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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/46201783#46201783
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Alcohol and your heart: Friend or foe?
ScienceDaily (Jan. 30, 2012) ? A meta-analysis done by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) into the relationship between alcohol consumption and heart disease provides new insight into the long-held belief that drinking a glass of red wine a day can help protect against heart disease.
"It's complicated," says Dr. Juergen Rehm, director of social and epidemiological research at CAMH. Dr. Rehm's paper, co-authored by Michael Roerecke, was recently published in the journal Addiction. "While a cardioprotective association between alcohol use and ischaemic heart disease exists, it cannot be assumed for all drinkers, even at low levels of intake," says Dr. Rehm.
Ischaemic heart disease is a common cause of illness and death in the Western world. Symptoms are angina, heart pain, and heart failure. Based on 44 studies, the analyses used 38,627 ischaemic heart disease events (including deaths) among 957,684 people.
"We see substantial variation across studies, in particular for an average consumption of one to two drinks a day," says Dr. Rehm. The protective association may vary by gender, drinking patterns, and the specific health effects of interest. Differential risk curves were found by sex, with higher risk for morbidity and mortality in women.
Moreover, for any particular individual, the relationship between alcohol consumption and ischemic heart disease should not be isolated from other disease outcomes. Even at low levels, alcohol intake can have a detrimental effect on many other disease outcomes, including on several cancers.
"Even one drink a day increases risk of breast cancer, for example," says Dr. Rehm. "However, with as little as one drink a day, the net effect on mortality is still beneficial. After this, the net risk increases with every drink."
"If someone binge drinks even once a month, any health benefits from light to moderate drinking disappear." Binge drinking is defined more than four drinks on one occasion for women, and more than five for men.
Given the complex, potentially beneficial or detrimental effects of alcohol on ischaemic heart disease in addition to the detrimental effects on other disease categories, any advice by physicians on individual drinking has to take the individual risk constellation (such as familial predisposition for certain diseases and behavior with respect to other risk factors) into consideration.
"More evidence on the overall benefit-risk ratio of average alcohol consumption in relation to ischaemic heart disease and other diseases is needed in order to inform the general public or physicians about safe or low-risk drinking levels," the study concludes. "Findings from this study support current low-risk drinking guidelines, if these recognize lower drinking limits for women."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
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Journal Reference:
- Michael Roerecke, J?rgen Rehm. The cardioprotective association of average alcohol consumption and ischaemic heart disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Addiction, 2012; DOI: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.03780.x
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120130131157.htm
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Monday, January 30, 2012
Newt Gingrich Campaign Spars With Mitt Romney Surrogates (VIDEO)
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Walk to the back of any Newt Gingrich campaign event in Florida and you're likely to run into a few members of the U.S. House who are decidedly not backing the former speaker. In fact, they're all surrogates for Mitt Romney.
Reps. Charlie Bass (R-N.H.), Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.) and Connie Mack (R-Fla.) have all been taking turns going around the state to Gingrich's events, available to talk to the media -- and any Gingrich backers who may recognize them.
But on at least three occasions, they have also gotten into skirmishes with Gingrich campaign spokesman R.C. Hammond.
It started on Thursday morning in Mount Dora, Fla., when Hammond confronted Chaffetz.
Chaffetz told The Huffington Post that Hammond came up to him with an audio recorder and started bombarding him with questions about whether he supported Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
"I am a citizen with questions. He is a congressman without answers," Hammond told The Huffington Post later in the day.
Hammond went at it again on Friday, asking Chaffetz if he wanted a seat on Gingrich's charter plane. When a reporter asked whether Hammond's tone to the congressman was appropriate, Hammond replied, "Sure. He's a citizen like everyone else. I think we're pointing out the fact that the Romney campaign is running scared. They're looking for any opportunity to distort."
It happened again on Saturday morning, this time with Connie Mack in Port St. Lucie. But this time, Mack was ready, according to the Washington Post, and "quickly began browbeating him about Gingrich's work for Freddie Mac, the federally backed mortgage giant that paid him $1.6 million for consulting work."
"Apparently, he's very sensitive about people asking questions about Newt Gingrich and his relationship with Freddie Mac. So he tries to intimidate us and bully us out of the way," Mack told The Huffington Post at Gingrich's Hispanic Town Hall in Orlando Saturday afternoon. "We're not doing anything different than what other campaigns are. Bracketing events is a normal thing. You know, you're in the business. But apparently he gets very sensitive about people asking questions about Newt Gingrich's relationship with Freddie Mac."
He added that it was a sign that the Gingrich campaign was getting "desperate."
"You can just tell this is a campaign in decline," he said.
Gingrich's Hispanic Town Hall was nearly empty. Roughly 60 seats out of the 480 seats at Centro de la Familia Cristiana were filled by attendees, according to an estimate by the Miami Herald.
Gingrich arrived 55 minutes late and then spoke for less than 10 minutes. Though the event was billed as a town hall, audience members were not allowed to stand up and ask questions. He did stick around to take photos and chat with attendees one-on-one, although he typically does that at every event.
Speaking to reporters afterward, Hammond said he thought turnout for the event was "very good," and he declined to say why Gingrich was late.
When asked whether Gingrich gave the green light to Hammond's confrontations with the Romney surrogates, Hammond replied, "He certainly hasn't discouraged it."
The following Gingrich event, the Orange County Liberty Counsel Forum at the Aloma Baptist Church in Winter Park, Fla., was much more filled out. The conservative audience gave Gingrich several standing ovations for his answers on defunding Planned Parenthood, moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and opposing embryonic stem cell research.
Watch the confrontation between Hammond and Mack (via The Washington Times:
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/28/newt-gingrich-mitt-romney-florida-gop-2012_n_1239211.html
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
UFC on Fox 2 opener: Camozzi takes out Jacoby
CHICAGO --Chris Camozzi is one tough guy.
The veteran fighter dislocated a finger in the second and fought through it by only throwing jabs and hooks. In the final round, he dropped Justin Jacoby with great outside leg kick.
Camozzi pounced to go for the kill and worked a guillotine choke. Jacoby backed up to the cage where he tapped just seconds later at the 1:08 mark of the third.
"A little into the third round, I heard my coach tell me to 'go for the kick'. I did and that allowed me to setup the ten-finger guillotine to put him out. A win like that feels great," said Camozzi.
Camozzi (16-5, 4-2 UFC) came out guns-a-blazing throwing big shot landing his best at the end of the first. With less than 10 seconds left, he dropped Jacoby right a big right. Jacoby scrambled well to survive. At some point in the second, Camozzi had a finger on his left hand pop out of place. It stunted his attack as Jacoby landed the better shots and took the round. All three judges had it 19-19 after two. Between the second and third round, Camozzi was able to pop the finger back into place.
"This one sucks. You really hate to lose like this. I felt like I was doing alright and getting good back-and-forth with him. I felt like I had him, but I flat out got caught on this one," said Jacoby.
Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/ufc-fox-2-opener-camozzi-takes-jacoby-215638663.html
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Activists and bloggers fear Twitter censorship (AP)
SAN FRANCISCO ? Bloggers and activists from China, the Middle East and Latin America said Friday they were afraid that new Twitter policies could allow governments to censor messages, stifling free expression.
Thursday's announcement that Twitter had refined its technology to censor messages on a country-by-country basis raised fears that the company's commitment to free speech may be weakening. Twitter is trying to broaden its audience and make more money by expanding around the globe.
"I'm afraid it's a slippery slope of censorship," said social media commentator Jeff Jarvis, interviewed at a gathering of business and government leaders in Davos, Switzerland.
"I understand why Twitter is doing this ? they want to be able to enter more countries and deal with the local laws. But, as Google learned in China, when you become the agent of the censor, there are problems there," he added.
Egyptian activist Mahmoud Salem, who tweets and blogs under the name "Sandmonkey," questioned in a tweet whether Twitter "is selling us out."
Twitter sees the censorship tool as a way to ensure individual messages, or tweets, remain available to as many people as possible while it navigates a gauntlet of different laws around the world.
Before, when Twitter erased a tweet it disappeared throughout the world. Now, a tweet containing content breaking a law in one country can be taken down there and still be seen elsewhere.
Twitter will post a censorship notice whenever a tweet is removed. That's similar to what Internet search leader Google Inc. has been doing for years when a law in a country where its service operates requires a search result to be removed.
Like Google, Twitter also plans to the share the removal requests it receives from governments, companies and individuals at the chillingeffects.org website.
The similarity to Google's policy isn't coincidental. Twitter's general counsel is Alexander Macgillivray, who helped Google draw up its censorship policies while he was working at that company.
"One of our core values as a company is to defend and respect each user's voice," Twitter wrote in a blog post. "We try to keep content up wherever and whenever we can, and we will be transparent with users when we can't. The tweets must continue to flow."
Twitter, which is based in San Francisco, is tweaking its approach now that its nearly 6-year-old service has established itself as one of the world's most powerful megaphones. Daisy chains of tweets already have played instrumental roles in political protests throughout the world, including the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States and the Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt, Bahrain, Tunisia and Syria.
It's a role that Twitter has embraced, but the company came up with the new filtering technology in recognition that it will likely be forced to censor more tweets as it pursues an ambitious agenda. Among other things, Twitter wants to expand its audience from about 100 million active users now to more than 1 billion.
Reaching that goal will require expanding into more countries, which will mean Twitter will be more likely to have to submit to laws that run counter to the free-expression protections guaranteed under the First Amendment in the U.S.
If Twitter defies a law in a country where it has employees, those people could be arrested. That's one reason Twitter is unlikely to try to enter China, where its service is currently blocked. Google for several years agreed to censor its search results in China to gain better access to the country's vast population, but stopped that practice two years after engaging in a high-profile showdown with Chain's government. Google now routes its Chinese search results through Hong Kong, where the censorship rules are less restrictive.
In China, where activists quickly caught on to Twitter despite it being blocked inside the country, artist and activist Ai Weiwei tweeted Friday: "If Twitter censors, I'll stop tweeting."
China's Communist Party remains highly sensitive to any organized challenge to its rule and responded sharply to the Arab Spring, cracking down last year after calls for a "Jasmine Revolution" in China.
Many Chinese find ways around the so-called "Great Firewall" that has blocked social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
Nelson Bocaranda, a Venezuelan journalist, radio host and outspoken opponent of President Hugo Chavez, warned that Twitter's decision could prompt a government crackdown on critics' tweets ahead of the Oct. 7 presidential election.
"Twitter has become a weapon to preserve our embattled democracy," said Bocaranda, who has more than 482,000 followers.
Twitter is "an important tool" for Venezuelans to share information as local media resort to self-censorship as means of avoiding conflict with government officials, Bocaranda added.
Salem, the Egyptian activist, added in a tweet on his account: "This is very bad news."
"Is it safe to say that (hash)Twitter is selling us out?" he wrote.
"Clearly there is a huge user backlash against this latest move by Twitter," said blogger Mike Butcher, editor of Tech Crunch Europe.
"It was seen as one of the few platforms that was free of any kind of censorship, heavily used during for example Arab spring and even in Russia lately over protests over the elections. It is, to some extent, something that we could have predicted," Butcher said.
In its Thursday blog post, Twitter said it hadn't yet used its ability to wipe out tweets in an individual country. All the tweets it has previously censored were wiped out throughout the world. Most of those included links to child pornography.
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt declined to comment on Twitter's action and instead limited his comments to his own company.
"I can assure you we will apply our universally tough principles against censorship on all Google products," he told reporters in Davos.
Google's chief legal officer, David Drummond, said it was a matter of trying to adhere to different local laws.
"I think what they (Twitter officials) are wrestling with is what all of us wrestle with ? and everyone wants to focus on China, but it is actually a global issue ? which is laws in these different countries vary," Drummond said.
"Americans tend to think copyright is a real bad problem, so we have to regulate that on the Internet. In France and Germany, they care about Nazis' issues and so forth," he added. "In China, there are other issues that we call censorship. And so how you respect all the laws or follow all the laws to the extent you think they should be followed while still allowing people to get the content elsewhere?"
___(equals)
Associated Press writers Christopher Toothaker in Caracas, Venezuela, Angela Charlton in Davos, Switzerland, Cara Anna in New York and Ben Hubbard in Cairo contributed to this story.
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
Gwen Stefani, Gavin Rossdale To Divorce?
Could one of the longest running rock relationships be on the outs? According to a few sources, these two are going to couples counseling and are only hanging on by a thread. First, let?s be clear about a few things: they haven?t confirmed that they are even separated, much less actually divorced. But Star magazine seems pretty confident that they are going to split. And we know they are always right. The tabloid magazine goes on to say that they have a ?roller coaster relationship,? and that Gavin has not been completely honest about his past. Just as soon as this story supposedly ?broke,? a few other outlets disputed the claim. One in particular, Gossip Cop, says that they found another source that confirmed that it?s all a bunch of nonsense. I tend to agree. Usually when celebrities are about to split there are signs you can look for. Are they spending a lot of time apart, sometimes across the world from each other? Are there multiple pictures of them without their wedding bands. So far we have none of those for them, nothing but a single article in Star Magazine. The only thing worth mentioning is the old story [...]
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/RW9333NClH0/
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Friday, January 27, 2012
Islamists, protesters scuffle at at Egypt rally (AP)
CAIRO ? Muslim Brotherhood supporters and secular protesters hurled bottles and rocks at each other and got into fistfights in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday as their political differences boiled over at a rally by tens of thousands marking an anniversary in the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.
The scuffles, in which there were no reports of injury, were the first time the two sides have come to blows over resentments that have been rising between them since they worked together during the 18 days of protests against Mubarak a year ago.
Now they are locked in a competition to shape the transition. The differences do not focus on the Brotherhood's religious agenda ? though it worries many in the other camp. Instead, the divisions are over the military, which have ruled since Mubarak's fall, and ultimately whether dramatic change will be brought to Egypt's long autocratic system.
The "revolutionaries," the leftist and secular activists who launched the anti-Mubarak revolt, now demand the ruling generals quit power immediately and have vowed protests to force them out. The Brotherhood, meanwhile, has vaulted to political domination by winning the largest bloc in the new parliament and has been willing to let the military follow its own timetable for stepping down.
The revolutionaries suspect the Brotherhood will strike a deal with the ruling generals ? giving them a future say in politics to ensure the Brotherhood's hold on authority and influence on the writing of a new constitution, effective shelving serious reform. They also bristle over what they see as the Brotherhood's attempts to monopolize the political scene.
Nevertheless, the two sides have been uneasily trying to share Tahrir Square this week since a giant rally Wednesday marking the Jan. 25 start of the anti-Mubarak protests. But on a new rally Friday, tempers broke.
"Out, out, out!" revolutionaries chanted at the Brotherhood's main stage in the square, holding their shoes in the air in a sign of contempt at a line of Brothers forming a human chain in front of the podium.
"Dogs of the military council," others chanted at the Brothers.
The political differences have translated into a dispute over the very meaning of the anniversary. The Brotherhood has presented this week as a celebration of the revolution's successes ? particularly their own parliament victory. The secular groups say there is nothing to celebrate when so many demands of the revolution are left unachieved and killings of protesters have gone unpunished.
The fights erupted over the Brotherhood's giant stage in the square, bristling with loudspeakers. Some protesters complain the Brotherhood sought to drown out other protesters by blaring religious anthems, Quranic recitations and music.
Others were angered a celebratory banner on the stage proclaiming, "Holiday of the Revolution." Another note of triumphalism that irritated many was a song played repeatedly celebrating the military's victories in the 1973 war with Israel and proclaiming "may the victory be bigger" in the revolution.
Arguments about the stage turned into pushing and shoving then fistfights and exchanges of hurled bottles and rocks.
The scuffles reflect both the frustrations and the growing confidence of the revolutionary groups. The military has been seeking to isolate them from a public tiring of turmoil, and the Brotherhood's election victories left them with little say in parliament. But on Wednesday and Friday, they succeeded in bringing out numbers of protesters that rivaled or even surpassed the Islamists' presence, raising their hopes that they can push the Brotherhood to a firmer line on the military.
The leftists and secular groups accuse the military of being as dictatorial as Mubarak and of intending to preserve their power even after a handover to civilians. There is widespread resentment that little has been done to dismantle Mubarak's regime and prosecute security officers for the deaths of hundreds of protesters during the past year in crackdowns by both Mubarak and the military. The Brotherhood insists it wants the military to leave power, but it is willing to let it stay until late June when the generals have promised to hand over rule to a civilian president.
In Tahrir, Ahmed Kamal, a 39 year old engineer who voted for the Brotherhood in recent parliament elections but is not a member, said he hopes the movement takes a stronger tone. "Their rhetoric has been too soft" on the military, he said. "In the end, the military council won't hand over power unless the Square and the parliament are on the same wavelength."
The day's protests, which included mass rallies in other Egyptian cities, commemorated the first anniversary of the "Friday of Rage," one of the bloodiest days of the 18-day protests that led to Mubarak's Feb. 11 ouster.
In last year's "Friday of Rage," Mubarak's security forces fired on protesters marching toward Tahrir from around the capital, killing and wounding hundreds. Protesters battled back for hours until the police collapsed and withdrew from the streets.
"This is a day of mourning, not celebration," said Abdel-Hady el-Ninny, the father of a slain protester, Alaa Abdel-Hady. He and his family carried large posters of his son around Tahrir.
In Friday's rally, large marches organized by the leftist and secular groups streamed from mosques around Cairo to join the tens of thousands in Tahrir. "We want civilian, not military," they chanted in the marches, and some young men shaved the words "down with military rule" in their hair cuts. One protester, carried on his comrades' shoulders, portrayed a slain protester.
Several thousand also protested in front of the state television building, near Tahrir ? a focus of anger because state media have served as a mouthpiece for the military and its denunciations of protesters, just as it did under Mubarak.
A march to the Defense Ministry was confronted by dozens of supporters of the military. The two sides chanted slogans outside the building, guarded by barbed wire and armored vehicles, until a series of loud booms went off. The protesters scattered, and several said they saw military supporters throw homemade bombs and that one protester was injured.
"We delivered a message to the military that we are not scared," Milad Daniel, whose brother Mina was killed in a military crackdown on protesters in October, said after the ministry protest. "They have tanks and armored vehicles but we have God."
Amid the crowds in Tahrir, a Muslim cleric delivered a boisterous Friday sermon, proclaiming protesters must determine the country's course.
"Our right is to dictate the decisions of the revolution," said the cleric, Muzhar Shahine, speaking from the "revolutionaries" stage, as the crowd cried, "God is great."
He gave a litany of the unrealized changes sought by the revolution.
State media must be purged, a constitution must be written that is "shared by all political parties and that gives rights for all of Egypt's children," and Christians must be given the same rights as Muslims, he said.
"A year later, has State Security really been dissolved," he said, referring to Mubarak's feared internal security force that was the backbone of his police state. "Has our land been freed?"
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Starbucks profit beats, Europe weakness hurts (Reuters)
(Reuters) ? Starbucks Corp reported a quarterly profit that topped Wall Street's view, but its shares fell as investors in the world's biggest coffee chain focused on softness in Europe rather than strength in the United States.
The company's shares, up roughly 45 percent from a year ago and hovering near all-time highs, were off 2.2 percent at $47.26 in extended trading after closing at $48.34.
Starbucks and other top-performing restaurant chains like McDonald's Corp have been on a tear and their stocks often sell off on anything but absolutely pristine results.
Sales from cafes open at least 13 months were up just 2 percent for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, versus the 9 percent gain for the much larger America unit, chiefly from the United States.
Chief Financial Officer Troy Alstead said on a webcast that Starbucks has been underperforming internal targets in Europe -- where debt worries and high unemployment weigh heavily on consumers -- and that the company has taken steps to improve results there.
Operating margin for the EMEA unit was 6.5 percent in the first quarter, down from 9.7 percent a year earlier.
Starbucks said the margin contraction was primarily due to higher distribution costs related to moving to a consolidated distribution center in its UK market.
Britain's recovery from the 2008/2009 recession - the deepest since the depression-hit 1930s - has been sluggish.
Edward Jones analyst Jack Russo said results from Europe were weaker than expected, but that they needed to be seen in context.
"A 2 percent comp is still pretty good considering what's going on over there," Russo said, referring to Europe's sales at established restaurants.
Based on its better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results, the company raised the low end of its full-year profit forecast to a range of $1.78 to $1.82 per share from $1.75 to$1.82.
"They're being conservative. It's so early in the year," Lazard Capital Markets analyst Matthew DiFrisco said when asked about the company's revised fiscal 2012 forecast.
When asked if the company has noticed any evidence of softening consumer demand due to the still volatile economic conditions around the world, CFO Alstead said: "We haven't seen it."
Global sales at established Starbucks cafes jumped 9 percent, helped by an increase in customer visits and spending per transaction. That beat the 7.7 percent gain analysts, on average, expected, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Net income was $382.1 million, or 50 cents per share, for the quarter ended January 1. That was up from $346.6 million, or 45 cents, in the year earlier period.
Analysts, on average, were looking for a profit of 49 cents per share in the latest quarter, according to Thomson Reuters
I/B/E/S.
Total revenue rose 16 percent to $3.4 billion.
The Seattle-based company has been raising prices on some drinks to help offset higher costs for commodities like coffee and milk.
Starbucks expects new products to build sales as the year progresses.
In November it started selling its coffee and Tazo tea for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc's popular Keurig machines, which control about 80 percent of the fast-growing North American single-serve brewing segment.
It then expanded its coffee lineup in January with "Blonde," the company's lightest roast to date. That new coffee is widely seen as an answer to McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts, which each brew lighter roasts than Starbucks. Those chains also have gone after Starbucks' core business by introducing drinks such as lattes and frappes.
Starbucks, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Panera Bread Co cater to relatively upscale consumers and have been outperforming the broader restaurant industry, whose overall sales are expected to lag population growth this decade.
(Reporting By Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; editing by Andre Grenon, Phil Berlowitz)
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
What your online friends reveal about where you are
Even for the most privacy-conscious individual, contacts are a liability and may give away your location
YOU'VE set your Facebook account to "friends only", your Tweets are protected and you wouldn't dream of setting a virtual foot near location-sharing services like Foursquare - in other words, you can feel pretty safe online, right? Wrong. We all unwittingly leak vital information through friends.
"You can actually infer a lot of things about people, even though they are pretty careful about how they manage their online behaviour," says Adam Sadilek of the University of Rochester in New York. He has developed a system for predicting a Twitter user's location by looking at where their friends are. The tool can correctly place a user within a 100-metre radius with up to 85 per cent accuracy.
Sadilek and colleagues turn their target's social network into a predictive model called a dynamic Bayesian network. At each point in time, the nodes in the target person's network consist of their friends' locations, day of the week and the time, and information from these nodes determines the target's most likely location. Sadilek can also feed in any existing information about the person's whereabouts to help improve the model's accuracy.
The team tested their model on over 4 million tweets from users in Los Angeles and New York City, who had location data enabled. They found a couple of weeks of location data on an individual, combined with location data from their two most sharing friends, is enough to place that person within a 100-metre radius with 77 per cent accuracy. That rises to nearly 85 per cent when you combine information from nine friends. Even someone who has never shared their location can be pinpointed with 47 per cent accuracy from information available from two friends, rising to 57 per cent with nine.
Once the model has a good idea of where some people are, it can use this data to predict who their friends are, and then use that social network to pinpoint the whereabouts of even more people.
"You can imagine looping this process over and over," says Sadilek, potentially allowing the model to make predictions about every user on Twitter. Privacy advocates may recoil in horror, but Sadilek claims this knowledge could have benefits. It could help identify people who might spread infectious diseases or contact friends nearby to prevent suicide attempts. He will present the work at the Web Search and Data Mining conference in Seattle next month.
It is not just Twitter contacts who compromise your privacy. Facebook friends who share too much could help someone access your account. Last year Facebook rolled out a new "social authentication" system designed to block suspicious logins, but computer scientist Hyoungshick Kim and colleagues at the University of Cambridge have discovered some flaws.
Suppose you normally access Facebook in London, but one day Facebook sees a login from Australia. You might be on holiday, but it is also possible a hacker has got hold of your password, so Facebook's social authentication system blocks these logins unless you can identify photos of your friends.
It seems secure, but Kim points out it only protects you against strangers - a jealous spouse would easily be able to identify mutual friends, for example. Kim's research shows that using photos from non-overlapping communities could prevent this, but that is no good if your friends share their photos publicly, as many people on Facebook do. A determined person could easily gather such photos to create a database of your friend's faces, then use facial recognition software to identify the social authentication photos.
Kim suggests that indiscrete friends should be removed from the social authentication system, but even that wouldn't help a specific group of social networkers: celebrities, whose friends are likely to be recognisable. Kim will present the work at the Financial Cryptography and Data Security conference on the island of Bonaire in the Caribbean next month.
Even with your friends under control, a software bug could still expose your private data - as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself found out recently when a glitch revealed his photos to the world. To solve this, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have come up with a new programming language called Jeeves that automatically enforces privacy policies.
Programmers have to explicitly ensure data flowing through their software obeys necessary privacy policies, but it is easy to slip up and let information leak out. Jeeves solves that by substituting the value of variables within the software depending on who the user is. For example, say Alice posts a message but doesn't want anyone but herself to see who wrote it. The programmer can use the variable "author" without worrying what the user sees - when the software runs, Jeeves ensures Alice will see her own name, but everyone else logging in will see "Anonymous".
Jean Yang, who helped develop Jeeves, says the new language lets a programmer delegate privacy responsibilities and concentrate on the actual function of their code, much like a party host might entrust their butler with ensuring the needs of each guest are met so they can spend more time socialising.
Why the weakest links count most
Facebook is more than just an online "echo chamber" in which users just repeat views that match their own, according to a new study from the social network's own data team.
Facebook's Eytan Bakshy divided the friends of 253 million Facebook users into "strong" or "weak" ties. Cumulatively, the researchers found that most of the information shared comes predominately through a user's weak ties, simply because we have many more weak ties than strong ones. That's important, argues Bakshy, because friends with weaker ties are more likely to read and share material that you would not otherwise encounter: "The information they are sharing is more novel."
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Irishman makes "billion-euro home" of shredded notes (Reuters)
DUBLIN (Reuters) ? An unemployed Irish artist has built a home from the shredded remains of 1.4 billion euros ($1.82 billion), a monument to the "madness" he says has been wrought on Ireland by the single currency, from a spectacular construction boom to a wrenching bust.
Frank Buckley built the apartment in the lobby of a Dublin office building that has lain vacant since its completion four years ago at the peak of an ill-fated construction boom, using bricks of shredded euro notes he borrowed from Ireland's national mint.
"It's a reflection of the whole madness that gripped us," Buckley said of what he calls his "billion-euro home."
"People were pouring billions into buildings now worth nothing," he said. "I wanted to create something from nothing."
A wave of cheap credit flowed into Ireland in the early 2000s after Ireland joined the currency zone fuelling a huge property bubble that transformed the country.
The bubble's collapse since 2007 plunged Ireland into the deepest recession in the industrialized world, forcing the former "Celtic Tiger" to accept a humiliating bailout from the EU and the IMF.
Buckley was given a 100 percent mortgage at the peak of the boom to buy a 365,000 euro home on the far reaches of Dublin's commuter belt, despite the fact he had no steady income.
He has separated from his wife who lives in the home, which has since lost at least one-third of its value.
Living in his "billion euro home" since the start of December, Buckley is working on adding a kitchen to the living room and hall.
The walls and floor are covered in euro shreddings and the house is so warm Buckley sleeps without a blanket.
Pictures made from notes and coins decorate the walls, including one of a house, made from Irish 5 pence pieces.
"There are houses in Ireland worth less than that," Buckley quips.
Buckley said he wants Europe's politicians to solve the eurozone debt crisis without destroying its currency. But if the currency ultimately fails, he will happily use the euro zone's defunct notes as fodder for future projects.
"Whatever you say about the euro, it's a great insulator."
($1 = 0.7704 euros)
(Reporting by Conor Humphries; editing by Carmel Crimmins and Paul Casciato)
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
'The Dark Knight Rises': Liam Neeson may reprise his 'Batman Begins' role
'The Dark Knight Rises' may feature an appearance by actor Liam Neeson, who played Henri Ducard/Ra?s al Ghul in the trilogy's first film
It?s long been presumed that the League of Shadows, as it was portrayed in Batman Begins, would be returning in some form in co-writer/director Christopher Nolan?s final installment in his Caped Crusader saga, The Dark Knight Rises.
Skip to next paragraph Screen RantScreen Rant had a humble start back in 2003 as a place to rant about some of the dumber stuff related to the movie industry. Since then, the site has grown to cover more and more TV and movie news (and not just the dumb stuff) along with sometimes controversial movie reviews. The goal at Screen Rant is to cover stories and review movies from a middle ground/average person perspective.
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Rumors about how the dangerous organization will fit into the plot of the film have long been circulating, as has more solid, but still unconfirmed word about younger stars such as Josh Pence and Joey King portraying youthful versions of characters such as LoS head Ra?s al Ghul and his daughter, Talia.
Today, we have some additional fuel to add to that particular fire, in the form of confirmation from a longtime rumored Dark Knight Rises player that they are involved with the film ? in some form, at least.
Chances are good that those reading this article already have a pretty good idea of who we?re talking about. However, if you?re attempting to avoid knowing anything too?concrete about The Dark Knight Rises in advance, STOP READING NOW.
Yes, as has long been unofficially reported to be the case, Liam Neeson is in fact involved with The Dark Knight Rises. However, judging by what he recently told ShowbizSpy, the elder version of Ra?s won?t be appearing too long in the actual film (if at all):
?I can tell you nothing about ?Dark Knight Rises?, seriously.?I was on set for maybe an hour-and-a-half and the director didn?t tell me anything of what it?s about.?So, I?m being very honest when I say I have no idea what?s going to happen.?
Obviously, it would be strange for Neeson to simply show up on the Dark Knight Rises set and NOT have actually filmed a short scene (or two) that flashes back to a time when the League of Shadows mastermind was still breathing, ie. either prior to and/or during the early portions of Batman Begins. So, all in all, it?s probably safe to say: Neeson?s deadly alter ego will actually pop up in the new film, at some point.
Now, the question is: how will the elder Ra?s fit into the mystery narrative of Dark Knight Rises? Could it be that he was responsible for either training and/or recruiting Bane (Tom Hardy) for a last-ditch effort to topple Gotham City ? or will he merely show up during flashbacks to Bruce Wayne?s (Christian Bale) time training with the LoS?
All shall be revealed at last when The Dark Knight Rises hits U.S. theaters on July 20th, 2012.
Sandy Schaefer blogs at Screen Rant.
The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of music, film, and television bloggers. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by The Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own and they are responsible for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here.
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Facebook Timeline feature, unflattering photos being pushed out to all users in next few weeks
Okay, so now that we've all had sufficient time to go on an untagging spree, Facebook is finally getting ready to begin pushing its new layout to all users. Timeline will be rolled out to everyone over the next few weeks, with the social network giving you seven days to preview it before going live, you know, just in case...
Facebook Timeline feature, unflattering photos being pushed out to all users in next few weeks originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Identity theft insurance not always worth the cost ? Maine Business ...
The phrase ?identity theft? has become one of those terms that makes one?s blood run cold. We?ve heard so many stories of financial losses, ruined credit and related horrors that we react emotionally to the subject.
That emotional response has prompted many consumers to buy insurance that kicks in if some form of identity theft strikes the insured. The question before us is, is such insurance worth the cost?
There?s no simple answer, as is usually the case in consumer matters. The quick historical view back to 2006 finds Consumer Reports said such coverage was ?typically not worth the money.? The magazine notes more than half of ID theft protection is sold by banks, and that those premiums amount to a consumer subsidy for federally required loss protection through credit card and bank account fraud. The passing of time hasn?t changed CR?s opinion that you can ? and should ? take more effective steps yourself to protect your credit and good name.
ID theft insurance typically costs $120 to $300 a year. That?s more than victims often incur through the theft and misuse of their credit card numbers, the most frequent type of ID theft. Federal law limits liability in such cases to $50 per card.
Those who sell the coverage point to the time-consuming process of restoring credit and correcting information on their credit histories. The insurers say their policies can help consumers cope with what can be a trying and frustrating process.
Most people in the insurance industry give the same advice they would when buying other types of coverage. Find out what the policy limits are; the National Association of Insurance Commissioners says most ID theft policies have policy limits of $10,000 to $15,000. If the policy covers lost wages, find out how the coverage is triggered and what limits apply. Know if there is a deductible; some policies require the holder to pay as much as $500 toward the cost of reclaiming your financial identity before the insurer pays a penny.
Before buying, check your homeowner?s insurance policy. It may include ID theft coverage, or you might be able to add coverage more affordably than buying separate coverage. If you decide to buy a separate policy, compare the coverage of several companies.
The insurance commissioners warn against becoming a victim of insurance fraud by making sure the agent and company you?re dealing with are licensed to do business in Maine. Find the Bureau of Insurance online ( http://www.maine.gov/pfr/insurance), by phone (207-624-8475 or TTY 888-577-6690) or by writing to the Bureau at 34 State House Station, Augusta ME 04333.
David Leach, principal consumer credit examiner for the Maine?s Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection, advises people to be their own advocates. Leach says it?s critical for each of us to get one free credit report from one of the reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax and Trans Union) every four months. Do this by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com and only that site. That, plus keeping a close watch on all credit card activity, will help keep identity thieves at bay.
As to separate insurance, Leach says, ?Consumers who sign up for these types of services are paying close to $250.00 a year for a service they can essentially run themselves.? He notes that most financial institutions that issue credit cards will waive all losses in cases of identity theft or fraud. Visit the bureau?s website at www.credit.maine.gov.
For a rundown on federal ID theft laws and tips to protect yourself, visit the Federal Trade Commission website, www.consumer.gov/idtheft.
Consumer Forum is a collaboration of the Bangor Daily News and Northeast CONTACT, Maine?s membership-funded, nonprofit consumer organization. Individual and business memberships are available at modest rates. For assistance with consumer-related issues, including consumer fraud and identity theft, or for information, write: Consumer Forum, P.O. Box 486, Brewer 04412, or go to necontact.wordpress.com, or email atcontacexdir@live.com.
Source: http://bangordailynews.com/2012/01/22/business/identity-theft-insurance-not-always-worth-the-cost/
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Ship search finds 12th body, captain's documents (AP)
GIGLIO, Italy ? Divers plumbing the capsized Costa Concordia's murky depths pulled out the body of a woman in a life vest Saturday, while scuba-diving police swam through the captain's cabin to retrieve a safe and documents belonging to the man who abandoned the cruise liner after it was gashed by a rocky reef on the Tuscan coast.
Hoping for a miracle ? or at least for the recovery of bodies from the ship that has become an underwater tomb ? relatives of some of the 20 missing appealed to survivors of the Jan. 13 shipwreck to offer details that could help divers reach loved ones while it is still possible to search the luxury liner. The clock is ticking because the craft is perched precariously on a rocky ledge of seabed near Giglio island.
"We are asking the 4,000 persons who were on board to give any information they can about any of the persons still missing," said Alain Litzler, a Frenchman who is the father of missing passenger Mylene Litzler. "We need precise information to help the search and rescue teams find them."
Early Sunday, instruments monitoring any movement of the Concordia indicated that vessel had shifted slightly, so search efforts were suspended for the night, Italian state radio reported.
The death toll rose to at least 12 Saturday after a water-logged body was extracted from a passageway near a gathering point for evacuation by lifeboats in the rear of the vessel, Coast Guard Cmdr. Filippo Marini said. It was not immediately clear if the woman was a passenger or crew member. A female Peruvian bartender and several adult female passengers were among the 21 people listed as missing before the latest corpse was found.
Relatives of the bartender and of an Indian crewman, along with two children of an elderly couple from Minnesota who are among the missing, boarded a boat Saturday to view the wrecked Concordia Saturday, said a maritime official, Fabrizio Palombo.
Family members tossed flowers near the site while islanders standing on the rocky edge of the island also strew bouquets on the water in a tribute to the victims.
Another Coast Guard official, Cosimo Nicastro, said the woman's body was found during a particularly risky inspection.
"The corridor was very narrow, and the divers' lines risked snagging" on furniture and objects floating in the passageway, Nicastro said. To help the coast guard divers reach the area, Italian navy divers had preceded them, setting off charges to blast holes for easier entrance and exit.
Meanwhile, police divers, carrying out orders from prosecutors investigating Captain Francesco Schettino for suspected manslaughter and abandoning the ship, swam through the cold, dark waters to reach his cabin. State TV and the Italian news agency ANSA reported that the divers located and remove his safe and two suitcases. His passport and several documents were also pulled out, state media said.
Searchers inspecting the bridge Saturday also found a hard disk containing data of the voyage, Sky TG24 TV reported.
Three bodies were found in waters around the ship in the first hours after the accident. Since then, divers have gone inside the Concordia to recover all the remaining victims, who were apparently unable to escape the lurching ship during a chaotic evacuation launched almost an hour after the liner hit a reef.
Some survivors who couldn't board lifeboats waited for hours aboard the capsizing craft for rescue by helicopters while others jumped into the water and swam to safety.
The last survivor, found aboard 36 hours after the crash, was an Italian crewman who broke his leg in the confusion and couldn't leave the ship.
The Concordia hit the reef, well-marked on maritime and even tourist maps, while most of the passengers sat down to dinner in the main restaurant, about two hours after the ship had set sail from the port of Civitavecchia on the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Costa Crociere, the ship's operator and subsidiary of U.S.-based Carnival Cruise Lines, has said the captain had deviated without permission from the vessel's route in an apparent maneuver to sail close to the island of Giglio and impress passengers.
Schettino, despite audiotapes of his defying Coast Guard orders to scramble back aboard, has denied he abandoned ship while hundreds of passengers were desperately trying to get off the capsizing vessel. He has said he coordinated the rescue from aboard a lifeboat and then from the shore.
The effort to find survivors and bodies has postponed an operation to remove heavy fuel in the Concordia's tanks; specialized equipment has been standing by for days.
Light fuel, apparently from machinery aboard the capsized ship, was spotted in nearby waters, authorities said Saturday.
But Nicastro said there was no indication that any of the nearly 500,000 gallons (2,200 metric tons) of heavy fuel oil has leaked from the ship's double-bottomed tanks, seen as a risk if the ship's position changes. He said the leaked substance appears to be diesel, which is used to fuel rescue boats and dinghies and as a lubricant for ship machinery.
There are 185 tons of diesel and lubricants on board the crippled vessel, which is lying on its side just outside Giglio's port. Nicastro described the fuel in the sea as "very light, very superficial" and appearing to be under control.
But an official leading rescue, search and anti-pollution efforts for the ship suggested that the luxury liner would have leaked contaminants on board when it tipped over.
"We must not forget that on that ship there are oils, solvents, detergents, everything that a city of 4,000 people needs," Franco Gabrielli, the head of Italy's civil protection agency, told reporters in Giglio.
Gabrielli was referring to the roughly 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew who were aboard the cruise liner when it ran into the reef and, with seawater rushing into a 230-foot (70-meter) gash in its hull, listed and fell onto its side. "Contamination of the environment, ladies and gentlemen, already occurred" when the liner capsized, Gabrelli said.
Vessels equipped with machinery to suck out the light fuel oil were in the area. Earlier on Saturday, crews removed oil-absorbing booms used to prevent environmental damage in case of a leak. Originally white, the booms were grayish.
Schettino, is under house arrest for investigation of alleged manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the ship before all were evacuated.
The search had been suspended Friday after the Concordia shifted, prompting fears the ship could roll off a rocky ledge of sea bed and plunge deeper into the pristine waters around Giglio, part of a seven-island Tuscan archipelago.
___
D'Emilio reported from Rome. Colleen Barry contributed from Milan and Andrea Foa from Giglio.
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Monday, January 23, 2012
[OOC] A Slave's Life
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Romney to release taxes, Gingrich ready for Obama (AP)
WASHINGTON ? Newt Gingrich worked to capitalize Sunday on his upset victory in South Carolina's Republican presidential primary, while Mitt Romney moved quickly to cut his losses before the next contest with a promise to release his income tax returns within 48 hours.
Gingrich said in a round of television interviews that his win, both unexpected and unexpectedly large, showed he was the Republican best able to go toe to toe with President Barack Obama in the fall. "I think virtually everybody who looks at the campaign knows I represent the largest amount of change of any candidate, and I think that's why they see me as representing their interest and their concerns, not representing Wall Street or representing the politicians of Washington," he said.
Romney argued that point, but not another, agreeing in a television interview that he had made a mistake by refusing to release his tax returns before the South Carolina vote. "If it was a distraction, we want to get back to the real issues in the campaign -- leadership, character and vision for America, how to get jobs in America, and how to rein in the excessive scale of the federal government," he said.
The former Massachusetts governor, who made millions in business, said he will make his 2010 return and an estimate for 2011 available online on Tuesday.
The decision marked a concession, as if one were needed, that Romney had stumbled on his way through South Carolina, a state where he led handsomely in the polls several days before the primary.
Florida votes next, on Jan. 31, a 50-delegate contest in one of the most expensive campaign states in the country, and one that Romney can ill afford to lose.
The former governor was an easy winner in the New Hampshire primary earlier in the month. Before that, he was a close runner-up behind former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum in Iowa caucuses where the vote count was so confused that he was originally announced the victor.
Despite his loss on Saturday, Romney remains the contender with the largest and best-funded organization. "Three states in now, we got 47 more to go," he said, adding he was looking forward to the rest.
For all the political momentum gained in South Carolina, Gingrich made it immediately obvious that he is short on funds. He urged supporters via Tweet Saturday night to donate money, and then announced the name of his campaign website while making a nationally televised victory speech.
With their comments, both Romney and Gingrich indicated the race was a two-way competition, likely to go into the spring if not longer.
Santorum had other ideas.
"We're going to Florida and beyond," he said. As he did in a pair of debates in South Carolina, he criticized both Gingrich ? calling him a "very high-risk candidate" ? and Romney, whom he called a moderate ill-suited to appeal to conservative voters.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul, the fourth contender, has already said he will skip Florida and focus on Nevada and other caucus states.
Gingrich won South Carolina despite being outspent. But in addition to the prohibitive cost of campaigning in Florida, a long-term shortage of funds can cripple efforts to compete in the fast-paced series of primaries and caucuses ahead.
Aides say the former speaker raised $9 million in the final quarter of 2011.
Romney has reported taking in $24 million over the same period.
In addition, both men are supported by outside groups that have paid for millions in television advertising. So far, though, Romney's has spent more, and to greater evident effect.
When Gingrich surged in the polls two weeks before the Iowa caucuses, Restore Our Future responded with hard-hitting ads that knocked the former speaker off-stride and protected Romney's standing.
Gingrich lacked the funds to respond effectively, lashed out angrily, and sank to a poor fourth place finish. He did not begin to recover until the final days of the race in South Carolina, when he was aided by Romney's missteps, Texas Gov. Rick Perry's mid-week withdrawal and endorsement, and his own strong debate performances.
Also in the interim, Gingrich supporters said that casino magnate Sheldon Adelson had written a $5 million check to an outside group set up to help the former speaker.
Allies of Gingrich have made no secret of their hope that Adelson will help again in Florida, where the pro-Romney organization shows no signs of slowing down.
Even before the polls closed in South Carolina, Romney and a group supporting him had spent $7 million on television advertising in Florida. So far, the only other political ads to run in the state were financed by ASCME, a labor union working to weaken the standing of the former Massachusetts governor.
While a protracted battle for the nomination could benefit Obama, the signs pointed toward a particularly bruising struggle in Florida.
"I don't think that the people of this country are going to choose as the next president of the United States a person who spent 40 years in Washington as a congressman and a lobbyist," Romney said. "That is not going to be, in my opinion, be the most effective way to replace the current president who also spent his career in politics."
Said Gingrich: "I think South Carolinians were the first state to really understand how liberal Governor Romney's record was" as Massachusetts governor said Gingrich. He said his main rival lost ground "as people began to realize that he'd been pro-choice, pro-gun control, pro-tax increase in a whole range of areas that despite his advertising and his pretending, it was clear that he was way to the left of South Carolinians."
With votes counted from all of South Carolina's precincts, Gingrich had 40 percent to Romney's 28 percent. Santorum won 17 percent to Paul's 13 percent.
Gingrich won at least 23 of the 25 delegates at stake. The other two have yet to be allocated.
Gingrich appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press," CBS' "Face the Nation" and CNN's "State of the Union." Romney was on "Fox News Sunday," while Santorum was on ABC's "This Week" and CNN.
_____
Eds: AP reporter Jack Gillum in Washington and Shannon McCaffrey in South Carolina contributed to this story.
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
Meet the super super PAC (Politico)
Super PACs are just so 2011.
Meet the next big thing in U.S. politics: the super super PAC.
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These nascent groups can not only raise mega cash to promote candidates, but give money to candidates? campaigns ? a kind of political power and intimacy today?s super PACs alone can?t achieve.
Here?s how it works: under new federal rules, a traditional PAC and super PAC may operate under one roof. These hybrid operations can raise and spend unlimited amounts of cash to promote or oppose candidates, as any super PAC can, while simultaneously giving limited amounts of money directly to campaigns and committees, like a traditional political action committee.
Already, 11 of these hybrids have emerged, representing a range of political ideologies and purposes. They foreshadow even further tumult within the nation?s campaign finance system as the two-year anniversary of the seminal Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision arrives Saturday.
Several operatives involved with them predict the popularity of special interest hybrid PACs will explode during the next year as more organizations become aware of them and realize their benefits.
?Any PAC that doesn?t become a hybrid PAC is run by idiots. The default is going to be hybrid PACs,? said Dan Backer, the principal attorney at DB Capitol Strategies who successfully argued last year?s Carey v. Federal Election Commission case, the decision in which legalized hybrid PACs for those not tied to corporations and unions.
?It?d be ludicrous to limit your ability when you have this right,? he said. ?My thought is that we?ll never say ?super PAC? again in 10, maybe five years.?
PACs connected to corporations and unions, meanwhile, could soon win the same right, thanks to a case also initiated by Backer and pending before the Federal Election Commission. It?s expected to be settled by late winter.
Two major super PACs, both of which have poured millions of dollars into this year?s presidential campaign, confirm to POLITICO they?re considering morphing into hybrid PACs.
?If Newt Gingrich gets the nomination, we would want a very strong ticket up and down the line, and this would definitely help in that regard, giving us the ability to donate direct to candidates,? said Rick Tyler, an official at pro-Gingrich super PAC Winning Our Future, which to date has spent several million dollars promoting the House speaker or attacking his opponents. ?We?re not going to leave any weapon in the the arsenal.?
Said Abe Niederhauser, treasurer of the pro-Ron Paul Endorse Liberty super PAC: ?It seems like a big advantage. I?d be interested in learning more about it. We might want to do it.?
For PACs that have already gone hybrid ? they range from the Conservative Action Fund to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund ? the advantages are notable and immediate, several officials said.
One likened it to the difference between paying high home utility bills issued by several different companies versus paying one bill from single provider who bundles services together for a lower overall rate.
?It really makes it a lot easier to organize your efforts and fundraise. You?re looking at a 30, 40, 50 percent savings on overhead costs and administration alone,? said Dave Mason, a two-time FEC chairman who helped create PURO PAC, a hybrid formed last month to advocate for the premium cigar industry and support candidates who oppose federal cigar regulations. ?You can put that savings into politics, like ads or contributions. And for traditional PACs, it?s going to contribute to pushing their activity in the direction of more independent expenditures ? and I?m not saying whether that?s good or bad.?
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APNewsBreak: Exxon reaches $1.6M spill settlement (AP)
BILLINGS, Mont. ? Exxon Mobil agreed Thursday to pay the state of Montana $1.6 million in penalties over water pollution caused by a pipeline break last summer that fouled dozens of miles of shoreline along the scenic Yellowstone River.
Montana Department of Environmental Quality director Richard Opper told The Associated Press that the penalty marks the largest in the agency's history.
The Texas oil company will pay $300,000 in cash and spend $1.3 million on future environmental projects, Opper said.
Also Thursday, Exxon increased its estimate of how much crude spilled into the river during the July 1 accident near Laurel to 1,509 barrels, or more than 63,000 gallons.
That's up from earlier estimates of 1,000 barrels spilled ? a number that Gov. Brian Schweitzer had disputed as too low.
Only about 10 barrels of crude were recovered by cleanup crews. That's less than 1 percent of the total spilled, federal officials have said.
Thursday's settlement over water pollution violations came after more than three months of negotiations between attorneys for Exxon and the state. It contains provisions to shield the company against any future lawsuits from state agencies, although it will not become final until after a 30-day comment period.
"It was a significant violation. There were hundreds and hundreds of acres of land affected and it was a major oil spill," Opper said. He added the penalties likely would have been "a lot higher" if Exxon had not cooperated on the cleanup.
"It doesn't mean they were perfect. They were responsible, but they really were committed to undoing the damage that was caused," he said.
The settlement requires continued monitoring of environmental damage by Exxon, and requires the company to clean up any more oil that is discovered. That includes any crude that might be stirred up when the Yellowstone rises again in the spring as mountain snow begins to melt.
Testing of river sediments near public water supply intakes also will be required.
Opper said company representatives were expected to sign the deal late Thursday.
As part of the settlement, Exxon also will reimburse more than $760,000 in emergency response costs racked up by state agencies.
In an emailed statement regarding the settlement, Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers reiterated that the company "takes full responsibility for the cleanup."
"We are pleased to be able to resolve this environmental compliance issue with the State of Montana," Jeffers wrote.
Regarding the change in how much crude spilled, Jeffers said the company recalculated the volume after discovering the pipeline had been completely severed during the July 1 accident near Laurel. Jeffers says pipeline breaches typically involve a crack or fissure. That was the assumption used to craft the initial estimate.
Jeffers added that the higher estimate would not have changed the response to the spill, which at its peak involved more than 1,000 Exxon Mobil contractors working to clean up oil-soaked sandbars, log jams and vegetation.
"We had a lot of people and a lot of resources brought to bear in response to the spill," he said. "None of this would have made any difference."
Still pending against the company is a lawsuit from a group of riverfront property owners who are seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages over allegations that the company failed to properly clean up after the spill.
Attorneys for Exxon have asked U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull in Billings to dismiss the case. A decision is pending.
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