Jon & Kate Plus 8 Editor Arrested on Child Porn Charge

William Blankinship, a TV editor who worked on TLC's Jon and Kate Plus 8 and other family-oriented reality TV, was arrested last week on child porn charges.

Blankinship, 56, has been charged with 10 counts of sex exploit of a minor, meaning he possessed photos and/or video of a minor engaged in sexual activity.

A subcontractor for Figure 8 Films, Blankenship edited such TLC shows as Jon and Kate Plus 8, its spinoff Kate Plus 8, 17 Kids and Counting and Table for 12.

No bond has been set for the accused; he is likely "under the authority of the U.S. Marshals" until trial, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons said.

His employer wasted no time taking action. "Upon learning of the shocking allegations his employment was terminated," Figure 8 films said in a statement.

Fortunately, Blankinship was never in contact with the famous eight Gosselin kids, the 17 Duggar offspring or any other of TLC's stars, according to reports.

"At no time was this man ever in the field or in direct contact with any of the talent for any of our productions," the network said in its own statement.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/10/jon-and-kate-plus-8-editor-arrested-on-child-porn-charges/

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U.S. moves to sell attack helicopters to Turkey (reuters)

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India shuts server linked to Duqu computer virus (Reuters)

REUTERS ? Indian authorities seized computer equipment from a data center in Mumbai as part of an investigation into the Duqu malicious software that some security experts warned could be the next big cyber threat.

Two workers at a web-hosting company called Web Werks told Reuters that officials from India's Department of Information Technology last week took several hard drives and other components from a server that security firm Symantec Corp told them was communicating with computers infected with Duqu.

News of Duqu first surfaced last week when Symantec said it had found a mysterious computer virus that contained code similar to Stuxnet, a piece of malware believed to have wreaked havoc on Iran's nuclear program.

Government and private investigators around the world are racing to unlock the secret of Duqu, with early analysis suggesting that it was developed by sophisticated hackers to help lay the groundwork for attacks on critical infrastructure such as power plants, oil refineries and pipelines.

The equipment seized from Web Werks, a privately held company in Mumbai with about 200 employees, might hold valuable data to help investigators determine who built Duqu and how it can be used. But putting the pieces together is a long and difficult process, experts said.

"This one is challenging," said Marty Edwards, director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team. "It's a very complex piece of software."

He declined to comment on the investigation by authorities in India, but said that his agency was working with counterparts in other countries to learn more about Duqu.

Two employees at Web Werks said officials from India's Department of Information Technology came to their office last week to take hard drives and other parts from a server.

They said they did not know how the malware got on to Web Werks' server. "We couldn't track down this customer," said one of the two employees, who did not want to be identified for fear of losing their jobs.

An official in India's Department of Information Technology who investigates cyber attacks also declined to discuss the matter. "I am not able to comment on any investigations," said Gulshan Rai, director of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, or CERT-In.

UNLOCKING THE SECRET

Stuxnet is malicious software designed to target widely used industrial control systems built by Germany's Siemens. It is believed to have crippled centrifuges that Iran uses to enrich uranium for what the United States and some European nations have charged is a covert nuclear weapons program.

Duqu appears to be more narrowly targeted than Stuxnet as researchers estimate the new trojan virus has infected at most dozens of machines so far. By comparison, Stuxnet spread much more quickly, popping up on thousands of computer systems.

Security firms including Dell Inc's SecureWorks, Intel Corp's McAfee, Kaspersky Lab and Symantec say they found Duqu victims in Europe, Iran, Sudan and the United States. They declined to provide their identities.

Duqu -- so named because it creates files with "DQ" in the prefix -- was designed to steal secrets from the computers it infects, researchers said, such as design documents from makers of highly sophisticated valves, motors, pipes and switches.

Experts suspect that information is being gathered for use in developing future cyber weapons that would target the control systems of critical infrastructure.

The hackers behind Duqu are unknown, but their sophistication suggests they are backed by a government, researchers say.

"A cyber saboteur should understand the engineering specifications of every component that could be targeted for destruction in an operation," said John Bumgarner, chief technology officer for the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit.

That is exactly what the authors of Stuxnet did when they built that cyber weapon, said Bumgarner, who is writing a paper on the development of Stuxnet.

"They studied the technical details of gas centrifuges and figured out how they could be destroyed," he said.

Such cyber reconnaissance missions are examples of an increasingly common phenomenon known as "blended" attacks, where elite hackers infiltrate one target to facilitate access to another.

Hackers who infiltrated Nasdaq's computer systems last year installed malware that allowed them to spy on the directors of publicly held companies.

In March, hackers stole digital security keys from EMC Corp's RSA Security division that they later used to breach the networks of defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp.

Researchers said they are still trying to figure out what the next phase of Duqu attacks might be.

"We are a little bit behind in the game," said Don Jackson, a director of the Dell SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit. "Knowing what these guys are doing, they are probably a step ahead."

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in New York, Jim Finkle in Boston; Additional reporting by Henry Foy in Mumbai; Editing by Tiffany Wu)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/india/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111029/india_nm/india601846

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Patrick Dean Lowrance Arrested: S.C. Police Say He Caused 10 Schools To Go On Lockdown

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- A gunman who authorities said fired on a South Carolina police officer checking on a suspicious license plate and caused 10 schools to go on lockdown was arrested Friday.

Patrick Dean Lowrance was found in a Greenville apartment. He was shot in the shoulder when the officer fired back and was taken to the hospital for treatment, Greenville County deputies said.

The shooting happened around 10 a.m. at a different apartment complex, Greenville police spokeswoman Alia Urps said.

After being shot, the suspect ran into nearby woods. Several dozen officers who happened to be in a training session nearby rushed to help search, along with teams of dogs, authorities said.

The search went on for more than three hours before investigators determined Lowrance got someone to pick him up. The schools reopened their doors before dismissal.

Authorities did not say what hospital Lowrance was taken to. They did not know if he had an attorney.

The shooting happened after an officer checking license plates in a hotel parking lot found that a plate on a GMC Yukon was listed for a Honda, Urps said. When the officer went inside the hotel to inquire about the driver, the suspect drove off in the SUV.

The officer got into her patrol car and tried to pull the suspect over on Interstate 85, but he sped up, and she abandoned the chase, Urps said.

"We do not pursue for minor traffic infractions, and at that point, that's all that we had," she said.

Another officer found the vehicle in an apartment parking lot, and as she approached the building, the suspect shot at her, police said.

The SUV was stolen in a carjacking three weeks ago in a motel parking lot in Spartanburg, a city about 30 miles east, police said.

Lowrance, 25, was wanted on four counts of attempted murder and other charges after he tried to rob a fast-food restaurant in Greenville last Sunday, authorities said.

Investigators said Lowrance came into the restaurant after closing time and demanded three workers to open the safe. The employees told him only the manager had the combination and she was outside.

The gunman forced the workers outside, where the manager was in her car, trying to drive off. The suspect fired at the car, then demanded that the employees go back inside. But they told him the door locked behind them automatically and Lowrance fired his gun again at them as they ran away. No one was injured, authorities said.

After Friday's shooting, four public schools, three private schools, two colleges and a special education center were placed on lockdown.

Schools were locked down in several directions because officers weren't sure where the suspect went.

"This is not around the corner from a school. I don't want to give you that impression. This is several miles from any of our schools," Oby Lyles, spokesman for Greenville County school district, told The Associated Press. "Everybody's fine."

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/28/patrick-dean-lowrance-arrested-gunman-school-lockdown_n_1064850.html

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Campus goes purple for American Cancer Society, Relay for Life ...

You are here: Home / News / Campus News / Campus goes purple for American Cancer Society, Relay for Life

By Kortez Wilson

The American Cancer Society Relay for Life has been calling for UK community members to join the society and its signature event.

UK?s Relay for Life Paint the Campus Purple Registration Blitz Week started Monday and ends Friday.

?We are looking to register as many teams as possible in the following weeks,? Bethany McClintock, UK corporate sponsorship chair, said in an email to the Kernel. ?The more student organizations that we get involved on campus, the better the event that we can have.?

Relay for Life will take place on April 21, 2012. Until that time, teams with at least two people can raise money in various ways to support research studies funded by the American Cancer Society.

?It gives not only students, but anyone who is a part of the UK community, including faculty, parents and alumni, a chance to fight back against all cancers,? said Alana Baker, UK?s American Cancer Society representative.

For 2011, it is estimated that 822,300 men and 774,370 women will be diagnosed with cancer, according to the cancer society?s website.

Currently the society funds 220 research studies in hopes of finding a cure to eliminate the disease, Kathryn Garrett, UK?s Relay for Life co-director, said.

?As college students, it is the least we can do,? Garrett said. ?For most of us, we often forget how blessed and lucky we are to be healthy.?

During the Paint the Campus Purple week, the organization hopes to get as many teams to join as possible. Garrett said she wanted people to know that the American Cancer Society not only funds research studies, but also funds various programs.

The Hope Lodge is one program on UK?s campus funded by the American Cancer Society.

?The Hope Lodge houses cancer patients and one family member, free of charge, while the patient receives treatment in Lexington,?

Garrett said. Ryan Studer, a sociology sophomore, said he and his parents participate regularly in Relay for Life back home.

?It gives my family and I a sense of value and self-fulfillment to know that our contribution is helping some man, woman or child in need of help,? he said.

The Blitz Week ends Friday; however, teams still can form and raise money for the cause.

McClintock said the event will have a disc jockey, multiple food vendors with free samples and free giveaways. For more information, visit relayforlife.org.

Source: http://kykernel.com/2011/10/26/campus-goes-purple-for-american-cancer-society-relay-for-life/

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US won't help Alabama apply harsh immigration law

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The government has not offered to help Alabama put in place a strict immigration law that the Obama administration is challenging in court, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday.

The administration has sued to block the law, considered the toughest state immigration controls in the country.

"We have been working with the Department of Justice in its challenge to that law," Napolitano told the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives.

A federal appeals court in Atlanta, Georgia, temporarily blocked a part of the law this month that required public schools to check the immigration status of students. The court did not bar law enforcement officials from detaining people suspected of being in the country illegally.

A final ruling in the case is not expected for several months.

Alabama Republicans have argued that the law, passed this year by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Gov. Robert Bentley, was necessary to protect the jobs of legal residents.

Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard, a Republican, said he is not surprised by Napolitano's comments.

"I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that the federal government won't help us enforce our laws considering it hasn't been enforcing its own law for years. That's why we're in this mess to begin with. In Alabama, we're trying to turn off the magnet drawing illegal aliens across the border. The Obama Administration is trying to make the magnet stronger," said Hubbard.

The Obama administration, which is challenging a similar law in Arizona, has argued that enforcing immigration law is a federal responsibility.

Opponents to the strict state law have argued that giving immigration enforcement power to local authorities would lead to racial profiling of immigrants, both legal and illegal.

"Commonsense law enforcement is about prioritizing resources," said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum. "The Department of Homeland Security should work with the Department of Justice to hold Alabama accountable, and prioritize valuable enforcement resources carefully to make sure the most dangerous individuals are detained and deported."

Napolitano said that while it is too soon to know what impact the new law will have, such worries "should be a real concern."

Similar laws have been passed in Utah, Georgia, South Carolina and Indiana. Civil rights groups have sued to block them.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-10-26-Immigration%20Enforcement-Alabama/id-25ad39d8091049b0984044f7b063979f

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NY bill seeks ban on companies investing in Iran (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Companies and individuals that invest in Iran's energy sector would be barred from doing business with New York state and its counties, cities and towns under a bill proposed by the state Assembly speaker.

States, local governments and private institutions should do "everything possible" to keep Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, according to a draft copy of the bill proposed by Speaker Sheldon Silver, which cites Iran's "illicit nuclear activities" and work on "unconventional weapons."

The proposed bill is modeled after a similar proposal in California. New York has in the past tackled international issues by threatening to sell stakes held by its pensions in public companies.

An investment in Iran's natural gas, oil or nuclear industries is defined broadly in the draft bill, as "a commitment or contribution of funds or property, a loan or other extension of credit and the entry into or renewal of a contract for goods and service."

Individuals would be subject to the ban if they provide goods or services of at least $20 million or an individual "provides oil or liquefied natural gas tankers, or products used to construct or maintain pipelines used to transport oil or liquefied natural gas," according to the draft.

If enacted, New York's Office of General Services would have to review 50 companies that California has identified as possibly qualifying for such a curb.

The list includes heavyweight public and national firms: BHP Billiton, China National Petroleum Corp, Hyundai Motor Company, Hyundai Heavy Industries, Indian Oil Corporation, LUKOIL, Norsk Hydro ASA, Petroleos de Venezuela, Sinopec Corp and Total SA.

Past actions in New York in response to international issues include a demand decades ago by New York City's comptroller, who helps run the city pension fund, that public companies stop discriminating against Catholics in Northern Ireland.

The state comptroller in 2009 sold the $150 billion state pension fund's holdings in nine companies doing business in Iran and the Sudan. The draft of Silver's bill would not affect this pension fund.

(Reporting by Joan Gralla; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111027/us_nm/us_newyork_iran

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New oncolytic virus shows improved effectiveness in preclinical testing

Public release date: 27-Oct-2011
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Contact: Darrell E. Ward
Darrell.Ward@osumc.edu
614-293-3737
Ohio State University Medical Center

COLUMBUS, Ohio A new fourth-generation oncolytic virus designed to both kill cancer cells and inhibit blood-vessel growth has shown greater effectiveness than earlier versions when tested in animal models of human brain cancer.

Researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC James) are developing the oncolytic virus as a treatment for glioblastoma, the most common and deadly form of brain cancer (average survival: 15 months after diagnosis).

The new oncolytic virus, called 34.5ENVE, improved survival of mice with transplanted human glioblastoma tumors by 50 percent in a majority of cases compared with the previous-generation oncolytic virus.

The study was published online in the journal Molecular Therapy.

"These findings show the amazing therapeutic efficacy of this new oncolytic virus against four different glioblastoma models in animals," says cancer researcher Dr. Balveen Kaur, associate professor of neurological surgery, and a member of the OSUCCC James viral oncology research program.

The new oncolytic virus is engineered to replicate in cells that express the protein nestin. First identified as a marker for neuronal stem cells, nestin is also expressed in glioblastoma and other malignancies including gastrointestinal, pancreatic, prostate and breast cancer.

"We believe that nestin-driven oncolytic viruses will prove valuable for the treatment of many types of cancer," Kaur says.

The new oncolytic virus also carries a gene to inhibit tumor blood-vessel growth. That gene, called Vstat120, was added to increase its anti-tumor effectiveness and prolong the virus's presence within tumors.

In this study of eight animals with intracranial tumors, six lived longer than 80 days, and these were later found to be tumor free. By comparison, control mice survived a median of 20 days, and mice treated with a first-, a second-, and a third-generation oncolytic virus survived 33, 34 and 53 days, respectively.

"Magnetic resonance imaging and histological analyses revealed extensive tumor destruction in animals treated with 34.5 ENVE," says Kaur, who is also chief of Ohio State's Dardinger Laboratory of Neurosciences. "We hope that we can soon evaluate the safety of this virus in patients with cancer."

###

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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.

Public release date: 27-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Darrell E. Ward
Darrell.Ward@osumc.edu
614-293-3737
Ohio State University Medical Center

COLUMBUS, Ohio A new fourth-generation oncolytic virus designed to both kill cancer cells and inhibit blood-vessel growth has shown greater effectiveness than earlier versions when tested in animal models of human brain cancer.

Researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC James) are developing the oncolytic virus as a treatment for glioblastoma, the most common and deadly form of brain cancer (average survival: 15 months after diagnosis).

The new oncolytic virus, called 34.5ENVE, improved survival of mice with transplanted human glioblastoma tumors by 50 percent in a majority of cases compared with the previous-generation oncolytic virus.

The study was published online in the journal Molecular Therapy.

"These findings show the amazing therapeutic efficacy of this new oncolytic virus against four different glioblastoma models in animals," says cancer researcher Dr. Balveen Kaur, associate professor of neurological surgery, and a member of the OSUCCC James viral oncology research program.

The new oncolytic virus is engineered to replicate in cells that express the protein nestin. First identified as a marker for neuronal stem cells, nestin is also expressed in glioblastoma and other malignancies including gastrointestinal, pancreatic, prostate and breast cancer.

"We believe that nestin-driven oncolytic viruses will prove valuable for the treatment of many types of cancer," Kaur says.

The new oncolytic virus also carries a gene to inhibit tumor blood-vessel growth. That gene, called Vstat120, was added to increase its anti-tumor effectiveness and prolong the virus's presence within tumors.

In this study of eight animals with intracranial tumors, six lived longer than 80 days, and these were later found to be tumor free. By comparison, control mice survived a median of 20 days, and mice treated with a first-, a second-, and a third-generation oncolytic virus survived 33, 34 and 53 days, respectively.

"Magnetic resonance imaging and histological analyses revealed extensive tumor destruction in animals treated with 34.5 ENVE," says Kaur, who is also chief of Ohio State's Dardinger Laboratory of Neurosciences. "We hope that we can soon evaluate the safety of this virus in patients with cancer."

###

---

[ | E-mail | 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/2011-10/osum-nov102711.php

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Pets Win Prizes ? shadowplay

Naturally, my first posting published from Hollywood concerns? Scotland.

The BAFTA Scotland awards are doled out in November ? so this is a shameless ?For Your Consideration? type notice plugging my friends Morag and Colin?s DONKEYS, the best Scottish feature film I?ve seen in recent years. Of course I?m biassed, and I haven?t seen NEDS or PERFECT SENSE, so my word isn?t of much value here ? I just wanted to remind anybody who has seen the films and who?s planning in voting ? DONKEYS is REALLY GOOD, remember?

Remember how you laughed, were moved, laughed and were moved at the same time, resulting in a strange holographic emotion that doesn?t have a name? Remember how Morag drew sensitive, convincing and funny performances from her actors, including James Cosmo and Brian Pettifer, both of whom are BAFTA nominated? Remember how Morag?s acute eye for humorous detail made a surreal wonderland of Glasgow? She?s nominated as best director. And remember how Colin?s BAFTA-nominated script interwove tangentially related characters into a tight, compact tragi-comedy?

James Cosmo is a Scottish legend, an incredible figure for whom the word ?rugged? was invented and then discarded as pitifully inadequate. His long career encompasses the cult horror DOOMWATCH, plus HIGHLANDER, BRAVEHEART and TRAINSPOTTING. In other words, he?s the man they call on when they want a Scottish film or a pseudo-Scottish film to have a bit of integrity. And in DONKEYS he gives a career-best performance of previously unseen vulnerability and comic skill.

Brian Pettifer?s been a fixture in British cinema for even longer. He?s in all three of Lindsay Anderson?s Mick Travis films, IF?, O LUCY MAN! and BRITANNIA HOSPITAL, as well as AMADEUS and THE HOUSE OF MIRTH. Often cast for his distinctive features, here he has the meaty role of a lifetime as the Laurel to Cosmo?s Hardy, one-half of a co-dependent double act of tragic no-hopers.

A conclusive set of wins for the film and filmmakers would send a nice message, I feel, about the kind of Scottish cinema we want to see.

Speaking of which, saw WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN just before leaving, but notes on that?ll have to wait until I come back.

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This entry was posted on October 25, 2011 at 4:17 pm and is filed under FILM with tags Brian Pettifer, Colin McLaren, Donkeys, Morag McKinnon, We Need to Talk About Kevin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://dcairns.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/pets-win-prizes/

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Falling German Satellite Enters Atmosphere

Scientists were trying to establish how and where a defunct German research satellite returned to the Earth Sunday, after warning that some parts might survive re-entry and crash at up to 280 mph.

There was no immediate solid evidence to determine above which continent or country the ROSAT scientific research satellite entered the atmosphere, said Andreas Schuetz, spokesman for the German Aerospace Center.

Most parts of the minivan-sized satellite were expected to burn up, but up to 30 fragments weighing a total of 1.87 tons could crash.

Scientists were no longer able to communicate with the dead satellite and it must have traveled about 12,500 miles in the final 30 minutes before entering the atmosphere, Schuetz said.

Schuetz said it could take days to determine exactly where pieces of the satellite had fallen, but that the agency had not received any reports that it had hit any populated areas.

"We have no such information," he said Sunday.

Scientists said hours before the re-entry into the atmosphere that the satellite was not expected to hit over Europe, Africa or Australia. According to a precalculated path it could have been above Asia, possibly China, at the time of its re-entry, but Schuetz said he could not confirm that.

The 2.69-ton scientific ROSAT satellite was launched in 1990 and retired in 1999 after being used for research on black holes and neutron stars and performing the first all-sky survey of X-ray sources with an imaging telescope.

The largest single fragment of ROSAT that could hit into the earth is the telescope's heat-resistant mirror.

During its mission, the satellite orbited about 370 miles above the Earth's surface, but since its decommissioning it has lost altitude, circling at a distance of only 205 miles above ground in June for example, the agency said.

Even in the last days, the satellite still circled the planet every 90 minutes, making it hard to predict where on Earth it would eventually come down.

A dead NASA satellite fell into the southern Pacific Ocean last month, causing no damage, despite fears it would hit a populated area and cause damage or kill people.

Experts believe about two dozen metal pieces from the bus-sized satellite fell over a 500-mile span.

The German space agency puts the odds of somebody somewhere on Earth being hurt by its satellite at one in 2,000 a slightly higher level of risk than was calculated for the NASA satellite. But any one individual's odds of being struck are one in 14 trillion, given there are 7 billion people on the planet.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/10/22/141623516/pieces-of-german-satellite-expected-to-hit-earth?ft=1&f=1007

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Nearby planet-forming disk holds water for thousands of oceans

Friday, October 21, 2011

For the first time, astronomers have detected around a burgeoning solar system a sprawling cloud of water vapor that's cold enough to form comets, which could eventually deliver oceans to dry planets.

Water is an essential ingredient for life. Scientists have found thousands of Earth-oceans' worth of it within the planet-forming disk surrounding the star TW Hydrae. TW Hydrae is 176 light years away in the constellation Hydra and is the closest solar-system-to-be.

University of Michigan astronomy professor Ted Bergin is a co-author of a paper on the findings published in the Oct. 21 edition of Science.

The researchers used the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI) on the orbiting Hershel Space Observatory to detect the chemical signature of water.

"This tells us that the key materials that life needs are present in a system before planets are born," said Bergin, a HIFI co-investigator. "We expected this to be the case, but now we know it is because have directly detected it. We can see it."

Scientists had previously found warm water vapor in planet-forming disks close to the central star. But until now, evidence for vast quantities of water extending into the cooler, far reaches of disks where comets and giant planets take shape had not emerged. The more water available in disks for icy comets to form, the greater the chances that large amounts will eventually reach new planets through impacts.

"The detection of water sticking to dust grains throughout the planet-forming disk would be similar to events in our own solar system's evolution, where over millions of years, these dust grains would then coalesce to form comets. These would be a prime delivery mechanism for water on planetary bodies," said principal investigator Michiel Hogerheijde of Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Other recent findings from HIFI support the theory that comets delivered a significant portion of Earth's oceans. Researchers found that the ice on a comet called Hartley 2 has the same chemical composition as our oceans.

HIFI is helping astronomers gain a better understanding of how water comes to terrestrial planets---Earth and beyond. If TW Hydrae and its icy disk are representative of many other young star systems, as researchers think they are, then the process for creating planets around numerous stars with abundant water throughout the universe appears to be in place, NASA officials say.

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University of Michigan: http://www.umich.edu/

Thanks to University of Michigan for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/114527/Nearby_planet_forming_disk_holds_water_for_thousands_of_oceans

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Largest study on cell phones and cancer finds no link | WSLS 10

LONDON (AP) - Danish researchers can offer some reassurance if you're concerned about your cellphone: Don't worry. Your device is probably safe.
????? The biggest study ever to examine the possible connection between cellphones and cancer found no evidence of any link, suggesting that billions of people who are rarely more than a few inches from their phones have no special health concerns.
????? The Danish study of more than 350,000 people concluded there was no difference in cancer rates between people who had used a cellphone for about a decade and those who did not.
????? Last year, a separate large study found no clear connection between cellphones and cancer. But it showed a hint of a possible association between very heavy phone use and glioma, a rare but often deadly form of brain tumor. However, the numbers of heavy users was not sufficient to make the case.
????? That study of more than 14,000 people in multiple countries, in addition to animal experiments, led the International Agency for Research on Cancer to classify electromagnetic energy from cellphones as "possibly carcinogenic," adding it to a list that also includes things such as coffee and gasoline engine exhaust.
????? But that designation does not mean the phones necessarily pose a risk. Cellphones do not emit the same kind of radiation as that used in some medical tests or found in other sources such as radon in soil.
????? Two U.S. agencies - the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Communications Commission - have found no evidence that cellphones are linked to cancer.
????? Yet fears of a link persist, despite the fact that cancer rates have not risen since cellphones were introduced.
????? In the latest research, published online Thursday in the journal BMJ, researchers updated a previous study examining 358,403 cellphone users aged 30 and over in Denmark from 1990 to 2007. They found cellphone users did not have a higher cancer risk compared with those without cellphones.
????? Cancer rates in people who used cellphones for about 10 years were similar to rates in people without a cellphone. Cellphone users were also no more likely to get a tumor in the part of the brain closest to where phones are usually held against the head. The study was paid for by the government's Danish Strategic Research Council.
????? "Our study provides little evidence for a causal association, but we cannot rule out a small to moderate increase in risk for subgroups of heavy users," said Patrizia Frei, of the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Copenhagen, Denmark, one of the paper's authors.
????? "This is encouraging news, but it doesn't mean we're at the end of the road," said Hazel Nunn, head of Health Evidence and Information at Cancer Research U.K., which was not linked to the study.
????? About three-quarters of the world's population, more than 5 billion people, use a cellphone. That makes it difficult for scientists to compare cancer incidence in people who use the devices versus those who do not.
????? Others disputed the Danish study's findings. The advocacy group MobileWise, which believes cellphones pose a health risk, said the study wasn't long enough to consider the long-term risk, since brain tumors can take decades to develop.
????? In an accompanying editorial in BMJ, Anders Ahlbom and Maria Feychting of Sweden's Karolinska Institute wrote that one of the study's strengths was its use of objective data from cellphone records. Previous studies have been criticized for relying on people to recall their cellphone habits from decades earlier.
????? In about 30 other studies done in Europe, New Zealand and the U.S., patients with brain tumors have not reported using their cellphones more often than unaffected people.
????? The editorial writers pointed out that research on cellphones and cancer was not sparked by any evidence of a connection, but from concerns that something about the relationship between radio frequency fields and human physiology had been "overlooked or misunderstood." Research into the safety of cellphones is now "extensive," they wrote.
????? Nunn said studies with longer-term data were still needed and that there was little information on children's exposure to cellphones.
????? There was no biological evidence for how cellphones might cause cancer, unlike, for example, the proof that tobacco is carcinogenic, she added.
????? Cellphones send signals to nearby towers via radio waves, a form of energy similar to microwaves. But the radiation produced by cellphones cannot directly damage DNA and is different from stronger types of radiation like X-rays or ultraviolet light. At very high levels, radio frequency waves from cellphones can heat up body tissue, but that is not believed to damage human cells.
????? Nunn said people should not change their cellphone habits based on the current evidence, except perhaps for limiting their kids' use of the devices.
????? "There are a lot more worrying things in the world than mobile phones," she said.

Source: http://www2.wsls.com/lifestyles/2011/oct/20/largest-study-cell-phones-and-cancer-finds-no-link-ar-1398325/

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NAF arbitration mill (aka rigged kangaroo court) thrown out of California in lawsuit by City of SF

NAF arbitration mill (aka rigged kangaroo court) thrown out of California in lawsuit by City of SF

User: EdMierzwinski ? ? ? ? Date: 10/22/2011 1:53 pm

The arbitration mill favored by Bank of America and other credit card companies known as the National Arbitration Forum? (NAF) agreed Tuesday to a settlement including a permanent injunction against doing debt collection cases in California. As City Attorney Dennis Herrara's press release explains,

"until 2009 [NAF] was the go-to arbitration provider for credit card companies trying to collect debts from consumers. NAF and its affiliates held themselves out as neutral in collections arbitrations but its arbitration administration operation was secretly partly owned by a hedge fund that also owned one of the debt collection companies that used NAF to collect debts. NAF also acted as a one-stop shop for debt collectors, helping them to set up arbitration programs and offering to help them improve their debt collection rates. Under the settlement, the Superior Court has entered an injunction requiring the National Arbitration Forum to stop arbitrating debt collection cases in California forever, and to stop arbitrating employment disputes for three years.

The story of the growth of forced arbitration clauses as a way to keep consumers and workers from enforcing claims against corporate wrongdoers and the key role played by NAF is long and tawdry. You almost need to wash your hands just reading about it.

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson's 2009 complaint against NAF explains the lengths that a web of debt collection lawyers, a hedge fund and NAF went to conceal the true goal of their supposedly neutral arbitration system-- basically, as you guessed, making big bucks from often innocent consumers.

Here's an entry from our friends at the Poptort.com that explains some of the efforts of General Swanson against NAF and Senator Al Franken (MN) against employment arbitration used by government contractors. The blog links to other key resources.?

Unfortunately, as PopTort explains, that fight is not yet over. On the good news front, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, after it conducts a study, has authority to ban or regulate the use of arbitration clauses.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uspirg/consumer-blog/~3/ORbRC97XX9U/naf-arbitration-mill-aka-rigged-kangaroo-court-thrown-out-of-california-in-lawsuit-by-city-of--sf

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Pujols, Cards let it get away late

/

By R.B. FALLSTROM

updated 3:41 a.m. ET Oct. 21, 2011

ST. LOUIS - Jason Motte faltered for the first time in the postseason. Albert Pujols closed his glove on air.

The St. Louis Cardinals couldn't hold a ninth inning lead, either, falling victim to the Texas Rangers' two-run rally for a 2-1 victory Thursday night that evened the World Series at a game apiece.

"It stings," Motte said. "But that's the way the game is. We'll be ready to go."

Before the ninth, nearly everything had gone right for the wild-card Cardinals in the postseason. The last inning was way too messy, ending the team's remarkable run of 15 consecutive victories on getaway day accompanied by onfield celebrations of "Happy Flight! Happy Flight!"

But players weren't fretting too much about one that got away.

"That's OK, baseball is like that," shortstop Rafael Furcal said. "You've got to get 27 outs and everybody knows they've got a pretty good team.

"We lost already and we don't have to think about this game any more."

Motte, who had allowed only one hit in nine postseason innings, was yanked after allowing two hits and a steal to open the ninth. The Rangers had runners on second and third with none out after an error by Pujols, a two-time Gold Glove first baseman.

Pujols failed to make the catch on center fielder Jon Jay's relay after Elvis Andrus singled, and when the ball got away Andrus took second. A pair of sacrifice flies by Josh Hamilton off Arthur Rhodes and by Michael Young off Lance Lynn put the Rangers in front.

It was a rare postseason failure by the St. Louis bullpen, which had given up just four runs in 31 2-3 innings since the start of the NLCS. They'll try not to dwell on it.

"We've got a day off tomorrow, just blow it off," Rhodes said. "Everybody keeps their heads up, we've got some more games to go in Texas."

Pujols left Busch Stadium without speaking to reporters. Manager Tony La Russa said he didn't get a good view of the play from the dugout, but remembered Pujols talking with catcher Yadier Molina afterward.

"He's a heady player and obviously we don't want the lead runner ? the back runner ? to go to second base," La Russa said. "I don't know exactly what happened there but that was an important extra base."

Jay said his throw could have been better but also said it was important to "get rid of it quick. "It just tailed a little bit, I mean, it was inches," Jay added. "So it was just the way it went."

Was Pujols correctly lined up? "I don't know," Jay said. "It all happened so fast."

La Russa has steadfastly refused to designate Motte the Cardinals' closer but made it clear that Motte remains his ninth-inning guy.

"I know that if we get the lead on Saturday, he'll be 100 percent ready to go," the manager said. "He caught a tough break, which is baseball.

"Next time they'll hit a line drive right at somebody and we'll get an out."

The ninth spoiled a stellar performance from Jaime Garcia, the 25-year-old lefty who's a lot more comfortable on the Busch Stadium mound than on the road.

"He's done that for us a bunch of times his first two years, but you could have considered this situation and these circumstances," La Russa said. "That's huge for us, and for him."

Garcia had seven strikeouts and outdueled Colby Lewis for seven innings of three-hit ball, totally taming the Rangers' big bats and setting the stage another big pinch hit from Allen Craig. Garcia has a 1.93 ERA in three home starts in the playoffs, and allowed six runs in four innings in his lone road appearance.

Garcia was a 14-game winner and finished third in the NL rookie of year balloting last season and the sophomore season was almost as good, moving the Cardinals to sign him to a four-year contract in June. He's the first Mexican-born pitcher to start in the World Series since the Dodgers' Fernando Valenzuela in 1981.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Classic Series begins to unfold

DeMarco: Texas' dramatic win in Game 2 might be a sign that we are watching a classic Series that nobody can predict ? and the warning jokingly issued by Ron Washington will prove to be sage advice: "I've got to say to those of you with bad hearts, watch yourself.''

Rangers rally in 9th, beat Cards in Game 2

??Down to their last three outs, and in danger of dropping into a serious World Series deficit, the Texas Rangers rallied against St. Louis' vaunted bullpen for a 2-1 victory Thursday night.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/44984603/ns/sports-baseball/

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Social Security increase coming in 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) ? After two years without an increase in benefits, 55 million Social Security recipients will finally get a raise next year.

Experts project the increase will be about 3.5 percent. The Social Security Administration is scheduled to make it official Wednesday when the government releases an inflation measure that determines the annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA.

Monthly Social Security payments average $1,082, or about $13,000 a year. A 3.5 percent increase would amount to an additional $38 a month, or about $455 a year.

There was no COLA in 2010 or 2011 because inflation was too low. Those were the first two years without a COLA since automatic increases were adopted in 1975.

It's been a long two years for the millions of retirees and disabled people who have been struggling through the economic downturn, said Web Phillips of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

"If you've been at the grocery store lately and remember what you used to pay for things, see what you're paying for things today," Phillips said. "The cost-of-living adjustment makes sure that the Social Security benefit that you qualify for when you retire or you become disabled continues to stay current with prices so that the buying power of your benefit does not decline over time."

Some of the increase in January will be lost to higher Medicare premiums, which are deducted from Social Security payments. Medicare Part B premiums for 2012 are expected to be announced next week, and the trustees who oversee the program are projecting an increase.

Most retirees rely on Social Security for a majority of their income, according to the Social Security Administration. Many rely on it for more than 90 percent of their income.

"For people at that income level every dollar makes a difference, particularly coming in this economic downtown," said David Certner, legislative policy director for AARP. "None of them feel as if their cost of living was not increasing in the last couple of years."

Federal law requires the program to base annual payment increases on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). Officials compare inflation in the third quarter of each year ? the months of July, August and September ? with the same months in the previous year.

If consumer prices increase from year to year, Social Security recipients automatically get higher payments, starting the following January. If price changes are negative, the payments stay unchanged.

Social Security payments increased by 5.8 percent in 2009, the largest increase in 27 years, after energy prices spiked in 2008. But energy prices quickly dropped and home prices became soft in markets across the country, contributing to lower inflation in the past two years.

As a result, Social Security recipients got an increase that was far larger than actual overall inflation. However, they can't get another increase until consumer prices exceed the levels measured in 2008.

So far this year, prices have been higher than in 2008, said Polina Vlasenko, an economist at the American Institute for Economic Research, based in Great Barrington, Mass.

Based on consumer prices in July and August, the COLA for 2012 would be about 3.5 percent. Vlasenko estimates the COLA will be from 3.5 percent to 3.7 percent.

___

Online:

Social Security Administration's COLA site: http://www.ssa.gov/cola/

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-10-19-Social%20Security-COLA/id-b4b0c3ef88f34f9dbbff708e0c15c7be

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Nokia 800 press shots leak, Espoo's Windows Phone Mango lovechild now close at hand

Stephen Elop famously fumbled when shots of Nokia's "super confidential" Mango handset made their way to the interwebs. Since then, we've seen footage from the factory floor, and even teases of upcoming marketing materials outing the 800, or the phone formerly known as Sea Ray. Now, leaked press shots over on PocketNow, once again, treat us to a preview of the Espoo / Redmond mobile marriage and its candybar-shaped offspring -- available in blue, pink and black. From what we can see in these renders, the volume rocker, power button and apparent dedicated camera shortcut key are all placed on the right side of the handset, with a speaker grille located at the device's base. Of course, there's that familiar Windows Phone 7.5 live-tiled interface and three capacitive buttons on the handset's screen. For now, that's all she wrote, but is it enough to tide you over 'til its eventual reveal at Nokia World? Our trusty magic 8-balls says, "You may rely on it." We're inclined to agree.

Nokia 800 press shots leak, Espoo's Windows Phone Mango lovechild now close at hand originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/19/nokia-800-press-shots-leak-espoos-windows-phone-mango-lovechil/

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Yemen violence increases; 18 killed

SANAA, Yemen?? Yemeni officials say 18 people have been killed and at least 30 wounded in clashes between regime forces and fighters allied with activists demanding an end to Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33 years in office, officals and witnesses said on Monday

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The officials said eight followers of a tribal leader who defected to the opposition in March were killed early Monday in clashes with forces loyal to Saleh in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.

They said four civilians were killed in the fighting along with two government troops.

Story: Five killed as Yemenis hope for U.N. pressure on Saleh

Three people were also killed when mortars exploded in a protest encampment in central Sanaa.

Also, a man was killed in the city of Taiz, when pro-government? gunmen fired on protesters.

Witnesses said six civilians were killed in the fighting between government troops on one side, and fighters loyal to tribal leader Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar on the other. Ahmar's fighters are backed by a breakaway army unit led by a general from the same tribe, Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar.

A shell killed three people when it landed near a field hospital set up at "Change Square," where thousands of protesters have camped for months demanding Saleh step down, witnesses said.

At least 30 were wounded across Sanaa and in Taiz. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.

Violence in Yemen has surged since Saturday as U.N. Security Council members consider a resolution expected to urge Saleh to step down under a peace plan hammered out by neighboring Gulf states.

Increasing violence
Saleh has remained in office despite ten months of mass protests against his rule inspired by demonstrations across the Arab world. Opposition to him has turned increasingly violent and organized, threatening to plunge the country into all-out civil war.

Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, also faces tribal conflict, violence from a strong regional al-Qaida wing, separatism in the south and sectarian conflict in the north.

Saleh, who says he is ready to step down but wants to ensure that control of the country is put in safe hands, has said he is relying on support from Russia and China to stop moves to force him to step down.

Speaking at a meeting of his security and military chiefs in Sanaa, he said Western countries with permanent seats on the Security Council had based their decisions on information gathered solely from the opposition.

The United States and Saudi Arabia, which shares a long and porous border with Yemen, fear that al-Qaida is taking advantage of the political vacuum to expand its influence.

Islamist militants linked to al-Qaida captured large swathes of southern Abyan province, including regional capital Zinjibar, earlier this year. The Yemeni army last month drove the militants out of Zinjibar, east of a strategic shipping strait through which some 3 million barrels of oil pass daily.

Tribal sources said at least five people were killed late on Sunday when tribesmen ambushed members of al-Qaida in Zinjibar. Local officials said security forces captured three suspected militants, including a Saudi national, in the incident.

"The tribal fighters ambushed the militants as they were transporting military supplies late on Sunday. The two sides fought, leading to the deaths of four militants and one tribesman," a tribal source told Reuters.

The tribesmen also destroyed a D-130 tank which militants had seized from the Yemeni army when captured Zinjibar earlier this year, the source said.

Suspected militants blew up Yemen's gas pipeline last week after an air strike killed a top al-Qaida leader and a number of other militants in southern Yemen.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44933096/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

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A Weekly Roundup of Small-Business News - NYTimes.com

Dashboard

A weekly roundup of small-business developments.

What?s affecting me, my clients and other small-business owners this week.

The Economy 1: A Rare Consensus

Paul Kedrosky provides a great historical analysis of small-business complaints by presidential term. Short sales rise the most since 2006. The bond market indicator, which has predicted every recession since 1970, shows that the economy has about a 60 percent chance of contracting within 12 months. Kash Mansori says we are currently going through ?a deeply unfortunate and harmful bout of fiscal contraction ? right when we should be doing exactly the opposite.? But Lou Basense offers two charts to dispel recession fears. A rare bipartisan consensus: all parties agree that the deficit panel is doing too much of its work in secret. Robert Reich lists the seven biggest economic lies. David Leonhardt concludes that annual data may be less reliable in some ways than monthly data.

The Economy 2: Jobs

The jobs council tells the president we need more jobs. President Obama?s $447 billion jobs plan is blocked by the Senate. We continue to struggle to attract critical-skill employees. Hale Stewart explains where jobs are being created. American manufacturing payrolls surpass $500 billion. A new report says that four out of five small-business owners will maintain or reduce their number of full-time employees over the next six months. Some feel that the decision to add even one person to the payroll is a huge leap of faith for a small company. Dana Blankenhorn explains why unemployment is not here to stay: ?Let?s start with the economy. It?s going to grow. Global demand continues rocketing upward, and that rising tide is going to lift a lot of boats.? Weekly unemployment claims are at 404,000.

The Data: No Pulse?

Small-business confidence improves. Existing-home inventory continues to decline. The Cass Freight Index shows strong gains. Household income declined more in the two years after the recession ended than it did during the recession. The pulse of commerce is deemed ?alarming? (but a new Superman may save the day). Orders for machine tools and equipment are up significantly. Our trade deficit is unchanged. September retail sales are up thanks to the auto industry.

Marketing: Ignoring Customers on Twitter

Chris Newton suggests four things to do immediately when sales start drying up. Corbett Barr says there is a question you have to answer to get people to visit your blog. Some highly trafficked Web sites promise that they won?t, but they still reveal personal data. Lauren Fisher gives 10 examples of companies that have succeeded with social media. A lot of companies ignore customer complaints on Twitter. Diana Pohly offers five powerful questions for customer-satisfaction research. A new service helps consumers create free QR codes so that businesses can link customers to social media pages, coupons or store information. Thursday Bram explains why connections are the most powerful asset in a freelancer?s business.

Around the World: The Best Country to Do Business In Is ?

Canada is No. 1. A mountain biker gets blindsided in Africa. Italy may weigh drug tests for stock traders. China?s small firms face a grim outlook. And talk about a tough credit market for small businesses. The tomato market in India offers a great example of a number of economic concepts. Here?s where to apply to Startup Chile. And to our friends in Britain, I know things look bleak, but with kids like Sophia Grace your future is bright!

Around the Country: At Least There?s One Winner in Boston

North Dakota sets more oil records. Mikal E. Belicove says he believes that cities should market their problems to entrepreneurs. Thirty-nine percent of the workers in Orange County, Calif., make more than $100,000. Geoff Williams asks if the N.B.A. lockout will hurt small businesses. America?s favorite small business wins a $75,000 prize package. Little Sprouts is Boston?s Small Business of the Year. San Diego is the luckiest town in America.

Red Tape Update: The S.B.A. Through History

The House approves trade deals with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. Federal Reserve oversight of nonbank financial companies is weighed. Only eight of the Forbes 400 say they are willing to pay more taxes. Here?s a new infographic history of the Small Business Administration. Congressman Graves says that the proposed interference of a critical GPS signal will cost American small businesses.

Start-Up: Don?t Occupy Wall Street

Carol Tice says don?t occupy Wall Street, just start a business. Four buddies start a business to show what love is all about. A new company says it can energize egg cells to improve fertility. Mark Evans lists the 10 realities of working for a start-up, including, ?Don?t expect a big piece of the pie. Unless you?re a founder or an early, early employee, you will, at best, get a minuscule piece of the equity pie.? A new biotech company lands $42 million to create new cancer drugs. A start-up claims it can make fuel out of thin air. Joe Chung explains how not to start a start-up: ?Don?t do something you know 20 other start-ups are already doing. This is just simple math.? A start-up tries to extract the financial pain of dental visits.

Finance: Big Businesses Helping Little Businesses

The Startup America Partnership introduces its Startup-Corporate Connection Program. Joshua Kurlantzick gives examples of how big businesses help small businesses. Google and Twitter join the Small Business Saturday movement. Anne Lowrey explains why President Obama?s $30 billion small-business loan program flopped. Gary Honig explains what a signature loan is (and how to get one). Venture capital takes a dive to an eight-year low (and this guy takes an even scarier dive). Here are 15 venture capitalists worth knowing. Celebrity investors can be risky for small businesses.

Ideas: Deadster

An upcoming ?trend school? explains why Gen Y types are inspiring the rise of ?intelligent taste? (well, not all of them are intelligent). Opportunities in oil and natural gas have rarely been so bountiful. Swallowable perfume emits fragrance from the skin. Qwikster is now deadster and the Allbusiness.com gang shares lessons learned from the Netflix disaster. Edward Hess identifies nine challenges growing businesses face and offers tips on how to tackle them. Tara ?Missrogue? Hunt shares 10 mistakes she?s made so you don?t have to. David Butcher shares best practices for parcel shipping. A pub on wheels starts a trend. And would someone please feed these cats?

Technology: BlackBerry Has a Tough Week

More headaches for BlackBerry. Box.net closes a financing round worth $81 million. Is Facebook?s iPad app a flop? More small businesses are using mobile devices to streamline operations. Airlines rush to add Wi-Fi. A new company combines document management, faxing and e-signatures. PayPal wants to become the Web payment system to rule them all. IBM introduces a new portfolio of cloud offerings. Apple?s iCloud has its debut. Lemon.com lets you store and organize your receipts in the cloud. A new electric car gets good mileage. Microsoft reports a large drop in e-mail spam. Facebook acquires a Q&A service. In any 48-hour period in 2010, more data was created than had been created by all of humanity in the previous 30,000 years (but do we need all of this data?) Here are 11 tech tools for your start-up. Abu Dhabi has developed a life-size robot that could take the place of human workers.

The Week Ahead: Inflation and Housing

New data on consumer and producer prices will tell us where inflation is heading. The New York and Philadelphia Feds give us their takes on the local economies. In real estate: look for the latest in building permits and existing-home sales. Also, it?s National Save for Retirement Week.

The Week?s Bests

Hiring Strategy: Cezary Pietrzak explains how to find talent for your start-up, including choosing people who are comfortable doing anything: ?In a small company, there are too many roles and too few people to fill them, so someone has to step in and get the job done. We like people who are well rounded and can excel in more ways than one, even if it means doing grunt work. As one famous angel investor put it, hire for talent, not skill, and make sure that this talent can be generalized across a wide range of initiatives.?

Way to Woo an Audience: Jessica Levco says you should woo an audience like Rahm Emanuel: ?Watch your body language. He was poised and relaxed throughout the event. Whether leaning forward in his chair or tilting his head toward the person speaking, he didn?t fidget or fiddle. Watching him shake hands with the panelists after the event was equally impressive. He might send you a dead fish, but you?ll never catch ?Rahmbo? giving a person a dead-fish handshake.?

Move Beyond The Budget: Brad Power says stop budgeting, start improving: ?The typical approaches of budget cuts and layoffs usually don?t result in sustained changes to their cost structure ? the costs creep back. Instead, companies must make fundamental changes to the way they work ? how they market and sell, handle orders, bill for those orders, manufacture and distribute their goods, and serve customers after the sale. If they remove waste, errors, and time from these processes, they will get cost efficiency as a byproduct.?

This Week?s Question: After the last three years, do you still have waste to remove and efficiencies to gain?

Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa., consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. You can follow him on Twitter.

Source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/17/this-week-in-small-business-canada-is-the-best-place-to-do-business/

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In charging diocese, prosecutor takes rare step (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? The first indictment of a bishop for failing to report child pornography would have been groundbreaking in itself but legal experts say a second charge -- against the diocese -- is almost as rare.

Bishop Robert Finn of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph appeared in court on Friday on one count of failure to report child abuse. Prosecutors in Jackson County, Missouri, alleged Finn knew in December 2010 about hundreds of photos of children on Reverend Shawn Ratigan's laptop but did not notify authorities for five months.

Finn pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Prosecutors leveled a second charge against the diocese itself, which also pleaded not guilty.

"You don't want to tarnish the name of the Catholic Church, which can do many good things," said Brian Klopfenstein, a former prosecutor in Missouri. "But maybe they felt they had to do something profound to get people's attention."

Prosecutors are often wary about charging entities, as opposed to individuals. In one famous case, the U.S. government was criticized after it indicted accounting giant Arthur Andersen in 2002, which led to the loss of several thousand jobs.

Corporations commonly hire former prosecutors to internally investigate wrongdoing and then turn their findings over to the authorities as a show of cooperation.

The Kansas City diocese also hired a former federal prosecutor to investigate itself and his report concluded that diocese leaders "failed to follow their own policies and procedures" in Ratigan's case.

Ratigan was charged with taking sexually explicit photographs of at least five young girls, ages 2 to 12, between 2005 and his arrest in spring 2011.

Finn stressed his cooperation with law enforcement on Friday.

"Diocesan staff and I have given hours of testimony before grand juries, delivered documents and answered questions fully," Finn said.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said the charges against Finn and the diocese "had nothing to do with the Catholic faith."

A spokesman for the government did not respond to follow-up

questions on Saturday about the decision to indict the diocese.

Criminal cases against a diocese are not unprecedented. The archdiocese in Cincinnati pleaded guilty in 2003 for failing to report abuse and was fined $10,000, according to published reports. The diocese in Manchester, New Hampshire, cut a deal with prosecutors the previous year that helped it avoid charges.

The Kansas City diocese had paid $10 million in 2008 to settle a civil lawsuit over priest abuse and agreed to several reforms.

"The facts of this case are just so outrageous that couldn't help but do this," said Patrick Noaker, an attorney for abuse victims who is petitioning a court to enforce the 2008 Kansas City settlement.

Rebecca Randles, another victim's attorney involved in the petition, said her clients began testifying before the grand jury in Finn's case in August, and the last had appeared about two weeks ago. She declined to discuss their testimony.

By charging the diocese, prosecutors may have wanted to signal the level of their frustration.

"If it's so damn bad and you've been warned and warned and warned and you pay a settlement and there's no action," Klopfenstein said, "then it's almost like even though it's God's house, you can't turn a blind eye."

(Reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111016/us_nm/us_usa_crime_bishop

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