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Ethiopia: Proclamation on Telecom Fraud Offences

2012-08-06T13:00:00.001-07:00

In this analysis, ARTICLE 19 finds the recently adopted Proclamation 761/2012 on Telecom Fraud Offences (“the Proclamation”) to be fundamentally flawed from a freedom of expression and information perspective, and recommends its immediate repeal.
The Ethiopia House of Peoples’ Representatives passed the Proclamation on 11 July 2012. It creates new offences related to the use and provision of telecommunications services, and increases sentences for a number of existing offences. It also extends the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation and the Criminal Code to electronic communications. The Proclamation will gain legal effect once published in the Federal Negarit Gazett.

ARTICLE 19 finds that the purposes of the Proclamation, to protect the state monopoly over telecommunications and safeguard national security, do not comply with international standards on the right to freedom of expression and information. In particular, the lack of a definition for “national security” gives the law uncertain scope and may encourage limitations on legitimate expression. The Proclamation is therefore likely to undermine rather than advance its stated aims of promoting “peace, democratisation and development” in Ethiopia.

The most concerning aspect of the Proclamation is the extension of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation 2009 (already criticized by ARTICLE 19 in the past) and the Criminal Code of 2004 to electronic communications in Sec. 6. In particular, the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation has attracted broad condemnation from a number of international human rights bodies for violating the right to freedom of expression and information; its extension in the Proclamation shows a flagrant disregard for these rights. The Criminal Code of 2004 contains provisions that do not comply with international standards on the right to freedom of expression and information, including prohibitions on “obscene” communications, criminal defamation, and prohibitions on expression specifically engineered to protect public officials from criticism. The extension of these provisions to electronic communications is also a significant cause for concern.

It is also concerning that the Proclamation increases sentences for pre-existing telecommunication offences, including the prohibition on call back services and telephone or fax services over the Internet. Despite assurances given by the Ethiopian government to the contrary, ARTICLE 19 is unable to conclude that these provisions do not threaten to impose criminal liability for the provision or use of services such as Skype or Google-Talk. The lack of clarity over the scope of this prohibition is likely to have a significant chilling effect on the use of such technologies in the country, and thereby limit the free flow of information.

Further, the Proclamation imposes criminal penalties for individuals who fail to obtain a license for various commercial and non-commercial activities surrounding telecommunication usage. These provisions are ambiguous in scope and impose unnecessary obstacles for individuals to access information dissemination systems in Ethiopia.

Ferrari 458 Italia Manettino, Launch Control and Interior

2012-08-06T02:24:00.003-07:00

The 458 Italia is equipped with a racing manettino switch leading toward more sporting set ups and giving the driver a wider selection of electronic controls parameters. The ICE setting saw in the F430 has been removed, while the CT setting has been added in order to deactivate the traction control and at the same time maintain the stability control. There are five different manettino positions and conditions: Low Grip, Sport, Race, CT and CTS. Low Grip setting provides maximum grip under all driving conditions, and it is particularly suited for low grip surfaces. The emphasis is on comfort and stability without compromising the handling.
Sport is the best setting for day to day driving and guarantees great safety under good grip. Race is particularly suitable for track driving providing maximum performance and stability in optimal grip situations. CT helps the driver improving his driving skills in safety, by keeping active the stability control. It allows over-steer right to the edge of the car’s limits and guarantees enhanced driving pleasure and fun behind the wheel, particularly on the track. Under CTS setting, both stability and traction control systems are deactivated, giving the driver maximum freedom and control on the track. No electronic systems intervene on the vehicle stability with the exception of E-diff3 and ABS.

On the 458 Italia, the driver can decouple the suspension damping from the electronic configuration selected on the manettino. The suspension decoupling button offers improved “filtering” of uneven road surfaces in order to improve performance and handling on uneven broken surfaces, such as the ones at the Nürburgring race track.

The launch control button is instead designed to offer the best possible acceleration from standstill. It delivers the maximum possible torque to the ground and prevents wheel spin as the car accelerates away. Its activation is indicated in the instrument panel. To start using the Launch control, the manettino must be selected on race, CT or CTS setting. With the car still at standstill, the driver then needs to put the gearbox in manual, selects first gear, pushes the launch control, presses the accelerator pedal and then releases the brake pedal.

The stylistic interior choices developed by Ferrari Centro Stile reflect a functional, ergonomic cockpit design. The driver is set in the center of a streamlined and intuitive layout, which is very much in line with the marquee’s signature styling cues.

Olimpiade

2012-08-06T01:07:00.001-07:00

Olimpiade adalah ajang olahraga internasional empat tahunan yang mempertandingkan cabang-cabang olahraga musim panasdan musim dingin serta diikuti oleh ribuan atlet dari sekitar 200 negara yang berkompetisi dalam berbagai pertandingan olahraga. Awalnya, Olimpiade hanya berlangsung di Yunani kuno sampai pada tahun 393 M. Olimpiade kemudian dihidupkan kembali oleh Pierre Frèdy Baron de Coubertin pada tahun 1896. Dalam kongres pada tahun 1894 yang diselenggarakan di Paris, didirikanlah Komite Olimpiade Internasional (IOC) dan ibu kota Yunani, Athena dipilih sebagai tuan rumah Olimpiade modern pertama tahun 1896. Selanjutnya, sejak tahun 1896 sampai sekarang, setiap empat tahun sekali Olimpiade Musim Panas senantiasa diadakan kecuali tahun-tahun pada masa Perang Dunia II.

Pertandingan Olimpiade (bahasa Perancis: les Jeux olympiques, JO)[1] adalah ajang olahraga internasional empat tahunan yang mempertandingkan cabang-cabang olahraga musim panas dan musim dingin serta diikuti oleh ribuan atlet yang berkompetisi dalam berbagai pertandingan olahraga. Olimpiade merupakan kompetisi olahraga terbesar dan terkemuka di dunia, dengan lebih dari 200 negara berpartisipasi.

Awalnya, Olimpiade hanya berlangsung di Yunani kuno sampai akhirnya pada tahun 393 M Olimpiade kuno ini dihentikan oleh Kaisar Romawi, Theodosius. Olimpiade kemudian dihidupkan kembali oleh seorang bangsawan Perancis bernama Pierre Frèdy Baron de Coubertin pada tahun 1896. Dalam kongres pada tahun 1894 yang diselenggarakan di Paris, didirikanlah Komite Olimpiade Internasional (IOC) dan ibu kota Yunani, Athena dipilih sebagai tuan rumah Olimpiade modern pertama tahun 1896. Selanjutnya, sejak tahun 1896 sampai sekarang, setiap empat tahun sekali Olimpiade Musim Panas senantiasa diadakan kecuali tahun-tahun pada masaPerang Dunia II. Edisi khusus untuk olahraga musim dingin; Olimpiade Musim Dingin, mulai diadakan pada tahun 1924. Awalnya Olimpiade Musim Dingin diadakan pada tahun yang sama dengan Olimpiade Musim Panas, namun sejak tahun 1994 Olimpiade Musim Dingin diadakan setiap empat tahun sekali, dengan selang waktu dua tahun dari penyelenggaraan Olimpiade Musim Panas.

Evolusi yang dilakukan oleh IOC selama abad ke-20 dan 21 telah menyebabkan beberapa perubahan pada penyelenggaraan Olimpiade. Beberapa penyesuaian dilakukan, termasuk penciptaan Olimpiade Musim Dingin untuk olahraga es dan salju, Paralimpiadeuntuk atlet dengan kekurangan fisik dan Olimpiade Remaja untuk para atlet remaja. Dalam perkembangannya, Olimpiade telah menghadapi berbagai tantangan, seperti pemboikotan, penggunaan obat-obatan, penyuapan dan terorisme. Olimpiade juga merupakan kesempatan besar bagi kota dan negara tuan rumah untuk menampilkan diri kepada dunia.

Di Indonesia, Olimpiade yang sering dikenal dan secara rutin diikuti adalah Olimpiade Musim Panas. Indonesia sendiri pertama kali berpartisipasi pada Olimpiade Helsinki 1952 di Finlandia, dan tak pernah absen berpartisipasi pada tahun-tahun berikutnya, kecuali pada tahun 1964 dan 1980.[2].

9 Early Online Back to School Deals

2012-08-04T10:40:00.001-07:00

This year, parents will spend an average of $688.82 on back-to-school gear, up from $603.63 in 2011.

"Backpacks rip, pencils break, and children grow, there's no way around it, but as they begin tackling their shopping lists, parents will make sure to spend smarter than they ever have before," said National Retail Federation President Mathew Shay. "We fully expect retailers to be aggressive with their promotions both in-store and online, keeping an eye on inventory levels as families look to spread out their shopping throughout the entire summer."

With talk about slapping sales tax on all online purchases soon heating up on the Hill, we scoured the Web to create a list of back-to-school deals. Here's what we found:

Clothing & Supplies

A box of 96 Dixon Ticoderoga #2 pencils is on sale for $14,99 on Amazon at a savings of more than 50 percent.

Walmart has white blouses that work well with school uniforms at $5, down 50 percent from itsoriginal price of $10. For consumers that spend $45, shipping is available for free.

Kmart has shaved up to 30 percent from its Juniors and girls and boys clothing lines. To lure online shoppers, the website is offering shipping at a flat rate of $5.

Dealsnews brought the Altrec Back to School sale to our attention. The website is selling a yellow North Face Verto 26 Backpack for $51.69, one of the lowest prices on the web, according to Dealnews.

Computers

Apple is offering a $100 gift card that can be used to purchase apps and books for students that purchase a MAC between June 11 and September 11.

In addition to an assortment of laptops for sale, Dell is having a students-only sale that allows consumers to receive a free Xbox or $200 e-gift card with the purchase of select computers.

Gadgets

Starting July 11, as a part of its back-to-school promotion, T-Mobile is offering customers who purchase a Samsung Galaxy 4G device a second select Samsung Galaxy 4G smartphone for free. The deal ends on Tuesday, September 4.

Walmart.com shaved more than 20 percent off the Texas Instrument Graphics Calculator. In an effort to prepare students for the school year, the company launched Walmart Classrooms to help parents and teachers to connect and create a list of necessary school supplies.

In an effort to lure back to school shoppers, Barnes and Noble is offering a $50 gift card to consumers that purchase a Nook Tablet. The deal is good through July 29.

Supernova Progenitor Found? New Research Identifies Star System That May Explode

2012-08-04T06:26:00.000-07:00

ScienceDaily (Aug. 3, 2012) — Type Ia supernovae are violent stellar explosions. Observations of their brightness are used to determine distances in the universe and have shown scientists that the cosmos is expanding at an accelerating rate. But there is still too little known about the specifics of the processes by which these supernovae form. New research, led by Stella Kafka of the Carnegie Institution for Science in the United States, identifies a star system, prior to explosion, which will possibly become a type Ia supernova.

The work will appear in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The widely accepted theory is that type Ia supernovae are thermonuclear explosions of a white dwarf star that's part of a binary system -- two stars that are physically close and orbit around a common centre of mass. The white dwarf has mass gradually donated to it by its companion. When the white dwarf mass eventually reaches 1.4 times that of the sun, it explodes to produce a type Ia supernova. The crucial questions are: What is the nature of the donor star and how does this white dwarf increase its mass. Also, how would that process affect the properties of the explosion?

With these questions in mind, scientists have been searching for candidate systems that could become type Ia supernovae. There are thousands of possibilities in the candidate pool, none of which have yet been observed to produce an explosion. Recent studies, some of which involved scientists at Carnegie observatories, have identified sodium gas associated with type Ia supernovae. This gas might be ejected from the binary's donor star and linger around the system to be detected after the white dwarf explodes. This provides a clue to the progenitor. Even so, Kafka still compared the search to "looking for a needle in a stellar haystack."

Using data from the DuPont telescope of the Las Campanas observatory in Chile, Kafka and her team -- Kent Honeycutt of Indiana University and Bob Williams of the Space Telescope Science Institute -- looked at these gas signatures and were able to identify a binary star called QU Carinae as a possible supernova progenitor. It contains a white dwarf, which is accumulating mass from a giant star, and sodium has been detected around the system.

This star belongs to a small category of binaries that are very bright and in which the white dwarf accretes material from its companion at very high rates. Sodium should be produced in the atmosphere of the mass-donor giant star, and it can be ejected from the system via a stellar wind. If the white dwarf of this binary explodes into a supernova, the sodium would be detected with the same sort of signature as those found in other type Ia supernovae.

"We are really excited to have identified such a system," Kafka said. "Understanding these systems, the nature of the two stars, the manner in which mass is exchanged, and their long-term evolution will give us a comprehensive picture on how binaries can create one of the most important explosions in the universe."

Britain's Bellamy gamble pays off

2012-08-02T06:51:00.002-07:00

CARDIFF, Wales (AP) -- Craig Bellamy is certainly no David Beckham. For Britain's Olympic football team, perhaps that's a good thing.

Britain coach Stuart Pearce caused an uproar when he left Beckham off the team for the London Olympics, opting to go with fellow midfielder Bellamy as one of his three overage players instead - alongside Manchester United veteran Ryan Giggs and defenderMicah Richards.

But with Bellamy having been perhaps the team's best player so far in its three group games, few are missing "Becks" anymore.

"It is brilliant to be part of the Olympics," the 33-year-old Bellamy said ahead of the team's quarterfinal on Saturday. "I am enjoying everything about it - wearing the kit, having the accreditation around my neck."

Aside from sharing a fondness of tattoos, Bellamy's image could hardly be any more different from Beckham - who has been the poster boy of English football for the last decade and is a fashion icon around the world. Bellamy is more known for his combative style both on and off the pitch. He has clashed with both teammates and opponents in the past, and was arrested on suspicion of assault last year - but was not convicted.

Beckham was also seen as a key member of the team that successfully bid for the Olympics and many fans wanted him to be rewarded with a spot in the team. But Pearce made his team selection purely based on football reasons - ignoring the fact that Beckham's presence would also have garnered more support for the team and helped with ticket sales.

This is the first unified British team to play in the Olympics since 1960, and there had been fears of a lukewarm reception. But the team has played to full stadiums, and its good results seem to have won over most skeptics.

And Bellamy has been key to team's success.

Bellamy, who has moved between clubs several times in the last 10 years and is currently in his second stint for Liverpool, scored Britain's first goal of the Olympics in the team's opening 1-1 draw against Senegal. He then assisted on two of the goals in the team's 3-1 victory over the United Arab Emirates.

On Wednesday in his hometown of Cardiff, he captained the side in the absence of 38-year-old Giggs, who was rested for the match. He had played for - and captained - Wales on the same pitch in many of his more than 50 appearances for his country.

As usual, Bellamy used his pace and passing ability to set up teammates for good chances and troubled defenders with his marauding runs. When he was taken off after 70 minutes, he was given a massive roar by the 70,000 fans at Millennium Stadium.

Having always been a controversial figure, feeling such undivided support is a new experience for Bellamy.

"When I play football, it is difficult sometimes, the abuse you can receive," he said. "You have to learn to carry broad shoulders. But this has been refreshing. People have been so positive and it has been a pleasure to be involved in."

Giggs and Bellamy are both playing in their first major international tournament, and have helped fans buy into the idea of a unified team. The Welsh, Northern Irish and Scottish football associations didn't support the team because they feared it might threaten their independent positions in global football.

Pearce said the vast experience Bellamy and Giggs bring to the team is key to Britain's chances of getting a medal.

"The fellow sat next to me, I don't want to embarrass him, he's as good a professional ... that I have seen or played with," Pearce said when sitting alongside Bellamy earlier this week.

Bellamy is sticking true to his Welsh colors though. Ahead of Saturday's quarterfinal against South Korea, he refused to get caught up in talk about possible medals.

"That's you English, that is what you lot do," Bellamy joked. "I'm Welsh and just grateful to be involved."

Chinese badminton player blogs 'farewell' to sport

2012-08-02T06:39:00.000-07:00

LONDON (AP) -- A Chinese badminton star is apparently quitting the sport after she was one of eight players disqualified from the doubles tournament at the London Olympics for trying to lose.

A comment on a verified account for Yu Yang on the Tencent microblogging service late Wednesday read: "This is my last game. Farewell Badminton World Federation. Farewell my dear badminton."

Yu's retirement could not be immediately confirmed with Chinese badminton officials. In China, the lives of top athletes are closely controlled by sports officials, including decisions on retirement.

Yu and Wang Xiaoli were one of four doubles teams which appeared to play poorly on purpose to secure a more favorable position in the next phase of the event.

Two teams from South Korea and another from Indonesia were disqualified from competition but allowed to stay at the games - a step lighter than expulsion, the penalty for positive drug tests.

It appeared to be the first mass disqualification in Olympic history.

The feeble play was obvious to fans who attended the matches Tuesday night at Wembley Arena - they chanted, "Off! Off! Off!" - and to incredulous television broadcasters and viewers watching around the world.

"They're serving fault and fault! They are just hitting the ball into the net!" the BBC's David Mercer said in disbelief. "They are both trying to lose, and that is unforgivable. This is the Olympic Games."

The Chinese players set off a domino effect when they tried to rig the draw after China's second-seeded pair unexpectedly lost to a Danish team in the morning. The South Koreans and Indonesians, wanting to avoid a tough opponent as well, followed suit in later matchups.

Teams blamed the introduction of a round-robin stage rather than a straight knockout tournament as the cause of the problem. The round-robin format can allow results to be manipulated to earn an easier matchup in the knockout round.

None of the players was made available for interviews.

Yu went on state television in China to apologize "to all the badminton fans and friends over yesterday's game, because we did not comply with the Olympic spirit, and did not deliver a match with our true level to the audience, the fans and the friends."

In a statement released to Xinhua, the Chinese Olympic delegation criticized its players' actions.

"The behavior by Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli on court violated the Olympics ideal and the spirit of fair play. The Chinese delegation feels distressed over this matter," the delegation said.

Xinhua also reported Chinese badminton coach Li Yongbo apologized and accepted blame for the scandal.

"As the head coach, I owe the fans and the Chinese an apology," Li said. "Chinese players failed to demonstrate their fighting spirit of the national team. It's me to blame."

Associated Press writer Scott McDonald in Beijing, China, contributed to this report.

9 Scientists Receive a New Physics Prize

2012-07-31T07:41:00.002-07:00

Physicists are rarely wealthy or famous, but a new prize rewarding research at the field’s cutting edges has made nine of them instant multimillionaires.

The nine are recipients of the Fundamental Physics Prize, established by Yuri Milner, a Russian physics student who dropped out of graduate school in 1989 and later earned billions investing in Internet companies like Facebook and Groupon.

“It knocked me off my feet,” said Alan H. Guth, a professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was among the winners. He came up with the idea of cosmic inflation, that there was a period of extremely rapid expansion in the first instant of the universe.

When he was told of the $3 million prize, he assumed that the money would be shared among the winners. Not so: Instead, each of this year’s nine recipients will receive $3 million, the most lucrative academic prize in the world. TheNobel Prize currently comes with an award of $1.2 million, usually split by two or three people. The Templeton Prize, which honors contributions to understanding spiritual dimensions of life, has been the largest monetary given to an individual, $1.7 million this year.

The $3 million has already appeared in Dr. Guth’s bank account, one that had had a balance of $200. “Suddenly, it said, $3,000,200,” he said. “The bank charged a $12 wire transfer fee, but that was easily affordable.”

Mr. Milner said that he wanted to recognize advances in delving into the deepest mysteries of physics and the universe. “This intellectual quest to understand the universe really defines us as human beings,” he said.

Four of the physicists work at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J.: Nima Arkani-Hamed, Juan Maldacena, Nathan Seiberg and Edward Witten. They work on theories trying to tie together the basic particles and forces of the universe, particularly with a mathematical machinery known as string theory.

The other winners are Andrei Linde, a physicist at Stanford who also worked on cosmic inflation; Alexei Kitaev, a professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology who works on quantum computers; Maxim Kontsevich, a mathematician at the Institute of Advanced Scientific Studies outside Paris whose abstract mathematical findings proved useful to physicists unraveling string theory; and Ashoke Sen, a string theorist at Harish-Chandra Research Institute in India.

Mr. Milner personally selected the inaugural group, but future recipients of the Fundamental Physics Prize, to be awarded annually, will be decided by previous winners.

He declined to explain in detail how he selected which accomplishments to honor or why the winners are all men. “I truly see this as a start,” Mr. Milner said. “Going forward, it’s going to be up to the committee to make those considerations.”

According to the rules, the prize in future years may be split among multiple winners, and a researcher will be able to win more than once. Mr. Milner also announced that there would be a $100,000 prize to honor promising young researchers.

Unlike the Nobel in physics, the Fundamental Physics Prize can be awarded to scientists whose ideas have not yet been verified by experiments, which often occurs decades later. Sometimes a radical new idea “really deserves recognition right away because it expands our understanding of at least what is possible,” Mr. Milner said.

Dr. Arkani-Hamed, for example, has worked on theories about the origin of the Higgs boson, the particle recently discovered at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, and about how that collider could discover new dimensions. None of his theories have been proven yet. He said several were “under strain” because of the new data.

Several of the winners said they hoped that the new prize, with its large cash award, would help raise recognition of physics and draw more students into the field. “It’ll be great to have this sort of showcase for what’s going on in the subject every year,” Dr. Arkani-Hamed said.

The winners said they had not yet decided what to do with their windfall.

“There are some rather mundane things, like paying out the mortgage,” said Mr. Kitaev, who added that he was thinking about putting some of the money into education efforts.

“My success is in large part due to good education, my teachers and the atmosphere of excitement in science when I grew up,” he said. “I might try to help restore this atmosphere as much as I can.” (Dr. Kontsevich also won a $1 million mathematics prize this year.)

Dr. Guth agreed. “I do think prizes like this help put across to the public that fundamental physics is important, and it’s not just heavyweight boxing that’s worthy of prizes,” he said.

But he was going to warn his students not to get the wrong idea. “Certainly, it’s still not a great idea to go into physics for the money,” he said.

(The New York Times)

Power Failures Hit Half of India

2012-07-31T07:30:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI — About 600 million people lost power in India on Tuesday when the country’s northern and eastern electricity grids failed, crippling the country for a second consecutive day.

The outage stopped hundreds of trains in their tracks, darkened traffic lights, shuttered the Delhi Metro and left nearly everyone — the police, water utilities, private businesses and citizens — without electricity. About half of India’s population of 1.2 billion people was without power.

India, however, has an unofficial power grid in the form of huge numbers of backup diesel generators and other private power sources. That kept electricity flowing in everything from private residences and small and large businesses to hospitals and major airports.

Manoranjan Kumar, an economic adviser with the Ministry of Power, said in a telephone interview that the grids had failed and that the ministry was working to figure out the source of the problem. The northern and eastern grids cover 11 states and the capital city of Delhi, stretching from India’s northern tip in Kashmir to Rajasthan to West Bengal’s capital of Kolkata.

The failure happened without warning just after 1 p.m., electric company officials said.

“We seem to have plunged into another power failure, and the reasons why are not at all clear,” said Gopal K. Saxena, the chief executive of BSES, an electric company that services South Delhi, in a telephone interview. It may take a long time to restore power to north India, he said, because the eastern grid has also failed, and alternate power sources in Bhutan and the Indian state of Sikkim flow into the east first.

About two hours after the grid failure, power ministry authorities said some alternate arrangements had been made. “We are taking hydro power from Bhakhra Nangal Dam,” in northern India, said Sushil Kumar Shinde, the power minister, in a televised interview.

India has struggled to generate enough power of its own to fuel businesses and light homes, and the country relies on huge imports of coal and oil to power its own plants. But supply and demand may not explain away this week’s grid failures, power executives said.

The failure on Tuesday affected roughly twice as many people as the massive power outage the previous day, when the northern power grid failed and left more than 300 million people without power for several hours. No official reason for the Monday’s failure has been given, although some local news reports pointed fingers at state governments which were overdrawing power.

That assessment is too simplistic, Mr. Saxena, of BSES, said. There are controls in place on India’s electricity grids that override an outsized power demand. “We have one of the most robust, smart grids operating” in the world, he said. It would “not be wise” to give an assessment of what happened at this time, he added.

Institutions without a private backup system were shuttered. All trains stopped in the Delhi Metro, which carries nearly 2 million passengers a day. Trains were pulled to the closest stations using battery back up, and then evacuated, a spokeswoman for the Delhi Metro said, and the stations have been locked. “We had never anticipated such a thing,” the spokeswoman said.

A trade body, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, or Assocham, said that Monday’s power problem “totally disturbed the normal life and has severely impacted the economic activities."

“While on the one hand it is a pity that over 26,000 megawatts of power stations are idle due to the nonavailability of coal, on the other one grid failure has brought the system collapsed,” said the group’s secretary general D.S. Rawat, noting that “the entire power situation at present is headed for disaster.”

Olympic Swiss Soccer Player Michel Morganella Sent Packing After Idiotic Tweet

2012-07-31T00:43:00.000-07:00

Peppered among the grand tales of glory from the Olympics are some awful life lessons for athletes who couldn't resist taking Twitter to racist depths.

Swiss football player Michel Morganella has been sent home after taking to Twitter to voice his disgust with losing to South Korea. Instead of losing with class, he lobbed an idiotic tweet that will now mark him with shame well through the Games.

Deadspin reports Morganella initially tweeted some verbal refuse that featured a threat and some awful slurs.

His Twitter account has since been deleted, but 101 Great Goals has a screen capture and translation:

I want to beat up all South Koreans! Bunch of mentally handicapped retards! (“Je les tous Defonce Coréens, allez vous tous Bruler, bande de trisos!”)

The Associated Press now reports this blast has cost Morganella more than just dignity, but also the honor of concluding the Olympics with his team.

The Swiss Olympic team has expelled the athlete back to Switzerland where he can continue to stew. There was, of course, a quick response and apology from the footballer:

I am sincerely sorry for the people of South Korea, for the players, but equally for the Swiss delegation and Swiss football in general. It’s clear that I’m accepting the consequences. After the disappointing result and the reaction from Korea that followed, I made a huge error.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time such a disgrace has hit the London Games. Asthe Associated Press report reminds us, Greek triple-jumper Voula Papachristou was sent home prior to the Games after tweeting a racially-charged post.

The punishment fits the crime in both instances. Athletes who lose sight of the basic Olympic tenet need to be on the outside looking in.

The Olympics may be all about competition, but the message should always lead towards world unity.

Of course, all of this could be avoided if athletes would take two seconds prior to tweeting and use their brains.

More Summer Features

2012-07-31T00:11:00.000-07:00

Sandler's Worst Movies

Believe it or not, we found 10 of them

Game On

Board games that would make great movies

Evil Queens

Who's the most evil queen of all?

Mr. Smith Saves the World

A look at Will Smith's best sci-fi roles

Summer Movies Pack Heat

A rundown of the best summer releases

Precious Wes

A look at the innovative, quirky career of Wes Anderson

10-inch BlackBerry tablet surfaces, but will it ever launch?

2012-07-31T00:04:00.000-07:00

A host of new images have surfaced claiming to show a 10-inch BlackBerry PlayBook. But according to rumors, that device has already been shelved.

A 10-inch BlackBerry tablet has surfaced on the Web.

User "vuhai6" on Vietnam-based forum Tinhte has posted several images (Translate) of what is purported to be a 10-inch BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. The device looks to have the same design as its currently available 7-inch counterpart, but according to the poster, could support 4G networking.

Speaking of 4G, the poster also shows images of a 4G 7-inch PlayBook. Although it's not immediately clear where the images were taken or when, the person claims to have obtained them from someone else.

Rumors have been swirling for months that RIM would eventually launch a 10-inch PlayBook. However, last month enthusiast site N4BB reported, citing sources, that RIM had actually decided to shelve the big tablet to focus on a new BlackBerry "superphone."

RIM has so far not provided any details on its future tablet plans. The company has, however, made it clear that its focus right now is on getting BlackBerry 10-based devices out the door. That won't happen until early next year. Whether the PlayBook will receive a refresh before then is unknown at this point.

That the 10-inch slate surfaced in photos does not necessarily mean that it's launching. It's possible that RIM was working on the device, but decided to nix it in favor of other efforts.

CNET has contacted RIM for comment on the images. We will update this story when we have more information.

Apple reportedly to unveil iPhone 5, iPad Mini on Sept. 12

2012-07-30T23:56:00.001-07:00

Both devices will be announced in the middle of September, followed by the release of the new iPhone on September 21, claims blog site iMore.

Apple consumers could perhaps see the debut of both the new iPhone and an iPad Mini come September.

Citing "sources who have proven accurate in the past," blog site iMore says that Apple willannounce the two devices at a special event on Wednesday, September 12. The iPhone 5 itself would then go on sale 9 days later on Friday, September 21.

This latest report follows a tidbit last week from French site App4Phone.fr (English translation), which pointed to a September 21 release date based on intel from Chinese manufacturing sources. The spacing itself jibes with last year's schedule when Apple unveiled the iPhone 4S on October 4 and then released it 10 days later.

iMore's sources were apparently mum about a launch date for the iPad Mini, but the site says it could reach consumers on the same day, a logical assumption. The smaller iPad would reportedly be exactly like its 9.7-inch brother, but just on a 7-inch scale.

Reports have surfaced about a new iPod Touch in the works, which could also be announced on September 12 as part of the upcoming lineup. A new iPod Nano may also be part of the mix. That promises a busy day launch day for Apple, but the company typically spruces up its iPhone announcement with updates to the iPod and other products.

How to Promote Your Blog and Increase Traffic

2012-07-30T05:40:00.001-07:00

Blogging is an enjoyable habit especially for those who love writing and expressing themselves to others. Many people even make a living out of it. However, gaining profits in writing blogs is not an easy task especially if you are just starting your blogging career. Other than writing relevant content, driving traffic to your website is also essential and it is not an easy task. It takes time and persistence to build online history and gain consistent traffic. No traffic, no money.

To increase traffic to your blog, you have to be effective in your website promotion activities. This may include your blog appearance, SEO, social media promotions and email marketing.

See below:

Blog Appearance

Blogging Platform: There are several good and free blogging platforms available online. Most famous platforms areWordPress, Joomla, Blogger and Drupal. WordPress is the most preferred platform by many bloggers and it is also originally designed for blogging. But if you want to put some dynamic functionality like social networking and ecommerce features, you may consider using Joomla and Drupal.On the other hand, it is also possible if you want to create your own blog site from raw. Hence, it will take you more time unlike setting up a site using WordPress, Joomla or Drupal. Also, in using either one of these three options, several modules and plugins are already available for your convenience plus worldwide support communities that are willing to help you out with your platform issues.
Color Theme: Your choice of colors is very important for your blog appearance. Through colors, you can trigger different emotions of your readers. Most blogs tend to use light colors for their backgrounds, and dark colors for the texts, (such as White & Black) this makes the content more readable for general users.
Navigational Layout: Make your layout navigational. Organize your links and blocks well. Make your recent posts and most famous articles are accessible to your readers. Study and experiment well for your ad positions. Also, putting them in the right places can make your number of click through higher.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Relevant Content for Your Focused Niche: When we say relevant content, it means content that is helpful to readers.The web is continuously being updated every day, where users are continuously looking for good content that relates to them, aim to publish new content on a daily, or weekly biases that will link to your audience.
Link Building: The number of back links is essential if you want higher page ranks. Like voting system, search engines will determine your website relevance with the number of link presence you have on the web.. These links can be achieved in various ways, Submitting to bookmarks is an effective link building activity, or by writing guest articles, or even networking on social media websites.
Public Relations: Public relations like press release and article submissions can also help you promote your site, increase back links and expose more your website.
Ping: Submitting to ping sites like Ping-O-Matic everytime you made changes in your site can trigger the search engines to visit your website and index your new pages.

Social Media Promotions

Twitter: Recently, Google started indexing twitter pages. Therefore, whatever you tweet in connection to your website will affect your online presence. Be creative with your tweets, add your keywords and link them to your website. However, re-tweet other helpful posts also to gain more followers.
Facebook: Facebook is now the largest social networking site on the web. Everyday billions of users are interacting on this site, which is an enough reason to invest time and promote your websites on Facebook.
Other Online Community and Blogging Sites: Aside from Twitter and Facebook, investing time to other blogging sites and online communities like forums and other social networking sites can gain more exposures to your websites. Prevent spamming, post relevant comments that would help others. With this, you are not only promoting your blog, but you are also building relationships to your peer bloggers.
Commenting on other blogs: Create a list of blogs that you would read regularly, and which relate to your business. Aim to leave useful comments on articles that are published on these blog, be creative with your comments, by writing comments that would provide extra value to the post and readers.
Forums: A good way of building your presence and getting users to your blog, is by using forums. Register with forums within your niche, and answer few questions that the users ask, do this regularly, over time you would build your brand awareness and start to drive traffic to your site. When answering questions, be as helpful as you can, and provide answers that would be effective and helpful to all reading that question.

Email Marketing

Pitch Page for Mailing List: Sending emails to people who do not give you any permission to do so is loud and clear spamming. Do not do this. Create a pitch page or pitch block in your website where your readers can submit their email address to subscribe to your newsletters. You can get embed codes for this by using tools like Aweber autoresponder orFeedBurner.
Good Layout and Content: Sending an attractive and corporate looking e-newsletter can prevent your recipients to hit the “spam” button. Be creative with your layout and give them good content. Put links directing to your website. Also, offering some games, rewards or other promotions can be a good call to action to your readers to visit your blog.

Guest Blogging

Last but not the least also, have a presence as a guest blogger on various authority and related sites of your industry. As guest blogging is more than writing a blog post for some other blog, it has got many benefits, which can improve your image as a blogger and also help you promote your own blog by reaching out to communities established by these blogs.

Best is to write guest posts for other blogs and also invite and publish guest posts on your own blog. This gives maximum exposure to your blog and helps you reach out multifold on the web by opening doors for other SEO and social media benefits attached to guest blogging. Hence, this can be termed as a win-win situation where the blogger and the blog both benefit in various ways.

There are so many things that you may do to gain maximum exposure for your blog. Also, give time to research for useful tools to automate your blog sharing and make your promotion easier. Pursue the marketing and outreach of your blog keeping abreast with new ideas and methods on the web as internet marketing keeps evolving and every time you come across a new platform consider how you can portray your business.

Olympics 2012: Team GB athletes at London Games Day Three

2012-07-30T05:15:00.000-07:00

A sport-by-sport round-up of how every Team GB athlete performs on Day Three of the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

ATHLETICS
Freya Murray chosen to replace Paula Radcliffe for Great Britain in the marathon.

FENCING
Corinna Lawrence, Great Britain's only entrant in the women's individual epee, beats Chile's Caterin Bravo Aranguiz 15-12 in the round of 64 and meets European champion Simona Gherman of Romania next.

JUDO
Sarah Clark goes out as she is beaten 1-0 by Automne Pavia of France.
Daniel Williams loses by an ippon to 2008 bronze medallist Rasul Boqiev of Tajikistan and goes out of the men's -73kg in the round of 32.

ROWING
Kath Grainger and Anna Watkins break the Olympic record in the women's double sculls with a time of 6:44.33 to win the first heat and go straight through to the final.

The men's four crew of Andy Gregory, Pete Reed, Tom James and Andrew Triggs Hodge comfortably win heat two in 5:50.27 and progress to the semi-finals. Australia set a new Olympic record in heat one but are not due to meet Great Britain until the final.

GB men achieve a convincing win in the eight repechage in 5:26.85, holding off a fast finish from the Canadians, to go into Wednesday's final.

Melanie Wilson, Beth Rodford, Frances Houghton and Debbie Flood produce a great finish to take third in the women's quadruple sculls repechage and progress to the final in a time of 6:21.65.

SHOOTING
James Huckle finishes 24th in a field of 47 in the 10m air rifle and goes out with a score of 593 out of 600.

SAILING
Steve Morrison and Ben Rhodes come home 12th in race one of the 49er.

SWIMMING
Simon Burnett has retired from swimming after the team he was part of failed to reach the final of the men's 4x100m freestyle relay on Sunday.

Caitlin McClatchey wins heat four of the women's 200m freestyle in 1:58.03 and qualifies in joint seventh overall. Rebecca Turner finishes sixth in heat three in a time of 1:58.98. With the top 16 going through, she finishes 17th overall and is out by two hundreths of a second.

Hannah Miley finishes fourth in heat five - and 10th overall - to reach the semi-finals of the women's 200m individual medley with a time of 2:12.27. Sophie Allen finishes fifth in heat four with 2:14.72, which is 21st overall, so she goes out.

In the men's 200m butterfly, Joe Roebuck is seventh in heat three with a time of 1:56.97, while Roberto Pavoni also finishes seventh in heat five (1:57.55). Neither time is good enough to qualify for the semi-finals.

TABLE TENNIS
Paul Drinkhall's singles tournament is over as he is beaten 4-0 by Ukrainian-born German Dimitrij Ovtcharov in the third round.

US, German finance ministers meet over euro

2012-07-30T05:03:00.000-07:00

The top US finance official is in Berlin on Monday to meet his German counterpart and the head of the European Central Bank, fuelling hopes Europe is about to take decisive action to save the crisis-hit eurozone.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was to meet Wolfgang Schäuble to increase the pressure on Berlin and push for intervention in the markets to bring down the spiralling borrowing costs of Spain and Italy.

Afterwards, Geithner will meet ECB chief Mario Draghi, who touched off speculation the bank would resume its controversial bond-buying programme by pledging last week to do "whatever it takes" to preserve the euro.

European markets opened higher on Monday, following gains in Asia, as traders eyed a double intervention to help Italy and Spain - from the ECB and the European rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).

These hopes were bolstered by a media offensive on the part of Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker who told major newspapers in Germany and France that Europe was preparing to take action to quell the more than two year crisis.

"We have come to a crucial point," he told Le Figaro.

"We will act together with the ECB," he vowed, adding that the "pace and scope" still had to be worked out.

"There is no more time to lose," he said, adding that a review of the markets would be decided in the coming days.

Juncker's comments capped a flurry of verbal intervention from Draghi and top leaders in a bid to shore up confidence that Europe was not about to let the eurozone fall apart.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, seen as the linchpin of any possible crisis response, reiterated her determination to keep the 17-nation bloc together following a weekend phone call with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.

The two leaders "agreed that Germany and Italy will do everything to protect the eurozone," they said in a joint statement Sunday.

That followed a similar statement on Friday by Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, throwing their weight behind the euro project after a week in which Spain looked increasingly likely to request a full bailout.

The flurry of activity was set to continue as Monti announced he would meet his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy in Madrid on Thursday.

And adding to the pressure on leaders to take action, a former heavyweight on the European political stage weighed in with a dire warning not to let the eurozone fall apart.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote an opinion piece in Bild newspaper, saying: "To give up the euro now would be a catastrophe economically, not just politically."

The verbal broadsides appeared to be working as Italy held a successful action of five- and 10-year debt at lower rates, building on last week's gains.

"In the end, the ECB will live up to its duty to prevent an escalating market panic that could shatter the eurozone and the ECB itself to pieces," predicted Holger Schmieding from Berenberg Bank.

"All eyes are now on the ECB meeting this Thursday," he added, as the governing council of the bank prepared for a monthly meeting in Frankfurt.

Analyst Thu Lan Nguyen from Commerzbank however, sounded a note of caution, saying in a research note: "The markets seem hopeful ... even though it is all but clear how these good intentions are going to be implemented."

Data from Spain dampened the optimism, reminding policymakers that the crisis continues to have a devastating effect on the real economy.

The Spanish recession deepened in the second quarter of the year, with the economy contracting 0.4 percent after shrinking 0.3 percent in the first three months of 2012, statistics institute INE said.

And in Greece, the most badly hit of the eurozone countries, political talks were continuing to thrash out spending cuts that would allow the country to receive aid to keep the economy afloat and enable it to stay in the euro.

Following a first meeting last week, the leaders of Greece's conservative-led, three-party coalition government were due to meet again on Monday to agree on €11.6 billion of spending cuts.

AFP

Twitter: Olympics opening ceremony saw 9.66 million mentions

2012-07-30T04:51:00.001-07:00

From retweeting Tim Berners-Lee to criticizing NBC's decision to delay its broadcast of the ceremony, users around the world took to Twitter to share their opinions on the Games.

Talk of the London 2012 Olympic Games was expected to take over Twitter, and its community of 140 million active users worldwide didn't disappoint.

On Friday, Twitter saw more tweets in a single day than it saw during the whole duration of the Beijing 2008 Olympics, according to a blog post by the microblogging service.

In 2008, the average number of tweets stood at around 300,000 per day. That number has grown dramatically ever since, and on Friday 9.66 million mentions of the opening ceremony made on Twitter between 8.00 p.m. U.K. time through to the end of the delayed U.S. broadcast, which started more than three hours later.

Many of the tweets discussed NBC's decision to delay broadcasting the ceremony in order to fit in with its prime-time coverage. While NBC itself took to Twitter to live-tweet the opening of the Games as it happened, many individuals used the service to post criticism of the U.S. broadcaster, while others tweeted links to unauthorised live streams of the ceremony.

Twitter didn't reveal any details of which element of the extravaganza provoked its highest traffic spike, but did note that a tweet by Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee was retweeted more than 10,000 times.

Samsung, Apple head for courtroom confrontation

2012-07-30T04:46:00.000-07:00

After 17 months of filings, a patent battle with enormous stakes for both companies shifts to a San Jose, Calif., courtroom this week.

Monday marks the start of the U.S. trial between Apple and Samsung, two companies that have spent the past 17 months attempting to disembowel one another with legal filings -- all while quietly doing business together that helps keep them afloat.

The dustup between the two is of intense interest, not only in Silicon Valley, but to the electronics world at large.

At stake for Apple is a possibility to convince a jury -- and perhaps the world -- that one of its biggest rivals could only have gotten where it is by copying Apple technology. Beyond that, the company is vying to keep Samsung's products off store shelves, with the potential threat to do the same to others if the bid is successful.

Samsung, meanwhile, will attempt to make the case that Apple's hottest gadgets -- the iPhone and iPad -- would have been impossible to develop without its technology. Furthermore, it contends that if Apple is successful against it, the outcome could "stifle legitimate competition," with a corresponding impact on consumers.

Both of these arguments were made in pretrial claims filed by the two companies last week. With either side, the case centers on the importance of intellectual property. Patents, both for the design of gadgets, as well as the inner workings of software, are being used as ammunition. The implications will be especially noteworthy if one of the companies comes out on top, making any patents involved more valuable.

To help tell that tale will be witnesses from both sides. Apple and Samsung both get 20 people to make their case. That includes Apple senior vice presidents Phil Schiller and Scott Forstall, two regulars during the company's public sales presentations, who now get to answer questions under oath. Others on the stand include industrial designers from both companies, patent experts, inventors, and computer scientists.

At the center of it all is the relationship between the two companies, which, suffice to say, can only be described as complicated. Even as it's throwing punches in court, Apple is Samsung's largest customer. Apple buys LCD panels, flash memory, and the chipsets that power its iOS devices from the South Korean technology giant. Apple also dropped $100 million into one of Samsung's semiconductor subsidiaries back in 1999 to ensure it could help get enough screens for its iBook laptop.

That relationship, and its long-term outlook, is likely to be tested, depending on how the trial plays out. While experts believe that the two will simply reach a settlement, the fact that the struggle has already reached this point without a private resolution suggests this may very well be a long, drawn-out fight.

Phelps scrapes into 400m medley final

2012-07-28T12:08:00.001-07:00

Michael Phelps got his hand on the wall just in the nick of time to scrape into the final of the men's 400 metres individual medley.

The American, who won the gruelling event at the last two Olympics, won his morning heat but only snuck into the finals in eighth place after a desperate lunge on his final stroke.

"I didn't expect those guys to go that fast in the heats," said Phelps. "I think the only thing that matters is getting a spot. You can't get the gold medal from the morning."
Phelps stopped the clock at four minutes and 13.33 seconds, just 0.07 ahead of Hungary's Laszlo Czech, who won the silver in Beijing four years ago, but missed the final after qualifying ninth.
Ryan Lochte, the reigning world champion and favourite to win gold, was third fastest overall in 4:12.35.
"It didn't feel so good, but that was my first race, and my first race is always the worst one," Lochte said. "It's hard, it's a tough field. But he's (Phelps) in."
Japan's Kosuke Hagino (4:10.01) qualified fastest ahead of South Africa's Chad le Clos (4:12.24).
Olympic men's 400m freestyle champion Park Tae-Hwan of South Korea was disqualified in the first big shock of the swimming competition, but was later reinstated.
Park, defending the Olympic title he won in Beijing four years ago, was initially disqualified after officials ruled that he false started in his morning heat but won an appeal to overturn the decision.
China's Sun Yang is Park's main rival to win the gold in the final later on Saturday.
He set the fastest overall time of three minutes 45.07 seconds, just ahead of American Peter Vanderkaay (3:45.80).
Germany's Paul Biedermann, the world record holder for the event, missed out on the final after finishing 12th overall in 3:48.50.
Japan's Kosuke Kitajima safely navigated the first stage of his bid to become possibly the first male swimmer to win the same event at three Olympics when he made it through the men's 100m breaststroke heats.
Kitajima finished second fastest overall, in a time of 59.62 seconds. He was just 0.01, the closest margin to a deadheat in swimming, behind Australia's Christian Sprenger, who was in the same heat.
The event, however, was tinged with sadness because of the death of world champion Alexander Dale Oen in April.
Norway's Dale Oen, who won the world title in Shanghai last year three days after a bombing and shooting attack in Oslo that killed 77 people, had been at a training camp in Arizona when he collapsed and died.
A medical examiner ruled the 26-year-old had died of severe coronary artery disease and his compatriot Sara Nordenstam said his absence was felt in their team and at the pool.
"I know a lot of his competitors will think of him. Cameron (van der Burgh) from South Africa has dedicated his swim to Alex," Nordenstam said before the 100 breaststroke heats.

"Kitajima says he wishes he could compete with Alex. Something is missing when he is not here."

Van der Burgh qualified sixth fastest in 59.79 with the first 12 swimmers all finishing in under a minute.

Kitajima won the 100-200m breaststroke double at each of the past two Olympics and could become the first man to win the same event three times.

The only other swimmer who could beat him for the feat is Michael Phelps, who is competing in four different events that he won at the past two Olympics.
"I don't feel pressure, I just try to enjoy it," Kitajima said. "I can swim at a very high level, so I'll try to improve in the semi-final."

Dana Vollmer of the United States set the fastest qualifying time in the heats of the women's 100m butterfly.

The reigning world champion broke Inge de Bruijn's 12-year-old Olympic record of 56.61 when she sailed through her heat in 56.25 seconds, almost a second ahead of her nearest rival, China's Lu Ying (57.17).

Australia's Alicia Coutts was third overall while Swedish world record holder Sarah Sjostrom qualified fourth fastest in 57.45.
"I am really happy with how fast it was, and I feel like it is only going to get faster," said Vollmer.

"I am going to keep working on what I have been working on, having a tighter rhythm, hitting my walls... Just making sure I do all those extra things."
The top 16 qualified for Saturday night's semi-finals, with the fastest eight from the semis advancing to Sunday's final.

Australia's Jessicah Schipper, a bronze medallist in the event in Beijing four years ago, missed out after finishing 24th overall, while Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak, the 2004 Olympic champion over 200m, was 25th.

Elizabeth Beisel sailed into the final of the women's 400m individual medley with the
fastest qualifying time.

The American, who is looking to add the Olympic gold to the world title she won in Shanghai last year, was just 0.05 ahead of China's Ye Shiwen, setting the stage for an epic final that could rival the men's event.

Australia's Stephanie Rice, the defending Olympic champion and world record holder, got into the final in seventh place after saving her energy for the final.

"There are some really hot times," said Rice. "These are races where you have to be quick to make the final because everyone wants to be in there, but at the same time you have to try and conserve something because it is such a taxing race."

Australia stormed into the final of the women's 4x100 metres freestyle final when they clocked the fastest time in the morning heats.

The quartet of Emily Seebohm, Brittany Elmslie, Yolane Kukla and Libby Trickett won their heat in a combined time of three minutes, 36.34 seconds.
The United States were second, just 0.19 behind, with the defending Olympic champions, the Netherlands third, and China fourth.

The eight countries that qualified for the final were separated by less than two seconds but should all go much faster in the evening after resting their best swimmers for the heats.

London 2012 Olympic - Day 1

2012-07-28T12:00:00.001-07:00

London 2012 Olympic - Day 1

RANK	COUNTRY	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
1	China	2	0	1	3
2	Brazil	1	1	1	3
2	Italy	1	1	1	3
4	United States	1	1	0	2
5	South Korea	1	0	1	2
6	Kazakhstan	1	0	0	1
6	Russia	1	0	0	1
18	Great Britain	0	0	0	0

$75M Lawsuit Claims Casino Let Man Drink to Death

2012-07-28T03:39:00.005-07:00

By HOLBROOK MOHR Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. July 27, 2012 (AP)

A lawsuit claims a Mississippi casino served so much alcohol to a man taking powerful prescription painkillers that he died on the floor of his hotel bathroom.

The lawsuit against IP Casino Resort and Spa in Biloxi was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Gulfport. It seeks damages of $75 million.

The suit claims casino workers kept serving free drinks to 30-year-old Bryan Lee Glenn in August 2009, ignoring pleas from the drunken man's family to stop serving him.

The suit says Glenn died in his hotel room. He'd taken prescribed painkillers including Percocet, morphine and Xanax, as well as antipsychotic medications in the three weeks before his death, the lawsuit says. He was being treated for physical injuries as well as psychosis and hallucinations. Glenn had suffered a traumatic brain injury in a 2004 four-wheeler accident, then suffered back injuries in a 2007 car wreck.

Casino spokeswoman Lynn Frisby said the company doesn't comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit represents only one side of the legal argument. The casino hasn't responded in court filings.

Glenn and his mother and brother lived in coastal Long Beach, Miss., but lost everything to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and eventually settled in Virginia. They returned to Mississippi with a friend in August 2009 to pick up Glenn's check from a settlement from a previous lawsuit and to look for a place to live. They were staying at the IP resort.

Glenn picked up the $15,000 check on the morning of Aug. 6, 2009, and the group planned to use some of the money on a deposit for place to live. But once back at the resort, Glenn began betting up to $1,000 a hand on blackjack and ordering two drinks at a time — whiskey and cola and shots of tequila. The suit says a dealer, pit boss, waitress and security guard were among those who refused to intervene after Glenn was falling down drunk and his family begged the casino to stop serving him.

"He's old enough to make his own decisions," the lawsuit claims a pit boss said to Glenn's brother.

The lawsuit says Glenn had attempted suicide days before his death, was highly intoxicated and became agitated when his family tried to get him to leave the casino. When his friend and relatives finally convinced Glenn to leave, the lawsuit says, a dealer told him he still had chips and said, "'Aren't you going to come back and play?'"

He went back to gamble more and met a prostitute, whom he paid for services to be rendered later. When the casino stopped serving Glenn he began to leave with the prostitute, who reached in his pocket and took money. Glenn's mother argued with the prostitute, then went to a security guard, who made the woman give the money back, according to the lawsuit.

Glenn then went to a casino bar, called the Chill Lounge, and began drinking Long Island iced teas, a drink made with five liquors. His relatives say they asked the bartender to stop serving Glenn, but the relatives then had to leave to take another family member home. Glenn was not in the lounge when they returned. A doorman told his relatives he had been escorted out of the casino by security, the lawsuit says.

Glenn's brother, mother and friend found him in his hotel room, "on the floor and half in the bathtub, facing the toilet with his pants around his ankles," the family's lawyer wrote in the lawsuit.

Glenn's friend, trained as an emergency medical technician, tried for 25 minutes to revive Glenn until a casino medic arrived, according to the lawsuit. The medic told Glenn's friend to continue CPR because the medic didn't have a "mouthpiece." An ambulance crew arrived 20 minutes later, but Glenn died on the scene, the lawsuit says.

"Despite their best efforts to save him from harm, Bryan was slowly poisoned while his friend and family ... helplessly watched," the family's attorney, Michael Holleman, wrote in the lawsuit.

Batik

2012-07-27T22:27:00.002-07:00

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Part #1)

Batik (/ˈbætɪk/ or /bəˈtiːk/; Javanese pronunciation: [ˈbateʔ]; Indonesian: [ˈbatɪk]) is a cloth that is traditionally made using a manual wax-resist dyeing technique.

Javanese traditional batik, especially from Yogyakarta and Surakarta, has notable meanings rooted to the Javanese conceptualization of the universe. Traditional colours include indigo, dark brown, and white, which represent the three major Hindu Gods (Brahmā, Vishnu, and Śiva). This is related to the fact that natural dyes are most commonly available in indigo and brown. Certain patterns can only be worn by nobility; traditionally, wider stripes or wavy lines of greater width indicated higher rank. Consequently, during Javanese ceremonies, one could determine the royal lineage of a person by the cloth he or she was wearing.

Other regions of Indonesia have their own unique patterns that normally take themes from everyday lives, incorporating patterns such as flowers, nature, animals, folklore or people. The colours of pesisir batik, from the coastal cities of northern Java, is especially vibrant, and it absorbs influence from the Javanese, Arab, Chinese and Dutch cultures. In the colonial times pesisir batik was a favourite of thePeranakan Chinese, Dutch and Eurasians.

UNESCO designated Indonesian batik as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on October 2, 2009. As part of the acknowledgment, UNESCO insisted that Indonesia preserve their heritage.

Etymology

Although the word's origin is Javanese, its etymology may be either from the Javanese amba ('to write') and titik ('dot' or 'point'), or constructed from a hypothetical Proto-Austronesian root *beCík, meaning 'to tattoo' from the use of a needle in the process. The word is first recorded in English in the Encyclopædia Britannica of 1880, in which it is spelled battik. It is attested in the Indonesian Archipelago during the Dutch colonial period in various forms: mbatek, mbatik, batek and batik.

History

Wax-resist dyed textile from Niya (Tarim Basin), China

The carving details of clothes worn byPrajnaparamita, 13th century East Java statue. The intricate floral pattern similar to traditional Javanese batik.

Wax resist dyeing technique in fabric is an ancient art form. Discoveries show it already existed in Egypt in the 4th century BCE, where it was used to wrap mummies; linen was soaked in wax, and scratched using a sharp tool. In Asia, the technique was practised in China during the T'ang dynasty (618-907 CE), and in India and Japan during the Nara period (645-794 CE). In Africa it was originally practised by the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria, Soninkeand Wolof in Senegal.

In Java, Indonesia, batik predates written records. G. P. Rouffaer argues that the technique might have been introduced during the 6th or 7th century from India or Sri Lanka. On the other hand, JLA. Brandes (a Dutch archeologist) and F.A. Sutjipto (an Indonesian archeologist) believe Indonesian batik is a native tradition, regions such as Toraja, Flores, Halmahera, and Papua, which were not directly influenced by Hinduism and have an old age tradition of batik making.

Rouffaer also reported that the gringsing pattern was already known by the 12th century in Kediri, East Java. He concluded that such a delicate pattern could only be created by means of the canting (also spelled tjanting or tjunting; pronounced [ˌtʃanˈtiŋ]) tool. He proposed that the canting was invented in Java around that time. The carving details of clothes wore by Prajnaparamita, the statue of buddhist goddess of transcendental wisdom from East Java circa 13th century CE. The clothes details shows intricate floral pattern similar to today traditional Javanese batik. This suggested intricate batik fabric pattern applied by canting already existed in 13th century Java or even earlier.

In Europe, the technique is described for the first time in the History of Java, published in London in 1817 by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles who had been a British governor for the island. In 1873 the Dutch merchant Van Rijckevorsel gave the pieces he collected during a trip to Indonesia to the ethnographic museum in Rotterdam. Today Tropenmuseum houses the biggest collection of Indonesian batik in the Netherlands. The Dutch were active in developing batik in the colonial era, they introduced new innovations and prints. And it was indeed starting from the early 19th century that the art of batik really grew finer and reached its golden period. Exposed to the Exposition Universelle at Paris in 1900, the Indonesian batik impressed the public and the artisans. After the independence of Indonesia and the decline of the Dutch textile industry, the Dutch batik production was lost. TheGemeentemuseum, Den Haag contains artifacts from that era.

Due to globalization and industrialization, which introduced automated techniques, new breeds of batik, known as batik cap ([ˈtʃap]) and batik print emerged, and the traditional batik, which incorporates the hand written wax-resist dyeing technique is known now as batik tulis (lit: 'Written Batik').

At the same time, according to the Museum of Cultural History of Oslo, Indonesian immigrants to Malaysia brought the art with them. As late as the 1920s Javanese batik makers introduced the use of wax and copper blocks on Malaysia's east coast. The production of hand drawn batik in Malaysia is of recent date and is related to the Javanese batik tulis.

In Sub Sahara Africa, Javanese batik was introduced in the 19th century by Dutch and English traders. The local people there adapted the Javanese batik, making larger motifs, thicker lines and more colors. In the 1970s, batik was introduced to the aboriginal community in Australia, the aboriginal community at Erna bella and Utopia now develop it as their own craft.

LEGALLY BLIND ARCHER SETS WORLD MARKS

2012-07-27T10:22:00.001-07:00

Legally blind archer Im Dong-hyun set the first world records of the London Olympics, breaking his own record in the 72-arrow mark and helping South Korea set a team record in the ranking round on Friday.

Im broke the record he had set in Turkey in May by three points with a score of 699, hours before the 2012 Games official opening ceremony.

''This is just the first round, so I will not get too excited by it,'' said Im, who has 10 percent vision in his left eye and 20 percent in his right.

RECORD BREAKER

Find out more about Im Dong-Hyun, the legally blind archer who set the first two world records of the London Olympics.

He combined with Kim Bub-min and Oh Jin-hyek, smashing the record for 216 arrows with a total 2,087. That was 18 better than the mark South Korea set in May.

The 26-year-old Im has said that when he looks at the targets, he sees colors with blurred lines between them. He does not wear glasses in competition, saying he relies on distinguishing between the bright colors of the target.

He won gold medals in the team event at the 2008 Beijing and 2004 Athens Olympics.

Spectators hoping to catch a glimpse of the action were turned away from Lord's cricket ground.

Preliminary rounds were listed as non-ticketed, so several thousand spectators showed up at the venue expecting to get in for free.

A spokeswoman for the London Games organizing committee said tickets were not advertised or sold for the qualifying events and ''we have always made it clear'' that the early competitions were not open for spectators.

Is Obama losing his brand?

2012-07-27T05:39:00.001-07:00

After weeks of blistering attacks on Mitt Romney's record, the Obama campaign is shifting gears. This week the campaign released two ads featuring President Obama speaking straight to camera with a mostly positive tone, the first of their kind this cycle.

After an initial month of positive advertising in May, Team Obama has spent nearly all of its ad dollars on hard hitting negative messages against Romney for June and July. The campaign thus far has been about destroying Romney's business record. The problem is its unclear that approach is getting them where they want to be heading into the fall. There is little evidence suggesting Romney has been disqualified as an alternative in voters' minds. And there are some hints the attacks may be hurting the essential and carefully cultivated Obama brand. Hence the shifting gears.

Early on, the Obama campaign made the decision that to win this campaign, they had to make this a referendum on Romney. And once you go negative, it's hard to go back.

But can the president strike a balance? Attack with one hand, and deliver positive messages on the other? Check out this week's Top Line for more. (news.yahoo.com)

Information updated Jobs in Indonesia

2012-07-27T00:29:00.001-07:00

PT. PLN (Persero)

PT. PLN (Persero) North Sumatera Jobs open to high school SMK majoring Electrical PLN for 3 positions in North Sumatra. Deadline August 3, 2012

Download here

PT Petrokimia Gresik

PT Petrokimia Gresik open employment opportunities to the degree (S1) with an educational background:

Industrial Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Agribusiness
Agronomy
Seed Technology
Geology
With the following conditions:
Citizen of Indonesia;
Maximum age 25 years (born after the date of July 31, 1987);
Male gender;
Courses A accredited university;
Has index Achievement (IP) of at least 3.00 cumulative;
Have a minimum TOEFL 475 (evidenced by a certificate);
Physical and Spiritual Health;
Not color blind;
Not tied to a bond to other agencies.
Graduates of the school / vocational school.

With the following conditions:

Indonesian citizen;
Male gender - male;
High school graduates (IPA) / SMK CHEMICAL INDUSTRY (Accreditation A);
Maximum age 20 years (born after July 31, 1992);
Mastering the English language (at least passive);
Basic Computer Program master (Ms.Word, Ms.Excell, Ms.Power Point);
The average value of UAN at least 8;
Minimum height 165 cm / ideal body weight;
Drug free;
Not color blind;
Not wearing glasses;
Not married;
Not tied to service in other agencies.

Apply online here deadline June 29, 2012

Pertamina

Pertamina is a State Owned oil & gas company (National Oil Company), established on December 10, 1957 under the name PT PERMINA. In 1961 the company changed its name to PN PERMINA and after the merger with PN PERTAMIN in 1968 it Became PN Pertamina. With the enactment of Law 8 of 1971 Became the company Pertamina. This name persisted until after PERTAMINA changed its legal status to PT Pertamina (LIMITED) on October 9, 2003.

Position:

Flooding Thermal Specialist 26/07/2012

HSE Assistant Implementation 26/07/2012

Storage Specialist subsurface 26/07/2012

Organization Development Analyst - HR 26/07/2012

Apply online here