MOHAMMED SABIR

New Jersey trooper's triplets in bus crash: 1 dead, 2 hurt

2012-02-17T20:20:00.000-08:00

CHESTERFIELD, N.J. (AP) — A dump truck collided with a bus carrying elementary schoolchildren on Thursday, killing an 11-year-old daughter of a state trooper and critically injuring three other students — two of them the triplet sisters of the dead girl, authorities said.

The accident occurred just after 8 a.m. at a four-way intersection in Chesterfield, a town south of Trenton. It sent the bus, which was carrying 25 students, crashing sideways into a traffic signal pole, crumpling the side. Police said 17 students received injuries, most of them minor.

State police identified the father of the triplets as Sgt. Anthony Tezsla.

His daughter Isabelle was killed. Her sisters, Sophie and Natalie, were listed in critical condition at Camden's Cooper University Hospital, along with Jonathan Zdybel, also 11.

Students with less serious injuries were taken to three other hospitals.

Chesterfield police Chief Kyle Wilson said the bus had a stop sign while the dump truck had a flashing yellow light. He said it was unclear whether the bus was attempting to cross the intersection or turn when the collision happened. The dump truck ran off the road into a grassy area.

No charges were filed. Police said the investigation was incomplete.

A boy being taken from the scene by his mother told The Associated Press "this big truck just came and slammed right into us." The mother did not want the boy's name used.

The boy said the crash left some of his fellow students with bloody faces.

Students on the bus said they were wearing their seatbelts. But a mother of one of the children told television station NBC10 in Philadelphia that some children were still tossed into the aisle.

John Kelly, whose 11-year-old daughter attends Chesterfield Elementary School, said the triplets were in his house just a short while ago and played sports with his daughter.

"It's devastating. My wife can't come out or anything," said Kelly, who was picking up his daughter, who walks to school, Thursday afternoon.

Neighbors openly wept near the accident scene.

The town of about 8,000 residents has thousands of acres of preserved farmland, but there is also a lot of new home construction near the school, which serves nearly 600 students in kindergarten through sixth grade.

Gov. Chris Christie called the crash "a terrible tragedy."

"The family's grief must be enormous," Christie said in a statement. "We can only imagine their pain and lend our support and prayers in this most difficult of times. We are sure that all of Chesterfield Township, the family of State Police men and women, and indeed residents all across New Jersey, have the Tezslas in their thoughts and prayers. Our same concerns and prayers extend to the other children aboard the bus, particularly Jonathan Zdybel, the young boy who also remains hospitalized and in critical condition."

The driver of the school bus was identified as John Tieman, 66, of Beverly, and the driver of the dump truck as Michael Caporale, 38, of New Egypt.

A community vigil was being held Thursday at the Chesterfield Baptist Church. Officials said counselors would be sent to Chesterfield Elementary.

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Nokia Lumia 610 and Asha 305 get Indonesian certification

2012-02-17T19:17:00.000-08:00

Indonesia's FCC counterpart, Postel, is proving to be an interesting source of info on new phones. Their database contains two Nokias that aren?t official yet - the rumored Nokia Lumia 610 and a Nokia 305, which was unheard of until now.

Now, the database lists only the most basic info on the phone (if even that) but with rumors floating around that Nokia will announce three smartphones and three feature phones at the MWC, these numbers give us a glimpse of what will be announced.

The Nokia Lumia 610 is one of the phones expected to be unveiled in Barcelona and this listing confirms that it's a real device. Postel site reveals that the 610 will have 2G and 3G connectivity, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth but that's it (they only test if wireless devices are within specs, so that's all the info we can hope to get).

The Nokia 305 is probably an Asha device, but there's not even Wi-Fi/Bluetooth info on it. Judging by model number alone, it should take over from the Asha 303 as the new top of the line feature phone by Nokia.

A previous rumor claimed that a different set of Asha phones will be announced at the MWC, but there's no way to know for sure (other than waiting for a couple of weeks).

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Samsung Galaxy S Advance sample videos surface

2012-02-17T18:21:00.000-08:00

One of our reader shared a couple of video clips recorded from the recently launched Samsung Galaxy S Advance. As you may know, the phone has a 5 megapixel camera and can record 720p videos.

Usually the quality of the video recording in mid-range smartphones only looks good on paper but is far from impressive in the real world, which is why we were pleasantly surprised when we saw the videos below.

As you can see, the videos are surprisingly smooth and detailed. There are also very little compression artifacts and the sensor also exhibits good dynamic range, with clearly defined bright and dark areas. The audio too, despite its monophonic nature, was pleasantly clear.

As usual though, we will reserve our final judgement till we do a full review but it must be said that our expectations have definitely been raised.

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Gay marriage bills head toward votes in New Jersey, Maryland

2012-02-17T17:06:00.000-08:00

(Reuters) - Bills to permit gay marriage in New Jersey and Maryland face key legislative debates and votes on Thursday, highlighting a hot-button issue that is one of several social matters gaining prominence in the election year debate.

In New Jersey, the Assembly takes up the "Marriage Equality and Religious Exemption Act," which passed the Senate on Monday. The bill is expected to pass the Democrat-dominated lower house as well, but faces a promised veto by Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican often talked about as a possible vice presidential candidate.

In Maryland, the House of Delegates will begin debate on the "Civil Marriage Protection Act" sponsored by Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat.

The bill was passed by two House committees on Tuesday, but it remains unclear if O'Malley and his allies have pulled together the 71 votes needed to clear the full House. Comparable legislation failed in the House a year ago when a number of African American Democrats joined Republicans in opposing the measure.

A procedural move in the House on Wednesday morning designed to buy more time before a final vote delayed the start of the floor debate until Thursday.

"This just gives everyone a chance to have a good look at it," said Del. Shane Pendergrass, the Democrat who moved for the bill to be held for a day.

A final vote in the House could come by the end of the week. Should it pass, it will proceed to the Senate, where a bill to allow same-sex marriage passed a year ago.

The action in the Maryland and New Jersey statehouses follows passage of legislation in Washington state. Gov. Christine Gregoire signed the Washington bill on Monday, but it will not take effect until at least June. Opponents are working to gather signatures for a ballot initiative in November that would block the legislation.

A federal appeals court in California earlier this month overturned that state's gay marriage ban, enacted through a 2008 ballot initiative. That sets up a possible show down in the U.S. Supreme Court over the matter.

Currently seven states and the District of Columbia allow same-sex marriages. In addition to Washington state, they are New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Iowa.

(Writing By Dan Burns; Editing by Greg McCune)

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Upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS screenshots leak

2012-02-17T16:59:00.000-08:00

CrackBerry.com has acquired an internal email from RIM, which shows off the UI of their next generation OS, the BlackBerry 10. The hardware in the pictures below might be current the current 9860 but the OS is all new.

In this picture we can see the new homescreen, which is quite a bit different from the one we saw before. You can see large widgets on the screen that remind you of the live tiles in Windows Phone. And they are not static either and you can see information like weather, call information, album art and current location on a map on the respective widgets. There is also a new bar at the bottom that vaguely reminds us a bit of Nokia's Belle OS.

Moving on, we have the application drawer here. Looking at the screenshot it's hard to say which direction it scrolls in. We can't find the usual tabs at the top of the drawer as in the current OS 7 either, so maybe RIM has gone for a single, long list. We can see new icons, as well as a folder that you can use to put icons in. It's unclear how you invoke this application drawer from the homescreen.

Finally, we have an image of the in-call screen, showing a large picture of the caller on top and large touch buttons, including one for video calls, below.

Overall, the new BlackBerry 10 is looking quite promising. Unfortunately, there will be quite a wait before we could actually get our hands on it.

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House-Senate deal reached on payroll tax measure

2012-02-17T16:02:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — Calling quits on a bruising election-year fight, negotiators on Capitol Hill announced an agreement late Wednesday on legislation to renew a payroll tax cut for 160 million workers and jobless benefits for millions more.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., announced the agreement after a wrapup set of talks that capped a long day of wrangling over final details of the measure, which is a top priority of President Barack Obama. The announcement paved the way for votes in both House and Senate this week.

"We have reached an agreement," Camp said, though he added that a few technical details still need to be sorted out by staff aides.

The $150 billion measure represents a tactical retreat for Republicans, who were generally unenthusiastic about the legislation but eager to move beyond the issue. With the campaign season starting, they don't want Obama and Democrats in Congress to be able to claim that the GOP was standing in the way of a middle-class tax cut.

It represented a rare burst of bipartisanship in a bitterly divided Congress.

The legislation would continue a 2 percentage-point cut in the Social Security payroll tax, renew jobless benefits averaging about $300 a week for people languishing for long periods on unemployment rolls and protect doctors from a huge cut in their Medicare reimbursements.

The measure carries a price tag of roughly $150 billion over the coming year, partly financed by new auctions of telecommunications spectrum to wireless companies and by requiring newly-hired federal workers to contribute 2.3 percent of their salary toward their traditional defined benefit pensions. The pension provision would raise $15 billion but was more palatable to supporters of federal workers in the Maryland and Virginia delegations than a version sought by House Republicans — and initially, tentatively agreed to by key Democrats — that would have required current federal workers to contribute 1.5 percent more to their pensions.

Wednesday evening featured brinksmanship from Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., a member of the House-Senate negotiating panel, who withheld his support for the entire measure until the pension modifications were made. Cardin's state is home to many federal workers. His signoff was especially crucial since Senate Republican negotiators, who were largely out of the talks, were withholding their support too.

Auctions of portions of the nation's airwaves to wireless companies would net another $15 billion or so — even after $7 billion is set aside to construct and run a new public safety network for emergency first responders.

Extending the payroll tax cut and renewing long-term jobless benefits were key planks in Obama's jobs program, which was announced last September but has been largely ignored since. The measures are intended to help the economy by giving people more money to spend, fattening a typical bimonthly paycheck by $40 or so and giving the unemployed critical cash that most of them turn around and spend immediately.

The measure also includes a key adjustment to the badly broken Medicare payment formula for doctors, which would otherwise impose a 27 percent cut on March 1 under a 1997 budget law. The $20 billion cost would be covered in part by cuts to a fund created under Obama's health care law that awards grants for preventive care and by curbs on Medicaid payments to hospitals that care for a disproportionate share of uninsured patients.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the legislation would probably be voted on by the end of the week. GOP leaders had jump-started the talks over the weekend by dropping a demand that the tax cut be paid for with spending cuts. On Monday, Republicans upped the ante by threatening to advance the payroll tax cut on its own — and leave jobless benefits and the Medicare fix behind, which set off alarms with Democratic lawmakers and at the White House.

"We were not going to allow the Democrats to continue to play political games and raise taxes on working Americans," Boehner told reporters. "We made the decision to bring them to the table so that the games would stop and we would get this work done."

Some rank-and-file Republicans continued to grumble that the measure was flawed and that the payroll tax cut, first enacted in December of 2010, has done little to prop up the economy. But the prevailing instinct among Republicans was political survival and not wanting to look like they were getting in the way of an election-year tax cut.

"Not going to do this again, but if it gets us through the year, gets this issue off the table, it's worth doing this way," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

One snag on Wednesday, aides said, had involved a spat over new auctions of wireless spectrum, a key provision required to help defray the $30 billion cost of extending jobless benefits. House Republicans moved in the Democrats' direction on the amount of money dedicated to creating the public safety communications network for first responders.

Republicans claimed victory in reducing the number of weeks of jobless benefits that workers would be eligible to receive. The maximum number in states with the highest jobless rates would be cut from 99 weeks to 73 weeks by the end of the year, according to aides in both parties. Republicans had wanted to cut the maximum to 59 weeks.

But in states with particularly high unemployment, such as Rhode Island and Nevada, the measure is actually more generous over the next few months than current law.

Negotiators also dropped House-passed language that would have forced low-income people to have Social Security numbers in order to get government checks by claiming the children's tax credit, a move that was aimed at illegal immigrants and caused a furor among many Hispanics.

Republicans also dropped a proposal requiring unemployed people to seek high school equivalency degrees to obtain benefits. But a GOP provision requiring jobless people to be more diligent in job searches as a condition of receiving benefits was included.

The measure also would prevent welfare recipients from using their electronic benefits cards to withdraw money at ATMs in strip clubs, casinos and liquor stores.

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Sony Ericsson is now Sony Mobile Communications

2012-02-17T15:18:00.000-08:00

Back in October, Sony had announced that it will be purchasing Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson's 50 percent stake in the Sony Ericsson joint venture for €1.05 billion, turning it into a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony. And although the deal was supposed to finalize in January, it took a bit longer than that but the process is finally complete.

Starting today, Sony Ericsson will be officially known as Sony Mobile Communications. Every new phone launched from the company will bear only Sony's name, and we have seen a couple of them already. However, the existing range of devices out in the market will continue to bear the Sony Ericsson name.

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Chicago area called most corrupt in U.S.

2012-02-17T14:10:00.000-08:00

The Chicago area is the most corrupt federal jurisdiction in the United States, having averaged 51 public corruption convictions each year since 1976, according to a new report.

Critics of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, meanwhile, say his refusal to release internal records related to controversial policy initiatives are working against the perception that things are improving.

According to the new report, released Wednesday by the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Northern District of Illinois, which includes Chicago and the suburban area surrounding it, logged 1,531 public corruption convictions since 1976, or 84 percent of the state’s total for such convictions.

While California and New York totaled more public corruption convictions, Illinois outranks those states on a per capita basis.

How do key countries rank on corruption?

The report arrives the same day Mayor Emanuel hosts the first meeting of an inaugural ethics task force. Dick Simpson, a political scientist at the University of Illinois at Chicago who co-authored the report, will be the first witness to testify. He says Emanuel is “doing much better in releasing more information” than his predecessor, former Mayor Richard M. Daley, but still has a way to go toward eliminating the city’s legendary patronage system and promoting full transparency at City Hall.

Emanuel has been under fire for appearing not to hold fully to campaign promises his administration would be more transparent than Daley’s, which was notorious for operating in secret. While the Emanuel administration has posted employee payrolls, databases, and other records on the city website, many of which had never seen the light of day until last year, critics say his staff have refused to make all documents involving policy decisions available and continue to react defensively to local media requests seeking complete administration records.

One recent example is an investigation launched by the Chicago Tribune that seeks to reveal the origins of a plan Emanuel successfully pushed through the City Council that will cover nearly half the city with traffic cameras designed to catch speeders, resulting in $100 tickets. While the mayor is selling the initiative as a way to increase child safety and reduce fatalities, critics say it is a shameless revenue generator that originated with an Emanuel insider.

According to the Tribune, the Emanuel administration only released 25 of the 165 internal communications requested through a Freedom of Information request, and the city is also stalling in subsequent requests to release comparable records for other stories involving water rate and vehicle fee hikes.

Emanuel attorney Steve Patton told the Tribune that the city does not need to reveal any more documents than it has to this point, insisting that Illinois’ open records laws allow municipalities to withhold documents relating to policy formation.

“If you’ve got a beef with that, then you need to take it up with the state legislature,” Mr. Patton told the newspaper.

The Tribune is pursuing the records related to the speed camera law because it says the lobbyist representing the city vendor that supplies the city’s red light equipment also worked on Emanuel’s legal team that defended challenges to his residency last year during his campaign for mayor.

Ending insider relationships are among the several recommendations Mr. Simpson planned to make Wednesday based on his report. He suggests that if Chicago is determined to reverse course on its corrupt past, it should bar all lobbying of city and state officials, provide all city documents upon request by the city’s inspector general’s office, and amend the city’s ethics ordinance so it covers all 50 aldermen and their staff.

Simpson also recommends providing ethics training and banning gifts to all city employees. He also advocates for re-introducing civic courses in public schools.

“We have a culture of corruption in Chicago and Illinois.... As we get public outrage, then we have an opportunity to change,” he says.

The message, he says, should be most relevant in a recession, when public bodies get aggressive in seeking cuts to shore up gaping budget holes. For example, the University of Illinois report estimates that corruption costs Illinois state taxpayers $500 million a year. Scheming by former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, found guilty of corruption last year, caused a downgrading of the state’s bond rating in 2009, costing the state an extra $20 million that year.

How do key countries rank on corruption?

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Lawmakers sign off on payroll tax cut deal

2012-02-17T13:30:00.000-08:00

(Image Credit: ABC News)

Negotiators signed off on the bipartisan payroll tax deal this afternoon, paving the way for Congress to approve an extension of the tax holiday, reform unemployment insurance and extend the so-called doc fix for physicians treating Medicare patients through the end of the year.

After coming to terms in the midnight hour early this morning, members of the conference committee gathered in the Capitol with Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the top two leaders on the panel, to sign the conference report Thursday afternoon.

"We have a majority, a majority of the members. It's a done deal. It's done," Baucus, D-Mont., proclaimed as he flashed two thumbs up to video cameras gathered to capture the moment. "For America! It's teamwork."

But so far, no Senate Republicans have signed off on the agreement, objecting because they believe they were shut out of the final negotiations. For some conferees, it was a surprise that no Republican senators had signed off on the deal so far.

"Aren't they going to sign it?" Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., asked Baucus as they walked out of the conference room after signing the report.

"I don't think so," Baucus whispered. "Jon [Kyl] told me he's not going to do it."

Camp, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, deflected questions about Senate Republicans resisting the bipartisan compromise, calling the breakthrough a "positive moment" and declining to comment directly about the Senate GOP's concerns.

"The majority of the House has signed the conference report, so I'll continue to work with the Senate to see where we are at the end of the day, but I'm glad at least on the House side we have a majority," Camp said. "The conference report is done and I'm confident that we'll get the signatures we need to move this to the floor."

The deal prevents a two-percent tax increase on middle-class families. Over the course of the year, an individual earning $50,000 would enjoy a pay increase by $1,000 as a result of the extension. This aspect of the deal was not offset with spending reductions, adding about $100 billion to the deficit.

Aides close to the negotiations said the deal would also extend the doc fix through the end of the year, averting a 27.4 percent cut to physician payment rates and ensuring seniors and the disabled have continued access to the physicians serving our Medicare beneficiaries.

Furthermore, the agreement reforms unemployment insurance depending on the unemployment rate. Most states will receive a maximum of 63 weeks of benefits, compared to 46 states currently receiving 93 weeks of benefits now. But for states with higher unemployment rates, compensation is slowly reduced periodically over the next year, from 99 weeks through May, and up to 73 weeks of relief through December.

The deal also enables states to drug screen and test anyone who lost their job because they failed or refused an employer drug test, or who is seeking a job that generally requires a drug test. To help offset the extension of unemployment insurance, the agreement also requires new civilian federal employees and members of Congress to contribute more towards their defined benefit pension programs.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, was also surprised to learn that Senate Republicans felt shut out of the negotiations.

"Everything that I've seen they've been [as] involved in the process as anybody else," Boehner said. "There was an awful lot of conversation going on. As a matter of fact, if I recall correctly, there were two or three public meetings where they were all present, so for someone to say they weren't involved really would surprise me."

The speaker said that he is working with members on both sides of the aisle to determine how quickly the House could vote to pass the deal. The Senate is expected to vote Friday.

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., urged the speaker to bring the bill to the House floor for a vote Friday before Congress skips town for a week-long President's Day recess.

"It would be important to bring it up tomorrow because I don't think the American people can wait another day." Pelosi said. "We should bring it up as soon as possible so all doubt is removed that we will have a tax cut for 160 million Americans, that unemployment insurance will continue for our workers who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own and that seniors can see their doctors under Medicare."

Pelosi also indicated that she believed her caucus could support the legislation.

"The fact that we have the three features that we asked for," she said. "I don't see a scenario where our members will vote against it."

After battling Democrats for months over the particulars of how to offset the costs of the extensions, Boehner blamed President Obama for failing to repair the economy and leading Congress into a corner where lawmakers had little choice but to pass an economic relief package.

"Let's be honest. This is an economic relief package, not a bill that's going to grow the economy and create jobs," Boehner said. "Last fall, I said that the only reason we're even talking about a payroll tax break or an extension of unemployment benefits is because the president's economic policies have failed. I still believe that to be the case today."

Boehner signaled that he intends to support the agreement, but said the deal would have been unnecessary had the president followed through on his promises to improve the economy.

"That judgment's not made based on my standard," Boehner said. "The president said that if we passed his stimulus bill that we passed three years ago, unemployment would not exceed 8 percent. He also predicted that at this point in the recovery, unemployment would be at six percent. He claimed that his stimulus bill would create millions of jobs immediately, yet there are about 4 million Americans who have lost their job since."

The speaker criticized the White House for calling the payroll tax credit extension its last must-do item on the president's agenda before next fall's election, and he urged President Obama and Senate Democrats to consider more of the GOP's House-passed legislation that they believe would spur job creation.

"For those of you who haven't noticed, the president checked out last Labor Day and has been unengaged in leading our country ever since. It's been one non-stop campaign trip after another," Boehner said. "He can campaign all he wants, but the Republicans are going to stay focused on jobs and the types of pro-growth policies that will help small businesses grow and put Americans back to work."

TV network aims for new viewing audience: dogs

2012-02-17T12:59:00.000-08:00

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Nielsen isn't tracking the network's ratings and broadcasters aren't copying its programs -- not yet, anyway. But a new cable TV station has a fresh audience in its backyard and tails are wagging excitedly.

DogTV, a cable network for dogs, launched in San Diego this past Monday aimed at stay-at-home canines and their workaday owners who want to feel better about time apart. Free at launch, people will eventually pay $4.99 a month for the channel, but that may seem a small for sum for fido's peace of mind.

"We find it helps with separation anxiety, a problem for many dogs, and with keeping dogs relaxed and entertained," said Lisa Wilhoit McCormick, co-owner of Fido & Co. dog country club here, which is the official home of DogTV. "It does look different from human TV - the colors are different and the videos are taken from a dog's point of view."

She said the idea arose from people with stay-at-home dogs who couldn't bring them to a day care facility like Fido & Co. while the owners were at work.

Americans spent more than $45 billion on their pets in 2009, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association. A growing number of the 63 percent of American households with pets are spending more than $4 billion a year on grooming, boarding and doggie day care. So, why not TV?

Dog psychologists and behavior experts put about 400 hours into researching what TV-watching pooches like to see and hear and how programs should look.

DogTV's scientific advisory board includes Dr. Nicholas Dodman, a professor of veterinary medicine and behavior at Tufts University and British dog trainer Victoria Stillwell.

"Every dog has a little different taste in programming," Neumann said. "We have learned a lot and we're hoping to learn more from this launch," according to DogTV chief executive officer Gilead Neumann.

CAR CHASES OUT; SPONGEBOB IN

McCormick said many people already leave their TVs on for their dogs, but programs with car chases, sirens and gunshots can cause stress for canines.

Researchers found that dogs like "SpongeBob SquarePants" and harp music, among other things. They enjoy shows with other dogs in them including the movie "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," a perennial favorite at Fido & Co.

Other DogTV shows include a pooch-eye view from outside car windows set to somber piano music, and the sound of panting, as well as low and close-to-the-ground shots of dogs playing and chasing balls.

One thing you won't find on DogTV: advertising.

"Advertising is difficult for us - our viewers aren't able to speak out or purchase products," Neumann said. "Our content will be 100 percent for dogs, we love our subscribers but they are paying for our efforts to please our viewers."

The channel, which is being broadcast locally by Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable, was developed by a team of Israeli TV entrepreneurs. After the initial launch, customers will pay $4.99 per month for the service. Cox Cable spokeswoman Ceanne Guerra said it's too early to tell how many viewers the show has had, but she does know that a few were her own dogs.

"I did turn it on this morning," Guerra said. "It showed two dogs rough-housing and playing and another one sleeping when I was leaving for work."

At Fido & Co., where a day of play costs about $34, DogTV plays on big screen TVs for the guests, McCormick said.

It helps to put the television near the floor, she noted.

(Reporting By Bob Tourtellotte)

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Sony Ericsson range grabs 4 iF design awards

2012-02-17T12:23:00.000-08:00

Sony Ericsson walked out triumphant from the iF design awards ceremony after scoring 4 trophies in the telecommunications category. The company's handset range didn't even need the help of the Xperia S, which is yet to hit the shelves, to do so well.

There were 4,322 entries for this year's iF design awards, divided into 16 categories and 100 of them got the iF gold award for exceptional design achievements. Sony Ericsson's lineup of Android smartphones accounted for three of the winners, while their Mix Walkman featurephone grabbed another award.

The honored devices were the rugged Xperia active, the compact Xperia ray and Xperia mini and the music-centered Mix Walkman. Quite the achievement for the soon-to-become Sony company, considering that those handsets are actually quite different from each other in terms of aesthetics.

According to the jury, the takeaway from this year's iF awards is: ?The interplay of different textures, of matt and high-gloss finishes and of tactile and colored surfaces is particularly to the fore this year and serves, primarily, as a means of differentiation in the marketplace."

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Report: Most Honduras fire inmates awaited trial

2012-02-17T12:22:00.000-08:00

COMAYAGUA, Honduras (AP) — The prisoners whose scorched bodies were carried out piece by piece Thursday morning from a charred Honduran prison had been locked inside an overcrowded penitentiary where most inmates had never been charged, let alone convicted, according to an internal Honduran government report obtained by The Associated Press.

More than half of the 856 inmates of the Comayagua farm prison north of the Central American country's capital were either awaiting trial or being held as suspected gang members, according to a report sent by the Honduran government this month to the United Nations.

A fire started by an inmate tore through the prison Tuesday night, burning and suffocating screaming men in their locked cells as rescuers desperately searched for keys. Officials confirmed 358 dead, making it the world's deadliest prison fire in a century.

Survivors told horrific tales of climbing walls to break the sheet metal roofing and escape, only to see prisoners in other cell blocks being burned alive. Inmates were found stuck to the roofing, their bodies fused to the metal.

From the time firefighters received a call at 10:59 p.m. local time, the rescue was marred by human error and conditions that made the prison ripe for catastrophe.

According to the report, obtained exclusively by the AP, on any given day there were about 800 inmates in a facility built for 500. There were only 51 guards by day and just 12 at night — the case at the time of the fire.

The prison has no medical or mental health care and the budget allows less than $1 per day per prisoner for food. Prisoners only needed to bear a simple tattoo to be incarcerated under the strict Honduran anti-gang laws, the report said. The U.N. condemns the practice as a violation of international law.

National prison system director Danilo Orellana declined to comment on the supervision or the crowded conditions in Comayagua, a prison farm where inmates grew corn and beans. He referred an AP reporter to the commander of the prison police, who said comment would have to come from his public affairs office, which did not respond to an AP request late Wednesday.

President Porfirio Lobo on Wednesday suspended Orellana and other top prison officials.

Inside the prison, charred walls and debris showed the path of the fire, which burned through six barracks that had been crammed with 70 to 105 inmates each in four-level bunk beds.

Bodies were found piled up in the bathrooms, where inmates apparently fled to the showers, hoping the water would save them from blistering flames. Prisoners perished clutching each other in bathtubs and curled up in laundry sinks.

"It was something horrible," said survivor Eladio Chica, 40, as he was led away by police Wednesday night, handcuffed, to testify before a local court about what he saw. "I only saw flames, and when we got out, men were being burned, up against the bars, they were stuck to them."

The deadly inferno never had to happen.

The frantic inmate who started the fire gave warning, phoning the state governor and screaming he was going to burn the place down. After the man, who wasn't identified, lit a mattress on fire a few minutes later, crews said they rushed to the prison, arriving two minutes after a call for help because the firehouse was nearby. But the handful of guards held them out for a catastrophic 30 minutes, saying they thought the screams inside were a prison break and a riot. When rescuers finally were allowed in, they said they couldn't find keys or guards to unlock the barracks.

Fifteen minutes away, the U.S. military's Southern Command operates Joint Task Force Bravo, where major search and rescue teams and fire squads are on standby. They were never dispatched.

Capt. Candace Allen, a spokeswoman for Joint Task Force Bravo, said they can only send what they're asked for, so throughout the night they sent surgical masks, flashlights and Glowsticks. No one asked for firefighters.

On Thursday morning, officials continued their investigation at the prison, where murals of Catholic saints, Jesus Christ and psalms stand out in an otherwise miserable place. Two palm trees flank the front entrance where a sign reads: "Let there be justice, even if the world perishes."

"Conditions at Comayagua? I'd have to say among the worst in Honduras," said Ron W. Nikkel, president of Prison Fellowship International who visited the facility in 2005. "It was very congested, there's not enough food, it's dangerous and dirty."

The U.S. State Department has criticized the Honduran government for harsh prison conditions, citing severe overcrowding, malnutrition, and lack of adequate sanitation.

"The ready access of prisoners to weapons and other contraband, impunity for inmate attacks against nonviolent prisoners, inmate escapes, and threats by inmates and their associates outside prisons against prison officials and their families contributed to an unstable and dangerous penitentiary system environment," says the most recent State Department report on human rights in Honduras. "There were reports that prisoners were tortured or otherwise abused in, or on their way to, prisons and other detention facilities."

Human rights groups and the U.S. government also say inmates with mental illnesses, as well as those with tuberculosis and other infectious diseases, are routinely held among the general prison population.

Filmmaker Oscar Estrada, whose documentary "El Porvenir" focused on a 2003 Honduran prison riot, said the fire was one of several in recent years, including a 2004 blaze that killed more than 100 inmates.

"When fires break out, they will not open gates to release prisoners and they die inside. It's happened before. They haven't learned because this is a collapsing country, they're not interested in making change," he said.

Prison historian Mitchel P. Roth said fires pose a major challenge for prisons.

"Prisoners set fires in their cells all the time, either for attention, to attack someone, or some people just like fire," said Roth, a professor at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas.

Prisoners are typically locked in their cells while poorly-trained guards may be scrambling to save their own lives, added Roth, who is writing a book about a 1930 fire in Ohio that killed 322 prisoners in just 30 minutes.

"There's rarely time to react as that smoke spreads," he said. "This was one of those tragedies waiting to happen."

___

Mendoza reported from Mexico City. Associated Press writer Alberto Arce contributed to this report from Mexico City.

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Motorola releases Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade schedule

2012-02-17T11:49:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago Motorola had put up a post on their site talking about the difficulties in getting Ice Cream Sandwich to your phone. Today, they have released a schedule that shows when each of their Android smartphones will receive the coveted ICS upgrade, according to the region.

Starting with the US, we can see that XOOM Family Edition, ATRIX 2 and the ATRIX 4G MB860 will receive the update in the third quarter this year. Others like the DROID series, however, are still in the evaluation and planning stage. Meanwhile, older phones like the DEFY, DROID original, DROID X, etc. will remain on Froyo forever.

In Canada the RAZR will get the update in Q2 but the ATRIX 4G will remain on Gingerbread.

Moving over to the EMEA region, the RAZR and XOOM Wi-Fi will be upgraded in Q2 and the XOOM 2 in Q3. ATRIX update is still being planned whereas the DEFY+ will remain on Gingerbread.

In Asia Pacific, The RAZR and the XOOM will receive the update in Q2 and the ATRIX 2 and XOOM 2 in Q3. The DEFY, DEFY+ and the older phones will not be upgraded.

Lastly, in Latin America and Mexico, RAZR and XOOM will be upgraded in Q2, ATRIX 2 and XOOM 2 in Q3 and the the update for ATRIX and MILESTONE 3 is still being planned. Again, no update for the DEFY.

If you want to check out the full list of handsets, click on the source link below.

Source

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Xi wraps up highly scripted visit to US capital

2012-02-17T10:59:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — For Americans looking at the U.S. visit of China's likely future leader for a clue about where relations between the two nations might be headed, the signal has been clear: No change in substance, but perhaps a change in style.

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping toed the line set by the man he is to succeed as Communist Party chief in the fall, Hu Jintao, who made a grand U.S. state visit a year ago.

Xi, who is expected to become president in 2013, made clear that China wants a deeper relationship with the United States and even welcomes its engagement in the Asia-Pacific, as long as it respects China's interests and concerns in its own neighborhood.

"It was a scripted trip without surprises," said Jeff Bader, East Asia policy director during the first two years of the Obama administration. "He obviously wasn't here to make policy, or make decisions or alter positions on issues. He is not the No. 1 yet and he doesn't want to prejudice his chances of being No. 1."

But while Xi, 58, has said little new — and did little to narrow the gaping differences that exist between the U.S. and China on issues such as human rights — he made a conscious effort to appear less remote than the stiff and aloof Hu.

"He's more interactive than past Chinese leaders. He looks you in the eye, and you feel he's conversing with you," said Bader, who spoke briefly with Xi on Wednesday.

Mindful that Xi likely will lead China for the next decade, Washington pulled out the stops to make him feel welcome. He held a long meeting with President Barack Obama and received a 19-gun salute at the Pentagon — unprecedented for a visiting vice president.

His two-day swing through the power centers of Washington was followed by a trip Wednesday to Muscatine, Iowa, where Xi visited in 1985 as a 31-year-old, county-level official to learn about crop and livestock practices.

In Muscatine, Xi visited with some of the people he'd spent time with during the 1985 trip. He also was greeted by Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, and sat down for tea with the residents while photographers and video crews recorded the interaction.

Participants said they were impressed with Xi's memory of his earlier trip and his genuine fondness for Iowa and rural Americans.

"The guy has a clairvoyant memory. It was unbelievable," said Tom Hoopes, a vegetable farmer who showed Xi his asparagus and sweet potatoes during a tour of his farm in 1985.

The Iowa trip in particular was an opportunity for Xi to show a more personal side. Those who attended the Muscatine meeting said Xi shook everyone's hand, was quick to smile and even made a couple light remarks.

"I'm flabbergasted that he would take time out of his busy schedule and come back to Muscatine," said Eleanor Dvorchak, whose family hosted Xi for two nights during the visit 27 years ago.

Xi and Branstad boasted of the warm and glowing relationship between Iowa and China during formal toasts at a state dinner in Des Moines on Wednesday night.

During the toast, Xi spoke of the "important consensus" that has been built by the Chinese president and Obama.

"I'm here to help build the China-U.S. cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefit," Xi said through a translator. "I am here to engage with a broad section of American society to help deepen the friendship between the Chinese and American people."

Before leaving for Iowa, Xi, who has a daughter at Harvard University, used the main policy speech of his U.S. visit to call for more people-to-people ties between the world's two largest economies.

Steering away for a while from the diplomatic-speak characteristic of a Chinese leader, Xi recounted at length a personal story about how, as an official serving in the Chinese province of Fujian in 1992, he had helped an American widow meet with the elderly friends of her husband who had lived as a child in the province.

That said, Xi also has been sure to restate standard Chinese positions, urging the U.S. to oppose any moves toward Taiwanese independence and not meddle on the issue of Tibet, where sentiment against anti-Chinese rule has flared with a spate of self-immolations by Buddhist clergy who support their exiled leader, the Dalai Lama.

Xi also heard plenty of critical voices — a reflection of the gamut of issues on which Washington and Beijing don't see eye-to-eye, and which also are likely to intrude on the U.S. presidential campaign this year.

Xi would have seen the boisterous Tibetan protesters yelling anti-China slogans outside the White House on Tuesday. He listened to business executives and officials' concerns about unfair trading practices and hurdles to American investment. He also got an earful from a Congress that is never shy about airing its criticism of Beijing.

Xi met with House leaders, and Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, delivered a letter regarding the plight of Gao Zhisheng, a dissident and human rights lawyer imprisoned in China.

The Chinese vice president also faced tough criticism from senators on human rights and allegations that China manipulates its currency to help its exporters. They also raised China's veto of a recent U.N. Security Council resolution to condemn the bloody crackdown by Syria's government on its opponents.

John Park, an expert on East Asia and research fellow at Harvard University's Belfer Center, said Xi will face many internal challenges when he takes the helm in China and a change in leadership style won't necessarily mean a new chapter in U.S.-China relations.

"There's been a lot of reading into the fact he spent some time in Iowa. Maybe that was something of a formative experience," Park said. But he added that it does not mean Xi will be a reformer.

___

Associated Press writers Tom Raum and Donna Cassata in Washington, David Pitt in Des Moines, Iowa, and Ryan J. Foley in Muscatine, Iowa, contributed to this report.

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Huawei to bring Ascend D1 Q to MWC, a quad-core smartphone?

2012-02-17T10:15:00.000-08:00

Huawei made quite a splash at CES with their stunningly thin Ascend P1 S Android phone and their Chief Marketing Officer, Yu Chengdong, reportedly let it slip that Huawei will be showing off the Ascend D1 Q and the MediaPad 10 at the MWC.

That can make an even bigger splash - the Japanese blog that spotted Yu Chengdong's post is reporting that the D stands for Diamond (which is higher end than the P1's Platinum) and the Q stands for quad-core.

Of course, the "Q equals quad-core" reasoning is not official, so take it with a pinch of salt.

There's not much else we know about the phone or is purported companion - the Huawei MediaPad 10. The MediaPad 10 will clearly be a 10" version of the 7" MediaPad, but that's all the info on it.

The MWC starts in a couple of weeks and we'll be there to report on Huawei's new phones and tablets.

Source (in Japanese)

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Seattle arrest questions cops' use of dash cams

2012-02-17T10:11:00.000-08:00

Two friends who had planned to visit a Seattle sports bar claim they ended up being kicked, arrested at gunpoint and held in jail for several hours by a cop who said he intended to "make stuff up."

Part of the arrest of Josh Lawson, 23, and Christopher Franklin, 22, on Nov. 16, 2010 is caught on tape by the officer's dashboard camera.

But key moments of the arrest that should have been captured on video are missing and it was unclear whether the officer intentionally neglected to turn on the dash cam. None of the released footage shows the officer in the moments he made the stop or kicked Lawson.

The accusations against Richardson are among many that have put a spotlight on the Seattle Police Department and it comes after the release of a Department of Justice report in December that said "serious concerns about practices that could have a disparate impact on minority communities" were raised by its review.

The recording of the arrest was released after ABC News affiliate KOMO began an investigation into missing police dashboard camera videos.

The recording of the arrest of Lawson and Franklin -- who were picked up for allegedly assaulting and robbing a man a short time earlier -- shows the suspects being helped from the ground and into the patrol car of Officer Brad Richardson.

The officer's uniform microphone also records Richardson telling the suspects, "Yeah, I'm going to make stuff up."

The Seattle Police Department called Richardson's comment "banter" and the officer was exonerated of any wrongdoing after a use of force review was conducted, along with an investigation by the Seattle Police Department's Office of Professional Accountability.

"Clearly if the officer had made stuff up he would have been in hot water," Sgt. Sean Whitcomb of the Seattle Police Department told ABCNews.com.

Lawson and Richardson said the dash cam did not record crucial moments of the arrest that they said left them with facial bruises and swelling. They claimed they were manhandled and kicked in the face by Richardson, while the officer maintained that he only kicked Lawson in the chest to make him comply with an order to get on the ground.

"I don't know who was recording what," Whitcomb told ABCNews.com. "Officers should record, [but] it's not a violation not to."

Lawson and Franklin, who are African-American, were arrested after a 911 call came in from a few blocks away alleging a man had been the victim of an assult and robbery. The two suspects were described as black males in their late twenties, tall, skinny and wearing jeans.

Franklin is 5-foot-9. Lawson, who is six feet tall. Instead of jeans, he was wearing white sweat pants.

"The only thing they had to fit the description was black males," said the pair's attorney, Lizanne Padula. "This was like a meteor dropping down on them."

When they found out why they were being arrested, the two men became alarmed.

"It felt like no one was going to believe us," Franklin told ABCNews.com. "We were just going to be another statistic."

Richardson's written report described a different situation. The officer wrote in the police report that the men continued to approach his car even after he yelled at them to stop.

"The male wearing the hoodie continued to keep his hands in his hoodie pockets. With the strong possibility both of these males were the assault suspects and they were ignoring commands to stop, I again advised, 'Stop, Police, show me your hands and get on the ground.'"

According to Richardson, the two men got closer, so he drew his weapon.

Lawson said they complied with the officer's order.

"I got on the ground. I sat with my hands up frozen because I had a gun pointed at me," Lawson said. "I had to come back into myself and understand there was a gun on me. I was in shock."

Richardson said that Lawson stayed in a crouch position, not fully laying on the ground.

"I used a flat foot, front push kick to the center of the male chest knocking him backwards and flat to the ground," he wrote.

The robbery victim positively identified the two men, while a witness said she was uncertain. No charges were filed at the victims' request.

The two men want changes in the Seattle Police Department. They have also filed a complaint for damages, possibly the first step in a lawsuit.

"We're terrified of hanging out in our own city," Franklin said. "These officers have seen our faces. They know our names. We can't trust people."

Trinidad Moruga Scorpion wins hottest pepper title

2012-02-17T09:04:00.000-08:00

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — There are super-hot chile varieties. And then there's the sweat-inducing, tear-generating, mouth-on-fire Trinidad Moruga Scorpion.

With a name like that, it's not surprising that months of research by the experts at New Mexico State University's Chile Pepper Institute have identified the variety as the new hottest pepper on the planet.

The golf ball-sized pepper scored the highest among a handful of chile breeds reputed to be among the hottest in the world. Its mean heat topped more than 1.2 million units on the Scoville heat scale, while fruits from some individual plants reached 2 million heat units.

"You take a bite. It doesn't seem so bad, and then it builds and it builds and it builds. So it is quite nasty," Paul Bosland, a renowned pepper expert and director of the chile institute, said of the pepper's heat.

Researchers were pushed by hot sauce makers, seed producers and others in the spicy foods industry to establish the average heat levels for super-hot varieties in an effort to quash unscientific claims of which peppers are actually the hottest.

That's something that hadn't been done before, Bosland said.

"The question was, could the Chile Pepper Institute establish the benchmark for chile heat?" he said. "Chile heat is a complex thing, and the industry doesn't like to base it on just a single fruit that's a record holder. It's too variable." The academic institute is based at the university's agriculture school and is partially funded by federal grants, as well as some industry groups depending on the project.

The team planted about 125 plants of each variety — the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, the Trinidad Scorpion, the 7-pot, the Chocolate 7-pot and the Bhut Jolokia, which was a previous record-holder identified by the institute and certified by Guinness World Records in 2007.

Randomly selected mature fruits from several plants within each variety were harvested, dried and ground to powder. The compounds that produce heat sensation — the capsaicinoids — were then extracted and examined.

During harvesting, senior research specialist Danise Coon said she and the two students who were picking the peppers went through about four pairs of latex gloves.

"The capsaicin kept penetrating the latex and soaking into the skin on our hands. That has never happened to me before," she said.

Chile peppers of the same variety can vary in heat depending on environmental conditions. More stress on a plant — hotter temperatures or less water, for example — will result in hotter fruit.

The Trinidad Moruga Scorpion's new notoriety is already making waves in the industry and among those who love their hot, spicy foods.

"As with all the previous record holders, there will be a run on seeds and plants," said Jim Duffy, a grower in San Diego who supplied the university with seeds for four of the super-hot varieties. "Like Cabbage Patch dolls right before Christmas or Beanie Babies, it's like the hot item."

Not even Duffy or the researchers would dare to pop a whole Trinidad Moruga Scorpion in their mouths, but there are plenty of videos on social networking sites where heat-loving daredevils have tried.

The blood flow increases and the endorphins start flowing. Their faces turn red, the sweat starts rolling, their eyes and noses water and there's a fiery sensation that spreads across their tongues and down their throats.

"People actually get a crack-like rush," Duffy said. "I know the people who will eat the hottest stuff to get this rush, but they've got to go through the pain."

Pepper experts said there are a handful of people who are crazy enough to subject themselves to the pain, but the rest just want to try out these super-hot peppers on their friends or make killer hot sauce — and it doesn't take a whole pepper to do that.

More bang for the buck is how Bosland describes it. He said a family could buy two of the super-hot peppers to flavor their meals for an entire week.

The beauty of the peppers is they're not only the hottest in the world, but they're also some of the most flavorful peppers, Duffy said.

"You can make a barbeque sauce or a hot sauce at a mild to medium level using small amounts of these peppers and it will be so darn addictive that you won't want to put your spoon down," he said. "You'll want to eat and eat and eat."

____

Follow Susan Montoya Bryan on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/susanmbryanNM

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Aussie airline goes under; 4K passengers stranded

2012-02-17T08:31:00.000-08:00

SYDNEY (AP) -- Thousands of travelers from Hawaii to Thailand were stranded Friday after budget airline Air Australia ran out of money and went into voluntary administration, immediately grounding its five-jet fleet.

The Brisbane-based international and domestic airline, formerly known as Strategic Airlines, said all flights had been canceled and the airline would not be accepting new bookings because it could no longer pay its bills. Voluntary administration in Australia is similar to bankruptcy protection in the U.S., and can buy a company time to trade out of its financial problems.

"It currently appears that there are no funds available to meet operational expenses so flights will be suspended immediately," the airline said in a statement. Passengers who bought tickets with credit cards or had travel insurance may be given a refund, the airline said.

Around 4,000 passengers were overseas with Air Australia round-trip tickets, voluntary administrator Mark Korda said. Some of those affected were stranded in Honolulu and Phuket, Thailand.

"Overnight, the company was unable to refuel its planes in Phuket," Korda told Australia's Fairfax Radio. "The directors appointed us at 1:30 this morning and the boys have been working throughout the night to deal with what's a very difficult situation."

Stranded in Honolulu, Priya Sinh was forced to postpone her 18th birthday party on Saturday at her home on Australia's Gold Coast. She used her iPad to log onto Facebook to tell her 70 guests not to come because she wouldn't be back in time.

"We tried to laugh about it, but it wasn't funny," she said while her family called hotels looking for a room. Her mother managed to reserve the last four seats on a Jetstar flight to Sydney leaving Saturday.

Australian airline Qantas and Jetstar, its budget subsidiary, were considering adding services to help stranded passengers get to their destinations, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said. He said the airline will sell stranded passengers tickets for the same price they paid for their Air Australia tickets, giving them a chance to recover the full price from their travel agencies or credit card companies.

Air Australia's fleet consists of five Airbus A330-200 and A320-200 aircraft, and regularly flies to Bali, Phuket, Honolulu and cities within Australia.

Korda said in a statement that Air Australia's administrators were calling for immediate expressions of interest in the sale of the business.

___

Associated Press writer Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu contributed to this report.

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Birthday turns into memorial for NKorean leader

2012-02-17T07:36:00.000-08:00

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Two months after the death of Kim Jong Il, North Koreans commemorated what would have been his 70th birthday Thursday with the flowers that bear his name, praising the longtime leader as a powerful but benevolent father figure while pledging fealty to the son who has taken his place.

In frigid Pyongyang, new leader Kim Jong Un, wearing a dark Mao suit and a solemn expression, led senior officials and military leaders into a hall in Kumsusan Memorial Palace to bow deeply before a large portrait of a smiling Kim Jong Il.

Hundreds more followed Kim Jong Un, lining up in rows in front of his father's portrait to pay their respects before filing out of the hall under the watch of a uniformed honor guard with rifles. A huge wreath of flowers stood near the portrait.

At Kim Il Sung Square, the main plaza in the capital city, North Koreans bowed and laid flowers, including red "kimjongilia" begonias, at another portrait of Kim Jong Il hanging on the Grand People's Study House. Among them was Paek Won Chol, who described himself as a "soldier and disciple" of Kim.

"I will devote my all for the building of a powerful and prosperous nation" under Kim's son, Kim Jong Un, Paek said.

Last month, top leaders of the Workers' Party announced that Kim Jong Il's body would lie in state at Kumsusan, where his father, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, already lies in state.

Among those paying respects with Kim Jong Un were the country's nominal head of state, Kim Yong Nam; Premier Choe Yong Rim; Kang Sok Ju, a vice premier who was Kim Jong Il's key foreign policy adviser; and Kim Ok, a woman believed to have been Kim Jong Il's companion.

The veneration of Kim Jong Il has accelerated in recent weeks, but festivities have been muted in light of his Dec. 17 death of a heart attack, which plunged the nation into mourning and propelled his young son into the seat of power just three years after he was anointed his father's successor. The leadership has emphasized Kim's legacy while praising Kim Jong Un as the only choice to lead this socialist nation of 24 million.

Kim Jong Il ruled with an iron fist for 17 years, a period that included a famine in the 1990s that killed hundreds of thousands of people and protracted tensions over the nation's drive to build nuclear weapons. Food shortages persist in North Korea and relations with South Korea are at their lowest point in years.

Composers have crafted new odes to Kim Jong Il, while sculptors have chiseled slogans honoring him into the sides of mountains. His birthday was renamed "Day of the Shining Star," and this week he was accorded a new title: Generalissimo.

Workers fanned out across the city this week to spruce up Pyongyang, though there were no indications that a major party was being planned. Workers crouched over frozen flower beds, chipping at the ice to plant flowers made of fabric.

By Wednesday, the red flag of the Workers' Party and the red, white and blue flag of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea — North Korea's formal name — fluttered from posts. Posters and banners honoring the Day of the Shining Star brightened up buildings and sidewalks.

Women donned shimmering traditional Korean dresses in a rainbow of colors for special concerts and exhibitions staged in Kim Jong Il's honor. People hurried down streets carrying plastic bouquets of four favorite flowers: red kimjongilia begonias, fuchsia kimilsungia orchids, and the pink and lavender azaleas favored by Kim Jong Il's mother.

On Tuesday, the nation's top political and military leaders assembled to watch the unveiling of the first bronze statue of Kim Jong Il. The sculpture, built at Kim Jong Un's request, depicts Kim Jong Il in his younger years astride a rearing horse with his father, also on horseback, at his side.

Portraits of Kim Jong Il show him smiling beatifically, and a stamp issued following his death captures him sharing a laugh with Kim Jong Un.

Those images are replicated across Pyongyang in huge portraits hanging at the People's Palace of Culture, a flower exhibition featuring his kimjongilia begonias and at a book fair at the Grand People's Study House.

It's an image that contrasts with Kim Jong Il in his later years, as he reportedly recovered from a stroke and battled chronic illness. He often appeared in public wearing a heavy parka and dark sunglasses.

The North's leadership has also sought to portray Kim as a defender of the nation, which has remained in a technical state of war with the United States since the 1950s, when the Korean War left the Korean Peninsula divided into north and south. During his rule, Kim focused on building nuclear weapons, calling them necessary protection against the U.S. military presence in South Korea even as they drew sanctions and cost the nation much-needed aid.

Kim Yong Nam, the nominal head of state, praised Kim on Tuesday for "turning our country into an invincible one that can never be defeated and has a nuclear deterrent."

Kim Jong Il is also being portrayed as a man of the people. While his father often wore a Western-style suit and tie, Kim Jong Il eschewed such formality. In his younger years, he wore a high-necked Mao suit; later in life, he stuck to a khaki work suit and, in winter, the parka.

One display at a stamp exhibition in Pyongyang paid homage to the leader's plebeian choice of clothing, calling it proof that he was devoted to working for the people. He was a man, according to state media, who died while working on the special train he took to provide "on-the-spot guidance" across the country.

While North Korea's leadership has venerated Kim, it has also emphasized Kim Jong Un's links to his revered grandfather, whom Kim Jong Un resembles in looks and style.

Shedding the quiet demeanor he displayed when his father was alive, Kim Jong Un wasted no time in asserting himself as the new leader, making energetic visits to military units seen as important to his father's "military first" policy.

North Koreans are celebrating the son as they remember the father at events that on Wednesday included an international skating show and a synchronized swimming show. Both opened with mournful odes to Kim Jong Il and ended with a new song for his son: "We Will Defend Gen. Kim Jong Un at the Risk of Our Lives."

___

Follow AP Korea bureau chief Jean H. Lee at twitter.com/newsjean.

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U.N. General Assembly condemns Syrian leader

2012-02-17T06:52:00.001-08:00

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Thursday for a resolution backing an Arab League plan calling for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down and strongly condemning human rights violations by his regime.

The vote in the 193-member world body on the Arab-sponsored resolution was 137-12 with 17 abstentions. Several countries complained immediately afterward that they unable to vote due to problems with the U.N.'s voting machine.

Russia and China, who vetoed a similar resolution in the Security Council, voted against the General Assembly measure along with North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and others who heeded Syria's appeal to vote "no."

Supporters were hoping for a high "yes" vote to deliver a strong message to Assad to hand power to his vice president and immediately stop the bloody crackdown that has killed over 5,400 people. The measure had over 70 co-sponsors and won support from more than two-thirds of the General Assembly.

"Today, the U.N. General Assembly sent a clear message to the people of Syria: the world is with you," U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said in a statement. President Assad "has never been more isolated. A rapid transition to democracy in Syria has garnered the resounding support of the international community. Change must now come."

Saudi Arabia's U.N. Ambassador Abdallah Y. Al-Mouallimi called it "a victory for the Syria people," the U.N. and the Arab League.

"It is a message that the international community is sending loud and clear that the struggle of the Syrian people is not unheard and is not unresponded to," he said, and it reaffirms that the Security Council's failure to adopt a resolution on Syria earlier this month "does not reflect the will and the desire of the international community."

There are no vetoes in the General Assembly and while their resolutions are not legally binding, they do reflect world opinion on major issues.

The transfer of power to Syria's vice president is part of the Arab League plan for a transitional government which was adopted on Jan. 22. It calls for the establishment of a national unity government within two months to prepare for internationally supervised parliamentary and presidential elections.

Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari warned that the resolution will send a message to extremists that "violence and deliberate sabotage" are acceptable and will lead "to more chaos and more crisis."qqqq

After the vote, a bitter Ja'afari told the assembly: "The Arab Trojan horse has been unmasked today." He called the 22-nation Arab League, from which Syria has been suspended, "broken both politically and morally." He also accused the cosponsors of using the Arab League to internationalize the situation in Syria.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov called the assembly resolution "unbalanced," saying "it directs all the demands at the government, and says nothing about the opposition," according to Russian news agencies.

The resolution condemns "all violence, irrespective of where it comes from, and calls upon all parties in Syria, including armed groups, to immediately stop all violence or reprisals."

But Arab countries on Tuesday rejected amendments proposed by Russia, which has been one of Syria's strongest backers since the Cold War when the president's late father, Hafez Assad, led the country.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said his country voted against the resolution because its proposed amendments were ignored.

One called on "all sections of the Syrian opposition to dissociate themselves from armed groups engaged in acts of violence" and urged countries with influence to prevent continued violence by such groups. The other demanded that the withdrawal of all Syrian armed forces from cities and towns — which is called for in the Arab League plan — take place "in conjunction with the end of attacks by armed groups against state institutions and quarters of cities and towns."

Arab sponsors couldn't accept these amendments because they sought to equate the Assad regime's crackdown on civilian protesters with the opposition that rose up to confront the violent attacks, U.N. diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the discussions were private.

Many countries expressed regret that more effort wasn't made to try to incorporate Russia's amendments and obtain a broader consensus.

Churkin stressed that the key to resolving the Syrian crisis is "through an inclusive political process led by the Syrians themselves."

China's deputy ambassador Wang Min reiterated Beijing's opposition to "armed intervention or forcing a so-called regime change in Syria." But he supported Arab calls for an immediate end to the violence.

It was the second time in two months that the General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning human rights violations in Syria and demanding an end to the violence.

The latest resolution makes no specific reference to the Arab League's call Sunday for the Security Council to authorize a joint Arab-U.N. peacekeeping force for Syria, or to the possibility of a joint observer mission going to Syria.

It makes five demands — that the Syrian government stop all violence, release all those detained during the unrest, withdraw all armed forces from cities and towns, guarantee peaceful demonstrations, and allow unhindered access for Arab League monitors and international media.

It also asks U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to consider the appointment of a special envoy to Syria, possibly jointly with the Arab League.

Egypt's deputy ambassador Osama Abdelkhalek, speaking for the Arab group, stressed that Thursday's resolution "is just the start."

He appealed to the Syrian parties, government and international community "to work hand in hand, support the Arab efforts, so that we would be able within very few weeks ... to find one last solution, settlement, to the very serious situation in Syria."

___

Associated Press Writer Anita Snow contributed to this report from the United Nations

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Exclusive: Euro zone ponders delay of 2nd Greek bailout program

2012-02-17T06:52:00.000-08:00

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone finance officials are examining ways of delaying parts or even all of a second bailout program for Greece while still ensuring it avoids a disorderly default, several EU sources said on Wednesday.

The delays could possibly last until after Greece holds elections expected in April, they said, although it depends to what extent Greek political leaders make firm commitments on further spending cuts and labor reforms unpopular with voters.

While most elements of the package, which will total 130 billion euros, are in place, some euro zone finance ministers are not satisfied that all Greece's political party leaders are fully behind the reforms and so want legal guarantees.

It is also not clear that Greece's debt-to-GDP ratio, which currently stands at around 160 percent, will be cut to 120 percent by 2020 via the agreement, as demanded by the 'troika' of the European Commission, IMF and European Central Bank.

"There are proposals to delay the Greek package or to split it, so that an immediate default is avoided, but not everything is committed to," one official briefed on preparations for a euro zone finance ministers call later in the day told Reuters.

"They'll discuss the options," he said, adding: "There is pressure from several countries to hold off until there is a concrete commitment from Greece, which may not come until after they've held elections."

Under the "split" proposal, a debt swap agreement between Greece and private sector Greek bondholders could go ahead.

The process, which aims to cut Athens' debt burden by 100 billion euros via banks and insurers taking losses, was supposed to begin on Friday but is now likely to begin next week, depending on the outcome of talks among euro zone finance ministers in the coming days.

If successfully completed, the swap would allow Greece to meet a 14.5 billion euro bond redemption payment on March 20, which if missed would result in default.

But the bulk of the 130 billion euros bailout would be held back as leverage over Athens.

The euro slid to its lowest in more than a week against the dollar in response to the Reuters report and safe-haven German Bund futures rose to session highs.

Greece's conservative party leader Antonis Samaras, widely tipped as the country's next prime minister, pledged in writing that if elected he would stick to an agreed program of welfare and job cuts - a commitment demanded by euro zone ministers before they would agree to the new bailout.

"It is fair to say that my patience has run out," Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager told U.S. National Public Radio. "We have to see the evidence of implementing the measure into law and just promises are not enough, not anymore."

One senior euro zone diplomat said the pressure being applied on Athens to meet its commitments seemed to be working, and suggested that as long as that held, more radical proposals for re-examining the second package may not be necessary.

"With every small piece of news that we get from Athens, the situation is becoming better. Whether it will hold all the way through, we can't know. They'll have to discuss that tonight and come back to it on Monday, I imagine."

Germany, Finland and the Netherlands are the countries pushing to delay the package, two other officials said, with Germany the most adamant and suggesting that final approval should only be granted after new elections are held.

Euro zone finance ministers began a conference call at 1600 GMT to discuss how to proceed. The call replaces a face-to-face meeting that was cancelled late on Tuesday because Greece had not provided sufficient commitments from its side.

Asked whether the package could be split, a spokesman for the European Commission said it was not yet decided.

"Up until now in the discussions, this has always been treated as an entire package," Amadeu Altafaj, spokesman on economic and monetary affairs told reporters, adding specifically on the private-sector portion:

"Up until now, that's never been separated out. Now what will happen tonight, I don't know, I can't pre-empt that. But that's certainly the logic we've been following so far."

NOT UNTIL APRIL

One major problem with splitting the package is whether private holders of Greek bonds would be willing to sign up to a swap if Greece's financing, which makes up the bulk of the second package, is not in place, since that would mean the state might not be able to meet future bond payments.

As a result, one euro zone source said it was possible that the entire second package - the private sector portion and the remainder - could be delayed until after Greek elections, when everyone hopes for greater clarity and commitment.

"This would mean we have to pay the 14.5 billion euros on March 20, which would be a total waste," said the euro zone source, who took part in discussions among deputy heads of euro zone finance ministries on Tuesday.

"But there is still money left from the first program so we could do it," the source said, referring to Greece's first, 110 billion euro bailout program, agreed in May 2010. "This would mean that the talks on the second program, including PSI (private sector involvement), which is part of the package, would be moved until there is a new Greek government in place."

The frustration expressed by Germany, the Netherlands and others, reflected in the proposal to delay the rescue package, is in part designed to put political pressure on Athens. But officials say it is also genuine and a sign that patience is wearing thin after two years of trying to sort out Greece.

Data from Athens on Tuesday showed the economy shrank 7.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 on an annualized basis, making it all the harder for Greece to meet its debt targets. One official estimated that Greece's debt-to-GDP ratio may only fall to 140 percent by 2020 given the latest figures, way above the targeted 120 percent.

For now, the central aim of euro zone finance ministers remains to push ahead with the second package as agreed last October, which would mean signing off on PSI in the coming week, possibly at a Eurogroup meeting set for Monday.

(Additional reporting by John O'Donnell in Brussels and Martin Santa in Bratislava, writing by Luke Baker, editing by Mike Peacock)

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2 dead, 1 wounded in Calif. federal building shooting

2012-02-17T06:21:00.000-08:00

LONG BEACH, California (AP) — A law enforcement official says two people were fatally shot and another person was wounded at offices housing Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Long Beach, California.

The Long Beach police official tells The Associated Press the shooter killed one person, wounded another with a shot to the stomach, and then was killed.

It was not immediately clear if the shooter died from a self-inflicted wound.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the case.

It's not clear what motivated Thursday's shooting in the Glenn M. Anderson Federal Building in downtown Long Beach.

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Santorum's tax returns show rise in wealth

2012-02-17T05:46:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum released four years of federal income tax returns on Wednesday night, showing a sharp rise in his personal wealth spurred by his growing work as Washington-based corporate consultant and media commentator.

Santorum's returns show that his federal income taxes rose from 2007, when he paid $167,000, to $310,000 in 2009, then dropped to $263,000 in 2010. During that same period, his annual income surged from nearly $660,000 in 2007 to $1.1 million in 2009 before slipping to $923,000 in 2010.

Santorum, 53, has sold himself in the Republican primaries as both a Washington outsider and a social conservative, stressing his family's coal-mining background and his appeal to religious and working-class voters. His personal finances tell a different story, detailing the trajectory of a politician who grew more prosperous in the Senate and became a millionaire afterwards, at times capitalizing on his Beltway connections.

His 2010 tax returns show he made more than $550,000 in media and consulting fees — paid to him through a corporation he set up, Excelsior LLC. The previous year, Santorum made more than $820,000 in fees, also paid through the same firm.

Santorum's wealth doesn't come close to the multimillion-dollar fortune amassed by Mitt Romney's high-finance prowess or Newt Gingrich's smaller but still-lucrative blend of foundation and consulting work. But his newfound affluence reflects his close ties to Washington's business and lobbying circles during his 12 years in the Senate and his smooth transition into their world after he left office.

Both Romney and Gingrich recently disclosed income tax returns.

Last year, the former Pennsylvania senator disclosed investment and real estate assets totaling as much as $2.5 million. In his presidential financial disclosure spanning 18 months between 2010 and 2011, Santorum also listed $1.3 million in income as a consultant — much of it coming from media appearances and corporate work on behalf of health care, energy and social conservative interests.

Rising to GOP leadership in the Senate as Republican Conference chairman, Santorum pushed to expand the influence of Republican-leaning business interests. As conference chairman, he headed GOP Senate communications efforts and met regularly with GOP-leaning business and lobbying figures. He raised more than $550,000 from lobbyists during his unsuccessful 2006 Senate re-election campaign.

After his Senate defeat, Santorum did not register as a lobbyist, but he aided corporate and other interests as a consultant. He was paid $142,500 by Consol Energy, a Pennsylvania-based energy firm with numerous Appalachian coal mines. The firm has lobbied against Obama administration efforts to tighten limits on greenhouse gas emissions.

Santorum also was paid $65,000 by the American Continental Group, a D.C. lobbying firm with an assortment of corporate clients, and $125,000 by the Clapham Group, a Virginia firm that aids religious rights organizations. He benefitted from media work, paid $230,000 for appearances on Fox News, as well as more than $80,000 for stints as a radio commentator.

Santorum was also paid nearly $400,000 in compensation and stock options as a board director at Universal Health Services, a hospital management firm, after he left the Senate in 2006. He also owns up to $250,000 in Universal stock. As a senator, Santorum had sponsored several unsuccessful bills that would have secured more Medicaid funding hospitals run by Universal and other medical firms in Puerto Rico.

Santorum also owns five rental properties in State College, Pa., worth $500,000 and $11.25 million, but also with as much as $750,000 in mortgage debt, according to his presidential disclosure. His taxes show that he took mortgage and depreciation deductions on those properties, and also that he sold more than $23,000 worth of stocks in 2010.

Santorum and his wife, Karen, took standard deductions each year for their five children, the returns show. In 2007, the Santorums took a $4,000 charity deduction for giving away "clothing, footwear, accessories and household items." That year, the family moved into a larger home in the Virginia suburbs of Washington.

Santorum and his family now live in a four-bedroom northern Virginia house on five acres assessed at $1.4 million in 2010.

The tax returns were first made available Wednesday night by Politico.

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Samsung cancells 32GB GSM Galaxy Nexus

2012-02-17T05:19:00.001-08:00

Samsung has discontinued its 32 gig GSM variant of the Galaxy Nexus. This information is based on online retailer Expansys's web page and a tip from "Corey" in the XDA developers blog.

Expansys's product page of the Galaxy Nexus 32 GB HSDPA+ lists the device as discontinued and suggests the 16 GB variant instead.
The Galaxy Nexus is at a disadvantage by not offering additional storage options and lacks mass storage mode. So the only way to have the device with north-of-16 GB storage was to buy the 32 GB version.
In other news the 16 GB Galaxy Nexus for Verizon could be coming in White to the US carrier. Pricing is rumored to be around $199 on a two-year commitment. The device has already graced the UK shores.
Source | Via | Via

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Future iOS versions to ask users before uploading contact data

2012-02-17T04:41:00.000-08:00

Recently, social networking application Path came under fire for anonymously uploading contact data to its servers without the user's permission. This is a common practice among a lot of popular apps such as Instagram, Facebook, Foursquare, etc., which use this data to find other people you know who may also be using that service.

But even though Path later apologized and deleted the data from their servers, and also issued an update that explicitly asks for your permission before uploading your contacts, the issue continued to escalate, until it eventually reached Apple.

So now Apple has come out and said they will be releasing an update to iOS that will ask the user through a pop-up notification if he or she wants to share their contact information with the application. This will be similar to the location notification that pops up in iOS when apps ask for location information. This will ensure that no app will ever upload your contact information without your explicit permission.

Apple did not comment on when this update will be released.

Source

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