Clinton voices deep concern on Myanmar sectarian unrest

Clinton voices deep concern on Myanmar sectarian unrest

Mon Jun 11, 2012 

(Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has voiced deep concern over sectarian violence in Myanmar, unrest that threatens to endanger democratic and economic reforms in the country after decades of military-ruled isolation.

Clinton and the European Union, which both recently suspended economic sanctions against Myanmar to recognize and encourage its transition to democracy, have appealed to the nation's rulers to calm the situation and bring reconciliation.

Tensions between Buddhists and Muslim Rohingyas, a stateless people, turned violent in Myanmar's northwest over the past week, after the gang rape and murder of a Buddhist woman, widely blamed on Muslims, sparked bloody reprisals.

Flame virus linked to Stuxnet: researchers

Flame virus linked to Stuxnet: researchers

June 12, 2012 

The Flame computer virus which has been raging in the Middle East has strong links to Stuxnet, a malware program widely believed to have been developed by the United States or Israel, a security firm said Monday.

Kaspersky, the Russian computer security firm credited with discovering Flame last month, said its research shows the two programs share certain portions of code, suggesting some ties between two separate groups of programmers.

Kaspersky researcher Alexander Gostev said in a blog post that a first examination made it appear the two programs were unrelated.

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"But it turns out we were wrong," he wrote. "Our research unearthed some previously unknown facts that completely transform the current view of how Stuxnet was created and its link with Flame."

Gostev said Flame, even though it was discovered just recently, appears to predate Stuxnet, which was created in 2009.

U.S. families lost 39% of net worth in 3 years

U.S. families lost 39% of net worth in 3 years

by Tim Mullaney on Jun. 11, 2012

Source: USA TODAY

The median U.S. household lost nearly 39% of its wealth from 2007 to 2010, the Federal Reserve said Monday, emphasizing anew the impact of the financial crisis and the recession on ordinary Americans.

Middle-class families took the biggest hit to their net worth during the crunch because much of their wealth was in their homes, whose values plunged during the recession and in its aftermath, the Fed report said. Wealthier families saw a smaller drop in their incomes, but nowhere near as much impact on their net worth.

WWDC 2012: What to expect

This year's conference, the first post-Steve Jobs, could be the biggest yet

By Michael deAgonia

June 10, 2012

Computerworld - On Monday, Apple CEO Tim Cook will kick off Apple's World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco. At its most basic, WWDC gives developers a rare chance to speak directly with Apple engineers about their coding efforts and learn about new features presented during the opening keynote.

But WWDC has become so much more than that, and this year's conference looks to be a bigger deal than usual. Not only does it allow Cook to highlight Apple's direction for the next year, but also lets him showcase new hardware, talk up OS X Mountain Lion and the next version of iOS and get developers enthused about the company's development platform.

Ohio's job growth doesn't guarantee an Obama win

Published June 11, 2012

Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio –  The nation's unemployment rate of 8.2 percent may sink President Barack Obama's re-election bid, but one detail brightens his hopes. About 10 battleground states will decide the election, and seven of them have employment levels that beat the U.S. average.

That doesn't guarantee a second term, of course. But it's a reminder that the national rate, from a purely political standpoint, is not necessarily the be-all, end-all statistic.

Most of the states are led by Republican governors eager to highlight their progress in creating jobs. That complicates GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's claim that the economy has been so mismanaged that Obama deserves to be ousted.

In addition, a chief Romney criticism, that Obama is hindering energy production, is undermined by robust drilling for natural gas that's creating jobs and some wealthy

François Hollande’s Leftist Allies Lead French Legislative Voting

François Hollande’s Leftist Allies Lead French Legislative Voting

Leftist parties appear set to capture a majority in France's parliamentary elections, leaving François Hollande with a freer hand to enact the pro-growth, socially-attentive policies he's promised amid Europe's debt crisis.

By BRUCE CRUMLEY | June 11, 2012

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Just a month after French voters elected Socialist François Hollande president, they returned to the polls to give his political allies a significant boost in their bid to take control of parliament. Results of the first round of legislative elections on Sunday showed that a trio of leftist parties led by Hollande’s Socialists finished on top with 46.3% of the vote, outpacing the outgoing conservative majority, which only garnered 33.9%. Analysts say this initial tally makes it likely the left will come away from second-round polling on June 17 with a commanding hold on parliament—leaving Hollande with a freer hand to pass pro-growth and socially progressive policies that conservatives had promised to impede if they retained their legislative control. 

Massive Wildfires in Colorado, New Mexico Force Hundreds to Evacuate

BY CLAYTON SANDELL 

June 11, 2012

Firefighters in New Mexico and Colorado are battling wildfires that have spread quickly in all directions, forcing hundreds to flee from their homes across both states.

In Colorado, at least 18 structures, including homes, have been destroyed, while one person is missing and feared dead, according to authorities. In just two days, flames have torched over 30 square miles.

Teen thrown from plane before Florida crash, sheriff says

Published June 10, 2012

FoxNews.com

The sixth family member of a plane crash in Florida's Polk County has been found. The body of 13-year-old Boston Bramlage was found about a half mile away from the scene of the crash, where the rest of his family was discovered.

"Friday afternoon, at 2:20pm, we located the missing young man," said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. "He was not in the plane when the plane hit the ground, he was thrown from the aircraft while it was coming to the ground. We've had several different witnesses tell us it was flat and it was rotating."

Investigators say it appears the right wing of the plane somehow separated when the plane was at about 25,000 feet. The Sheriff said Boston Bramlage was catapulted from the plane before it disappeared from radar and crashed.

"The pilot of another aircraft heard the pilot of this aircraft announce a mayday, gave his call sign, but was not specific about the nature of the emergency," said Tim Monville, a Senior Air Safety Investigator with the NTSB.

The NTSB said about six feet of the right wing is still missing.

Mubarak's condition worsens

June 11, 2012

CAIRO: Hosni Mubarak is slipping in and out of consciousness eight days after the ousted Egyptian leader was sent to prison to begin serving a life sentence, a security official said.

With rumours of the former president's death spreading rapidly, authorities granted his wife, former first lady Suzanne Mubarak, and the couple's two daughters-in-law special permission to visit him in Cairo's Torah prison early yesterday morning.

''The former president's health is in decline but now it's stable in its deteriorated state,'' the official said.

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Since his wife's visit, Mubarak has suffered from an irregular heartbeat and required assistance in breathing.

The official said the former president now lives only on liquids and yoghurt. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Mubarak's health is reported to have collapsed since his June 2 conviction for failing to stop the killing of protesters during the uprising that overthrew him last year.

Spain relieved

Spain relieved, angry over humiliating bank rescue

By ALAN CLENDENNING, AP Business Writer 

June 10 2012

MADRID (AP) — Spain's grinding economic misery will get worse this year despite the country's request for a European financial lifeline of up to €100 billion ($125 billion) to save its banks, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Sunday.

A day after the country conceded it needed outside help following months of denying it would seek assistance, Rajoy said more Spaniards will lose their jobs in a country where one out of every four are already unemployed.

"This year is going to be a bad one," Rajoy said Sunday in his first comments about the rescue since it was announced the previous evening by his economy minister.

4 services to keep your passwords safe

By Alice Truong

June 10 2012

LinkedIn, eHarmony and Last.fm. Within the last week, these three companies reported password leaks affecting millions of users — about 6 million from LinkedIn, 1.5 million from eHarmony and an unspecified number from Last.fm. Even the savviest of tech companies can fail their users.

We all know best practices with passwords: make them unique to each site, the longer the better, mix in special characters, avoid pet names, etc. But let's face it, they're incredibly difficult to remember, and fields become cumbersome to fill out.

But with a little help from software, we find secure password-management solutions to keep

U.S. debt...

U.S. debt load falling at fastest pace since 1950s

By Rex Nutting | MarketWatch

6-8-2012

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Everyone knows America has too much debt. What they don’t know is that things are getting better, not worse.

Little by little, our economy is reducing its debt burden, slowly repairing the damage caused by 10, 20 or 30 years of excess.

If you want to know why economic growth has been so tepid, here’s your answer. Four years after the storm hit, the economy is still deleveraging. And it’s very hard for any economy to grow when everyone is

Bob Welch dies

Former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Bob Welch dies, aged 66

8 June 2012 from bbcHelp

Former Fleetwood Mac guitarist and vocalist Bob Welch has been found dead at his home in the US.

A police spokesman said the 66-year-old had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and that a suicide note had been found at the house in Nashville.

Welch was part of Fleetwood Mac in their early years from 1971 to 1974 and worked on such albums as Future Games and Bare Trees.

X-ray lasers from tabletop device

June8 2012 from bbc

An international team of scientists has generated the first laser-like beams of X-rays from a tabletop device.

Most of today's X-ray lasers require so much power they rely on facilities the size of sports stadiums.

This has prompted efforts to build a cost-effective and reasonably sized X-ray laser.

The development, reported in Science journal, could pave the way for super high-resolution imaging that could peer into a cell or a chemical reaction.

"Because X-ray wavelengths are 1,000 times shorter than visible light and they penetrate materials, these coherent X-ray beams promise revolutionary new capabilities," said co-author Margaret Murnane, professor of physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder, US.

Get a pre-paid iPhone for just $30 per month

Get a pre-paid iPhone for just $30 per month

June 8, 2012 - 06:22 by Emma Woollacott

Sprint's Virgin Mobile brand is to become the US' second carrier to offer the iPhone on a prepay basis - and it starts at just $30 per month.

In an ambitious move, the comnpany's offering an unusual pricing structure that sees users paying $649 for the 16Gb version of the iPhone 4S, the same price as in Apple stores.

Then, though, they get unlimited texts and data, with no fixed contract, for just $35 per month. That price falls to $30 if they register for automatic monthly payments with a credit card, debit card or PayPal account.

TEXT-Fitch cuts some Spanish utilities on sovereign action

Fri Jun 8, 2012 

(Reuters) For both Enagas and Red Electrica, the limit of cushion above their sovereign ratings has now been exceeded, and their IDRs have consequently been downgraded, by two notches and one notch, respectively

IMPACT OF SOVEREIGN RATINGS ON UTILITY DEBT INSTRUMENTS

While no further IDRs are changed as a result of the Spanish downgrade, a number of debt instrument ratings have been affected.

The additional notch above the IDR applied to the debt instruments of utilities with a large portion of regulated income, reflecting higher anticipated recoveries in the event of default, is not applied if that uplift would exceed the sovereign's foreign currency ratings. Instead, the senior unsecured debt rating is re-aligned with the utilities' IDR. Fitch believes that the traditionally higher rates of recovery for utilities' debt are less predictable in a distressed sovereign environment than in the case of an idiosyncratic default of a single utility.

This reduction also applies to subordinated instruments which although not rated at the level of the sovereign foreign currency rating, would also see the presumption of higher recoveries in case of default removed, and which are thus also subject to downgrade.

The Spanish sovereign downgrade has thus affected the bond ratings of two further utility groups - Iberdrola S.A. and Gas Natural SDG, S.A.. For Iberdrola's UK subsidiary, Scottish Power UK, its recovery is based on the UK utility regulatory framework, which is not adversely affected by the Spanish sovereign rating action. Details of all bond actions are listed below.

Powerful storms damage homes in Colo., Wyo.

Powerful storms damage homes in Colo., Wyo.

6-8-2012

DENVER (AP) — A quarter-mile-wide tornado cut a swath across mainly open country in southeastern Wyoming, damaging homes, derailing empty train cars and leaving one person with minor injuries, officials said.

The twister was part of a powerful storm system that rolled through parts of Colorado and Wyoming Thursday afternoon and evening, packing heavy rains, high winds and hail. The storms followed a round of nasty late spring weather that pummeled the region Wednesday.

Thursday's tornado in a sparsely populated area near Wheatland, Wyo., left five structures heavily damaged, and 10 to 12 other structures had lesser damage, said Kelly Ruiz of the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security. One of the destroyed homes was vacant, said local radio station owner Kent Smith, speaking for the Platte County Sheriff's Office.

Rays beat Yankees, 7-3, to avoid sweep

By Pete Caldera / The Record (Hackensack N.J.)
Friday, June 8, 2012

NEW YORK — An extraordinary run of Yankees’ starting pitching ended on Thursday night, as CC Sabathia – despite racking up 12 strikeouts — couldn’t solve the Rays.

After Tampa Bay departed with a 7-3 victory at the Stadium, it was time to gear up for another Subway Series.

The surprising Mets visit the Bronx for three games beginning Friday night, and Mark Teixeira can already feel the energy of a packed house of crosstown fans witnessing lefty ace Johan Santana’s first start since pitching the first no-hitter in Mets history.

"To me, the Mets series and Red Sox [team stats] series are the best series at Yankee Stadium," Teixeira said. "The fans are so into it. And especially this year, the Mets are having a great year.
"Facing Johan, (Friday night) is going to be electric. It’s going to be a great atmosphere."
It wasn’t so grand on Thursday night as Sabathia (7-3) yielded five runs (three earned) on seven hits and a walk in seven innings.

Why a prepaid iPhone is an amazing deal for bargain hunters

Even though it'll cost you full price for an iPhone on a prepaid carrier, Ask Maggie explains how it will still save you nearly $1,000 by going prepaid for the iPhone

by Marguerite Reardon

  June 8, 2012 12:00 AM PDT

The Apple iPhone has finally come to the prepaid market in the U.S., but is it really worth paying full price for the device when you can get it cheaper from a carrier that is subsidizing the cost?

The short answer is "yes." In this edition of Ask Maggie I explain why even with a higher upfront cost, a prepaid iPhone is a better deal than buying a subsidized version of the same phone from AT&T or Verizon Wireless. And I layout why prepaid is still cheaper even for people with discounted family plans.

U.S. House votes to kill...

U.S. House votes to kill Obama's medical device tax

By Kim Dixon

WASHINGTON | Fri Jun 8, 2012

(Reuters) - The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives voted on Thursday to strike down a 2.3 percent tax on medical devices and other parts of President Barack Obama's healthcare law, although the effort is likely to hit a wall in the Democratic-led Senate.

More than three dozen Democrats sided with Republicans to repeal the provisions, including the tax that the medical device industry has fiercely opposed. T he vote was 270-146.

The Obama administration has said it would veto the bill, arguing the device industry will benefit from the 2010 healthcare law as a whole, which aims to add tens of millions of Americans to the health insurance

Wall Street climbs two percent on talk of Spain solution

June 6, 2012

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks jumped on Wednesday, giving the S&P 500 its best day since December, as talk of a rescue of Spain's troubled banks and hopes for more monetary stimulus sparked a rebound from recent selling.

After a 6 percent fall by the S&P 500 in May that took the index below its key 200-day moving average on Friday, the market was ripe for a rebound, analysts said. Buying was strong across the broad market, with all 10 S&P 500 sectors gaining ground.

The energy, financial and technology sectors, all of which are tied to strong global demand, led gainers Wednesday. Among the big banks, shares of Bank of America (BAC.N) shot up 7.6 percent to $7.64 and shares of Morgan Stanley (MS.N) climbed 8.4 percent to $13.94, both extending gains just ahead of the close.

"I think the market was oversold. And although you didn't get anything that concrete from the (European Central Bank) ... there's clearly an expectation in the market that Europe will eventually, and eventually means very soon, provide more liquidity for the banks," said Hank Smith, chief investment officer at

Clinton Remarks Test Uneasy Alliance

By PETER NICHOLAS and LAURA MECKLER 

6-6-2012

Bill Clinton, right, joins President Barack Obama onstage for a campaign fundraiser in New York this week.

Listening to the Obama campaign's attacks on Mitt Romney's career, Bill Clinton has been dissatisfied with the message—in particular, that it demonized Mr. Romney's record as head of a private-equity firm rather than laying out clear policy differences between the candidates, according to people familiar with his critique.

Fed's Yellen sees possibility of more stimulus

By James O'Toole @CNNMoney June 6, 2012

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Federal Reserve Vice Chair Janet Yellen has reiterated her view that further action by the central bank might be necessary to stimulate the sputtering U.S. economy.

"An extended period of highly accommodative policy is necessary to combat the persistent headwinds to recovery," Yellen said Wednesday in remarks prepared for delivery to the Boston Economic Club Dinner.

Gay marriage in Washington state blocked by proposed referendum

Laura L. MyersReuters

 June 6, 2012

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Gay marriage opponents in Washington state blocked a law legalizing same-sex matrimony from taking effect as scheduled Thursday by submitting a petition for a ballot measure to repeal the statute.

The group behind the repeal initiative, Referendum 74, said on Wednesday they had collected more than 241,000 signatures, about twice as many as needed, to qualify the measure for the

India seems more interested in buying U.S. arms.

India not sold on closer military ties with U.S.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta meets with Indian officials, seeking enhanced defense cooperation. But India seems more interested in buying U.S. arms.

By David S. Cloud and Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times

June 7, 2012

NEW DELHI — Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta urged India on Wednesday to build a closer military relationship with the United States, but Indian leaders appeared more interested in buying U.S. weapons than in aligning strategically with Washington.

Senior Indian officials made it clear in two days of talks that they will continue to set their own course on U.S. national security priorities, including isolating Iran and building upAfghanistan'smilitary forces, sometimes in tandem with Washington and sometimes not.

Panetta is visiting Asia this week to bolster military ties as the Obama administration, wary ofChina's growing clout in the region, seeks to reassert America's presence in the Pacific after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Pentagon chief described enhanced defense cooperation with India as "a linchpin" of the new strategy. But India has charted an independent foreign policy for decades, and its response was decidedly cool.

Panetta held meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Defense Minister A.K. Antony, National

WHO warns...

Sex bug growing resistant to drugs, WHO warns

June 6, 2012

A potentially dangerous sexually transmitted disease that infects millions of people each year is growing resistant to drugs and could soon become untreatable, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

By FRANK JORDANS

Associated Press

GENEVA —

A potentially dangerous sexually transmitted disease that infects millions of people each year is growing resistant to drugs and could soon become untreatable, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

The U.N. health agency is urging governments and doctors to step up surveillance of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea, a bacterial infection that can cause inflammation, infertility, pregnancy complications and, in extreme cases, lead to maternal death. Babies born to mothers with gonorrhea have a 50 percent chance of developing eye infections that can result in blindness.

IPv6: Trillions of new net addresses

IPv6: Trillions of new net addresses now possible

6-6-2012 From bbc news

A new standard which will enable the creation of trillions of new internet addresses has been enabled.

Several companies switched to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) at 00:01 GMT on Wednesday.

The new system is necessary to prevent the internet running out of available addresses for new devices.

Experts said users should not notice any difference in their web use, and new devices should be using the new system as standard.

Companies such as Google, Facebook and major internet service providers have enabled the new system in order to encourage the widespread adoption of the standard.

The actions come as part of World IPv6 Launch Day, a special event organised by

Europe unveils bank-bailout plan

By Chris Isidore @CNNMoney June 6, 2012

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The European Union announced a plan Wednesday for a continent-wide banking union that would deal with future banking crises rather than leave them in the hands of already struggling national governments.

The proposal would include a single EU deposit guarantee organization covering all banks in the union, something similar to the FDIC that covers U.S. bank deposits. There would also be a common authority and a common fund that would deal with bailouts needed for the cross-border banks that are major players in the European banking system.