7 Taliban, 11 others killed in attack on luxury hotel in Kabul

Seven Taliban attacked Kabul's Hotel Inter-Continental in a brazen, carefully orchestrated operation that began Tuesday night and continued into Wednesday, ending with their deaths and those of 11 other people some six hours after it began, police said.

"We are still searching the hotel; the death number may increase," said Chief of Criminal Investigations Mohammad Zahir on Wednesday morning. Twelve people were wounded or injured, he added.

"The situation is secure," Interior Minister Bismullah Khan said. By then, the top floor of the hotel was ablaze, but within a couple of hours, the flames were gone, though smoke continued to rise from the wreckage.

Two security personnel were killed in the attack, he said.

The Taliban penetrated the hotel's typically heavy security in the attack, and one of them detonated an explosion on the second floor, said Erin Cunningham, a journalist for The Daily in Kabul. A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, said in an e-mail that the suicide attackers entered the hotel after killing the security guards at the entrance.

The Inter-Continental is popular among international guests. A news conference had been scheduled to take place there Wednesday to discuss the planned transition of security from international to Afghan forces that U.S. President Barack Obama announced last week.

In some ways, this attack is not unexpected. General Petraeus predicted the Taliban would move to soft, civilian targets with suicide bombers, since the , military targets were not longer within their reach. When I was in Kabul two months ago a suicide bomber gained access to the Ministry of Defense, across the street from where I was staying, carrying a valid ID and wearing an Afghan army officer's uniform. No amount of brilliant soldiering on our part can prevent that sort of attack. Only the Afghanis can police themselves.

Washington is focussed this week on the Afghan War and whether to take American troops out, when to do it, and how many to withdraw. But this debate really misses the point. The Afghan war will not be won if we keep more troops there longer. But it will be lost unless if we find a political solution that unites the Afghan people behind their government, a diplomatic solution that shuts down the Taliban safe havens just across the border, and an international solution that guarantees them both.

We may win battles on the ground in Afghanistan, and the stronger and longer we stay the more battles we will win. But those victories will mean little if the Karzai government is not able to hold the country together once we leave, or if the Taliban keeps fighting by regrouping across the border in Pakistan. They will always be able to destroy in a few minutes what it has taken years to create.

Google Health failed

Google's online personal health record (PHR) service failed because of its relative obscurity and lack of capabilities, according to health care industry experts.

Google said late last week it would shutter its Google Health PHR on Jan. 1, 2012 after the personal health record (PHR) service failed to gain widespread adoption.

While it offered consumers a way to store health information in a centralized online location, Google Health PHR was mainly an aggregation service with little to offer mainstream consumers other than an online scrapbook of medical information. Google itself admitted that adoption was mainly among tech-savvy patients and fitness enthusiasts.

"We haven't found a way to translate that limited usage into widespread adoption in the daily health routines of millions of people," Google said in its blog posting about the service.

The service was started with high-expectations, as Google aimed to try and create a service to allow people to easily access their personal health records.

The idea appeared well-planned on paper, but failed to catch on in with the public.

Truth be told, very few people actually took advantage of Google Health once it went live.

The internet search giant has confirmed that Google Health is going to stay live until January 1, 2012.

On top of that, they will make the electronic medical records available for an extra year until 2013.

After that, Google Health will be no longer, and the hope for Microsoft is that they can now capitalize in making HealthVault appeal to the masses.

Electronic medical records have yet to really catch-on, but in the long-run, the hope is that will change.

Microsoft's Office 365 software hits the cloud

In a bid to blunt Google's advances in online office software, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Tuesday unveils its rival Office 365 for business.

Microsoft Office 365 will allow you to work online and offline with Office.

"The biggest name in Office software is very strongly going to the cloud," says Matt Cain, an analyst at technology research firm Gartner. "It presupposes a much larger move to the cloud, assuming things go well."

The worldwide market for cloud computing will grow from $68.3 billion in 2010 to $148.8 billion in 2014, Gartner forecasts.

Microsoft's move takes aim at Google Apps, Directions on Microsoft analyst Wes Miller says. Google's free online service includes Gmail, Calendar, Docs and Talk. Google also offers subscription-based corporate versions of its e-mail and applications. Google Apps popularized the online office.

What's significant about Microsoft's Office 365 is that it will allow people to work both online and offline with Office. That's a key differentiator for consumers and businesses concerned about online-only software, such as Google Apps.

Google last month upped the ante for the online office by unleashing its Chromebooks laptops, which are designed to use Google Apps software online and store information to the cloud. "Microsoft needs to work at keeping Google at bay," Cain says.

Microsoft's move acknowledges the steady rise of cloud-based office software use. Yet Office 365 also promises to cut costs for companies that can now let the software giant handle all the behind-the-scenes stuff typically handled by information technology departments. That IT function now moves to the cloud. Cloud computing allows people to go online to access software applications and storage that's delivered from a remote location.

Office 365 won't come free, however. It will be offered at a range of prices, depending on features included. The full version for $27 a month per user provides Exchange, SharePoint, Link (for IM, video chat and Web conferencing) and Office.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2011-06-27-microsoft-office_n.htm

Los Alamos evacuated

A wildfire that roared out of nowhere on Sunday in northern New Mexico prompted an evacuation of Los Alamos County on Monday, and by midafternoon had spread to the boundary of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the highly sensitive headquarters for United States military nuclear research.
Related

A laboratory spokesman, Kevin Roark, said the blaze, at the facility’s southern edge, was still several miles from any essential structures on the 25,600-acre property. Mr. Roark said that nuclear and other hazardous materials had been placed in safe storage as a precaution.

Los Alamos Laboratory was created in World War II as cornerstone of the Manhattan Project to develop the first atomic bomb, and it has continued to operate over the decades since as a storied and mystery-shrouded center of military science. Its primary mission still, Mr. Roark said, is the “safety, security and reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent.”

The fire destroyed about 30 homes and outbuildings in the county, mostly on Sunday, but so far had not made it into the town of Los Alamos itself, said the fire chief for Los Alamos County, Doug Tucker. Chief Tucker said in a telephone interview that the encroachment onto laboratory land was also fairly quickly extinguished, and that calmer winds on Monday afternoon had given firefighters a break as well.

Residents were ordered to evacuate Los Alamos, N.M., as an out-of-control wildfire was at the town's edge and buffeted the secretive U.S. military nuclear lab.

A Los Alamos National Laboratory spokesman said the blaze, at the facility's southern boundary, remained a few miles from key structures on the 25,600-acre property.

Nuclear and other hazardous materials were in safe storage deep inside vaults within concrete and steel buildings, Kevin Roark told the Alibi newspaper of Albuquerque.

The lab would not comment on a Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety allegation that the wildfire was about 3 miles from a nuclear dumpsite containing tens of thousands of 55-gallon drums of plutonium-contaminated waste.

The anti-nuclear watchdog group's Web site appeared hacked early Tuesday morning, a United Press International check indicated. Its Facebook page had six messages from people alerting the group of the possible hacking, including a message commenting on the timing of the incident happening "just as the fires started."

The wildfire, which began Sunday and exceeded 50,000 acres, or 78 square miles, early Tuesday, destroyed at least 30 homes and outbuildings south and west of Los Alamos, fire officials said.

Wildfires are common in New Mexico and thus many precautions have been taken at the nuclear facility to protect against them. "The radioactive materials and supercomputers are locked away in vaults deep inside buildings that are constructed of cinder block," Roark said.

To protect the buildings themselves, he said, firefighters are reducing the fuel load on lab property. "That means reducing the number of trees, especially those close to buildings, and cutting back underbrush grasses. We're making less fuel to burn."

"At this time there is no fire on lab property," Roark said at 12:30 p.m. ET. "The latest information is that the northern boundary of the fire was about a mile south of lab property. Right now what we're doing is monitoring the situation very closely and deploying firefighter crews to the field, and working closely with the forest service."

Appointment slots in Google Calendar

Google Calendar has become indispensable for organizing my own time and sharing my schedule with friends and coworkers. But what about letting others know about my preferred availability? Likewise, when I look at my hairdresser's online calendar, I wonder why I can't just book the open slot instead of remembering to call during regular business hours. Now, with appointment slots in Google Calendar, any individual or business can manage appointment availability online 24/7.

Creating appointment slots

To get started, set up blocks of time you’d like to offer as appointment slots. Simply click anywhere on your calendar and then on "Appointment slots.” From there, create a single block of time or automatically split a larger block of time into smaller appointment slots.

Every Google Calendar has its own personal appointments sign up page; you can embed it on your website or give the URL directly to friends and clients. You can find the URL for your appointment page at the top of the set-up page, which you can access via the Edit details link.

Signing up for an appointment slot

When someone visits your sign up page, their calendar is overlaid for convenience and they can sign up directly for any available appointment slot. When they sign up, Google Calendar conveniently creates a new shared event on both of your calendars.

At Google, many people are already using appointment slots to manage their office hours or even schedule appointments with on-site fitness instructors. We’re starting to roll it out widely today, and appointment slots should be available for everyone within the next few days. I'm pretty excited to tell my hairdresser about it, and I can't wait to see all of you start to use it too.

10 Gmail gadgets to try - Official Gmail Blog

There is a powerful but little known Gmail feature that lives in Labs called “Add any gadget by URL.” Once you turn it on, you can add iGoogle gadgets (or any gadget specified by an .xml file) to the side of your Gmail account. While most of these gadgets are built by third-parties and not owned or maintained by Google, they can be super handy.

To install any of these gadgets, follow those steps:
1) From your Gmail account, go to the Labs tab of Gmail Settings.
2) Look for the Lab “Add any gadget by URL.” Enable it, then click “Save changes.”
3) Go to the new “Gadgets” tab under “Settings” and add the relevant .xml address.

Columbo Actor Peter Falk Dies Aged 83

Peter Falk, the gravel-voiced actor who became an enduring television icon portraying Lt. Columbo, the rumpled raincoat-wearing Los Angeles police homicide detective who always had "just one more thing" to ask a suspect, died Thursday. He was 83.

Falk, who reportedly suffered from dementia, died at his home in Beverly Hills, according to a statement from family spokesman Larry Larson.

In a more than 50-year acting career that spanned Broadway, movies and television, Falk appeared in more than 50 feature films, including "A Woman Under the Influence," "Husbands," "Luv," "Mikey and Nicky," "The In-Laws," "Wings of Desire," "The Great Race," "The Cheap Detective," "Cookie" and "The Princess Bride."

He leaves a wife, Shera, and daughters Catherine and Jackie from a previous marriage.

In 1962, Falk won his first of five Emmys by playing a truck driver who befriends a lonely, pregnant girl in "The Price of Tomatoes," a segment of "The Dick Powell Show."

A decade later, he received raves on Broadway as the frazzled New York advertising account executive in Neil Simon's hit comedy "The Prisoner of Second Avenue."

But nothing Falk did came close to matching the acclaim and popularity he found playing the title role in "Columbo," the crime-drama for which he won four of his Emmys.

Launched with two TV-movies starring Falk — "Prescription: Murder" in 1968 and "Ransom for a Dead Man" in 1971 — "Columbo" began in the fall of 1971 as one of three 90-minute shows on the "NBC Sunday Mystery Movie," alternating with "McMillan and Wife," starring Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James, and "McCloud," starring Dennis Weaver.

"Columbo," however, became the stand-out show. "There isn't a detective on television who can touch him, either in style or ratings," one critic wrote of Falk.

The format of the series, created by Richard Levinson and William Link, inverted the classic detective formula: The TV audience already knew whodunit when Columbo arrived on the scene of the crime. The enjoyment for viewers was in seeing how Columbo doggedly pieced the clues together. As he said in one episode, "I have this bug about tying up loose ends."

Columbo, who was never given a first name, became one of the most memorable TV characters in television history — ranked No. 7 in TV Guide's 1999 list of "TV's Fifty Greatest Characters Ever."

With his tousled dark-brown hair, a cheap cigar wedged between his fingers and his lived-in tan raincoat, the endearingly likable lieutenant was as unprepossessing as the faded old Peugeot he drove.

Indeed, when Columbo brought up the subject of men's clothing and male vanity in one early episode, guest star Suzanne Pleshette, as the segment title's "Witness to a Murder," pointedly looked at the disheveled detective and remarked: "Some men, Lieutenant, do not want to look like an unmade bed."

The show often made light of Columbo's lack of fashion sense. Taking note of the detective's tatty attire, a suspect once asked him, "Are you undercover?" Replied Columbo, "No, underpaid."

In another episode, a nun at a soup kitchen where Columbo was interviewing a witness took one look at his worn raincoat, mistook him as a vagrant and insisted on finding him a better coat in the shelter's used-clothing collection.

Philadelphia Flyers Sign Ilya Bryzgalov

The Philadelphia Flyers have signed Ilya Bryzgalov after trading for his rights from the Phoenix Coyotes.  The Flyers put a great deal of faith in the 30-year old goaltender after a laughable playoff ride on the goalie carousel.  Philadelphia signed Bryzgalov to a nine-year, 51 million dollar deal.  Bryzgalov’s salary will result in a 5.67 million dollar cap hit until Philly’s new goalie is 40.  It looks like Sergei Bobrovsky is done in Philadelphia, or at least his “goalie of the future” tag has been lifted.

The Flyers went through a lot of trouble to secure cap space for their new goaltender.  Jeff Carter was moved along with captain Mike Richards on the same day they signed Bryzgalov.  In return Philadelphia got the 8th pick in the first round, a second round pick in 2012, and a third rounder in 2011.  They also got Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, and prospect Brayden Schenn.

First of all, the deepest team in the league just got even deeper.  Their biggest weakness was the lack of a #1 scorer.  Danny Briere is good, but he isn’t on the same level as the game’s elite.  He’s happy though, saying that the franchise delivered a clear message that they want to win now.  Unfortunately, I don’t see how this trade helps them win now.  They got prospects, draft picks, and role players.

What it does do is prevent a more precipitous fall as their veteran players continue to age together.  The Flyers certainly didn’t get better by trading two of their best players away – but they did get younger.  The Flyers will be a good team for years to come, rather than a great team giving it one more shot at the Stanley Cup.

Goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov is above-average, but by no means an elite goaltender to base your franchise around.  Apparently, the decision has been made to stray from Sergei Bobrovsky, but is Bryzgalov really the answer?  He’s had a decent playoff career before leading a dismal effort against the Red Wings this year.  He choked, looked awkward and fatigued, and stumbled through the 2011 playoffs.

Bryzgalov is 78-40 over the past two seasons with the Coyotes, with a .92 saves percentage.  He had a middling 2.48 goals-against average last year.  Sergei Bobrovsky was 28-13 with a 2.59 goals-against.  I don’t see how Bryzgalov is much of an improvement – particularly considering the ridiculous jump in salary.

Carter and Richards had been with the team since 2005 and had contracts topping 10 seasons. They were key players in Philadelphia's run to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final and combined for 132 points this season.
But the team's more pressing need was goaltending, especially after it used three goaltenders in a second-round loss to the Boston Bruins. It recently acquired Bryzgalov's rights, and general manager Paul Holmgren announced he had reached terms with the former Phoenix Coyotes goaltender.

The emergence of Claude Giroux and James van Riemsdyk also paved the way for the Flyers to make two of the more significant trades in their recent history.

The Flyers are now tied to Bryzgalov for the next nine years and needed to part with two of their best players to accommodate his salary.  I don’t see Ilya Bryzgalov saving the Flyers franchise and guiding them to their first Stanley Cup since the 1970s.  He’s a good goalie, but he isn’t particularly great.  The Flyers will not be as good in 2012 as they were last year because of the trades they made to sign Bryzgalov.

Maybe the Flyers will do something spectacular with the money they cleared up.  Brad Richards would solidify the space left by the two players the Flyers traded away, and Steven Stamkos could become a restricted free agent on July 1st.  Right now, the team is weaker, but given their salary cap predicament I’m not sure they could have done much better.

Cellphone links Osama bin Laden to Pakistan spies

The cellphone of Osama bin Laden’s trusted courier, which was recovered in the raid that killed both men in Pakistan last month, contained contacts to a militant group that is a longtime asset of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, senior American officials who have been briefed on the findings say.

The discovery indicates that Bin Laden used the group, Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen, as part of his support network inside the country, the officials and others said. But it also raised tantalizing questions about whether the group and others like it helped shelter and support Bin Laden on behalf of Pakistan’s spy agency, given that it had mentored Harakat and allowed it to operate in Pakistan for at least 20 years, the officials and analysts said.

It remains unclear if the group helped shelter bin Laden on behalf of Pakistan's spy agency. But the phone might help explain how bin Laden was able to live in a town dominated by the Pakistani military and only a few hours from Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.

“It’s a serious lead,” an American official told the Times. “It’s an avenue we’re investigating.”

The phone discovery might also provide clues as to how bin Laden escaped from the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan nearly 10 years ago when American forces tried to capture him, it states.

Harakat has deep roots in Abbottabad and the strong ties with the area may have been why bin Laden chose to live there and managed to survive undetected for years.

The Pakistan-based group, described in detail here, is classified as a terrorist organization by the United States. It has conducted raids on Indian security positions and is active in Kashmir, reports AFP.

#Pottermore

The author of the Harry Potter series announces that the characters she created will be making a return in an "online reading experience" called Pottermore.

#FDA: Breast implants reasonably safe but not lifetime devices

Silicone gel-filled implants are not lifetime devices, and the longer they're in the body, the more likely there'll be complications, U.S. health regulators said Wednesday.

Despite the likelihood of complications, the Food and Drug Administration announced that silicone breast implants, which the agency approved in 2006 after they'd been off the market for 14 years, are for the most part safe.

The report included preliminary data from post-approval studies, an analysis of adverse effects reported to the FDA and a review of clinical studies about the safety and effectiveness of the silicone gel-filled breast implants.

The safety of breast implants has long been controversial. The FDA banned them for most U.S. women in 1992 amid concerns that they could be linked to health problems such as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. But after subsequent studies appeared to exonerate the implants, the FDA allowed sales to resume in 2006, despite protests from consumer advocates.

Between 5 million and 10 million women worldwide have received implants, either in reconstructive surgery after breast cancer or for breast augmentation. Nearly 400,000 women received the devices in the United States last year.

In January, the FDA said that implants might increase the risk of developing a rare form of lymphoma known as anaplastic large cell lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system.

On Wednesday, the agency announced the results of a review of data on the devices, including a preliminary analysis of information from studies the FDA had required from Allergan and Johnson & Johnson’s Mentor Corp. to conduct as a condition of the agency approving their devices.

#Saab cannot pay workers’ wages

The company that makes Saab cars said it could no longer pay its employees’ wages because it had failed to secure short-term funding for its business.

The news will fuel doubts about the survival of the struggling Swedish carmaker, which has a tentative deal to sell its cars in China, but has had to halt production because of problems paying its suppliers.

Saab is hoping that the provisional deal struck with the two Chinese investors will help solve its longer-term financial difficulties.

Under the non-binding deal, Zhejian Youngman Lotus Automobile would invest 136m euros for a 29.9% stake, while Pang Da Automobile would increase its investment to 109m euros, retaining its previously-agreed 24% stake.

However, the deal needs approval from Chinese and European regulators and the European Investment Bank.

If the agreement does go through, both Swedish carmakers would have Chinese ownership.

The company names the US, UK, Germany and Italy as its biggest markets. 

In Britain it has sold 3,244 cars so far this year, according to industry figures in May, representing just 0.38% of the total. However, that represents a sharp increase from 1,813 for the same time period in 2010.

Saab's main factory stood still for over seven weeks during April and May as suppliers halted their deliveries to Saab over unpaid bills.

Production started up again on May 27 but stopped again on June 8 when the company complained it was missing components for the assembly line.

Assembly line workers were informed in a meeting on Monday that they would not be needed back at work until Monday, July 4.

According to the latest Saab statement, the company is in talks with several different parties in order to raise the cash both in the short run and through property sales and leasing.

According to the Saab statement there are no guarantees as of yet that these discussions will prove successful enough to result in more money. 

Twins drop Facebook lawsuit

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss and Harvard classmate Divya Narendra on Wednesday said in a filing through their lawyers to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that "after careful consideration" they would not appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The twins, who claimed that they, and not Zuckerberg, came up with the idea for Facebook, settled in 2008 in a cash-and-stock deal. They subsequently tried to undo the settlement, saying they were misled by Facebook about the value of the company's shares they received as part of the deal.


A Facebook spokesman said, "We've considered this case closed for a long time, and we're pleased to see the other party now agrees."

It wasn't immediately clear what triggered the decision by the Winklevosses to drop the case, which has dragged on since Mr. Zuckerberg created Facebook in his Harvard dorm room in 2004. A lawyer for the Winklevosses and Mr. Narendra declined to comment.

Lawyers filed legal paperwork saying that the twin brothers will not ask the top court in the nation to overturn a decision the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals made siding with Facebook.

A spokesman for the attorneys declined comment on the decision to abandon the suit and said the Winklevoss brothers had no statement.

E. coli Mostly in Adults, Women

A large, ongoing outbreak of the hemolytic-uremic syndrome caused by Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli in Germany is occurring mostly in adults, primarily women, according to a study published online June 22 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

WEDNESDAY, June 22 (HealthDay News) -- A large, ongoing outbreak of the hemolytic-uremic syndrome caused by Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli (E. coli) in Germany is occurring mostly in adults, primarily women, according to a study published online June 22 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Christina Frank, Ph.D., of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany, and colleagues analyzed data, as of June 18, 2011, from reports in Germany of Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli gastroenteritis and the hemolytic-uremic syndrome as well as clinical information on patients presenting to the medical center. They defined an outbreak case as a reported case of the hemolytic-uremic syndrome or gastroenteritis in someone infected by Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli, serogroup O104, with disease onset on or after May 1, 2011.


Unlike previous E. coli outbreaks, the German strain caused three times as many cases of a severe complication that can lead to kidney failureIt was the deadliest E. coli outbreak in history, infecting 3,601 people and killing 39 across Europe, with most cases in Germany. More than 800 people developed kidney problems from the outbreak that peaked in late May.

German officials identified sprouts from an organic farm in northern Germany as the outbreak's cause, though they don't know how the sprouts got infected.

There are hundreds of E. coli strains in the environment, and many strains dangerous to humans come from animals like cows and sheep. People naturally carry E. coli in their gut but few strains cause illness. But the bacteria is constantly evolving and swapping genes with other strains, giving it countless opportunities to mutate into a killer version.

Pennington said it is crucial to find out whether this new E. coli strain is widely circulating in animals. "If it turns out to be very common in cattle, that would ring alarm bells that this kind of (outbreak) might happen again in the future," he said.

Lindsay Lohan Back To Court

Lindsay Lohan failed a court-ordered alcohol test last week and will have to go before a judge for a probation violation hearing Thursday morning, according to a source close to the case.

Lohan's failed test, which the source said took place on June 13, comes while the actress is confined to her Venice Beach, California, home because of a jail sentence imposed last month.

The actress will appear before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner at 10 a.m. Thursday, the same judge who sentenced her to 120 days in jail after she pleaded guilty to stealing a necklace, a prosecution spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Lohan was allowed to serve a reduced sentence at home because, as a nonviolent offender, she qualified for a home confinement program intended to reduce overcrowding.


Lohan's four years in and out of court -- and sometimes jail -- started with two drunken driving arrests in 2007. Since then, she's spent more than eight months in substance abuse rehabilitation programs.
A probation report released last month said the actress "appears to be continuing to struggle with substance abuse issues."

"It would appear that the defendant's criminal conduct is increasing in seriousness and severity," the probation report said, yet it suggested she serve her sentence on probation and not in jail.

Lohan tested positive for alcohol use, a violation of probation rules, in February, the report said.

It also revealed that the drug test failure last August, which resulted in a jail sentence and court-ordered rehab, involved cocaine and amphetamines.

Japan: earthquake hits again

A 6.7-magnitude earthquake hit Japan early Thursday in the same area where an earthquake triggered a devastating tsunami in March.

Thursday's quake did not cause any known injuries or damage, the Associated Press reports.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said the quake hit about 30 miles off the shore of Iwate prefecture just before 7 AM. The quake was 19.9 miles deep, and it could be felt as far away as Tokyo, about 325 miles southwest.

The agency initially issued a tsunami warning but canceled it an hour later, the AP reports.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Thursday's quake did not cause traumatic reactions in residents. Many people had a "relatively nerveless" response, it states.

Japan's March 11 earthquake had a 9.0 magnitude and triggered not just a tsunami but also a nuclear crisis at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.

Artist Ai Weiwei released

Artist and social activist Ai Weiwei was released on Wednesday after being detained by the Chinese government for almost three months. Authorities cited his confession to tax evasion charges as the reason for his release.

On April 3rd of 2011, Ai Weiwei was taken into custody by Chinese authorities at the Bejing airport. He was on his way to Hong Kong when he was detained. Belongings at his compound, such as papers and his computers, were all seized. Ai's whereabouts were subsequently unknown. The government did not allow Ai to inform his family that he had been detained, nor did they provide the family with notification on their own.

More than a hundred activists, including Ai, have either disappeared, been confined to their homes, or in some way been detained by the Chinese government at the time of Ai's detention. Foreign analysts have said these actions reflect deep concern over unrest in other parts of the world. The Chinese government appears especially concerned over uprisings in the Middle East.

Response to Ai's disappearance was global and aggressive. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation started an online petition calling for his freedom. The petition used the power of social networking to obtain more than 143,000 signatures demanding that the Chinese government release Ai. The campaign to appeal to the government took on momentum quickly among activists who recognized Ai's contributions to the world artistically and socially. Many people, including Ai's family and other human rights activists believed he was detained as an act of retaliation for his political and social activism. These feelings were confirmed when authorities did not alert his family of his whereabouts or even that he had been taken into custody.

The site that hosted the petition advocating for Ai's freedom, Change.org, was attacked in response to the campaign. The IP addresses initiating the attacks originated from China. The FBI was brought in to investigate the widespread assault on the site that resulted in "distributed denial-of-service" errors, slowing down the site and making access much more difficult. Brian Purchia stated in an email that Change.org received a message from Ai's interim business manager, Chin-chin Yap saying, "Your organization has been amazing with the petition and we thank you very much for your support."

Ai's artistic contributions have been profound. He helped to design Beijing's Olympic Stadium that is known as the "Bird's Nest". The stadium has been touted as an innovative and environmentally friendly structure. Pillonton wrote, "Its green features include a rainwater collection system, a translucent roof that provides essential sunlight for the grass below, and a natural, passive ventilation system."

Socially, Ai has spoken in favor of human rights for many years. In 2005, he started an online blog where he shared everything from social commentary to personal autobiographical information. The blog was shut down by the Chinese government in 2009; however, his publications are still available in print form through MIT Press. In recent years Ai has been an especially contentious figure in China. He won a Chinese Contemporary Art lifetime achievement award in 2008, but the following year he described having been beaten by police after conducting a "citizen investigation" into the casualties resulting from the earthquake that occurred that same year.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/308252#ixzz1Q2DZbL1o

#Medicaid spending plan

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Senate has approved a measure that calls for spending $1.1 billion on Medicaid, a program shared with the federal government that provides health care for poor and elderly people.

The Medicaid spending was part of a $1.5 billion measure funding human services programs. The Senate, controlled by Democrats, approved the measure Wednesday on a 26-23 vote and sent it to the House, which has approved a different version.

Democratic Sen. Jack Hatch of Des Moines argued that more money should be devoted to human services programs but that this wasn't possible because Republican Gov. Terry Branstad and the GOP-controlled House have insisted on capping spending at $5.9 billion in the next fiscal year. Hatch predicted a final version will be agreed to in a House-Senate conference committee.

Read more: http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Iowa-Senate-approves-Medicaid-spending-plan-1435455.php#ixzz1Q2CU9eAN

Medicaid for middle class

President Barack Obama's health care law would let several million middle-class people get nearly free insurance meant for the poor, a twist government number crunchers say they discovered only after the complex bill was signed.

The change would affect early retirees: A married couple could have an annual income of about $64,000 and still get Medicaid, said officials who make long-range cost estimates for the Health and Human Services department.


Up to 3 million more people could qualify for Medicaid in 2014 as a result of the anomaly. That's because, in a major change from today, most of their Social Security benefits would no longer be counted as income for determining eligibility. It might be compared to allowing middle-class people to qualify for food stamps.


Medicaid is a safety net program that serves more than 50 million vulnerable Americans, from low-income children and pregnant women to Alzheimer's patients in nursing homes. It's designed as a federal-state partnership, with Washington paying close to 60 percent.

While retirees can now start collecting Social Security at age 62, they must wait another three years to get Medicare, unless they're disabled.

Medicaid is a program that serves more than 50 million vulnerable Americans, from low-income children and pregnant women to Alzheimer’s patients in nursing homes. It is designed as a federal-state partnership, with Washington paying close to 60 percent of the total cost. Early retirees would be a new group for Medicaid. While retirees can now start collecting Social Security at age 62, they must wait another three years to get Medicare, unless they’re disabled.

Jon Huntsman for president

Let’s get one thing straight right now: Jon Huntsman hasn’t merely invited a comparison to Ronald Reagan, he has demanded it.

By launching his presidential campaign today in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty at Liberty State Park, in Jersey City, New Jersey — the very same spot from which Reagan himself launched his historic general election campaign of 1980 — Huntsman has wasted no time with subtlety. He has forced the political world to consider whether or not he is a worthy successor to the Gipper.

Okay, Jon, here it is, right between the eyes: You are no Ronald Reagan.

Even Reagan said that without his ideas and philosophy, he would be just another former actor.

And Reagan certainly wouldn’t have arranged a photo-op with and publicly praised Henry Kissinger just days before announcing his candidacy. In fact, a large part of Reagan’s 1976 campaign for president was spent smacking Kissinger and his policies as hard as he could. And the 1980 campaign was based on a complete refutation of Kissinger’s policy of détente.

Ronald Reagan wouldn’t have released a vapid advertisement featuring himself on a popcorn popper motorcycle. Reagan preferred to evoke the imagery of the West the old-fashioned, manly way — with a horse.

The mere fact that some in the elite have wet their pants with excitement about these commercials should speak volumes.

And Reagan never gave a speech without content, as Huntsman did at Liberty State Park.

Ronald Reagan wouldn’t have begun a campaign for president without a team of trusted conservative advisers who had been with him since his earliest campaigns. He knew that “personnel is policy,” and from the very beginning, he travelled in the company of serious conservatives.

Ronald Reagan did not launch his campaigns trying to get favorable press for his “Mr. Nice Guy” approach to campaigns. To the Great Communicator, the purpose of a speech was to communicate great ideas. Consider his Labor Day 1980 speech at Liberty State Park, where he threw uppercut after uppercut at Jimmy Carter. Some fiction writers of the national media seem to have forgotten that Reagan was a rough customer who knew how to throw elbows when necessary.

Marty Anderson, Reagan’s old policy advisor, said the Gipper was “warmly ruthless.” How succinct and how true.

Most importantly, Ronald Reagan wouldn’t have based his campaign on his personality. He knew the American people deserved better than that. Instead, he based his campaigns on the values and virtues of his conservative philosophy — values and virtues he knew he shared with the American people.

Read more:http://dailycaller.com/2011/06/21/jon-huntsman-is-no-ronald-reagan/#ixzz1PzdcPx8l