Syrian rebels capture key town near Jordan border

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian rebels on Friday captured a strategic town near the border with Jordan after a day of fierce clashes that killed at least 38 people, activists said, as opposition fighters expand their presence in the south, considered a gateway to Damascus.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 16 rebels were among the dead in the fighting in and around Dael. The town lies less than 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the Jordanian border in Daraa province, where the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime began two years ago.

The rebel gains have coincided with what regional officials and military experts say is a sharp increase in weapons shipments to opposition fighters by Arab governments in coordination with the U.S. in the hopes of readying a push into Assad's stronghold in the capital, Damascus.

Although rebels control wide areas in northern Syria that border Turkey, the Jordanian frontier is only about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Damascus, or a third of the distance to the Turkish border.

The battle for Dael came as authorities ordered an investigation into a mortar attack on Damascus University that killed at least 10 students on Thursday, state media said. The attack was the deadliest since a wave of mortar shells began hitting the capital last month, puncturing the sense of normalcy the regime has tried to cultivate in the city.

It was unclear who fired the mortar rounds. The government blamed "terrorists," its blanket term for those fighting Assad's regime. Anti-regime activists accused the regime of staging the attack to turn civilians ? many of whom in Damascus are already wary of the opposition fighters ? against the rebels.

"Rebels now control wide areas in the Daraa countryside,'" said Rami Abdul-Rahman who heads the Observatory. "Every area that goes out of government control is important."

Syrian activist Maher Jamous, who is from Dael but currently lives in the United Arab Emirates, said that despite the steady advances and the latest rebel victory in Dael, the regime still maintains a strong presence in the strategic province that leads to the capital.

Jamous said the capture of Dael increases the pressure on the regime.

The regime is known to have posted elite troops in Daraa province, which separates Damascus from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that the Jewish state captured in 1967 and annexed in 1981.

Jamous said Dael has a population of 40,000, making it one of the bigger towns in the primarily agricultural region, which is dotted with small family farms. He added that the town fell briefly into the opposition's hands in the early days of the uprising, but was quickly retaken by regime forces in May 2011.

Amateur videos posted online by activists, showed rebels in the streets of Dael and the bodies of dead soldiers lying on the ground. The videos appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting on the events depicted.

In other areas, the Observatory said heavy clashes were taking place between regime forces and fighters renewing their attempts to storm a strategic military facility, known as the 17th Division base, north of the city of Raqqa that was captured by rebels earlier this month.

The division is considered one of the most important remaining regime strongholds in the northern province that borders Turkey, the Observatory said. It added that warplanes carried out several air raids in the area.

The Observatory said regime forces bombarded the Damascus suburb of Adra, while the government al Al-Ikhbariya TV said troops killed "many terrorists" in the area which is close to one of the main jails in the country.

The Aleppo Media Center and the Observatory reported clashes, shelling and attacks by helicopter gunships near the international airport of the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest and commercial center.

Syria's crisis began in March 2011 with protests demanding Assad's ouster. Following a harsh government crackdown, the uprising steadily grew more violent until it became a full-fledged civil war. The U.N. says more than 70,000 people have been killed since.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-rebels-capture-key-town-near-jordan-border-093516668.html

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Transforming Home-Based Care with Real-time Information from ...

While a patient may spend a few hours in the hospital or at a physician?s office, the majority of a patient?s years are spent at home. Until now, however, the home environment has essentially been a ?black box? in the home health care continuum due to the lack of a reliable mechanism for extracting actionable, real-time care information from the home. This gap leads to a multitude of unfortunate consequences, detracting from home care and hospice providers? ability to best manage a patient?s care over the long term.

In-home care management and monitoring technologies are breaking open this ?black box? and fundamentally transforming our ability to monitor a patient?s care at home, streamlining care coordination.

In-home health management systems enable home care aides, family caregivers, and patients themselves to enter enormous amounts of real-time health care data. For example, the cloud-based care management system ? eCaring ? allows the tracking of medication intake and vital signs, in addition to daily routines and mental state, regardless of a user?s computer skills or health care literacy. For the first time, home care and hospice providers have access to real-time, round-the-clock care information via an easy-to-use, cloud-based platform.

Digital tools that capture comprehensive information from the home help establish a baseline for normal functioning, and any deviation from this baseline can be tracked on a real-time basis. Web-based dashboards with a patient?s health and care patterns can be easily viewed, analyzed, and acted upon by the care team ? all in real time. The system can also alert providers and family caregivers of significant events, such as a fall or repeat medication or meal refusal, prompting immediate response.

Generating real-time data from a patient?s home is emerging as an integral part of home health care for seniors, people with chronic conditions, and those at the end of life. Using technology within a home-based care model is key to optimizing quality of care, reducing utilization costs, and better engaging the home care workforce, patients, and families.

Reducing the use of higher cost services is consistent with the goals of new health care payment models that strive to reimburse providers based on capitation, fixed or bundled rates. Systems that help achieve this goal are highly useful for home care managers and providers.

Source: http://healthworkscollective.com/ecaring/91286/transforming-home-based-care-real-time-information-inside-home

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Scooter ads face scrutiny from gov't., doctors

This undated screenshot shows a frame grab from a Hoveround commercial. Members of Congress say the ads by The Scooter Store and Hoveround have lead to hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary spending by Medicare, which is only supposed to pay for scooters when seniors are unable to use a cane, walker or regular wheelchair. Government inspectors say up to 80 percent of the scooters and power wheelchairs Medicare buys go to people who don't meet the requirements. And doctors say more than money is at stake: Seniors who use scooters unnecessarily can become sedentary, which can exacerbate obesity and other disorders.(AP Photo/Hoveround)

This undated screenshot shows a frame grab from a Hoveround commercial. Members of Congress say the ads by The Scooter Store and Hoveround have lead to hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary spending by Medicare, which is only supposed to pay for scooters when seniors are unable to use a cane, walker or regular wheelchair. Government inspectors say up to 80 percent of the scooters and power wheelchairs Medicare buys go to people who don't meet the requirements. And doctors say more than money is at stake: Seniors who use scooters unnecessarily can become sedentary, which can exacerbate obesity and other disorders.(AP Photo/Hoveround)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? TV ads show smiling seniors enjoying an "active" lifestyle on a motorized scooter, taking in the sights at the Grand Canyon, fishing on a pier and high-fiving their grandchildren at a baseball game.

The commercials, which promise freedom and independence to people with limited mobility, have driven the nearly $1 billion U.S. market for power wheelchairs and scooters. But the spots by the industry's two leading companies, The Scooter Store and Hoveround, also have drawn scrutiny from critics who say they convince some seniors that they need a scooter to get around when many don't.

Members of Congress say the ads lead to hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary spending by Medicare, which is only supposed to pay for scooters as a medical necessity when seniors are unable to use a cane, walker or regular wheelchair. Government inspectors say up to 80 percent of the scooters and power wheelchairs Medicare buys go to people who don't meet the requirements. And doctors say more than money is at stake: Seniors who use scooters unnecessarily can become sedentary, which can exacerbate obesity and other disorders.

"Patients have been brainwashed by The Scooter Store," says Dr. Barbara Messinger-Rapport, director of geriatric medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. "What they're implying is that you can use these scooters to leave the house, to socialize, to get to bingo."

The scooter controversy, which has escalated with a raid by federal authorities on The Scooter's Store's New Braunfels, Texas, headquarters last month, underscores the influence TV ads can have on medical decisions. Like their peers in the drug industry, scooter companies say direct-to-consumer advertising educates patients about their medical options. But critics argue that the scooter spots are little more than sales pitches that cause patients to pressure doctors to prescribe unnecessary equipment.

The Scooter Store and Hoveround, both privately held companies that together make up about 70 percent of the U.S. market for scooters, spent more than $180 million on TV, radio and print advertising in 2011, up 20 percent from 2008, according to advertising tracker Kantar Media. Their ads often include language that the scooters can be paid for by Medicare or other insurance: "Nine out of ten people got them for little or no cost," states one Hoveround ad.

Hoveround did not respond to a half-dozen requests for comment. The Scooter Store, the nation's biggest seller of scooters, said that most people who contact the company after seeing the ads do not ultimately receive a scooter.

"The fact that 87 percent of the persons who seek power mobility products from The Scooter Store under their Medicare benefits are disqualified by the company's screening process is powerful evidence of the company's commitment to ensuring that only legitimate claims are submitted to Medicare," the company said in a statement. The Scooter Store has been operating with a streamlined staff in recent days, following massive layoffs in the wake of the raid by federal agents.

Insurance executives say doctors who don't understand when Medicare is supposed to pay for scooters are partly to blame for unnecessary purchases.

Scooters ? which are larger than power wheelchairs and often include a handlebar for steering ? are covered by Medicare if they are prescribed by a doctor who has completed an evaluation showing that a patient is unable to function at home without a device.

The doctor fills out a lengthy prescription form and sends it to a scooter supplier that delivers the device to the patient and then submits the paperwork to Medicare for payment. Medicare pays about 80 percent of that cost, which can range from $1,500 to $3,500. The remainder is often picked up by supplemental insurance or the government-funded Medicaid program for low-income and disabled Americans.

The process can help immobile seniors get equipment that improves their lives. Ernest Tornabell of Boynton Beach, Fla., received a scooter from Pride, a smaller manufacturer, through Medicare about six years ago. Tornabell, 73, suffers from obesity, diabetes and lung disease and says he used to never leave his house. Now, using the scooter he can walk his dog, go to the grocery store and run other errands.

"I couldn't really get out and do anything before. Now I have a lot more mobility," said Tornabell, whose doctor recommended that he get the device.

But Dr. Stephen Peake, medical director for the insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield in Tennessee, says doctors can often be as uninformed about the appropriate role of scooters as patients.

"I talk to a lot of physicians about this subject ... and after our discussions, they don't understand that you can't get a power mobility device so mom can go to the park with the family," Peake said in testimony before the Senate Committee on Aging last year.

One reason for the confusion? Doctors say scooter companies are just as aggressive with health professionals as they are in marketing to their patients.

Dr. Jerome Epplin of Litchfield, Ill., who also testified before the Senate, estimates that only about one of every 10 patients who ask him for a scooter actually needs one. But he said that sales representatives from some scooter companies put pressure on him by accompanying patients to his office. The effect is coercive, he says.

"It can be intimidating," Epplin says. "I see it as an inappropriate attempt to influence my clinical judgment when I'm evaluating a patient."

Allegations of Medicare fraud within the industry go back nearly a decade.

In 2005, the U.S. Justice Department sued The Scooter Store, alleging that its advertising enticed seniors to obtain power scooters paid for by Medicare, and the company then sold patients more expensive scooters that they did not want or need. The Scooter Store settled that case in 2007 for $4 million.

As part of the settlement, The Scooter Store was operating under an agreement that made the company subject to periodic government reviews between 2007 and last year. In 2011, the latest review available, government auditors estimated that The Scooter Store received between $47 million and $88 million in improper payments for scooters.

The Scooter Store took no action to repay the money until February 2012, when the Health and Human Services' inspector general threatened to bar the company from doing business with Medicare, which accounts for about 75 percent of its revenue, according to its congressional testimony.

The company said the government's estimate was flawed and that it was willing to repay $19.5 million in overpayments. The company has paid about $5.7 million. The rest is scheduled for repayment by 2017.

Medicare said in a January letter that it accepted the fee based on The Scooter Store's own assessment of what it owed, but that the agreement "does not absolve The Scooter Store from any further liability."

In recent months, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and other members of the Senate Aging Committee have pushed Medicare to recover the millions of dollars spent on unnecessary scooters each year. Those purchases totaled about $500 million in 2011, the latest year available, according to a report by the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general.

Medicare, which says that it does not have control over how companies market the scooters, launched a pilot program designed to reduce wasteful spending on scooters.

Under the program, government contractors in seven states review patients' medical documentation to make sure they need a wheelchair or scooter before approving payments for a device. The program is being tested in a small number of states ? including Florida, California and New York ? because the government must pay contractors extra to review additional paperwork.

The program has been criticized by The Scooter Store's executives, who say that contractors are too strict in their reviews, rejecting payments for power chairs that are genuinely needed.

The reduced payments are hurting the company, which was founded in 1991. The Scooter Store has spent nearly $1 million lobbying Congress over the last two years, almost exclusively focused on the Medicare review program. And the company laid off about 370 employees in the past year, blaming the reduced payments it's been getting from Medicare.

Then, last week, The Scooter Store notified most of its remaining 1,800 employees that their jobs were being eliminated. The company said in a statement to the Associated Press that it is operating with a workforce of 300 employees ? down from the 2,500 workforce it had at its peak ? while trying to restructure its operations.

The mass layoffs followed a raid in February by about 150 agents from the FBI, the Department of Justice and the Texas attorney general's Medicaid fraud unit. Authorities searched the company's headquarters.

Federal authorities have declined to speak about the raid, but scooter industry critics in Congress praised the action.

"This raid is a welcome step toward cracking down on waste and fraud in Medicare," said Blumenthal, the Connecticut senator. "I have urged action to stop abusive overpayments for such devices ? costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and preying on seniors with deceptive sales pitches."

____

AP writer Juan Lozano contributed to this report from Houston.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-28-Power%20Scooters-Fraud/id-c3f6b1f0f1934902858069422bb88f7e

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Analysis: Southeast Asia ready to build, but will investors come?

By Stuart Grudgings and Neil Chatterjee

KUALA LUMPUR/JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia is seeking European investors for $9 billion worth of water, road, air and seaport projects in what will be a litmus test of Southeast Asian countries' ability to seize on ripe financial conditions to upgrade decrepit infrastructure.

Easy global liquidity and investors' eagerness to tap one of the world's few fast-growing regions should create a sweet spot for the region to fill the $600 billion in infrastructure needs the Asian Development Bank identifies over the next decade.

But infrastructure experts say a shortage of projects offering compelling returns, coupled with stifling bureaucracy and regulatory uncertainty, threatens to undermine the ambitious plans of Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.

"There's a lot of money floating around but it's money looking for a return," said Bert Hofman, the World Bank chief economist for East Asia and the Pacific.

After years of chronic underspending, governments in the region of 600 million people have begun to sharply raise their infrastructure budgets to improve transport and energy networks.

Indonesia, the biggest regional economy, estimates it alone needs $150 billion worth of new infrastructure, but is only willing to finance 15 percent and has seen few takers so far for the public-private partnerships (PPPs) it is relying on.

Jakarta hopes that will change after a roadshow to Europe this year to market 16 projects from water treatment to ports.

"We're market-sounding," Chatib Basri, chief of the country's investment board, told Reuters. Speaking in Jakarta after a trip to Paris to meet potential investors, Basri said he saw demand coming from France and Germany.

The projects include water and waste treatment plants in the country's most populous Java island, a sector that could be of interest to firms such as France's Veolia Environment , the world's largest private supplier of drinking water, or German industrial giant Siemens .

The projects also include an airport in Java and seaports, in an archipelago of 17,000 islands where an inadequate transport network means high logistics costs.

CHEAP MONEY, ROBUST GROWTH

Having fixed their public finances following a regional financial crisis in the late 1990s, Southeast Asian governments can borrow more cheaply than ever, while local conglomerates and banks are cash-rich on the back of robust economic growth.

A rapidly growing middle class is pressuring politicians to ease nightmarish traffic conditions in "mega-cities" such as Jakarta and Manila, while the massive plane orders being placed by low-cost airlines AirAsia and Lion Air attest to the dramatic growth in regional air travel.

This month, Thailand's cabinet approved a plan to borrow $68 billion to build rail, roads and water plants by 2020. That came days after the operator of Bangkok's SkyTrain, BTS Group Holdings Pcl , said it would raise up to $2.1 billion by listing an infrastructure fund in what could be Thailand's biggest IPO.

Indonesia and the Philippines, far-flung archipelagos with a combined population of 340 million, have passed laws to improve cooperation with the private sector to solve their bottlenecks.

ATTRACTING FUNDS

But attracting private funds remains difficult. Project finance lending in Southeast Asia fell 6.3 percent last year to $13.5 billion, Thomson Reuters data shows.

The Philippines, whose recent history is littered with failed or delayed infrastructure plans, has prepared at least 16 PPPs worth more than $4 billion.

So far, only two projects have been successfully bid out. Some foreign firms -- which face tight restrictions on investment -- say they have been put off by a lack of government guarantees on pricing.

In Indonesia, only two PPP projects offered since 2006 have made it to the construction phase -- a 2,000 megawatt coal-fired power plant in Java and an expressway in Bali. Even then, the power project has been delayed by land acquisition problems.

As well as investor-unfriendly lands laws, projects can be held up by sometimes conflicting national and local authorities. Moreover, returns in Indonesia and the Philippines often fail to reflect such risks, said Johan Bastin, chief executive of Singapore-based infrastructure private equity firm CapAsia.

"In my view, the institutional capabilities at local administrative level are underdeveloped, the regulatory regimes largely untested and the judiciary systems somewhat arbitrary," he said. "The returns we see in the markets seem to assume that these problems will be dealt with over time."

He said annual returns on projects were often about 3-5 percent below an "acceptable" level of around 15-20 percent.

MORE PUBLIC MONEY

The passage of a new land acquisition law last year should help jumpstart Indonesia's infrastructure pipeline, although it will only apply to future investments.

Meanwhile, the struggle to attract private investors means governments may have to play a bigger role. Long-delayed plans to build a mass-rapid transit system to relieve Jakarta's 10 million people of monster traffic jams are a case in point.

After plans for a pure private-sector solution were abandoned long ago, it has been held up for years by wrangling between Jakarta and the national government over how to pay back a $1.6 billion Japanese loan for the project.

While public infrastructure spending is rising in the region, it remains well below where it should be, economists say.

Indonesia, which spends only around 3-3.5 percent of its GDP on infrastructure, plans to raise its infrastructure budget by about 11 percent this year. The Philippines aims to double its infrastructure spending from 2.6 percent of GDP. China spends about 9 percent of its GDP on infrastructure.

Some governments' ability to expand infrastructure spending is hampered by heavy outlays on subsidies. Indonesia spent about $22 billion last year on fuel subsidies, and the prospects for reform are dim ahead of a presidential election in 2014.

"Southeast Asia has to rethink radically its strategy on infrastructure," said Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asian economic research at HSBC. "I'm not inclined to bet this is happening really on a broader scale."

(Additional reporting by Rosemarie Francisco in Manila and Orathai Sriring in Bangkok; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-southeast-asia-ready-build-investors-come-210525518--finance.html

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Worker denies drinking old whiskey at Pa. mansion

SCOTTDALE, Pa. (AP) ? A former mansion caretaker denied that he drank four dozen bottles of well-aged whiskey worth $100,000, claiming it would have been unsafe to drink and saying the booze had "evaporated" instead.

"Yuck! That stuff had floaters in it and all kind of stuff inside the bottles," John Saunders, 63, of Irwin, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (http://bit.ly/16jQrhx) outside a district judge's courtroom on Wednesday. "I don't think it would even be safe to drink."

Saunders' comments came after his preliminary hearing on theft and receiving stolen property charges was postponed until May 15 so he could apply for a public defender.

Patricia Hill found the Old Farm Pure Rye Whiskey hidden in the walls and stairwells of her century-old Georgian mansion, which was built by coal and coke industrialist J.P. Brennan. She converted the mansion into a bed and breakfast and hired Saunders as a live-in caretaker, only to discover the bottles had been emptied and replaced back into slots in their original wooden cases.

Scottdale police charged Saunders with stealing the whiskey ? by drinking it ? after his DNA was found on the lips of some empty bottles, Chief Barry Pritts said.

Saunders downplayed that evidence and denied drinking the booze which, police said, Saunders claimed must have "evaporated" over time.

"I moved those cases three times for Hill. ... I can't believe she would accuse me of doing that. I have nothing to hide," Saunders said, noting he's been friends with Hill and her family for 40 years.

Hill told police she stored the 52 bottles of whiskey in the original cases, which contained 12 bottles each. After Saunders moved out, Hill said she discovered last March that the bottles in four cases were empty.

Police had Bonhams, a New York City auction house, appraise four remaining bottles and concluded the value of all 52 bottles ? had 48 of them not been emptied ? would have been $102,400. Bonhams' whiskey specialist said the liquor would have remained valuable as long as the corks remained sealed and the whiskey untouched.

Saunders disputed that appraisal saying he believed Hill was "looking for money. I'd say that whiskey's real value is about $10 a bottle and she hired someone to inflate the price."

___

Information from: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, http://pghtrib.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/worker-denies-drinking-old-whiskey-pa-mansion-132227763.html

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Italy's center-left leader fails to form govt

MILAN (AP) ? Italy remained in political gridlock Thursday after the center-left leader announced he had failed to form a government.

Pier Luigi Bersani, who has been talking with parties since Friday, expressed some bitterness when he told reporters at the president's office in Rome that he found "unacceptable" attempts by some parties to set "preclusions and conditions."

Bersani's attempt at forming a stable government able to help Italy out of recession and get Italians back to work was always a long shot. Bersani's coalition controls the lower house, but not the Senate, and inconclusive February elections gave strong voice to a protest party.

The next move belongs to President Giorgio Napolitano, who will hold a day of consultations Friday to "personally ascertain the developments possible," the president's secretary general, Donato Marra, said.

The failure makes more likely a possible technical government with a well-defined mission to take on urgent tasks, which include rewriting the election law, and push through some measures that have broader acceptance, like cutting political costs.

"I do believe now that the president will try to find a personality who is not so political as Bersani, possibly coming out of the left, and see if that person can find some sort of agreement to get the backing" from both the center-left and the center-right, said Giovanni Orsina, a professor of political science at Rome's LUISS University. "That is the only solution at the moment."

The Feb. 24-25 elections ended in a three-way gridlock with Bersani's center-left forces, former Premier Silvio Berlusconi's center-right forces and the anti-establishment protest movement founded by comic-turned-political leader Beppe Grillo.

Old animosities and a hardline left wing of his party forced Bersani to rule out an alliance with Berlusconi's center-right forces ? a sort of grand coalition that Napolitano clearly favored. And Grillo's 5 Star Movement made clear that it wouldn't back Bersani or any established party ? despite Bersani's appeal to responsibility during a meeting Wednesday.

The 5 Star Movement's apparent intransigence makes a way forward difficult. It refuses steadfastly to vote confidence in any government that it does not run, and the Italian constitution requires a vote of confidence for a government to officially take office.

The movement on Thursday proposed that Italy could continue under the caretaker government of Mario Monti, allowing the newly elected parliament to take on some urgent tasks. It was unclear if Napolitano would find that acceptable, if Monti would want to stay on, or if such a possibility were even constitutional.

Orsina said there is a limit to how long a government can continue without a vote of confidence, and this caretaker government was formed provisionally until a new government could be formed. "If we say it is not a provisional solution, that it is more permanent, I think Monti should go back to the chambers and ask for confidence," Orsina said.

Monti, whose technical government enacted emergency measures to help protect Italy from the sovereign debt crisis after Berlusconi stepped down in 2011, dissolved parliament last December after Berlusconi pulled support, paving the way to elections. More recently, he has been under pressure over his government's flip-flop over the fate of two Italian marines charged with murder in India. It first announced earlier this month the pair would not go back to face trial after being allowed home temporarily, but then sent them back anyway fearing international isolation over the move.

His decision to run in the elections, finishing fourth with a dismal 10 percent of the vote, also has sapped his authority as a technical figure.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italys-center-left-leader-fails-form-govt-183434343.html

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FBI comes clean on top X-File: 'We never investigated' Hottel UFO memo

FBI

The FBI says a 1950 flying-saucer memo rates as the most popular file in its online document repository.

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

The FBI says it never followed up on the most popular file in its online reading room ? a one-page UFO memo that passes along a second- or third-hand report about flying saucers and alien passengers that were supposedly recovered in New Mexico.

The memo dated March 22, 1950, has been viewed almost a million times over the past two years, the FBI said this week in a blog posting. It was written by Guy Hottel, who was the head of the FBI's field office in Washington at the time, and addressed to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

---

In the memo, Hottel discusses an account provided to an FBI agent ... that was attributed to an informant ... who purportedly heard from an Air Force investigator ... that "three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico."

"They were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter," the memo read. "Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only three feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each body was bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed fliers and test pilots."

Hottel said he was told that the saucers might have been brought down, perhaps due to interference from "a very high-powered radar set-up" that the government had in that area. But he admitted in the memo that "no further evaluation was attempted" by the informant, whose name is blacked out in the online document.

The Hottel memo has been in the public record since the 1970s, but it created a huge splash in 2011 when it was added to the FBI Vault, an online repository of public records. Here's what The Sun, a British tabloid, said about the memo in a headline from those days: "Aliens Exist, Say Real-Life X-Files."

Monday's posting was written to counter such claims. The FBI denied that the memo constituted evidence for the existence of extraterrestrial spacecraft ? and?said Hottel's report was never taken all that seriously. Instead, it was considered "an unconfirmed report that the FBI never even followed up on."

The FBI said there was no reason to believe that the memo referred to another famous UFO saga, the purported discovery of a crashed alien spaceship in Roswell, N.M., in 1947. "The Hottel memo is dated nearly three years after the infamous events in Roswell," it said.?

July 9, 2008: NBC's Willie Geist has a little fun with New Mexico flying saucers to mark the anniversary of the 1947 Roswell UFO incident.

The bureau acknowledged that for a few years after the Roswell incident, Hoover followed up on an Air Force request by ordering his agents to verify any UFO sightings. "That practice ended in July 1950, four months after the Hottel memo, suggesting that our Washington Field Office didn't think enough of that flying saucer story to look into it," the posting said.

There's an alternate explanation for the Hottel memo that makes a lot more sense. Two years ago, when the memo was added to the Vault, paranormal investigator Ben Radford noted that the informant's story matched the description of a UFO hoax that was concocted by a man named Silas Newton. In 1950, Newton was telling tales about flying saucers that had crashed at a radar station near the Arizona-New Mexico border. Newton was later convicted on fraud charges, and died in 1972.

Ironically, there's a whole different section of the FBI Vault that's devoted to Newton, whom the bureau described as "a wealthy oil producer and con man." To get the story about the connections between Newton's tales and the Hottel memos, check out this thorough debunking on the Above Top Secret forum.

Even though the FBI says the memo "does not prove the existence of UFOs," it's not confirming the Silas Newton scenario, either. "Some people believe the memo repeats a hoax that was circulating at that time, but the Bureau's files have no information to verify that story," it said.

What do you think FBI Agent Fox Mulder would say? "The truth is out there"? Or "Trust no one"? Feel free to weigh in with your own verdict in the comment section below. ?

More about UFOs:

---

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

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Pennsylvania stadium aims to please fans with urinal video games

By Joe McDonald

(Reuters) - Play doesn't need to stop for sports fans taking a bathroom break at a Pennsylvania minor-league baseball stadium that has installed video games in men's room urinals.

The "hands-free" video game is played by directing oneself right or left in the urinals at the Lehigh Valley IronPigs' Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The game is aimed at increasing prostate health awareness.

The video screens challenge players to steer their way along a snowmobile course, while trying to hit cartoon penguins. They also display messages reminding men to make an appointment for a prostate exam, Schaeffer said.

Names of high scorers deft enough to hit the target mirrored on a 12-inch LCD screen above the urinal will appear on other contestants' urinals and on the video displays in the ballpark.

The "hands free" urinal players can go by their full name, part or their name or a pseudonym when their scores are tallied.

The urinal video games will commence when the baseball games start for the IronPigs, a minor league team affiliated with the Philadelphia Phillies. The team opens its 2013 season next week with an exhibition game on Tuesday.

The IronPigs bought the restroom entertainment, described as the "world's only truly hands-free urinal game controller," from Captive Media, a company based in the United Kingdom, said IronPigs spokesman Jon Schaeffer.

While the games have been placed in bars in the United Kingdom, their appearance in the Allentown stadium marks a first in the world of sports, said Ed Gundrum, who oversees sales for the company in the U.S.

"They told us with certainty that it's not in any other sports venue in the world," Schaeffer said. The "p-controlled" video games, which were undergoing "calibration" on Wednesday, are in bars in the United Kingdom, Schaeffer said.

The games, part of a marketing agreement with the Lehigh Valley Health Network, are intended to remind men about the importance of prostate health, the baseball team said in a news release.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pennsylvania-stadium-aims-please-fans-urinal-video-games-181652196--mlb.html

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Jon Hamm & His Impressive Manhood Are Offended!

Jon Hamm & His Impressive Manhood Are Offended!

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Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/03/jon-hamm-his-impressive-manhood-are-offended/

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Superstars whose careers ended at WrestleMania

It?s no secret that a WrestleMania match is the goal of every Superstar who steps through the doors of WWE. It?s called The Showcase of the Immortals for a reason ? only the best and brightest are featured, and a bout at the big dance can solidify a performer?s reputation as a star of the future or cement him or her as a main-event icon for WWE. But The Show of Shows can also be a bittersweet event, as it is often the night when legends of the highest caliber bid their farewells to the squared circle with one final, epic bout before hanging up their boots.

WrestleMania 29 might just prove to be one of those instances, as Triple H has put his in-ring career on the line in a No Holds Barred Match against Brock Lesnar, a Superstar who beat him to the point of near-retirement once already at SummerSlam 2012. This particular piece of WrestleMania history has yet to be written, but as The King of Kings prepares to set foot on The Grandest Stage of Them All for potentially the last time, WWE.com looks back at five Superstars who ? voluntarily or otherwise ? ended their careers under the bright lights of WrestleMania.

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Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/wrestlemania/29/superstars-whose-careers-ended-at-wrestlemania

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Last chance! Comment to win a FREE iPhone!

Leave great comments during the month of March and you're entered to win a free iPhone!

Like we announced at the beginning of the month, the iMore 2.0 app is here! That's right, in 2013, iMore re-revolutionized our app, and we're thrilled to finally get it into the App Store and onto your iPhones! And it wouldn't be Mobile Nations if we didn't celebrate with a contest. So... We're giving away an iPhone!

AND THERE'S ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT TO ENTER!

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1. Download the free iMore app from the App Store - iTunes link
2. Leave a comment on this post (or the original one, either is fine!) telling us you want to enter
3. Start leaving high quality comments on all the other articles that interest you

How we'll choose the winner!

1. We'll randomly pick an entrant from the comments on this post.
2. We'll check their iMore profile to see how often and how well they commented this month.
3. If they're awesome, with tons of high quality comments, they'll win a free iPhone (technically a $500 App Store gift certificate).

Why Step 3? It removes spammers, trolls, litterbugs, and people who simply post "FIRST! ZOMG I WANNA WIN" on every article from the mix, clearing the skies for awesome community members like you!

Contest ends March 31, 2013 at 11:59pm PT, and our usual rules apply.

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That's it, that's all! Get the new iMore app, comment often, and comment well, and you're entered to win a FREE iPhone!

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Dell board considers 2 new buyout offers

ROUND ROCK, Texas (AP) ? Dell plans to negotiate with Blackstone Group and investor Carl Icahn over new acquisition bids for the computer maker that rival an offer of more than $24 billion from investors led by founder Michael Dell.

Dell Inc. says a special committee of board members has determined the bids from buyout specialist Blackstone and Icahn could be superior to a proposal from Dell and Silver Lake Partners to buy the Round Rock, Texas, company for $13.65 per share.

The company says Michael Dell is willing to work with third parties on alternate acquisition proposals.

Blackstone is proposing to buy the company for $14.25 per share. Icahn wants to buy up to 58 percent of Dell's shares for $15 each.

Icahn and other investors have criticized Michael Dell's bid as too low.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-25-Dell-Acquisition/id-17cc99a79c3a4cb7bab222cbeefacefc

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Facebook Messenger iOS app enables free calling feature for UK users

While Americans and Canadians have enjoyed making app-based voice calls to their Facebook contacts since January, their overseas buddies have missed out -- until now. The social network's iOS Messenger app has just doled out the calling feature to the UK and potentially other parts of Europe too, although we haven't yet been able to confirm exactly how far and wide the update reaches. It's worth noting that the feature isn't enabled on the Android iteration yet, either. The new calling service isn't powered by Skype this time, although it works in a similarly uncomplicated way, with the ability to leave voice messages with any busy users. According to Pocket-lint, this is an experimental version, warning that you might experience a few bugs and glitches as you play around with it, but hey, you're getting free calls to (most of) your friends, barring any data charges. We've tested the new feature and it's working for several of our UK editors over both WiFi and 3G, but if you haven't already picked up the messaging app yet, you can grab it at the source below.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile, Apple, Facebook

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/25/facebook-messenger-ios-app-uk-free-calling/

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Bill sets up potentially disruptive split in client care for hundreds of ...

About 40 percent of developmentally disabled people who receive support services in Sedgwick County would have to change either the person who guides their care or the provider who gives them services under a bill scheduled to come before the state Senate on Monday, officials said.

Senate Substitute for House Bill 2155, proposed as a way to eliminate potential conflicts of interest in disability services, would require clients to get their case management from one organization and their care services from another.

The bill contains language encouraging disabled people to seek case management services from one of three insurance companies under contract to the state through the new KanCare managed-care health program.

In practice, the bill would force a change onto 702 developmentally disabled people in Sedgwick County who now get their case management and assistive services from a single provider, said Dee Stoudt, director of the county?s Community Developmental Disability Organization.

That represents about one in four of the 1,800 developmentally disabled people currently receiving case management countywide, Stoudt said.

The bill will ?interject some chaos into the system that is unnecessary,? she said. ?A lot of our persons served don?t do very well with change.?

That was on full display Saturday morning as some angry and frustrated parents and advocates voiced emotional pleas to kill the bill during a South Central Kansas Legislative Delegation forum.

?I have a 34-year-old son, he?s literally a 5-year-old,? James McNulty told lawmakers. ?If you?re going to pass that (bill), then just euthanize him. Legalize euthanasia so he and I can just walk into the chamber together.?

Sally Fahrenthold, mother of an autistic 51-year-old daughter, told lawmakers the existing system ?is not broken and doesn?t need to be fixed.?

?The service system allows my daughter ? who has a 50 IQ, they say ? to work, to live semi-independently, to have good social relationships, to do so many things for herself,? Fahrenthold said. ?We don?t want to see this change.?

Last week, the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee advanced the bill to a floor vote by stripping an earlier House bill of its contents and replacing it with the more controversial provisions from another bill.

Sen. Michael O?Donnell, R-Wichita, the only area member on the committee, said the impetus for the bill was concern over potential conflict of interest if the same company or agency is deciding what services a disabled person needs and then is providing those services.

After hearing from parents at Saturday?s meeting, he said he would be willing to consider delaying the change until an audit could be done to determine whether the system is actually being abused.

Stoudt said she doesn?t think there?s a problem with conflict of interest because disability care is much like any other medical service.

?If you?re a physician, you diagnose a condition and you treat it,? she said.

Sedgwick County currently has a three-step system for connecting developmentally disabled people to services they need to live without hospital or nursing care:

??The Community Developmental Disability Organization, a county government agency, acts as the first contact with the system and makes the initial evaluation of a person?s eligibility and overall need for services.

??The client, or his or her guardian, then selects a case manager to determine what services are needed for that person to live as independently as possible, such as placement in a group home, help with daily living tasks in his or her own home, employment training and/or job placement.

??The client then selects from a menu of service providers based on which would best meet his or her needs. At present, he or she could use the same organization that employs the case manager, or he or she could choose a different provider.

Under HB 2155, the CDDO, case manager and service providers would all be required to come from separate and unaffiliated organizations.

Of the 702 people who would be affected in Sedgwick County, about 500 don?t have a legal guardian, so ?their targeted case manager is very important to them,? Stoudt said. Often, that relationship between a case manager and a client is developed over a period of years, she added.

The effect of change could be even more disruptive in low-population counties where service providers and choices are few, she said.

In some communities where there?s only one combined case management/service provider organization, the developmentally disabled person would most likely be forced to work with an out-of-area case manager, Stoudt said.

Reach Dion Lefler at 316-268-6527 or dlefler@wichitaeagle.com.

Source: http://www.kansas.com/2013/03/23/2730206/bill-sets-up-potentially-disruptive.html

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EU finance ministers approve Cyprus bailout deal

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) ? Cyprus' Parliament president says a deal reached for his country to raise billions in order to qualify for an international bailout is a "painful one" for the island nation's people and a defeat for European solidarity.

Yiannakis Omirou said Monday that Cyprus must work fast to reform its economy and leave the bailout as soon as possible.

The deal reached in Brussels early Monday prevented Cyprus' imminent financial meltdown by securing a last-minute 10 billion euro ($13 billion) bailout on the condition that the country cut back its banking sector and force large losses on big deposits to help pay much of the bill.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eu-finance-ministers-approve-cyprus-bailout-deal-052358580--finance.html

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Bloomberg, mayor group tout big gun control push

FILE - In this Jan. 14, 2013, file photo, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks at a gun violence summit at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. On Saturday, March 23, 2013, Bloomberg announced on a new $12 million television ad campaign from Mayors Against Illegal Guns will push senators in key states to back gun control efforts including comprehensive background checks. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 14, 2013, file photo, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks at a gun violence summit at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. On Saturday, March 23, 2013, Bloomberg announced on a new $12 million television ad campaign from Mayors Against Illegal Guns will push senators in key states to back gun control efforts including comprehensive background checks. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? A new $12 million television ad campaign from Mayors Against Illegal Guns will push senators in key states to back gun control efforts, including comprehensive background checks.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the ad buy Saturday ? just days after Senate Democrats touted stronger background checks while acknowledging insufficient support to restore a ban on assault-style weapons to federal gun control legislation.

"These ads bring the voices of Americans ? who overwhelmingly support comprehensive and enforceable background checks ? into the discussion to move senators to immediately take action to prevent gun violence," Bloomberg said in a statement issued by the group he co-founded in 2006.

The two ads posted on the group's website, called "Responsible" and "Family," show a gun owner holding a rifle while sitting on the back of a pickup truck.

In one ad, the man says he'll defend the Second Amendment but adds "with rights come responsibilities." The ad then urges viewers to tell Congress to support background checks.

In the other ad, the man, a hunter, says "background checks have nothing to do with taking guns away from anyone." The man then says closing loopholes will stop criminals and the mentally ill from obtaining weapons.

The Senate is scheduled to debate federal gun control legislation next month. On March 28, the group plans for more than 100 events nationwide in support of passing gun control legislation that includes background checks.

Mayors Against Illegal Guns and other gun-control advocates frequently cite a mid-1990s study that suggests about 40 percent of U.S. gun transfers were conducted by private sellers not subject to federal background checks. Based on 2011 FBI data, the group estimates 6.6 million firearms transfers are made without a background check for the receiver.

A spokesman for Bloomberg could not immediately say if the $12 million was coming from Bloomberg or the mayor's political action committee, Independence USA. The New York Times, which first reported the ad campaign Saturday night, said Bloomberg was bankrolling the ad buy.

A spokesman for the National Rifle Association blasted Bloomberg and the new ads, saying NRA members and supporters would be calling senators directly and urging them to vote against proposed gun control legislation.

"What Michael Bloomberg is trying to do is ... intimidate senators into not listening to constituents and instead pledge their allegiance to him and his money," said spokesman Andrew Arulanandam.

Bloomberg has long supported efforts to curb gun violence, including sending New York City undercover investigators into other states to conduct straw purchases from dealers. Last month, Bloomberg's PAC poured more than $2 million into ads supporting Illinois state Rep. Robin Kelly, who won a special primary and ran partly on a platform of supporting tougher gun restrictions.

The new ads will air in 13 states the group believes are divided on gun control: Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-23-US-Gun-Control-Ads-Mayors/id-f9827398f1834142b2cbbe2ea8bc24eb

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Hope for threatened Tasmanian devils

Mar. 11, 2013 ? New research paves the way for the development of a vaccine for the Tasmanian devil, currently on the brink of extinction because of a contagious cancer.

It has been less than two decades since scientists discovered the contagious cancer devil facial tumour disease (DFTD) which causes 100 per cent mortality in the endangered marsupials. The facial cancer, which spreads when the devils bite each other's faces during fighting, kills its victims in a matter of months. As it has already wiped out the majority of the population with sightings of devils reduced by 85 per cent, scientists are desperate to find out more about the mysterious cancer which somehow manages to evade the devils' immune system.

Until now, scientists have believed that the tumours were able to avoid detection by the immune system because the Tasmanian devils have very little genetic diversity (preventing the immune system from recognising the tumour as foreign). However, a University of Cambridge led collaboration with the Universities of Tasmania, Sydney and South Denmark has discovered that the explanation is more complex.

On the surface of nearly every mammalian cell are major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules. These molecules enable the immune system to determine if a cell is friend or foe, triggering an immune response if the cell is foreign and a potential threat. The new research, published 11 March, in the journal PNAS, reveals that DFTD cancer cells lack these critical molecules, thereby avoiding detection by the devils' immune system.

Professor Jim Kaufman, from the University of Cambridge's Department of Pathology, said: "Once it was found that the cancer was escaping from the devils' immune system, scientists needed to figure out how."

The researchers found that the DFTD cells have lost the expression of MHC molecules, but that the genes that code for these molecules are still intact. This means that these genes could potentially be turned back on. Indeed, the scientists showed that by introducing signalling molecules such as interferon-gamma, a protein which triggers the immune response, the DFTD cells can be forced to express MHC molecules.

Dr Hannah Siddle, lead author of the paper from the University of Cambridge, said: "Developing a vaccine based on our research could tip the balance in the favour of the devil and give them a fighting chance."

"However, we still face some hurdles. The tumour is evolving over time and any vaccine programme would have to take this into consideration. Also, because of the difficulties of vaccinating a wild population, it may be more efficient to use a vaccine in the context of returning captive devils to the wild."

Although the only other contagious cancer has been found in dogs (canine transmissible venereal cancer), the rapid development of DFTD highlights how quickly they can emerge.

Professor Kaufman added: "Our study has implications beyond the Tasmanian devil. Sooner or later a human strain of contagious cancer will develop, and this work gives us insight into how these diseases emerge and evolve."

The research was funded by the Wellcome Trust.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Cambridge. The original story is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Hannah V. Siddle et al. Reversible epigenetic down-regulation of MHC molecules by devil facial tumour disease illustrates immune escape by a contagious cancer. PNAS, 2013 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1219920110

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/hkD5GFRVnI0/130311173627.htm

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Josh and Anna Duggar to Welcome Third Child

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/josh-and-anna-duggar-to-welcome-third-child/

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The Yeshiva World Chareidim Threatening to Establish Parallel ...

The issue of giyur is a complex one and it appears the new reality of the incoming coalition will create more controversy than was seen in the past regarding state conversions. Without a doubt the talk of ?additional leniencies? in the state giyur will result in controversy in the next generation. When children born to such couples become of age, their Jewishness will be a question for those who do not accept the state definition of a Jew. The chareidim, now viewing themselves as members the opposition, are already speaking of launching a new alternative giyur to bypass the state system.

Maariv quotes chareidi sources as explaining ?it depends just how far Lapid and Bennett take the giyur issue from Halacha?, towards determining if they will launch an alternative to the state system. Shas is already formulating bills to introduce in Knesset aimed at making life for the new coalition more difficult. One such bill is aimed at Yesh Atid, calling for a cabinet of a maximum of 18 ministers, in line with Yair Lapid?s election promise.

Interior Minister Eli Yishai told the press that Lapid appears to be living his dream, achieving his goal of not seeing a single chareidi in the President?s Residence when the new cabinet is photographed. He added the break with the chareidim will be remembered for years to come. ?It appears a Jew does not expel a Jew but a Jew can disqualify a Jew?, Yishai stated in reference to the slogan used during the 2005 expulsion of Jews from their homes in Gaza and N. Shomron.

Also opting to express his anger publically in Yahadut Hatorah?s Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, who tells the media that Naftali Bennett is simply lying, explaining that he personally guaranteed Bennett before signing with Yesh Atid that if he goes with a religious bloc, Yahadut Hatorah would commit to not entering the coalition without Bennett?s party and statements to the contrary are not factual. Litzman lamented the fact that a religious party signed on with Lapid and turned its back on other Torah parties, with Bayit Yehudi now part of an anti-Halacha agenda.

Aryeh Deri?s son on his Facebook page writes ??? ?? ??? ??? ?? ??? ?????? in his hint at Amalek. Posters expressing the same sentiment are also seen in Yerushalayim.

(YWN ? Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

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Source: http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/?p=160241

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1 dead, 5 rescued in Calif. sailboat race accident

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Stormy seas off Southern California destroyed a sailboat during a race on a rocky island shore, leaving one sailor dead after the boat first sent a mayday call but then waved off help from the Coast Guard and other boaters.

Five other crewmembers of the Uncontrollable Urge were rescued Saturday after the 32-foot sailboat lost its steering capability and the craft began drifting toward San Clemente Island, where it then broke apart, Coast Guard Petty Officer Connie Gawrelli said.

Friday night, the crew radioed the mayday call and also activated a feature on the boat to provide authorities their GPS coordinates and other crucial information, but then declined assistance and requested a tow boat, she said.

However, stormy ocean conditions kept the tow boat from getting to them.

One of the organizers of the two-day Islands Race said the crew encountered more bad luck when attempts to deploy a life raft and anchor the boat failed. The crew abandoned ship when the boat entered the surf line and broke apart.

"They were not in immediate danger and thought they would be able to manage completing the race and get assistance on their own," said Chuck Hope, commodore of the San Diego Yacht Club. "Then things got worse."

When the Coast Guard reached the crew, they found 36-year-old Craig Thomas Williams unresponsive in the water, the San Diego County Medical Examiner's office said. He and the other 5 crew members were hoisted into a helicopter and flown to a hospital. It wasn't immediately known whether the surviving crew members suffered any injuries.

Williams was a member of the Silver Gate Yacht Club in San Diego, where the Uncontrollable Urge is docked, its commodore said.

"This is a very difficult time for the Williams family, the skipper of Uncontrollable Urge and the other surviving crew members," Carey Storm said. "(The club) and the entire Southern California racing community is a close family, and the loss of one of our members impacts us all greatly."

Storm declined to release further details.

The Islands Race website listed James Gilmore as the owner of the Uncontrollable Urge. Gilmore tweeted on Friday that he was taking the new boat on its first race, and noted that the forecast called for 25-knot winds.

"Gonna see what this boat can do!" he tweeted.

Hope said the Uncontrollable Urge was known within the sailboat racing circuit and that its crew and skipper were experienced.

"Those guys been around, they're very good sailors," he said. "This was not a case of someone getting in over their head."

He said stormy conditions in the open seas caused equipment failures for two other boats, forcing their crews to drop from the race. The Uncontrollable Urge crew radioed that the boat's rudder failed.

"This was not an isolated incident," Hope said. "Conditions were pretty fierce."

The overnight, 139-nautical-mile race began in Newport Harbor in Orange County Friday and was to take participants around Catalina and San Clemente islands before finishing off in San Diego's Point Loma.

The death came nearly a year after four sailors died when their yacht crashed during a race from Southern California to Mexico. An independent review panel said it believes the 37-foot sailboat Aegean ran aground on North Coronado Island off the Mexican coast on April 28, 2012 during the Newport to Ensenada Race.

That same month, five other sailors died in the waters off Northern California when their 38-foot yacht was hit by powerful waves, smashed into rocks and capsized during a race. Three sailors survived the April 14 accident near the Farallon Islands, about 27 miles west of San Francisco.

The wreck prompted the Coast Guard to temporarily stop races in ocean waters outside San Francisco Bay.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-10-US-Sailboat-Race-Death/id-994233d345714a84adf5c964df45255f

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?Ignorance is the biggest IT threat to companies? ? Kaspersky Lab

Kaspersky Lab recently launched a new security solution for?businesses designed to protect online assets and provide secure access.? Endpoint Security for Business (KESB), the company?s new flagship corporate security platform, is said to provide the best level of protection?against advanced malware and cybercrime, and?effectively combat common enemies of IT security.

Vasily Dyagilev, Managing Director of Kaspersky Lab in Emerging Markets (image: Kaspersky)

ITNewsAfrica spoke to Vasily Dyagilev, Managing Director of Kaspersky Lab in Emerging Markets about how?the company?s?current security solutions differ from previous versions, the state of security readiness among?South African businesses and the single biggest threat to a connected business.

* How does the new Endpoint Security Solution differ from the previous one?

This is one of the key product launches for Kaspersky Lab in the last couple of years.?Kaspersky was famous -?and is still famous -?for being a niche player in antivirus, for providing the best antivirus solutions. But our portfolio has been?very narrow, to the extent that it did not allow us to?provide extra solutions to our partners.

So this new product platform has been?designed to cover new threats that appear in?security ? which are not actually?connected?to?digital threats, but to?the complexity and manageability of the systems that people use. People use different systems for fighting viruses, patching malware, license management and firewalls.?The problem is that most of these systems are?not designed to work together and the biggest target in the industry is not the vendor, but the holes that appear between incompatible?systems.

What we designed with the new product range is a single platform people can use for mobile management, PC management and any management of a system within a corporate environment ? everything from?patching third party software that might be installed to providing rules and policies, as well as encryption. The platform was designed with security in mind and allows management from a single console.

The current security approach seems a bit strange to us -?many people view security with?only?regulation in mind and simply to comply with?certain rules. But they do not actually see that those rules might be outdated and may lead to a poor decision.? A lot of people also think that introducing an?antivirus program is sufficient?? which it is not. We are doing our best to?fight this ?head-in-the-sand? behaviour!

* How does the new product make the lives of IT administrators easier?

It is one single console and a single platform. When you have a zoo of different systems, the key admin needs to switch between Windows, between different servers. For example, the AV is updated, but the patch management system is not ? this then needs to be done?manually.

There is a lot to consider?and most of these different consoles are issued with the?same access passwords by?admin in order?to make things easier?? and you know what? Sometimes they use those same passwords for their personal sites like Facebook and Twitter. So there is a risk when the password is discovered, it can actually be a bridge into the system. With the Kaspersky solution, you have one console that controls all your licenses and all your devices, and it has a lot of tools for the automation of patching and updating.

* How well protected are South African businesses?

The country is?not that much different from the rest of the world ? the only problem is that?a lot of business in South Africa have emerged?in the last couple of years.?A lot of people have started their own businesses, but being inexperienced?internet users, they do not know?how to protect themselves.

In Africa, given?the increasing speed connections, you will actually be far?more vulnerable if you do not know?how to protect yourself. Another reason is this same ?head-in-the-sand? mentality where they think it?will not?happen to them because they do not?go to porn websites. It might happen to them without even being connected to the internet, with viruses like Stuxnet, Red October, Duku and miniFlame. They reached their targets after five years since creation without being connected to the internet.

* What is the single-biggest threat to businesses?

Ignorance. The biggest threat to?IT security, in a lot of cases, is carried by IT persons. There is now a big debate that the security officer within the company probably should not?have an IT background ? he or she should have a background in business. IT now takes up to 50% of the financial load of financial assets in a company. The biggest threat to security stems?from people. It is amazing to see how much information about systems and passwords one can find just by walking around an office ? some people will even write passwords on a white board, and people stick passwords on computer screens. That is why companies should have password policies that make use of a sentence, such as ?I love my dog?. It will increase the security and everyone will think of something very original that they will not?forget.

* Will we see more corporate attacks in 2013 than previous years?

Yes, most definitely. The time of hackers doing things just for fun is long gone.?It is a big business and there is big money involved. Just imagine an attack on an oil terminal ? it will cause billions of dollars in loss of revenue and they will go to the competitor. We will see a lot of targeted attacks and we do see it happening more frequently in the last few years. It is a business, and when there is money to be made, people will find a way to breach the system and get valuable information.

Charlie Fripp ? Consumer Tech editor

Source: http://www.itnewsafrica.com/2013/03/ignorance-is-the-biggest-it-threat-to-companies-kaspersky-lab/

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