Snowden's limbo in purported airport hideout

MOSCOW (AP) ? Russian President Vladimir Putin says that fugitive National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has been in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport since flying in from Hong Kong ? meaning that he has not officially entered the country. If true, it's effectively a life of airport limbo for Snowden, whose American passport has been revoked by U.S. authorities.

Here's a look at the place and how it operates.

WHAT IT'S LIKE

The area where Snowden is purportedly staying serves both connecting passengers traveling via Moscow to onward destinations and passengers departing from Moscow who have passed border and security checks. An Associated Press reporter entered the area Wednesday by flying from Kiev, Ukraine.

The huge area unites three terminals: the modern, recently built D and E, and the older, less comfortable F, which dates to the Soviet era. The transit and departure zone is essentially a long corridor, with boarding gates on one side and gleaming duty free shops, luxury clothing boutiques and souvenir stores selling Russian Matryoshka dolls on the other. About a dozen restaurants owned by local and foreign chains serve various tastes.

Hundreds of Russian and foreign tourists await flights here, some stretched out on rows of gray chairs, others sipping hot drinks at coffee shops or looking out through giant windows as silver-blue Aeroflot planes land and take off.

Business ran as usual at the terminals on Wednesday morning. An Asian girl, about 10 years old, slept peacefully on her father's lap. A middle-aged mother and her teenage daughter tried out perfume samples at a duty free store, while nearby a woman in a green dress picked out a pair of designer sunglasses. A pilot was buying lunch at Burger King.

NO TRACE OF SNOWDEN

Putin insisted Tuesday that Snowden has stayed in the transit zone without passing Russian immigration and is free to travel wherever he likes. Snowden, who arrived Sunday on a flight from Hong Kong, registered for a Havana-bound flight Monday en route to Venezuela, but didn't board the plane. His ultimate destination was believed to be asylum in Ecuador. Dozens of Russian and foreign journalists boarded the Havana flight only to photograph Snowden's empty seat 17A during the 12-hour journey.

The U.S. move to annul Snowden's passport might have further complicated his travel plans.

Hordes of journalists armed with laptops and photo and video cameras have camped in and around the airport, looking for Snowden or anyone who may have seen or talked to him. But after talking to passengers, airport personnel, waiters and shop clerks, the press corps has discovered no trace of the elusive leaker.

Russian news agencies, citing unidentified sources, reported that Snowden was staying at a hotel in the transit terminal, but he was nowhere to be seen at the zone's only hotel, called "Air Express." It offers several dozen capsule-style spaces that passengers can rent for a few hours to catch some sleep. Hotel staff refused to say whether Snowden was or has in the past stayed there.

"We only saw lots of journalists, that's for sure," said Maxim, a waiter at the Shokoladnitsa diner not far from Air Express. He declined to give his last name because he wasn't allowed to talk to reporters.

PLACES TO HIDE

The departure and transit area is huge and has dozens of small rooms, some labeled "authorized personnel only," where one could potentially seek refuge with support from airport staff or security personnel. And security forces or police patrolling the area can easily whisk a person out of this area though back doors or corridors.

There are also a few VIP lounge areas, accessible to business-class passengers or people willing to pay some $20 per hour. Snowden was not seen in those areas.

Exiting the area would either require boarding a plane or passing through border control. Both require a valid passport or other identification.

Sheremetyevo's press service declined to comment on Snowden's whereabouts. A policeman at the airport laughed off a question from an AP reporter about Snowden's whereabouts. "Journalists have searched this place for three days and have found nothing. Was he ever here in the first place?" the policeman asked. He spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/snowdens-limbo-purported-airport-hideout-154331234.html

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Prince Jackson tears up recalling dad's death

Celebs

Maria Elena Fernandez TODAY

17 hours ago

Michael Jackson's 16-year-old son's bloodshot eyes welled up with tears Wednesday when he told a Los Angeles jury that when his father died in a hospital emergency room four years ago, the singer's personal physician simply turned to Jackson's three children and said, "Sorry, kids, Dad's dead."

Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., known as Prince, was the first member of the Jackson family to take the stand in the Los Angeles Superior Court wrongful death and negligence suit that his grandmother filed against concert promoter AEG Live. At the time of his death, Jackson, 50, was in the middle of rehearsals for his "This is It" comeback tour in London. The lawsuit alleges that AEG was responsible for hiring Dr. Conrad Murray, who was convicted in 2011 of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death, as Jackson's doctor.

Jackson's eldest son remained composed as he spoke of the special relationship he and his siblings had with their father and described in detail the confusing days before the King of Pop died, and the impact of his death on the lives of his children.

"It will never be the same," said the teen who lives with his grandmother, a cousin, and siblings in Calabasas, Calif. He talked about how challenging life has been for his 15-year-old sister, Paris, who is recovering in a Los Angeles hospital after a suicide attempt on June 5. He said his 11-year-old brother, Prince Michael Jackson, known as Blanket, "is so young he doesn't realize what he lost" and that he and Paris no longer celebrate their birthdays.

"She was hit the hardest," he said. "She was my dad's princess. She is definitely dealing with it in her own way."

In telling stories about his life, Prince made himself sound like any other teenager. He just completed his sophomore year of private high school, and is currently taking a U.S. history class in summer school. He is an honor student, has played football and basketball, and takes martial arts. He also loves to build robots and volunteers reading books to sick children.

He can't sing and he can't play an instrument, he noted, and added that his father suggested he could become an actor. But he never knew how famous his father was until he was gone.

"We always listened to his music but we didn't know he was famous," Prince said. His father made the children wear protective masks when they were out so they wouldn't be recognized.

"When I was little, the masks were annoying," he said. "It was hot and the feathers were always in my face but now that I'm older, I understand why he did it."

Prince Jackson only saw his father perform live once. He said his dad was "very excited about the concert because we would get to see him perform." But his father wished he had more time to rehearse, and after phone calls with "AEG people," usually chief executive officer Randy Phillips, "Prince said his dad would be in tears saying, 'They're gonna kill me. They're gonna kill me."

The teen recalled that while preparing for the 2009 tour, his father would sometimes come down the stairs and be "freezing cold" and "not strong enough." Jackson looked "malnourished," his son said.

On the day of his father's death, Prince Jackson testified that the family chef screamed at him that Murray wanted him upstairs. No employees, except for Murray, were allowed upstairs.

"My dad was hanging halfway off the bed and his eyes were rolling back in his head," he testified. "Murray was doing CPR. My sister was screaming the whole time saying she wants her daddy. I was waiting at the bottom of the stairs crying." When they got to the hospital, he told his sister, "Angels were watching over us," and tried to remain optimistic, but then Murray delivered the news that their father had suffered a heart attack.

The teen testified that he sometimes gave money to "Dr. Conrad" as instructed by his father because Murray would not take payments from Jackson himself and AEG would not pay him. "He didn't always take the cash and if he did, he only took a portion."

"He was supposed to make my dad healthy," he said.

Prince Jackson testified that the siblings are doing the best they can without their father, and that he missses him "a lot every day."

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/michael-jacksons-son-tears-court-he-recalls-dads-death-6C10452622

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Sony starts upgrading Xperia Z to Android 4.2.2

We dinged Sony for shipping the Xperia Z with an old version of Android, but the company is catching up today by posting an upgrade to Android 4.2.2. Most owners receiving the update are carrying unbranded HSPA+ and LTE models at this stage, although there are reports of at least a few carrier-specific phone variants getting the refresh. As with the Xperia ZL update, most of the user-facing changes are minor. The biggest addition is support for lock screen widgets; there's also slight (if noticeable) tweaks to the interface look and feel. If those revisions are still meaningful enough for you, we'd suggest a quick upgrade check through the usual desktop and OTA channels.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sony

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Via: Xperia Blog, Phone Arena

Source: Sony Mobile forums

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/jAO-ZKIjOMY/

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PFT: Gators AD angry over Hernandez misreporting

AP

All the draft picks at this week?s NFL Rookie Symposium are learning about the pitfalls that can come with their new opportunities.

But as the first quarterback taken, and the guy expected to lead the Bills out of a generation of mediocrity-at-best, there?s an extra burden on E.J. Manuel.

Manuel said that the Symposium was an introduction into what he can expect as the guy the Bills expect to become the face of the franchise.

?It?s a great responsibility,? Manuel said, via Tim Graham of the Buffalo News. ?You?re always going to be watched, always going to be evaluated each and every day. You?ve got to take that responsibility and respect it. . . .

?I had high expectations no matter where I went in the draft. I?m a natural competitor. I mean, that?s something I was going to work toward anyway. So I don?t feel any added pressure.?

Of course, the first thing Manuel has to do to reach his goal is to prove more able than Kevin Kolb. While that shouldn?t be the most difficult thing in the world, being in a setting where setting up their future is the main topic of discussion had Manuel thinking about what his legacy as a player would be.

?I?ve always been taught that a good name is more important than great treasure,? Manuel said. ?So just keeping that respect for yourself and keeping your name clean, I think that?s what adds to your legacy.

?Obviously, when you play well you have a football legacy. But at the end of the day, I still want to be known as more than a football player. I want to be remembered as a great man.?

If he can deliver the Bills to the playoffs for the first time since 1999, he?ll have the first half of that taken care of.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/06/25/florida-a-d-takes-issue-with-reports-on-aaron-hernandezs-past/related/

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AT&T cuts smartphone prices in half, jumps on the discount bandwagon

If you're looking for a new smartphone, this is apparently the weekend to go shopping. Following Radio Shack's promise to chip in a $100 Google Play credit with purchase an HTC One and Walmart's deep iPhone discounts, AT&T has quietly tacked on a 50% discount for phones under $199. This puts devices like the HTC One, Samsung's Galaxy S4 (and the S4 Active), the Note II, both of BlackBerry's latest handsets and iPhone 5 at an enticing $100. Naturally, Ma Bell has attached the usual hooks: the deal necessitates a new 2-year agreement or contract renewal, and in-store purchases require a trade-in device to activate the discount. Not a bad deal if you're hankering for new hardware -- just make sure you don't walk away with buyer's remorse.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, AT&T

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Via: TUAW

Source: AT&T

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/IaHSY8xOKj8/

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French minister comment "absurd, false": EU's Barnier

PARIS (Reuters) - European Commissioner Michel Barnier struck back on Monday at a French minister who criticized the European Union's executive arm, calling his remarks "absurd" and saying France should stop blaming others for its own problems.

French Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg accused European Commission President Manuel Barroso at the weekend of fuelling far-right groups through austerity policies, the latest in a growing war of words over EU-imposed measures to cut debt.

"I'm tired of seeing ministers like Mr. Montebourg ... saying it's always the fault of someone else, shirking responsibility and looking for scapegoats," Barnier, European commissioner in charge of regulation, told France 2 television.

"But they won't be shirking for very much longer because the moment of truth will arrive at some point, it's arriving for the minister."

Barnier's reaction, which he followed up with a Twitter post calling Montebourg's criticism "absurd & false", added to tension between Brussels and Paris where politicians are blaming austerity policies for strangling the French economy.

It showed the Commission is ready to match euroskeptic French rhetoric with criticism of a political class it says is responsible for France's lagging competitiveness, high unemployment and flat growth.

"Look how some countries in Europe, with the same Commission, are doing better than France ... Germany is doing better because it supports business," said Barnier, a French former minister, from the center-right UMP party.

The European Commission is waiting to see how France will respond to policy recommendations it made in May, which include reforming the pension system, opening up protected job sectors to competition and continuing to overhaul labor rules.

President Francois Hollande has already lowered expectations for a plan to fix a debt-laden pension system, saying there would be no rise in the legal retirement age.

Montebourg's blamed austerity for the far-right Front National party scoring 46.2 percent in a local election on Sunday in the former constituency of ex-Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac, who is under formal investigation for tax fraud.

(Reporting By Nicholas Vinocur; Editing by Brian Love and Elizabeth Piper)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/french-minister-absurd-false-eus-barnier-095529869.html

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The Next Affirmative Action?

In this file photo, UC?Berkeley students walk through Sproul Plaza. A 1996 state proposition banned race-based affirmative action from the University of California.

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The Supreme Court?s ruling in Fisher v. University of Texas won?t end race-based affirmative action. The court made it harder for schools to defend their policies but not impossible. Justice Anthony Kennedy said for the majority, about any court faced with a challenge to a university?s affirmative-action policy, "The reviewing court must ultimately be satisfied that no workable race-neutral alternatives would produce the educational benefits of diversity."

Still, this decision could?and should?lead to a smarter kind of affirmative action that is mostly based on class rather than race. Ten states have banned race-based affirmative action, usually by voter initiative. After the bans passed, an initial dip in minority enrollment often followed. But then in most of these states, schools created new programs to promote racial and ethnic diversity indirectly by giving an admissions preference to low-income students, boosting financial aid, and reducing reliance on test scores. I show this in a report I wrote with Halley Potter, A Better Affirmative Action: State Universities that Created Alternatives to Racial Preferences (PDF).

The new affirmative action, based primarily on economic disadvantage, better addresses the glaring inequities students face. As you can see from the chart below, a low-income student scores on average 399 points lower on the SAT than a wealthy student. By contrast, the average SAT difference between African-American and white students of the same socioeconomic status is only 56 points. In other words, the SAT class gap is seven times as large as the SAT race gap.

Source: Anthony P. Carnevale and Jeff Strohl, ?How Increasing College Access Is Increasing Inequality, and What to Do about It,? in Rewarding Strivers: Helping Low-Income Students Succeed in College, Richard D. Kahlenberg, ed., (New York: Century Foundation Press, 2010), 170, Table 3.7.

If universities wanted to be truly meritocratic in admissions, they would weight socioeconomic status heavily and race lightly. In fact, research shows that selective universities do the opposite.

Source: Thomas J. Espenshade and Alexandria Walton Radford, No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009), 92, Table 3.5.

Currently, selective schools boost the chances of admission of black and Hispanic students by 28 percentage points. That is, if a white candidate has a 30 percent chance of being admitted based on her record, an African-American or Latino student with the same record has a 58 percent chance. By contrast, low-income students receive no boost whatsoever.

Note: Figures refer to 1995 applicant pool. Adjusted admissions advantage for Bottom income quartile is calculated relative to middle quartiles. Source: William G. Bowen, Martin A. Kurzweil, and Eugene M. Tobin, Equity and Excellence in American Higher Education (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2005), 105, Table 5.1.

Colleges and universities say they care about economic diversity among students. But 74 percent of students at the most selective 146 schools come from the top socioeconomic quarter of the population, while just 3 percent come from the poorest quarter. Put differently, you are 25 times as likely to run into a rich kid as a poor kid on these campuses.

Source: Anthony P. Carnevale and Stephen J. Rose, ?Socioeconomic Status, Race/Ethnicity and Selective College Admissions,? in Richard D. Kahlenberg (ed), America?s Untapped Resource: Low Income Students in Higher Education (The Century Foundation, 2004), p. 106, Table 3.1.

What happens to racial diversity when colleges stop using racial preferences in admissions? The numbers of minority students don?t necessarily drop. After the University of Texas at Austin was barred from considering race by a 1996 court decision, officials started factoring in socioeconomic status. Then the university began admitting students who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school class. By 2004, these race-neutral plans, coupled with growing diversity statewide, produced more racial and ethnic diversity at UT?Austin than had been achieved in 1996 using race.

Source: Brief for Petitioner in Abigail Noel Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, et al., http://www.projectonfairrepresentation.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/Brief-for-Petitioner-Fisher-v-Univ-of-Texas.pdf

Texas is not alone. In Washington, Florida, Georgia, and Nebraska, where race-based affirmative action ended, new programs to provide a leg up to low-income students, improve outreach to them, and reduce the importance of test scores have boosted the number of black and Latino students at flagship campuses.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/

Among the 10 leading public universities in states that banned racial preferences, three did not fully restore black and Latino representation using economic affirmative action and other race-neutral means. Those schools are UC?Berkeley, UCLA, and the University of Michigan. They are the three most selective schools in the study Halley Potter and I did, and the most likely to draw from a national pool of applicants. That?s important because Berkeley, UCLA, and Michigan were competing for minority students with other universities that could continue to use racial preferences in admission. Given that uneven playing field, it?s not surprising that these three universities have had difficulty in recruitment.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/

Some studies find that income-based affirmative action won?t produce much racial diversity. That?s true in part because, on average, compared with whites of the same income level, black and Latino students face extra obstacles?they are more likely to live in neighborhoods with concentrated poverty, and to have less family wealth. UCLA Law School developed a definition of socioeconomic disadvantage that includes family wealth and neighborhood poverty, as well as income. Using those measures, the school admitted far more black and Latino students than it did using the regular admissions standards that didn?t include these factors.

Source: Karman Hsu, director of admissions, UCLA Law School, email to Halley Potter on September 4, 2012.

If schools admit more low-income students, will graduation rates drop (because of poor preparation in K?12)? A simulation of admissions at the most selective 146 universities shows that graduation rates would slightly rise if the proportion of students from the less wealthy half of the population rose increased from 10 percent to 38 percent, using admissions standards based on merit plus class-based affirmative action, and compared with current admissions policies that take into account merit, race, athletic status, and legacy status.

Source: Anthony P. Carnevale and Stephen J. Rose, ?Socioeconomic Status, Race/Ethnicity, and Selective College Admissions,? in America?s Untapped Resource: Low-Income Students in Higher Education, Richard D. Kahlenberg, ed. (New York: Century Foundation Press, 2004), 142, 149.

The Fisher decision could be something of a setback for upper-middle-class minority students, but it should be a boon for low-income students of all races as universities develop a new, and better, form of affirmative action based on class.

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2013/06/fisher_v_university_of_texas_decision_at_the_supreme_court_affimative_action.html

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Getting to grips with migraine: Researchers identify some of the biological roots of migraine from large-scale genome study

June 23, 2013 ? Migraine is an extremely difficult disorder to study. Between episodes, the patient is basically healthy, making the underlying pathology very difficult to uncover. In the largest migraine study, an international team of researchers have identified genetic regions linked to the onset and susceptibility of migraine.

In the largest study of migraines, researchers have found 5 genetic regions that for the first time have been linked to the onset of migraine. This study opens new doors to understanding the cause and biological triggers that underlie migraine attacks.

The team identified 12 genetic regions associated with migraine susceptibility. Eight of these regions were found in or near genes known to play a role in controlling brain circuitries and two of the regions were associated with genes that are responsible for maintaining healthy brain tissue. The regulation of these pathways may be important to the genetic susceptibility of migraines.

Migraine is a debilitating disorder that affects approximately 14% of adults. Migraine has recently been recognized as the seventh disabler in the Global Burden of Disease Survey 2010 and has been estimated to be the most costly neurological disorder. It is an extremely difficult disorder to study because no biomarkers between or during attacks have been identified so far.

"This study has greatly advanced our biological insight about the cause of migraine," says Dr Aarno Palotie, from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. "Migraine and epilepsy are particularly difficult neural conditions to study; between episodes the patient is basically healthy so it's extremely difficult to uncover biochemical clues.

"We have proven that this is the most effective approach to study this type of neurological disorder and understand the biology that lies at the heart of it."

The team uncovered the underlying susceptibilities by comparing the results from 29 different genomic studies, including over 100,000 samples from both migraine patients and control samples.

They found that some of the regions of susceptibility lay close to a network of genes that are sensitive to oxidative stress, a biochemical process that results in the dysfunction of cells.

The team expects many of the genes at genetic regions associated with migraine are interconnected and could potentially be disrupting the internal regulation of tissue and cells in the brain, resulting in some of the symptoms of migraine.

"We would not have made discoveries by studying smaller groups of individuals," says Dr Gisela Terwindt, co-author from Leiden University Medical Centre. "This large scale method of studying over 100,000 samples of healthy and affected people means we can tease out the genes that are important suspects and follow them up in the lab."

The team identified an additional 134 genetic regions that are possibly associated to migraine susceptibility with weaker statistical evidence. Whether these regions underlie migraine susceptibility or not still needs to be elucidated. Other similar studies show that these statistically weaker culprits can play an equal part in the underlying biology of a disease or disorder.

"The molecular mechanisms of migraine are poorly understood. The sequence variants uncovered through this meta-analysis could become a foothold for further studies to better understanding the pathophysiology of migraine" says Dr K?ri Stef?nsson, President of deCODE genetics.

"This approach is the most efficient way of revealing the underlying biology of these neural disorders," says Dr Mark Daly, from the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. "Effective studies that give us biological or biochemical results and insights are essential if we are to fully get to grips with this debilitating condition.

"Pursuing these studies in even larger samples and with denser maps of biological markers will increase our power to determine the roots and triggers of this disabling disorder."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/O-mykvzCfIg/130623144952.htm

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Taliban kill 10 foreign climbers, Pakistani guide

Pakistani rescue workers unload the casket of a foreign tourist who was killed by Islamic militants from an ambulance to shift in a morgue of local hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, June 23, 2013. Islamic militants wearing police uniforms shot to death foreign tourists and at least one Pakistani before dawn as they were visiting one of the world?s highest mountains in a remote area of northern Pakistan that has been largely peaceful, officials said. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Pakistani rescue workers unload the casket of a foreign tourist who was killed by Islamic militants from an ambulance to shift in a morgue of local hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, June 23, 2013. Islamic militants wearing police uniforms shot to death foreign tourists and at least one Pakistani before dawn as they were visiting one of the world?s highest mountains in a remote area of northern Pakistan that has been largely peaceful, officials said. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

FILE - In this May 4, 2004 file photo, Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest mountain in the world, is seen from Karakorum Highway leading to neighboring China in Pakistan's northern area. Gunmen wearing police uniforms killed 11 foreign tourists and one Pakistani before dawn Sunday, June 23, 2013 as they were visiting one of the world?s highest mountains in a remote area of northern Pakistan, officials said. (AP Photo/Musaf Zaman Kazmi, File)

Pakistani rescue workers unload the casket of a foreign tourist, who was killed by Islamic militants, from an ambulance to shift in a morgue of local hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, June 23, 2013. Islamic militants wearing police uniforms shot to death nine foreign tourists and one Pakistani before dawn as they were visiting one of the world?s highest mountains in a remote area of northern Pakistan that has been largely peaceful, officials said. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Pakistani rescue workers unload the casket of a foreign tourist who was killed by Islamic militants, from an ambulance to shift in a morgue of local hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, June 23, 2013. Islamic militants wearing police uniforms shot to death foreign tourists and at least one Pakistani before dawn as they were visiting one of the world?s highest mountains in a remote area of northern Pakistan that has been largely peaceful, officials said. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

ISLAMABAD (AP) ? Islamic militants disguised as policemen killed 10 foreign climbers and a Pakistani guide in a brazen overnight raid against their campsite at the base of one of the world's tallest mountains in northern Pakistan, officials said.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed it carried out the attack at Nanga Parbat to avenge the death of their deputy leader in a U.S. drone strike last month.

The area has largely been peaceful, hundreds of kilometers (miles) from the Taliban's major sanctuaries along the Afghan border. But the militant group, which has been waging a bloody insurgency against the government for years, has shown it has the ability to strike almost anywhere in the country.

The Taliban began their attack by abducting two local guides to take them to the remote base camp in Gilgit-Baltisan, said Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. One guide was killed, and the other has been detained for questioning. The attackers disguised themselves by wearing uniforms used by the Gilgit Scouts, a paramilitary force that patrols the area, Khan said.

Around 15 gunmen attacked the camp at around 11 p.m. Saturday, said the Alpine Club of Pakistan, which spoke with the surviving guide, Sawal Faqir. They began by beating the mountaineers and taking away any mobile and satellite phones they could find, as well as everyone's money, said the club in a statement.

Some climbers and guides were able to run away, but those that weren't were shot dead, said the club. Faqir was able to hide a satellite phone and eventually used it to notify authorities of the attack.

Attaur Rehman, the home secretary in Gilgit-Baltistan, said 10 foreigners and one Pakistani were killed in the attack. The dead foreigners included three Ukrainians, two Slovakians, two Chinese, one Lithuanian, one Nepalese and one Chinese-American, according to Rehman and tour operators who were working with the climbers. Matt Boland, the acting spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, confirmed that an American citizen was among the dead, but could not say whether it was a dual Chinese national.

The shooting ? one of the worst attacks on foreigners in Pakistan in recent years ? occurred in a stunning part of the country that has seen little violence against tourists, although it has experienced attacks by radical Sunni Muslims on minority Shiites in recent years.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for the attack, saying their Jundul Hafsa faction carried out the shooting as retaliation for the death of the Taliban's deputy leader, Waliur Rehman, in a U.S. drone attack on May 29.

"By killing foreigners, we wanted to give a message to the world to play their role in bringing an end to the drone attacks," Ahsan told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location.

The U.S. insists the CIA strikes primarily kill al-Qaida and other militants who threaten the West as well as efforts to stabilize neighboring Afghanistan. In a recent speech, President Barack Obama outlined tighter restrictions on the highly secretive program.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who wants to pursue peace talks with militants threatening his country, has insisted the U.S. stop the drone strikes, saying they violate Pakistan's sovereignty and are counterproductive because they often kill innocent civilians and stoke anti-U.S. sentiment in this nation of 180 million people.

Sharif responded to the attack on the camp by vowing "such acts of cruelty and inhumanity would not be tolerated and every effort would be made to make Pakistan a safe place for tourists."

Officials expressed fear the attack would deal a serious blow to Pakistan's tourism industry, already struggling because of the high level of violence in the country.

The interior minister promised to take all measures to ensure the safety of tourists as he addressed the National Assembly, which passed a resolution condemning the attack.

"A lot of tourists come to this area in the summer, and our local people work to earn money from these people," said Syed Mehdi Shah, the chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan. "This will not only affect our area, but will adversely affect all of Pakistan."

He said the base camp was cordoned off by police and paramilitary soldiers after the attack, and a military helicopter searched the area.

Volodymyr Lakomov, the Ukrainian ambassador to Pakistan, also condemned the attack and said, "We hope Pakistani authorities will do their best to find the culprits of this crime."

Many foreign tourists stay away from Pakistan because of the country's reputation as being a dangerous place. But a relatively small number of intrepid foreigners visit Gilgit-Baltistan during the summer to marvel at the towering peaks in the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges, including K2, the second-highest mountain in the world.

A few try to climb them. The world's ninth-highest mountain, Nanga Parbat is 8,126 meters (26,660 feet) tall and is notoriously difficult to summit. It is known as the "killer mountain" because of numerous mountaineering deaths in the past.

Pakistan has very close ties with neighboring China and is sensitive to any issue that could harm the relationship. Pakistani officials have reached out to representatives from China and Ukraine to convey their sympathies, the Foreign Ministry said.

The government suspended the chief secretary and top police chief in Gilgit-Baltistan following the attack and ordered an inquiry into the incident, said Khan, the interior minister.

The shooting was one of the worst attacks on foreigners in Pakistan in the last decade. A suicide attack outside a hotel in the southern city of Karachi killed 11 French engineers in 2002. In 2009, gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in the eastern city of Lahore, killing six Pakistani policemen, a driver and wounding several players.

___

Associated Press writer Rasool Dawar contributed to this report from Peshawar, Pakistan.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-06-23-AS-Pakistan/id-6832c29c5c4b4379b50c1a3400efe630

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5 Ways to Improve Your Relationship Right Now! | World of ...

All relationships ? even the best ones ? require continuous care and hard work. But that doesn?t necessarily mean taking big actions or making dramatic changes.

Little tweaks also can be tremendously helpful. That?s because simple, everyday positive behaviors add up. Don?t believe us? Give these a try and you may be surprised.

Below, Julie Orlov, MSW, a psychotherapist and author of the book?The Pathway to Love, shared five ways you can instantly improve your relationship.

1. Focus on what you love about your partner.

After spending years together and dealing with day-to-day stressors, couples can forget to focus on the positive. Relationships can easily become a litany of ?you didn?t do this? or ?stop doing that.?

That?s why Orlov suggested reminding yourself ?what it was that made you fall in love with your spouse.? Focus on the qualities you appreciate. ?And don?t forget to share those thoughts with your spouse.?

2. Touch your partner.

?When you have physical contact, it is harder to remain closed off, angry and disconnected.? Just touching your partner or giving them a hug can go a long way in connecting you as a couple, Orlov said. ?

3. Listen to your partner.

Take the time to listen to what?s important to your partner. According to Orlov, ?if your spouse has something to say to you about their feelings, needs, reaction or wants, it behooves you to truly listen rather than respond with either your own opinion or defensiveness to what they said.?

That?s because once you put down your defenses and stop rehearsing your own responses in your head, you?ll be able to gain a clearer and deeper understanding of your partner, and your relationship.

4. Find the humor in a situation.

Humor heals. It provides us with perspective. ?Laughter also releases a lot of stress, allowing more positive feelings to ensue,? Orlov said. Try to find the light side of a situation, and laugh together.

5. Get intimate.

?When you connect in a way that is sacred to your relationship alone, you can?t help but feel more intimate and connected,? Orlov said. Plus, the release of feel-good chemicals also enhances your love and attachment, she said.

Relationships require regular maintenance, and the above tips can help you build a healthy, meaningful bond. Often, it?s the small steps, taken every day, that can make a big, positive difference in cultivating your connection.

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Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. is an Associate Editor at Psych Central and blogs regularly about eating and self-image issues on her own blog, Weightless.

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????Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Jun 2013
????Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.

APA Reference
Tartakovsky, M. (2013). 5 Ways to Improve Your Relationship Right Now!. Psych Central. Retrieved on June 23, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/06/22/5-ways-to-improve-your-relationship-right-now/

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Source: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/06/22/5-ways-to-improve-your-relationship-right-now/

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Supermoon puts on quite a show; social media takes note

Supermoon over the Queen Mary in Long Beach on Saturday. (Russ Parsons)

From a Times Staff Writer

June 22, 2013, 9:22 p.m.

The Supermoon put on quite a show Saturday night in Southern California -- and it had many reaching for their cameras.

The so-called supermoon will reach its closest distance to the Earth at exactly 4:32 a.m. PDT Sunday, but both Saturday evening and Sunday morning will offer good opportunities to observe the spectacle, according to NASA. The supermoon will be up to 14% larger and 30% brighter than a typical full moon.

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Here are some of the images aggregated from social media:

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One person captured this panoramic video of the moon over the L.A. skyline from Griffith Park.

Here's another video of the supermoon vying for attention with a police helicopter.

When the moon reaches its perigee, it will be just 221,824 miles away from Earth -- or 16,176 miles closer than usual.

Those who hope to maximize their viewing experience should set their sights on the distant horizon with objects such as mountains or buildings in the foreground, which will make the moon appear even larger.

The supermoon may have a tiny effect on the Earth's tides, but even if you live near the beach you probably won't notice it. NASA officials say that tides may be an inch higher than usual.

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Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/hOAwHS44He4/la-me-ln-supermoon-puts-on-quite-a-show-social-media-takes-note-20130622,0,2680198.story

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NY congressman says Bravo show promotes bigotry

NEW YORK (AP) ? A suburban New York congressman who represents the area where Bravo films its series "Princesses: Long Island" says the show is "the most objectionable thing I've ever seen on television" and promotes stereotyping of Jews.

The network should show a disclaimer before every episode to say there's nothing real about the nonfiction show, said Rep. Steve Israel, a New York Democrat.

Bravo said Friday the new series has averaged just over 1 million viewers over three airings on Sunday nights, which is considered a very successful start. "Princesses: Long Island" is reminiscent of MTV's "Jersey Shore" in focusing on a small subculture, in this case six young, unmarried women who are generally of comfortable means with plenty of idle time.

One of the women, Ashlee White, is nearly 30 and lives at home where her parents cook her food and do her laundry. She's looking for Mr. Right, but has high standards. "I'm Jewish, I'm American and I'm a princess," White said.

"I initially thought it was all in good fun," Israel said. "But 20 minutes into the show, I realized that promoting anti-Semitic stereotypes isn't that fun. It's one of the most objectionable things I've ever seen on television, and there are a lot of objectionable things on television."

Jodi Davis, a Bravo spokeswoman, said the show is "about six women who are young, educated, single and Jewish living in Long Island, and is not meant to represent all Jewish women or other residents of Long Island."

Israel said he's not encouraging Bravo to take the show off the air, but would like a statement like Davis' shown on the air. She had no immediate comment on whether Bravo would be able to or want to do that.

"Princesses: Long Island" has already had one incident that compelled an apology. White was quoted in one episode as calling the Long Island community of Freeport a "ghetto" in a cellphone conversation with her father, who advised her to roll up her car windows.

White, in a Bravo blog post, later apologized, saying she had been "stressed, overwhelmed and not thinking" when she said that.

Israel, a former president of the Institute on the Holocaust and the Law who once worked for the American Jewish Congress, said the show "leads viewers to believe that this is what being Jewish is all about, that if you're Jewish and live on Long Island, you're narcissistic, you are all about money and that a Shabbat dinner is all about drinking and fighting," he said.

The congressman, who also wrote about the show on The Huffington Post, said he wasn't concerned that speaking out publicly would encourage more people to watch it.

"Silence never works," he said.

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EDITOR'S NOTE ? David Bauder can be reached at dbauder@ap.org or on Twitter @dbauder. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/david-bauder.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ny-congressman-says-bravo-show-promotes-bigotry-191856429.html

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Bank of Tokyo to pay N.Y. $250 million over sanctions

By Karen Freifeld

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ has agreed to pay New York state $250 million for deleting information from $100 billion in wire transfers that authorities could have used to police transactions with sanctioned countries like Iran.

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ moved 28,000 transactions through New York between 2002 and 2007 that were for countries including Iran, Sudan and Myanmar, or entities linked to them, according to a statement from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

The settlement, announced on Thursday, is the latest example of New York state's chief financial regulator, Benjamin Lawsky, flexing the agency's muscles. Last year, Standard Chartered Plc agreed to pay the state $340 million over transactions linked to Iran and other countries. In that case, Lawsky settled, refusing to continue working with other U.S. regulators investigating the bank.

Wire transfer systems automatically flag transactions linked to sanctioned countries for further review, but the bank stripped information from transfers, the statement said.

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ's written materials instructed employees on how to delete or omit information, according to the statement.

The bank, owned by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc , said in a statement it discovered the actions on its own in 2007, reported them to authorities, and promptly stopped stripping information from wire transfers. It also said it cooperated with regulators.

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ is the latest company to settle with authorities for violating laws linked to sanctions. Standard Chartered settled with New York, and in a separate deal with other U.S. agencies agreed to pay $327 million to settle similar charges.

HSBC Holdings Plc agreed to pay $1.9 billion in a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department in December over sanctions violations.

Also, in December, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi settled with the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which oversees sanctions violations. The bank agreed to pay $8.57 million.

In the New York settlement, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ agreed to hire an independent consultant for a year to evaluate risk controls relating to compliance in the New York branch and report to the state.

The New York Department of Financial Services has also been scrutinizing independent consultants. On Tuesday, the agency said that Deloitte LLP's financial advisory unit will pay $10 million and refrain from new business with certain New York banks for a year.

The deal settled accusations that Deloitte Financial Advisory Services omitted key information in a report to regulators after reviewing Standard Chartered's operations. The state said it found no evidence that Deloitte intentionally helped or conspired with the bank to launder money.

Deloitte also agreed to reforms designed to end potential conflicts of interest. Lawsky said the independent consultant for Bank of Tokyo will have to agree to abide by those reforms.

(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Writing by Dan Wilchins; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Jeffrey Benkoe)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bank-tokyo-pay-n-y-250-million-over-154310659.html

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Nvidia's Shield just got a liiiittle cheaper.

Nvidia's Shield just got a liiiittle cheaper. Instead of the original $350, it's now $300 thanks to popular demand. It'll be officially available on June 27th, if that price drop got you interested.

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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/uIzyVzfOZ3Y/nvidias-shield-just-got-a-liiiittle-cheaper-instead-of-516045845

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Higher expectations for digital media at NewFronts

NEW YORK (AP) ? Last year, the inaugural Digital NewFronts didn't skimp on the hype.

Google, Hulu, Yahoo and others made brash, glitzy presentations to advertisers trumpeting their ascendancy in a rapidly changing media landscape. Even Jay-Z dropped by.

There will be plenty of the same this week in New York at the second Digital NewFronts, the digital world's take on the annual TV "upfront" tradition. But ahead of this year's five-day-long overture to Madison Avenue, the talk is of both the great progress of digital entertainment and unrealized promises.

"It was absolutely a learning experience," Doug McVehil, senior vice president of content and programming for the music video destination Vevo, says about last year's NewFronts."I know there's some things we can do better this year both at the presentation itself and in terms of follow-up. But we're all fairly new at this. This is a young thing for the digital media industry."

In 12 months' time, the industry has come a long way. Netflix's first major original series, "House of Cards," proved that streaming video can compete with the most prestigious cable programs. Google's YouTube rolled out its 100-plus funded channels in a bid to bring higher quality videos (and thus advertisers) to its platform. One of the biggest TV stars, Jerry Seinfeld, launched a handsome Web series, "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee."

But some of the digital series touted last year have disappointed. Although Yahoo's "Bachelor"-spoof "Burning Love" has proved a modest hit, its Tom Hanks animated sci-fi series, "Electric City," didn't live up to its creator's reputation. While the top YouTube channels have grown considerably, several of its star-driven efforts have fizzled.

"Last year, there were some big promises about not only the quality but the volume of shows that people are going to make," says Eric Berger, executive vice president of digital networks for Sony Pictures TV, which owns the video site Crackle. "If you look back over the course of the year, as we talked to brands and agencies, there're some questions about quality and about the volume of things that were actually produced."

Crackle didn't participate in the NewFronts last year but will this year. It will be promoting, among other shows, an upcoming second season of Seinfeld's series.

Naturally, growing pains are inevitable, especially when so much is changing so fast. The wide array of NewFront presenters this year exhibits the evolving nature of media companies.

New presenters include The Wall Street Journal and Conde Nast, both venerable publishers known for their print products. But Conde Nast earlier this year launched online series slates for two of its magazines (GQ and Glamour), with plans to do the same for its other properties, including Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. The Journal, more than any other newspaper, has developed live video programing with its "WSJ Live" app.

"The Journal has really transformed itself since News Corp.'s acquisition into a complete content provider and not just business, finance and economics," says Michael Rooney, chief revenue officer for The Journal, explaining its entry to the NewFronts. "The world still needs to learn and understand about that and what we have to offer."

Yahoo will come into its presentation on the heels of acquiring the rights to archival clips to all 38 years of "Saturday Night Live." YouTube recently announced that in May it will begin a series of theme weeks to highlight its premium channels, starting with comedy. On Sunday night, Vevo will kick off the fourth year of its flagship program "Unstaged," a concert live stream. (Vampire Weekend will perform with Steve Buscemi directing the webcast.)

Performances will play a big part of Vevo's presentation, with appearances by Carly Rae Jepsen, Kendrick Lamar and Jessie Ware. But McVehil says at this year's NewFronts, brands want more than a good show.

"As we mature, I think it's going to be about people looking hard at real numbers and performance and judging companies based on that more than how sexy their presentation was," McVehil says.

Some companies are going it alone. NBCUniversal's digital division, having been a part of the NewFronts last year, held a separate event in New York last week, as did the gaming network Machinima. The talent agency CAA will preview its clients' digital projects this week, but not in an official NewFront.

Still, there are close connections for several of the 18 media companies in the NewFronts. Disney Interactive has several YouTube channels and in February partnered with Vevo to produce family friendly music content.

Ad agency Universal McCann predicted deals at the NewFronts could reach $1 billion. That's still a fraction of what broadcast upfront presentations pull in, but few don't expect digital media to continue to increase their share of the advertising pie.

"We're bigger this year, both in terms of the scope of the event and the amount of content," says Mark Walker, senior vice president of Disney Interactive Entertainment. "We had a few programs before and some speculation. Now, we have conclusively demonstrated that there's a robust audience demand for the kind of high quality video content that we're producing."

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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jake_coyle

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/higher-expectations-digital-media-newfronts-131732617.html

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Russia Detains 140 Suspected Islamic Extremists (Voice Of America)

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In response to being hacked on Friday, LivingSocial...

In response to being hacked on Friday, LivingSocial has changed their hashing algorithm from SHA1 to bcrypt so security will be a little tighter. Change your password. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/VtBIECjg97U/

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