Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Health and Fitness Festival - Photo du Jour - Santa Monica Close-up


Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce's 27th Annual Health and Fitness Festival - Images by Fabian Lewkowicz

Highlights from the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce's 27th Annual Health and Fitness Festival at the Third Street Promenade on Saturday, July 28, 2012.The Health and Fitness Festival featured over 70 businesses and non-profits who shared expert advice, offered free screenings and tests, taught classes gave demonstrations, sold their products and showcased their causes. The event also featured a ?trainer challenge,? which challenged area trainers and their fitness strength. The winner was named of the ?Santa Monica?s Toughest Trainer? competition.

Source: http://santamonicacloseup.com/photo-du-jour/2012/7/30/health-and-fitness-festival.html

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CCH Weekly Report from Washington, D.C. |

The House is expected to vote during the week of July 30 on a Republican measure that would temporarily extend the Bush-era tax cuts for one year and stop the alternative minimum tax (AMT) from affecting middle-class taxpayers for two years, as well as a Democratic alternative. The Senate, meanwhile, passed a measure that would extend current tax rates through 2013 on incomes up to $250,000, but the bill is unlikely to make it past the Republican-controlled House. The Treasury Department has released a model intergovernmental agreement to facilitate compliance with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) as enacted in the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-147 .

Congress

House . During the week of July 30, the House is expected to consider GOP legislation, the Job Protection and Recession Prevention Bill of 2012 (HR 8 ), that would temporarily extend the Bush-era tax cuts for one year and stop the alternative minimum tax (AMT) from affecting middle-class taxpayers for two years (TAXDAY, 2012/07/25, C.1 ). An alternative Democratic measure that would extend current tax law only for those earning $250,000 will also be considered. Introduced by Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., HR 8 would extend through December 31, 2013, the tax provisions included in the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) (P.L. 107-16 ) and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 (JGTRRA) (P.L. 108-27 ). These provisions, which are set to expire in December, were last extended under Obama as part of the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-312 ).

The House is also likely to vote on a GOP measure that would set up an expedited process for considering comprehensive tax reform legislation, called the Pathway to Job Creation through a Simpler, Fairer Tax Code Bill of 2012 (HR 6169 ).

Tax reform legislation could include provisions that address tax compliance issues faced by public charities, according to Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Charles Boustany, Jr., R-La. (TAXDAY, 2012/07/26, C.2 ). Boustany said lawmakers are especially concerned by regulatory confusion over the unrelated business taxable income (UBTI) of tax-exempt organizations. Ranking member John Lewis, D-La., stated that he was also concerned about whether public charities are engaging in for-profit businesses that are not part of their charitable mission.

Senate. The Senate on July 25 passed a Democratic measure that would extend current tax rates through 2013 on incomes up to $250,000, but the bill is unlikely to make it past the Republican-controlled House (TAXDAY, 2012/07/26, C.1 ). A last-minute decision by Senate leaders allowed for a simple majority vote and lawmakers, voting mainly along partisan lines, approved the Middle Class Tax Cut Bill (Sen 3412 ) by a vote of 51 to 48. The Senate earlier rejected a Republican proposal, the Tax Hike Prevention Bill of 2012 (Sen 3413 ), that would have extended the 2001 and 2003 tax rates for current rates on income, capital gains, dividends and the estate tax, for a year by a margin of 45 to 54.

Witnesses told the Senate Finance Committee on July 25 that Congress will have to address the complexity of education tax benefits when they turn to tax reform if they want the incentives to increase access to higher education (TAXDAY, 2012/07/26, C.3 ). The comments came during a hearing that examined how tax reform could improve educational opportunities. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., acknowledged at the start that the multitude of education tax benefits can result in complexity and confusion for many families. There are currently eight separate tax benefits related to higher education and those benefits use five different definitions of eligible expenses. Baucus said problems occur when taxpayers must calculate their taxes using each tax benefit to determine which one works best.

Treasury

FATCA Model Agreement. The Treasury Department on July 26 released a model intergovernmental agreement to facilitate compliance with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) as enacted in the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-147 ) (TDNR TG-1653 ; TAXDAY, 2012/07/27, T.2 ). A senior Treasury official also told reporters in Washington, D.C., that much-anticipated FATCA final regulations are expected to be issued this fall.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) issued the following reports:

TIGTA reviewed the IRS?s Federal Financial Management Improvement Act (FFMIA) remediation plan to address the material weakness relating to information security (TAXDAY, 2012/07/27, T.1 ). TIGTA reviewed the IRS?s FFMIA remediation plan to address the material weakness in CADE 2 relating to information security.

The IRS delayed processing 43,295 adoption credit claims and approved more than $11 million in erroneous claims because of incomplete or missing documentation (TAXDAY, 2012/07/25, T.1 ). TIGTA said that math error authority would have allowed the IRS to deny the credit during the processing of the tax return if required documentation was not provided.

The number of S corporation audits the IRS closes with no recommended adjustments (no change) is very high (TAXDAY, 2012/07/27, T.2 ). IRS statistics show that 62 percent of the S corporation returns selected by DIF for audit were closed by the IRS with no changes in fiscal year 2011.

IRS procedures provide its employees with sufficient guidance for handling joint filer collection activity information requests (TAXDAY, 2012/07/23, T.1 ). However, TIGTA could not determine whether the IRS fully complied with Code Sec. 6103(e)(8) when responding to written collection activity requests from joint filers because IRS information systems do not separately record joint filer requests.

IRS

Form 8655 Guidance. The IRS has updated the procedure for completing Form 8655, Reporting Agent Authorization (Rev. Proc. 2012-32 ; TAXDAY, 2012/07/27, I.2 ). The new revenue procedure makes several changes to the former procedure, such as requiring the Reporting Agent to use the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) or the Federal Tax Application to make deposits or payments.

Batch Provider Procedures. The IRS has provided mandatory procedures for Batch Providers and Bulk Providers (Providers), such as banks and financial institutions, that submit enrollments and make federal tax deposits (FTDs) and federal tax payments (FTPs) on behalf of multiple taxpayers via EFTPS (Rev. Proc. 2012-33 ; TAXDAY, 2012/07/27, I.3 ).

August Per Diem Travel Rates. The U.S. State Department has released a listing of maximum travel per diem allowances for travel in foreign areas (TAXDAY, 2012/07/25, I.1 ). The rates apply to all government employees and contractors, and are effective as of August 1, 2012.

Code Sec. 48A Credits. The IRS has issued the results of the Code Sec. 48A Phase I program and established a third phase of the qualifying advanced coal project program to distribute the Phase I credits that are available for allocation after the conclusion of the Phase I program (Notice 2012-51 ; TAXDAY, 2012/07/23, I.1 ). The new procedures apply only to Phase I credits that are available for reallocation after the last allocation under the Phase I program.

By Jeff Carlson, Stephen K. Cooper and Jennifer J. Rodibaugh, CCH News Staff

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Source: http://www.cchgroup.com/wordpress/index.php/tax-headlines/federal-tax-headlines/cch-weekly-report-from-washington-d-c-40/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cch-weekly-report-from-washington-d-c-40

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Apple Refutes Allegations That it Copied Sony, Shows 'Purple' iPhone Prototype

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Apple is refuting allegations that it copied the iPhone design from Sony and has presented a 'purple' iPhone prototype as proof, reports The Verge.

"Purple" dates back to August 2005 - months before the Jony prototype was originally designed. According to the documents, Shin Nishibori's Sony-style touches were simply "an 'enjoyable' side project," embellishments on a concept Apple had already designed. The documents contend that Purple remained free of the alleged Sony inspirations, ultimately giving birth to the iPhone in 2006 (and looking decidedly like the iPhone 4).

Apple has requested that the Court enforce an order from Judge Grewal excluding evidence that Apple's designs were derived from Sony's design language, from Mr. Nishibori's exercise in applying Sony-style design details to the iPhone, or from Sony handsets of the time. Because this evidence is not admissible to prove the invalidity of Apple's patents, they argue it should not come in for any purpose.

"Judge Grewal's Order prevents Samsung from relying on Sony handset designs, Apple's "Sony-style" CAD drawings, or Sony "design language" to argue the invalidity of Apple's designs. All such evidence was stricken from Mr. Sherman's expert report. Samsung's attempt to prove otherwise fails, as does its effort to devise other theories to support the admissibility of this evidence."

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Find Bastrop Foreclosures ? Business | Raw Business Law

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If you are looking for Bastrop foreclosures in this area of Texas, you can find them right online. This is where you will find all of the listings for foreclosure properties including Del Valle foreclosures as well. When you are looking for property, the best way to get a good deal is to look for foreclosures. These are properties that have been taken over by the bank because someone has defaulted on their mortgage. As there are more homes on the market than there are buyers, now is the perfect time for buyers to get a bargain in the state of Texas when it comes to real estate, especially if they are looking in the foreclosure markets such as the Bastrop foreclosures or the Del Valle foreclosures.

There are many different properties that you can get when you are seeking out Bastrop foreclosures or Del Valle foreclosures. You can opt for single family homes or multi family homes as well as vacant properties, rental properties and even commercial real estate. Some of the foreclosure listings need work and most are sold as is. Before you set out to buy Del Valle foreclosures or Bastrop foreclosures, you need to figure out how much you have to spend and get any financing together.

You go through a realtor when you are buying Bastrop foreclosures or Del Valle foreclosures just as you would if you were buying property in any other way. However, because these properties are sold as is, it is a good idea to get an inspection done prior to putting in an offer for the house. Due diligence such as getting a title commitment for the property should be done at the time as well to make sure that there are no problems with the title. This is standard practice when buying any type of real estate but is usually done beforehand when buying foreclosure properties.

Going online and looking for Bastrop foreclosures as well as Del Valle foreclosures is easy. In addition to these, when you go onto a website that lists the foreclosure properties in Texas, you can do a search for the properties based on price, type of home that you are looking for and the area where you are seeking the home. You will then be able to pull up all of the Del Valle foreclosures or Bastrop foreclosures that are in your price range as well as are the type of property that you are looking for.

Once you find the Bastrop foreclosures or Del Valle foreclosures that interest you, you can contact the real estate agent and make an appointment to see the properties. They will take you through the properties at which time you can then decide if you want to place an offer. Placing an offer on the Bastrop foreclosures or Del Valle foreclosures is done through a real estate agency and then is presented to the bank for approval. If you are ready to close and have the money as well as make a reasonable offer, chances are that you will be able to purchase a home of your own in Bastrop or Del Valle.

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Sunday, July 29, 2012

Apple, Samsung take patent fight to crucial California trial

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd take their battle for mobile supremacy to court on Monday in one of the biggest-ever technology patent trials, a case with the potential to reshape a fast-evolving market they now dominate.

The tech titans will lock horns in a federal courtroom in San Jose, California, just miles from Apple's headquarters. The stakes are high, with Samsung facing potential U.S. sales bans of its Galaxy smartphones and tablet computers, and Apple in a pivotal test of its worldwide patent litigation strategy. Both sides are seeking financial damages from the other.

Samsung has rapidly overtaken Apple, creator of the iPhone and iPad, and Nokia to become the world's largest smartphone maker. Together, Apple and Samsung account for more than half of smartphone sales globally.

Apple sued Samsung last year in San Jose, claiming its smartphones and tablets slavishly copied the iPhone and iPad. The South Korean company countersued. Since then, the two have expanded their fight to courtrooms in nearly a dozen other countries.

At this trial, Apple is seeking at least $2.53 billion in damages, though U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh could triple that figure if she finds Samsung willfully infringed Apple's patents.

The dispute has reached deep into the tech sector, with companies including Microsoft Corp, IBM Corp, Nokia and Research in Motion Ltd filing court papers this week to try to keep their own patent licensing agreements from being disclosed during the trial.

A loss for Samsung could lead to permanent sales bans against products including the flagship Galaxy S III phone, said Nick Rodelli, a lawyer and adviser to institutional investors for CFRA Research in Maryland. While the S III is not at issue in the trial, if Apple prevails the company could later ask Koh to block sales of that product.

Upward of 20 percent of Samsung's global consolidated profit could be affected if it loses this case, he said.

"Samsung is a big company with operations all over the world, but this is actually a needle-mover for them on the bottom line," Rodelli said.

Apple will try to use Samsung documents to show its rival knowingly violated the iPhone maker's intellectual property rights, while Samsung argues Apple is trying to stifle competition to maintain "exorbitant" profit.

In a statement Friday, Samsung said Apple has been "free-riding" on its technology "while using excessive legal claims against our products in their attempt to limit consumer choice and discourage innovation."

An Apple spokesman reiterated the company's previous statement that it wasn't a coincidence Samsung's latest products looked a lot like the iPhone and iPad, and that Samsung blatantly copied its products.

A loss for Apple could be significant, not only if it were ordered to pay financial damages but also because of the competitive threats. That is because the Galaxy S III is a better phone than the latest iPhone 4S, said Michael Yoshikami, chief executive of Destination Wealth Management.

"Apple is all about slowing Samsung down," said Yoshikami, whose fund holds Apple shares. "Apple will try to buy time until iPhone 5 launches," which is expected in October.

Apple shipped 26 million iPhones in the quarter ended in June, fewer than in the previous quarter and well below the 28 million to 29 million that Wall Street had predicted.

Samsung is estimated to have increased sales to around 50 million smartphones. That helped the South Korean giant to report a record quarterly profit of $5.9 billion on Friday.

FINANCIAL DATA COMES TO LIGHT

In the past few days, the companies have supplied some detailed financial data in court filings, such as a disclosure on Thursday that Apple's gross margins for its iPads are about half of those for the iPhones. The information was included in newly unsealed papers and was not previously known, giving Wall Street a rare glimpse into Apple's financial breakdown for specific products.

The companies had initially sought to keep many documents from public view, but Judge Koh rejected the bulk of the requests on July 17. Her order came hours after Reuters filed court papers opposing the companies' efforts to seal the documents.

The lawyers on both sides are well known: Apple is represented by law firm Morrison & Foerster, which led Oracle Corp's patent case against Google Inc earlier this year over the Android operating system. Samsung, whose products run on Android, hired lawyers from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, which also represents Google and which led Yahoo Inc's short-lived patent lawsuit against Facebook this year.

A 10-member jury will hear evidence over at least four weeks, and it must reach a unanimous decision for Apple or Samsung to prevail on any of their claims.

Apple says Samsung violated four of its design patents, which cover the look and feel of its products. It also says Samsung has infringed three patents for technology such as how the phone distinguishes between scroll and multi-touch gestures.

Meanwhile, Samsung says Apple violated patents on mobile communications systems, as well as features like taking a photo on a phone and seamlessly emailing it.

In a last-ditch attempt to avoid a trial, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook and Samsung Vice Chairman Choi Gee-sung participated in a mediation on July 16. But a settlement prior to trial is unlikely, sources have told Reuters.

It has been tough going so far for Samsung in the case. Koh halted U.S. sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1, giving Apple a significant early win. This was followed by a pretrial ban on the Galaxy Nexus phone. Samsung has appealed both orders.

The stakes for Apple are also high due to competitive threats from other Asian phone makers such as China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, Rodelli said.

"It's arguably the most commercially and doctrinally significant U.S. patent case in the modern era," he said.

The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, is Apple Inc v. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al, 11-1846.

(Reporting by Dan Levine and Poornima Gupta; Additional reporting by Miyoung Kim in Seoul; Editing by Martha Graybow, Matthew Lewis and Tim Dobbyn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apple-samsung-patent-fight-crucial-california-trial-041344544--sector.html

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EYES ON LONDON: Doing the Amanar, stamp prize

LONDON (AP) ? Around the 2012 Olympics and its host city with journalists from The Associated Press bringing the flavor and details of the games to you:

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YOU'RE THROWING THAT AWAY?

The U.S. women's gymnastics team wasted no time showing why they're the best vaulters in the world.

All four vaulters do the Amanar, considered the hardest vault in the world. They breezed through the routine in Sunday's Olympic debut, and in qualifications, only the top three scores count.

So it was Aly Raisman's score that was thrown out ? and every other country would kill to have gotten her 15.8.

Meanwhile, McKayla Maroney did not appear to be slowed by her broken toe. The reigning world champion in vault qualified for the event finals.

? Jenna Fryer ? Twitter http://twitter.com/jennafryer

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UK STAMP OF APPROVAL

Most national Olympic committees are giving their athletes financial incentives to win a medal ? members of Malaysia's badminton team could even get a bar of gold bullion each worth $600,000 if they win the gold.

But for the hometown Brits, philatelic fame will have to do.

British medal winners receive no prize money from their federation, but the Royal Mail has promised to produce a stamp overnight honoring each of the country's gold medal winners. The stamps will be sold at 500 Post Offices in books of six for 60 pence (94 U.S. cents) each stamp.

Still, it could be worse. Some countries refuse to put you on a stamp until you're dead.

?Shawn Pogatchnik ? Twitter http://twitter.com/ShawnPogatchnik

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CREDITING KIM

It was a Herculean lift ? and Om Yun Chol is crediting former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

Om joined an exclusive group of weightlifters on Sunday to have lifted three times their body weight in the clean and jerk.

"How can any man possibly lift 168kg? I believe the great Kim Jong Il looked over me," according to the internal news agency at the Olympic Games.

"I am very happy and give thanks to our Great Leader for giving me the strength ... It is all because of him."

? Luke Meredith ? Twitter http://twitter.com/LukeMeredithAP

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GATOR CHOMP

The University of Florida marching band made an appearance on the Mall during the women's road race, entertaining a few hundred people suffering through intermittent showers.

The band had to wait nearly an hour to perform because of one particularly strong downpour.

An official at the cycling venue said that 216 members of the Gators' band made the trip from their campus in Gainesville, Fla. The band will return home in the coming days and begin preparing for Florida's first home football game, scheduled for Sept. 1 against Bowling Green.

? Dave Skretta ? http://www.twitter.com/apdaveskretta

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PINNING THEIR HOPES

Kim Rhode's family thought of everything before the London Games ? even bringing their own Olympic pin for the trip.

To commemorate her quest to become the first American to win an individual-sport medal in five straight Olympic Games, Rhode's family made a small number of pins. The image: She's standing on London Bridge, larger than life, taking aim at an unseen target, with the U.S. and British flags below.

The family said it received approval from the U.S. Olympic Committee to use an image of the Olympic rings on the pin.

Rhode's signature is etched on the back, as are the years of her now-five Olympic appearances.

And since she's a shooter, it comes with a twist ? push the button on the back, and yep, "bullets" (red flashes of light, actually) come out the barrel of the gun.

See a picture of the pin here: http://t.co/s5d4FVYA

? Tim Reynolds ? Twitter http://www.twitter.com/ByTimReynolds

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OH, THE CACOPHONY

We are, apparently, talking too much. Electronically, at least.

The IOC says social media users helped cause problems for traditional broadcasters during the first big event of the London Olympics.

Television viewers watching the men's cycling on Saturday got little information about the riders' location and timings on the 250-kilometer (155-mile) road course. Broadcasters, whose commentators were also deprived of information, blamed the Olympics Broadcasting Service for the glitch with GPS signals.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams says the OBS service was jammed by "hundreds of thousands" of people sending texts, pictures and updates to social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. Acknowledges Adams: "We should have foreseen that."

The problem appeared to be solved for the women's road race Sunday.

? Graham Dunbar ? http://twitter.com/gdunbarAP

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FLAMESPOTTING

Want to see the Olympic cauldron? Got a helicopter?

London Mayor Boris Johnson had an answer for people who said, hey ? wait a minute ? I can't see the Olympic flame at all from outside the stadium. Just ascend the Orbit, the towering structure in Olympic Park with an observation deck at the top.

So we did. And what did we find? If you really peer out and stretch your neck, you can see a little bit of the cauldron and its flames, sitting in the distance looking like a small rubbish-bin fire. The mayor, it seems, wins on a technicality.

Plans are under way to move it to a more prominent location, albeit one still within the stadium.

? Yesica Fisch and Masha Macpherson

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ALL IN THE HANDS

Take a close look at the fingers in this photo by AP's Chris O'Meara.

Many volleyball players use tape as support, but U.S. opposite Destinee Hooker uses it to keep her loved ones close.

In the team's opening match against South Korea, she spelled out "VET" on the tape, a nod to sister Marshevet Hooker, who was on the gold medal-winning 4x100 U.S. relay team in the Beijing Olympics. Destinee also wrote "STEVE" for fiance Steven Coulter. And she's not limited to her finger tape: Hooker has "Mom and Dad" written on her shoes.

? Anne M. Peterson ? Twitter http://twitter.com/anniempeterson

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SLOW SWIMMING

At the Olympic Aquatics Centre, swimmers from developing countries populate many early heats and fans are applauding them all.

Jennet Saryyeva, an 18-year-old from Turkmenistan, took third in the first heat of the women's 400-meter freestyle Sunday at 5 minutes, 40.29 seconds, well behind the other two swimmers.

By comparison, leading qualifier Camille Muffat of France touched in at 4:03.29.

Still, Saryyeva says her time was a personal and national record, and she only began training for the event last year.

Saryyeva said Turkmenistan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia that borders Afghanistan and the Caspian Sea, has about 10 professional swimmers in all.

"Here it's just me and one boy and my coach," she said.

? Beth Harris ? Twitter http://twitter.com/bethharrisap

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ROWING ON EMPTY

He only learned to row three months ago and yet there he was, competing in the Olympics in the grueling single sculls repechage.

He slumped over the finish line, cheered on by the home crowd and with an announcer imploring: "You can do it!"

Nobody cared that he was about 100 seconds behind the winner.

Djibo Issaka is 35 and from Niger in west Africa. He received a wild card to the Olympics to "strengthen the principle of universal representation."

? Steve Douglas ? Twitter http://www.twitter.com/sdouglas80

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OUT OF STEP

One woman stood out during India's walk through Olympic Stadium at the opening ceremony. That's because she wasn't supposed to be there.

Friday night's party crasher was not wearing the yellow and white dress that every other Indian woman was wearing in the group, yet still managed to situate herself next to flag bearer Sushil Kumar at the front of the line as they walked around the stadium.

Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London organizers, says he plans to meet with the Indian delegation to discuss what happened.

"She was a cast member who clearly got slightly overexcited," Coe says. "She shouldn't have been there."

Coe also insists she posed no danger to the Indian team or the proceedings because, as a cast member for the opening ceremony program, she had to go through all the security measures to get into the park that everyone else does.

"She shouldn't have been in the opening ceremony," Coe says, "but don't run away with the idea that she walked in off the street."

?Jon Krawczynski ? Twitter http://www.twitter.com/APkrawczynski

___

EYES FOR HER NATION

When it comes to showing patriotism, Daniele Hypolito gets bonus points for originality.

The Brazilian gymnast wore eye shadow in the colors of her flag during Sunday's qualifying session ? green in the corner, yellow in the middle and a big swath of blue on the outer edge. AP Photographer Matt Dunham caught her in a moment with her eyes closed to showcase the color display.

? Nancy Armour ? Twitter: http://twitter.com/nrarmour

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THAI HIGH HOPES

One family from west London visiting the ExCel on Sunday are more than a little excited to be here ? they couldn't get tickets in the British balloting system and had almost given up hope. Then friends back in Thailand told them about a Thai agency with tickets available, and they jumped on them.

"The price of the ticket was a little bit higher than from the British ticket website, but it is a once in a lifetime experience," says Vichayaporn Varasit, 13, as her family surrounds her and chants, "Thailand, Thailand!" The group of 10 are all heading into Arena 2 to see Thai boxer Saylom Ardee take on Gani Zhailauov from Kazakhstan.

"We live in London," Vichayaporn says, "but we are definitely here to see Thailand."

Check out the Varasit family here: http://www.whosay.com/fergusbell/photos/208514

? Fergus Bell ? Twitter http://twitter.com/fergb

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ROYAL SNAPSHOT

Now that's a photo op.

An Olympic technician got a special souvenir from Britain's Zara Phillips, granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, just after she rode her dressage test Saturday in the equestrian eventing competiton at Greenwich Park.

He stopped a relaxed and smiling Phillips as she walked back to the stables with her husband, British rugby star Mike Tindall, and asked for a picture with her. Tindall obliged by taking the camera himself and making the snap.

Phillips had just performed her dressage test in front of an enthusiastic and partial British crowd hoping for another medal for the home team. While Phillips' dressage score was respectable, she asserted that her horse High Kingdom was looking forward to jumping the cross-country course Monday, a specialty of his.

"I think he wants to get out there now," Phillips said to reporters. "He's a bit bored with dressage."

? Margaret Freeman

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EDITOR'S NOTE ? "Eyes on London" shows you the Olympics through the eyes of Associated Press journalists across the 2012 Olympic city and around the world. Follow them on Twitter where available with the handles listed after each item, and get even more AP updates from the Games here: http://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eyes-london-doing-amanar-stamp-prize-145857022--oly.html

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Source: http://empower-network-review-site.com/consuming-ppc-for-effective-marketing/

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Travelocity fined $180,000 for advertising violation

Regulators have fined Travelocity $180,000, alleging the online travel agency failed to show consumers the full price of some fares displayed on its website.

The Department of Transportation said Friday it said that an investigation in September 2011 found that Travelocity's "flexible dates tool" did not always include fuel surcharges that were part of many international airfares.

Also, full prices were only found on the final page before purchasing some itineraries. Those choices required a paper ticket, which cost extra.

At the time of the alleged violation, the only extra costs airlines or agents were allowed to leave out were government taxes and fees. The Department implemented a rule in January that requires sellers to display fares that include those.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48358153/ns/travel-news/

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4 European Jobs.com | Display Job Account Manager - Internal




Job ID: 669857 Job Views: 114
Location: Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom
Job Category: Sales & Marketing
Employment Type: Permanent Salary: 0 Annual
Posted: 27.07.2012
:
Job Description:

Account Manager - Internal

Job Context:

  • To work within the retail division and manage the existing customer base comprising of major retailers as directed. The role will be office based but will from time to time require visits to customers.

Job Purpose:

  • To proactively manage nominated Major' Accounts and communicate with the relevant departments within Westcoast to ensure that we deliver the best possible customer proposition, thus ensuring customer retention and delivering year on year sales growth.

Key Responsibilities

  • Work proactively with the respective Account Director and appropriate Vendor and Retailer personnel to optimise opportunities in the designated accounts.
  • Take responsibility for and manage in conjunction with relevant colleagues the efficient operation of all aspects of the respective Retailer accounts:
  • Price file maintenance
  • Monitoring of weekly stock and sales
  • Analysing intake plans
  • Monitoring and control of promotional activity
  • Effective handling Retailer debit notes
  • New product set up
  • Returns
  • Communicate with Retailer personnel as required to understand and document relevant information that facilitates on-going business development and enhancement of relevant relationships.
  • Manage efficiently and effectively and at all stages, the Retailer's forecasting process and ensure that all relevant colleagues are involved as necessary with regard to respective Intake Plans.
  • Monitor revenue and margin performance of accounts against forecasts and take relevant action to ensure overachievement against targets.
  • Proactively seek for new ways to improve the on-going trading relationship within account portfolio .
  • Management of adhoc activities relevant to the role as required.

Description of the ideal candidate

  • Track Record
  • Experience of working within an FMCG business
  • Success in delivering
  • Experience in the IT industry

Education

  • Educated to A' level or equivalent standard

Skills

  • Excellent Communicator to all levels
  • Self Motivated/ability to work unsupervised
  • Organised
  • Knowledge of Supply Chain processes within a Retail environment
  • PC/systems literate

Key Behaviours

  • Target driven
  • Team player
  • Excellent attention to detail
  • Ability to adapt to changing situations

Environment

  • Office based, occasional Customer offsite visits as required.

Comments

  • The role provides an excellent opportunity for an individual to develop an understanding of the FMCG business in the IT sector.
Job Requirements:

?

Source: http://www.4europeanjobs.com/display_job/669857/Account_Manager_-_Internal.html

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Saturday, July 28, 2012

Where to Eat and Drink in London, Summer 2012 Edition - Parla Food

20120727-111511.jpg
Tuna tartare and pickled radish hand roll at Sushi Tetus.

The Olympics are about to commence and while the world?s top athletes have been honing their performances, I have been working on my own. Let?s call it a marathon? For three weeks this month, I have cycled far and wide in search of London?s exceptional food and drink.What follows is a round-up of my favorite places to eat, drink, and shop for food in London. There are some old favorites and new arrivals and all are medal worthy.

Sushi Testu for amazing sushi.

St John Bread and Wine for British cuisine, natural wines, and bread.

Leila?s shop for breakfast, lunch, and groceries.

Prufrock, Kaffeine, Flat White, Tapped and Packed, Notes Music Coffee, Foxcroft & Ginger, E5 Bakehouse and about a zillion others serve excellent coffee.

Zedel?s Bar Americain for cocktails.

Dabbous for cocktails and bar food (cuz you won?t get a spot in the main dining room before May 2013)

BrewDog Camden for craft beers from Britain.

Quo Vadis for anything really, especially cocktails, eel sandwiches at lunch, and desserts.

Hedone for stellar contemporary cuisine made from meticulously sourced British and French ingredients.

Rita?s for fried chicken rolls.

Brawn for small French-inspired plates and natural wines.

Mason & Taylor for craft beers.

Southamton Arms for cask ales and ciders.

Jolly Butcher for craft beers.

259 Hackney Road for natural wines by the glass in a fun little shop.

Spa Terminus Saturday mornings for pastries at the Little Bread Pedlar, ice cream at La Grotta Ices, The Kernel for beer, and so much more.

40 Maltby Street for small plates and natural wines. Closed until Aug 17 for holiday.

Heron for super authentic Thai cuisine in a bizarre basement karaoke venue.

Silk Road in Camberwell for Uyghur cuisine from China?s Xinjiang region.

The Rake for craft beers.

Pizarro for excellent Spanish food.

Mangal Lahmacun ve Pide Salonu for lahmacun.

Mangal II for mezes, salads, and grilled meat.

Racine is a satisfying French bistro.

Barrafina for top-notch Spanish tapas.

Goodman serves legit steak and burgers.

Antepliler for Turkish mezes, lahmacun, and kebabs. Their small corner restaurant next door specializes in grilled offal and k?nefe.

Mien Tay pretty great southwestern Vietnamese food in Battersea (there is another location in Shoreditch but it?s not as good). Don?t miss the stir-fried goat with galangal and chargrilled quail.

Lahore Kebab House is a no-nonsense Pakistani kebab house in East London known for its juicy seekh kebab, spiced lamb chops and fiery curries.

The vanilla custard donuts at St John Bakery on Druid St (Saturday only) are crazy good.

The Ledbury for contemporary European.

Stay tuned for a google map companion in the next few days.

Source: http://www.parlafood.com/where-to-eat-and-drink-in-london-summer-2012-edition/

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Friday, July 27, 2012

Administration projects $1.2T 2012 budget deficit

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The White House predicts this year's federal budget deficit will end up at $1.2 trillion, marking the fourth consecutive year of trillion dollar-plus deficits during President Barack Obama's administration.

The bleak figures, while expected, are sure to add fuel to the already heated presidential campaign, in which Obama's handling of the economy and the budget is a main topic. Friday's release came as the government announced that U.S. economic growth slowed to an annual rate of just 1.5 percent in the second quarter of this year, as consumers cut back sharply on spending.

The White House budget office also predicts for this year that the economy will grow at a modest 2.6 percent annual rate and that the jobless rate will average 8 percent. It forecasts modest growth of 2.6 percent next year ? down from the 3.0 percent it predicted in February ? before rising to 4.0 percent in 2014. Unemployment would remain above 7 percent through the end of 2014, registering at 7.3 percent, the report predicts.

"The economic recovery that began in 2009 will continue at a moderate rate and unemployment will gradually decline," Jeffrey Zients, the acting White House budget director said in a blog post. "The economy still faces significant headwinds," he added.

The 2012 budget year ends on Sept. 30. The White House also predicted that next year's deficit will fall just short of $1 trillion, higher than it predicted in its February budget release. The predicted deficit for 2012 actually improved by $116 billion, but some of that was because Congress didn't enact much of Obama's jobs plan.

But the White House promises deficits will drop to about 3 percent of the size of the economy by 2017, in part through $1.5 trillion in tax increases over the coming decade.

The White House report ? released Friday afternoon with the Olympics poised to distract voters for two weeks ? again trumpets Obama's longstanding approach to tackling the deficit. It includes tax increases on families earning above $250,000, already enacted "caps" on agency operating budgets and modest savings from federal benefit programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

"Since taking office, the president has worked to restore fiscal responsibility," says the OMB report.

Republicans scoffed, noting that Obama has violated his promise to wrestle the deficit in half by the end of his term.

"The president's string of broken promises on our nation's fiscal challenges weighs heavy on an anemic economy," said House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis. "The president's commitment to ever-higher government spending and his failure to deliver on his economic promises have resulted in the fourth-straight budget deficit in excess of one trillion dollars."

Under Obama's budget plan, the total U.S. debt would reach $16.2 trillion by the end of the year and soar to $25.4 trillion at the end of a decade's time.

"America can have robust economic growth ? and avert a catastrophic debt crisis ? but it requires a credible fiscal plan and the leadership necessary to achieve it," said top Senate Budget Committee Republican, Jeff Sessions of Alabama.

The government is likely to reach its borrowing cap ? the subject of a fierce fight last summer between Obama and Republicans ? late this year or early next year, which is going to require the next Congress and either Romney or Obama to act together to increase the borrowing cap. That is seen by many as an opportunity to force lawmakers to finally tackle the country's major budget problems.

Also looming is the so-called fiscal cliff, a combination of big tax increases and deep, automatic budget cuts slated to begin in January unless Obama and congressional Republicans step in to block them this fall or during a postelection session of Congress. Many economists say that if the government plunges over the fiscal cliff it could drive the economy back into recession.

Romney, for his part, offers relatively few specifics on the budget but promises to bring total government spending down to 20 percent of the U.S. economy by the end of a first term in 2016. That is roughly in line with where it was during Republican George W. Bush's presidency. Government spending now equals 24 percent of gross domestic product.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/administration-projects-1-2t-2012-budget-deficit-180524053.html

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'I Was in Dubai - Don't ask me why... - The Jerusalem Gift Shop

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Source: http://www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com/christiangifts/'I-Was-in-Dubai-_-Don't-ask-me-why...'-Mossad-Tshirt.html

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Anti-matter universe sought by space-based detector

GENEVA | Wed Jul 25, 2012 3:18pm EDT

GENEVA (Reuters) - A seven metric ton particle detector parked for over a year on the International Space Station (ISS) aims to establish whether there is an unseen "dark universe" woven into the cosmos, the scientist leading the project said on Wednesday.

And the detector, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer or AMS, has already broken all records in registering some 17 billion cosmic rays and storing data on them for analysis, Nobel physics laureate Samuel Ting told a news conference.

"The question is: where is the universe made from anti-matter?" said Ting. "It could be out there somewhere far away producing particles that we could detect with the AMS."

Physicists say that the event 13.7 billion years ago that brought the known universe into existence and has been dubbed the "Big Bang" must have created equal amounts of matter and anti-matter. But then anti-matter largely disappeared.

Why that happened is one of the great mysteries of the cosmos which are being investigated through the AMS and scientific analysts back on the ground at CERN, the European particle physics research center where Ting spoke.

The purpose of the AMS program, he said, "is to search for phenomena that so far we have not had the imagination or the technology to discover".

Some researchers have suggested that the invisible "dark matter" estimated to make up about 25 percent of the known universe could be linked to anti-matter, but others say that is highly unlikely.

WAFTING VEIL

These scientists argue that anti-matter could not survive in the close proximity to parts of the visible cosmos that latest observations suggest dark matter occupies - sometimes like a wafting veil between planets and stars.

Matter and anti-matter are almost identical, with the same mass but opposite spin and energy charges. They can form separate parts of some elementary particles but if they are mixed together they are both destroyed instantaneously.

Ting was speaking at a news conference with a team of U.S. astronauts who took the detector, which was developed and built at CERN, up to the ISS in May last year on the last mission of the U.S. space shuttle Endeavour.

He said that so far the $2 billion detector, with its powerful magnets that bend particles with positive and negative charges in different directions, had functioned perfectly and not one of its multiple backup systems had been needed so far.

Ting, a 75-year-old professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, supervises the research on the material gathered from the AMS from CERN, guiding a team of some 500 scientists in many countries, including Russia and China.

He is however cautious about how long it will take for real discoveries to compare with the sighting announced this month of a totally new particle, believed to be the long-sought Higgs Boson, in CERN's Large Hadron Collider.

The boson is part of a force called the Higgs Field that turned the minute pieces of flying debris after the Big Bang into solid matter, bringing them together to form galaxies, stars and planets, and later life.

Asked when he expected to be able to report the first indications of dark matter or of an anti-matter mirror universe, Ting replied: "As late as possible," explaining that the analysis had to be done scrupulously and "step by step".

It would be at least 50 years "before anyone would be foolish enough to launch an experiment like this again" now that the U.S. space program was shut down and current Chinese and Russian spacecraft could not take a load like the AMS, he said.

(Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/o4C4Dp97rJo/us-science-cern-universe-idUSBRE86O1JQ20120725

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New evidence for regular magnitude 8 earthquakes, study of New Zealand fault shows

ScienceDaily (July 25, 2012) ? A new study published in the journal Science, co-authored by University of Nevada, Reno's Glenn Biasi and colleagues at GNS Science in New Zealand, finds that very large earthquakes have been occurring relatively regularly on the Alpine Fault along the southwest coastline of New Zealand for at least 8,000 years.

The Alpine Fault is the most hazardous fault on the South Island of New Zealand, and about 80 miles northwest of the South Island's main city of Christchurch.

The team developed evidence for 22 earthquakes at the Hokuri Creek site, which, with two additional from nearby, led to the longest continuous earthquake record in the world for a major plate boundary fault. The team established that the Alpine Fault causes, on average, earthquakes of around a magnitude 8 every 330 years. Previous data put the intervals at about 485 years.

Relative motion of Australian and Pacific plates across the Alpine Fault averages almost an inch per year. This motion builds up, and then is released suddenly in large earthquakes. The 530-mile-long fault is among the longest, straightest and fastest moving plate boundary faults in the world. More than 23 feet of potential slip has accumulated in the 295 years since the most recent event in A.D. 1717.

Biasi, working with the GNS Science team led by Kelvin Berryman, used paleoseismology to extend the known seismic record from 1000 years ago to 8,000 years ago. They estimated earthquake dates by combining radiocarbon dating leaves, small twigs and marsh plants with geologic and other field techniques.

"Our study sheds new light on the frequency and size of earthquakes on the Alpine Fault. Earthquakes have been relatively periodic, suggesting that this may be a more general property of simple plate boundary faults worldwide," Biasi, of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory said. "By comparison, large earthquakes on California's San Andreas Fault have been less regular in size and timing."

"Knowing the average rate of earthquakes is useful, but is only part of the seismic hazard equation," he said. "If they are random in time, then the hazard does not depend on how long it has been since the most recent event. Alpine Fault earthquakes are more regular in their timing, allowing us to use the time since the last earthquake to adjust the hazard estimate. We estimate the 50-year probability of a large Alpine fault earthquake to be about 27 percent."

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake centered near Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, caused extensive damage to buildings on Sept. 2, 2010, and no deaths. On Feb. 22, 2011, a triggered aftershock measuring magnitude 6.3, with one of the strongest ground motions ever recorded worldwide in an urban area, struck the city killing 185 people.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Nevada, Reno, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. K. R. Berryman, U. A. Cochran, K. J. Clark, G. P. Biasi, R. M. Langridge, P. Villamor. Major Earthquakes Occur Regularly on an Isolated Plate Boundary Fault. Science, 2012; 336 (6089): 1690 DOI: 10.1126/science.1218959

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/ftlt8n2f1PQ/120725162446.htm

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Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Small study: Drug may help stabilize Alzheimer's

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Tuesday, July 17, 2012

US official: Up to $8 billion wasted rebuilding Iraq

AP file

The Khan Bani Saad Correctional Facility, about 12 miles northeast of Baghdad, is seen with unused building materials nearby. The site is a chronicle of U.S. government waste, misguided planning and construction shortcuts costing $40 million.

By Zach ToombsCenter for Public Integrity

The official in charge of monitoring America?s $51 billion effort to reconstruct Iraq has estimated that $6 billion to $8 billion of that amount was lost to waste, fraud and abuse.

Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction (SIGIR) for the past eight years, gave that estimate in an interview with the Center for Public Integrity on Monday, shortly after releasing a new summary of his office?s many grim discoveries since it began work in in 2004.

In Friday?s report, Bowen said the exact funds lost to fraud and waste ?can never be known,? largely because of poor record-keeping by the U.S. agencies involved in the effort. These include the Departments of State and Defense, along with the U.S. Agency for International Development.


According to the report, auditors repeatedly found that the State Department and Defense Department failed to properly review invoices from government contractors, often approving billions of dollars in services without checking if costs were accurate or efficient. ?I think the consistent theme throughout our eight years of oversight work has been the inconsistent availability of records and information on contracts and costs,? said Bowen, a former Texas lawyer.

Bowen said his efforts were hampered from the outset by the ineffectiveness of a clearinghouse created in Iraq for government departments to submit reconstruction bills and contracts for review and oversight. Known as the Iraq Reconstruction Management System, the system was often ignored, with the result that nearly a third of all the contracts could not be monitored adequately.?

"Agencies often inconsistently used it -- such as USAID. Sometimes projects were put in there, sometimes they weren?t,? said Bowen. Aides said his $6 billion to $8 billion figure is based on his review of audits and reconstruction costs, as well of estimates of waste in programs where key data is missing.

Bowen?s deputy inspector general, Glenn Furbish, said separately in the interview that the cost of many contracts was steadily increased due to frequent modifications. ?Once U.S. agencies started down this road, they rarely stopped and said, ?This is getting out of hand,?? Furbish said.

He also noted that many agencies sometimes skipped appropriate review of their bills in an effort to spend money within a deadline, so they did not have to return it to the Treasury.

Since its founding in 2004, SIGIR has investigated $635 million in spending, resulting in $176 million in ?fines, forfeitures, and other monetary results.? In total, the agency estimates it has saved around $1.5 billion in taxpayer funds.

Friday?s report mostly detailed the persistent poor handling of government contracts. ?In some instances, invoices were reviewed months after they were paid,? according to the report. ?Poor and/or delayed invoice reviews add risk that the government may overpay, or pay unallowable and unreasonable costs.?

The report lays much of the blame on a lack of manpower dedicated to reviewing and overseeing government contracts. The State Department enlisted a single contracting officer to handle a $2.5 billion deal with DynCorp International to train Iraqi police forces, for example. Auditors called this decision ?especially disturbing" because of problems in earlier DynCorp contracts. According to Furbish, after SIGIR singled out the contract, the State Department reviewed its original agreement with DynCorp and recovered more than $60 million from the company.

DynCorp spokeswoman Ashley Burke confirmed that her company returned funds to the government but said it had not engaged in misconduct.

SIGIR?s investigation also uncovered instances of bid-rigging and bribe-taking by State and Pentagon officials.

Fraudulent activities uncovered by the special inspector general resulted in 87 indictments, according to the report. Of those cases, 61 involved contract kickbacks, 11 involved contract fraud and nine were related to embezzlement. Both military officers and defense contractors were frequently implicated.

The report details one such case, involving U.S. Army Major Roderick Sanchez, who served from 2004 to 2007 as a contracting officer in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait. Sanchez used his authority to solicit cash payments, Rolex watches and other expensive gifts in exchange for steering Pentagon contracts to foreign companies, reaping benefits worth more than $200,000, according to the report. He was sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of $15,000.

A Navy lieutenant commander named Frankie Hand, stationed at Camp Taji in Iraq as a contracting officer, entered into a secret agreement with two U.S. contractors ? Michelle Adams and Peter Dunn ? agreeing to rig government contracts to their benefit in exchange for a cut of the profits, the report said. The two contractors paid Hand $757,525 after obtaining two contracts improperly. An Air Force master sergeant received $50,000 in bribe money for ?assistance? in the deal, the report said.

Hand received three years in prison and forfeited his share of contract profits, while Adams and Dunn received 15 and 14 months in prison, respectively.

Friday?s report, titled ?Final Forensic Audit Report of Iraq Reconstruction Funds?, was wider in scope than most of SIGIR?s work, covering not just a specific project, but a broader picture of Iraq?s reconstruction. SIGIR spokesman Chris Griffith said, however, that Bowen' has one more major report to publish in January.

Many of the challenges described in the Iraq report mirror those depicted in similar reports by its cousin, the office of the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction. In a May report to Congress, for example, that office concluded that ?corruption remains a major threat to the reconstruction effort? and said contractors were taking advantage of lax oversight in Afghanistan.

Source: http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/17/12795510-iraq-war-reconstruction-6-billion-to-8-billion-wasted-us-official-says?lite

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Airtime Aims To Win The Mainstream With Over-The-Top, Star-Studded Promo Video

Screen shot 2012-07-17 at 10.17.41 AMAre you ready for your close-up? In early June, the dynamic, disrupting duo of Sean Parker and Sean Fanning launched their new video chat and sharing network, called Airtime. As a matter of course, the founders built Airtime on top of Facebook, with a cool $33.5 million in funding to get the operation off the ground -- and more. Today, the startup released a polished new video that aims to demonstrate the power of the service and attract those elusive mainstream consumers. The entertaining spot naturally leverages a little star power to grab your attention, with cameos from the likes of MC Hammer, Kurt Russell, Ronnie Lott and Gary Vaynerchuk.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/oMLuOmt2B-0/

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Alexander Skarsgard Had 'A Lot Of Fun' With 'True Blood' Bromance

After Comic-Con panel, actor tells MTV News about exploring Bill and Eric's relationship with his good friend and co-star Stephen Moyer.
By Kara Warner


Alexander Skarsgard
Photo: MTV News

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1689656/skarsgard-moyer-true-blood-comic-con.jhtml

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Monday, July 16, 2012

'Ninja Turtles' Creator Deems New Movie 'Easily The Best'

'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' writer and artist Kevin Eastman tells MTV at Comic-Con that he fully supports Michael Bay's reboot.
By Terri Schwartz, with reporting by Steven Smith


Kevin Eastman
Photo: MTV Geek

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1689635/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-2012-san-diego-comic-con.jhtml

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Now TV launches in the UK, brings pay-as-you-go streaming to Mac, PC and Android

Now TV launches, brings payasyougo internet video to Mac, PC and Android

Sky is going online and ditching the contracts... sort of. The UK TV provider is launching a new service called Now TV that will take on more established properties like Lovefilm and Netflix. The streaming video service will initially be available on OS X, Windows and Android with iOS to follow shortly. By the end of the year it will also be available on Xbox, PS3, Roku and Youview. Initially Sky Movies will form the backbone of the service, with titles costing anywhere from £0.99 to £3.49 for playback, or you can purchase unlimited monthly access for £15. Eventually Now TV will expand to include Sky Sports, Sky 1 and plenty of other BSkyB owned properties. For more, check out the PR after the break.

Continue reading Now TV launches in the UK, brings pay-as-you-go streaming to Mac, PC and Android

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Now TV launches in the UK, brings pay-as-you-go streaming to Mac, PC and Android originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Jul 2012 08:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/16/now-tv-launches-in-the-uk/

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