If Gingrich loses in Fla., can he come back again? (AP)

ORLANDO, Fla. ? Can Newt Gingrich come back a third time?

If he loses Tuesday in Florida's primary ? polls predict he will _Gingrich will spend the next month trying to prove the answer is yes.

"We were dead in June and July . but we came roaring back and we will again," Gingrich said at a rally Monday in Tampa.

Still, the former House speaker, who has pledged to fight on until the GOP convention this summer, faces a tough road out of Florida. He plunges next into a scattershot series of state contests where he has little organization and must overcome steep odds to win.

Gingrich was hoping to ride a wave of enthusiasm to a win in Florida and beyond, stoked by his decisive victory in South Carolina. But unless he pulls off an upset win Tuesday, he will have squandered that momentum heading into states that look favorable for leading rival Mitt Romney.

After being battered by the well-funded Romney political machine, the Gingrich campaign will redouble its efforts to "tell the truth about Romney faster and more efficiently than he can lie about us," Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said.

The calendar works against Gingrich rebounding anytime soon. After a steady march through four state contests in January, the pace quickens before taking a long breather next month.

There are seven elections in February, which kicks off with Nevada's caucuses Saturday. That will be followed by contests next week in Colorado, Minnesota and Maine as well as a non-binding primary in Missouri. A 17-day break will be capped by primaries in Arizona and Michigan on Feb. 28.

The schedule benefits a candidate, like Romney, with deep pockets and a sophisticated ground game able to compete on multiple fronts at once. Gingrich, who failed to even get on the ballot in his home state of Virginia for the March 6 Super Tuesday primary, is playing catch-up.

"We're behind the eight-ball," acknowledged George Harris, a Las Vegas restaurant owner who serves as a national finance chair for Gingrich and is helping his efforts in Nevada.

Romney has had staff in the state since June and has already begun running ads there. And he's a known quantity in the state, having won it when he sought the GOP nomination in 2008.

Gingrich dispatched six staffers to Nevada just days ago and they have rapidly built the operation from the ground up.

Maine is in the former Massachusetts governor's back yard and, in a show of force, he has 40 state legislators backing him. Another candidate, Ron Paul, also has a strong network of support in the state, a holdover from his 2008 presidential run.

Gingrich aides are aiming to hang on.

"We're getting a late start here," said John Grooms, Gingrich's grassroots director in Maine, who until December was backing Herman Cain. "The goal here is to have a good, respectable showing."

Romney grew up in Michigan and is still looked at as something of favorite son among Republicans in the state.

Romney claimed both Colorado and Michigan in 2008 and maintains networks in each state.

Just 10 days ago, an ebullient Gingrich touched down in Florida, fresh off his win in South Carolina and drawing cheering crowds of thousands. It was a far different tone as he wrapped up his campaign Monday with a lap around the state. Crowds were far sparser, and although Gingrich kept up the attacks on Romney, he sometimes sounded tired as he raced from Jacksonville to Pensacola to Fort Myers.

The Gingrich camp sought to put a positive spin on what is expected to be a disappointing showing in Florida, where the winner will scoop up all 50 delegates.

A memo from Gingrich political director Martin Baker made the case that moving forward, delegates will be awarded proportionally, meaning that even if Romney racks up wins the delegate count could remain tight so long as the races are competitive.

Baker noted that no matter who wins Florida, only 5 percent of the 2,288 national convention delegates will have been awarded.

"The campaign is shifting to a new phase where opportunities are not limited to a single state," Baker wrote.

Gingrich aides also said they had succeeded in effectively making the race a two-man contest, with Gingrich surviving as the conservative alternative to Romney. Rick Santorum, who had been splitting the conservative vote with Gingrich, is trailing badly in Florida.

Gingrich's prospects improve when the race sweeps back South on Super Tuesday. The Bible Belt is his sweet spot and his onetime home state of Georgia is in the mix with its 76 delegates.

"The math doesn't get better for us until much later in the game," Hammond acknowledged.

Gingrich will have to survive until then. He fought his way back into the GOP race last year after his top aides resigned en masse in the spring. He rallied again in South Carolina after a barrage of attack ads knocked him from front-runner status in Iowa.

Harris, in Nevada, says a repeat won't be impossible.

"The thing I love about Newt is that he's a fighter," he said. "Every time you think you've knocked him down he gets back up and knocks you in the face."

___

Follow Shannon McCaffrey: www.twitter.com/smccaffrey13

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_on_el_pr/us_gingrich_hurdles_ahead

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Obama: U.S. drone use in Iraq very limited (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama on Monday played down the use of U.S. drones in Iraq, saying the program was very limited and focused mainly on protecting the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

The program has outraged senior Iraqi officials, said The New York Times, which first reported the drone flights.

The State Department began operating some drones in Iraq last year on a trial basis and stepped up their use after the last U.S. troops left Iraq in December, the Times said.

"The truth is we're not engaging in a bunch of drone attacks inside Iraq. There's some surveillance to make sure that our embassy compound is protected," Obama said during an online question-and-answer session with users of YouTube and Google+.

"I think that there's this perception that we're just sending in a whole bunch of strikes willy nilly," Obama added. "It is important for everybody to understand that this is kept on a very tight leash."

Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman for the State Department, said its Bureau of Diplomatic Security had a program to use small aircraft known as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, to take pictures of U.S. facilities and personnel abroad.

The New York Times quoted a senior U.S. official as saying talks were under way to obtain authorization for the current drone operations in Iraq.

However, the newspaper reported that three senior Iraqi officials - a top adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's national security adviser, and the acting minister of interior - said in interviews they had not been consulted.

Nuland declined to address whether the U.S. government had obtained Iraqi permission to fly the drones, saying only that it always closely consulted with foreign governments about steps to protect U.S. diplomats.

Asked how large the drones were, Nuland held her hands about 2 feet apart. A photograph in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security annual report showed a man holding one that appeared to be 4 or 5 feet long.

In addition to flying over facilities such as embassies, the drones can be used to track the routes and movements of U.S. diplomats as they travel within a country.

(Reporting By Arshad Mohammed, Caren Bohan and Samson Reiny; editing by Eric Beech and Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120131/pl_nm/us_iraq_usa_drones

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Former Italian President Scalfaro dies at 93 (Reuters)

ROME (Reuters) ? Former Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, who was head of state during the "Bribesville" corruption affair that overturned Italy's old political order in the 1990s, has died, officials said on Sunday. He was 93.

Scalfaro, a former interior minister and speaker of the lower house of parliament, was appointed president in 1992 as the bribery and political funding scandal swept aside a party system which had run Italy since World War Two.

Politicians from the main parties paid tribute to Scalfaro's integrity and sense of responsibility in protecting the constitution which he had helped shape as a young lawyer after the war.

Mario Monti said he spoke to Scalfaro just after becoming prime minister last year. "I expressed to him personally my feelings of gratitude to him for the example he gave of public service," he said in a statement.

Although the head of state holds no executive power, his role in Italy's often turbulent political life can be extremely important as a guarantor of stability and in overseeing the timing of elections and the transition between governments.

Last year's transition between the scandal-plagued government of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Monti's technocrat administration, overseen by the current president, Giorgio Napolitano, underlined the importance of the position.

Scalfaro's own period in office began as the Bribesville scandal was creating a corrosive mistrust in the political system that overshadowed Italy's preparations to join the embryonic single European currency.

"As President of the Republic, he faced some of the most difficult periods of our history firmly and steadfastly," Napolitano said in a statement.

Both Scalfaro's own conservative Christian Democrat party and the centre-left Socialists were shown to have been involved in a vast web of bribery and illegal funding which reached deep into public life and destroyed Italians' faith in government.

His appointment also came shortly after the murder of anti-Mafia judge Giovanni Falcone, an event which profoundly shocked Italy and heightened popular disgust with a political class that had failed to protect its own public servants.

Scalfaro, a deeply religious man who attended mass every morning, was one of the founding fathers of the Italian republic in 1946 and became well known in parliament for frequent references to his conversations with the Virgin Mary.

Despite his widely hailed sense of rectitude, he faced accusations in 1993 that he had been implicated in a murky scandal over the alleged theft of millions of dollars in funds for covert secret service operations.

He strongly denied the accusations and in a special televised address, "denounced what he called "an attempt at a slow destruction of the state," suggesting that the affair had been created to undermine confidence in Italy's institutions.

(Reporting By James Mackenzie, editing by Ben Harding)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obits/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120129/wl_nm/us_italy_expresident

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Samsung SyncMaster S23A550H

Samsung monitors have long been known for their style and solid image quality, and the SyncMaster S23A550H ($259.99 list) continues the trend. This 23-inch beauty delivers outstanding color quality and great dark grayscale performance, and does so without using much power. However, it only has one digital input and is short on features.

Design and Features
Fans of Samsung's Touch of Color design will appreciate the S23A550H's Rose Black finish, which happens to be the same finish used on the Samsung SyncMaster T220D. The 23-inch 1,920-by-1,080 TN+ panel is framed by reddish black bezels that are covered with clear trim and are slightly curved, giving the monitor a sense of style and preventing it from appearing too box-like. The Samsung logo appears on the lower bezel as well as on the back of the monitor. The 7 pound glossy black cabinet measures 1.5 inches at its thickest point and is supported by a clear round base with piano black trim. The mounting arm provides tilt adjustment, but lacks height and swivel movement. It also has a cover that unsnaps, so you can tuck cables away and keep them out of sight.

Input connections are sparse; you get an HDMI port and a VGA port, and that's it. A secondary HDMI port, like the one on the ViewSonic VX2753mh ($349.99 list, 4 stars), would make it much easier to connect to a gaming box or external Blu-ray player. In keeping with the clutter-free motif, a rounded cover snaps onto the back of the cabinet to hide the cable connectors.

There are six touch sensitive buttons on the right side of the lower bezel. In addition to the power switch, there's a Menu button that launches the on-screen display (OSD) menu, an ECO button that doubles as a navigation button, a brightness button that is also used for menu navigation, an input source/navigation button, and an Auto Adjust button for use with an analog signal. Pressing any button activates on-screen labeling above each button with icons that show you what the button does, making it easy to work your way through the menu system.

Picture settings include Samsung's Magic presets; MagicAngle lets you select one of six viewing angle modes optimized for your viewing position. For example, if you lean way back on your chair to the point where you look up to see the screen you can choose one of the Lean Back modes. There are also modes for standing and viewing from the side, but side angle viewing is already quite good on this monitor. You will get a better picture if you happen to be standing or sitting at an off angle, but the best all-around picture comes with this feature disabled and the monitor positioned for optimal viewing.

MagicBright consists of five presets offering brightness and contrast level settings that are optimized for specific applications. Standard mode gives you the best picture for everyday use and Cinema mode is useful for watching movies in a dimly lit room. Colors in the Game mode are way too oversaturated, and the Dynamic Contrast mode offers automatic brightness and contrast control depending on the content and is a bit sharper than Standard mode. Users can create their own preset using the Custom mode.

When enabled, MagicColor enhances skin tones and punches up colors in Full mode, while Intelligent mode enhances everything except skin tones. Both MagicColor settings produce slightly oversaturated colors and cannot be used when the MagicAngle feature is enabled. You can also tweak Red, Green, and Blue color levels, color temperature, and gamma settings.

The ECO button takes you to a screen with several neat power saving options; there's an ECO Motion Sensor setting that when enabled will put the monitor into power saving mode if no motion is detected. You can choose one of five time intervals (5, 10, 20, 30, or 60 minutes) for the sensor and have the screen turn off or go dim if no motion is detected during the selected time frame. You can also select one of three ECO Saving modes (Off, 75 percent, 50 percent). When set to Off the panel uses only 19 watts of power, which is great for a 23-inch panel, but not quite as good as the 24-inch Lenovo LS2421P Wide ($219.99 direct, 4 stars) (16-watts). Changing the setting to 75 percent knocks power usage down to 18 watts with only a slight decrease in luminance, while the 50 percent setting brings it down to 14 watts with a more noticeable loss of luminance. All things considered, I'd suggest leaving the ECO Saving mode off as this mode offers the best picture and doesn't use much power anyway. Either way, the S23A550H's low power characteristics and useful power-saving options earn it our GreenTech stamp of approval.

Performance
The S23A550H produces inky blacks, which in part helps it to deliver bold, well defined colors. The panel had no trouble displaying every shade of dark gray on the DisplayMate 64-Step Grayscale test, although light grays were a bit washed out at the bright end of the scale. Colors scaled evenly from dark to light on the Color Scales test and there was no noticeable tinting or oversaturation. Small text was sharp and easy to read at 5.3 points (the smallest font on the DisplayMate Scaled Fonts test), and as mentioned above, viewing angle performance was quite good from the sides. There is, however, some color shifting when viewed from the top and bottom angles.

Although the S23A550H lacks the necessary ports to be considered a gaming monitor it does have a speedy 2-millisecond (g-g) pixel response and does a fine job of displaying fast motion sequences. I hooked the monitor up to my PS3 via the HDMI port and fired up the fast action racing game Need for Speed Carbon and did not detect any blurring or ghosting while zipping through the city streets at a high rate of speed. The Cohen Brothers True Grit in HD, streamed via Netflix, looked great on the 23-inch screen, which delivered natural-looking skin tones and crisp colors.

If you're looking for a 23-inch monitor that delivers bold colors and deep blacks, the Samsung SyncMaster S23A550H is right up your alley. You don't get many ports with this model, and its light grayscale performance could be better, but it'll save you a few bucks on your utility bill and bring a touch of style to your desktop. That said, the Editors' Choice Lenovo LS2421p Wide offers equally impressive performance and energy efficiency, comes with a four port USB hub, and gives you a slightly bigger screen. It's around $30 cheaper, too.

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the AOC e1649Fwu with several other monitors side by side.

More monitor reviews:
??? Samsung SyncMaster S23A550H
??? Samsung Central Station (SyncMaster C23A750X)
??? AOC e1649Fwu
??? Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421
??? Asus VG278H
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/JdN8hfcPT0o/0,2817,2399198,00.asp

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Putin critics take to cars to demand fair elections (Reuters)

MOSCOW (Reuters) ? Critics of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin drove in their hundreds around central Moscow on Sunday in cars trailing white ribbons, a symbol of Russia's protest movement, staging a mobile demonstration to demand fair elections.

Opposition leaders are trying to maintain momentum after tens of thousands of people angry over alleged election fraud and Putin's plan to return to the Kremlin in a March vote turned out last month for the biggest protests of his 12-year rule.

"This has an important symbolic meaning. We have arrived at the stage when we don't want to be vassals any more," said opposition activist Ilya Ponomaryov, who picked up hitchhikers with white ribbons in his purple sedan.

Organizers said the demonstration also aimed to advertise protest marches planned for next Saturday, exactly one month before the March 4 presidential election.

"We want to show our unity. This is very visible. This is preparatory work for February 4, when there will be even more people than on Sakharov Avenue," Ponomaryov said, referring to the site of a December 24 rally that drew tens of thousands.

Polls indicated Putin will regain the presidency, extending his rule for at least six more years. He was president from 2000-2008 and is widely believed to have been holding Russia's reins for his protege, President Dmitry Medvedev.

Some drivers resorted to white construction tape, printer paper, grocery bags and even white lace as they cruised around Moscow's Garden Ring road. Organizers said more than 3,000 motorists took part, while police put the number at about 300.

In the minus 15 C (5 F) chill, many pedestrians applauded or waved white handkerchiefs from the sidewalks in solidarity. One vehicle had a life-sized straw figure with a picture of Putin's face strapped to its hood.

Cars are a strong symbol not only of status but of personal freedom in Russia and the right to choice in a country where even ownership of a tiny Soviet-made Lada was a luxury in the communist era and foreign cars were virtually non-existent.

The protests, provoked by widespread suspicions of fraud favoring Putin's ruling party in a December 4 parliamentary election, have revealed dismay among Russians.

Middle-class city dwellers in particular feel they have no say in politics and that Putin's decision to return to the Kremlin was thrust upon them.

"We have to fight for our rights... We have to show our strength so that maybe people will see us and come to the February 4th protest," said Nadezhda, 26, who works for a state TV station. Nadezhda, who declined to give her last name, said her station had told employees not to take part in Sunday's protest.

"I feel cheated by the vote," Yevgeny Starshov, 23, a student at a state school of public administration, said of the parliamentary election.

"We have to do something to change the country for the better, not through riots or some kind of revolution but through such peaceful demonstrations to fight for more fair elections."

Thousands of Putin's supporters rallied on Saturday in Yekaterinburg, Russia's fourth-largest city, to back his election bid.

(Writing by Steve Gutterman; editing by David Stamp)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120129/wl_nm/us_russia_protest_cars

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Mitt Borrows Brokaw to Hit Newt (TIME)

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Prejudices? Quite normal!

Friday, January 27, 2012

Girls are not as good at playing football as boys, and they do not have a clue about cars. Instead they know better how to dance and do not get into mischief as often as boys. Prejudices like these are cultivated from early childhood onwards by everyone. "Approximately at the age of three to four years children start to prefer children of the same sex, and later the same ethnic group or nationality," Prof. Dr. Andreas Beelmann of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany) states. This is part of an entirely normal personality development, the director of the Institute for Psychology explains. "It only gets problematic when the more positive evaluation of the own social group, which is adopted automatically in the course of identity formation, at some point reverts into bias and discrimination against others," Beelmann continues.

To prevent this, the Jena psychologist and his team have been working on a prevention programme for children. It is designed to reduce prejudice and to encourage tolerance for others. But when is the right time to start? Jena psychologists Dr. Tobias Raabe and Prof. Dr. Andreas Beelmann systematically summarise scientific studies on that topic and published the results of their research in the science journal Child Development (DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01668.x.).

According to this, the development of prejudice increases steadily at pre-school age and reaches its highest level between five and seven years of age. With increasing age this development is reversed and the prejudices decline. "This reflects normal cognitive development of children," Prof. Beelmann explains. "At first they adopt the social categories from their social environment, mainly the parents. Then they start to build up their own social identity according to social groups, before they finally learn to differentiate and individual evaluations of others will prevail over stereotypes." Therefore the psychologists reckon this age is the ideal time to start well-designed prevention programmes against prejudice. "Prevention starting at that age supports the normal course of development," Beelmann says. As the new study and the experience of the Jena psychologists with their prevention programme so far show, the prejudices are strongly diminished at primary school age, when children get in touch with members of so-called social out groups like, for instance children of a different nationality or skin colour. "This also works when they don't even get in touch with real people but learn it instead via books or told stories."

But at the same time the primary school age is a critical time for prejudices to consolidate. "If there is no or only a few contact to members of social out groups, there is no personal experience to be made and generalising negative evaluations stick longer." In this, scientists see an explanation for the particularly strong xenophobia in regions with a very low percentage of foreigners or migrants.

Moreover the Jena psychologists noticed that social ideas and prejudices are formed differently in children of social minorities. They do not have a negative attitude towards the majority to start with, more often it is even a positive one. The reason is the higher social status of the majority, which is being regarded as a role model. Only later, after having experienced discrimination, they develop prejudices, that then sticks with them much more persistently than with other children. "In this case prevention has to start earlier so it doesn't even get that far," Beelmann is convinced.

Generally, the psychologist of the Jena University stresses, the results of the new study don't imply that the children's and youths attitudes towards different social groups can't be changed at a later age. But this would then less depend on the individual development and very much more on the social environment like for instance changing social norms in our society. Tolerance on the other hand could be encouraged at any age. The psychologists' "prescription": As many diverse contacts to individuals belonging to different social groups as possible. "People who can identify with many groups will be less inclined to make sweeping generalisations in the evaluation of individuals belonging to different social groups or even to discriminate against them," Prof. Beelmann says.

###

Raabe T, Beelmann A.: Development of ethnic, racial, and national prejudice in childhood and adolescence: A multinational meta-analysis of age differences. Child Development. 2011; 82(6):1715-37. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01668.x.

Friedrich-Schiller-Universitaet Jena: http://www.uni-jena.de

Thanks to Friedrich-Schiller-Universitaet Jena for this article.

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Dow approaches highest level since 2008 crisis

By Daniel Wagner, Associated Press

The Dow Jones industrial average was trading near its highest close since the 2008 financial crisis Thursday afternoon after solid news on factory orders and strong earnings from U.S. manufacturers highlighted the economy's growing momentum.

Broader market indexes edged lower, though they are also sharply higher this year. Traders appear less afraid of spillover damage from the European debt crisis, and data on jobs and manufacturing have been consistently strong.

"With global risk off center stage and attention going back to the fundamentals, this market was ready to explode, which is exactly what it is doing," said Doug Cote, chief market strategist with ING Investment Management.

Before the market opened, the government reported that unemployment claims rose only modestly last week after a steep decline the week before. The long-term trend still indicates an improving job market.

Orders to factories for long-lasting manufactured goods increased in December for the second straight month, and a key measure of business investment rose solidly.

That strong demand was apparent in quarterly earnings reports from U.S. manufacturers. 3M stock rose 1.1 percent after its fourth-quarter profit beat Wall Street's estimates.

Caterpillar, the world's biggest heavy equipment maker, soared 3 percent, the most of the 30 companies in the Dow, after beating analysts' estimates last quarter. The company expects to do the same this year as global demand remains high.

Approaching 1 p.m. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 14 points, or 0.1 percent, at 12,771 shortly after noon. 3M and Caterpillar led the gains.

The Dow is within reach of its post-financial crisis high of 12,810, reached in April 2011. The last time it closed higher than that was on May 20, 2008, when it settled at 12,826. The Dow's post-crisis high during the trading day was 12,928, reached in May 2011.

The Dow is up nearly 5 percent so far this year. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq have gained even more.

The Dow would need to rise another 11 percent to get to its record high close of 14,164, reached on Oct. 9, 2007.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell three points to 1,322. It was dragged lower by volatile financial companies and telecommunications firms. The Nasdaq composite index shed seven points to 2,811.

AT&T fell 2 percent, by far the most of the 30 companies in the Dow, after its earnings missed Wall Street's forecasts. The company remains heavily dependent on the Apple iPhone, which it pays to subsidize, but recently lost its exclusive rights to sell the phone in the U.S.

Stocks had their highest close in eight months Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said it plans to keep interest rates extremely low until late 2014 to encourage lending and investment and support the economic recovery.

The announcement lifted investments across many markets and continents. Bond prices rose in the U.S. and Europe. So did commodities, the euro, emerging market currencies and European stocks.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.95 percent from 1.99 percent late Wednesday. The prospect of more bond-buying by the Fed helped make Treasurys more attractive. A bond's yield falls as demand for it increases.

A strong bond auction by Italy also brightened Europe's outlook, signaling to investors that lenders believe Italy will not be dragged into the debt crisis. And Greece resumed talks with its lenders over writing off some of its crushing debt.

Benchmark indexes in France, England, Germany and Italy closed up 1 to 2 percent

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/26/10243582-dow-approaches-highest-level-since-2008-crisis

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Fight over changing constants reaches stalemate

It's time to declare a ceasefire in the fight to find out whether the constants of nature vary. What was supposed to be a new superweapon in the battle has turned into something of a damp squib.

Some observations of how hydrogen gas in space absorbs light at ultraviolet wavelengths have hinted that the fine structure constant, responsible for the strength of electromagnetism, is not the same throughout the universe. That would point to exotic new physics, including the existence of extra dimensions and universes other than our own.

But the measurement is tricky, and researchers had hoped that studying how hydroxyl molecules emit and absorb light at radio wavelengths would give a more precise, independent measurement of the effect.

In theory, radio instruments can measure wavelengths 50 to 100 times more accurately than those that detect hydrogen absorption, says Nissim Kanekar at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics in Pune, India.

But he and colleagues discovered the reality is more complicated. They observed the emission and absorption of radio waves from hydroxyl molecules in a gas cloud 6.7 billion light years from Earth that was absorbing light from a more distant galaxy.

No silver bullet

Quantum mechanics predicts that a particular set of emission and absorption lines in the hydroxyl molecule should be mirror images of each other, but in this case they found that was not true. Kanekar thinks the puzzling observation may be due to a second hydroxyl cloud lying along the same line of sight. It may absorb some of the radio waves, fouling the measurement.

"We thought we had the silver bullet, but it didn't pan out," says team member Chris Carilli of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, New Mexico.

Whatever is causing the odd measurement, the observation is simply not accurate enough to determine whether the fine structure constant is changing. "Their measurement is entirely consistent with our result ? and with zero," says John Webb of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, who has previously found hints that the constant varies.

Carilli says it may take 20 years to make enough observations with the new technique to settle the question. Only a handful of gas clouds are known that exhibit the hydroxyl signal, but new surveys and radio arrays, such as the Square Kilometer Array, should turn up more examples.

Journal reference: arxiv.org/abs/1201.3372v1

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Communications Equipment Retailing in China: Market Snapshot to ...

Written by admin | January 27, 2012 |

Communications Equipment Retailing in China: Market Snapshot to 2015?

China?Communications Equipment Market?

Synopsis
ICD Research?s, Communications Equipment Retailing in China: Market Snapshot to 2015 contains headline figures for retailing of communications equipment category in China

Summary
ICD Research?s Communications Equipment Retailing in China: Market Snapshot to 2015 is the easiest way to find the headline figures for the category. The report contains historical and forecast sales value as well as the category?s share of the overall market in which it is classified.

This report is aimed at those who want just data and figures without analysis. It does not contain the analysis which can be found in our more comprehensive Databook or Market Intelligence reports.

Scope
Provides a category overview.
Features historical key figures on retail market values segmented at category level.
Forecasts statistics to 2015

Browse:?China Market

ReasonsToBuy
Provides you with headline figures of specific retail categories within a particular geography.
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Source: http://www.wpt9.com/communications-equipment-retailing-in-china-market-snapshot-to-2015/

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Scientists Create Star Matter In California [Science]

You're looking at the heart of the most powerful X-Ray laser machine ever created by humans, billions of times stronger than anything before it. It's the Linac Coherent Light Source and it has made something that nobody has made before in this planet: the kind of matter that you can only find in the heart of stars and giant planets. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/vB_xQJ5C0EU/scientists-create-matter-as-hot-as-the-sun-in-california

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Jupiter?s 'Trojans' on an atomic scale

ScienceDaily (Jan. 25, 2012) ? The planet Jupiter keeps asteroids on stable orbits -- and in a similar way, electrons can be stabilized in their orbit around the atomic nucleus. Calculations carried out at the Vienna University of Technology have now been verified in an experiment.

Planets can orbit a star for billions of years. Electrons circling the atomic nucleus are often visualized as tiny planets. But due to quantum effects, the behavior of atoms usually differs significantly from planetary systems. Austrian and US-American scientists have now succeeded in keeping electrons on planet-like orbits for a long time. This was done using an idea from astronomy: Jupiter stabilizes the orbits of asteroids (the so called "Trojans"), and in a very similar way, the orbits of electrons around the nucleus can be stabilized using an electromagnetic field. The results of this experiment have now been published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Giant Atoms

They are probably the largest atoms on earth: "The diameter of the electronic orbits is several hundredths of a millimeter -- an enormous distance on an atomic scale," says Shuhei Yoshida (Vienna UT). The atoms are even larger than erythrocytes. Yoshida made the calculations at Vienna University of Technology, the experiment was carried out at Rice University in Houston (Texas).

The Electron is not a Planet

The idea that atoms are similar to planetary systems dates back to Niels Bohr: he came up with the first atomic model, in which electrons circle the nucleus in well-defined orbits. This view, however, is now seen to be outdated. In quantum physics, the electron is described as a quantum wave, or a "probability cloud," that surrounds the atomic nucleus. The location of an electron in the ground state (the lowest possible energy level) is not well defined. Relative to the nucleus, it is situated in all possible directions at the same time. Asking about its "real position" or its orbit just does not make sense. Only if the electron is transferred into a state of higher energy, it can be manipulated in such a way that it moves along orbit-like paths.

Jupiter's trick -- Used for the Atom

Unlike planets, electrons will not keep moving in such an orbit for ever. "Without additional stabilization, the electron-wave would become delocalized after a few cycles," says Professor Joachim Burgd?rfer, head of the Institute for Theoretical Physics at Vienna UT. A simple idea on how to stabilize orbits has been known in astronomy for a long time: the gravity of Jupiter, the heaviest planet in our solar system, stabilizes the orbits of the "Trojans" -- thousands of small asteroids. They aggregate around so-called "Lagrange points" on Jupiter's orbital path. Staying close to these Lagrange points, the asteroids circle the sun together with the planet -- with exactly the same orbital velocity, so that the asteroids never collide with Jupiter.

In the experiment, the stabilizing influence of Jupiter's gravity is substituted by a cleverly designed electromagnetic field. The field oscillates precisely with the frequency corresponding to the orbital period of the electron around the nucleus. It sets the pace for the electron, and that way the electron-wave is kept at a specific point for a long time -- much like a large number of asteroids, staying close to Jupiter's Lagrange points on their orbit around the sun. Quantum physics even allows manipulations which are impossible in a planetary system: using the electromagnetic field, the electron can by shifted into a different orbit -- as if the orbit of Jupiter and its asteroids was suddenly shifted to the orbit of Saturn.

Big and Small

The physicists succeeded in creating an atomic miniature version of a solar system and preparing atoms which are remarkably close to the historic Bohr model. In future, the researchers want to prepare atoms in which several electrons move on planetary orbits at the same time. Using such atoms, it should be possible to investigate in greater detail how the quantum-world of tiny objects corresponds to the classical world as we perceive it.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Vienna University of Technology, TU Vienna, via AlphaGalileo.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. B. Wyker, S. Ye, F. Dunning, S. Yoshida, C. Reinhold, J. Burgd?rfer. Creating and Transporting Trojan Wave Packets. Physical Review Letters, 2012; 108 (4) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.043001

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125091057.htm

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Giffords' decision to resign sets up Ariz. race (AP)

PHOENIX ? The race to replace Rep. Gabrielle Giffords begins in earnest Monday as the Arizona congresswoman's planned resignation sets up a free-for-all in a competitive district.

The three-term Democrat announced Sunday that she intends to resign from Congress this week to concentrate on recovering from a gunshot wound to the head just over a year ago in an assassination attempt that shook the country.

Giffords could have stayed in office for another year even without seeking re-election, but her decision to resign scrambles the political landscape. Arizona must hold a special primary and general election to find someone to finish out her term, as well as hold the regular primary and general election later this year.

Giffords would have been heavily favored to win re-election, since she gained immense public support as she recovered from the shooting. She was elected to her third term just two months before she was shot, winning by only about 1 percent over a tea party Republican.

Several Republicans and Democrats have been mentioned as possible candidates for her seat, with some in the GOP already forming official exploratory committees. Republicans who have expressed interest include state Sen. Frank Antenori and sports broadcaster Dave Sitton, among others.

Democratic state lawmakers have been mentioned as possible candidates, as has the name of Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, although he has publically quashed such speculation.

"That's the great `mentioner' out there, and there are going to be a lot of people mentioned," said Arizona Democratic Party chairman Andrei Cherny. "I think the best rule in situations like this is, `The folks who are talking don't know, and the folks who know aren't talking.'"

Giffords' office said she will complete the meet-and-greet political event in Tucson on Monday that erupted in the shooting last year. Among those attending the private event will be some of the wounded, those who helped them and those who subdued the gunman. She will also visit a food bank set up after she was shot, and event billed as her final act as a congresswoman in her district.

"I don't remember much from that horrible day, but I will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice," she said on a video announcing her decision.

Interspersed with photos, the video showed a close-up of Giffords gazing directly at the camera and speaking in a voice that is both firm and halting.

"I have more work to do on my recovery," the congresswoman said at the end of the two-minute-long "A Message from Gabby," appearing to strain with all of her will to communicate. "So to do what's best for Arizona, I will step down this week."

Giffords was shot in the head in January 2011 as she was meeting with constituents outside a supermarket in Tucson, Ariz. Six people died and Giffords and 12 others were injured. Her progress had seemed remarkable, to the point that she was able to walk into the House chamber last August to cast a vote.

Gov. Jan Brewer will call the special primary election for the 8th Congressional District likely in April, followed by a general election in June. Before the cycle begins for the regular election, the district will be remapped and renumbered as the 2nd Congressional District.

The regular primary for the new district, which will cover most of the current district's territory, was scheduled for August.

The Republican governor acknowledged that the twin election cycles were going to create a mess, especially for potential candidates.

"I think that it's putting a lot of pressure on a lot of people awfully quick, given the fact that they're going to be filling that continuing seat that expires this year, and then we have elections coming (along) new congressional lines," Brewer said. "So there's going to be a lot of confusion in that congressional district."

Those who decide to throw their hat into the ring will face yet another quirk in the race: the deadline to turn in nominating signatures for the general election comes before the special general election.

"I'm sure both parties and candidates of all stripes will in the days to come be thinking wide and hard about this district, and I'm sure there's going to be a very vigorous contest," Arizona Democratic Party chairman Andrei Cherny said Sunday. "But today's about thinking about a member of Congress who's going to be irreplaceable no matter who wins that seat."

Giffords planned to attend President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. And her political career may not be over, said a state Democratic party official who was among a group that met with her Sunday.

Jim Woodbrey, a senior vice chairman of the state party, said at the meeting, Giffords strongly implied she would run again for office someday. He said the decision to resign came after much thought.

"It was Gabby's individual decision, and she was not in any condition to make that decision five months ago," he said. "So I think waiting so that she could make an informed decision on her own was the right thing to do."

___

AP Special Correspondent David Espo contributed to this story from Washington, D.C.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_el_ho/us_giffords

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Study Fails to Confirm Existence of Arsenic-Based Life

News | More Science

A new analysis by open-science advocates present a 'clear refutation' of a controversial finding that appears to undermine assumptions about how essential phosphorus is for life

By Erika Check Hayden and Nature magazine ?| January 23, 2012

A scanning electron micrograph of GFAJ-1, the bacterium at the centre of the controversy. Image: Science/AAAS

A strange bacterium found in California?s Mono Lake cannot replace the phosphorus in its DNA with arsenic, according to researchers who have been trying to reproduce the results of a controversial report published in Science in 2010.

A group of scientists, led by microbiologist Rosie Redfield at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, have posted data on Redfield's blog that, she says, present a ?clear refutation? of key findings from the paper.

?Their most striking claim was that arsenic had been incorporated into the backbone of DNA, and what we can say is that there is no arsenic in the DNA at all,? says Redfield.

But the authors of the Science paper are not retreating from their conclusions. ?We are thrilled that our results are stimulating more experiments from the community as well as ourselves,? first author Felisa Wolfe-Simon, now at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, wrote in an e-mail to Nature. ?We do not fully understand the key details of the website experiments and conditions. So we hope to see this work published in a peer-reviewed journal, as this is how science best proceeds.?

Open criticism
In the Science paper, Wolfe-Simon and her co-workers reported that they had found a bacterium called GFAJ-1 that can use the element arsenic in place of phosphorus in molecules essential to life (see Arsenic-eating microbe may redefine chemistry of life). This was surprising because phosphorus is thought to be essential for life, whereas arsenic is usually toxic.

But after Redfield and others raised numerous concerns (see Microbe gets toxic response), many of which were published as technical comments in Science, Redfield put the results to the test, documenting her progress on her blog to advance the cause of open science.

Redfield grew GFAJ-1 bacteria in arsenic and a very small amount of phosphorus, as had Wolfe-Simon and her colleagues. She then purified the DNA from the cells and sent it to Marshall Louis Reaves, a graduate student at Princeton University in New Jersey. Reaves used a caesium chloride gradient to separate the cells' DNA into fractions of varying densities, then used a mass spectrometer to identify the elements present in each fraction of DNA. He found no arsenic in any of the DNA.

But Redfield?s methods might leave defenders of the arsenic life hypothesis some wiggle room. For instance, Redfield was unable to grow any cells without adding a small amount of phosphorus. Because it is not clear how much phosphorus was used to grow the bacteria in the original paper, its authors could argue that Redfield's cells were not sufficiently phosphorus-starved to be forced to use arsenic in its place.

Wolfe-Simon also says she would not expect to find arsenic in DNA analysed on a caesium chloride gradient, because the arsenic-containing DNA might be so fragile that it would break apart and appear only in very faint bands separate from the bulk of the cell's DNA.

However, Redfield says that Reaves analysed all of the DNA purified on the gradient, so he would have detected any arsenic. Redfield also analysed the size of DNA from cells that had been stored for two months in her lab refrigerator. The DNA fragments from cells that had been grown with and without arsenic were similar sizes, indicating that DNA from arsenic-grown cells is not unstable.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=b22e908d1de3f73a622079be9c067a60

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Seal, Heidi Klum announce separation (omg!)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Seal and Heidi Klum have announced that their storybook marriage is coming to the end of the runway.

In a statement Sunday night, the power couple announced their separation after rumors swirled over the weekend that a divorce was imminent.

"While we have enjoyed seven very loving, loyal and happy years of marriage, after much soul searching we have decided to separate," the joint statement read. "We have had the deepest respect for one another throughout our relationship and continue to love each other very much, but we have grown apart. This is an amicable process and protecting the well-being of our children remains our top priority, especially during this time of transition. We thank our family, friends, and fans for their kind words of support. And for our children's sake, we appreciate you respecting our privacy."

The couple married in 2005 and has four children together, including the supermodel's daughter from a previous relationship.

They were one of Hollywood's most high-profile couples, and seemed to have the relationship everyone should envy. They two starred together in the music video "Secret," they renewed their wedding vows each anniversary, boasted of their love in the media, and threw Halloween bashes together where they dressed in outrageous outfits, most recently last year in New York City, where the two engaged in their typical public display of affection for the cameras.

In an interview with The Associated Press in 2007, the "Kiss from A Rose" singer described his wife, who has a tattoo of his name on her arm, as his best friend.

"It is really important that we have that understanding because apart from anything else it is really healthy," he said of the "Project Runway" host. "People often talk about the most important thing in a relationship. They say it is really important that you are turned on by your partner and you love each other, which is all really true.I often think that the most important thing or certainly up there with love is respect."

TMZ first reported on Saturday that the two planned to divorce this week.

His announcement comes as he releases his new album, "Soul 2," on Tuesday, which has songs like "Love T.K.O," ''Let's Stay Together" and "Love Don't Live Here Anymore."

___

AP Entertainment Writer Alicia Quarles contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_seal_heidi_klum_announce_separation050252458/44269141/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/seal-heidi-klum-announce-separation-050252458.html

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Tech stocks boost the market

Strong earnings reports from IBM and Microsoft drove the Dow Jones industrial average higher Friday. The Dow rose 96 points to close at 12720.

IBM and Microsoft drove the Dow Jones industrial average higher Friday after the tech giants reported stronger earnings than analysts expected.

Skip to next paragraph

Microsoft said sales of Xbox games and Office software helped push revenue up in the last quarter of 2011. IBM credited better sales of software and services and raised its earnings outlook for the year. Microsoft rose 6 percent and IBM rose 4 percent.

The Dow rose 96.50 points to close at 12,720.48. That's a gain of 0.8 percent. Without the huge gains in IBM and Microsoft, the Dow would have risen just 24 points.

The S&P 500 index inched up 0.88 to 1,315.38. Both the Dow and S&P ended the week with gains of more than 2 percent.

Plenty of things are going right, said Frank Fantozzi, CEO of Planned Financial Services, an independent wealth manager in Cleveland. Applications for unemployment benefits dropped last week to the lowest level in nearly four years. Housing sales are steadily rising. And most companies are reporting better profits.

"Overall, we're moving in the right direction and it's bolstered the market," Fantozzi said. "The S&P getting over 1,300 this week is a nice sign."

Google lost 8.4 percent after its earnings per share fell a dollar short of analysts' estimates. The misfire stemmed from an 8 percent drop in prices that the Internet search giant charges advertisers for each click.

Google's drop tugged the Nasdaq composite index lower. It fell 1.63 points to 2,786.70.

Even though high-profile companies such as Google and JPMorgan Chase have posted disappointing earnings results in the past week, the trend is moving in the opposite direction. Of the 60 companies in the S&P index that have reported earnings so far, 62 percent have beaten estimates, according to John Butters, senior earnings analyst at FactSet Research.

In another sign that traders were becoming more willing to take on risk, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note crossed above 2 percent for the first time in two weeks. The yield, a widely used benchmark for corporate and consumer borrowing, had inched lower since early December as traders parked money in the safest of assets.

The National Association of Realtors said that home sales rose 5 percent in December, the third straight monthly increase.

Among other companies in the news:

? Capital One Financial lost 5.6 percent. The bank and credit-card company's earnings sank 41 percent as expenses for marketing, salaries and legal fees jumped compared with the year before.

? Schlumberger rose 1.3 percent. The oil-field services company's quarterly profit surged 36 percent, helped by exploration work in the Middle East and Africa. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to 27.5 cents.

- Intel rose 2.9 percent. The world's largest chip maker reported stronger profits after the market closed Thursday. Intel's results got a boost from sales to China and other developing countries, where many people are buying PCs for the first time.

Stocks have been on a slow and steady climb to start 2012. The S&P 500 has closed higher on 11 of 13 days and is now up 4.6 percent for the year.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/zpzcvYU6dgY/Tech-stocks-boost-the-market

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Latest Apple patent lawsuit targets Galaxy Nexus lockscreen

The latest installment of Apple vs. Samsung saga sees Cupertino taking offense with the lockscreen on the Galaxy Nexus. The complaint, filed once again in Germany, is the first directed towards the Android 4.0 flagship device. The claim made is that the Galaxy Nexus infringes upon Apple's own slide-to-unlock utility model. 

FOSS Patent's blogger Florian Mueller describes this utility model as a limited fast-track patent that companies are allowed to file for alongside traditional patents. Apple has done just this with slide-to-unlock in Germany. Samsung's defense points to a device from Sweden known as the Neonode, which managed to persuade a court in the Netherlands in 2011 to question the validity of the Apple's slide-to-unlock filing.

The court is expected to reveal its decision on Mar. 16. What's clear already, though, is that we're sure to see more of these patent lawsuits as the year continues.

via Appleinsider

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/OS0rXQSUm2A/story01.htm

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Italian Nanni Moretti to head Cannes jury (Reuters)

PARIS (Reuters) ? Acclaimed Italian actor and director Nanni Moretti will head the jury at the 2012 Cannes film festival in May, organizers said on Friday.

The 58-year-old has had a long association with the world's most important cinema showcase, appearing in competition in 1978 with "Ecce Bombo."

He was back in 1994 with "Caro Diario" (Dear Diary), for which he won the best director award, and in 2001 with "La Stanza del figlio" (The Son's Room), which won the coveted Palme d'Or for best picture.

Five years later came "Il Caimano" (The Caiman), a film that criticized aspects of Italian political life in the era of Silvio Berlusconi.

"This is a real joy, an honor and a tremendous responsibility to preside over the jury of the most prestigious festival of cinematography in the world," said Moretti, who served on the Cannes jury in 1997.

"As a spectator, fortunately I still have the same curiosity that I had in my youth and so it is a great privilege for me to embark on this voyage into the world of contemporary international film," he added in a statement.

The 2012 festival runs from May 16-27.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/people_nm/us_cannes_moretti

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Erick Silva ?s DQ will stand, but UFC implementing replay

Remember Erick Silva's bizarre disqualification at UFC 142? The one that caused the Brazilian prospect to go from jubilant to despondent in about .15 seconds? The one that made UFC commentator Joe Rogan call out referee Mario Yamasaki's judgment while in the Octagon? The one that made us all wonder why there's no instant replay in MMA?

Yeah, that one? It won't be overturned. Since the fight was in Brazil, with no regulatory commission, the UFC served as the regulator of the fight. They announced that they have no plans to change the fight to a no-contest.

From Marc Ratner, the UFC's vice president of government and regulatory affairs:

"Based on the referee's verbal warnings and his determination that the blows were intentional and a disqualifying foul, this is not the type of decision that can be reviewed," Ratner stated. "Therefore, the decision stands."

However, Ratner did share some good news. The UFC will start using instant replay at their self-regulated, international events, and will encourage state commissions to come into the 90s and use replay.

While it may not be the exact outcome that MMA fans -- or Erick Silva -- wants, it's still a good sign that the UFC is willing to make a change to improve the sport overall.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/erick-silva-dq-stand-ufc-implementing-replay-154335851.html

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China Finance Online Announces the Election of a New ...

China Finance Online Co. Limited (Nasdaq: JRJC) announces that its Board of Directors (the "Board") has approved the increase of the Board's size and the election of Mr. Neo Chee Beng ("Mr. Neo") as an independent director and a member of each of the Board's audit committee and compensation committee, effective immediately.

(c) 2011 Benzinga.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published in its entirety or redistributed without the approval of Benzinga.

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Source: http://www.benzinga.com/news/12/01/2278080/china-finance-online-announces-the-election-of-a-new-independent-director

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Popular file-sharing website Megaupload shut down

This undated image obtained by The Associated Press shows the homepage of the website Megaupload.com. Federal prosecutors in Virginia have shut down one of the world's largest file-sharing sites, Megaupload.com, and charged its founder and others with violating piracy laws. (AP Photo)

This undated image obtained by The Associated Press shows the homepage of the website Megaupload.com. Federal prosecutors in Virginia have shut down one of the world's largest file-sharing sites, Megaupload.com, and charged its founder and others with violating piracy laws. (AP Photo)

McLEAN, Virginia (AP) ? One of the world's most popular file-sharing sites was shuttered Thursday, and its founder and several company officials were accused of facilitating millions of illegal downloads of films, music and other content.

An indictment accused Megaupload.com of costing copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue. The indictment was unsealed one day after websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to make it easier for authorities to go after websites with pirated material, especially those with overseas headquarters and servers.

Megaupload is based in Hong Kong, but some of the alleged pirated content was hosted on leased servers in Virginia, which gave federal authorities jurisdiction, the indictment said.

The Justice Department said in a statement said that Kim Dotcom, 37, and three other employees were arrested Thursday in New Zealand at the request of U.S. officials. Three other defendants are at large.

Before Megaupload was taken down, it posted a statement saying allegations that it facilitated massive breaches of copyright laws were "grotesquely overblown."

"The fact is that the vast majority of Mega's Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay. If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch," the statement said.

The indictment may have prompted a response from the loose affiliation of hackers known as "Anonymous," which claimed credit for attacking the Justice Department's website. The site was inaccessible Thursday evening.

A spokesman for the Motion Picture Association of America said in an emailed statement Thursday that the group's site had been hacked, although it appeared to be working later Thursday evening.

"The motion picture and television industry has always been a strong supporter of free speech," the spokesman said. "We strongly condemn any attempts to silence any groups or individuals."

Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy. Before the website was taken down, it contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, among others.

The company listed Swizz Beatz, a musician who married Keys in 2010, as its CEO. He was not named in the indictment and declined to comment through a representative.

According to the indictment, Megaupload was estimated at one point to be the 13th most frequently visited website on the Internet. Current estimates by companies that monitor Web traffic place it in the top 100.

The five-count indictment, which alleges copyright infringement as well as conspiracy to commit money laundering and racketeering, described a site designed specifically to reward users who uploaded pirated content for sharing, and turned a blind eye to requests from copyright holders to remove copyright-protected files.

For instance, users received cash bonuses if they uploaded content popular enough to generate massive numbers of downloads, according to the indictment. Such content was almost always copyright protected.

The site boasted 150 million registered users and about 50 million hits daily. The Justice Department said it was illegal for anyone to download pirated content, but their investigation focused on the leaders of the company, not end users who may have downloaded a few movies for personal viewing.

A lawyer who represented the company in a lawsuit last year declined comment Thursday. Efforts to reach an attorney representing Dotcom were unsuccessful.

Megaupload is considered a "cyberlocker," in which users can upload and transfer files that are too large to send by email. Such sites can have perfectly legitimate uses. But the Motion Picture Association of America, which has campaigned for a crackdown on piracy, estimated that the vast majority of content being shared on Megaupload was in violation of copyright laws.

The website allowed users to download some content for free, but made money by charging subscriptions to people who wanted access to faster download speeds or extra content. The website also sold advertising.

The indictment was returned in the Eastern District of Virginia, which claimed jurisdiction in part because some of the alleged pirated materials were hosted on leased servers in Virginia. Prosecutors there have pursued multiple piracy investigations.

Steven T. Shelton, a copyright lawyer at the Cozen O'Connor firm in New York, said opponents of the legislation are worried the proposals lessen the burden for the government to target a wide variety of websites. Shelton said he expects to see the government engage in more enforcement in the future, as technology makes it easier to catch and target suspected pirates.

"I think we'll be seeing more of this," he said. "This is just the beginning."

Dotcom, a resident of both Hong Kong and New Zealand, and a dual citizen of Finland and Germany, made more than $42 million from the site in 2010 alone, according to the indictment.

Dotcom had his name legally changed. He was previously known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor. He is founder, former CEO and current chief innovation officer of Megaupload.

Officials estimated it could be a year or more before Dotcom and the others arrested in New Zealand are formally extradited.

The others arrested were Finn Batato, 38, a citizen and resident of Germany, the company's chief marketing officer; Mathias Ortmann, 40, a citizen of Germany and resident of both Germany and Hong Kong, who is the chief technical officer, co-founder and director; and Bram van der Kolk, aka Bramos, 29, a Dutch citizen and resident of both the Netherlands and New Zealand, who oversees programming.

Still at large are Julius Bencko, 35, a citizen and resident of Slovakia, the site's graphic designer; Sven Echternach, 39, a citizen and resident of Germany, head of business development; and Andrus Nomm, 32, a citizen of Estonia and resident of both Turkey and Estonia, head of the development software division.

Several sister sites were also shut down, including one dedicated to sharing pornography files.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-19-Internet%20Piracy-Indictment/id-3371e70b329e4039b057bbfb198ff347

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