Tibco Ties Social Networking to Web Conferencing Services

Part of the problem with social networking in the enterprise is that experience is fractured. There are social networking applications for the enterprise, but most of them are not all that well integrated with the web conferencing systems that business people increasingly rely on to communicate within the company and with the outside world.

Tibco recently moved to address that specific challenge with the launch of tibbr Meetings, which integrates the company?s social networking service for the enterprise with a variety of web conferencing and online meeting applications, including Cisco WebEx, Skype and Google Hangouts.

Tibco Social Computing president Ram Menon says that for social networking in the enterprise to succeed, it needs to be slipstreamed into the workflow patterns and communications services that business people already rely on.

In general, social networking in the enterprise is finding an acceptance challenge because it?s usually not associated with solving a specific business problem; for the most part, it creates another silo of communication that people have to manage. Menon says that tibbr is specifically designed to extend the social aspects of a business process, rather than merely be deployed as an alternative to email.

Like any communications framework, it?s hard to measure the specific value of an investment in enterprise social networking. For that reason, IT organizations need to make sure social networking in the enterprise is associated with improvement of specific sets of business processes. Otherwise, all the IT organization is really doing is setting up another orthogonal communications channel that over time many of the end users it was meant to serve will come to resent.

Source: http://www.itbusinessedge.com/blogs/it-unmasked/tibco-ties-social-networking-to-web-conferencing-services.html

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No word from Hong Kong on Snowden's return

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Edward Snowden, the former government contractor who says he revealed that the National Security Agency collects Americans' phone records and Internet data from U.S. communication companies, now faces charges of espionage and theft of government property.

Snowden is believed to be in Hong Kong, which could complicate efforts to bring him to a U.S. federal court to answer charges that he engaged in unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence information.

In addition to those charges, both brought under the Espionage Act, the government charged Snowden with theft of government property. Each crime carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Hong Kong was silent Saturday on whether Snowden should be extradited to the United States now that he has been charged, but some of Hong Kong's legislators said the decision should be up to the Chinese government.

The one-page criminal complaint against Snowden was unsealed Friday in federal court in Alexandria, Va., part of the Eastern District of Virginia where his former employer, government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, is headquartered, in McLean.

The complaint is dated June 14, five days after Snowden's name first surfaced as the person who had leaked to the news media that the NSA, in two highly classified surveillance programs, gathered telephone and Internet records to ferret out terror plots.

It was unclear Friday whether the U.S. had yet to begin an effort to extradite Snowden from Hong Kong. He could contest extradition on grounds of political persecution. In general, the extradition agreement between the U.S. and Hong Kong excepts political offenses from the obligation to turn over a person. Hong Kong could consider the charges under the Espionage Act political crimes.

Hong Kong had no immediate reaction to word of the charges against Snowden.

The Obama administration has now used the Espionage Act in seven criminal cases in an unprecedented effort to stem leaks. In one of them, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning acknowledged he sent more than 700,000 battlefield reports, diplomatic cables and other materials to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. His military trial is underway.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, welcomed the charges against Snowden.

"I've always thought this was a treasonous act," he said in a statement. "I hope Hong Kong's government will take him into custody and extradite him to the U.S."

But the Government Accountability Project, a whistle-blower advocacy group, said Snowden should be shielded from prosecution by whistle-blower protection laws.

"He disclosed information about a secret program that he reasonably believed to be illegal, and his actions alone brought about the long-overdue national debate about the proper balance between privacy and civil liberties, on the one hand, and national security on the other," the group said in a statement.

Michael di Pretoro, a retired 30-year veteran with the FBI who served from 1990 to 1994 as the legal liaison officer at the American consulate in Hong Kong, said "relations between U.S. and Hong Kong law enforcement personnel are historically quite good."

"In my time, I felt the degree of cooperation was outstanding to the extent that I almost felt I was in an FBI field office," di Pretoro said.

The U.S. and Hong Kong have a standing agreement on the surrender of fugitives. However, Snowden's appeal rights could drag out any extradition proceeding.

The success or failure of any extradition proceeding depends on what the suspect is charged with under U.S. law and how it corresponds to Hong Kong law under the treaty. In order for Hong Kong officials to honor the extradition request, they have to have some applicable statute under their law that corresponds with a violation of U.S. law.

Hong Kong lawmakers said Saturday that the Chinese government should make the final decision on whether Snowden should be extradited to the United States.

Outspoken legislator Leung Kwok-hung said Beijing should instruct Hong Kong to protect Snowden from extradition before his case gets dragged through the court system.

Leung urged the people of Hong Kong to "take to the streets to protect Snowden."

In Iceland, a business executive said Friday that a private plane was on standby to transport Snowden from Hong Kong to Iceland, although Iceland's government says it has not received an asylum request from Snowden.

Business executive Olafur Vignir Sigurvinsson said he has been in contact with someone representing Snowden and has not spoken to the American himself. Private donations are being collected to pay for the flight, he said.

"There are a number of people that are interested in freedom of speech and recognize the importance of knowing who is spying on us," Sigurvinsson said. "We are people that care about privacy."

Disclosure of the criminal complaint came as President Barack Obama held his first meeting with a privacy and civil liberties board and as his intelligence chief sought ways to help Americans understand more about sweeping government surveillance efforts exposed by Snowden.

The five members of the little-known Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board met with Obama for an hour in the White House Situation Room, questioning the president on the two NSA programs that have stoked controversy.

One program collects billions of U.S. phone records. The second gathers audio, video, email, photographic and Internet search usage of foreign nationals overseas, and probably some Americans in the process, who use major Internet service providers, such as Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Yahoo.

___

Associated Press writer Jenna Gottlieb in Reykjavik, Iceland, contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/no-word-hong-kong-snowdens-return-171151884.html

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Sun emits a solstice CME

June 22, 2013 ? On June 20, 2013, at 11:24 p.m., the sun erupted with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection or CME, a solar phenomenon that can send billions of tons of particles into space that can reach Earth one to three days later. These particles cannot travel through the atmosphere to harm humans on Earth, but they can affect electronic systems in satellites and on the ground.

Experimental NASA research models, based on observations from NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory and ESA/NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory show that the CME left the sun at speeds of around 1350 miles per second, which is a fast speed for CMEs.

Earth-directed CMEs can cause a space weather phenomenon called a geomagnetic storm, which occurs when they funnel energy into Earth's magnetic envelope, the magnetosphere, for an extended period of time. The CME's magnetic fields peel back the outermost layers of Earth's fields changing their very shape. Magnetic storms can degrade communication signals and cause unexpected electrical surges in power grids. They also can cause aurora. Storms are rare during solar minimum, but as the sun's activity ramps up every 11 years toward solar maximum -- currently expected in late 2013 -- large storms occur several times per year.

In the past, geomagnetic storms caused by CMEs of this strength and direction have usually been mild.

In addition, the CME may pass by additional spacecraft: Messenger, STEREO B, Spitzer, and their mission operators have been notified. If warranted, operators can put spacecraft into safe mode to protect the instruments from the solar material.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/IpwnFNziCYY/130622154606.htm

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Greek coalition in disarray as small party meets over threat to quit

By Lefteris Papadimas and Renee Maltezou

ATHENS (Reuters) - The Democratic Left party may pull out of Greece's ruling coalition on Friday after talks to resume state television broadcasts collapsed, plunging the nation into fresh turmoil.

Lawmakers from the small leftist party, angered by the abrupt shutdown of broadcaster ERT last week, will meet at 0730 GMT to decide whether to continue backing Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who warned he was ready to press ahead without them.

"I want us to continue together as we started but I will move on either way," Samaras said in a televised statement, promising to implement public sector reforms demanded by Greece's international lenders.

"Our aim is to conclude our effort to save the country, always with a four-year term in our sights. We hope for the Democratic Left's support."

Splits emerged early on Friday among the party's 14 lawmakers, with one deputy saying it should stay in government and another that it should quit.

Samaras's conservative New Democracy party and its Socialist PASOK ally jointly have 153 deputies, a majority of three in the country's 300-member parliament. That means they could manage without the Democratic Left, but a departure of the party would be a major blow.

Officials from all three parties ruled out snap elections, which would derail Greece's bailout program.

An ongoing inspection visit to Greece by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund needs to be completed as planned in July to avoid a shortfall in the country's finances, lenders said on Thursday.

At least two independent lawmakers have suggested they would back Samaras's government, which came to power a year ago and has bickered ever since over austerity and immigration.

UNDER PRESSURE

The latest crisis began nine days ago when Samaras abruptly yanked ERT off air, calling it a hotbed of waste and privilege, sparking an outcry from his two allies, unions and journalists.

Samaras was acting under pressure to fire public sector employees to show Greece's EU and IMF lenders that it is sticking to promises to cut costs under its bailout program.

After initially refusing to restart ERT, Samaras on Thursday said he offered to re-hire at a new broadcaster about 2,000 out of 2,600 ERT workers who were fired, a compromise accepted by PASOK but rejected by the Democratic Left.

"We will no longer have black screens on state TV channels but we are not going to return to the sinful regime," Samaras said.

"At this point we had a serious disagreement over ERT. I undertook efforts to restore unity and to find a solution."

But Fotis Kouvelis, leader of the Democratic Left, insisted that all workers be rehired, saying the issue at stake was far bigger than state television broadcasts.

"This issue is ... fundamentally an issue of democracy," said Kouvelis "We are not responsible for the fact that no common ground was reached."

Evangelos Venizelos, leader of PASOK - which has heavily suffered from Greece's debt crisis and would lose further in a new election - also called on Kouvelis to stay in the coalition.

"The situation for the country, the economy and its citizens is especially grave," said Venizelos. "We want the government to continue as a three-party government."

PASOK would continue backing the government even without the Democratic Left, party spokesman Dimitris Karydis said.

'BEGINNING OF THE END'

Greece's top administrative court on Thursday confirmed an earlier ruling suspending ERT's closure and calling for a transitional, slimmed-down broadcaster to go on air immediately.

ERT remains off air despite Monday's court ruling ordering it back on. Much of the squabbling this week centered on Samaras wanting a transitional broadcaster run by only a few staff members while his two partners wanted ERT to reopen exactly as it was before until a newer version is launched.

ERT workers meanwhile have continued broadcasting a 24-hour bootleg version on the Internet from their headquarters, where workers and unions have been protesting since last Tuesday.

"This is the beginning of the end," independent lawmaker Nikos Nikolopoulos tweeted, referring to Samaras's government.

(Additional reporting by Harry Papachristou and Karolina Tagaris; Writing by Deepa Babington; Editing by Eric Walsh, John Stonestreet)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/greek-coalition-disarray-small-party-meets-over-threat-070654675.html

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88% The Angels' Share

All Critics (83) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (73) | Rotten (10)

The result is a sometimes gritty, occasionally charming Highland hybrid, but the final balance feels slightly off-kilter.

Loach takes us through the mysteries of whisky making, exploring the subtle tastes and scents in ways that will have audiences wishing they had a dram at hand. But a glass also serves more symbolic purposes ...

If you want to look for it, you'll find a layer of metaphor (the distilling process as a symbol of the characters' evolution) and social-realist commentary amid the gentle, life-affirming laughs.

[Ken Loach] and his longtime screenwriter, Paul Laverty, find a good balance between drama and wacky character moments.

A fairy tale with its feet firmly on the ground.

A lark, but it's a serious-minded lark, addressing issues of class and culture, the haves and have-nots.

Ken Loach walks on the lighter side

The title, by the way, refers to the distillation process: the 2% of whisky that evaporates in the barrel is known as "the angel's share." I'm afraid there's more than 2% evaporation going on in Loach's latest.

Much like a stiff drink at the end of a long day, "The Angels' Share" gets the job done, but you're probably not going to remember it in the morning.

Loach's realism lends an easygoing, ramshackle quality to the film that smoothes over any lack of tightness.

Director Ken Loach's latest glimpse of the U.K. underclass is really two rather different movies, either of which I would've enjoyed on their own. But they don't really fit together in any satisfying or even logical way.

Whether Robbie pulls off his caper should be left for the audience to discover. But Loach's great cinematic switcheroo goes off almost without a hitch.

As heartwarming and uplifting as any tale could be that features vicious beatings and grand larceny.

While it has some likable characters, particularly its charismatic lead, it's impossible to shake the feeling that we've seen this movie before.

Lead actor Paul Brannigan, the product of Glasgow's working-class East End, is a natural.

The usual Loachian elements are all in place, but there is a gentle spirit at work here as well, and not just the alcoholic spirits around which the plot revolves.

The Angels' Share is a stellar bit of activist cinema with a light touch.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_angels_share/

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Mild strain of bird flu contained on Arkansas poultry farm

By Theopolis Waters

(Reuters) - A low-pathogenic strain of avian influenza was found on an Arkansas poultry farm, but was quickly contained and did not appear to be a threat to other poultry farms in the nation's second largest chicken state, a state poultry official said.

"We're pretty certain this was isolated to just this one farm. USDA is there with us on hand as we work the next few weeks to make sure it's contained," said Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission director Preston Scroggin.

The influenza is a milder strain of the flu that killed dozens of people in China and crippled its poultry industry.

Testing found about eight birds in the Arkansas flock of 9,000 were positive for the H7N7 low-pathogen avian flu, Scroggin said. The flock was humanly euthanized and buried and the eggs they produced were destroyed.

The farm and all farms within a 6.2-mile radius of it were quarantined. No additional cases were found on nearby farms.

The Arkansas farm supplied birds to Tyson Foods Inc, Scroggin said. Poultry farms 30 to 40 miles away from the site sent in birds for testing and they have come back negative, he said.

Scroggin said the farm is in Scott County in western Arkansas and raises hens that produce eggs for chickens. Tyson Foods, which supplied the birds and feed to the farmer who owns the facility, learned of the problem through routine testing last week.

Tyson immediately notified the poultry commission, which conducted follow-up tests and sent test samples to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's lab in Ames, Iowa for confirmation.

"We're working cooperatively with the USDA and the Arkansas Agriculture Department regarding a flock of breeder chickens that contracted a low pathogenic, or mild strain of avian influenza," said Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson.

Tyson has since heightened its bio-security measures and surveillance of avian influenza, said Mickelson. It also plan to test all area breeder farms that serve the company, as well as any contract broiler farms within a six mile radius of the affected farm, he said.

Neither the meat or the eggs would have entered the human consumption chain. Also, the virus does not pose a threat to humans, state and industry officials said.

(Editing by Bob Burgdorfer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mild-strain-bird-flu-contained-arkansas-poultry-farm-220711997.html

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Bulger, Gandolfini: Mob makes headlines this week

FILE - This undated publicity photo, released by HBO, shows actor James Gandolfini in his role as Tony Soprano, head of the New Jersey crime family portrayed in HBO's "The Sopranos." HBO and the managers for Gandolfini say the actor died Wednesday, June 19, 2013, in Italy. He was 51. (AP Photo/HBO, Barry Wetcher, File)

FILE - This undated publicity photo, released by HBO, shows actor James Gandolfini in his role as Tony Soprano, head of the New Jersey crime family portrayed in HBO's "The Sopranos." HBO and the managers for Gandolfini say the actor died Wednesday, June 19, 2013, in Italy. He was 51. (AP Photo/HBO, Barry Wetcher, File)

Investigators stand at the scene in Oakland Township, Mich., Wednesday, June 19, 2013 where officials attempt to restore the field to its natural condition after the FBI stopped the search for Jimmy Hoffa's remains. The FBI had been digging and searching for three days for the remains of Teamsters union president Hoffa who disappeared from a Detroit-area restaurant in 1975. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

A woman ducks under crime scene tape in front of a New York city house once occupied by a famous gangster, Tuesday, June 18, 2013, in New York. The work started Monday at the home of James Burke, a Lucchese crime family associate known as "Jimmy the Gent." He was the inspiration for Robert De Niro's character in the 1990 Martin Scorsese movie "Goodfellas." Burke died behind bars in 1996, two decades after authorities say he masterminded a nearly $6 million robbery at New York's Kennedy Airport, one of the largest cash thefts in American history. The Queens house is still owned by the Burke family, but others now live there. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

FILE - This undated file photo shown during court proceedings in the Miami Courthouse, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008 shows John Martorano, who was questioned about his plea agreement in exchange for testifying against former FBI agent John Connolly. Connolly was accused of helping the Boston mob murder Miami gambling executive John Callahan in 1982. Martorano testified for a second day during the trial of James "Whitey" Bulger, Tuesday, June 18, 2013 in federal court in Boston. Bulger is charged in a racketeering indictment with participating in 19 killings in the 1970s and '80s as leader of the Winter Hill Gang. (AP Photo/Marice Cohn Band, Pool)

The death in Italy of James Gandolfini, who played Mafia boss Tony Soprano on the popular HBO show "The Sopranos," was part of an unusual convergence of mob-related news making headlines this week. Here's a look:

JAMES GANDOLFINI'S DEATH

Gandolfini, whose portrayal of an emotionally delicate mob boss on one of TV's greatest drama series earned him three Emmy Awards, died Wednesday while on holiday in Rome, HBO and his managers said. Gandolfini, who was 51, played Soprano on the HBO series from 1999 to 2007. He also appeared in movies including "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Killing Them Softly."

THE SEARCH FOR JIMMY HOFFA

FBI agents with shovels on Monday began combing through dirt and mud in a weed-grown field north of Detroit looking for Hoffa's remains or clues to the disappearance of the former Teamsters boss, who many people suspect ran afoul of the mob. Detroit FBI chief Robert Foley said Wednesday he was disappointed the excavation failed to turn up anything linked to Hoffa, who's been missing since 1975.

JIMMY THE GENT'S HOUSE

In New York, an FBI excavation turned up possible human remains at a home once occupied by gangster James "Jimmy the Gent" Burke, the inspiration for Robert De Niro's character in "Goodfellas." Burke, who according to mob lore orchestrated a nearly $6 million robbery, one of the largest cash heists in American history, at Kennedy Airport in 1978, lived at the home while an associate in the Lucchese crime family. The dig, apparently unrelated to the Hoffa dig, started Monday, and an FBI spokesman confirmed Wednesday agents found organic material they want to test. The FBI isn't discussing the investigation.

WHITEY BULGER'S TRIAL

In reputed Boston mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger's racketeering trial, a former hit man who admitted killing 20 people, including a close friend, insisted Wednesday he told authorities the truth when he implicated Bulger in 11 slayings. Earlier in the week, the ex-hit man, John Martorano, was unemotional when describing his work but said he was heartbroken when he learned Bulger had become an FBI informant. Bulger's lawyers deny he was an informant and say he didn't kill 19 people.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-06-19-Mob%20Notebook/id-d719cd795a4f40c1b062fd56f4988eb8

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Researchers able to predict iOS-generated hotspot passwords, takes under a minute

Anyone who's tried to tether to their iPhone or iPad will recall how iOS manages to craft its own passwords when used as a personal hotspot. The aim is to ensure that anyone sharing their data connection will get some degree of security, regardless of whether they tinker with the password themselves. However, three researchers from FAU in Germany have now worked the structure behind these auto-generated keys -- a combination of a short english word and a series or random numbers -- and managed to crack that hotspot protection in under a minute. To start, the word list is listed to around 52,500 entries, and once the testers are able to capture a WiFi connection, they used an AMD Radeon HD 6990 GPU to cycle through all those words with number codes, taking just under 50 minutes to crack with rote entry. Following that, they realized that only a small subset (just 1,842) of the word list was being used.

Factor in an even faster GPU -- a cluster of four AMD Radeon HD 7970s -- and they got the hotspot password cracking time to 50 seconds. The Friedrich-Alexander University researchers added that unscrupulous types could use comparable processing power through cloud computing. ""System-generated passwords should be reasonably long, and should use a reasonably large character set. Consequently, hotspot passwords should be composed of completely random sequences of letters, numbers, and special characters," it says in the report, which outlines the trade-off between security and usability. However, as ZDNet notes, Apple's cycled password approach still offers more protection than static options found elsewhere. Check out the full paper at the source.

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Apple

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Via: ZDNet

Source: Department of Computer Science, Friedrich-Alexander University (PDF)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/19/researchers-crack-ios-generated-hotspot-passwords/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Glenn Greenwald?s Sick Brew of NSA Leaks and Anti-Israel Hysteria

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Kurdish rebel commander warns Turkish state sabotaging peace

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A top Kurdish militant commander warned on Wednesday a fragile peace process had been jeopardized by increased military activity and a lack of concrete steps by the government, including the continued detention of Kurdish politicians.

Members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) began a withdrawal from Turkish territory to bases in northern Iraq last month, part of a deal brokered between the state and the group's jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan earlier this year aimed at ending a conflict that has claimed 40,000 lives since 1984.

"The state is doing what it can to sabotage this process. It is preparing for war. This is creating serious problems for us," Murat Karayilan, the PKK commander based in northern Iraq, told the Firat news agency, which is close to the rebels.

He pointed to increased military surveillance and the construction of new army posts in the mainly Kurdish southeast as undermining the rebels' withdrawal, which is expected to take months.

There was no immediate comment from the military General Staff, although in April, the military issued a statement that it would continue to fight against "terrorism".

Karayilan added that the PKK had not engaged in armed action since January.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has overseen the initiative to end one of world's longest-running insurgencies after fighting escalated sharply in 2011 and 2012.

But opposition parties have criticized Erdogan for not revealing the measures his side agreed to in exchange for the rebels' ceasefire and withdrawal.

Karayilan said the peace process had now reached a "critical stage" at which the government must take its own steps as the PKK withdrew. He added his comments could be taken as a "warning".

"For the democratic resolution process to develop, the PKK has fulfilled its obligations ... and we will continue to do so. But the state and the government have responsibilities and in the past three months they have done nothing," he said.

"To resolve the Kurdish issue, the government ... must take steps. If it doesn't, the process will be blocked," he said.

Among measures the PKK expects is an end to Ocalan's isolation at his island prison where he is serving a life sentence for treason, and releasing thousands of Kurdish activists and politicians in jail for up to four years during their trials, mostly on charges related Turkeys' anti-terrorism law.

"Doesn't the government and state need to open up political channels and make Kurdish politics freer? What we see instead is a large majority of Kurdish politicians are still in jail, that (they) are to stay in jail and guerrillas will withdraw."

(Reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley; editing by Mike Collett-White)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kurdish-rebel-commander-warns-turkish-state-sabotaging-peace-135021956.html

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G-8 seeks unity on Syrian peace talks, tax evasion

ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland (AP) ? President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other G-8 leaders attempted to speak with one voice Tuesday on seeking a negotiated Syrian peace settlement ? yet couldn't publicly agree on whether this means President Bashar Assad must go.

Their declaration at the end of the two-day Group of Eight summit sought to narrow the diplomatic chasm between Assad's key backer, Russia, and Western leaders on starting peace talks in Geneva to end a two-year civil war that has claimed an estimated 93,000 lives.

G-8 leaders also published sweeping goals for tightening the tax rules on globe-trotting corporations that long have exploited loopholes to shift profits into foreign shelters that charge little tax or none. But that initiative, aimed at forcing the Googles and Apples of the world to pay higher taxes, contained only aspirations, not binding commitments.

The declaration on Syria said the country needs a new coalition government with "a top leadership that inspires public confidence," a definition that to British, French or American eyes would rule out Assad. It made no reference to sending U.S., British or French weapons to rebels, an option being kept open by the three G-8 members.

Russia refused to back any declaration that made Assad's ouster an explicit goal, arguing that it would be impossible to start peace talks with a predetermined outcome.

Reflecting the profound divisions that remain, the British host, Prime Minister David Cameron, declared it was "unthinkable that President Assad can play any part in the future government of his country. He has blood on his hands. He has used chemical weapons."

Putin ? speaking at the same time as Cameron at a different location in a gesture that some diplomats construed as rude ? rejected Cameron's views as unproven.

And referring to last month's butchery of an off-duty British soldier in London by alleged ax- and knife-wielding Muslim extremists, Putin warned Cameron that the weapons sent to Syria might end up being used to kill people in Europe.

"There are many such criminals in the ranks of the (Syrian) opposition, such as those who committed the brutal murder in London. Do the Europeans want to provide such people with weapons? ... We are calling on all our partners to thoroughly think it over again before taking this very dangerous step," Putin said.

Reflecting growing unease at the behavior of Muslim extremists in the ranks of Syria's splintered opposition forces, the G-8 declaration said participants in any peace talks must agree to expel al-Qaida-linked fighters from the country.

The declaration condemned human rights abuses committed by government forces and rebels alike, and called on both sides to permit access by U.N.-led chemical weapons experts trying to investigate the contentious claims of chemical weapons use.

In its only concrete commitment, the plan pledges a further $1.5 billion in aid for Syrians driven from their homes by the conflict: 4.2 million within Syria and 1.6 million more taking refuge in neighboring countries. The G-8 noted that the new funds would cover only part of the United Nations' 2013 appeal for $5.2 billion in Syria-directed aid.

Rebels, who have suffered tactical reversals in recent weeks versus Assad's Russian-supplied army, expressed disappointment with the G-8 verdict.

"We expected more. We expected a more solid statement, a more decisive one," said Loay AlMikdad, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army, speaking by telephone from Turkey.

AlMikdad said the Free Syrian Army hopes the statement's weakness would be counterbalanced by strong Western intervention on the ground to send weapons. This, he said, would help deter al-Qaida-influenced movements from taking root in rebel-held areas.

"The international community, especially those who say they are friends of Syria, must be more decisive and firm," he said.

But a White House official, speaking to reporters as Obama flew to Berlin, said the U.S. administration was pleased with the outcome and had been braced for less agreement.

"This in no way minimizes the difficulties ahead," said White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes. "But given the various ways the G-8 could have gone, we believe that on the key issues of political transition, humanitarian support and chemical weapons investigation, it's very helpful to have this type of signal sent by these eight countries."

Earlier, G-8 leaders announced new goals to combat tax avoidance by multinational companies. In a joint statement, they said tax authorities should share information "to fight the scourge of tax evasion" and make it harder for companies to "shift their profits across borders to avoid taxes."

Britain heralded the agreement as a good first step toward creating a new environment of corporate transparency. A key principle in the plan would require multinationals to declare how much tax they pay in each country.

U.S. Senate hearings this year investigating the tax payment policies of Apple found that the smartphone and computer innovator also has developed some of the world's most innovative tax-avoidance policies. Apple admitted it used, legally, two companies registered in Ireland ? but in one case managed from the U.S. state of Nevada ? to manage much of the company's non-U.S. profits worldwide and paid taxes at a rate of less than 1 percent.

British lawmakers likewise have sharply criticized Google UK for registering all of its regional sales in neighboring Ireland, which charges half the rate of corporate tax.

Many of the world's leading companies, and even bands like U2, employ complex corporate structures involving multiple subsidiaries in several countries to minimize the tax bills in their home nation. One such maneuver, called the "double Irish with a Dutch sandwich," allows foreign companies to send profits through one Irish company, then to a Dutch company and finally to a second nominally Irish company that is headquartered in a usually British tax haven.

Campaigners for greater tax transparency appealed to the G-8 to ensure that reforms benefited the poorest countries of Africa, South America and Asia as well as the rich West. Anti-poverty campaigners stressed that shell companies provide a key mechanism for embezzling government funds in corrupt countries.

Cameron says Britain will lead by example by creating a registry of who really owns companies, and will consider making it public ? an idea viewed skeptically by many other countries fearful of scaring companies out of their jurisdictions.

And Britain itself stands accused of being one of the world's main links in the tax-avoidance chain. Several of Britain's own island territories ? including Jersey, Guernsey and the British Virgin Islands ? serve as shelters and funnel billions each week through the City of London.

"Of course, Britain's got to put its own house in order," said Britain's treasury chief, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, who addressed the G-8 meeting on corporate tax reform along with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde.

She commended the G-8 initiative as necessary to address taxpayers' indignation at corporate tax-dodging and reflected the fact that "almost all governments need additional revenues."

Before the summit, Britain announced a provisional agreement with the finance chiefs of nine British offshore dependencies and territories to improve their sharing of information on individuals and companies banking cash there.

___

Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov and David McHugh in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland; Sarah El Deeb in Beirut; and Julie Pace in Berlin contributed to this report.

___

Online:

G-8 statement, http://bit.ly/128YclJ

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/g-8-seeks-unity-syrian-peace-talks-tax-204745944.html

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Renzo Renzi company should stay in bankruptcy, trustee says - South Florida Business Journal (blog)

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Diet may affect Alzheimer's disease risk

June 17, 2013 ? The lipidation states (or modifications) in certain proteins in the brain that are related to the development of Alzheimer disease appear to differ depending on genotype and cognitive diseases, and levels of these protein and peptides appear to be influenced by diet, according to a report published Online First by JAMA Neurology.

Sporadic Alzheimer disease (AD) is caused in part by the accumulation of ?-amyloid (??) peptides in the brain. These peptides can be bound to lipids or lipid carrier proteins, such as apolipoprotein E (ApoE), or be free in solution (lipid-depleted [LD] ??). Levels of LD ?? are higher in the plasma of adults with AD, but less is known about these peptides in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), the authors write in the study background.

Angela J. Hanson, M.D., Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System and the University of Washington, Seattle, and colleagues studied 20 older adults with normal cognition (average age 69 years) and 27 older adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (average age 67 years).

The patients were randomized to a diet high in saturated fat content (45 percent energy from fat, greater than 25 percent saturated fat) with a high glycemic index or a diet low in saturated fat content (25 percent of energy from fat, less than 7 percent saturated fat) with a low glycemic index. The main outcomes the researchers measured were lipid depleted (LD) ??42 and ??40 and ApoE in cerebrospinal fluid.

Study results indicate that baseline levels of LD ?? were greater for adults with mild cognitive impairment compared with adults with normal cognition. The authors also note that these findings were more apparent in adults with mild cognitive impairment and the ?4 allele (a risk factor for AD), who had higher LD apolipoprotein E levels irrespective of cognitive diagnosis. Study results indicate that the diet low in saturated fat tended to decrease LD ?? levels, whereas the diet high in saturated fat increased these fractions.

The authors note the data from their small pilot study need to be replicated in a larger sample before any firm conclusions can be drawn.

"Overall, these results suggest that the lipidation states of apolipoproteins and amyloid peptides might play a role in AD pathological processes and are influenced by APOE genotype and diet," the study concludes.

Editorial: Food for Thought

In an editorial, Deborah Blacker, M.D., Sc.D., of the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, writes: "The article by Hanson and colleagues makes a serious effort to understand whether dietary factors can affect the biology of Alzheimer disease (AD)."

"Hanson et al argue that the changes observed after their two dietary interventions may underlie some of the epidemiologic findings regarding diabetes and other cardiovascular risk factors and risk for AD. The specifics of their model may not capture the real underlying biological effect of these diets, and it is unclear whether the observed changes in the intermediate outcomes would lead to beneficial changes in oligomers or plaque burden, much less to decreased brain atrophy or improved cognition," she continues.

"At some level, however, the details of the biological model are not critical; the important lesson from the study is that dietary intervention can change brain amyloid chemistry in largely consistent and apparently meaningful ways -- in a short period of time. Does this change clinical practice for those advising patients who want to avoid dementia? Probably not, but it adds another small piece to the growing evidence that taking good care of your heart is probably good for your brain too," Blacker concludes.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/8tpxrjsv5y8/130617172847.htm

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A guide to the Federal Reserve's events Wednesday

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 22, 2013, before a Joint Economic Committee hearing on "The Economic Outlook". Bernanke told Congress Wednesday that the U.S. job market remains weak and that it is too soon for the Federal Reserve to end its extraordinary stimulus programs. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 22, 2013, before a Joint Economic Committee hearing on "The Economic Outlook". Bernanke told Congress Wednesday that the U.S. job market remains weak and that it is too soon for the Federal Reserve to end its extraordinary stimulus programs. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Worry and speculation have consumed investors since Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke to Congress last month about the Federal Reserve's drive to keep long-term interest rates at record lows.

On Wednesday, many hope the Fed will settle the confusion.

Will the Fed scale back its $85 billion-a-month in bond purchases within "the next few meetings," as Bernanke suggested during his remarks to Congress? Or does the job market remain too weak for the Fed to slow its stimulus, as Bernanke said at another point?

The Fed's bond purchases have been intended to hold down long-term loan rates to induce Americans to borrow and spend and invest in the stock market. Ultra-low rates are credited with helping fuel a housing comeback, support economic growth, drive stocks to record highs and restore the wealth America lost to the recession.

Conflicting statements from other Fed officials have further clouded the outlook for the bond-buying program. That's why the pressure for the Fed to clarify its message has intensified in recent weeks.

Here's what to look for from each of four key events Wednesday: a statement the Fed will issue when its two-day meeting ends; the Fed's updated economic outlook; Bernanke's news conference; and the reaction of investors:

? FED STATEMENT

A big question is whether the Fed will revise the stance it's taken in the statements issued after its most recent policy meetings: That it will continue to buy $85 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage bonds ? and that its bond purchases will continue until the outlook for the job market "has improved substantially."

The Fed has not defined "substantially." And Bernanke has stressed that the Fed could increase or reduce its bond purchases at any time depending on the economic outlook. He's also said that even after the Fed has begun to curtail the purchases, it could reverse course and step up its bond buying if it felt the economy needed more support.

Almost no one expects the Fed to announce that it will start reducing its bond purchases immediately. But it might specify what it means by a substantial improvement in the job market. Investors could then monitor the monthly employment report to see whether the job market is meeting the Fed's benchmark for substantial improvement.

The statement is expected to repeat the Fed's commitment to keep its key short-term interest rate at a record low near zero. The benchmark short-term rate has remained at that level since late 2008, after the financial crisis erupted.

In December, the Fed said for the first time that it would leave the short-term rate unchanged at least until the unemployment rate reaches 6.5 percent. The rate is now 7.6 percent. Many private economists don't expect unemployment to reach 6.5 percent until mid-2015.

? ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

This is one of four meetings each year when the central bank updates its economic outlook, based on the individual forecasts of 19 Fed officials. If the Fed downgrades its outlook for growth and employment, it would suggest that officials think a still-weak economy continues to need substantial Fed stimulus. Investors would likely conclude that the Fed won't scale back its bond purchases soon.

If, on the other hand, the Fed upgrades its outlook, it would be seen as a signal that it thinks the economy can now manage with less stimulus. The likely conclusion: That the Fed is moving closer to reducing its bond purchases.

That conclusion would upset some investors because it could lead to higher interest rates and lower stock prices. Yet it would amount to a vote of confidence in the U.S. economy.

In its last forecast in March, the Fed predicted that the economy would grow as little as 2.3 percent this year ? not enough to quickly reduce unemployment ? or as high as 2.8 percent. For 2014, it envisioned growth ranging from 2.9 percent to 3.4 percent.

It forecast that the unemployment rate would fall between 7.3 percent and 7.5 percent by the end of this year. By the end of 2014, the Fed envisioned the rate between 6.7 percent and 7 percent.

? BERNANKE NEWS CONFERENCE

The day's major event is Bernanke's session with reporters. And the question is how far he'll go to define a substantial improvement in the job market and to clarify the Fed's timetable for slowing its bond purchases.

However he does it, the chairman will surely address the uncertainty created by the mixed messages he sent in his congressional testimony last month.

Bernanke almost certainly won't say precisely when the Fed will start to slow its bond purchases. Economists generally think the scaling back could begin in September or, if not then, by December. Bernanke might hint as much, without explicitly saying so, in his news conference.

He may also try to ease investors' fears by spelling out the kind of improvement in the job market the Fed will want to see before it starts trimming its bond purchases. And he'll also likely stress the Fed's continued flexibility even after it starts to pull back: It could decide to taper or expand the bond purchases ? or any other Fed program ? at any time depending on the economy's health.

During his news conference, Bernanke will likely be asked to address the widespread assumption that he will leave the Fed when his second four-year term ends in January. President Barack Obama, in an interview with PBS that aired Monday, hinted that Bernanke will be stepping down. Janet Yellen, the Fed's vice chair, is considered the front-runner to succeed him.

? INVESTORS' REACTION

Global financial markets are hoping for a signal that no pullback in the Fed's economic support is imminent. If Bernanke manages to reassure them, the market reaction may be muted.

If, on the other hand, the Fed's message is that it will start scaling back its stimulus as soon as September, investors might send stock and bond prices down and interest rates up.

Even if the Fed makes clear it will delay any pullback in support for at least a few months, the stock market might still drop. Stocks have rallied the past two days on hopes that the Fed will signal that it won't reduce its stimulus until it's sure the economy can handle it.

And investors have a long history of buying on the rumor and selling on the news.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-06-19-Federal%20Reserve/id-dd98f43ba8294f6b93a9d7ec0f58a385

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Intel chief: Lawmakers demanding more info on NSA

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Tuesday lawmakers are worried about the possibility of further disclosures about the government's sweeping electronic surveillance and the impact that could have on efforts to combat terrorism.

"We don't want to make this thing more damaging that it already has become," Rep. Mike Rogers said ahead of an open hearing the Intelligence Committee scheduled with Army Gen. Keith Alexander, head of the National Security Agency. Rogers said lawmakers, however, "know there are dozens" of terrorist plots that have been foiled by the programs.

Rogers said he expects the government to declassify additional information about the wide-ranging telephone surveillance program and a companion Prism program targeting the Internet and email communications.

Based on information the administration had declassified earlier in the wake of revelations about the program by former NSA contract employee Edward Snowden, members of Congress feel certain that the eavesdropping should be credited for thwarting an attempted attack on New York City's subway system, said Rogers, R-Mich., in an appearance on NBC's "Today" show.

Rogers previewed the latest public airing of the NSA controversy the morning after President Barack Obama, who is attending the G-8 summit in Ireland, vigorously defended the surveillance programs in a lengthy interview Monday, calling them transparent ? even though they are authorized in secret.

"It is transparent," Obama told PBS' Charlie Rose in an interview. "That's why we set up the FISA court," the president added, referring to the secret court set up by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that authorizes two recently disclosed programs: one that gathers U.S. phone records and another that is designed to track the use of U.S.-based Internet servers by foreigners with possible links to terrorism.

Obama said he has named representatives to a privacy and civil liberties oversight board to help in the debate over just how far government data gathering should be allowed to go ? a discussion that is complicated by the secrecy surrounding the FISA court, with hearings held at undisclosed locations and with only government lawyers present. The orders that result are all highly classified.

"We're going to have to find ways where the public has an assurance that there are checks and balances in place ... that their phone calls aren't being listened into; their text messages aren't being monitored, their emails are not being read by some big brother somewhere," the president said.

A senior administration official said Obama had asked Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to determine what more information about the two programs could be made public, to help better explain them. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly.

Rogers said lawmakers are bewildered about the degree of access that Snowden, who is holed up in Hong Kong, apparently had to the classified information at NSA.

"He lied about his salary, he lied about his capabilities. He lied about his position," Rogers said of Snowden. Yet, the Intelligence Committee chairman said Congress wants to know how a "relatively low-level employee" could have gained access to such critical data.

He said panel members planned to question Alexander about this during the hearing later Tuesday.

Rogers speculated that in a position analagous to systems administrator, Snowden could have been akin to "a traffic cop at the busiest New York intersection. And every once in a while he was able to look in and grab hold of" sensitive information. But he said that Snowden erred in believing that the NSA "could listen to Americans' calls. They cannot. And that they can read Americans' emails. They cannot."

He slammed Snowden for revealing information "of which he has no understanding" about the risk that such an action poses to the U.S. government's counterterrorism efforts.

Rogers also said lawmakers are "a little nervous" about Snowden's next move.

For his part, Snowden, who leaked documents revealing the scope of the two programs to The Guardian and The Washington Post newspapers, accused members of Congress and administration officials Monday of exaggerating their claims about the success of the data gathering programs, including pointing to the arrest of the would-be New York subway bomber, Najibullah Zazi, in 2009.

In an online interview with The Guardian in which he posted answers to questions Monday, Snowden said that Zazi could have been caught with narrower, targeted surveillance programs ? a point Obama conceded in his interview without mentioning Snowden.

"We might have caught him some other way," Obama said. "We might have disrupted it because a New York cop saw he was suspicious. Maybe he turned out to be incompetent and the bomb didn't go off. But, at the margins, we are increasing our chances of preventing a catastrophe like that through these programs," he said.

Obama repeated earlier assertions that the NSA programs were a legitimate counterterror tool and that they were completely noninvasive to people with no terror ties ? something he hoped to discuss with the privacy and civil liberties board he'd formed. The senior administration official said the president would be meeting with the new privacy board in the coming days.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/intel-chief-lawmakers-demanding-more-nsa-120838948.html

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Back home, Heat try to stop a 5th Spurs NBA title

San Antonio guard Tony Parker, of France, drives against Miami Heat's LeBron James, left, during the second quarter of Game 5 in the NBA Finals in San Antonio on Sunday, June 16, 2013. The Spurs won 114-104, leading the best-of seven series 3-2. Parker scored 26 points. (AP Photo/El Nuevo Herald, David Santiago) MAGS OUT.

San Antonio guard Tony Parker, of France, drives against Miami Heat's LeBron James, left, during the second quarter of Game 5 in the NBA Finals in San Antonio on Sunday, June 16, 2013. The Spurs won 114-104, leading the best-of seven series 3-2. Parker scored 26 points. (AP Photo/El Nuevo Herald, David Santiago) MAGS OUT.

Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh, center, goes to the basket against San Antonio guard Tony Parker, left, of France, and forward Tim Duncan during the second quarter of Game 5 in the NBA Finals in San Antonio on Sunday, June 16, 2013. (AP Photo/El Nuevo Herald, David Santiago) MAGS OUT.

Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade, from left, with forwards LeBron James, Udonis Haslem, and Mike Miller watch during the fourth quarter of Game 5 in the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs in San Antonio on Sunday, June 16, 2013. The Spurs won 114-104, leading the best-of-seven series 3-2. (AP Photo/El Nuevo Herald, David Santiago) MAGS OUT

Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) reacts after San Antonio guard Danny Green hits a 3-pointer during the fourth quarter of Game 5 in the NBA Finals in San Antonio on Sunday, June 16, 2013. The Spurs won 114-104, leading the best-of-seven series 3-2. Green smashed the NBA Finals record for 3-pointers with six more and scored 24 points. (AP Photo/El Nuevo Herald, David Santiago) MAGS OUT.

San Antonio guard Danny Green shoots over Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh during the fourth quarter of Game 5 in the NBA Finals between the Miami Heat against the San Antonio Spurs at the At&t Center in San Antonio on Sunday, June 16, 2013. (AP Photo/El Nuevo Herald, David Santiago) MAGS OUT.

MIAMI (AP) ? The Miami Heat weren't supposed to be in this situation. Not now, anyway.

Coming home from Texas with their season on the line in 2011 was one thing. They were at the end of their first year together ? LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh still trying to figure it all out and clearly a long way from it.

But this season, they were the NBA's best team, one that lost three games in three months and made losing three times in one series look unlikely, if not downright unimaginable.

The San Antonio Spurs can finish Miami off Tuesday night in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, reaffirming themselves as one of the league's greatest franchises.

If so, the Heat's Big Three once again go from celebrated to devastated.

"We're going to see if we're a better team than we were our first year together," James said.

The Spurs took a 3-2 lead with their 114-104 victory Sunday night. Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili were all brilliant again, and Danny Green added to what could become one of the most out-of-nowhere finals MVP campaigns ever.

One more victory makes the Spurs 5-0 in the NBA Finals, keeping pace with Michael Jordan's 6-0 Chicago Bulls as the only teams to make it here multiple times and never lose.

"We understand Game 6 is huge," Parker said. "Obviously, you want to finish in the first opportunity you get. We understand that Miami is going to come out with a lot more energy, and they're going to play better at home. They're going to shoot the ball better. Their crowd is going to be behind them."

None of that mattered two years ago.

Clearly reeling and their psyches shaken after dropping two straight games in Dallas, the Heat were blitzed early in Game 6. They never recovered, Bosh inconsolable as he made his way back to the locker room afterward while the Mavericks celebrated at center court.

James had to endure the criticisms that came with not getting it done in the finals, a story line that was put to rest last year but will be back again if the Heat don't manage to put together consecutive victories.

"We challenge ourselves to see if we're a better team than we were," Wade said. "Same position no matter how we got to it."

The Heat would also host Game 7 on Thursday. They're trying to join the 1988 and 2010 Los Angeles Lakers and 1994 Houston Rockets as the only teams to rally from 3-2 down by winning the final two on their home floor since the NBA Finals went to a 2-3-2 format in 1985.

Of course, the Heat ? who won 27 in a row during the second-longest winning streak in league history ? haven't put together consecutive victories now in close to a month.

"We're in a position where it's a must-win and everything that we've done all year comes to this point, and we have to win," Heat guard Ray Allen said. "We've found ourselves in so many situations this year, and we've thrived in tough moments because this is a tough team. We will be ready for Game 6."

So will the Spurs, and the Heat know it.

"I'm sure this team, they've been here before many times. They understand winning that last game is one of the hardest things you're going to do. And we understand it as well," Wade said.

"But you know what? It's the game; we've got to play it. I like our chances, just like they like their chances, in this series and in Game 6. We'll see. We'll see which team, which style is going to prevail."

Their four titles have made the Spurs respected but never beloved. Their first, in 1999, came following a 50-game lockout season, and they certainly weren't the team to help the NBA regain its jilted fan base.

Victories in 2003 over New Jersey, 2005 over Detroit and 2007 over James' Cleveland Cavaliers were all low-rated, lukewarm-interest series in which the Spurs were supposed to win and did, just not in a way that erased the idea that they had boring players with a boring brand of basketball.

Win this one, though, and they will surely get their due. They would be knocking off the league's winningest team and the game's best player, with Duncan at 37 and Ginobili soon to be 36, behind a more wide-open offense that has helped Green break Allen's finals record for 3-pointers.

Not that they're thinking about that, or anything else beyond Game 6 at this point.

"We'll reflect back and let it hit us when it's over. We still have a lot more work to do. There's still some business to be done. We have to carry it out and finish it," said Green, who was cut previously by the Cavaliers and Spurs and now has made 25 3-pointers in the first five games.

It looked as though the game was finally passing by the Spurs last year, when the young Oklahoma City Thunder blew by them with four straight victories after San Antonio had taken a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.

The Heat routed the Thunder for the championship and the Spurs brought back essentially the same team, believing another year in their system for players like Green and Kawhi Leonard was a better option than seeking out some quick-fix outsider.

That's almost always been the Spurs' way, and it's on the verge of again being the model for an NBA title ? at the expense of the Miami one that once appeared to be the way champions would be built.

"I think every one of us wants this very badly from the top on down," Duncan said. "We're trying to play that way."

___

Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Briancmahoney

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-06-17-BKN-NBA-Finals/id-c78d1726af2e4684a4ee461e20bfcb32

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Sprint sues Dish and Clearwire, claims buyout offer is illegal

Sprint warned Clearwire in early June that it viewed Dish's latest attempt to buy it as illegal, and now the carrier is following up with legal action. Big Yellow has just announced that its filed a lawsuit against Dish and its acquisition target in Delaware, as it believes the buyout would violate state law and the rights of shareholders and investors in both itself and Clearwire. The Now Network is asking the court to prevent the completion of the deal, rescind certain parts of the agreement and seek "declaratory, injunctive, compensatory and other relief." In the outfit's own words, the suit "details how DISH has repeatedly attempted to fool Clearwire's shareholders into believing its proposal was actionable in an effort to acquire Clearwire's spectrum and to obstruct Sprint's transaction with Clearwire." Stand back folks, the legal fireworks are just starting.

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Herschel telescope switched off

17 June 2013 Last updated at 09:58 ET By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News, Paris

The billion-euro Herschel space telescope has been switched off.

Controllers on Monday emptied the satellite's fuel tanks and commanded the observatory to sever all communications.

The "passivated" spacecraft is now in a slow drift around the Sun, about 2.14 million km from Earth.

With its 3.5m mirror and three state-of-the-art instruments, Herschel was the most powerful observatory of its kind ever put in space.

In its four years of operations, it gathered pictures and other data at far-infrared wavelengths that have transformed our understanding of star formation and galaxy evolution.

The final command to turn off the communications transponder was sent from the European Space Operations Centre (Esoc) in Darmstadt, Germany, at 12:25 GMT.

The great distance to Herschel meant it took six seconds for the radio message to reach the observatory and a further six seconds for ground stations on Earth to confirm the loss of signal.

"It really was a beautiful spacecraft," said Micha Schmidt, the European Space Agency's (Esa) Herschel spacecraft operations manager.

"It never gave us too much trouble. And that allowed us to streamline things; to learn a lot about pointing the spacecraft, for example. This meant we could maximise the science," he told BBC News.

Empty tanks

Decommissioning became necessary when Herschel used up the last of its superfluid helium coolant.

This had maintained the efficient working of the instruments and their detectors, which needed to be kept just fractions of a degree above absolute zero.

When the helium ran dry, Herschel was effectively blind to the objects it wanted to see on the sky.

End-of-life actions involved moving the satellite from its observation station, a gravitational "sweetspot" about 1.5 million km on the "nightside" of the Earth known as the second Lagrangian point (L2).

This will keep the 7m-long spacecraft well clear of other astronomy missions that want to use L2's very stable temperature and light conditions.

Controllers also emptied Herschel's hydrazine propellant tanks to reduce the risk of future explosion.

This involved commanding the satellite to fire its thrusters to exhaustion.

As Herschel drifts, probably in a slow tumble, it will continue to charge its batteries and provide power to the onboard computer.

"In normal circumstances, there is an automatic recovery function whereby Herschel would try to switch on the transponder, but we have overridden this," said Mr Schmidt.

"It will never contact Earth again. We could re-command it. This mode is hardwired and we can't overcome this. But we have no intention of doing that."

Next up

Although the spacecraft operation phase may be over, the huge amount of data acquired by Herschel means that the science phase is only now getting into its stride.

Astronomers will continue to scrutinise Herschel's pictures and make discoveries long into the future.

Many of its observations will also be followed up by other telescopes that are able to see some of the same wavelengths of lights. Among them is the giant new Alma radio network in Chile.

"Herschel has been so impressive and its scientific discoveries will continue for a decade at least, if not longer. When you have a cryogenic telescope like this, you almost have to rush because you know it will operate only for a finite time - you have to get all your observations done as fast as you can. But then you go through the data and we will be doing that for a very long time to come," said Prof Alvaro Gimenez, Esa's science director.

"Herschel has taught us so much about stars and planets in our own galaxy. It has shown us how many stars form along great filaments [of gas and dust]. That's something we simply didn't know before," he told BBC News here at the Paris Air Show.

Herschel was launched in 2009 with the Planck Surveyor, which was also stationed at L2.

This telescope, which has been studying the "oldest light" in the Universe, is expected to end its mission around October and will be passivated in the same way as its sibling.

Esa's next mission to the Lagrangian point will be Gaia. Scheduled to launch in September, this space telescope will make the most precise map yet of the stars in our Milky Way Galaxy.

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22914076#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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