রবিবার, ৩০ জুন, ২০১৩

Wendy Davis: Texas GOP anti-abortion law is ?big government intrusion?

By Arturo Garcia
Saturday, June 29, 2013 19:34 EDT

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Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis (D) continued her public sparring with Gov. Rick Perry (R) over both a state bill that would close all but five of the state?s abortion providers and Perry?s recent criticism of the filibuster she initiated that led to the bill failing to pass on June 25.

?What?s offensive to me is, he?s made this very personal to Texans overall,? Davis told ABC News interviewer Jake Zeleny in video released on Saturday. ?He?s awfully fond of talking the talk of small government, but this is big government intrusion, and it?s very unfortunate and sad that people?s personal health and safety are at risk for his political purposes.?

The bill, SB5, would also mandate a ban on abortions after the 20-week mark of a pregnancy. But in the interview, which is scheduled to air on Sunday, Davis said she refused to believe that the bill, SB 5, would pass.

?I believe in the power of democracy,? Davis told Zeleny. ?I?m going to fight with every fiber I have to keep it from passing.?

The day after her filibuster, Perry announced that a special legislative session would begin on July 1 to address that proposal as well as pending legislation concerning life sentences for 17-year-old offenders and transportation infrastructure for the state.

Perry has also gone on the offensive against Davis herself, saying it was unfortunate that ?she hasn?t learned from her own example? as a young mother and that she ?does not understand that every life is precious.?

In response, Davis fired back that Perry?s remarks lacked dignity.

?They are small words that reflect a dark and negative point of view,? Davis told WFAA-TV. ?Our governor should reflect our Texas values. Sadly, Gov. Perry fails that test.?

In an indication of Davis? increasingly public profile; the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that she will also appear on both NBC and CBS News on Sunday.

Watch this clip from Davis? interview with ABC, posted on Saturday, below.

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Source: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/29/wendy-davis-texas-gop-anti-abortion-law-is-big-government-intrusion/

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Davis hits 2 HRs as Orioles pound Yankees 11-3

Baltimore Orioles' Ryan Flaherty is congratulated by team mates, Chris Dickerson, left, and J.J. Hardy, right, after hitting a three-run home run against the New York Yankees in the third inning of a baseball game, Saturday, June 29, 2013, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Gail Burton)

Baltimore Orioles' Ryan Flaherty is congratulated by team mates, Chris Dickerson, left, and J.J. Hardy, right, after hitting a three-run home run against the New York Yankees in the third inning of a baseball game, Saturday, June 29, 2013, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Gail Burton)

Baltimore Orioles' Chris Davis follows through on a three-run home run against the New York Yankees in the first inning of a baseball game, Saturday, June 29, 2013, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Gail Burton)

Baltimore Orioles' Adam Jones follows through on a RBI single against the New York Yankees in the first inning of a baseball game, Saturday, June 29, 2013, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Gail Burton)

New York Yankees pitcher Kevin Phelps walks to the dugout after giving up four runs to the Baltimore Orioles in the first inning of a baseball game, Saturday, June 29, 2013, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Gail Burton)

New York Yankees starting pitcher David Phelps delivers against the Baltimore Orioles in the first inning of a baseball game, Saturday, June 29, 2013, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Gail Burton)

(AP) ? Curveball, fastballs, good pitches, bad pitches, it doesn't matter to Chris Davis.

They're all flying off his bat and into the seats at a record pace.

Davis homered twice to raise his major league-leading total to 30, and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Yankees 11-3 Saturday night to extend New York's losing streak to four games.

Davis hit a three-run drive in the first inning and added a two-run shot in the sixth, his third multihomer game of the season. The five RBIs gave him 79, second-most in the big leagues and just six short of his career high.

Davis is the first player in Orioles history to hit 30 home runs before the end of June. With one more long ball in the next 14 games, Davis will break the franchise record for home runs before the All-Star break, set in 1996 by Brady Anderson.

"You can't make mistakes," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "We made two mistakes with two curveballs tonight. We left them up in the zone and he hit them both out. He's not hitting 1.000, but I will say he is having a tremendous year. You have to make your pitches."

Given that Davis' career high for home runs in a season is 33, who could have seen this coming?

"I don't think it's anything you can predict," Davis said. "I think it's something you obviously work hard toward in the offseason to try and carry it into spring training and then into the season. I'm not going up there to try and hit home runs. I'm just trying to put good swings on good pitches. I think that's the biggest thing."

Davis scored three runs and upped his batting average to .333. The five RBIs tied a season high.

"You can see him grinding and working on it," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "He's not satisfied. He wants to continue to contribute at a high level for his teammates."

Ryan Flaherty also homered for the Orioles, who built a 9-0 lead in the third against David Phelps (5-5). Baltimore will seek to complete a three-game sweep on Sunday.

"They're a tough opponent and we get a chance to see them a bunch during the season, but we have a chance to go for the sweep," Davis said. "It would be huge for us."

Zach Britton (2-2) limited the offensively challenged, injury-riddled Yankees to one earned run over 5 2-3 innings. New York began the day ranked 26th in batting average and 23rd in runs among the 30 major league teams.

Phelps surrendered nine hits and a career-high nine runs in 2 1-3 innings. The right-hander was 4-0 in his last nine starts against AL East foes since Aug. 27, 2012.

"I don't care what our offense is doing. If you give up nine runs, it's a big hole to dig yourself out of," Phelps said. "The last four or five games I've gotten good run support. It's frustrating to go out there and not give them a chance to do it."

The Yankees have lost 12 of 17 to fall within four games of .500 (42-38) for the first time since April 26 (13-9). In addition, New York has dropped four straight in Baltimore during a single season for the first time since 1982.

"You just have to keep fighting," said Robinson Cano, who had two hits. "Hopefully, sooner or later, we'll turn it around and start winning games so we can get closer. We got beat tonight. It's not like we making errors. There was not much you could do."

After Britton worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the first, Baltimore batted around in the bottom half. Singles by Manny Machado, Nick Markakis and Adam Jones produced a run before Davis got under a 2-1 pitch and sent it soaring into the bullpen area beyond the center-field wall for a 4-0 lead.

The Orioles added five runs in the third. Two walks and a single loaded the bases for Chris Dickerson, who singled in two runs. Flaherty followed with a three-run shot to chase Phelps, who was replaced by Ivan Nova.

New York chased Britton in the sixth. After Zoilo Almonte hit a sacrifice fly, another run scored when Davis booted Lyle Overbay's two-out grounder to first. With the bases loaded, Jair Jurrjens came in and retired Austin Romine on a fly ball.

Davis homered off Nova in the bottom half after a single by Markakis. Successive doubles by Chris Stewart and Brett Garner off Pedro Strop made it 11-3 in the ninth.

NOTES: Brian Roberts (hip, knee) is scheduled to return from the DL and start at 2B for Baltimore on Sunday. The 35-year-old last played on April 4. ... Hiroki Kuroda takes the mound for New York on Sunday. Chris Tillman seeks his career-high 10th win for Baltimore. ... Nova is going to be part of the Yankees' six-man rotation heading into the All-Star break, and he could start in the upcoming series against Minnesota, manager Joe Girardi said. ... The Orioles recalled Jurrjens before the game and designated 1B Travis Ishikawa for assignment. ... The only starter in the Baltimore lineup without a hit was Nate McLouth, who went 0 for 5.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-06-29-Yankees-Orioles/id-41f758c35c6a42dfa897ee804ee8211e

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Analysis: Supreme Court term ends with no easy way to label it (CNN)

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Alec Baldwin Apologizes For Homophobic Tweets

  • Alec Baldwin, Hilaria Baldwin

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    NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 03: Actor Alec Baldwin speaks onstage at the 2012 Ripple Of Hope Gala at The New York Marriott Marquis on December 3, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

  • Alec Baldwin, Hilaria

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    WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 02: Alec Baldwin poses for photographers during the 35th Kennedy Center Honors at the Kennedy Center Hall of States on December 2, 2012 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kris Connor/Getty Images)

  • AFI FEST 2012 Presented By Audi - "Rise Of The Guardians" Premiere - Red Carpet

    HOLLYWOOD, CA - NOVEMBER 04: Actor Alec Baldwin arrives at the premiere of 'Rise of the Guardians' during the 2012 AFI Fest presented by Audi at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on November 4, 2012 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images For AFI)

  • AFI FEST 2012 Presented By Audi - "Rise Of The Guardians" Premiere - Red Carpet

    HOLLYWOOD, CA - NOVEMBER 04: Actor Alec Baldwin arrives at the premiere of 'Rise of the Guardians' during the 2012 AFI Fest presented by Audi at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on November 4, 2012 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images For AFI)

  • AFI FEST 2012 Presented By Audi - "Rise Of The Guardians" Premiere - Red Carpet

    HOLLYWOOD, CA - NOVEMBER 04: Director Peter Ramsey (L) and Actor Alec Baldwin speake on stage at at the premiere of 'Rise of the Guardians' during the 2012 AFI Fest presented by Audi at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on November 4, 2012 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images For AFI)

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    HOLLYWOOD, CA - NOVEMBER 04: (L-R) Founder and CEO of DreamWorks Animation Jeffrey Katzenberg, director Peter Ramsey, producer Christina Steinberg, and actor Alec Baldwin arrive at the premiere of 'Rise of the Guardians' during the 2012 AFI Fest presented by Audi at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on November 4, 2012 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images For AFI)

  • 20th Hamptons International Film Festival - Variety Performers Brunch

    EAST HAMPTON, NY - OCTOBER 07: Alec Baldwin, Scoot McNairy, Alicia Vikander, Bella Heathcote, Adam Driver, Elyas M'Barek, Boyd Holbrook, Sienna Miller, Dree Hemingway, Domhnall Gleeson, Nate Parter and Stuart Suna attend the Variety Performers Brunch during the 20th Hamptons International Film Festival at Nick & Toni on October 7, 2012 in East Hampton, New York. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)

  • 20th Hamptons International Film Festival - Tribute To Ann Roth With Nathan Lane

    EAST HAMPTON, NY - OCTOBER 06: (L-R) Nathan Lane, Ann Roth, Hilaria Baldwin, and Alec Baldwin attend the Tribute To Ann Roth during the 20th Hamptons International Film Festival at Guild Hall on October 6, 2012 in East Hampton, New York. (Photo by Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images)

  • Norman Mailer Center 4th Annual Benefit Gala - Inside

    NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 04: Lawrence Schiller and actor Alec Baldwin speak onstage during the Norman Mailer Center 4th Annual Benefit Gala on October 4, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images for Norman Mailer Center)

  • Norman Mailer Center 4th Annual Benefit Gala - Arrivals

    NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 04: Actor Alec Baldwin, former boxing champion Muhammad Ali and Hilaria Thomas Baldwin attend the Norman Mailer Center 4th Annual Benefit Gala on October 4, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images for Norman Mailer Center)

  • Norman Mailer Center 4th Annual Benefit Gala - Inside

    NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 04: Actor Alec Baldwin speaks onstage during the Norman Mailer Center 4th Annual Benefit Gala on October 4, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Getty Images for Norman Mailer Center)

  • US-ENTERTAINMENT-EMMY AWARDS-RED CARPET

    Alec Baldwin (2nd L) and his wife Hilaria Baldwin (L) greet Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi (R) as they arrive for the 64th annual Prime Time Emmy Awards at the Nokia Theatre at LA Live in Los Angeles, California September 23, 2012. AFP PHOTO / ROBYN BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/GettyImages)

  • US-ENTERTAINMENT-EMMY AWARDS-RED CARPET

    Alec Baldwin (2nd L) and his wife Hilaria Baldwin (L) puts his glasses in his mouth to greet Ellen DeGeneres as they arrive for the 64th annual Prime Time Emmy Awards at the Nokia Theatre at LA Live in Los Angeles, California September 23, 2012. AFP PHOTO / ROBYN BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/GettyImages)

  • TEN - US OPEN - DEL POTRO - DJOKOVIC

    Actor Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria Thomas watch Serbia's Novak Djokovic against Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro during their 2012 US Open men's singles quarterfinals match at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on September 06, 2012. AFP PHOTO/Emmanuel Dunand (Photo credit should read EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/GettyImages)

  • The Hamptons International Film Festival Presents ETHEL Sponsored By Capital One

    EAST HAMPTON, NY - AUGUST 31: Alec Baldwin attends The Hamptons International Film Festival Presents ETHEL Sponsored By Capital One on August 31, 2012 in East Hampton, New York. (Photo by Janette Pellegrini/Getty Images for The Hamptons International Film Festival)

  • The Hamptons International Film Festival Presents ETHEL Sponsored By Capital One

    EAST HAMPTON, NY - AUGUST 31: (L-R) Alec Baldwin and Rory Kennedy attend The Hamptons International Film Festival Presents ETHEL Sponsored By Capital One on August 31, 2012 in East Hampton, New York. (Photo by Janette Pellegrini/Getty Images for The Hamptons International Film Festival)

  • 2012 US Open - Day 1

    NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 27: Alec Baldwin and Hilaria Thomas attend Day One of the 2012 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 27, 2012 in the Flushing neigborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

  • The Hamptons International Film Festival Presents THE ZEN OF BENNETT Sponsored By Baume Mercier

    EAST HAMPTON, NY - AUGUST 13: Alec Baldwin attends The Hamptons International Film Festival Presents THE ZEN OF BENNETT Sponsored By Baume Mercier on August 13, 2012 in East Hampton, New York. (Photo by Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for The Hamptons International Film Festival)

  • Hamptons Magazine And Cover Star Ali Wentworth Host Private Dinner For Authors Night

    EAST HAMPTON, NY - AUGUST 11: Debra Halpert, Hilaria Baldwin, Alec Baldwin and Samantha Yanks attend Hamptons Magazine And Cover Star Ali Wentworth Host Private Dinner For Authors Night on August 11, 2012 in East Hampton, New York. (Photo by Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Hamptons Magazine)

  • Alec Baldwin And Hilaria Thomas Wedding - Reception

    NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 30: Photographers surround the SUV of Alec Baldwin and Hilaria Thomas as they arrive at their wedding reception held atop New York University's Kimmel Center on June 30, 2012 in New York City. Baldwin and Thomas went directly into the garage. (Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images)

  • Basinger Baldwin

    FILE - This Jan. 29, 1996 picture shows Alec Baldwin and his wife Kim Basinger in Los Angeles. The American Psychiatric Association has a hot potato on its hands as it updates its catalog of mental disorders _ whether to include parental alienation, the long-disputed concept of one estranged parent turning a child against the other. Parental alienation surged onto the pop-culture radar screen a few years ago as a consequence of the bitter divorce and child custody battle involving actors Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger. Baldwin was harshly criticized by some feminist groups for citing parental alienation syndrome as a source of his estrangement with his daughter. The concept is a source of confusion and division in the legal profession, as some lawyers try to evoke parental alienation and others challenge that tactic. (AP Photo/Rene Macura)

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    Host Alec Baldwin is seen during the 82nd Academy Awards Sunday, March 7, 2010, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

  • Kathryn Bigelow,Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin

    Kathryn Bigelow, center, holds her Oscars for best motion picture of the year and best achievement in directing for "The Hurt Locker" with hosts Alec Baldwin, right, and Steve Martin at the conclusion of the 82nd Academy Awards Sunday, March 7, 2010, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

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    FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2009 file photo, actor Alec Baldwin attends the premiere of "It's Complicated" at the Paris Theatre in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, File)

  • FILE- In this film publicity image released by Universal Pictures, Meryl Streep, left, and Alec Baldwin are shown in a scene from "It's Complicated". Streep and Baldwin will serve as presenters at the 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. (AP Photo/Universal Pictures, Melinda Sue Gordon,FILE)

  • Alec Baldwin And Hilaria Thomas Wedding - Ceremony

    NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 30: Alec Baldwin attends Alec Baldwin and Hilaria Thomas' wedding ceremony at St. Patrick's Old Cathedral on June 30, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images)

  • Alec Baldwin And Hilaria Thomas Wedding - Ceremony

    NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 30: Alec Baldwin attends Alec Baldwin and Hilaria Thomas' wedding ceremony at St. Patrick's Old Cathedral on June 30, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images)

  • Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/29/alec-baldwin-apologizes-homophobic-tweets_n_3520453.html

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    শনিবার, ২৯ জুন, ২০১৩

    Senegalese president defends anti-gay law

    DAKAR, Senegal (AP) ? Senegalese President Macky Sall has defended his refusal to decriminalize homosexuality one day after publicly clashing with President Barack Obama on the issue at a joint press conference.

    In an interview with The Associated Press, Sall said it was important for other countries to refrain from imposing their values beyond their borders. He compared his position on homosexuality to other countries' positions on polygamy, which is widely practiced in Senegal.

    "We don't ask the Europeans to be polygamists," Sall said. "We like polygamy in our country, but we can't impose it in yours. Because the people won't understand it, they won't accept it. It's the same thing."

    Senegal's penal code calls for prison sentences of up to five years and fines of up to $3,000 for committing "an improper or unnatural act with a person of the same sex."

    Despite the law, Sall maintained that gays were not persecuted in Senegal, and were prosecuted only if they violated the law. He also said the population, while opposed to homosexuality, was not actively intolerant.

    "I think in Senegal people are very quiet. They are not very violent, even for the homosexuals," he said.

    Local activists strongly disagree, pointing out that more than a dozen homosexuals are currently in jail for no other reason than their sexual orientation, with guilty verdicts having been handed down despite a lack of evidence. They also say extortion and other forms of discrimination are rampant.

    In February 2008, police rounded up men suspected of being homosexuals after a Senegalese tabloid published photographs of a clandestine gay wedding in a suburb of Dakar. Gays went into hiding or fled to neighboring countries, but they were pushed out of Gambia by the president's threat of decapitation.

    A report released this week by Amnesty International says 38 African countries ? about 70 percent of the continent ? criminalize homosexual activity.

    In four of those ? Mauritania, northern Nigeria, southern Somalia and Sudan ? the punishment is death.

    These laws appear to have broad public support. A June 4 Pew Research Center survey found at least nine of 10 respondents in Senegal, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Nigeria believe homosexuality should not be accepted by society.

    Sall warned that because of these views, public advocacy on behalf of gay rights could prompt a strong negative reaction. "We need to be careful, because in Africa and in certain Muslim societies, these are subjects that can provoke fundamentalism," he said.

    In a December 2011 memorandum, Obama instructed federal agencies to promote gay rights overseas, drawing strong protests from some African officials and many of his African fans. But while experts say the U.S. has forcefully pushed for gay rights behind closed doors, the public positioning has been discreet, with officials often citing concerns about putting local activists in danger.

    Prior to this week's Africa trip, Obama's second since becoming president, some advocates had pushed for him to vocally advocate for gay rights, saying the respect he commands in much of Africa could help sway public opinion.

    At Thursday's press conference in Dakar, Obama said everyone should be equal under the law regardless of cultural differences. "When it comes to how the state treats people, how the law treats people, I believe that everybody has to be treated equally," he said.

    In response, Sall said Senegal was "still not ready" to decriminalize homosexuality. He said the country was "very tolerant" but needed more time to address the issue.

    Though Obama's visit was seen as an opportunity to showcase Senegal's stability and history of peaceful democratic transition, the front pages of local newspapers on Friday were dominated by talk of the exchange on homosexuality. The newspaper Liberation, for example, praised Sall for his "courageous" stance and, alongside a photo of Obama and Sall, ran a banner headline that played on Obama's famous campaign slogan: "No, we can't."

    Sall said Friday that he was not disappointed that the issue of homosexuality had received so much attention. He said he welcomed the opportunity to contrast his views with Obama's.

    "I'm not disappointed, because I'm a democrat and I can understand very well the position of President Obama on this topic," Sall said. "We are friends. We are partners."

    Asked Friday if he thought the day might come when gays are accepted in Senegal and throughout Africa, Sall said it was impossible to predict.

    "I don't know what will happen in 10 years, because the world changes," he said. "It depends on each culture or each civilization. We have to take time. Because people need time to absorb. It's not something you can have in one day."

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senegalese-president-defends-anti-gay-law-165212208.html

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    The Guardian: NSA still collecting Americans' online data under Obama administration

    Today, The Guardian reported that the Obama administration has permitted the NSA to collect large amounts of Americans' online data -- including email records -- for more than two years. The government's metadata-collection program, first started during the Bush presidency, was discontinued in 2011, but it appears that information-monitoring processes have since been going strong.

    This news comes courtesy of "secret documents" obtained by the publication, and the source indicates that the NSA specifically collected information involving "communications with at least one communicant outside the United States or for which no communicant was known to be a citizen of the United States," though the agency eventually received the green light to tap US residents as well. Earlier this month, reports surfaced claiming the NSA has been snooping on AT&T, Sprint and Verizon customers, and this latest leak only confirms what many already suspected: that there's still plenty we don't know about the details -- and the extent of -- the government's surveillance activities.

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    Source: The Guardian (1), The Guardian (2)

    Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/27/guardian-nsa-collected-online-info-under-obama/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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    Starbucks reports UK loss, pays no tax for 2012

    By Tom Bergin

    LONDON (Reuters) - Starbucks, whose thin tax payments in Britain provoked a backlash against corporate tax avoidance when revealed by Reuters, paid no tax for the year to September 30, 2012.

    The coffee giant's main UK subsidiary reported its 15th straight annual loss at its UK stores in accounts filed on Friday.

    Reuters revealed in October that Starbucks reported consistent UK losses while telling investors the British unit was profitable and promoting managers of the unit within the group.

    Friday's accounts showed a UK loss of 30 million pounds ($46 million), down from the 32 million pounds loss it reported for the previous year, helped by a 4 percent rise in turnover to 413 million pounds.

    The company cited challenging economic conditions and a competitive UK coffee market, although the accounts show profits were also undermined by a royalty for the use of the Starbucks brand of 26 million pounds.

    This is paid to an affiliate in the Netherlands, where Starbucks has negotiated what it said was a very low tax rate.

    The UK unit also paid 2 million pounds in interest to affiliated companies, the accounts showed.

    Following widespread criticism from politicians and the picketing of stores, Starbucks said it would pay or pre-pay around 10 million pounds a year in taxes in 2013 and 2014.

    The company said it would not take tax deductions for certain intercompany payments such as the royalty fee, interest payments and the 25 percent mark up on coffee beans that is paid to a Swiss-based Starbucks coffee purchasing unit.

    Starbucks recently paid 5 million pounds to the UK tax authority as the first installment of its 2013 tax bill, British media reported earlier this month.

    Starbucks declined immediate comment.

    ($1 = 0.6593 British pounds)

    (Reporting by Tom Bergin; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/starbucks-reports-uk-loss-pays-no-tax-2012-182721959.html

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    Iraq bombings target soccer fans, kill 16 in cafes

    Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, left, accompanied by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, answers a question during a news conference at the Pentagon, Wednesday, June 26, 2013. Hagel, following the Supreme Court ruling that same-sex couples should get the same federal benefits as heterosexual couples, said the Pentagon would begin the process to extend benefits to the same-sex spouses of military members as soon as possible. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

    BAGHDAD (AP) ? Iraqi officials say a series of bombings targeting soccer fans has struck cafes in and around Baghdad, killing 16 and wounding dozens.

    The attacks struck in quick succession late Thursday night while the cafes were filled with patrons watching a soccer match.

    Police say five people were killed in Baghdad's largely Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah, and another three were killed in Shiite-dominated Umm al-Maalif, in the southwestern suburbs of the capital.

    Another blast struck the Shiite town of Jbala, about 50 kilometers (35 kilometers) south of Baghdad, killing 8.

    Hospital officials confirmed the casualty toll. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information to journalists.

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iraq-bombings-target-soccer-fans-kill-16-cafes-201734256.html

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    Venezuela finds Italian fashion boss's crashed plane

    CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela said on Thursday it had found the crashed plane of Italian fashion executive Vittorio Missoni that went missing in January after taking off from the Los Roques archipelago in the Caribbean six months ago.

    The small, twin-engine aircraft carrying Missoni, 58, his wife Maurizia Castiglioni, another couple, a Venezuelan crew member, and the pilot disappeared after taking off on January 4.

    "The plane that crashed on January 4 has appeared," Interior Minister spokesman Jorge Galindo said, confirming later to Reuters that it was Missoni's plane.

    He said the aircraft had been found less than 3 nautical miles to the north of Key Carenero, one of the many keys that make up Los Roques.

    A separate statement from Venezuela's attorney-general said the plane had been found at a depth of some 76 meters (240 feet).

    The Missoni company said in a statement that the aircraft had been found with the aid of a U.S. oceanographic survey vessel.

    Earlier this year, Italy's agency for flight security, ANSV, said its investigation had found that the airline that owned the plane was not fully licensed to operate and that the pilot's license had expired more than a month before the flight.

    Missoni was the oldest child of the founders of the fashion house famous for its exuberantly colored knits, featuring bold stripes and zigzags. He was co-owner with siblings Luca and Angela, who handle the technical and design sides of the firm.

    (Reporting by Mario Naranjo and Carlos Rawlins; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Vicki Allen)

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/venezuela-finds-italian-fashion-bosss-crashed-plane-150657119.html

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    বৃহস্পতিবার, ২৭ জুন, ২০১৩

    Caroline Kennedy Lights Memorial Flame In Ireland, Marking 50th Anniversary Of JFK Visit (PHOTOS)

    Caroline Kennedy helped Ireland celebrate the 50th anniversary of her father's visit to the country by lighting an eternal flame Saturday.

    According to UPI, Kennedy lit the flame in New Ross, the County Wexford town her great-great-grandfather left in 1848.

    A torch lit from the eternal flame at President John F. Kennedy's graveside arrived in Ireland on June 20.

    The AP reports on the ceremony:

    The flame had been carried Olympics-style from JFK's plot in Arlington Cemetery by aircraft to Dublin, then by Irish navy vessel up the River Barrow to the New Ross dockside. It was the first time the Kennedy eternal flame had been passed along in this fashion.

    "May it be a symbol of the fire in the Irish heart, imagination and soul," Kenny told more than 10,000 who had gathered along the river bank.

    Several members of Ireland's Special Olympics team helped carry the flame from the Irish naval vessel to the ceremony, a gesture to the memory of JFK's sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics movement. She died in 2009.

    And in a symbolic passing of the family political torch, Caroline Kennedy asked her 20-year-old son, Jack, to handle the main Kennedy part of the ceremony. His polished and idealistic speech reflected his long-expressed hopes to follow his grandfather into U.S. national politics after graduating from Yale.

    See pictures of Kennedy lighting the flame in Ireland below:

    caroline kennedy flame
    (Photo by Clodagh Kilcoyne/Getty Images)

    caroline kennedy flame
    (Photo by PA)

    Gabrielle Dunkley contributed to this report.

    Also on HuffPost:

    "; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

    Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/25/caroline-kennedy-flame_n_3495909.html

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    Identify Where Your Leads Coming From Using Call Tracking Utility ...

    At its basic definition, call tracking utility tells a business or organization which ad campaign or marketing method is very effective and which is not through tracking the number of the phone calls that are made from a specific ad campaign.

    Many businesses and huge companies assume that their marketing campaigns and ads are working and that they generate leads randomly from one to another. So, they kept spending on the same campaigns that they once have had without minding the expenses. What they mistook a lot is that they do not know which ad generates leads.

    Many advertisers failed to know if the potential customer is calling because they found a listing on Google, or through receiving a flier in the mail, or clicked through an online banner, or watched on TV or heard over the radio. If you are so keen enough, most of the business websites will add a special poll question at the bottom of their page to inquire about where do you find their article or website.

    Call tracking allows businesses to know which form of advertising or campaigns that keep the phone ringing. This helps them stop wasting money on the ads that aren?t so effective and focus on a campaign that is more effective in driving buying customers instead.

    call tracking

    How Does this Work?

    Okay, let?s start with the most basic example. Let?s say you own a medium sized business. You occasionally do direct mail ads, radio commercials, banner ads, you listed your business on an online directory and Google PPC campaign. The call tracking software will assign a unique phone number to each of the campaigns and then the database will show you which ad or phone number generates the phone call and which is not.

    You no longer need a tracking code after the call is connected or a coupon to bring into the store. You will simply put a unique phone numbers on each of the marketing pieces and wait which is working.

    Who Could Benefit from Call Tracking?

    If you pay to advertise elsewhere, especially on more than one platform, you could benefit from using call tracking software. You could waste a lot of revenues allotted for marketing campaigns if you do not use call tracking to identify which platform serves the utmost purpose.

    Other Uses of Call Tracking Utility

    Aside from the above functions, call tracking software also offers several other tools like call recording, call tagging, lead scoring, and goals and alerts.

    Call recording allows you to record every call that comes in through a tracking number. You can also use call recording to gather customer feedback, concerns, problems, track employees customer handling performance and held them accountable, improve sales skills, improve customer service and gather important marketing data.

    Call tagging allows you to tag or label calls in accordance to their marketing lead quality. The example is when a customer is calling simply to check the price but is not interested in buying the product, you can tag the call as ?far away from sale? or ?cold lead.?

    Lead scoring allows you to score the call on certain criteria you choose to measure the lead quality. For instance, you can use the lead scoring to measure whether or not the caller is going to buy the product within 30 days, or whether they don?t have the money to buy now, or whether they are just hunting around.

    Goals and alerts allows you to set goals and alerts for campaign ROI. You can use this tool to set a goal to generate specific amount of income from specific advertising campaign or set a goal to close a number of deals from specific ad campaign. It will also alert you when the deadline of your goals is approaching via text message or email.

    With these crucial tools, you will never waste another amount of penny paid on advertising that does not work.

    About the author...

    Steven Wright ? who has written 1 posts on ShoeMoney.com.

    Steven Wright is a Marketing Expert at Dial800. His task is to reach out prospective clients through online marketing, and promotes their company's online social presence. He is passionate about virtual phone business, call tracking and the wonders of inbound marketing. You can connect with Steven via Twitter at @Dial800.


    Justin recommends you check out these amazing posts:

    1. 300px-Boschsevendeadlysins Seven Deadly Sins For People Trying to Make Money Online
    2. Twitter___Jeremy_Schoemaker__The_Bluelight_Specials_are_...-20090725-175527 How Do I Make Money with Twitter? ? Past, Present & Future
    3. bad idea My Top 10 Worst Ideas To Make Money

    Source: http://www.shoemoney.com/2013/06/26/identify-where-your-leads-coming-from-using-call-tracking-utility

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    Prosecutors want to admit calls in Zimmerman trial

    POOL - George Zimmerman, right, talks with defense attorney Don West in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Fla., Monday, June 24, 2013. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Joe Burbank,Pool)

    POOL - George Zimmerman, right, talks with defense attorney Don West in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Fla., Monday, June 24, 2013. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Joe Burbank,Pool)

    George Zimmerman, right, speaks with his attorney, Mark O'Mara, during his trial in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Fla., Monday, June 24, 2013. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Joe Burbank, Pool)

    Assistant State Attorney John Guy points out defendant George Zimmerman during the state's opening argument in front of the jury in the Zimmerman trial, in Seminole circuit court, in Sanford, Fla., Monday, June 24, 2013. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Joe Burbank,Pool)

    The parents of Trayvon Martin, Sybrina Fulton, left, and Tracy Martin, center, are greeted by assistant state attorney John Guy during the George Zimmerman trial in Seminole circuit court, in Sanford, Fla., Monday, June 24, 2013. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Joe Burbank,Pool)

    SANFORD, Fla. (AP) ? Past police dispatcher calls made by George Zimmerman should be presented to jurors at his second-degree murder trial since they show his state of mind and provide context to his fatal encounter with 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, a prosecutor argued Tuesday.

    Prosecutor Richard Mantei told a Florida judge that the five calls are central to the prosecution's argument that he committed second-degree murder since it shows his growing ill will at people he viewed as suspicious who were walking through his neighborhood.

    The calls made in the six months before Zimmerman fatally shot Martin on Feb. 26, 2012, reflect the neighborhood watch volunteer's growing frustration with repeated break-ins at his gated community of townhomes and plays into the prosecution's theory that his view of Martin as a suspicious character was "the straw that broke the camel's back," Mantei said.

    Defense attorney Mark O'Mara argued that the calls were irrelevant and that no previous incidents matter except the seven or eight minutes prior to when Zimmerman fired the deadly shot into Martin's chest.

    "They're going to ask the jury to make a leap from a good, responsible, citizen behavior to seething behavior," O'Mara said of the prosecution's depiction of Zimmerman's actions.

    Judge Debra Nelson said she would make a ruling after reviewing prior cases. The lawyers presented their arguments with the jury out of the courtroom.

    Zimmerman, 29, could get life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder for gunning down Martin as the black teenager, wearing a hoodie on a dark, rainy night, walked from a convenience store through the gated townhouse community where he was staying. Zimmerman is pleading not guilty, claiming self-defense.

    The case took on racial dimensions after Martin's family claimed that Zimmerman had racially profiled the teen and that police were dragging their feet in bringing charges. Zimmerman, who identifies himself as Hispanic, has denied the confrontation had anything to do with race.

    The prosecution began opening statements Monday in the long-awaited murder trial with shocking language, repeating obscenities Zimmerman uttered while talking to a police dispatcher moments before the deadly confrontation.

    The defense opened with a knock-knock joke about the difficulty of picking a jury for a case that stirred nationwide debate over racial profiling, vigilantism and Florida's expansive laws on the use of deadly force.

    Prosecutor John Guy portrayed the then-neighborhood watch volunteer as a vigilante, saying, "Zimmerman thought it was his right to rid his neighborhood of anyone who did not belong."

    Defense attorney Don West told jurors a different story: Martin sucker-punched Zimmerman and then pounded his head against the concrete sidewalk, and that's when Zimmerman opened fire.

    ___

    Follow Kyle Hightower on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KHightower

    Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP

    Associated Press

    Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-06-25-Neighborhood%20Watch/id-ad651761400742f3b8016438ea8f0c69

    JA Happ Tim Lambesis jaycee dugard Great Gatsby Mark Sanford Ray Harryhausen elizabeth smart

    Donna L Martin's ON THE WRITE TRACK: WRITERLY WISDOM ...

    Someone wrote to say,??I?ve been asked to speak several times since my book came out ? some large venues, some very small. My problem is that I don?t know what to charge when I speak? A flat fee? A sliding scale? Is there some guidance you can give me??

    Happy to begin this conversation.?Okay? start to think about creating a matrix for your speaking events.

    First, there are certain?topics?you speak about. (We?ll name those A, B, C, D.)

    Second, there are?lengths of time?you can do each one ? for example, let?s say you can talk about Topic A for 30 minutes, for 2 hours, or for an entire weekend retreat, but you can only talk about Topic B in a couple one-hour blocks of time, so you could do a one-hour or two-hour chunk of content; and Topic C is nothing more than a 20 to 40 minute casual talk.

    So now you have some options? You?ve got A1 (30 minutes of Topic A), A2 (2 hours on Topic A), A3 (a whole day on Topic A), B1, B2, and C1, etc. Still with me? That starts to give you important ways to figure out the topic and time.

    Third, you need to consider?how many times?you speak. If they want you to just show up and give a speech, that?s X. If they want you to teach several workshops, that?s Y. If they want you for a weekend retreat, that?s Z. (This will start to get confusing, but it means you?d be doing a Y Day ? several workshops, where you?ll do A2, B2, and C1, for example. If you hate my numbering, create your own that makes more sense.)

    Fourth, you need to?consider the venue. The bigger the venue, the more you charge. Most speakers have one to three tiers (small setting, medium sized setting, large or arena setting). Some only have two tiers, and some have a couple tiers and a retreat setting. And my assistant Holly Lorincz, who spent 15 years as a speech coach, wants me to add that when you ask about the venue, make sure you ask who will be in the audience and what the controlling organization considers the goal of the speech.

    Fifth and last, you need to make sure they cover your?travel expenses.

    Now when somebody calls you to speak, you or your assistant simply asks a series of questions:

    ?on what topic(s)?
    ?for how long each time?
    ?how many times will I speak?
    ?how big is the expected audience?
    ?and where is it?

    Once you have those questions answered, it?s easy ? because you have a grid you use. You just fill in the components, and you begin to see how much work is involved. Now let?s talk money?

    The key money issue is called?base pay.?How much is your base pay for a one hour talk??Let?s say it?s $500 for an hour, or $300 for a half hour. If you make, for example, $300 for speaking one time, for 30 minutes, to a small group, and you?ve been asked to speak several times, you just have to map out the extra costs. They want you to speak once to a large group for an hour, then lead a workshop to a smaller group, then sit on a panel. It will take an entire day. And you have to fly to Atlanta to do it. I do some quick math? $500 to speak to the big group, another $400 to do the seminar, maybe $200 to do the panel. So I say to them, ?That will be about a thousand dollars, plus you need to fly me coach to Atlanta and put me up for two nights. I think we can do the whole thing for about $1600.? They offer you $1200? and you have to decide if it?s worth it to you.

    I hope I didn?t over-complicate this, but that?s the basics of how to think about charging. Once you know your base pay, it?s fairly simple:?Topic + time + number + venue + travel = cost.?

    Does that help? Feel free to ask me questions.





    One day when he was in first grade, Chip hurried home and announced to his mother, ?When I grow up, I?m going to be a book guy!? And he has been a book guy?from high school literary magazine to bestselling books, from conference speaker to an unbeatable track record of representing renowned writers. Creating MacGregor Literary was a natural step for a book guy.

    Chip has a comprehensive knowledge of the industry?from book development to writing, acquisition to production, marketing to sales. He has secured more than 1,000 book deals for authors with all of the major publishers in both ABA and CBA, including Random House, Ballantine, Crown, Doubleday, Broadway, Simon & Schuster, Pocket Books, Fireside, Warner Book Group, HarperCollins, Avon, Viking, Penguin, Berkley, Jossey-Bass, Zondervan, Thomas Nelson, Integrity, Baker, Tyndale, Broadman & Holman, Worthy, Crossway, Multnomah, Revell, Harvest House, Waterbrook, NavPress, Cook, and Howard, among others.?

    Source: http://donasdays.blogspot.com/2013/06/writerly-wisdom-chip-macgregor.html

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    Putin: Snowden, still in Moscow airport, is a 'free man'

    The mystery over intelligence leaker Edward Snowden's wherabouts was cleared up today when Russian President Vladimir Putin said he is still holed up in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport ? not technically Russian territory ? where he has been since arriving on an Aeroflot flight from Hong Kong two days ago.

    Mr. Putin, who was on a visit to Finland, told journalists that Russia will not extradite the fugitive whistleblower to the US. Mr. Snowden is "a free man" who may choose his own final destination," he said, calling any suggestions that Russia may have played a role in Snowden's flight from Asia, "nonsense and rubbish."

    But in a hint that US diplomatic pressure over the case may be getting to the Kremlin, Putin added that Snowden should hurry up and finalize his travel plans.

    Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier insisted that Russia has no connection to Snowden ? whom, he said in carefully chosen words, "has not crossed the Russian border" ? but at the same time sees no reason to cooperate with the US in capturing him.

    "We are in no way involved with either Mr. Snowden, his relations with US justice, nor to his movements around the world," Mr. Lavrov said. "He chose his itinerary on his own. We learnt about it from the media. He has not crossed the Russian border? We consider the attempts to accuse the Russian side of violating US laws, and practically of involvement in a plot, to be absolutely groundless and unacceptable," he added.

    RECOMMENDED: Six countries where Edward Snowden could get asylum

    The US has demanded "a series of governments" to assist in apprehending Snowden and turning him over to US justice. Analysts say the US and Russia have been engaged in tense dialogue over the past three days as Washington tries to find a recipe for convincing the Kremlin, which sees few reasons to cooperate amid generally deteriorating relations with the US, that it would be in its interests to turn the fugitive whistleblower over.

    "We're following all the appropriate legal channels and working with various other countries to make sure that the rule of law is observed," President Barack Obama told journalists yesterday.

    Ecuador has said it's considering an asylum request from Snowden. But other countries that have been suggested as possible refuges for him include Iceland, Venezuela, and even Russia. Yesterday Snowden was booked on an Aeroflot flight to Cuba, but he failed to show up, leaving about 30 journalists stranded aboard a 12-hour flight to Havana.

    Some analysts say he may have been delayed by Russian special services, who would have an obvious interest in interviewing him and examining the contents of the three laptop computers he reportedly carries with him.

    But Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, whose organization appears to be sponsoring Snowden's flight to a safe haven, told reporters yesterday that Snowden is "healthy and safe." On his movements, Mr. Assange would only say: "In relation to the travel out of Hong Kong, that is a fascinating story that I'm sure will one day be told ? but today is not the day."

    And in what may be part of a coordinated US effort to bring the Russians around, former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden granted a lengthy interview to the Kremlin's English-language satellite TV network Russia Today, or RT, in which he responded cheerfully to searching questions from host Sophie Shevardnadze about US intelligence-gathering intentions and methods.

    "I think Hayden's appearance on RT, which is quite an unusual kind of event, was a sign of some kind of outreach to Russia. He was making the case that we all have the same kind of problems, should understand each other, work together," says Andrei Soldatov, an expert on the secret services and editor of the online security journal Agentura.ru.

    "That's an interesting development, but I don't think the Kremlin would find it practical to cooperate on Snowden. This formula that 'we have nothing to do with it' is a fairly standard Putin way of saying 'no'," he adds.

    Related stories

    Read this story at csmonitor.com

    Become a part of the Monitor community

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/putin-snowden-still-moscow-airport-free-man-161200087.html

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    Watch a Guy Freak People Out By Floating in the Air on a Moving Bus

    Though this prank video is an obvious attempt at force inducing viral-ity by Pepsi Max, it's still a pretty fun watch. The magician Dynamo tricks people into thinking he can levitate by 'magically' following a bus around as it moves across London. Watch people freak out when they see him float.

    It's always fun to see the look on people's faces when they see something so obviously fake and impossibly real. Many of them revert back to their childhood selves with a sort of puzzled hope dressed all over their eyes. They know it's not real but they still want to believe.

    The stunt is similar to performance artist Johan Lorbeer's trick of floating in the air, the arm touching the bus is not actually Dynamo's arm, it's just a bar that's able to support his body. The viral marketing strategy is not unlike the movie Chronicle's fake flying people trick, watch people freak out and take pictures of fake supernatural abilities. If Superman was real, he'd be in advertising, I guess. [YouTube]

    Source: http://gizmodo.com/watch-a-guy-freak-people-out-by-floating-in-the-air-on-565751067

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    মঙ্গলবার, ২৫ জুন, ২০১৩

    Lightning deaths: Fishing tops the list

    NOAA

    Lightning killed 238 people in the United States from 2006 to 2012 ? 82 percent of them male.

    By Megan Gannon
    LiveScience

    Most lightning deaths in the United States occur while people are enjoying outdoor activities, with fishing the most deadly, government weather officials say.

    From 2006 to 2012, 238 people died after being struck by lightning in the country ? 82 percent of them male. Of the total number of victims, 152 were taking part in leisure activities, according to new findings from the National Weather Service .

    Fishing topped the list with 26 lightning?deaths, followed by camping with 15 deaths, boating with 14, soccer with 12 and golf with eight, NWS officials said. Other lightning victims died while at the beach, swimming, walking, running or picnicking. [Electric Earth: Stunning Images of Lightning]

    Activities such as fishing and camping may be most hazardous during a storm because they often require extra time to take shelter in a safe place, explained John Jensenius, a lightning safety specialist with the NWS.

    "People often wait far too long to head to safety when a storm is approaching, and that puts them in a dangerous and potentially deadly situation," Jensenius said in a statement.

    So far this year, seven people have been killed by lighting ? three of them men who were fishing, according to NWS data.

    The findings were announced as the NWS kicks off its National Lightning Safety Awareness Week just in time for summer ? peak thunderstorm season.

    Lightning deaths in the country have been on a decades-long decline, which experts often attribute to better education about lightning safety. Since 2001 ? the year the NWS campaign launched ? there have been 37 lightning deaths in the United States annually, down from an average of 73 in the years before the campaign began. (Compare that further to the 1940s, when lightning deaths averaged above 300.)

    Jensenius said the NWS campaign has been especially effective in the golf community. "We believe our outreach has made a huge difference since lightning-related deaths on golf courses have decreased by 75 percent," he said in a statement.

    The NWS says the best way to avoid injury or death by lightning is to monitor the weather?and cancel or postpone outdoor activities when a thunderstorm is rolling in. Lightning can strike from 10 miles (16 kilometers) away and the best place to take shelter is a building with four walls and a roof, or a car ? in other words, a hut, cabana or tent will not save you from a flash of lightning, the NWS says.

    Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook?and Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

    Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2dbc4f26/l/0Lscience0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A60C240C19120A4230Elightning0Edeaths0Efishing0Etops0Ethe0Elist0Dlite/story01.htm

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    Africa-Focused Savannah Fund Graduates Its First Batch of Startups

    Screen Shot 2013-06-24 at 6.29.55 PMEven though its startup scene is still nascent, Sub-Saharan Africa continues to grow pools of capital and entrepreneurial know-how in hubs like Nairobi, Kenya. Today, the Nairobi-based Savannah Fund, which is raising up to $10 million for startups in the region, just graduated its first batch of companies at PivotEast, a Disrupt-like competition for African mobile startups. They include a Ghanaian e-commerce startup called?Ahonya?that sells electronics, a Ugandan mobile game developer called Kola Studios that's popularized a local card game and SafariDesk, a site that helps travelers find off-the-beat experiences and places for luxury camping.

    Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Lhg8hXZGsts/

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    Snowden arrives in Moscow

    By James Pomfret and Lidia Kelly

    HONG KONG/MOSCOW (Reuters) - An aircraft believed to be carrying Edward Snowden landed in Moscow on Sunday after Hong Kong let the former U.S. security contractor leave the territory, despite Washington's efforts to extradite him to face espionage charges.

    The anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said Snowden was heading for a "democratic nation" which it did not name, although a source at the Russian airline Aeroflot said he would fly on within 24 hours to Cuba and then planned to go to Venezuela.

    Moscow airport officials said the flight from Hong Kong had landed but could not immediately confirm Snowden was on board. However, a source at Aeroflot said he had booked a seat on the service.

    Snowden, who worked for the National Security Agency, had been hiding in Hong Kong since leaking details about U.S. surveillance activities to news media.

    A spokesman for the government of Hong Kong, a former British colony which returned to China in 1997, said it had let Snowden depart because a U.S. request to have him arrested did not comply with the law.

    The United States wanted him to be extradited to face trial and is likely to be furious about his departure. In Washington, a Justice Department official said it would seek cooperation with countries Snowden may try to go to.

    "It's a shocker," said Simon Young, a law professor with Hong Kong University. "I thought he was going to stay and fight it out. The U.S. government will be irate."

    A source at Aeroflot said Snowden would fly from Moscow to Cuba on Monday and then planned to go on to Venezuela. The South China Morning Post earlier said his final destination might be Ecuador or Iceland.

    The WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website said it helped Snowden find "political asylum in a democratic country".

    It added in an update on Twitter that he was accompanied by diplomats and legal advisers and was travelling via a safe route for the purposes of seeking asylum.

    "The WikiLeaks legal team and I are interested in preserving Mr Snowden's rights and protecting him as a person," former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon, legal director of WikiLeaks and lawyer for the group's founder Julian Assange, said in a statement.

    "What is being done to Mr Snowden and to Mr Julian Assange - for making or facilitating disclosures in the public interest - is an assault against the people."

    Assange has taken sanctuary in the Ecuadorean embassy in London and said last week he would not leave even if Sweden stopped pursuing sexual assault claims against him because he feared arrest on the orders of the United States.

    U.S. authorities have charged Snowden with theft of U.S. government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and wilful communication of classified communications intelligence to an unauthorized person, with the latter two charges falling under the U.S. Espionage Act.

    The United States had asked Hong Kong, a special administrative region (SAR) of China, to send Snowden home.

    "The U.S. government earlier on made a request to the HKSAR government for the issue of a provisional warrant of arrest against Mr Snowden," the Hong Kong government said in a statement.

    "Since the documents provided by the U.S. government did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law, the HKSAR government has requested the U.S. government to provide additional information ... As the HKSAR government has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr Snowden from leaving Hong Kong."

    It did not say what further information it needed.

    The White House had no comment.

    CHINA SAYS U.S. "BIGGEST VILLAIN"

    Although Hong Kong retains an independent legal system, and its own extradition laws, Beijing has control over its foreign affairs. Some observers see Beijing's hand in Snowden's sudden departure.

    Iceland refused on Friday to say whether it would grant asylum to Snowden, a former employee of contractor Booz Allen Hamilton who worked at an NSA facility in Hawaii.

    Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said earlier this month that Russia would consider granting Snowden asylum if he were to ask for it and pro-Kremlin lawmakers supported the idea, but there has been no indication he has done so.

    The South China Morning Post earlier quoted Snowden offering new details about the United States' spy activities, including accusations of U.S. hacking of Chinese mobile telephone companies and targeting China's Tsinghua University.

    Documents previously leaked by Snowden revealed that the NSA has access to vast amounts of internet data such as emails, chat rooms and video from large companies, including Facebook and Google, under a government program known as Prism.

    China's Xinhua news agency, referring to Snowden's accusations about the hacking of Chinese targets, said they were "clearly troubling signs".

    It added: "They demonstrate that the United States, which has long been trying to play innocent as a victim of cyber attacks, has turned out to be the biggest villain in our age."

    Venezuela, Cuba and Ecuador are all members of the ALBA bloc, an alliance of leftist governments in Latin America who pride themselves on their "anti-imperialist" credentials.

    (Additional reporting by Fayen Wong in Shanghai, Nishant Kumar in Hong Kong and Andrew Cawthorne in Caracas; Alexei Anishchuk and Steve Gutterman in Moscow, and Tabassum Zakaria in Washington; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by Anna Willard and David Stamp)

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-nsa-contractor-snowden-leaves-hong-kong-moscow-080843121.html

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    Hello, electronic medical records? It's me, unintended consequences

    Hello, electronic medical records? It's me, unintended consequences [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 24-Jun-2013
    [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

    Contact: Julie Lloyd
    jlloyd@acep.org
    202-728-0610
    American College of Emergency Physicians

    WASHINGTON Emergency department information systems (EDIS), a significant focus of both federal legislation and U.S. health care reform, may ultimately improve the quality of medical care delivered in hospitals, but as currently configured present numerous threats to health care quality and patient safety. Two physician work groups in the American College of Emergency Physicians assessed the potential harm lurking in EDIS and make recommendations on how to improve patient safety as these systems are implemented across the country. Their findings were published online Friday in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("Quality and Safety Implications of Emergency Department Information Systems").

    "The rush to capitalize on the huge federal investment of $30 billion for the adoption of electronic medical records led to some unfortunate and unintended consequences, particularly in the unique emergency department environment," said lead author Heather L. Farley, MD, of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Christiana Care Health System in Newark, Del. "Some relate to product design, others to user behavior. We offer seven recommendations on how to improve the safety of emergency department information systems, and through their use, patient care."

    Researchers created clinical scenarios related to four common pitfalls of EDIS use in emergency departments: communication failure, poor data display, wrong order/wrong patient errors and alert fatigue.

    They then developed seven recommendations for emergency departments using any type of EDIS, with some recommendations directed at the EDIS vendor and others directed at the end user. These include:

    • appointment of an emergency department "clinician champion,"
    • creation of a multidisciplinary EDIS performance improvement group,
    • establishment of an ongoing review process,
    • timely attention to EDIS-related patient safety concerns raised by the review process,
    • public dissemination of lessons learned from performance improvement efforts,
    • timely distribution by EDIS vendors of product updates to all users, and
    • removal of "hold harmless" and "learned intermediary" clauses from all vendor software contracts.

    "The recommendations developed by our work groups should be paired with those issued by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2011 in its report 'Health IT and Patient Safety: Building Safer Systems for Better Care,'" said Dr. Farley. "The irreversible drive toward EDIS implementation should be accompanied by a constant focus on improvement and hazard prevention. Our paper and the IOM paper create a framework for doing just that."

    ###

    Annals of Emergency Medicine is the peer-reviewed scientific journal for the American College of Emergency Physicians, the national medical society representing emergency medicine. ACEP is committed to advancing emergency care through continuing education, research, and public education. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, ACEP has 53 chapters representing each state, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. A Government Services Chapter represents emergency physicians employed by military branches and other government agencies. For more information, visit http://www.acep.org.

    For immediate release June 24, 2013

    Contact

    Julie Lloyd
    202-728-0610
    Follow ACEP on Twitter
    @emergencydocs


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    Hello, electronic medical records? It's me, unintended consequences [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 24-Jun-2013
    [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

    Contact: Julie Lloyd
    jlloyd@acep.org
    202-728-0610
    American College of Emergency Physicians

    WASHINGTON Emergency department information systems (EDIS), a significant focus of both federal legislation and U.S. health care reform, may ultimately improve the quality of medical care delivered in hospitals, but as currently configured present numerous threats to health care quality and patient safety. Two physician work groups in the American College of Emergency Physicians assessed the potential harm lurking in EDIS and make recommendations on how to improve patient safety as these systems are implemented across the country. Their findings were published online Friday in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("Quality and Safety Implications of Emergency Department Information Systems").

    "The rush to capitalize on the huge federal investment of $30 billion for the adoption of electronic medical records led to some unfortunate and unintended consequences, particularly in the unique emergency department environment," said lead author Heather L. Farley, MD, of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Christiana Care Health System in Newark, Del. "Some relate to product design, others to user behavior. We offer seven recommendations on how to improve the safety of emergency department information systems, and through their use, patient care."

    Researchers created clinical scenarios related to four common pitfalls of EDIS use in emergency departments: communication failure, poor data display, wrong order/wrong patient errors and alert fatigue.

    They then developed seven recommendations for emergency departments using any type of EDIS, with some recommendations directed at the EDIS vendor and others directed at the end user. These include:

    • appointment of an emergency department "clinician champion,"
    • creation of a multidisciplinary EDIS performance improvement group,
    • establishment of an ongoing review process,
    • timely attention to EDIS-related patient safety concerns raised by the review process,
    • public dissemination of lessons learned from performance improvement efforts,
    • timely distribution by EDIS vendors of product updates to all users, and
    • removal of "hold harmless" and "learned intermediary" clauses from all vendor software contracts.

    "The recommendations developed by our work groups should be paired with those issued by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2011 in its report 'Health IT and Patient Safety: Building Safer Systems for Better Care,'" said Dr. Farley. "The irreversible drive toward EDIS implementation should be accompanied by a constant focus on improvement and hazard prevention. Our paper and the IOM paper create a framework for doing just that."

    ###

    Annals of Emergency Medicine is the peer-reviewed scientific journal for the American College of Emergency Physicians, the national medical society representing emergency medicine. ACEP is committed to advancing emergency care through continuing education, research, and public education. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, ACEP has 53 chapters representing each state, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. A Government Services Chapter represents emergency physicians employed by military branches and other government agencies. For more information, visit http://www.acep.org.

    For immediate release June 24, 2013

    Contact

    Julie Lloyd
    202-728-0610
    Follow ACEP on Twitter
    @emergencydocs


    [ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

    ?


    AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


    Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/acoe-hem062413.php

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