Monday, April 29, 2013

Owner of collapsed building captured in Bangladesh

SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) -- The fugitive owner of an illegally constructed building that collapsed and killed at least 377 people was captured Sunday by a commando force as he tried to flee into India. At the disaster site, meanwhile, fire broke out in the wreckage and forced authorities to suspend the search for survivors temporarily.

Mohammed Sohel Rana was arrested in the western Bangladesh border town of Benapole, said Jahangir Kabir Nanak, junior minister for local government. Rana was brought back by helicopter to the capital of Dhaka where he faced charges of negligence.

Rana's capture was announced by loudspeaker at the disaster site, drawing cheers and applause from those awaiting the outcome of a continuing search-and-rescue operation for survivors of Wednesday's collapse.

Many of those killed were workers at clothing factories in the building, known as the Rana Plaza, and the collapse was the deadliest disaster to hit the garment industry in Bangladesh that is worth $20 billion annually and is a mainstay of the economy.

The fire that broke out late Sunday night sent smoke pouring from the piles of shattered concrete and halted some of the rescue efforts ? including a bid to free a woman who was found trapped in the rubble.

The blaze was caused by sparks as rescuers tried to cut through a steel rod to reach the woman, said a volunteer, Syed Al-Amin Roman. At least three rescuers were injured in the fire, he said. It forced them to retreat while firefighters frantically hosed down the flames.

Officials believe the fire is likely to have killed the trapped woman, said army spokesman Shahinul Islam. Rescue workers had delayed the use of heavy equipment for several hours in the hope that she could be extricated from the rubble first. But with the woman presumed dead, they began using heavy equipment around midnight.

An exhausted and disheveled Rana was brought before reporters briefly at the Dhaka headquarters of the commando team, the Rapid Action Battalion.

Wearing a printed shirt, Rana was sweating as two security officers held him by his arms. A security official helped him to drink water after he gestured he was thirsty. He did not speak during the 10-minute appearance, and he is likely to be handed over to police, who will have to charge him and produce him in court within 24 hours.

A small-time politician from the ruling Awami League party, Rana had been on the run since the building collapsed Wednesday. He last appeared in public Tuesday in front of the Rana Plaza after huge cracks appeared in the building. Witnesses said he assured tenants, including five garment factories, that the building was safe.

A bank and some shops on the first floor closed Wednesday after police ordered an evacuation, but managers of the garment factories on the upper floor told workers to continue their shifts.

Hours later, the Rana Plaza was reduced to rubble, crushing most victims under massive blocks of concrete.

Rana's arrest was ordered by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also the Awami League leader.

On Saturday, police arrested three owners of two factories. Also detained were Rana's wife and two government engineers who were involved in giving approval for the building design. Local TV stations reported that the Bangladesh High Court has frozen the bank accounts of the owners of all five garment factories in the Rana Plaza.

Three floors of the eight-story building apparently were built illegally.

A garment manufacturers' group said the factories in the building employed 3,122 workers, but it was not clear how many were inside when it fell. About 2,500 survivors have been accounted for.

Army Maj. Gen. Chowdhury Hasan Suhrawardy, the coordinator of the rescue operations, said the next phase of the search involved the heavy equipment such as hydraulic cranes that were brought to the disaster site Sunday. Searchers had been manually shifting concrete blocks with the help of light equipment such as pickaxes and shovels, he said.

The work will be carried out carefully so as not to mutilate bodies, he said. "We have engaged many private sector companies which supplied us equipment, even some heavy ones," Suhrawardy said.

In a rare bit of good news, a female worker was pulled out alive Sunday. Rescuer Hasan Akbari said when he tried to extricate a man next to the woman, "he said his body was being torn apart. So I had to let go. But God willing, we will be able to rescue him with more help very soon."

The collapse and previous disasters in garment factories have focused attention on the poor working conditions of workers who toil for as little as $38 a month to produce clothing for top international brands.

The death toll surpassed a fire five months ago that killed 112 people and brought widespread pledges to improve worker-safety standards. But since then, very little has changed in Bangladesh.

Its garment industry was the third-largest in the world in 2011, after China and Italy, having grown rapidly in the past decade.

Among the garment makers in the building were Phantom Apparels, Phantom Tac, Ether Tex, New Wave Style and New Wave Bottoms. Altogether, they produced several million shirts, pants and other garments a year.

The New Wave companies, according to their website, make clothing for several major North American and European retailers.

Britain's Primark acknowledged it was using a factory in Rana Plaza, but many other retailers distanced themselves from the disaster, saying they were not involved with the factories at the time of the collapse or had not recently ordered garments from them.

Wal-Mart said none of its clothing had been authorized to be made in the facility, but it is investigating whether there was any unauthorized production.

__

AP writers Farid Hossain and Gillian Wong in Dhaka contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/owner-collapsed-building-captured-bangladesh-184621056.html

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PHOTOS: Politics, press and stars mix at dinner

AAA??Apr. 27, 2013?11:58 PM ET
PHOTOS: Politics, press and stars mix at dinner
By The Associated Press?THE ASSOCIATED PRESS STATEMENT OF NEWS VALUES AND PRINCIPLES?By The Associated Press

First lady Michelle Obama and late-night television host and comedian Conan O'Brien gesture to his tie at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

First lady Michelle Obama and late-night television host and comedian Conan O'Brien gesture to his tie at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Late-night television host Conan O'Brien, from left, first lady Michelle Obama, Michael Clemente, Executive Vice President of Fox News, and President Barack Obama attend the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Director Steven Spielberg uses his smart phone during the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Christi Parsons, White House correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and Tribune newspaper chain, from left, Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, Michael Scherer, White House correspondent for TIME, late-night television host Conan O'Brien and first lady Michelle Obama attend the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama speaks at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

There were Republicans mixing with Democrats, journalists talking to Hollywood celebrities who play reporters or politicians and, of course, President Barack Obama. The president and headliner Conan O'Brien traded barbs about each other and many of those attending the annual star-studded White House Correspondents' Association dinner. Here are some images from the evening's festivities:

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-27-Obama-Correspondents-Photo%20Gallery/id-c8c9f944b67344da80bd735b300b242c

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Samsung Galaxy Mega hits FCC (again), this time with LTE

Samsung Galaxy Mega hits FCC again, this time with LTE

Better start working on those powerball exercises. At least if Samsung's Galaxy Mega was the thing you thought your life was missing, as it's just landed at the FCC. Yeah, we know this isn't the first time, but on second time around it's the LTE-sporting GT-i9205 model. The usual lab tests show little that we didn't know already -- unless you didn't know it had LTE Band 5, dual band WiFi, NFC or GSM 850 / 1900. As the 5.8-inch isn't 4G-enabled, this means we're looking at the bigger 6.3-inch version, but still no word on if, when or how a version might land on US shores. Still no harm in limbering up though, is there?

Update: Upon further inspection, this variant only uses LTE band 5 (850mhz), which no us carrier currently uses. It's very unlikely this I9205 will hit the US.

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Source: FCC

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/28/samsung-galaxy-mega-lte-fcc/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Friday, April 26, 2013

Idea gains on hopes of better-than-expected Jan-March earnings

MUNICH, April 23 (Reuters) - Barcelona centre half Gerard Pique acknowledged his team were thoroughly second best as Bayern Munich romped to a 4-0 win in their Champions League semi-final first leg at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday. "They gave us a thrashing," he said. "We will try to turn it around in the return leg (on May 1) and put in a good performance for the fans. "They were better and faster than us. There is no point talking about the referee, there is no excuse." Arjen Robben, who sparkled on the wing for Bayern and scored one of the goals, hailed his team's spectacular performance. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/idea-gains-hopes-better-expected-jan-march-earnings-071652073--sector.html

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Thursday, April 25, 2013

Blast zone slowly comes back to life

Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters

People are escorted across Boylston Street on April 23 as residents and business owners are allowed to return to the street for the first time since the Boston Marathon bombings.

By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News

BOSTON ? A week and a day after the Boston Marathon bombings, business owners and residents began to return Tuesday to the six-block, cordoned-off area of the attack that investigators painstakingly scoured for evidence.

It has been a long wait for Joy Lee and her employees at Samurai Boston, a store near the race?s finish line on Boylston Street. ?Lee said she has been unable to get to tax and payroll documents since the bombings and she missed a deadline to file meal taxes. Even her car has been blocked off behind the police barriers still decorated with flowers and messages of support.

"We have all the employees text messaging me every single day," Lee said as she waited to return to her business in a steady drizzle Tuesday. "They?re all looking for jobs. They have to pay the rent."

Lee said she would take two employees with her back into the restaurant Tuesday to clean up and clear food gone bad from the refrigerators. She was one of many Boylston business owners expected to show up at the Hynes Convention Center to re-enter their shops under a staggered schedule laid out by the city.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino?s office released a plan Monday night to bring Boylston back to life after investigators handed the site back to the city in a brief ceremony. The plan allowed residents and business owners with essential staff to return to return block-by-block from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday. The city has not yet announced when the street will be reopened to the public.

At the barricades on Clarendon and Boylston streets, where police allowed pedestrians and vehicles to pass Tuesday, a man and woman in running gear shared a long embrace before jogging away.

Makeshift memorials remain, many of them bearing the names of the victims killed in the attack ? Krystle Campbell, Martin Richard, and Lu Lingzi ? as well as that of Sean Collier, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer believed to have been slain Thursday by the alleged bombers.

The prolonged closure may have untold long-term effects for some businesses in the area, but some Bostonians said Tuesday they?ll dig into their own pockets to ensure the shops and restaurants that line the area around the marathon?s finish line make a strong comeback.

"I already made a reservation at Atlantic Fish Company," said Dan Gross, 30, an account executive at an advertising agency near Boylston. He is booked for 8:15 p.m. on Wednesday, and says if they?re serving, he?ll be there.

The restaurant said that it remained closed "until further notice" in a statement on its website Tuesday.

"I think everyone should just get back there and support the businesses," Gross said. "They lost a lot."

John Berosh, 46, heard the first explosion from his office on the 22nd floor of an office building overlooking the race.

"I knew something wasn?t right," said the software engineer, an 18-year resident of the city. "I went to the window and saw a huge, hideous cloud of smoke coming up from the street." Then he saw the second bomb go off.

Berosh, who said he watches the marathon from his office most years, said he?s ready for Boylston to get back to its usual bustle.

"I am very excited," he said. "I am very proud to tell you that I was here at work last Thursday and Friday, just to hold the door for someone, smile at someone.?

But like Lee, who?s worried about helping her employees make their rents, Berosh said it?s not just the business owners who have been set back by the closure.

"Tip your waiters," Berosh said.

An electronics repair store called iFixYouri on adjacent Newbury Street was shut for several days after the bombings.

"We?re a small, family-run company, and the impact of what happened last week has been significant," said Michelle Zausnig, vice president of marketing for the Florida-based company. ?Being shut down, it impacted us as a small business because we don?t have unlimited resources."

The store saw a return to regular business when it re-opened last Friday.

"We?re expecting to rise again, just like the city," Zausnig said.

Related:

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Natural Gas Gives Maine Paper Plant A Competitive Edge

Energy companies are using a drilling technique known as fracking to extract natural gas underground. Many people raise questions about the environmental impact, but there is no doubt fracking has produced lots of natural gas and driven down the price. That has led energy-hungry manufacturers to build plants in fracking hot spots like Texas and Pennsylvania. But even in old factories ? far from the drilling or even the pipelines ? cheap natural gas is providing a competitive edge.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/04/23/178651276/natural-gas-gives-maine-paper-plant-a-competitive-edge?ft=1&f=1007

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Yet Again, Institutional Design Matters (Poliblogger)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/301027924?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Motorola Droid Bionic starts receiving Jelly Bean update, the love it needs

Motorola Droid Bionic starts receiving its Jelly Bean update, the love it needs

There's no question that the Droid Bionic has had a rough life between long delays, a more popular cousin and slow updates. Both Motorola and Verizon may be making up for lost time, however -- starting today, they're pushing an Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update for the erstwhile flagship. The core updates will be familiar to anyone with a late 2012 Motorola phone, including Google Now and rich notifications. There are a few Droid Bionic-specific tweaks, including better data connectivity as well as removals of the preloaded Sling and (no longer relevant) MOG apps. A software update can't erase any bitter memories, but it does show that the short-lived leader is getting long-term affection.

[Thanks, Jared]

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Source: Verizon

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/15/motorola-droid-bionic-starts-receiving-jelly-bean-update/

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International Business Association ? American Red Cross Blood ...

Home ?About Fox ? Events ? International Business Association ? American Red Cross Blood Drive @ Student Center 200A

Saturday, April 15th, 2013 at 12:00-1:00pm
American Red Cross Blood Drive

Looking for a great way to give back without the hassle of leaving campus? This is the event for you! On Monday April 15th, the International Business Association will be presenting a American Red Cross Blood Drive in the student center. As a donor you?ll feel good knowing you?ve helped change a life.

For more information and to sign up, please contact Marissa White (iba.president@temple.edu)

Add to Outlook or iCal| | Share This Event

Source: http://www.fox.temple.edu/posts/2013/04/international-business-association-american-red-cross-blood-drive-student-center-200a/

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Tuesday, April 16, 2013

A new case in China adds unknowns to bird flu

BEIJING (AP) ? A new case of bird flu in China's capital, a 4-year-old boy who displayed no symptoms, is adding to the unknowns about the latest outbreak that has caused 63 confirmed cases and 14 deaths, health officials said Monday.

The boy, who tested positive for the H7N9 virus, is considered a carrier of the strain and has been placed under observation to see if he develops symptoms, health authorities said. Medical teams found the boy in a check of people who had contact with a 7-year-old girl, who was confirmed as Beijing's first case of H7N9 over the weekend: a neighbor of the boy bought chicken from the girl's family.

Beijing Health Bureau deputy director Zhong Dongpo said that, as puzzling as the case is, the boy adds another data point to medical experts limited understanding of H7N9.

"This is very meaningful because it shows that the disease caused by this virus has a wide scope. It's not only limited to critical symptoms. There can also be slight cases, and even those who don't feel any abnormality at all. So we need to understand this disease in a rational and scientific way," Zhong said at a news briefing.

The H7N9 strain was not previously known to infect humans before cases turned up in China this winter, and Zhong and other medical experts said no evidence exists that the virus can be passed from one person to another. Close contact with infected birds is a likely source of transmission. Making the virus hard to detect is that infected poultry display slight or no symptoms, unlike the H5N1 strain which kills birds and raged across the region in the middle of the last decade.

The appearance of cases with mild or no symptoms in humans could make tracing even more difficult, but may also mean that many people infected do not get seriously ill and recover quickly, making the virus is less deadly than it appears.

Most of the cases have occurred in eastern China. In recent days, with hospitals and health officials on alert, cases have turned up in Beijing and the populous central province of Henan. The confirmed death toll from the virus ticked up by one Monday, a 77-year-old woman in Jiangsu, while three more cases were confirmed in eastern provinces, for a total of 63, according to reports from provincial health bureaus.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/case-china-adds-unknowns-bird-flu-135156073.html

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Computer bugs, spite ? even maple syrup ? lead Americans to file taxes at last minute

Jon Sweeney / NBC News

The lines were long at the James Farley U.S. Post Office in New York as taxpayers wait to mail their taxes Monday.

By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

Some people can?t stomach the thought of turning hard-earned money over to the federal government. For others, everyday life is just too busy. A handful admit a perverse thrill from waiting until the last minute.

And then there is Janet Metsa of Houghton, Mich., who had perhaps the most creative excuse for waiting until the final hours on April 15 to submit her tax return.

?We are making maple syrup and have been busy tapping trees in our maple bush and boiling the resulting sap. The tax deadline has just sneaked up on us!? she said. ?We are not usually this late.?

Welcome to Tax Day in America ? the Olympics of procrastination, the Super Bowl of stalling, the extreme sport of excuse-making, the high holy day of having something better to do. Festivus for the stressed of us. ?

On Sunday night, with hours to go before the deadline, prime time for kitchen-table calculator-pounding, NBC News put out a call for readers to explain why they waited until the last minute.

We heard from people all over the country. They sent us emails. They tweeted. They posted to Facebook. All hungry to commune with others taking part in our national springtime ritual.

Jon Sweeney

Lyna Woo mails her taxes at the James Farley U.S. Post Office in New York on Monday.

Or maybe they were happy to find an excuse to put off the dirty work.

Emily Fritz of Richmond, Ky., keeps a box in the back seat of her car ? a cute one, she volunteered, adorned with sea creatures and mermaids, better suited for recipe cards or old family photographs.

She works as a private nanny and keeps her tax documents in the box. It?s been sitting undisturbed for two months, she said, because she is dreading watching the numbers on TurboTax zip into the red.

?So instead of a refund, which I could SO use right now, I?m up at 5 in the morning writing this email and further avoiding my taxes because I don?t want to know how many thousands I owe,? she wrote.

An estimated 20 to 25 percent of Americans are chronic procrastinators, said Joseph Ferrari, a psychology professor at DePaul University and ? it turns out there is such a thing ? a leading expert on procrastination.

It doesn?t take a doctorate to figure out why: We put off things that we consider ?aversive,? meaning they are boring or complicated or unpleasant, like shuffling through forms with ugly names like Form 941 Schedule B.

The Internal Revenue Service doesn?t keep day-by-day statistics, so there?s no way of knowing with precision how many Americans are April 15ers.

But we know that what they lack in timeliness, they make up for in numbers. Last year, the IRS processed about 148 million returns. With three days to go before the filing deadline, the agency had received only about 109 million of them.

You do the math. But then, that?s the problem, isn?t it?

?I will be one of those rushing to file tonight,? wrote Amanda Scott of Washington. ?It reminds me of the feeling I got when cramming for a test in college. Those days are over, but tax day gives me a slight reminder of what my time in undergrad was like.?

This is a rare subspecies of the tax procrastinator, the people motivated by nostalgia. More common were people like Mike White, who figured he would be more likely to blow the tax refund on something frivolous if he got it early.

It did not appear to be his main reason. About four in five Americans now file taxes online, but White said that he planned to file on paper this year, just to spite the government. He added that Uncle Sam could kiss an unprintable part of his anatomy.

?I would send them a paper 1040 with Braille Roman numerals if I knew how,? he said.

Putting tax preparation off is not a phenomenon restricted to everyday Americans. The Obamas filed their tax return this year with a mere week to spare ? $608,000 in taxable income, $112,000 in federal taxes paid.

The First Filers left themselves slightly more breathing room this year by turning in their return April 8. Last year, they filed April 11. The year before that, April 13.

So this is progress.

The closest thing to a dog-ate-my-homework explanation came from Vanessa Weiss of Hilliard, Ohio, who works as an agent?s assistant in an insurance office. She said she is a habitual tax procrastinator but has a good excuse this time ? a computer virus.

?I?m going to a friend?s tonight to use her computer,? she said.

Then she added: ?It doesn?t help that this year I have to pay.?

Related:

Here's why you still haven't done your taxes

More Americans think Uncle Sam unfair on taxes

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Thursday, April 11, 2013

The Day I Forgot How to Use a Book

I was shocked at what I had just done, so I laughed out loud. I was there, in a house in the Swiss mountains, lying comfortably on a sofa. I was reading Canetti's Crowds and Power, a solid 400-page book. And then, as my eyes were approaching the end of yet another page, I swiped upwards. More »
    


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/miKb5uHPiR4/the-day-i-forgot-how-to-use-a-book

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'Iron Man 3' Extended Scene To Power Up MTV Movie Awards!

Before watching the full clip during Sunday's show, team up with fans to unlock another exclusive first look.
By Todd Gilchrist


Robert Downey Jr. in "Iron Man 3"
Photo: Marvel/Disney

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1705320/iron-man-3-preview-scene-mtv-movie-awards.jhtml

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House committee approves pro-business cyber bill

FILE - In this Oct. 8, 2012 file photo, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., left, and the committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger, D-Md., participate in a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. House lawmakers expected to finalize legislation Wednesday that would give the federal government a broader role helping banks, manufacturers and other businesses protect themselves against cyberattacks. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 8, 2012 file photo, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., left, and the committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger, D-Md., participate in a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. House lawmakers expected to finalize legislation Wednesday that would give the federal government a broader role helping banks, manufacturers and other businesses protect themselves against cyberattacks. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

(AP) ? A House panel voted overwhelmingly Wednesday in favor of a new data-sharing program that would give the federal government a broader role in helping banks, manufacturers and other businesses protect themselves against cyberattacks.

The bill, approved 18-2 by the House Intelligence Committee, would enable companies to disclose technical threat data to the government and competitors in real-time, lifting antitrust restrictions and giving legal immunity to companies if hacked, so long as they act in good faith. In turn, companies could get access to government information on cyberthreats that is often classified.

It's a defiant move by pro-business lawmakers who say concerns by privacy advocates and civil liberties groups are overblown. But even while the panel's approval paves the way for an easy floor vote next week, the legislation has yet to be embraced outside the Republican-controlled House. Last year, a similar measure never gained traction and eventually prompted a White House veto threat.

"We've struck the right balance," said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the committee's chairman. "It's 100 percent voluntary. There are no big mandates in this bill, and industry says under these conditions they think they can share (information), and the government can give them information that might protect them."

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA, is widely backed by industry groups that say businesses are struggling to defend against aggressive and sophisticated attacks from hackers in China, Russia and Eastern Europe.

Privacy and civil liberties groups have long opposed the bill because they say it opens America's commercial records to the federal government without putting a civilian agency in charge, such as the Homeland Security Department or Commerce Department. That leaves open the possibility that the National Security Agency or another military or intelligence office would become involved, they said. While the new program would be intended to transmit only technical threat data, opponents said they worried that personal information could be passed along, too.

Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff of California and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois were the lone dissenters. At a press conference, they said they would push for amendments on the House floor next week that would specifically bar the military from taking a central role in data collection and instead put the Homeland Security Department in charge. They also want a requirement that industry scrub any data of personal information before giving it to the government ? a stipulation that Rogers and business groups say would be too onerous and deter industry participation.

Rogers, who co-sponsored the bill with Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., the panel's top Democrat, said they altered the bill to address other concerns by privacy groups raised last year. But a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, Michelle Richardson, said the bill is still objectionable because it could allow the military to review data on private commercial networks.

"A couple of cosmetic changes is not enough to address the concerns of members" in the Senate, Richardson said.

Rogers says the political calculus has changed and that China's hacking campaign was too brazen for the White House to justify the status quo.

"There's a line around the Capitol building of companies willing to come in and tell us in a classified setting (that) 'my whole intellectual property portfolio is gone,'" Rogers said. "I've never seen anything like this, where we aren't jazzed and our blood pressure isn't up."

In February, Obama signed an executive order that would help develop voluntary industry standards for protecting networks. But the White House and Congress agreed that legislation was still needed to address the legal liability companies face if they share threat information. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., promised at the time to advance a bipartisan proposal "as soon as possible," although one hasn't emerged.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, is expected to take the lead on a cybersecurity proposal that would likely address the issue of information sharing. A panel spokesman said Rockefeller plans to work with Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., to introduce a plan to committee members "in the near future."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-04-10-Cybersecurity%20Legislation/id-e91b5b77d45043f49af60d2fd248972c

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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

When Arthritis Starts To Hurt : Easy Health Options?

when-arthritis-starts-to-hurt_300The pain of arthritis plagues Americans as we grow older, despite advances in medical science. It doesn?t seem fair that pain should increase with advancing age, when we deserve more happiness and comfort, not less. In this report I?ll discuss the process of arthritis and what conventional medicine has to offer for treatment. In a future article I?ll explore the root causes of arthritis and what you can do about it other than prescription medications to control the pain.

Autoimmune Arthritis

The cause of arthritis is considered to be idiopathic (unknown) according to conventional medical belief. Yet rheumatologists look for and treat approximately 100 forms of arthritis. These include the categories of osteoarthritis, spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis, gout, reactive arthritis and reflex sympathetic dystrophy. Some of these conditions lead the body to produce specific antibodies that can be identified, yet clearly all these types of arthritis represent inflammatory conditions of the joints and tissues.

Like most types of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis is considered an autoimmune disorder. In any autoimmune condition (and in all inflammatory conditions that I believe arise in similar fashion), your immune system becomes sensitized by proteins in the gut or in the blood. This triggers a host of immune system cells that produce inflammation in an attempt to protect the individual.

These immune cells are white blood cells that dump inflammatory chemicals that lead to tissue damage. [1] In the process, the fighter cells attack your bones and joints causing recurring flares of pain, swelling and eventually bone erosion with disfigurement. In rheumatoid arthritis patients other problems with inflammation lead to:

  • Sjogren?s syndrome: inflamed glands with dryness of the eyes and mouth.
  • Pleuritis: chest pain with deep breathing, coughing.
  • Pericarditis: inflammation of sac surrounding the heart.
  • Anemia: low red cells in the blood.
  • Felty?s syndrome: enlarged spleen and increased risk of infections.
  • Rheumatoid nodules: firm lumps under the skin around elbows and fingers.
  • Vasculitis: blood-vessel inflammation, tiny black areas around nail beds and leg ulcers.

Pharmaceutical Treatment

The classic arthritis medicines are the well-known non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin, ibuprofen and longer-acting related compounds. Of course, these can have serious side effects.

For example, NSAIDs are the 15th leading cause of reported deaths in the U.S. They can cause stomach bleeding, directly causing more than 16,000 deaths and 100,000 hospitalizations annually. Speaking about NSAIDs, a 1999 New England Journal of Medicine article [2] reported, ?Yet these toxic effects remain largely a ?silent epidemic,? with many physicians and most patients unaware of the magnitude of the problem.?

The next prescription medication of choice is the longer-acting anti-inflammatory drug prednisone (or equivalent) at high doses. This is very effective for many types of inflammatory conditions, but safe only for the short term ? less than four weeks. The longer the duration and more frequent the courses of prednisone, the more horrible and irreversible the side effects can be. Prednisone can lead to moon-shaped face, buffalo-humped shoulders and upper torso, accelerated osteoporosis, weight gain, immune suppression, and steroid psychosis (which is not very common). They can also adversely affect the stomach lining just like the NSAIDs.

An effective and safe prescription medication for pain relief is tramadol (Ultram?). It blocks pain by acting on the brain like opioid narcotics, but without their side effects or addictive properties. Some people feel so good on tramadol that it can be habit-forming.

Narcotics

Also available are stronger analgesics: narcotics. These, of course, will make you loopy at high doses. They are also addictive if taken for longer than four weeks. From 1962 to 1988, the U.S. experienced a 300 percent increase in drug addiction as a direct result of the use of prescribed narcotics. (In comparison, during that same time period, illegal, recreational drugs smuggled in from Colombia had only a 30 percent increase.)

There is another class of medications used to treat rheumatoid arthritis: the slower-acting disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). These include gold (Solganal?), methotrexate (Rheumatrex?, Trexall?), and hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil?). They help prevent progressive joint destruction. However, they are not anti-inflammatory agents and do less for pain relief. A newer DMARD is Arava? (leflunomide).

One other drug class for arthritis includes the ?biologic? medications etanercept (Enbrel?), infliximab (Remicade?), anakinra (Kineret?), adalimumab (Humira?), rituximab (Rituxan?) and abatacept (Orencia?). These ?biologic? drugs reduce levels of an important protein of the immune system, tumor necrosis factor (TNF). TNF is a normal part of an immune response. Lowering TNF in your blood lowers the inflammatory effect of arthritis. However, in the process of lowering TNF, your immune system is also weakened substantially. In fact, these drugs lower your ability to fight infections and at the same time potentially have several other serious side effects.

Oh, did I mention that not only do these drugs potentially have serious side effects, but they also stop working if you stop taking them? They have enormous cost, too, which poses a real financial strain for most people. Not to worry though, they have special assistance programs to help you pay for them ? for the many years ahead.

In my next article on arthritis, I?ll discuss the pathophysiology of arthritis: what really causes it. Then I?ll discuss natural and safe ways to reverse these causes.

To feeling good for life,
Michael Cutler, M.D.
Easy Health Options


[1] Crissinger, K.D., P.R. Kvietys, and D.N. Granger, Pathophysiology of gastrointestinal mucosal permeability. J Intern Med Suppl, 1990. 732: p. 145-54.

[2] Wolfe MM, Lichtenstein DR, Singh G. Gastrointestinal toxicity of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs. N Engl J Med. 1999 Jun 17;340(24):1888-99.

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Source: http://easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/when-arthritis-starts-to-hurt/

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Suspicion in DA death shifts to white supremacists

KAUFMAN, Texas (AP) ? Suspicion in the slayings of a Texas district attorney and his wife shifted Monday to a violent white supremacist prison gang that was the focus of a December law enforcement bulletin warning that its members might try to attack police or prosecutors.

The weekend deaths of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, who were found fatally shot in their home, were especially jarring because they happened just a couple of months after one of the county's assistant district attorneys, Mark Hasse, was killed near his courthouse office.

And less than two weeks ago, Colorado's prison chief was shot to death at his front door, apparently by a white supremacist ex-convict who died in a shootout with deputies after fleeing to Texas.

The Aryan Brotherhood of Texas has been in the state's prison system since the 1980s, when it began as a white supremacist gang that protected its members and ran illegal activities, including drug distribution, according to Terry Pelz, a former Texas prison warden and expert on the gang.

The group, which has a long history of violence and retribution, is now believed to have more than 4,000 members in and out of prison who deal in a variety of criminal enterprises, including prostitution, robbery and murder.

It has a paramilitary structure with five factions around the state, Pelz said. Each faction has a general, who is part of a steering committee known as the "Wheel," which controls all criminal aspects of the gang, according to court papers.

Four top leaders of the group were indicted in October for crimes ranging from murder to drug trafficking. Two months later, authorities issued the bulletin warning that the gang might try to retaliate against law enforcement for the investigation that also led to the arrest of 30 other members.

At the time, prosecutors called the indictments "a devastating blow to the leadership" of the gang. Pelz said the indictments might have fragmented the gang's leadership.

Hasse's death on Jan. 31 came the same day as the first guilty pleas were entered in the indictment. No arrests have been made in his killing.

McLelland was part of a multi-agency task force that investigated the Aryan Brotherhood with help from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and police in Houston and Fort Worth. McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were found shot to death Saturday in their rural home just outside the town of Forney, about 20 miles from Dallas.

Detectives have declined to say if the Aryan Brotherhood is the focus of their investigation, but the state Department of Public Safety bulletin warned that the group is "involved in issuing orders to inflict 'mass casualties or death' to law enforcement officials involved in the recent case."

Killing law enforcement representatives would be uncharacteristic of the group, Pelz said.

"They don't go around killing officials," he said. "They don't draw heat upon themselves."

But Pelz, who worked in the Texas prison system for 21 years, said the gang has a history of threatening officials and of killing its own members or rivals.

The 18-count indictment accused gang members of being involved in three murders of rival gang members, multiple attempted murders, kidnappings, assaults and conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine.

Some of the attempted murders in the indictment involved gang members who were targeted for not following orders or rules or who were believed to be cooperating with law enforcement. The indictment also alleges that gang members discussed killing a police officer in 2008 and allegedly ordered a subordinate gang member to kill a prospect "and to return the victim's severed finger as a trophy."

Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies throughout Texas were on high alert, and steps were being taken to better protect DAs and their staffs.

In Kaufman County, deputies escorted some employees into the courthouse Monday after the slayings stirred fears that other public employees could be targeted. Law enforcement officers were seen patrolling outside the courthouse, one holding a semi-automatic weapon, while others walked around inside.

Over the last century, 14 prosecutors have been killed in the U.S., according to news reports and statistics kept by the National District Attorneys Association.

Deputies were called to the McLelland home by relatives and friends who had been unable to reach the pair, according to a search warrant affidavit. When they arrived, investigators found the couple had been shot multiple times. Cartridge casings were scattered near their bodies, the affidavit said.

Authorities have not discussed a motive.

The slayings also called to mind the death of Colorado's corrections director, Tom Clements, who was killed March 19 when he answered the doorbell at his home outside Colorado Springs. Two days later, Evan Spencer Ebel, a white supremacist and former Colorado inmate suspected of shooting Clements, died in a shootout about 100 miles from Kaufman. On Monday, judicial officials acknowledged Ebel was freed four years early because of a paperwork error.

In an Associated Press interview shortly after the Colorado killing, McLelland himself raised the possibility that Hasse was gunned down by a white supremacist gang.

After that attack, McLelland said, he carried a gun everywhere around town, even when walking his dog. He figured assassins were more likely to try to attack him outside. He said he had warned all his employees to be constantly on the alert.

___

Lozano reported from Houston. Associated Press Writer Angela K. Brown in Fort Worth also contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suspicion-da-death-shifts-white-supremacists-223215989.html

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Joan Rivers on Adele: She's Fat!!!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/joan-rivers-on-adele-shes-fat/

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