Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/302174096?client_source=feed&format=rss
Monday, April 29, 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Ralph Lauren to pay $1.6 million to resolve Argentine bribery case
By Aruna Viswanatha
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Clothing retailer Ralph Lauren Corp
U.S. authorities agreed not to prosecute the company after allegations surfaced that it bribed Argentinian customs officials in order to clear merchandise, some of it prohibited, the U.S. Justice Department said.
The company received the lenient treatment because of its "extensive" cooperation in the inquiry and new anti-bribery training for its employees, a world-wide risk assessment it conducted and other remedial measures.
The company will pay an $882,000 penalty to the DOJ and disgorge more than $730,000 in illicit profits and interest to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the two agencies said.
Ralph Lauren did not have an anti-corruption program or provide training to employees at its subsidiary in Argentina in the five-year period over which the bribes occurred, prosecutors said.
A lawyer for the company, Thomas Hanusik, said Ralph Lauren investigated the allegations, reported them to authorities and cooperated in the government probes.
The agreement with the SEC is the first non-prosecution agreement the agency has entered in the foreign bribery context.
In recent years both agencies have stepped up efforts to enforce the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a 1970s-era law that bars bribes to officials of foreign governments.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Aruna Viswanatha; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Dan Grebler)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ralph-lauren-pay-1-6-million-resolve-foreign-142545814--finance.html
Skimlinks Raises Growth Funding Led by Greycroft Partners, Opens Japanese Site
Skimlinks, the platform which effectively gives publishers control over affiliate links and content monetization, has completed a growth financing round led by Greycroft Partners. Joining the round are Japan-based angel investors, Hiro Maeda and Ryota Matsuzaki, as well as Forum Foundry, a Texas-based network of blog and forum communities. Existing investors also participated in the round. The capital will be used to develop its content monetization platform and expand across the US, Asia, and Europe. In particular Skimlinks opens its Japanese site, although a full office is still in the works.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/aChNjhnDl4U/
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Josh Thomson, Matt Brown and Myles Jury headline UFC on Fox 7?s Three Stars
UFC on Fox 7 had knockouts, more knockouts, and even a proposal. But whose performance stood above the rest? With so many great performances, it was hard to pick just three.
No. 1 star -- Josh Thomson: After years in Strikeforce, Thomson was eager to prove that he belonged in the elite of the UFC's stacked lightweight division. He did that by TKOing Nate Diaz, which is the first time Diaz was knocked out in his career.
[Related: Winners and losers from UFC on Fox 7]
No. 2 star -- Matt Brown: If Dante Alighieri was alive and an MMA fan, he would add a 10th circle of hell -- facing Matt Brown. He was aggressive and relentless in his win over Jordan Mein. Even after body shots appeared to weaken him, Brown came back to win with a TKO in the second round. Brown is now hoping for a title shot. After five overwhelming wins, who can say he shouldn't get one?
No. 3 star -- Myles Jury: In his third UFC bout, Jury pasted Ramsey Nijem in the second round. He's yet to lose, and of his 12 wins, only one has gone to the judges. At just 24 years old, it's likely we're going to hear more from Jury. His next fight should be a considerable step up in competition in the UFC's lightweight division.
Who were your Three Stars? Speak up in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter.
Related UFC video on Yahoo! Sports
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Monday, April 22, 2013
Rivers crest across Midwest, but rain in forecast
CLARKSVILLE, Mo. (AP) ? Those fighting floods in several communities along the Mississippi River were mostly successful Sunday despite the onslaught of water, but an ominous forecast and the growing accumulation of snow in the upper Midwest tempered any feelings of victory.
The surging Mississippi was at or near crest at several places from the Quad Cities south to near St. Louis ? some reaching 10-12 feet above flood stage. Problems were plentiful: Hundreds of thousands of acres of swamped farmland as planting season approaches; three people died; roads and bridges closed, including sections of major highways like U.S. 61 in Iowa and Missouri and crossings at Quincy, Ill., and Louisiana, Mo.
The U.S. Coast Guard said 114 barges broke loose near St. Louis on Saturday night, and four hit the Jefferson Barracks Bridge in St. Louis County. The bridge was closed about six hours for inspection but reopened around 8 a.m. Sunday. Most of the runaway barges were corralled but at least 10 sank and two others were unaccounted for, Coast Guard Lt. Colin Fogarty said.
Two of the confirmed flood-related deaths occurred near the same spot in Indiana; another was in Missouri. In all three cases, vehicles were swept off the road in flash floods. High water could be responsible for two more, both in Illinois, where a decomposed body was found Thursday in an Oak Brook creek and a body was found Saturday in the Mississippi River at Cora. Investigations continue.
And the danger is far from over, as spots south of St. Louis aren't expected to crest until late this week. Significant flooding is possible in places like Ste. Genevieve, Mo., Cape Girardeau, Mo., and Cairo, Ill.
Adding to concern is a forecast that calls for heavy rain Monday night and Tuesday throughout much of the Midwest. National Weather Service meteorologist Julie Phillipson said an inch of rain is likely in many places, some places even more. Rain is projected from Wisconsin through Missouri.
"That's not what we want to see when we have this kind of flooding, that's for sure," Phillipson said.
Harley-Davidson riders and bicyclists zipped through Grafton, Ill., a tourist town 40 miles north of St. Louis, many pausing to snap pictures of the swollen river.
Floodwaters were lapping against the side of Grafton's Artisan Village, a flea market-type business for artists. Owner Marty Harp, 53, sipped a Miller Lite as he cast a wary eye to the sky.
"If we can hold off the crest and it doesn't rain for a couple of days, it'll be OK," Harp said.
But anxiety looms regarding the heavy snow the northern Midwest has received this month and what happens when it melts and makes its way into tributaries of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Forecasters said up to 6 inches of new snow was possible in the Black Hills area of South Dakota through Monday morning.
Hundreds of miles to the southeast, in La Grange, Mo., Lewis County emergency management director David Keith wasn't bothered by the soggy forecast. Sandbags were holding back the murky Mississippi from La Grange City Hall, a bank and a handful of threatened homes. The water was receding.
"What we're worried about now is all that snow melt in North and South Dakota and Minnesota," Keith said.
AccuWeather meteorologist Alan Reppert said the timing of the snow melt could prove lucky: It may stay cold long enough up north to make for a gradual melt, giving the rivers time to thin out. Of greater concern, he said, is the Red River in North Dakota, which could see significant flooding in the coming weeks.
Along the Mississippi, a handful of river towns are most affected by the high waters ? places like Clarksville, Mo., and Grafton that have chosen against flood walls or levees.
By Sunday, sandbagging had all but stopped in Clarksville, evidence of the confidence that the makeshift sandbag levee hurriedly erected to protect downtown would hold. Volunteers, including nearly three dozen prison inmates, worked since Wednesday, using 6,000 tons of sand and gravel.
The river was at 34.7 feet Sunday, nearly 10 feet above the 25-foot flood stage ? a somewhat arbitrary term the NWS defines as the point when "water surface level begins to create a hazard to lives, property or commerce" ? and expected to rise another foot before cresting Monday.
"We believe we'll have a successful conclusion," said Jo Anne Smiley, longtime mayor of the 442-resident hamlet.
Richard Cottrell, a 64-year-old antique shop owner, was hopeful, but nervous. After two days of endless sandbagging, Cottrell thought he could rest Saturday night, but the constant beeping of heavy equipment outside and flood worries kept him up.
"I had a rough night last night. I had an anxiety attack," he admitted.
Many towns on smaller rivers in other states were dealing with floodwaters, too.
In Grand Rapids, Mich., Mayor George Heartwell declared a state of emergency as the flooding Grand River poured into the basements of several hotels and other downtown buildings.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn declared at least 41 counties disaster areas from flooding. The Fox River in northern Illinois reached record levels, and several record crests were possible along the Illinois River.
Indiana officials were still determining whether flooded communities like Kokomo, Tipton and Elwood will be eligible for disaster aid.
___
Salter reported from St. Louis.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rivers-crest-across-midwest-rain-forecast-190951310.html
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Strong quake jolts China's Sichuan, killing 113
BEIJING (AP) ? A powerful earthquake struck the steep hills of China's southwestern Sichuan province on Saturday, leaving at least 113 people dead and more than 2,600 injured, nearly five years after a devastating quake wreaked widespread damage across the region.
Saturday's quake, while not as destructive as that in 2008, toppled buildings, triggered landslides and disrupted phone and power connections in mountainous Lushan county. The village of Longmen was hit particularly hard, with authorities saying nearly all the buildings had been destroyed and state television showing footage of soldiers digging through rubble.
Rescuers turned the square outside the Lushan County Hospital into a triage center, where medical personnel bandaged bleeding victims, according to footage on China Central Television. Rescuers dynamited boulders that had fallen across roads to reach Longmen and other damaged areas lying farther up the mountain valleys, state media reported.
The official Xinhua News Agency, citing the Sichuan earthquake bureau, said at least 113 people had died. The government of Ya'an city, which administers Lushan, said in a statement that more than 2,600 people were injured, 330 of them severely.
The quake ? measured by China's seismological bureau at magnitude 7.0 and the U.S. Geological Survey at 6.6 ? struck the steep hills of Lushan county shortly after 8 a.m., when many people were at home, sleeping or having breakfast. People in their underwear and wrapped in blankets ran into the streets of Ya'an and even the provincial capital of Chengdu, 115 kilometers (70 miles) east of Lushan, according to photos, video and accounts posted online.
The quake's shallow depth, less than 13 kilometers (8 miles), likely magnified the impact, and CCTV showed footage from local security cameras that were shaking. Chengdu's airport shut down for about an hour before reopening, though many flights were canceled or delayed, state media said.
Lushan, where the quake struck, lies where the fertile Sichuan plain meets foothills that eventually rise to the Tibetan plateau and sits atop the Longmenshan fault. It was along that fault line that the devastating magnitude-7.9 quake struck on May 12, 2008, leaving more than 90,000 people dead or missing and presumed dead in one of the worst natural disasters to strike China in recent decades.
"It was just like May 12," Liu Xi, a writer in Ya'an city, who was jolted awake by Saturday's quake, said in a message posted to his account on Sina Corporation's Twitter-like Weibo service. "All the home decorations fell at once, and the old house cracked."
Xinhua said the well-known Bifengxia panda preserve, which is near Lushan, was not affected by the quake. Dozens of pandas were moved to Bifengxia from another preserve, Wolong, after its habitat was wrecked by the 2008 quake.
As in most natural disasters, the government mobilized thousands of soldiers and others ? 7,000 people by Saturday afternoon ? sending excavators and other heavy machinery as well as tents, blankets and other emergency supplies. One soldier died after the vehicle that he and a dozen others were in slipped off the road and rolled down an embankment, state media reported.
Premier Li Keqiang flew to Ya'an to direct rescue efforts, and he and President Xi Jinping ordered officials and rescuers to make saving people the top priority, Xinhua said.
With roads blocked for several hours after the quake, the military surveyed the disaster area by air. Aerial photos released by the military and shown on state television showed individual houses in ruins in Lushan and outlying villages flattened into rubble. The roofs of some taller buildings appeared to have slipped off, exposing the floors beneath them.
A person whose posts to the micro-blogging account "Qingyi Riverside" on Weibo carried a locator geotag for Lushan said many buildings collapsed and that people could spot helicopters hovering above.
China Earth Administration said there had been at least 35 aftershocks, including at least two of magnitude 5.0 or higher.
"It's too dangerous," said a person with the Weibo account Chengduxinglin and with a Lushan geotag. "Even the aftershocks are scary."
While rescuers and state media rushed to the disaster scene, China's active social media users filled the information gap. They posted photos of people rushing to streets for safety and of buildings flattened by the quake. They shared information on the availability of phone services, apparently through data services.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/strong-quake-jolts-chinas-sichuan-killing-113-100945766.html
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Stocks edge higher to end turbulent week
Stocks edged higher on Wall Street Friday, as a mixed set of earnings capped a turbulent week on Wall Street.?By many measures, stocks have endured a rough five days.
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange, Friday. Stocks experienced a tumultuous week.
Brendan McDermid/Reuters
EnlargeStrong earnings from a pair of technology giants helped stock market recover some of its losses Friday, a positive end to?Wall?Street's?worst week in five months.
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Microsoft and Google both beat earnings expectations, yields of government bonds ticked up and copper ? a key industrial metal ? continued its fall, losing 2 percent.
Microsoft gained 3 percent to $29.77, leading the Dow Jones industrial average higher. The software giant reported earnings late Thursday that beat analysts' forecasts and showed solid results from its Office, software tools and Xbox divisions.
Google's stock climbed 3 percent to $799.87. The leader in Internet search boosted prices for ads distributed to smartphones and tablet computers.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 13.64 points to 1,555.25, an increase of 0.9 percent. The Dow rose 10.37 points to 14,547.51, a gain of 0.1 percent. The Dow spent most of the day down, pulled lower by disappointing results from IBM.
Traders, like everyone else, were following the news out of Boston, where police were hunting for one of two brothers suspected to be behind Monday's Boston Marathon bombings. One brother was killed in a gun battle with police overnight. But the news had no impact on markets, traders said.
Friday's slight gains couldn't overcome a tough week for the market, when both the S&P 500 and the Dow lost 2.1 percent. That's their biggest weekly drop since last November.
"Compared to the rest of the week, it looks like we're going to slide into the weekend on a quiet note," said Jim Baird, Partner and Chief Investment Officer for Plante Moran Financial Advisors
By many measures, the financial markets have endured a rough five days. News that economic growth had slowed in China set off a plunge in commodity prices on Monday, leading the stock market to its worst day of the year. Gold dropped below $1,400 an ounce for the first time in two years.
The stock market bounced back the next day, then fell again on Wednesday, its third worst day this year.
Most big corporations have managed to beat analysts' low expectations for first-quarter profits. Of the 104 companies that turned in results through Friday morning, 70 have trumped forecasts, according to S&P Capital IQ.
Analysts estimate that earnings for companies in the S&P 500 inched up just 2 percent over the previous year, a slowdown from the 7.7 percent rise in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Next week marks another big week for earnings as 10 members of the Dow and 181 companies in the S&P 500 report results.
On Friday, IBM fell 8 percent to an even $190. Quarterly earnings for the country's largest provider of computer services fell short of forecasts for the first time since 2005. IBM said delays in closing several large software and mainframe computer deals hindered sales.
Chipotle Mexican Grill surged 12 percent to $366.25, the best gain in the S&P 500. Chipotle's results easily topped?Wall?Street?expectations late Thursday as the burrito-maker said new restaurants drove sales higher.
The Nasdaq composite index gained 39.69 points to 3,206.06, up 1.3 percent.
In the market for U.S. government bonds, Treasury prices slipped, nudging yields up from their lowest levels of the year. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note inched up to 1.70 percent from 1.68 percent late Thursday.
Traders cautiously returned to buying certain key commodities on Friday, including gold and oil, after big sell-offs earlier this week. But copper continued its fall, losing 2 percent to $3.16 per pound.
Rex Macey, the chief investment officer at the Wilmington Trust Investment Advisors, said markets are bound to encounter turbulence as long as the economy continues to advance at a slow pace. Forecasts say the U.S. economy will expand 2 percent this year. In practice, Macey said, that means there will be times when the economy looks ready to stall and others when it looks ready to steam ahead.
"You'll hear that Europe's in trouble again and we'll get a pullback in the market," Macey said. "Then you'll go through periods when we're off to the races again. I say, 'Get used to it.'"
Even after a rough week, Macey and others said the basic storyline for investors hasn't changed. The economy and corporate profits are still headed in the right direction. And as long as that's true, the stock market will follow their lead.
"We're going to have a stronger 2013 than 2012," said Joseph Tanious, the global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Funds. "But the recovery is going to be much more bumpy than people thought."
Among other companies making big moves:
? SeaWorld Entertainment soared in its first day of trading as a public company. The theme park operator raised $702 million in its initial public offering, with the bulk of the money going to the Blackstone Group, the private equity firm that still controls the company. SeaWorld's stock jumped 24 percent to $33.52, up from its IPO price of $27.
? Dell sank 4 percent to $13.40 following news that the Blackstone Group withdrew its bid to buy the computer maker. That left Dell with two remaining bidders: a group led by Michael Dell, the company's founder and CEO, and Carl Icahn, the well-known investor.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/wiVrGKE-5TU/Stocks-edge-higher-to-end-turbulent-week
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Friday, April 19, 2013
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Investing in Latin America's Future - FORA.tv
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Monday, April 15, 2013
Meet the new fast-food worker: older, more educated
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The Hollywood image of the care-free, freckle-faced, teenage hamburger flipper is no longer the norm.
By Amy Langfield, NBC News contributor
Wendy Lott's career has made a detour to a small-town pizzeria in South Carolina.
She works 10 hours a week making pizza for minimum wage. She has no other job, no health insurance and no idea how she can afford to go back to college, let alone pay the hospital that treated her asthma-related bronchitis.
She?s 27, lives with her mother and most of her take-home pay goes to gas and household items. ?It would be nice to get off food stamps, but on $62, I can?t,? Lott said, referring to her weekly take-home pay from her $7.25-an-hour minimum-wage job.
In many ways, she is a typical fast-food worker: She's older than you'd expect, has more years of schooling and works in the industry not for entry-level experience, but to try to keep her head above the financial storm that threatens to swamp her.?
Due to the lingering effects of the Great Recession, the Hollywood image of the care-free, freckle-faced, teenage hamburger flipper is no longer the norm.?Only 16 percent of fast food industry jobs now go to teens, down from 25 percent a decade ago.
And many of the older workers are educated. More than 42 percent of restaurant and fast-food employees over the age of 25 have at least some college education, including 753,000 with a bachelor?s degree or higher, according to the?U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.?
In many cases, teens have been squeezed out of the workforce before they even begin. While the overall U.S. population posted an unemployment rate of 7.6 in March, for teenagers 16 through 19, it was 24.2 percent, according to the BLS.
?Young people have been hit very hard by this downturn,? said Harry Holzer, a professor of public policy at Georgetown University. Studies show a worker's most rapid wage growth happens in the 5 to 10 years after graduation as?you switch jobs and find what you?re good at, Holzer said. ?That whole process is disrupted by this downturn.?
Ed Maker / The Denver Post file
On average fast-food employees work only 24 hours a week. Those who can get full-time hours make a median annual salary of $17,813 a year.
Fast-food workers are part of the lowest-paying major occupational group in the United States, according to government data. On average they work only 24 hours a week. Those who can get full-time hours make a median annual salary of $17,813 a year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Others find they don?t get as many hours as they need, and erratic schedules make it difficult to juggle more than one job at a time.
?I?ve been trying to find a better job,? said Lott, who has been requesting more hours for the entire year she?s been at the pizza place. Two weeks ago she was turned down for a grocery store job she hoped would supplement her 10-hour week schedule. ?I was not hired because I wasn?t available enough,? she said.
The food services industry is rebounding faster than the rest of the economy,?and has been creating jobs. Prior to the Great Recession, 35 percent of industry employers said their No. 1 worry was recruiting and retaining employees, according to the Restaurant Industry Tracking Survey. This year, only 5 percent said it was a prime problem.
?With the national jobless rate hovering around 8 percent and more than 20 million individuals still unemployed or underemployed, the labor pool remains sufficiently deep for most,? said the National Restaurant Association's 2013 outlook.
Restaurant industry officials have argued they provide good first-time jobs for many people, and that President Barack Obama's proposed increase in the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 by the end of 2015 would hurt them.
Related:?Most memorable fast-food workers in movies, TV
?The restaurant industry is dominated by small businesses. More than seven in ten eating and drinking establishments are single-unit operations,? Melvin Sickler, who operates Auntie Anne?s Pretzels and Cinnabon franchises in New Jersey, told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in March. ?Food and labor costs are the two most significant line items for a restaurant. With average pre-tax margins of roughly 4 to 6 percent, increases in food and labor costs can have a dramatic impact on a restaurant?s bottom line.?
Not everyone agrees.
The corporations have intentionally created a ?disposable workforce? with high turnover rates, argues Saru Jayaraman, the author of ?Behind the Kitchen Door? and director of the Food Labor Research Center at the University of California at Berkeley. The restaurant industry lobbies against a hike in the minimum wage and intentionally keeps workers at minimal hours with erratic schedules to prevent them from being able to organize or claim benefits, she said.
?People are piecing together jobs to work full-time,? said Jayaraman, who is also the co-founder of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers.
Keystone / Hulton Archive / Getty Images
Fast-food employees are not like they used to be. Today, more than 42 percent of restaurant and fast-food employees over the age of 25 have at least some college education. About 753,000 have a bachelor's degree or higher.
Some fast-food chains are doing it right, Jayaraman said, such as Five Guys and In-N-Out Burger.
In-N-Out, for example, starts its employees at $10 per hour and offers benefits. ?We do enjoy lower turnover and that, of course, leads to a more experienced team working in our restaurants,? Carl Van Fleet, the vice president of planning and development at In-N-Out Burger, told NBC News via email.??Our associates do work pretty hard to make sure our customers have a great experience. A higher pay structure is helpful in making that happen but it is only part of our approach. It is equally important to us that we treat our associates well and maintain that positive working environment in all of our restaurants.?
As for Wendy Lott, she continues to look for another job and hopes to find a way to finish her final year at the Art Institute of Atlanta, where she was working toward a bachelor?s degree in video game art and design. But when she left, due to her father?s death from diabetes, she was already in arrears for $5,000.
A slip-and-fall at her first waitress job left her with a torn Achilles tendon and fractured ankle that still causes her pain and limits her work options. She said the one-time $800 worker?s compensation payment doesn?t help long term. ?A lot of jobs in my area require heavy lifting or for you to be fast on your feet,? she said.
And she finds the competition for the other jobs is tough, especially with layoffs at the nearby Savannah River Site nuclear facility. ?Everybody gets underemployed across the board. It trickles down,? Lott said.
?
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North Korea tension puts pressure on China, US
On Saturday, the two nations agreed that North Korea needs to give up nuclear weapons. It remains to be seen if that goal can be accomplished.
Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi on Saturday to discuss North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
Paul J. Richards/Reuters
EnlargeBound by threats from North Korea, the U.S. and China agreed Saturday to rid the bellicose nation of nuclear weapons in a test of whether the world powers can shelve years of rivalry and discord, and unite in fostering global stability.
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Beyond this latest attempt to restrain North Korea, the burgeoning nuclear crisis has so frustrated the U.S. and China that they are forming a new and tentative bond with the potential to carry over into areas that have vexed them for decades.
But they will need to overcome the longstanding prickly relations between Beijing's communist government and Washington's free-market democracy. The two are economic competitors, and China is far more reluctant than the U.S. to intervene in international military conflicts.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday described a "synergy" between the two countries to achieve worldwide security and economic stability.
"We have a stake in China's success. And frankly, China has a stake in the success of the United States," Kerry told reporters in the Chinese capital. "And that became clear in all of our conversations here today. A constructive partnership that is based on mutual interest benefits everybody in the world."
Kerry met with the new Chinese leaders to discuss a range of issues, most notably the persistent and increasingly pitched threats that North Korea has issued against the U.S., South Korea and Japan the over the past several months.
North Korea appears to be readying a missile test, in what the U.S. says would be its third since December, and there are varying opinions in Washington as to whether the North is able to develop and launch nuclear-tipped missiles.
One U.S. intelligence assessment suggested North Korea had the capacity to put a nuclear warhead on a missile, even if any such weapon would have low reliability.
Kerry and the Chinese foreign policy chief, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, said the two nations would work together to create a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, effectively forcing North Korea to give up its arsenal.
The reclusive North Korean government and its young leader, Kim Jong Un, are more likely to listen to China, its main economic and diplomatic partner and lifeline to the outside world, than anyone else.
Yang, through an interpreter, described China's stance on North Korea as "clear cut" and called for resuming the six-nation talks that fell apart four years ago and are aimed at ending the nuclear threat.
"China is firmly committed to upholding peace and stability and advancing the denuclearization process on the Korean peninsula," Yang told reporters. "We maintain that the issue should be handled and resolved peacefully through dialogue. ... To properly address the Korean nuclear issue serves the interests of all parties."
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/9gaXxS64Ox8/North-Korea-tension-puts-pressure-on-China-US
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Ex-official arrested in probe of prosecutor slayings
By Lisa Maria Garza
KAUFMAN, Texas (Reuters) - A former justice of the peace in Kaufman County, Texas, whose home was searched as part of the probe into the killings of the local district attorney, his wife and a prosecutor, has been arrested on suspicion of threatening violence, officials said on Saturday.
Eric L. Williams, 46, was arrested on Friday on charges of making a "terroristic" threat, which generally involves a threat to commit violence, according to the Kaufman County jail website. Kaufman County is just east of the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
It was not immediately clear whether the alleged threat had any connection to the slayings, which along with the March slaying of the Colorado prisons chief raised concerns about public officials being targeted by criminal elements.
Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were found shot to death on March 30 at their home near Forney, 22 miles from Dallas, two months after Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was gunned down execution-style. McLelland had publicly vowed to capture Hasse's killer.
The arrest of Williams marked at least the third time investigators in the case have taken a person into custody over an alleged threat, and came as Texas authorities were seeking to double an existing $200,000 reward to find the killers.
Williams has not been named as a suspect in the slayings. He lost his position as justice of the peace in Kaufman County after being convicted last year of theft, according to local media reports.
His attorney, David Sergi, said in a statement on Friday that his client "has cooperated with law enforcement and vigorously denies any and all allegations," according to local news station KXAS-TV, an NBC affiliate.
Sergi did not return calls on Saturday.
SEARCH WARRANT
A jail official confirmed that Williams' bail was set at $3 million in connection with the charge against him, but she could not release further details.
Kyle Bradford, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers, said authorities served a search warrant at Williams' home on Friday.
Richard Mohundro, who lives next door to Williams' house in Kaufman County, said he watched from his porch as police poured into the neighborhood on Friday afternoon. "There were cops everywhere and I thought, 'Oh my God,'" he said.
Officers were there until around midnight and took out bins filled with documents and computers, Mohundro said.
On Saturday, FBI agents and Texas Rangers also searched several storage units in the town of Seagoville as part of the probe into the slayings, the Dallas Morning News reported. It added that a car had been found in one of the units.
It was not immediately clear who the units belonged to. An FBI spokeswoman did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the developments, nor did a spokesman for the Kaufman County Sheriff's Department.
After the slayings of Hasse and the McLellands, investigators had tested Williams for gun residue and they examined his cell phone, but they did not name him as a suspect, according to the New York Times.
The theft conviction against Williams last year centered on his removal of computer monitors from a public building, according to a report on the trial from The Forney Post newspaper. Hasse prosecuted the case, according to the paper.
Police investigating the slayings previously have arrested others on a charge of making a public threat.
The Texas Rangers arrested a man on April 4 accused of using Facebook to threaten violence against an assistant district attorney. Two days earlier, authorities arrested another man suspected of making a telephone threat against a county official on a tip line set up for the case.
(Additional reporting Marice Richter in Dallas,; Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Vicki Allen, Cynthia Johnston and Paul Simao)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-texas-official-arrested-probe-prosecutors-slayings-033144835.html
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Lawyer: Girl saw details online of sex assault
This undated photo provided by her family via attorney Robert Allard shows Audrey Pott. A Northern California sheriff's office has arrested three 16-year-old boys on accusations that they sexually battered the 15-year-old girl who hanged herself eight days after the attack last fall. Santa Clara County Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Jose Cardoza says the teens were arrested Thursday, April 11, 2013, two at Saratoga High School and a third at Christopher High School in Gilroy. (AP Photo/Family photo provided by attorney Robert Allard) NO SALES MAGS OUT FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY
This undated photo provided by her family via attorney Robert Allard shows Audrey Pott. A Northern California sheriff's office has arrested three 16-year-old boys on accusations that they sexually battered the 15-year-old girl who hanged herself eight days after the attack last fall. Santa Clara County Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Jose Cardoza says the teens were arrested Thursday, April 11, 2013, two at Saratoga High School and a third at Christopher High School in Gilroy. (AP Photo/Family photo provided by attorney Robert Allard) NO SALES MAGS OUT FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY
Robert Allard, an attorney for the family of Audrie Pott, speaks during an interview at his office in San Jose, Calif., Friday, April 12, 2013. Allard said that Pott committed suicide after she was sexually assaulted by three of her friends and a photo surfaced online. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Saratoga resident Jamie Perez speaks to reporters about a 15-year-old California girl that committed suicide after she was sexually assaulted by three of her friends and a photo surfaced online in Saratoga, Calif., Friday, April 12, 2013. Robert Allard, an attorney for the family of Audrie Pott, said Friday the girl saw an intimate photo being passed around online and pieced together from emails and text messages that her friends had victimized her while she slept. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
SARATOGA, Calif. (AP) ? Fifteen-year-old Audrie Pott passed out drunk at a friend's house, woke up and concluded she had been sexually abused.
In the days that followed, she was shocked to see an explicit photo of herself circulating among her classmates along with emails and text messages about the episode. And she was horrified to discover that her attackers were three of her friends, her family's lawyer says.
Eight days after the party, she hanged herself.
"She pieced together with emails and texts who had done this to her. They were her friends. Her friends!" said family attorney Robert Allard. "That was the worst"
On Thursday, sheriff's officials arrested three 16-year-old boys on suspicion of sexual battery against Audrie, who committed suicide in September. Lawyers for the three, whose names have not been released because they are minors, released a statement Friday asking the public to withhold judgment until their clients can give their side of the story, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
"Much of what has been reported over the last several days is inaccurate. Most disturbing is the attempt to link (Audrie's) suicide to the specific actions of these three boys," the statement from San Jose attorneys Eric Geffon, Alan Lagod and Benjamin Williams reads. "We are hopeful that everyone understands that these boys, none of whom have ever been in trouble with the law, are to be regarded as innocent."
The arrests and the details that came spilling out shocked many in this prosperous Silicon Valley suburb of 30,000. And together with two other episodes recently in the news ? a suicide in Canada and a rape in Steubenville, Ohio ? the case underscored the seeming callousness with which some young people use technology.
"The problem with digital technologies is they can expand the harm that people suffer greatly," said Nancy Willard, an Oregon-based cyberbullying expert and creator of a prevention program for schools.
Allard said Audrie had been drinking at a sleepover at a friend's house, passed out and "woke up to the worst nightmare imaginable." She knew she had been assaulted, he said.
She soon found an abundance of material online about that night, including a picture.
"We are talking about a systematic distributing of a photo involving an intimate body part of hers," Allard said. He said distributing the photo was "equally insidious as the assault."
She also discovered that her attackers were three boys she considered friends ? young men in whom she had confided, the lawyer said.
On Facebook, Audrie said the whole school knew what happened, and she complained that her life was ruined ? "worst day ever," Allard said.
Her parents did not learn about the assault until after her death, when Audrie's friends approached them, Allard said.
Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith told the Mercury News that investigators for her department started looking into the circumstances surrounding Audrie's Sept. 10 suicide in the days immediately following it. A deputy assigned to Saratoga High heard rumors about the sexual assault and possible photographic evidence, and detectives spent months interviewing students and subpoenaing cell phone records, Smith said.
"We still have more interviews to do. We have more phones to get," the sheriff said. "We have good evidence to justify the criminal charges even though the investigation is ongoing."
Family members also believe the attackers tried to destroy evidence. That claim was posted on a Facebook page for a foundation set up in the girl's name.
It didn't provide further details on what type of evidence might have been targeted by the suspects. However, it asked any students with information to come forward.
In Canada, meanwhile, police said Friday they have received new information and are reopening their investigation in the case of 17-year-old suicide victim Rehtaeh Parsons.
Parsons was photographed while being sexually assaulted in 2011 and was then bullied after the photo was shared on the Web, authorities said. Police initially concluded there were no grounds to charge anyone.
In Steubenville, Ohio, two high school football players were convicted last month of raping a drunken 16-year-old girl in a crime that was recorded on cellphones by students and gossiped about online. The victim herself realized she had been attacked after seeing text messages, a photo of herself naked and a video that mocked her.
The suspects in the Saratoga case were booked into juvenile hall, where they still were being held on Friday.
The news surprised residents of the town.
"People in this town are involved, parents advocate for their kids to get the best education, the best teachers, the best sports," said Jamie Perez, who was walking her baby and her dog on Friday past a coffee shop.
Perez graduated from the local school system, which has one of the top high schools in the state.
Family videos of Audrie show a bright, cheerful girl standing on a cantering horse, boogie boarding at the beach, playing her violin and singing.
Interviewed for her high school newspaper Saratoga Falcon when she started as a freshman in 2011, Audrie was optimistic and said she was looking forward to playing on the soccer team.
"I'm really excited to meet new people; there are a lot more people in high school than in middle school," she said. "However, I'm not looking forward to all the extra homework. Another thing I'm really excited about is that in high school, the dances seem so much more fun."
Allard, who hired two former San Jose police officers to investigate what happened, said Thursday's arrests "reopened a wound" for the girl's family members, and they have gone into seclusion. But they want to see the boys prosecuted as adults and action taken again those who passed the photo around. Her mother, father and step-mother have scheduled a Monday news conference where they plan to discuss how they found out about the attack.
"If anybody was involved in the ruthless forwarding of this information involving an intimate body part of her, we want to make sure they're held accountable," he said.
___
Associated Press writer Sudhin Thanawala contributed to this report from San Francisco.
On the Web: www.audriepottfoundation.com
Associated PressFriday, April 12, 2013
Fidel Castro appears near tears over Chavez in Cuban TV report
By Jeff Franks
HAVANA (Reuters) - Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro looked downcast and near tears as he listened to a song about his friend and ally, the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, in a news report aired on Cuban state television on Thursday.
The unusual report, nine minutes in length on a news program, was the first public glimpse of the impact of Chavez' death last month on the 86-year-old Castro, whom the Venezuelan socialist openly revered and considered his political father and mentor.
Castro, recorded in a rare public appearance on Wednesday for the opening of a school, put his hand over his eyes, his lips trembling, and appeared to fight back tears during the song "The Return of a Friend," which he introduced as having been written and recorded by several musicians to remember Chavez.
Chavez, 58, died on March 5 in Caracas after a long battle with cancer, much of it fought in Cuba under the supervision of Cuban doctors.
"Nobody thinks that he has gone, he went for a moment to mass. He will return with Sandino, with Che, Marti and Bolivar," the song went, referring to several late Latin American revolutionary figures - Augusto Sandino, Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Jose Marti and Simon Bolivar - whose names are often invoked in Cuba.
Long close-ups of Castro were interspersed with video of him and Chavez in their many meetings.
"Really, the song is pretty," the gray-haired Castro said hoarsely to the room of students, school workers and officials, some of whom were moved to tears as they watched.
Castro and Chavez forged a strong friendship and political alliance early in Chavez' 14 years in power as he poured oil and money into Cuba to help it emerge from the economic ruin that followed the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, the communist island's previous top ally.
Their close relationship continued after Castro, aging and infirm, resigned the presidency in 2008 after 49 years in power and was succeeded by younger brother Raul Castro, who is 81.
Fidel Castro and Chavez spoke often, corresponded frequently and plotted jointly to promote leftist governments in Latin America and diminish U.S. influence in the region.
In his only public comments on Chavez' death, Fidel Castro wrote in a March 11 column in state media that Cuba had lost its best friend ever and he admitted that word of his passing "hit us hard."
But it was not known how hard until Thursday's television report.
(Editing by Kevin Gray and Paul Simao)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fidel-castro-appears-near-tears-over-chavez-cuban-205541850.html
UK cops make first arrests for 'hate crime' against emo subculture
By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News
Two people were arrested in Britain Thursday over an assault on an "emo" teenager -- the first such move after police began recording attacks on subculture members as ?hate crimes.?
The term, short for ?emotive? or ?emotional,? usually refers to an introspective style of music -- somewhere between punk and grunge -- and its associated fashion styles.
Earlier this month, Greater Manchester Police became the first force in the U.K. to treat attacks on groups such as goths, emos and punks in the same way as crimes based on race, religion, disability or sexual orientation.
The 16-year-old victim was ?distinctively dressed as an emo? in an eastern suburb of the northern England city when he was punched in the face Monday evening, the Manchester Evening News newspaper said.
The victim ?describes himself as an emo,? police said in a statement, adding that officers had arrested a 14-year-old boy and a 44-year-old man over the attack.
?The assault has been reported as an alternative subculture hate crime and will be investigated as such,? the statement added.
A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said the injured teen was hit "several times."
Garry Shewan, assistant chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, said:? "It is unfortunate that this incident happened, but the fact we were able to identify this as a hate crime is very positive. Just last Thursday we announced that we will now record alternative subculture as a hate motivation."
Lancashire Police / PA via AP
Sophie Lancaster was fatally attacked in a park in Lancashire, northern England, because of her goth appearance in 2007.
"We hope this encourages victims to continue to come forward so we can take positive action against offenders," he added.
In England, a hate crime is defined by prosecutors as ?a criminal offense motivated by prejudice based on a person's disability, race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.?
The decision by police to include subcultures was partly a result of the 2007 killing of Sophie Lancaster, a 20-year-old in the northern England county of Lancashire, who was kicked and stamped to death for being a goth.
Related:
Iraqi teens stoned to death for wearing 'emo' clothes
TODAY: What exactly is emo anyway?
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Wednesday, April 10, 2013
INTERNET MILLIONAIRE: MAKE MONEY WITH PAID SURVEY ...
? TO START MAKING MONEY ONLINE, YOU NEED TO HAVE THE FIRST PLAN
Most people biggest mistake is they don't have a plan for make money online. I suggest is create a plan before to doing any kind of work online, the reason is because having a plan to work from will give you a clearer vision of where you want to go and what you need to do.
Most people don?t realize is that a small online business plan does not need to be that in depth, you could simply make a small 3 page plan about what you are going to do, how will do it, what?s the goals, what your overall vision for your online business is, and finally what obstacles you see getting in your way. Without these things you will not know what you are doing and it will take you a long time.
Here are some tips on creating a plan
Make your own
The first thing you need to do is make your own plan. I have seen some people try to get others to create a small online business plan but what ends up happening is they get the plan and have no idea what some of the things are. Do yourself a favor and just make the plan yourself.
Don?t concentrate on long term goals
When it comes to making money online you must to understand you can not always look too far in the future, you should stick to what is happening now. My suggest is to look at what you are doing today. For example, if you make money now what would that do to your business?
Create a draft (even if a rough draft )
Have you ever get anything right on the first try when you were in school? Maybe no, That is why you need to make a draft for you online business plan and then perfect it. If you want to make money online then the one thing you must understand is not everything is going to be perfect at the beginning.
At last I want you to understand is that it doesn?t matter if you are doing affiliate marketing, blogging or just selling things on eBay, you need to have a plan. help yourself and thinking about an online business plan you should Create a draft.
To start earn money online then the first thing you need to know is that you must have a good plan, the next thing you need to understand is you will not make money quickly if you have not put in the time and work hard.
PAID SURVEY IS A GOOD WAY TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE
Paid survey is not a new subject that many people have to win by a certain way. They are ?online business? hey day as the number of people who start their online store has been multiplied by ten. The pace seems to show no sign of slowing anytime and in addition, the speed at which new cases line is created seems to increase rather than decrease. It seems that since online businesses go, the opportunities are still available for anyone to make money.
The paid surveys are easy to fill, on the Internet at any time of day or night. Although the busiest people can respond to the market research study paid a bit ?and paid for it. You can play an important role in improving the products and having their say, just by participating in paid surveys online.
The paid surveys are a great work from home opportunity to make some extra money in your spare time. Internet surveys are fun. At the same time, you can help in developing new products.
Market research companies are interested in your views on various issues on behalf of their clients. They are willing to pay for the time spent for them.
The most popular sites are divisions paid survey online market research companies. They are all free to join and give rewards ranging from $ 1 to over $ 100 per completed questionnaire. Some paid survey sites; you enter the contest where you can make more money. Others may reward you with cash points that can transform to cash.
With companies spending more of their budgets to advertising, your opinion is very useful. Participate in the survey means that companies can measure your immediate reaction to new products or marketing initiatives. Paid surveys can be completed online via the Internet from the comfort of your home or workplace, so you can register and participate at a time that suits you.
When you join a paid survey, you will be carefully examined to see if you match your needs doing research. It is important to be honest and give complete information about yourself and your lifestyle so you can be reimbursed for your participation. Filling the ballot is not to make the answers ? it?s your honest answer to a product or a service. Companies seek honest feedback, so please be careful and honest as you fill in these studies.
Wherever you are, whether the United States, Canada, Australia or elsewhere in the world, there are paid surveys online. Make sure your opinion counts and get paid from paid surveys.
Most companies pay between $ 1 and $ 20 for a questionnaire. We also provide a area of factors to support you find out to think about complete benefit of getting market surveys at the same time to other methods to create income on the net and offline.The most reliable? and trusted one that pays well require a little? start on fee.survey paidSource: http://marblestonez.blogspot.com/2013/04/make-money-with-paid-survey.html
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Monday, April 8, 2013
New mechanism for cell membrane fission proposed
Apr. 8, 2013 ? A study led by the Membrane Nanomechanics group of the Biophysics Unit of the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country has made it possible to characterise the functioning of a protein responsible for cell membrane splitting. The results of the study, published in the journal Science, make it possible to see the basic mechanisms of cell life from a fresh perspective, like the fusion and splitting of cell membranes. What is more, the methodology developed will allow various neuromuscular disorders to be diagnosed.
Cells have a series of specialised proteins so that their membranes can join together (fuse) or separate (split) without losing their protective role against the external medium. One of these specialised proteins is the protein dynamin responsible for the constriction and fission of the necks of endocytic vesicles. Two of the main characteristics of dynamin are its assembly capacity on membranes with high curvature (the necks of the vesicles) and its GTP activity, in other words, the capacity to use the energy stored inside the GTP molecules. GTP, which stands for guanosine triphosphate, is a chemical compound that plays a crucial role in cell metabolism.
It was hitherto thought that the dynamin used the GTP energy to produce a very strong constriction of the neck of the vesicle and thus bring about its fission. Nevertheless, the study led by the Ikerbasque lecturer, Vadim Frolov, has enabled the fission action by the dynamin to be characterised for the first time on nanometric scales and with great time resolution. "We have managed to characterise the minimal functional unit of the dynamin," says the researcher. This study has made it possible to separate the membrane splitting process by the dynamin into two stages: the first, a purely mechanical one in which the constriction of the vesicle neck takes place, and the second, in which the dynamin "functions like a catalytic centre by inserting some of its domains into the membrane," explains Frolov. "The GTP hydrolysis increases the internal flexibility of the dynamin molecule, thus allowing the optimum shape of the protein to be found on the membrane so that it splits. This optimization constitutes the essence of "geometric catalysis," a new way of seeing the activity of the proteins while the membrane is being remodelled," he adds.
Protein involved in neurodegenerative diseases
According to Frolov, this study has marked "the start of a new line of research in the Membrane Nanomechanics group." In fact, this project, which has had a two-year duration, has led to "the specification and development of the method necessary to be able to characterise the action of dynamin with great space-time precision." It is a combination of fluorescence microscopy measurements and electrophysiological ones. "Now we are in a position to measure the passing of the ions along the inside of a lipid nanotube while we observe it by means of fluorescence microscopy. The result can be translated into a technique that allows very fast processes on very small scales to be characterised," says Frolov.
"This technique will enable us to study why small mutations in the dynamin lead to various human diseases, like neuromuscular diseases," adds Frolov.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Basque Research, via AlphaGalileo.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- A. V. Shnyrova, P. V. Bashkirov, S. A. Akimov, T. J. Pucadyil, J. Zimmerberg, S. L. Schmid, V. A. Frolov. Geometric Catalysis of Membrane Fission Driven by Flexible Dynamin Rings. Science, 2013; 339 (6126): 1433 DOI: 10.1126/science.1233920
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/le57uk-FfZ0/130408085041.htm
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