It News

July 7, 2012

Apple Removes Green EPEAT Certification From All Products

By David Murphy July 7, 2012

Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Retina Display)

Word is starting to hit the airwaves that Apple has officially withdrawn its 39 products from EPEAT certification – that's the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, a program that awards products with "gold," "silver," or "bronze" classification based on how well they meet a variety of environmental-themed criteria including recyclability, energy consumption, and environmental impact.
That sounds like a lot of green gobbledygook, but it's a classification program that Apple appeared to take seriously up until the company's request for removal (announced early last month). In fact, Apple still touts its iMacs' EPEAT Gold status on their official product page although, as The Verge's Bryan Bishop notes, the gold status logo is now conspicuously absent

China Rejects US Criticism Involving Syria Conflict

VOA News
July 07, 2012

Beijing has rejected criticism by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that China and Russia are hampering efforts to end the Syrian conflict by supporting President Bashar al-Assad.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said Saturday that Clinton's comments are "totally unacceptable."

He said China has wide support among members of the international community for its stance on Syria, and that any effort to slander China will fail.

Nearly $6M in Michigan ads to unseat Obama come from independent groups

July 6, 2012
By Todd Spangler
Detroit Free Press Washington Staff
WASHINGTON – More than $6 million has been spent on TV ads seeking to influence the presidential election – but it’s not the presidential campaigns themselves that are doing the spending.

An analysis from the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, based in Lansing, showed Friday that neither President Barack Obama nor Republican rival Mitt Romney has paid for TV advertising in Michigan since the contested GOP primary in the state – won by Romney – on Feb. 28.

6 new ways hackers are using malware

By Matthew Black, special to CBC News Posted: Jul 5, 2012 Malware, the malicious viruses and bugs employed by computer hackers to con and annoy, has become more prevalent in Canada than ever before, according to computer industry research. In fact, the volume of malicious software detected in 2011 was up 41 per cent over the previous year, said Dean Turner, director of Symantec Intelligence Group. At the same time, the complexity of computer viruses is also increasing. Long gone are the days when they were nuisances that scuttled Word documents. "The long and short of it is that today's malware is incredibly sophisticated," said Turner, who estimated that 90 per cent of it is used for cybercrime,

Extreme heat wave spreads across U.S.

July 7, 2012
(AP) PHILADELPHIA -

Highways buckled across the country, the waters of Lake Michigan were unusually warm for this time of year and even a minor train derailment outside Washington was blamed on heat as the hot weather gripping much of the country only worsened Saturday.

Temperatures of more than 100 degrees were forecast in Philadelphia and excessive heat warnings were issued for several states in the Midwest as the days of smothering heat piled on, accompanied by severe storms that have knocked out power in spots from Michigan to the East Coast.

Most notable was last weekend's sudden and severe storm that drenched the mid-Atlantic region, where thousands remained without electricity a week later.

Jeremy Lin agrees to Houston's offer sheet

By Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY
Restricted free-agent point guard Jeremy Lin agreed to Houston's four-year, $29 million offer sheet, a person familiar with negotiations told USA TODAY Sports Thursday.
The person requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly while negotiations were ongoing.
The person also told USA TODAY Sports that he expects the New York Knicks to match Houston's offer and retain the 23-year-old who dazzled the NBA and captivated the world with his improbable and unexpected rise to stardom with the Knicks last season.

Rivals come together for one goal

Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash are joining forces in an attempt to win an NBA title
By J.A. Adande | ESPN.com
July 5, 2012
This is the week Kobe Bryant went from acknowledging his advancing age to accepting it. Yes, there is a difference. It's one thing to say and joke that you're old; it's another thing to let that fact dictate your actions. I can't imagine Bryant teaming up with Steve Nash as recently as, say, 2010. But that's what two more years and two early playoff exits will do. They create urgency, which creates unlikely alliances.

Patrick Schwarzenegger Joins Taylor Swift on 'Amazing' 4th of July Beach Fun

July 06, 2012
Patrick Schwarzenegger, 18, celebrated independence day together with Taylor Swift, 22, on the beach. The twosome were joined by some members of the iconic Kennedy family, sailing at Hyannis Port in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

The son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and the country music singer were caught on camera sharing laugh and taking a stroll along the beach with some male friends. She wore a sleeveless floral dress and traded it with a polkadot halter-neck one-piece swimsuit.

It's unclear whether they were dating or not. While Taylor didn't mention anything about the sunny-day outing, Patrick took to Twitter to gush, "Had such an amazing day. Best 4th of July I could ask for. Hope everyone had a great day!"

Samsung tips record Q2 operating profit of $5.9 bln

(AFP) 7/5/2012
SEOUL — South Korea's Samsung Electronics said Friday it expects a record operating profit of 6.7 trillion won ($5.9 billion) in the second quarter, amid strong sales of its mobile devices.
Samsung, the world's largest electronics company, was giving earnings guidance before official results later this month. The predicted operating profit for April-June would represent a 79 percent rise from a year earlier.
The previous highest operating profit was 5.85 trillion won in the first quarter.
The company estimated a 19 percent rise in sales to 47 trillion won in the second quarter. It did not give a net profit figure or explain its forecasts.

Malware threat could strike Monday despite unprecedented effort by Google, Facebook and others

By Brandon Bailey
bbailey@mercurynews.com
07/05/2012
Thousands of computer owners may find it impossible to reach the Internet on Monday despite an unprecedented campaign by a coalition of tech security groups and the online giants Google (GOOG) and Facebook, which have sought to warn people about the malicious software known as DNSChanger.

Stringent voter ID law in Pa. could prevent 750,000 from voting

July 5, 2012
By Lucy Madison
(CBS News) New data released by Pennsylvania officials suggests that as many as 750,000 voters in the crucial battleground territory could be impacted by a stringent new voter ID law.
The law, passed this May ostensibly to prevent voter fraud, requires all voters in Pennsylvania to show a valid photo ID at the polls.

Among those acceptable forms of photo ID include a state-issued driver's license, a valid U.S. passport, a U.S. military ID, a government-issued employee ID, an ID card from an accredited Pennsylvania

Service Sector Increases at Slowest Pace in 2 Years

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 5, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) — The service sector in June grew at the slowest pace in nearly two and a half years, more evidence that the economy has weakened.
But those same companies increased hiring last month, supporting other data that shows job growth may have picked up last month.

The Institute for Supply Management said Thursday that its index of nonmanufacturing activity fell to 52.1 last month, from a May reading of 53.7.

The reading was the lowest since January 2010. Still, any reading above 50 indicates expansion. The sector has grown now for 30 straight months.

Service companies employ about 90 percent of the economy. They include retail, construction, financial services, health care and hotel businesses, among others. The service sector includes low-paying positions in retailing and restaurants but also covers higher-paying jobs in professions like information

Central Banks Deliver 45-Minute Salvo As Growth Weakens

By Simon Kennedy - Jul 5, 2012
Global central banks went on the offensive against the faltering world economy, cutting interest rates and increasing bond buying as a round of international stimulus gathers pace.
In a 45-minute span, the European Central Bank and People’s Bank of China cut their benchmark borrowing costs, while the Bank of England raised the size of its asset-purchase program. Two weeks ago, the Federal Reserve expanded a program lengthening the maturity of bonds it holds and Chairman Ben S. Bernanke indicated more measures will be taken if needed.

How human error turned Air France's minor technical problem into tragedy

PAUL KORING
WASHINGTON — The Globe and Mail
Jul. 05 2012

Brazilian Navy sailors pick a piece of debris from Air France flight AF447 out of the Atlantic Ocean in this handout file photo distributed by the Navy on June 8, 2009.

The grim reality emerging from the Air France Flight 447 disaster is that the Airbus A330 jetting from Rio to Paris slammed into the dark sea – killing all 228 passengers and crew – after pilot-induced loss of control when there was nothing significantly wrong with the plane.

The disaster was unprecedented. Never before has a modern airliner been wrenched by its pilots into such position that it – literally – stopped flying, leaving its doomed passengers in a freefall to their deaths while the confounded flight crew debated what they had done and needed to do.
There was no terrorist bomb, nor a lightning strike that destroyed the plane’s electronics, although wild media speculation suggested the latter two in the early days after Air France 447 mysteriously

"Spider-man" top of the box office

"Spider-man" set to climb to the top of the box office

Brent Lang
Reuters
July 5, 2012
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - "The Amazing Spider-Man" has cast quite a web over the North American box office, and there's not much room left for poor Katy Perry and Oliver Stone to break through.

The pop singer and the provocateur are facing the unenviable task of trying to attract moviegoers to their latest offerings in a crowded field.
After swinging into theaters to the tune of $35 million on Tuesday, Sony is projecting that its Spider-Man reboot will command $130 million over its first six days of release. That's a good start for a movie

Memo to Draghi: Dead Central Banks Don't Have Credibility

Karl Whelan, Contributor
7/05/2012

Mario Draghi today uttered what I think was perhaps the most depressing sentence of the euro crisis so far. Draghi dismissed out of hand the idea that Europe’s bailout fund, the European Stabilisation Mechanism, could be given a banking license that would allow it to borrow from the ECB, declaring

I don’t think there is anything to gain destroying the credibility of an institution by asking it to behave outside the limits of its mandate

In case you’re in doubt here, the institution whose credibility he is worrying about is his own.

Higgs boson

Physicists Find Elusive Particle Seen as Key to the Universe

By DENNIS OVERBYE
Published: July 4, 2012

ASPEN, Colo. — Signaling a likely end to one of the longest, most expensive searches in the history of science, physicists said Wednesday that they had discovered a new subatomic particle that looks for all the world like the Higgs boson, a key to understanding why there is diversity and life in the universe.
Like Omar Sharif materializing out of the shimmering desert as a man on a camel in “Lawrence of Arabia,” the elusive boson has been coming slowly into view since last winter, as the first signals of its existence grew until they practically jumped off the chart.

“I think we have it,” said Rolf-Dieter Heuer, the director general of CERN, the multinational research center headquartered in Geneva. The agency is home to the Large Hadron Collider, the immense particle accelerator that produced the new data by colliding protons. The findings were announced by two separate teams. Dr. Heuer called the discovery “a historic milestone.”

Roundup: Brandon Moss' bat lifts A's to sweep of Red Sox

2012-07-04
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – Jemile Weeks hit a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh following Coco Crisp's leadoff triple, and the Oakland Athletics completed a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox with a 3-2 win Wednesday.
Red Sox slugger David Ortiz hit his 400th career home run and also scored on Adrian Gonzalez's sixth-inning single, but Boston couldn't avoid its first sweep by the A's since May 23-25, 2008, also in Oakland. The Red Sox lost just their fourth series in the last 17 and completed a disappointing 2-5

Federer-Djokovic Face-Off Set; Murray’s Battle Continues

By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY
Published: July 4, 2012

WIMBLEDON, England — Roger Federer was still on Centre Court on Wednesday, giving one of his favorite opponents, Mikhail Youzhny, another extended look at the cruel beauty of his game, as British royalty and tennis royalty applauded from above.
A short stroll across the grounds, Novak Djokovic was still on No. 1 Court, chasing down the unorthodox offerings of Florian Mayer.

But with Federer and Djokovic in command, the mind was already leaping to Friday: to their semifinal, which will be their first meeting at Wimbledon and also their first meeting on grass.

“I don’t know how it changes the preparation, but I certainly think it’s intriguing, and when it’s intriguing, it’s a pleasure,” Federer said. “We know our matches on clay, outdoors and indoors, on hard courts. But we don’t know what it’s like to play on grass.”

Obama rolls out bus campaign in Rust Belt states Ohio, Pa.

By David Jackson, USA TODAY
2012-07-04
It's back on the bus for President Obama on Thursday.
From the glass factories of Toledo, to the steel mills around Pittsburgh, Obama will lead a two-day bus tour of key areas in two states that are central to his re-election bid: northern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
"It's the Rust Belt corridor," University of Akron political scientist David Cohen said.
STORY: Next president's hurdle: Unemployment

Four things you REALLY need to know about Windows 8 upgrades

By Martin Brinkmann

2012/07/04

Two days ago, Microsoft revealed that it would run an upgrade promotion in most markets that would allow Windows customers to buy a downloadable upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $39.99. Joe Wilcox asks if $40 is to much to pay for Windows 8 and current results show that customer opinion is split in half. About 43 percent of all users who participated in the poll stated that they would upgrade for the price, while roughly 42 percent stated they would not.

Mitt Romney joins New Hampshire parade

By ASSOCIATED PRESS | 7/4/12

Mitt and Ann Romney are shown at the Fourth of July Parade in Wolfeboro, N.H.

WOLFEBORO, N.H. - Wednesday’s Fourth of July parade in this New Hampshire community gained a national flavor, with the participation of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann.

Euro, sterling on defensive as central bank action eyed

By Ian Chua
SYDNEY | Wed Jul 4, 2012

The sign of the Euro currency is painted onto the glass door of the Academy of Arts in Berlin as the Brandenburg Gate is reflected on it July 3, 2012. REUTERS-Thomas Peter

(Reuters) - The euro wallowed near one-week lows on Thursday, struggling to find any traction ahead of a widely expected interest rate cut by the European Central Bank.
The single currency traded at $1.2522 early in Asia, having fallen around 0.7 percent on Wednesday in trading made subdued by a U.S. holiday. Surveys showing all of Europe's biggest economies are in recession or heading there added to the gloom.

Support is seen around $1.2495, the 76.4 percent retracement of Friday's dramatic rally sparked by an EU deal to tackle the region's debt crisis.

Traders said part of the euro's weakness overnight was due to heavy selling against the Swedish crown,

Syria’s Assad says he’s willing to step aside

Facing diplomatic isolation, Syria’s Assad says he’s willing to step aside

BY ROY GUTMAN 07.04.12
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
ISTANBUL -- After losing his most important supporters outside Syria, President Bashar al Assad said his office “doesn’t mean anything to me” and he’s willing to give up it up, though preferably after national elections.

“If the president’s departure is in the interest of Syria, the president should naturally go. This is self-evident,” he told the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet. “You should never stay in office one day if the people do not want you; and the elections are the means through which the people show whether they want you or not.”

Obama Marks Fourth of July With New Citizens

By JACKIE CALMES

Published: July 4, 2012
WASHINGTON — President Obama for a fourth straight Fourth of July joined with military families to eat barbecue and watch fireworks from the White House lawn, but this year he also began the day with active-duty service members, presiding at a citizenship ceremony that made 25 of them new Americans.
And in between, he marked the 14th birthday of his older daughter, Malia.

The naturalization event on Wednesday in the ornate East Room, which was packed with the service members’ families and friends, was the third such ceremony in the Obama White House but the first on Independence Day.

Mini-iPad coming this fall?

By Deborah Netburn
July 4, 2012
Rumors of a mythological miniature Apple tablet--smaller than the iPad but larger than the iPhone--have been circulating on the Internet for a while now, but if two new reports in the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg are to be believed, the myth will become a reality by the end of the year.

On Wednesday, both the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg reported that a smaller Apple tablet may be on the market by the year's end.

The Wall Street Journal reports that component suppliers in Asia said that Apple told them to prepare for mass production of the smaller tablet, which will be smaller than 8 inches.

Rumor roundup: The new iPhone

Frank Ocean first love was...

Rap singer Frank Ocean says his first love was a man

Jul 4, 2012
(Reuters) - Singer Frank Ocean, a rising star who is part of the rap collective Odd Future, has revealed online that his first love was a man, an admission of same-sex attraction that is seen as groundbreaking for the world of hip hop.
Ocean late on Tuesday posted on Twitter a link to his writings on his Tumblr blog page that described his coming to terms with his sexual orientation. But he did not specifically call himself gay.

The post, which music mogul Russell Simmons called courageous and a "big day" for hip hop, came as Ocean faced rumors about his sexuality due to content on his forthcoming album, "Channel Orange,"

U.S. doctors buying unapproved drugs

By Armen Keteyian July 3, 2012
(CBS News) A patient in a cancer clinic takes it on faith that he or she is getting the chemotherapy their doctor prescribed. But it turns out many are injected with dubious concoctions no better than water. The Food and Drug Administration approves drugs sold in the United States, but some clinics are buying drugs outside the U.S. not approved by the FDA. CBS News, which has been investigating this trend, has this latest development.

This is what cancer drugs that are not approved for use in the U.S. look like: foreign labels with no stamp of approval from the federal Food and Drug Administration. They're illegal for doctors in the U.S. to prescribe.

"It could be deadly. It could be fatal," said one person, who asked to be disguised, who works at a medical clinic that purchased unapproved foreign cancer medications for years.

Read and watch Armen Keteyian's previous reports about counterfeit cancer drugs

The clinic worker was asked when the drugs come through if she sees them with foreign writing on the

Celtics agree to 3-year deal with Jason Terry

By Gary Washburn | GLOBE STAFF JULY 03, 2012

The Celtics continue to shore up their roster for another title run in 2012-13 by agreeing to a three-year contract with former Dallas sharpshooter and Sixth Man of the Year Jason Terry for the full mid-level exception of $5 million.

Saints' suspension appeals denied

JUL 3, 2012
NEW ORLEANS (AP)

Former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has rejected the appeals of four players suspended in connection with the league's bounty investigation of the New Orleans Saints
In a ruling handed down on Tuesday, Goodell told Jonathan Vilma, Anthony Hargrove, Will Smith and Scott Fujita that each of them is still welcome to meet with him to give their side of the story, and that he reserves the right to reduce the suspensions should new information be brought forth.

Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch (Mid 2012)

Brian Westover July 3, 2012

Junior Analyst, Hardware
If you don't look closely—very closely—you might not realize that the Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch (Mid 2012) ($1,499.00 direct) is any different than the nearly identical models from Spring and Fall of 2011, like the Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch (Thunderbolt) ($1,499 direct, 3.5 stars). Apple's iconic laptop designs are largely unchanged on the outside, but the new model gets a bump in processing speed and can now take advantage of newer USB peripherals thanks to the addition of USB 3.0 ports. It's a solid laptop, but the end result isn't that different from the previous iteration, and does little to stand out from the crowd of Windows laptops with similar specifications.

Carmakers report strong June sales

Carmakers report strong June sales, easing worries

Published July 03, 2012
Associated Press
DETROIT – From mini cars to monster pickups, sales of new cars and trucks surged in June and eased concerns that Americans would be turned off by slower hiring and other scary headlines.
Automakers sold nearly 1.3 million cars and trucks in June, up 22 percent from the same month last year. Chrysler posted its best June in five years. Sales soared at Volkswagen, which is on track for its best year in the U.S. since 1973.
The results allayed fears that the car market's momentum had stalled. U.S. sales were on track to reach 14.5 million after the first four months of the year. But the annual pace dropped to 13.8 million in

Manchester United files for IPO of up to $100 mln

Jul 4, 2012
* Jefferies, Credit Suisse among underwriters to IPO

* To list Class A common shares on the NYSE

(Reuters) - Manchester United Ltd, the world's best-supported soccer club, filed with U.S. regulators to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering of its Class A common stock.

Thomson Reuters publication IFR reported last month that the football club had dropped its plans for an Asian listing in favor of a U.S. listing.

Tom Cruise "33" Mystery

Tom Cruise "33" Mystery: Weird Coincidences and Inside Details of His High-Profile Breakups

by ALEXIS L. LOIN Jul 3, 2012

Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Nicole Kidman, Mimi Rodgers, Penelope Cruz

Sure, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have hired high-profile divorce lawyers as they gear up for a legal showdown over custody of their daughter, Suri.

But maybe what they really need is...a psychic?

Eerie coincidences have cropped up between TomKat's split and those of Cruise and his other exes, including ex-wives Nicole Kidman and Mimi Rogers, as well as former ladylove Penélope Cruz.

Freaky-deaky flukes or cosmic convergence? Let's suss them out...

Barclays' Diamond quits over rate rigging

By Matt Scuffham and Kate Holton
LONDON | Tue Jul 3, 2012

Barclays Plc President Bob Diamond waits to pose for photographs after being named as the company's next chief executive officer at a bank branch near their Canary Wharf headquarters in London in this September 7, 2010 file photograph. REUTERS-Dylan Martinez-Files

(Reuters) - Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond suddenly quit on Tuesday over an interest rate-rigging scandal that threatens to drag in a dozen more major lenders but suggested the Bank of England had encouraged his bank to manipulate the figures.
"The external pressure placed on Barclays has reached a level that risks damaging the franchise - I cannot let that happen," said Diamond, 60. The terms of his severance were not announced, though Sky News said the bank would ask Diamond to forfeit almost 20 million pounds ($30 million) in bonuses.

Politicians and newspapers have zeroed in on the scandal - which revealed macho e-mails of bankers

Officials, stars and fans react to the death of Andy Griffith

By the CNN Wire Staff
July 3, 2012 Griffith in 1994.

(CNN) -- Stars, officials and loved ones weighed in Tuesday with their tributes to TV actor Andy Griffith, who died at age 86 in his home state of North Carolina:
-- Cindi Griffith, Andy Griffith's wife: "Andy was a person of incredibly strong Christian faith and was prepared for the day he would be called Home to his Lord."

Judge orders woman tried in grandson's gun death

2012-07-02 by usatoday
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) – A 74-year-old Michigan woman accused of shooting her teenage grandson at their suburban Detroit home will stand trial on murder and firearms charges, a judge ruled Monday after a police officer testified the woman emerged from the home screaming, "I murdered my grandson."
Sandra Layne is accused of repeatedly shooting 17-year-old Jonathan Hoffman on May 18 at the West Bloomfield Township condo that she and her husband shared with the boy. Her attorneys say she acted in self-defense. If convicted, she could face up to life in prison.
During Monday's hearing, prosecutors played a tape of Jonathan's call to 911.
"I've just been shot," he tells the emergency operator. "My grandma shot me. I'm going to die. Help."
The operator tries to keep the boy on the line and, a few minutes later, Jonathan began speaking

GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks rise as weak data spurs Fed hope

Jul 2, 2012
* Surprise contraction in U.S. factory sector dents markets

* Euro slides as euphoria ebbs over debt crisis deal

* Weak European and Asian data also weighs

By Herbert Lash and Leah Schnurr

NEW YORK, July 2 (Reuters) - Stocks finished higher on M onday as weak U.S. manufacturing data raised speculation the Federal Reserve will again step in to boost the economy, though worries the global economy is deteriorating took the euro and oil lower.

Manufacturing sectors in the United States, the euro zone, China and Brazil all shrank last month as

Physicists Inch Closer to Proof of Elusive Particle

By DENNIS OVERBYE
Published: July 2, 2012
Like Moses seeing the Promised Land but not being able to go there, physicists from Fermilab said Monday that its Tevatron, now shuttered but once the most powerful physics machine in the world, had fallen just short of finding a long-hypothesized particle.
Known as the Higgs boson, it explains why things in the universe have mass, and is a cornerstone of modern physics despite never being seen.

The news from the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory added more buzz and hype about the long-sought particle as physicists and many others are standing by for an announcement on Wednesday

Airbus says U.S. move robs Boeing of tactical edge

Jul 2, 2012
* Airbus exec sees local assembly countering Boeing tactics

* Planemaker hopes for solid increase in U.S. market share

* Sales chief says U.S. output must fit in planned group target

* CEO: room for 46 narrowbody jets a month globally when plant opens

By Tim Hepher

PARIS, July 2 (Reuters) - When it comes to selling jets to domestic U.S. airlines, Boeing may just have lost the precious ability to make the crucial "last phone call," according to the sales chief of its rival Airbus.

Embattled bank executive no longer co-hosting London fund-raiser for Mitt Romne

Embattled bank executive no longer co-hosting London fund-raiser for Mitt Romney

By Matt Viser | GLOBE STAFF JULY 02, 2012
WASHINGTON – Mitt Romney’s campaign says that Bob Diamond, the embattled chief executive of Barclays bank, will no longer be co-hosting a London fund-raiser for the presumptive Republican nominee.

Diamond, a Concord, Mass., native who oversees one of the world’s largest banks, has been embroiled in a rate-fixing scandal in Britain that is threatening to expand.

The bank’s chairman resigned on Monday, and some in Parliament have been calling on Diamond to

Microsoft takes $6.2 billion charge, slows Internet hopes

Jul 2, 2012 6:28pm EDT

A photo illustration shows the websites of search engines Baidu and Bing on computer screens in Shanghai July 5, 2011. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

(Reuters) - Microsoft Corp admitted its largest acquisition in the Internet sector was effectively worthless and wiped out any profit for the last quarter, as it announced a $6.2 billion charge to write down the value of an online advertising agency it bought five years ago.

The announcement came as a surprise, but did not shock investors, who had largely forgotten Microsoft's purchase of aQuantive in 2007, which was initially expected to boost Microsoft's online advertising revenue and rival Google Inc's purchase of DoubleClick.

The company's shares dipped slightly to $30.35 in after-hours trading, after closing at $30.56 in

Ellen DeGeneres, Kathy Griffin & More Are 'Proud' of Anderson Cooper

BY EVAN LAMBERT
Monday July 02, 2012

anchor and daytime talk show host.

"I'm proud of you, @AndersonCooper," Ellen DeGeneres, who came out years ago, wrote on Twitter.

Neil Patrick Harris also gave the newsman his good wishes, writing, "Good for you, @AndersonCooper. You're awesome."

Both messages have been re-tweeted almost 5,000 times.

On Monday, Cooper wrote an open letter to his longtime friend Andrew Sullivan of the Daily Beast saying, "The fact is, I'm gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn't be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud."

Mark Cavendish wins second stage of Tour de France

The British sprinter picks up his 21st career stage victory at the Tour de France. Fabian Cancellara remains the race's overall leader.
Associated Press
July 2, 2012

TOURNAI, Belgium -- Mark Cavendish led a tight sprint to the finish Monday to win the second stage of the Tour de France, while Fabian Cancellara retained the overall leader's yellow jersey after the mostly flat ride across Belgium.

Hardly a Speck of a Fly, but Able to Decapitate

By SINDYA N. BHANOO
Published: July 2, 2012

Scientists have discovered the world’s smallest known fly: a tiny, parasitic native of Thailand that appears to decapitate its host ants.
“Here’s something barely visible to the naked eye and it has wings, eyes and complete organ systems,” said the insect’s discoverer, Brian V. Brown, curator of entomology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

The fly, Euryplatea nanaknihali, is less than two-hundredths of an inch long — one-fifteenth the size of a housefly and one-fifth that of a fruit fly. It was collected as part of the Thailand Inventory Group for Entomological Research, a project involving more than 100 scientists around the world. Dr. Brown describes it in the July issue of Annals of the Entomological Society of America.

Five millionth 'test tube baby'

1 July 2012

Five millionth 'test tube baby'

By James Gallagher
Health and science reporter, BBC News, Istanbul
Five million "test tube babies" have now been born around the world, according to research presented at a conference of fertility experts.

Delegates hailed it as a "remarkable milestone" for fertility treatments.

The first test tube baby, Louise Brown, was born in the UK in July 1978. Her mother Leslie Brown died last month.

Eastern U.S. swelters with heat wave, power outages

By Ian Simpson
WASHINGTON | Mon Jul 2, 2012

A boy plays in the ocean at Coney Island in the Brooklyn borough of New York June 30, 2012. Nearly 4 million homes and businesses were without power on Saturday amid a record heat wave in the eastern United States after deadly thunderstorms downed power lines from Indiana to New Jersey. REUTERS-Eric Thayer

(Reuters) - Relentless heat gripped much of the eastern United States for a fourth straight day on Monday, with about 2.1 million homes and businesses without power after violent storms and soaring temperatures killed at least 18 people.

Power companies warned it could take several days to restore electricity completely in some areas as much of the United States sweltered in a heat wave. Two hundred and eighty-eight temperature records were set nationwide on Sunday.

Quick facts on storms, summer heat in eastern US

By The Associated Press Jul 1, 2012

Millions are staring down the prospect of several more days without electricity in the middle of a heat wave after severe storms over the weekend.
Food is beginning to spoil, and many people have to charge modern conveniences like cellphones in their cars or at libraries. Utility companies say they are bringing in crews from around the country to help, but they still say it could be several days before everyone has electricity again.
By Sunday evening, the number of those without power had dipped to about 2.7 million customers, down from more than 3 million at the peak of the outages.
DEATHS
Authorities have confirmed at least 17 deaths related to the storms that swept across the eastern U.S.

Spain Beats Italy 4-0 to Clinch Third Straight Soccer Trophy

Tariq Panja, ©2012 Bloomberg News
Published 06:47 p.m., Sunday, July 1, 2012
July 2 (Bloomberg) -- Spain beat Italy 4-0 last night to become the first nation to retain soccer’s European Championship title and the only one from the continent to win three straight major competitions.

David Silva, Jordi Alba, and substitutes Fernando Torres and Juan Mata scored at Kiev’s Olympic Stadium for the 2010 world champion, which started its winning treble at Euro 2008.

Mexico's old rulers claim presidential election win

By Mica Rosenberg and Daniel Trotta
MEXICO CITY | Sun Jul 1, 2012

Enrique Pena Nieto presidential candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) shows his inked thumbs after voting in Atlacomulco July 1, 2012. REUTERS-Tomas Bravo

(Reuters) - Mexican opposition candidate Enrique Pena Nieto's campaign team claimed victory in the country's presidential election on Sunday after exit polls showed him winning by a comfortable margin.
Pena Nieto, 45, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), led by between 8 and 11 percentage points in exit polls published by three of Mexico's main television networks after voting ended on Sunday night.

Shortly afterward his campaign manager, Luis Videgaray, declared victory.

"It is a resounding triumph," Videgaray told Milenio television, adding that he was hopeful the PRI would have a majority in the Senate and possibly in the lower house of Congress, too.

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