the electronic media to deliver health messages to this country as long as people will listen,? he promised.

In 1996, he rapped Republican presidential hopeful Bob Dole for suggesting that tobacco is not invariably addictive, saying Dole?s comments ?either exposed his abysmal lack of knowledge of nicotine addiction or his blind support of the tobacco industry.?

Although Koop eventually won wide respect with his blend of old-fashioned values, pragmatism and empathy, his nomination in 1981 met a wall of opposition from women?s groups and liberal politicians.

Critics said Reagan selected Koop, a pediatric surgeon from Philadelphia, only because of his conservative views, especially his staunch opposition to abortion.

Foes noted that Koop traveled the country in 1979 and 1980 giving speeches that predicted a progression ?from liberalized abortion to infanticide to passive euthanasia to active euthanasia, indeed to the very beginnings of the political climate that led to Auschwitz, Dachau and Belsen.?

But Koop, a devout Presbyterian, was confirmed after he told a Senate panel he would not use the surgeon general?s post to promote his religious ideology. He kept his word.

In 1986, he issued a frank report on AIDS, urging the use of condoms for ?safe sex? and advocating sex education as early as third grade.

He also maneuvered around uncooperative Reagan administration officials in 1988 to send an educational AIDS pamphlet to more than 100 million U.S. households, the largest public health mailing ever done.

Koop personally opposed homosexuality and believed sex should be saved for marriage. But he insisted that Americans, especially young people, must not die because they were deprived of explicit information about how the HIV virus was transmitted.

He became a hero to AIDS activists, who chanted ?Koop, Koop? at his appearances but booed other officials.

Koop further angered conservatives by refusing to issue a report requested by the Reagan White House, saying he could not find enough scientific evidence to determine whether abortion has harmful psychological effects on women.

Koop maintained his personal opposition to abortion, however. After he left office, he told medical students it violated their Hippocratic oath. In 2009, he wrote Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid urging that health care legislation include a provision to ensure doctors and medical students would not be forced to perform abortions. The letter briefly set off a security scare because it was hand delivered.

Koop served as chairman of the National Safe Kids Campaign and as an adviser to President Bill Clinton?s health care reform plan.

At a congressional hearing in 2007, Koop spoke about political pressure on the surgeon general post. He said Reagan was pressed to fire him every day, but Reagan would not interfere.

Koop, worried that medicine had lost old-fashioned caring and personal relationships between doctors and patients, opened an institute at Dartmouth to teach medical students basic values and ethics.

He also was a part-owner of a short-lived venture, drkoop.com, to provide consumer health care information via the Internet. It made its initial public offering of stock in 1999, but expenses outstripped revenue and it was out of business by the end of 2001.

In July 2001, the company agreed to pay $4.25 million in cash to settle lawsuits filed by investors who claimed drkoop.com made false promises. Company officials did not admit wrongdoing.

Koop was born in New York?s borough of Brooklyn, the only son of a Manhattan banker and the nephew of a doctor. He said by age 5 he knew he wanted to be a surgeon and at age 13 he practiced his skills on neighborhood cats.

He attended Dartmouth College, where he received the nickname Chick, short for ?chicken Koop.? It stuck for life.

He received his medical degree at Cornell Medical College, choosing pediatric surgery because so few surgeons practiced it.

In 1938, Koop married Elizabeth Flanagan, the daughter of a Connecticut doctor. They had four children ? Allen, Norman, David and Elizabeth. David, their youngest son, was killed in a mountain-climbing accident when he was 20.

Koop was appointed surgeon-in-chief at Children?s Hospital in Philadelphia and he also served as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

He pioneered surgery on newborns and successfully separated three sets of conjoined twins. He won national acclaim by reconstructing the chest of a baby born with the heart outside the body.

Although raised as a Baptist, he was drawn to a Presbyterian church near the hospital, where he developed an abiding faith. He began praying at the bedside of his young patients ? ignoring the snickers of some of his colleagues.

?It used to be said in World War II that there were no atheists in foxholes,? he wrote in 1973. ?I have found there are very few atheists among the parents of dying children.

?This is a time when religious faith can see a family through trying circumstances.?

Source: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/02/25/former-u-s-surgeon-general-c-everett-koop-dies-at-96/

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White House will soon revive cybersecurity legislation push

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A senior adviser to President Barack Obama said the White House will soon renew efforts to push cybersecurity legislation through Congress, though he foresaw an uphill battle given the failure of the last attempt.

Daniel said the White House has begun drafting "key legislative principles" for a new bill that it believes can pass both the House and Senate this time.

"We very much want a bill," White House cybersecurity coordinator Michael Daniel told Reuters while in San Francisco to meet industry experts and business leaders at a security conference. But he added: "I don't want to leave anybody with an impression that we underestimate the challenges."

"We will do our best to work with Congress," he added. "You will see that develop over the next couple of weeks to months," he said.

Cybersecurity legislation backed by the Obama administration died in the Senate in November amid fierce opposition from businesses that complained about over-regulation.

That bill would have increased information-sharing between intelligence agencies and private companies, with some privacy protections. It also would have set voluntary standards for businesses that control electric grids, water treatment plants and other essential facilities.

In the absence of overarching legislation, the Obama administration will pursue other means to improve cybersecurity, he said. Those included implementing an executive order the president signed this month that seeks to better protect critical infrastructure from cyber-attacks.

The order directs federal authorities to improve information-sharing on cyber-threats - including some that may be classified - with companies that provide or support critical infrastructure.

"It would be a mistake to assume you can't make any progress in the absence of legislation," he said.

The principles that the White House will support in new legislation include requiring that a civilian agency must be in charge of information-sharing, Daniel said.

Last year's Senate plan likewise would have put the Department of Homeland Security squarely in charge, though it could turn to the military's National Security Agency for assistance.

(Additional reporting by Joseph Menn and Deborah Charles; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/white-house-soon-revive-cybersecurity-legislation-push-011024890.html

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Iran runs altered images of Michelle Obama gown

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iranian state media has run altered images of U.S. first lady Michelle Obama's Oscars appearance, making her gown look less revealing.

The first lady wore a sleeveless, scoop neck gown. The semi-official Fars news agency ran an altered photo that covered her shoulders and neckline with added material. State TV showed images that blurred the parts of her body that were exposed.

Under Iran's Islamic dress code, women are required to cover their bodies in public. Films showing foreign women without a headscarf are considered acceptable, but revealing clothes are forbidden.

For the Oscars ceremony, Michelle Obama at the White House joined Jack Nicholson via video link to help present the best picture prize for "Argo," a film based on the escape of six American hostages from the besieged U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979.

Fars said the first lady's announcement suggested that the film was made with U.S. government support. Iranian officials have dismissed "Argo" as a CIA commercial.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-runs-altered-images-michelle-obama-gown-184706876.html

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DHS releasing illegal immigrants before sequester

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A week before mandatory budget cuts go into effect across the government, the Department of Homeland Security has started releasing illegal immigrants being held in immigration jails across the country, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Tuesday.

Gillian Christensen, an ICE spokeswoman, said ICE has reviewed "several hundred cases" of immigrants being held in jails around the country and released them in the last week. They have been "placed on an appropriate, more cost-effective form of supervised release," she said.

Christensen said the agency's "priority for detention remains on serious criminal offenders and other individuals who pose a significant threat to public safety." She did not say how released immigrants were selected or what jails they were released from.

Tuesday's announcement of jail releases is the first tangible impact of the looming budget cuts for DHS.

The Obama administration has been issuing dire warnings about the impact of the sequestration and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano told reporters at the White House Monday that across-the-board cuts would impact the department's core operations, including border security and airport screening operations.

She also warned that DHS might not be able to afford to keep the 34,000 immigration jail beds mandated by Congress. On average last week, there were 30,773 people being held in ICE jails.

"I don't think we can maintain the same level of security at all places around the country with sequester as without sequester," said Napolitano, adding that the impact would be "'like a rolling ball. It will keep growing."

According to the National Immigration Forum, it costs the government about $164 a day to keep an illegal immigrant facing deportation jailed. In a report on immigration detention costs last year the advocacy group said costs for supervised release can range from about 30 cents to $14 a day.

Republicans lawmakers decried the releases Tuesday.

"It's abhorrent that President (Barack) Obama is releasing criminals into our communities to promote his political agenda on sequestration," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte. "By releasing criminal immigrants onto the streets, the Administration is needlessly endangering American lives. It also undermines our efforts to come together with the Administration and reform our nation's immigration laws."

The administration asked for about $1.96 billion for immigration jail operations in the last budget. It amounts to about $5.4 million a day, according to the National Immigration Forum's report.

Christensen said Tuesday that released immigrants will still face deportation proceedings.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-26-US-Immigrants-Released/id-de45764ea43a4d87b263e41a5f04aa93

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