Saturday, June 30, 2012

EU deal for Spain, Italy buoys markets but details sketchy

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Under pressure to prevent a catastrophic breakup of their single currency, euro zone leaders agreed on Friday to let their rescue fund inject aid directly into stricken banks from next year and intervene on bond markets to support troubled member states.

They also pledged to create a single banking supervisor for euro zone banks based around the European Central Bank in a landmark first step towards a European banking union that could help shore up struggling member Spain.

"It is a first step to break the vicious circle between banks and sovereigns," European Council President Herman Van Rompuy told a final news conference after talks which stretched right through the night.

The deal was widely seen as a political victory for embattled Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and his Spanish counterpart, Mariano Rajoy, over German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had brushed aside any need for such emergency measures earlier this week.

ECB President Mario Draghi endorsed the "tangible results", which sent the euro nearly 2 percent higher and sharply cut Spanish and Italian bond yields. European shares rose, led by banking stocks buoyed by the prospect of moves to backstop the financial system.

"I am actually quite pleased with the outcome of the European Council. It showed the long-term commitment to the euro by all member states of the euro area," Draghi told reporters.

Market participants welcomed the outcome as a substantial step to restore confidence in the 17-nation euro zone, which was saluted by a more durable rally than previous summit outcomes.

"It's inching closer to a banking union, and the closer we get to a banking union would put (the EU) well on the road to a fiscal union," said Art Hogan, managing director of Lazard Capital Markets in New York.

Most economists polled by Reuters expect the ECB to cut borrowing costs at its July 5 meeting, which takes place against a darkening economic backdrop. But internal resistance to the central bank reviving its bond-buying program remains high.

After 14 hours of tense talks that ended at 4:30 a.m. (0230 GMT), the 17 leaders agreed on a series of short-term steps to shore up their monetary union and bring down the borrowing costs of Spain and Italy, seen as too big to bail out.

To that end the euro zone's temporary EFSF and permanent ESM rescue funds will be used "in a flexible and efficient manner in order to stabilize markets" to support countries that comply with EU budget policy recommendations, a joint statement said.

It gave few specifics, but euro zone officials said the funds could buy bonds on both the primary and secondary markets on the basis of a memorandum of understanding signed with the requesting state and up to a funding limit to be agreed.

Both Italy and Spain said they did not intend to call on that mechanism to stabilize markets for now, hoping the Brussels agreement will serve as a sufficient deterrent.

Washington said it was encouraged by the progress but White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters travelling with President Barack Obama that "a lot of details" still needed to be worked out, and the euro zone was likely to need to take further steps in the future.

The International Monetary Fund said the summit had taken "the right steps toward completing monetary union" while ratings agency Fitch said the deal eased near-term pressure on euro zone sovereign ratings.

UNTHINKABLE DECISIONS

In a key concession by EU paymaster Germany, the leaders agreed to waive the ESM's preferred creditor status on lending for Spanish banks, removing a key deterrent to investors buying Spanish government bonds, who feared having to take the first losses in any debt restructuring.

"We have taken decisions that were unthinkable just some months ago," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said.

Despite the concessions by Berlin allowing euro zone rescue funds to be used more flexibly, questions remained about the terms, size and supervision of any future aid for Spain and Italy.

There was also no commitment for now to back up a European bank supervisor with a joint deposit guarantee or a common resolution fund, to avert capital flight and taxpayer losses. However, one EU official said that letting the ESM lend directly to banks once the supervisory body is up and running was a backdoor route to closer fiscal union.

Monti, determined to avoid the political stigma of the bailout terms imposed on Greece, Ireland and Portugal, said countries that complied with EU budget recommendations would not face extra austerity conditions or be subject to intrusive inspections by a "troika" of international lenders.

Eager to avoid the impression that she had blinked first, Merkel said strict conditionality would still apply to the use of rescue funds and countries would face stringent monitoring by the EU Commission and the ECB.

Asked if she had yielded to pressure, she said: "There is clearly pressure from financial markets. Some countries are in a difficult situation. The high interest rates affect the debt but also the real economy. We had an interest in finding solutions."

Merkel reaffirmed her firm opposition to common euro zone bonds.

She later won resounding approval in the lower house of the parliament in Berlin for funding the ESM and for new EU budget rules. A similar vote in the upper house was expected later in the day, though Germany's constitutional court may still object.

The Spanish and Italian leaders had threatened to block a package of measures to promote growth to pressure Merkel to accept measures to ease their borrowing costs, delaying the talks. New French President Francois Hollande backed their calls for bold steps to help the bloc's third and fourth biggest economies, adding to the pressure on Merkel.

Hollande, who had demanded a renegotiation of the fiscal pact to switch Europe's focus from austerity to promoting growth, said he had achieved satisfaction at the summit and would now submit the treaty to parliament for ratification.

While Hollande could claim a step forward in "solidarity", Merkel achieved little immediate progress on her demands for EU authorities to be given the power to override national budgets and economic policies. The issue was kicked down the road to October, when top EU officials led by Van Rompuy will deliver a more detailed report.

CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM

Economists applauded both the short-term measures to steady markets and the longer-term direction, saying that for once, after 20 summits since the crisis began in early 2010, euro zone leaders had exceeded admittedly low expectations.

"I think the ECB being made the banking supervisor is actually the biggest long-term step because it points the way to banking union," said Megan Greene, analyst at Roubini Global Economics, which is often gloomy about the euro zone's future.

"The move to recapitalize banks directly is a big deal and will help to break the ?vicious circle' between banks and sovereigns that has been at the very heart of this crisis," said ABN AMRO economist Nick Kounis, although he added that the euro zone remained "in a muddling-through scenario".

The ESM's ability to inject capital directly into banks will come too late to help Spain recapitalize its debt-laden lenders immediately this year, but it should allow Madrid to remove the cleanup from state books next year, euro zone officials said.

Merkel said finance ministers would have to work out whether the state or the banks would be legally responsible for repayment of the loans thereafter.

Some analysts were more skeptical about the benefits of the deal, given the level of detail left open.

Ireland, which had to take an EU/IMF bailout in 2010 after suffering a similar bank meltdown and property bust to Spain, hailed the decisions as a "game changer", saying it would seek similarly favorable conditions for its own taxpayers.

(Additional reporting by Jan Strupczewski, Julien Toyer, John O'Donnell, Catherine Bremer and Francesco Guarascio in Brussels. Writing by Noah Barkin and Paul Taylor, editing by Mike Peacock)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/battle-over-spain-italy-rescue-erupts-eu-summit-003041861--sector.html

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SmackDown Five-Point Preview: June 29, 2012

All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of WWE, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. ? 2012 WWE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This website is based in the United States. By submitting personal information to this website you consent to your information being maintained in the U.S., subject to applicable U.S. laws. U.S. law may be different than the law of your home country. WrestleMania XXIX (NY/NJ) logo TM & ? 2012 WWE. All Rights Reserved. The Empire State Building design is a registered trademark and used with permission by ESBC.

Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/2012-06-29/five-point-preview-june-29-2012

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Djokovic avoids falling into new Czech trap

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/djokovic-wimbledon-last-16-151753952--ten.html

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Cybercrime disclosures rare despite new? | Advanced E ...

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Hackers broke into computers at hotel giant Wyndham Worldwide Corp. three times in two years and stole credit card information belonging to hundreds of thousands of customers. Wyndham didn?t report the break-in in corporate filings even though the Securities and Exchange Commission wants companies to inform investors of cybercrimes.

Amid whispers of sensational online break-ins resulting in millions of dollars in losses, it remains remarkably difficult to identify corporate victims of cybercrimes. Companies are afraid that going public would damage their reputations, sink stock prices or spark lawsuits.

The chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is adding a provision to cybersecurity legislation that would strengthen the reporting requirement. The SEC?s guidance issued in October is not mandatory. It was intended to update for the digital age a requirement that companies report ?material risks? that investors want to know.

Rockefeller?s measure would direct the SEC?s five commissioners to make clear when companies must disclose cyber breaches and spell out steps they are taking to protect their computer networks from electronic intrusions.

The SEC recently challenged Internet retailer Amazon?s decision to omit from its 2011 annual report references to the online theft of customer data held by Zappos, an online shoe company owned by Amazon. Amazon eventually agreed to modify the statement slightly, according to correspondence between the company and the SEC. But the company still argued that the Zappos attack was not covered by the commission?s cybersecurity guidance because it had no material impact on Amazon?s business.

Cybercrime is rampant and not confined to the United States. The head of Britain?s domestic spy agency said this week that cybersecurity ranks alongside terrorism as one of the United Kingdom?s most pressing security challenges. In one recent case, an unspecified, London-listed company hit by a cyberattack incurred revenue losses of $1.2 billion, MI5 Director General Jonathan Evans said in rare public remarks in London. He did not identify the company or say which country was behind the attack. The U.S. has said China and Russia are the governments most frequently engaged in such hacking.

?What is at stake is not just our government secrets but also the safety and security of our infrastructure, the intellectual property that underpins our future prosperity, and the commercially sensitive information that is the lifeblood of our companies and corporations,? Evans said.

Research by a cybersecurity expert shows dozens of Fortune 500 companies have lost a wide range of valuable information to cybercrimes, including intellectual property, bank account credentials, restricted data about patients of pharmaceutical companies and internal legal records.

Rodney Joffe of Neustar, an Internet infrastructure management company in Virginia, monitors networks used by online criminal groups and traces the origin of stolen information. He found evidence that 162 out 168 companies in the manufacturing, chemical and transportation sectors had been compromised. The names of the companies are being kept confidential for proprietary reasons, he said.

?No one is safe. Everyone is compromised,? said Joffe, Neustar?s senior technologist. ?When people tell you, ?We are protected as a company,? they are really fooling themselves.?

The SEC isn?t tracking how many companies comply with its cybersecurity guidance. But publicly traded companies historically have resisted supplying information about cyber incidents because it highlights their weak spots, said Peter Toren, a former federal prosecutor with the Justice Department?s computer crime division.

?It just doesn?t look good,? Toren said.

The breach of Wyndham?s computers was described in a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit filed this week against the company and three subsidiaries for alleged security failures that led to the three data breaches between April 2008 and January 2010. The failures caused ?the export of hundreds of thousands of consumers? payment card account information to an Internet domain address registered in Russia? and millions of dollars in fraudulent charges on consumers? accounts, the FTC said.

Wyndham didn?t mention the break-ins in its 2011 annual report or prior securities filings, according to an Associated Press review of the records.

Wyndham?s 2011 annual report said the ?hospitality industry is under increasing attack by cyber-criminals in the U.S. and other jurisdictions in which we operate? and noted that it was involved in ?claims relating to information security and data privacy.? Wyndham spent $13 million more on security improvements and expects to spend as much as $100 million in 2012 to guard against ?the increasingly aggressive global threat from cyber-criminals,? according to the report.

Wyndham said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press that it ?fully complied with SEC regulations in regards to the disclosure of material events.? In the statement, Wyndham said the incidents were ?previously reported,? an apparent reference to notices to consumers that were published on the company?s website. The company also said the FTC?s claims were without merit.

Network infrastructure company Verisign reported in late October, just a few weeks after the SEC issued the guidance, that there had been several successful cyberattacks against its corporate networks in 2010. In the filing, Verisign said the company?s management had not been informed of the attacks until September 2011.

LinkedIn, the online networking service, publicly announced on June 12 the online theft of 6.5 million user passwords. It said the announcement complies with its obligations to the SEC, but it has yet to file a report about the incident with the commission.

The new SEC guidance puts pressure on companies to decide whether to disclose a breach or keep it secret, said Jody Westby of Global Cyber Risk, a consulting firm. But she said the demand for information amounts to locking the door after the house has been robbed.

?The SEC would have done better to require all public companies to say whether they?ve taken actions to implement a security program,? Westby said.

__

Associated Press researcher Julie Reed contributed to this report.

__

Online:

SEC disclosure guidance: http://www.sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/guidance/cfguidance-topic2.htm

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Hackers broke into computers at hotel giant Wyndham Worldwide Corp. three times in two years and stole credit card information belonging to hundreds of thousands of customers. Wyndham didn?t report the break-in in corporate filings even though the Securities and Exchange Commission wants companies to inform investors of cybercrimes.

Amid whispers of sensational online break-ins resulting in millions of dollars in losses, it remains remarkably difficult to identify corporate victims of cybercrimes. Companies are afraid that going public would damage their reputations, sink stock prices or spark lawsuits.

The chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is adding a provision to cybersecurity legislation that would strengthen the reporting requirement. The SEC?s guidance issued in October is not mandatory. It was intended to update for the digital age a requirement that companies report ?material risks? that investors want to know.

Rockefeller?s measure would direct the SEC?s five commissioners to make clear when companies must disclose cyber breaches and spell out steps they are taking to protect their computer networks from electronic intrusions.

The SEC recently challenged Internet retailer Amazon?s decision to omit from its 2011 annual report references to the online theft of customer data held by Zappos, an online shoe company owned by Amazon. Amazon eventually agreed to modify the statement slightly, according to correspondence between the company and the SEC. But the company still argued that the Zappos attack was not covered by the commission?s cybersecurity guidance because it had no material impact on Amazon?s business.

Cybercrime is rampant and not confined to the United States. The head of Britain?s domestic spy agency said this week that cybersecurity ranks alongside terrorism as one of the United Kingdom?s most pressing security challenges. In one recent case, an unspecified, London-listed company hit by a cyberattack incurred revenue losses of $1.2 billion, MI5 Director General Jonathan Evans said in rare public remarks in London. He did not identify the company or say which country was behind the attack. The U.S. has said China and Russia are the governments most frequently engaged in such hacking.

?What is at stake is not just our government secrets but also the safety and security of our infrastructure, the intellectual property that underpins our future prosperity, and the commercially sensitive information that is the lifeblood of our companies and corporations,? Evans said.

Research by a cybersecurity expert shows dozens of Fortune 500 companies have lost a wide range of valuable information to cybercrimes, including intellectual property, bank account credentials, restricted data about patients of pharmaceutical companies and internal legal records.

Rodney Joffe of Neustar, an Internet infrastructure management company in Virginia, monitors networks used by online criminal groups and traces the origin of stolen information. He found evidence that 162 out 168 companies in the manufacturing, chemical and transportation sectors had been compromised. The names of the companies are being kept confidential for proprietary reasons, he said.

?No one is safe. Everyone is compromised,? said Joffe, Neustar?s senior technologist. ?When people tell you, ?We are protected as a company,? they are really fooling themselves.?

The SEC isn?t tracking how many companies comply with its cybersecurity guidance. But publicly traded companies historically have resisted supplying information about cyber incidents because it highlights their weak spots, said Peter Toren, a former federal prosecutor with the Justice Department?s computer crime division.

?It just doesn?t look good,? Toren said.

The breach of Wyndham?s computers was described in a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit filed this week against the company and three subsidiaries for alleged security failures that led to the three data breaches between April 2008 and January 2010. The failures caused ?the export of hundreds of thousands of consumers? payment card account information to an Internet domain address registered in Russia? and millions of dollars in fraudulent charges on consumers? accounts, the FTC said.

Wyndham didn?t mention the break-ins in its 2011 annual report or prior securities filings, according to an Associated Press review of the records.

Wyndham?s 2011 annual report said the ?hospitality industry is under increasing attack by cyber-criminals in the U.S. and other jurisdictions in which we operate? and noted that it was involved in ?claims relating to information security and data privacy.? Wyndham spent $13 million more on security improvements and expects to spend as much as $100 million in 2012 to guard against ?the increasingly aggressive global threat from cyber-criminals,? according to the report.

Wyndham said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press that it ?fully complied with SEC regulations in regards to the disclosure of material events.? In the statement, Wyndham said the incidents were ?previously reported,? an apparent reference to notices to consumers that were published on the company?s website. The company also said the FTC?s claims were without merit.

Network infrastructure company Verisign reported in late October, just a few weeks after the SEC issued the guidance, that there had been several successful cyberattacks against its corporate networks in 2010. In the filing, Verisign said the company?s management had not been informed of the attacks until September 2011.

LinkedIn, the online networking service, publicly announced on June 12 the online theft of 6.5 million user passwords. It said the announcement complies with its obligations to the SEC, but it has yet to file a report about the incident with the commission.

The new SEC guidance puts pressure on companies to decide whether to disclose a breach or keep it secret, said Jody Westby of Global Cyber Risk, a consulting firm. But she said the demand for information amounts to locking the door after the house has been robbed.

?The SEC would have done better to require all public companies to say whether they?ve taken actions to implement a security program,? Westby said.

__

Associated Press researcher Julie Reed contributed to this report.

__

Online:

SEC disclosure guidance: http://www.sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/guidance/cfguidance-topic2.htm

Source: http://www.cybersharq.com/cybercrime-disclosures-rare-despite-new.html

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Nexus Q hacked to run Android games in under 24 hours

Nexus Q hacked to run Android games in under 24 hours

The word "run" in the headline is chosen very carefully. Developer Christina Kelly managed to get Swords and Soldiers up and running on the Nexus Q, but the game is not actually playable. Without a touchscreen or any other way to actually control the title, there's not much to do besides look at the splash screen. Still, the fact that in under 24 hours Google's new streaming appliance has already made to fire up unapproved apps bodes well for its future with the hacker community. Once the device gets in the hands of more devs we imagine it'll only a matter of time before someone figures out a way to get Hulu or Netflix running on it, with your Android phone acting as the remote.

Nexus Q hacked to run Android games in under 24 hours originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jun 2012 18:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechnoBuffalo  |  sourceSlashGear  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/28/nexus-q-hacked-to-run-android-games-in-under-24-hours/

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Friday, June 29, 2012

Venezuela to propose OPEC oil price band

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? Venezuela is proposing that OPEC adopt a band of prices for crude oil and hopes to return to prices of about $100 a barrel, the country's oil minister said Thursday.

Venezuela has proposed a price band of between $80 and $120 per barrel, but it remains to be seen in discussions among OPEC members what the range of permissible prices would be, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters.

After he spoke, the price of oil hit an eight-month low as hopes dimmed for a solution to Europe's financial crisis. Benchmark U.S. crude lost $2.52, or 3.1 percent, to end at $77.69 per barrel in New York trading.

"The market must be protected from instability," Ramirez said. "We're talking about a band that has a ceiling and has a floor."

He said Venezuela is aiming for "an average price of $100 a barrel."

He said the South American country's government hopes there will be consensus within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in order to stabilize prices.

Source: http://feeds.sfgate.com/click.phdo?i=5d3fd4bfb80345d9f1f6a3adb6145f63

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Monday, June 25, 2012

Why do fat cells get fat? New suspect identified

ScienceDaily (June 25, 2012) ? As the world fights obesity at the human level, scientists at the University of Michigan and their colleagues have made a surprising finding at the microscopic level that could help fuel that fight.

Their work helps explain why fat-storing cells get fatter, and burn fat slower, as obesity sets in. If their findings from mice can be shown to apply to humans, they may provide a new target for obesity-fighting drugs.

By studying the tiny signals that fat-storing cells send to one another, the team has shown a crucial and previously unknown role for a molecule called Sfrp5.

The results, which appear online June 25 and will be in the July issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, surprised them.

In a series of experiments, the team showed that Sfrp5 influences a signaling pathway known as WNT to stimulate fat cells -- called adipocytes -- to grow larger and to suppress the rate at which fat is burned in the mitochondria inside them.

By stopping cells from making Sfrp5, they were able to make mice that didn't get as fat as quickly because their adipocytes didn't grow large -- even when the mice were fed a high-fat diet. They even showed the impact when transplanting fat from Sfrp5 -- deficient mice into other mice.

The research was performed with National Institutes of Health funding in the U-M Medical School laboratory of Ormond MacDougald, Ph.D., the Faulkner Professor in the Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology, a professor of internal medicine and a member of U-M's Brehm Center for Diabetes Research.

Working with postdoctoral fellow and first author Hiroyuki Mori, Ph.D., and colleagues, MacDougald says the team built on its previous findings about the importance of WNT signaling in fat cell development.

"WNT signaling plays a crucial role in regulating, and inhibiting, white fat cell growth and the recruitment of new cells to store fat," he explains. "But it appears that in obesity, Sfrp5 can interfere with that signaling, and may create a feedback loop that keeps stimulating production of more of itself."

He notes that the new results contradict previous work published by another group, which found essentially the opposite role for Sfrp5. A commentary accompanying the new U-M paper, by scientists from Denmark, notes the strong evidence behind the new findings and emphasizes the importance of further research on the topic.

MacDougald and his team zeroed in on Sfrp5 after years of studying WNT signaling between adipocytes. They and other teams had already seen that the amounts of Sfrp5 produced within fat tissue were higher in obese animals.

They were able to breed mice that could not make the molecule, and expected to see that these mice resisted obesity because they couldn't convert more cells into adipocytes to store excess fat from their high-fat diet.

But instead, they found that the mice without Sfrp5 did have just as many fat cells as other mice -- but that these cells didn't accumulate fat and grow bigger. As a result, the mice didn't get fat, no matter how rich their diet.

Looking more closely at Sfrp5-deficient mice, they saw a surge of activity in expression of genes related to mitochondria -- the furnaces inside cells that burn fat or other fuel to power cell activity. It was as if the furnaces had been stoked when Sfrp5 wasn't present, so fat could be burned at a higher rate than normal.

"From our results, we believe that Sfrp5 is an important moderator of mitochondrial activity, the first time this has been seen for the WNT signaling pathway in adipocytes," says Mori. "This underscores the complexity of WNT signaling."

In essence, MacDougald says, Sfrp5 poses as a decoy receptor for WNT signals to bind to, keeping them from binding to the receptors on the cell surface that they otherwise would bind to. With WNT signaling reduced, cells store fat and grow larger, and don't burn it as quickly. Then, the cells produce even more Sfrp5, creating the feedback loop that perpetuates the tendency for adipocytes to accumulate lipid.

While pharmaceutical companies are already looking at WNT signaling as a possible target for drugs related to bone formation, the new findings suggest that perhaps the same signaling pathway could be a target for anti-obesity drugs.

But, MacDougald cautions, the findings need to be explored further in both mice and humans. With the obesity epidemic putting hundreds of millions of people at risk of all types of diseases, that research has a special urgency behind it.

In addition to MacDougald and Mori, the research team included Tyler C. Prestwich, who received a Ph.D. from U-M's Cell and Molecular Biology program and is a co-first author, Michael A. Reid, former U-M postdoctoral fellow and Proteostasis Therapeutics employee Kenneth Longo, former postdoctoral fellow Isabelle Gerin, current fellow William Cawthorn, Vedrana S. Susulic, Venkatesh Krishnan, and Andy Greenfield.

The work was supported by grants DK51563 and DK62876 from the NIH's National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and by Mori's mentor-based postdoctoral fellowship from the American Diabetes Association. The team used two core research facilities at the U-M Medical School: the Animal Phenotyping Core of the Nutrition Obesity Research Center, supported by NIH grant DK089503, and the Morphology Core of the Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Center, supported by NIH grant P60DK020572.

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Journal Reference:

  1. Hiroyuki Mori, Tyler C. Prestwich, Michael A. Reid, Kenneth A. Longo, Isabelle Gerin, William P. Cawthorn, Vedrana S. Susulic, Venkatesh Krishnan, Andy Greenfield, Ormond A. MacDougald. Secreted frizzled-related protein 5 suppresses adipocyte mitochondrial metabolism through WNT inhibition. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2012; DOI: 10.1172/JCI63604

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Selecting the best Physician Enhances Odds With regard to Suit ...


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Auto Outlook: Ford, Chrysler hit quality bump

U.S. automakers saw sales take off in 2012 on the success of new products and improving quality.

But Both Ford and Chrysler have slipped in J.D. Power and Associates' 2012 Initial Quality Study while General Motors had its best ever performance in the study thanks to improvements at Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC.

The benchmark study, started in 1986, looks at problems reported by more than 74,000 purchasers and lessees of new 2012 vehicles during their first 90 days of ownership.

While automakers overall have improved quality, there have been growing pains with in-dashboard technology. Still the average number of problems per 100 vehicles declined from 107 to 102, J.D. Power said, for the best overall initial quality survey result since 2009.

Domestic U.S. carmakers still trailed Japanese and European brands slightly in overall quality.

Lexus was at the top of the heap with 73 problems per 100 vehicles; followed by Jaguar and Porsche, both with 75 problems per 100 vehicles. Cadillac had 80 problems per 100 vehicles, Honda 83; and Acura and Infiniti both with 84.

Toyota had 88 problems per 100 vehicles; Mercedes-Benz 96; BMW and Mazda 97; GMC, Nissan and Ram 99; and Chevrolet 100 -- all better than the industry average of 102 problems per 100 vehicles.

The Chevy Malibu, Buick Enclave, Cadillac Escalade and the GMC Serra LD had the best rankings in their respective categories.

With 116 problems per 100 vehicles, Chrysler fell nine spots to No. 25 and Ford, with 118 problems per 100 vehicles, slipped four spots to No. 27.

Other brands scoring below the industry average were: Audi, 105; Buick 106; Hyundai, Kia and Lincoln 107; Volvo 108; Subaru 109; Jeep 110; Suzuki 115; Scion 117; Land Rover 119; Dodge, Mitsubishi and Volkswagen 124 and MINI 139 problems per 100 vehicles.

Two European brands -- Fiat and smart -- were at the bottom of the initial quality survey with an average of 151 problems per 100 vehicles. But European brands often are low rated in design because of different preferences by American and European drivers, David Sargent, vice president of global automotive at J.D. Power and Associates, told The Detroit News.

"It's not unusual for a vehicle that was essentially designed for one market and brought to another market to perform not so well," he said, adding "but it's not really mechanical issues ? it's design issues."

In-car electronics that run multi-media audio, entertainment and navigation by voice command has been a quality issue for some time. Owners reporting problems with factory-installed, hands-free communications devices have increased 137 percent since 2008," the study said.

"Until recently, this type of sophisticated technology was found primarily on high-end models" said Sargent in a release. "However, over the past few years, it has rapidly found its way into the automotive mainstream. For example, in 2012, more than 80 percent of owners indicate that their new vehicle has some form of hands-free technology.

"As smartphones become ubiquitous in the lives of consumers and are ever-more sophisticated, expectations about the complementary technologies being offered in new models will only get higher," he said. "Automakers and suppliers are working hard to meet those expectations with systems intended to make the driving experience safer, more convenient and more entertaining. However, the most innovative technology in the world will quickly create dissatisfaction if owners can't get it to work."

Before the study was released, Ford pointed out it had upgraded its bug-plagued MyFordTouch dashboard system but said the improvements are too recent to be reflected in the latest J.D. Power survey.


Brave new cars

Ford has opened a new lab in California's Silicon Valley to innovate and implement new technologies to make cars smarter.

Ford engineers may not be perfecting a science fiction flying car, but they are working on futuristic in-car data systems that will allow vehicles to avoid traffic accidents and even drive themselves.

"We view technology as more than just an impressive list of microprocessors, sensors and software. It is the enabler of a safe, intuitive and enjoyable time behind the wheel," Paul Mascarenas, chief technical officer and vice president of Ford Research and Advanced Engineering, said in a statement.

Ford is not alone in tapping the expertise of scientists and engineers in Silicon Valley. General Motors' Advanced Technology Silicon Valley Office develops concept vehicles in California using new technologies.

"We've been innovating for more than century at Ford, but we acknowledge we don't have a monopoly on creativity," said Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford at the Computer Museum in Mountain View, Calif.

"Our new office will complement our existing research efforts by allowing us to tap into the region that has been driving technology forward in recent decades."

Ford, which partnered with Microsoft to develop its SYNC in-car, voice-recognition infotainment system, was invited to participate in the museum's "Revolutionaries" lecture series.

"We want Silicon Valley to view Ford as a platform that is open, accessible and ready for their innovative ideas and technologies. We are looking for unexpected solutions for the future and we believe Silicon Valley is the right place to round out our global research organization," said Mascarenas.

He said right now the company started by Bill Ford's great-grandfather collects and aggregates data from 4 million vehicles equipped with on-board sensors and software to analyze how drivers use their vehicles and adjust to driving conditions, analyze how electromagnetic forces impact vehicles and collect feedback on road conditions.

"It's amazing how much data is out there," Ford said. "The question is how do we put it in a form that's usable?"

Ford admits all the data collected on drivers and their vehicles raises privacy issues. Drivers who may appreciate knowing when their tires are underinflated or when the brakes need replacement may not like their whereabouts being tracked.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder this month indicated he would support laws permitted self-driving cars, as Nevada and California have done.

"I'd be happy to look at it," Snyder told the Driverless Car Summit in Detroit in a speech.

Hawaii, Florida and Oklahoma are considering laws to legalize vehicles that use radar and other currently available technologies to steer themselves, accelerate and brake.

"We need to be careful of what's on the road but other states have gone forward," Snyder told news media at the event organized by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. "We're in the motor city. We're the motor state and we should be thoughtful and move forward on things like that."


Power window switches investigated

The watchdog National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has expanded an investigation into door fires involving power window switches to 600,000 Toyota Camrys.

That brings the number of vehicles in the federal probe that began in February to 1.42 million. A preliminary NHTSA review turned up 161 incidents of door fires, blamed for nine injuries, and the inquiry now includes 2007-09 Camry, Camry Hybrid, RAV4 SUVs, Yaris subcompacts and Highlander Hybrid vehicles.

All of the vehicles were assembled from September 2006 to August 2008 and used the same power window master switch design in the driver-side door armrest, NHTSA said.

Toyota said all of the injuries were minor with the most severe a blister to a driver's index finger.

NHTSA recently upgraded an investigation of electrical fires in driver-side doors of 340,000 Chevrolet Trailblazer SUVs after receiving reports of 28 fires. The federal safety agency said it and GM had received a combined 167 reports of the driver door module melting or burning -- even when the vehicle was not running. A short-circuit is the suspected cause of the problem.

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Spanish group sells stake in satellite operator to China

Spanish infrastructure group Abertis said on Friday it had sold a 7.0-percent stake in leading European satellite operator Eutelsat to China's sovereign wealth fund.

China Investment Corporation (CIC), which manages the nation's sovereign fund, paid 385.2 million euros ($483 million) for the stake, Abertis said in a statement.

The deal generated net capital gains of 237 million euros, the Spanish firm said.

Abertis, which had already sold a 16-percent stake in Eutelsat in January in a private placement to investors, was left with an 8.35-percent stake in the satellite operator.

"Abertis keeps on reshuffling its holdings in the satellite infrastructure business and strengthening its commitment to growth, specifically targeting projects in which it can take an industry leadership role and a greater financial consolidation," the Spanish firm said.

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NHL Entry Draft 2012 Results: Washington Capitals Select Riley Barber With 167th Pick

The 2012 NHL Entry Draft is coming to a close, as teams have spent Saturday morning burning through picks in rounds two through five. Two rounds remain in this year's draft, and the Washington Capitals have just made their fifth selection of the day, the 167th overall pick. The choice, via Mike Vogel of washingtoncaps.com:

Barber is the fourth player from the U.S. Under-18 Development squad to be chosen by Washington in this years draft, joining Thomas Di Pauli, Austin Wuthrich and Connor Carrick.

Barber's father Don was drafted in 1983 by Edmonton and went on to play in the NHL for Minnesota, Winnipeg, Quebec and San Jose during a three year career. Barber is a native of Washington, Pennsylvania, and was born in Pittsburgh.

For more on the Washington Capitals, check out Japers' Rink. You can check out more hockey news from around the league at SB Nation's NHL page.

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Unconventional Plans; Rangel's Wrangle (WSJ)

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Privacy deal could dent Facebook's revenue

? Thomas Hodel / Reuters / REUTERS

A Facebook logo on a computer screen is seen through a magnifying glass.

By Roland Jones

Facebook has hit a potential stumbling block in its efforts to make money from its more than 900 million active users.

The social network has agreed to pay $20 million to settle a lawsuit in California claiming?it?publicized?that some of its users had ?liked? certain advertisers?but didn't?pay the users, or give them a way to opt out.

The so-called ?Sponsored Story? feature on Facebook is essentially an advertisement that appears on the site and includes a member?s Facebook page and generally consists of another friend?s name, profile picture and a statement that the person ?likes? that advertiser.

The agreement in California could potentially complicate Facebook?s efforts to accelerate advertising revenue, experts say.

Ever since the company went public last month, critics of the website have said it faces challenges when it comes to drawing in revenue because its users are sensitive to Facebook using their personal information to generate money, and because the website?s advertising is not obtrusive enough to grab the attention of users.

?The fact is the advertisements are not irritating users,? said Rob Enderle, an analyst with Enderle Group. ?Advertisers are not getting value because Facebook does not want to upset its users.?

Enderle notes that Facebook?s non-traditional forms of advertising -- using features such as ?Sponsored Stories,? or allowing advertisers to establish product-focused pages -- are not having the same effect as more established forms of advertising, which by their nature are conspicuous and direct.

Indeed, a Reuters/Ipsos poll earlier this month showed four out of five Facebook users said they have never bought a product or service as a result of advertising or comments on the social network site. And in mid-May General Motors very publicly yanked $10 million in Facebook advertising, saying paid advertising on the site isn?t effective.

Changing the ?Sponsored Stories? feature could cost Facebook $103.2 million, economist Fernando Torres? analysis of the revenue each ad brings to the site estimated. And, according to the lawsuit, Facebook?s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said the value of a ?Sponsored Story? advertisement is at least twice and up to three times the value of a standard Facebook ad that doesn?t include a friend endorsement.

But Facebook executives shouldn?t be too despondent, according to Larry Chiagouris, a marketing professor at Pace University's Lubin School of Business. He notes that, in general, academic studies show consumers are willing to reveal more about themselves than privacy advocates would have us believe.

When given a choice, people would rather give up a bit of privacy to get something for free than pay for a service and have their privacy protected, he said.

?Facebook is going to do just fine, because most of its users don?t care much about their privacy,? Chiagouris said. ?Privacy advocates tend to be people on the fringe -- who by the way in some cases have legitimate concerns; it?s just that those concerns are not necessarily shared by the masses.?

A recent examination of the accounts of 1 million Facebook users by Secure.me, a company that offers privacy services to social networks users, showed?nearly 9 out of 10 Americans share information about themselves that can be abused. Slightly fewer Europeans share such sensitive information, the company?s research found.

To continue to entice users to share their personal information on Facebook the website needs to be clear about what its users are giving up, Chiagouris added.

?They still have the largest community of people anywhere on the planet, and that?s worth a great deal,? he said. ?But they need to find a way to provide some sort of tiered service, and not through lots of privacy settings most people don?t make good use of. Facebook is constantly changing them, adding more confusion. They really have harmed themselves in that regard.?They just need to be more transparent and simple about it.?

Another upbeat sign for Facebook is its share price, which has rallied 27 percent since hitting a post-IPO low of $25.87 on June 5.

California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris said Friday that Facebook has become the seventh company to agree to give people advance warning if its mobile applications take personal information from their mobile phones and devices.

Reuters contributed to this report.

If you'd made a bold call and bought then, you'd actually be making money from Facebook, with Howard Lindzon, CEO of Stocktwits.

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Wednesday, June 20, 2012

How do you use the in line audience selector on the iPhone Facebook app?

"); div.text(string); return div.html(); } } var cache = {}, lastXhr; $('#query').autocomplete({ source: function(query, callback) { query.term = jQuery.trim(query.term); if (query.term.length

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The secret gay agenda (CNN)

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S.Africa formal employment up but factories shed jobs

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Monday, June 18, 2012

Health care law opponent denies Ellison's request to reveal donors (Star Tribune)

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Video: Latinos? role crucial in 2012 election

A Second Take on Meeting the Press: From an up-close look at Rachel Maddow's sneakers to an in-depth look at Jon Krakauer's latest book ? it's all fair game in our "Meet the Press: Take Two" web extra. Log on Sundays to see David Gregory's post-show conversations with leading newsmakers, authors and roundtable guests. Videos are available on-demand by 12 p.m. ET on Sundays.

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Polls: Socialists win French parliament race

PARIS (AP) ? French President Francois Hollande's Socialist Party won a solid majority in parliamentary elections Sunday, polling agencies projected, fortifying Hollande in his push for governments to spend money, not cut budgets, to tackle Europe's economic crisis.

Former President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservatives, who dominated the outgoing National Assembly, suffered a stinging loss, according to all estimations. Meanwhile, the far-right National Front party was on track to win a small but symbolically important presence in parliament for the first time in years.

"This new, solid and large majority will allow us now to pass laws for change, and gives us great responsibilities in France and in Europe," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on France-2 television as the results started coming in.

Elections in France and Greece on Sunday will weigh on Europe's future and whether its debt troubles will hobble markets and economies across the globe. France is the second-biggest economy in the eurozone and, along with powerhouse Germany, contributes heavily to bailouts for weaker nations and often drives EU-wide policy.

France's Socialists will have between 308 and 320 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly after Sunday's second-round parliamentary elections, the TNS-Sofres Sopra Group, Ipsos and CSA agencies estimated. The pollsters' projections were based on actual vote counts in select districts around the nation.

That's well over the 289 the Socialists needed for a majority, and it means they won't have to rely on far-leftists who oppose some of Hollande's pro-European policies to pass legislation.

Under Sarkozy, France joined Germany in favoring government austerity measures instead of stimulus programs as the antidote to the continent's debt troubles ? especially in countries such as Greece that turned to the European Union and others for billions in bailout dollars.

A solid parliamentary majority for Hollande frees him up to make the changes to tax laws and impose the new spending he promised, and it gives him a stronger mandate to push for stimulus programs in global economic talks. He heads Monday to the G-20 summit in Mexico to meet leaders of the world's most important economies.

Hollande's push for government-sponsored stimulus programs has met opposition from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but both have pledged to keep working together to ease Europe's financial crisis.

Hollande presented other European leaders last week with a new "growth pact" that includes ?120 billion ($151 billion) worth of spending measures around the continent to stimulate growth, French newspaper Journal du Dimanche reported Sunday. The paper said it obtained a copy of an 11-page letter on the issue sent to Merkel and others.

The new parliament will lean well left: the Socialists and allied parties, the Greens, and the Leftist Front parties are estimated to have 340 to 350 seats altogether.

Sarkozy's UMP and its allies are estimated to get between 213 and 221 seats. UMP officials called for party unity after deep divisions during the election campaign over whether they should seek alliances with the far right, breaking down a moral barricade between mainstream conservatives from the anti-immigrant National Front party.

Party leader Marine Le Pen lost her own parliamentary race ? by just 118 votes ? but her niece and a prominent lawyer won seats for the party, which Le Pen called "an enormous success" after years outside parliament despite significant popular support.

Hollande has said his first priorities for the new parliament include postponing a balanced budget until 2017, raising income taxes to 75 percent for those who earn more than ?1 million ($1.26 million) a year, and hiring 60,000 new teachers. The Sarkozy government had imposed cuts on the education sector.

In an embarrassment for the Socialists, former presidential candidate Segolene Royal lost her controversial campaign for a parliamentary seat, quashing her hopes of becoming speaker of the National Assembly.

Royal, a prominent Socialist, is Hollande's ex-partner and the mother of his four children. Her campaign became embroiled in controversy last week after Hollande's current companion ? journalist Valerie Trierweiler ? expressed support for her opponent, dissident Socialist Olivier Falorni, on Twitter, seen by some as a show of jealousy.

The Socialist Party leadership had endorsed Royal, but Falorni refused to abandon the race in her favor.

Voter turnout was weak for France, at about 56 percent, as voters were asked to cast ballots for the fourth time in the past two months.

In a well-off area of central Paris, voter Eve Baume said she cast her ballot for the local Socialist, Claire Morel, "because I've been waiting for change for a long time. ... Also I wanted to support Francois Hollande, the government and its projects."

Pascal Albe, a voter from the working class Paris suburb of Ivry-sur-Seine, said that though he generally votes for the right, Hollande should have a Socialist-led parliament. "Otherwise the country will be paralyzed, and especially now, we don't need that," he said.

___

Cecile Brisson, Sylvie Corbet, Thibault Leroux and Catherine Gaschka in Paris contributed to this report.

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With polls closed, Egypt waits for president

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptians began an anxious wait for their first freely elected president on Sunday after two days of voting that was to be the culmination of their Arab Spring revolution but which many fear may now only compound political and economic uncertainty.

With polling stations closed at 10 p.m. (2000 GMT), aides to both candidates in the runoff - Ahmed Shafik, a former general who was prime minister when Hosni Mubarak was overthrown, and Mohamed Morsy, an Islamist from the long suppressed Muslim Brotherhood - were claiming their man seemed to be ahead.

Counting was under way but, in a country unused to free elections, it was unclear how soon any indication of the result would emerge. After a first round of voting last month, which knocked out several popular candidates, it took several hours.

On Monday, the new president, whether Morsy or Shafik, will be told, along with the rest of the country, what powers he will have by the ruling generals. Military and legal sources told Reuters the military council would take back legislative powers for now from a new, Islamist-dominated parliament that it has dissolved following a court ruling voiding an earlier election.

Turnout, only 46 percent in the first round of the presidential vote, appeared to electoral officials to have been no higher for the decisive head-to-head contest. Many of the 50 million eligible voters were dismayed by an unpalatable choice between a man seen as an heir to Mubarak and the nominee of a religious party committed to reversing liberal social traditions. Some cast a ballot against both men in protest.

"I'll cross out both Morsy and Shafik because neither deserve to be president," said Saleh Ashour, 40, a shopkeeper in the middle-class Cairo neighborhood of Dokki as he went to vote. "I want to make a statement by crossing out the two names.

"Just staying away is too passive."

COMPETING VISIONS

Shafik, 70, had promised he had heeded the lessons of the revolution 16 months ago and offered security and prosperity. Morsy, 60, tried to widen his appeal beyond the Brotherhood's committed and disciplined base by pledging to preserve a pluralist democracy and finally end a history of military rule.

In the second city, Alexandria, computer engineer Sameh Youssef, 30, was wary of Islamist rule but wanted to honor the dead of an uprising launched by frustrated young urbanites: "I will vote Morsy," he said. "Not because I like him but because I hate Shafik. Between us and Shafik there is blood."

In Old Cairo, however, 56-year-old physician Khalil Nagih echoed the sentiments of many, including Christians like himself, whose mistrust of the Brotherhood and desire for an end to a year of chaos outweighed anxiety about the army's role:

"I chose Shafik because he has experience of administration and was an officer. He is a straight talker and he speaks to all communities. He says he'll solve our problems and I believe him. Morsy will bring a religious state and take Egypt backwards."

MILITARY DECREE

Whoever wins, Egypt's political landscape is hazy beyond one clear landmark - the 20 or so senior commanders around Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, whose Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) claimed sovereign power after easing out their brother officer Mubarak to appease the millions on the streets.

In what opponents denounced as "coup", the SCAF dissolved parliament after judges, appointed under Mubarak, ruled on Thursday that a legislative election over the winter breached legal rules and would have to be re-run.

The Brotherhood and hardline Islamist allies dominated the new chamber, and risk losing seats in any new vote, having alienated many outside their core support base. Among failings they are accused of was the inability to form a consensus body to draw up the new constitution Egyptians are hoping for.

As presidential voting was ending, military and legal sources told Reuters that the military council would promulgate an amended constitutional decree on Monday returning to itself the legislative powers it handed to parliament this year.

"In the absence of parliament, legislative powers move back to the military council, which has been in charge of the country and will hand over presidential powers to the president soon," a military source told Reuters.

The decree would also define the new president's powers: "The country's head of state will have the power to appoint a prime minister and cabinet ministers," the military source said.

A lawyer who attended a meeting with the military council on Sunday said: "The presidential powers which the military council held until now will now shift to the new president."

"COUP" WARNING

The Brotherhood has rejected the army's power to dissolve parliament and warned of "dangerous days". But though some have compared events to those in Algeria 20 years which ended in civil war between the military and Islamists, many doubt that the Brotherhood has an appetite for violence at present.

Many opponents of military rule have also complained that the Brotherhood has overreached itself in seeking both legislative and presidential power, limiting its broader appeal.

Egyptians massed in their millions against Mubarak in January last year in the hope that his removal would end poverty, corruption and police brutality. Many now seem tired of the social turmoil and political bickering that ensued.

"Egypt writes the closing chapter of the Arab Spring," read a headline on Sunday in independent newspaper al-Watan, which said the election offers a "choice between a military man who aborted the revolution and a Muslim Brother who wasted it".

Monitors said they had seen only minor and scattered breaches of election rules by Sunday morning but not the kind of systematic fraud that tainted elections under Mubarak, despite mutual accusations of irregularities by the rival camps.

A win for Shafik may prompt street protests by the Islamists and some of the disillusioned urban youths who made Cairo's Tahrir Square their battleground last year. Should Morsy prevail, he may be frustrated by an uncooperative military elite, for all the generals' pledges to cede power by July 1.

Egypt's armed forces have built up massive wealth and commercial interests, helped since the 1970s by a close U.S. alliance which followed the decision of the most populous Arab state to make peace with Israel.

Many Egyptians say the army is just one wing of an entrenched security establishment that has resisted reform and oversight since Mubarak left and would wield influence long after the promised handover to an elected civilian.

"There is no doubt that the state in all its institutions - judicial, military, interior, foreign and financial - back Shafik for president and are working to that end," said Hassan Nafaa, a politics professor who campaigned against Mubarak.

"It is very difficult to eradicate this spirit of Mubarak."

(Additional reporting by Marwa Awad, Tom Pfeiffer, Edmund Blair and Samia Nakhoul in Cairo and Abdel Rahman Youssef in Alexandria; Writing by Alastair Macdonald)

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