In the eyes of outspoken entrepreneur Mark Cuban, the battle for smartphone supremacy has been fought and won… by Nokia (NOK). While hosting an AMA session on Reddit — a series of posts where the original poster instructs Reddit users to “Ask Me Anything” — Cuban, who famously sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo (YHOO) for around $5 billion at the height of the dot-com boom, was asked what kind of laptop he uses. “I have a MacBook Air, but am trying the new Acer with Windows 8 [laptop],” wrote Cuban. “I really, really like Windows 8 on my phone. I have [two] phones. First is Samsung (005930) the [second] was an iPhone 5. The new Nokia with windows replaced my iPhone 5.” When asked to elaborate, Cuban said that the Lumia 920 “crushes the iPhone 5. Not even close.
Read More..
If Santa Were a Hipster
Labels: TechnologyShot like a twee Wes Anderson movie, Fourgrounds Media reimagines Santa as a black-bearded dude who looks more like he's from Williamsburg than the North Pole. This Santa plays Radiohead on his ukulele, is into both vinyl and Instagram, smoking and veganism. His idea of a good gift for a child is an iPod loaded with Arcade Fire selections and, of course, he keeps his tunes list in the cloud.
[More from Mashable: So You Just Got a Wii U. Now What?]
Should you expect to see Hipster Santa next year? Not by the looks of it. As Santa notes, the whole thing has gotten way too commercial.
Read More..
[More from Mashable: So You Just Got a Wii U. Now What?]
Should you expect to see Hipster Santa next year? Not by the looks of it. As Santa notes, the whole thing has gotten way too commercial.
The Problem With Windows 8
Labels: TechnologyWe now know what we've suspected for months: Windows 8 isn't selling very well. We've seen the pattern since Microsoft's big launch event in late October -- the mixed reviews, the cautionary words from hardware manufacturers, the desperate fast-tracking of plans to expand the retail availability of the Surface -- but now we've got numbers.
[More from Mashable: How to Track Santa on Christmas Eve in 2012]
According to the researchers at NPD, sales of Windows PCs dropped 13% year-over-year for the period between October and the first week December, a statistic first reported by the New York Times. Considering that's the exact time Windows 8 devices arrived on the market, it's pretty damning evidence the new operating system isn't catching on.
Certainly, some people are downloading Windows 8 for upgrades without buying new hardware, but let's get real: Windows 8 is all about the hardware. The new OS is tailor-made for touch screens, and touch-screen PCs -- the multi-finger kind that Windows 8 was designed to work with -- have only been available since Oct. 26. As we all know, Microsoft went so far as to build its own tablet to showcase the platform.
[More from Mashable: Microsoft Veteran Steven Sinofsky’s Next Gig: Harvard Professor]
Now one has to ask: Should it have bothered? For all its promise, Windows 8 doesn't seem to be winning over many buyers. To be sure, one report doesn't a failure make, but Microsoft worked meticulously to craft the OS to work with touch, the cloud and social networks -- the very needs of today's connected consumers and businesses. It's fair to ask why they didn't respond, especially since Windows 8 was marketed like crazy.
Windows 8's Stumbling Blocks
Windows 8 is a powerful operating system, but it's also perplexing to new users. The built-in tutorial is very brief, amounting to a few instructions on how to perform some basic actions with a mouse or finger. If you want to engage snap mode or scroll through apps running in the background, good luck figuring them out without someone holding your hand. Even finding the restart button is a little challenging. It all amounts to a pretty steep learning curve, even for longtime Windows users.
And in the end, what's the benefit? For all of the hype from Microsoft on launch day, there are scant few Windows 8 apps. The limited selection is holding back some of the OS's potentially groundbreaking features -- such as the hard-wired Share button -- since they're only as powerful as the apps on board the device.
SEE ALSO: Windows 8 Is Bold and Powerful [REVIEW]
Moreover, for what people tend to use PCs for -- which is to say, productivity-skewed tasks such as document creation, task management and email -- Windows 7 suits them fine. The big thing Windows 8 adds to the equation is "consumption" activities because now the same device can be your PC and your tablet.
However, tablets have gotten so cheap that it's hard to make a case that spending $500+ on a new Windows 8 machine is better than just keeping what you have and spending $200 on a cheap tablet. That goes double when the cheap tablet in question has hundreds of thousands more apps. Throw in an unfamiliar user interface, and you're basically telling people to please leave the Microsoft Store.
The iPad in the Room
Contrast the launch of Windows 8 with the initial iPad debut. When Apple first rolled out its tablet, there was a lot of skepticism, and probably even fewer apps. However, the iPad wasn't entirely unfamiliar -- the OS worked almost exactly like the iPhone's, so there was no learning curve.
At the same time, the iPad delivered on its promise of a better overall experience for some key tasks: reading, watching video, browsing photos and casual messaging. Have you tried to use a Windows 8 device such as the Lenovo Yoga or Dell XPS 12 as a tablet? Trust me, they're not iPads.
To be fair, those machines were designed to be laptops first and tablets as a supplementary function, but then we're back to: Why make the jump to Windows 8 when Windows 7 provides a good enough experience on that score? You can save money by just sticking with your current PC (or buying an ultra-cheap one) and buying, say, a $199 Google Nexus 7 if you want a tablet experience.
There's at least one Windows 8 product that provides an experience on par with the iPad's, and that's the Microsoft Surface. However, for what the Surface can do for you today, it's overpriced. Not only does it have far fewer apps than both the iPad and Android, but won't even run older Windows apps, negating a big reason for longtime PC owners to get one. With the Surface, you really do need a separate device for productivity, and you will for a long time.
Chairs Are Like Windows 8
Microsoft has a couple of aces up its sleeve to help boost Windows 8, but they're far from trump cards. Microsoft Office, the ultimate productivity app suite for many, comes free with the Surface (or any Windows RT device). However, as many have discovered over the past few years, there are many alternatives (such as QuickOffice) to Office on tablets. Far from making the Surface (and tablets like it) a "gateway drug" for business use, the presence of Office on Windows RT devices will only ensure enterprise customers don't completely ignore them.
There's also the Xbox 360, a bona fide Microsoft hardware success story if there ever was one. The Xbox is a great platform, but its ability to help goose Windows 8 penetration is limited. Gamers are only a subset of the larger Windows customer base and those who aren't a part of it generally have little interest. And the worst thing Xbox could do is wall itself in by tying itself more directly to Windows -- indeed, its recent moves with SmartGlass apps have taken the opposite approach, introducing apps for iOS and Android. That's good for Xbox, but it won't help Windows 8.
SEE ALSO: The Philosophy Behind Windows 8, From One of Its Creators
So where does that leave Windows 8? Inadvertently making Microsoft's "sophomore jinx" a reality -- that every other version of Windows is a success (95, XP and 7) and the others, not so much (98, Vista and now 8) -- though for different reasons.
Before anyone declares Windows 8 a flop, however, let's pause for a second to remember the tale of the Aeron chair. Yes, different industry, different time, different everything, but the analogy is apt: Company launches product that doesn't sell well at first but goes on to redefine an entire category because there was nothing else like it. People didn't "get" the Aeron when it first debuted, but it was too good to not be influential.
Is Windows 8 the Aeron chair of a new digital age? Perhaps. But consider that the Aeron was an eventual success because the product was exceptional -- it met the needs of office workers far better than anything that came before. Windows 8 has some powerful features, but will they ever win over the buying public?
You tell us. Did you buy or consider buying a Windows 8 machine in the past two months? Tell us why you made your decision in the comments.
Image by Mashable
BONUS: A Tour of Windows 8
Windows 8, Fully Formed
The new Windows is here. Windows 8 is a dramatic departure from Windows 7, blowing up the Start menu into a vibrant Start Screen that's electric with activity and well suited for touch devices like tablets. Despite some inconsistencies (particularly with the traditional desktop, which still exists), the new interface is powerful, fast and convenient.
Read More..
[More from Mashable: How to Track Santa on Christmas Eve in 2012]
According to the researchers at NPD, sales of Windows PCs dropped 13% year-over-year for the period between October and the first week December, a statistic first reported by the New York Times. Considering that's the exact time Windows 8 devices arrived on the market, it's pretty damning evidence the new operating system isn't catching on.
Certainly, some people are downloading Windows 8 for upgrades without buying new hardware, but let's get real: Windows 8 is all about the hardware. The new OS is tailor-made for touch screens, and touch-screen PCs -- the multi-finger kind that Windows 8 was designed to work with -- have only been available since Oct. 26. As we all know, Microsoft went so far as to build its own tablet to showcase the platform.
[More from Mashable: Microsoft Veteran Steven Sinofsky’s Next Gig: Harvard Professor]
Now one has to ask: Should it have bothered? For all its promise, Windows 8 doesn't seem to be winning over many buyers. To be sure, one report doesn't a failure make, but Microsoft worked meticulously to craft the OS to work with touch, the cloud and social networks -- the very needs of today's connected consumers and businesses. It's fair to ask why they didn't respond, especially since Windows 8 was marketed like crazy.
Windows 8's Stumbling Blocks
Windows 8 is a powerful operating system, but it's also perplexing to new users. The built-in tutorial is very brief, amounting to a few instructions on how to perform some basic actions with a mouse or finger. If you want to engage snap mode or scroll through apps running in the background, good luck figuring them out without someone holding your hand. Even finding the restart button is a little challenging. It all amounts to a pretty steep learning curve, even for longtime Windows users.
And in the end, what's the benefit? For all of the hype from Microsoft on launch day, there are scant few Windows 8 apps. The limited selection is holding back some of the OS's potentially groundbreaking features -- such as the hard-wired Share button -- since they're only as powerful as the apps on board the device.
SEE ALSO: Windows 8 Is Bold and Powerful [REVIEW]
Moreover, for what people tend to use PCs for -- which is to say, productivity-skewed tasks such as document creation, task management and email -- Windows 7 suits them fine. The big thing Windows 8 adds to the equation is "consumption" activities because now the same device can be your PC and your tablet.
However, tablets have gotten so cheap that it's hard to make a case that spending $500+ on a new Windows 8 machine is better than just keeping what you have and spending $200 on a cheap tablet. That goes double when the cheap tablet in question has hundreds of thousands more apps. Throw in an unfamiliar user interface, and you're basically telling people to please leave the Microsoft Store.
The iPad in the Room
Contrast the launch of Windows 8 with the initial iPad debut. When Apple first rolled out its tablet, there was a lot of skepticism, and probably even fewer apps. However, the iPad wasn't entirely unfamiliar -- the OS worked almost exactly like the iPhone's, so there was no learning curve.
At the same time, the iPad delivered on its promise of a better overall experience for some key tasks: reading, watching video, browsing photos and casual messaging. Have you tried to use a Windows 8 device such as the Lenovo Yoga or Dell XPS 12 as a tablet? Trust me, they're not iPads.
To be fair, those machines were designed to be laptops first and tablets as a supplementary function, but then we're back to: Why make the jump to Windows 8 when Windows 7 provides a good enough experience on that score? You can save money by just sticking with your current PC (or buying an ultra-cheap one) and buying, say, a $199 Google Nexus 7 if you want a tablet experience.
There's at least one Windows 8 product that provides an experience on par with the iPad's, and that's the Microsoft Surface. However, for what the Surface can do for you today, it's overpriced. Not only does it have far fewer apps than both the iPad and Android, but won't even run older Windows apps, negating a big reason for longtime PC owners to get one. With the Surface, you really do need a separate device for productivity, and you will for a long time.
Chairs Are Like Windows 8
Microsoft has a couple of aces up its sleeve to help boost Windows 8, but they're far from trump cards. Microsoft Office, the ultimate productivity app suite for many, comes free with the Surface (or any Windows RT device). However, as many have discovered over the past few years, there are many alternatives (such as QuickOffice) to Office on tablets. Far from making the Surface (and tablets like it) a "gateway drug" for business use, the presence of Office on Windows RT devices will only ensure enterprise customers don't completely ignore them.
There's also the Xbox 360, a bona fide Microsoft hardware success story if there ever was one. The Xbox is a great platform, but its ability to help goose Windows 8 penetration is limited. Gamers are only a subset of the larger Windows customer base and those who aren't a part of it generally have little interest. And the worst thing Xbox could do is wall itself in by tying itself more directly to Windows -- indeed, its recent moves with SmartGlass apps have taken the opposite approach, introducing apps for iOS and Android. That's good for Xbox, but it won't help Windows 8.
SEE ALSO: The Philosophy Behind Windows 8, From One of Its Creators
So where does that leave Windows 8? Inadvertently making Microsoft's "sophomore jinx" a reality -- that every other version of Windows is a success (95, XP and 7) and the others, not so much (98, Vista and now 8) -- though for different reasons.
Before anyone declares Windows 8 a flop, however, let's pause for a second to remember the tale of the Aeron chair. Yes, different industry, different time, different everything, but the analogy is apt: Company launches product that doesn't sell well at first but goes on to redefine an entire category because there was nothing else like it. People didn't "get" the Aeron when it first debuted, but it was too good to not be influential.
Is Windows 8 the Aeron chair of a new digital age? Perhaps. But consider that the Aeron was an eventual success because the product was exceptional -- it met the needs of office workers far better than anything that came before. Windows 8 has some powerful features, but will they ever win over the buying public?
You tell us. Did you buy or consider buying a Windows 8 machine in the past two months? Tell us why you made your decision in the comments.
Image by Mashable
BONUS: A Tour of Windows 8
Windows 8, Fully Formed
The new Windows is here. Windows 8 is a dramatic departure from Windows 7, blowing up the Start menu into a vibrant Start Screen that's electric with activity and well suited for touch devices like tablets. Despite some inconsistencies (particularly with the traditional desktop, which still exists), the new interface is powerful, fast and convenient.
Samsung expects to ship more than half a billion phones in 2013
Labels: TechnologySamsung (005930) had a big year and despite some legal setbacks, the company saw record profits led by its mobile division. In 2012, Samsung became the world’s largest cell phone vendor with shipments estimated to have reached about 420 million units. According to the Korea Times, the company expects to ship 510 million phones in 2013, an increase of 20% over this year. More than half, or 390 million, of the devices are expected to be smartphones and the other 120 million units will be budget feature phones. Along with its popular line of Android-powered Galaxy smartphones, the company will ship devices powered by Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows Phone 8 operating system and handsets running the new Tizen platform.
Read More..
Review: Making Facebook a warmer, smaller space
Labels: Technology A woman I haven't spoken to in six years is pregnant with her second son. Another college acquaintance reads the Bible a lot. A high school classmate likes to rant about politics. A college dormmate thinks he works too much.
On Facebook, I'm connected to a lot of people who are not my friends. Over the years, as my Facebook friend list grows, it's made me increasingly uncomfortable that I seem to know so much about people that I don't actually know.
So as the new year approached, I decided to review my Facebook life. I took a four-week break — a "Facebook Fast" — from the world's biggest online social network. The break this fall spanned the presidential campaign and election, Superstorm Sandy, fighting in the Middle East and my college's homecoming weekend — all events I cared about. These were all reasons for me to crave Facebook as a way to check the zeitgeist.
What did I learn? Sure, there are sleazy and annoying aspects to Facebook. It connects us to each other like tabloids connect readers to celebrities, and it compels us to gossip. It often makes us voyeurs accidentally immersed in the intimate lives of people we barely know.
But after eight years on the network, I rely on it for pictures and news of faraway friends and relatives. I can't quit. Like it or not, Facebook is an important part of my life.
Facebook Inc. is in the midst of trying to make its privacy policies more intuitive for users. It has added a little padlock icon at the top right of the website. When you click on it, Facebook walks you through how to change who sees what you post, who can contact you and how to review what others are writing about you.
But if you're trying to curate your Facebook life, there are more steps you need to take. Here are some tips for remaking the network so it's less a tabloid feed of unwanted updates and more a warmer, personal space that better reflects your real-life social circle.
CUT BACK ON TOTAL TIME SPENT
I used to keep Facebook open on my work computer, checking in periodically throughout the day. I relied on the Facebook app on my phone to entertain me whenever I was waiting in line or riding in a taxi. I would also log in at home.
It was overkill. I check Facebook less often now. The goal: Read less and write more.
First, I disabled the app on my phone.
I also enabled email notifications for whenever someone sends me a message, tags me in a photo, or posts on my profile or in one of my groups. If someone's trying to get in touch with me, I still want to know and be able to respond. Because I get the notifications, I don't need to keep Facebook open at work or check on it constantly at home.
Here's how to get those notifications: Click on the wheel icon at the top right corner of Facebook and choose "privacy settings" on the menu that pops up. Then click on "notifications" on the left. Then, you can edit what Facebook sends you over email — as well as via texts and phone alerts.
RESTRICT ACCESS
I hate it when people send me personal messages by broadcasting it on my profile page, or timeline, for everyone to see. I'd rather that person send me an email or a private Facebook message that I alone could see. But many people still insist on posting such messages on my timeline anyway.
To address that, I effectively turned off my timeline. Someone can still post on it, but I've adjusted the settings so that person and I are the only ones who can see that note. I can still publicly share things that I want seen broadly, like a post I wrote promoting my sister's new yoga business. To make these adjustments, choose "privacy settings" under the wheel again. Then click on "timeline and tagging" on the left.
Facebook alerts me when somebody else has attached my name to a post or picture, and I need to approve it before others can see it. The settings for this are found under the same "timeline and tagging" page. Turn on reviews for posts you've been tagged in.
FRIENDS OR "FRIENDS"?
My news feed — the stream of friends' links, photos and life comments — was too cluttered with information about people I didn't know anymore. De-friending people seems rude and aggressive to me (although it may be a good idea down the road as decades of friends pile up).
Without severely paring down your friend list, here's how to get Facebook to show you only what you want to see:
— Determine who shows up more on your news feed. When you're on your timeline page, click on "friends" at the top, near your profile picture, to see a list of all of your friends. Each person has a "friends" button next to his or her picture. To see more of that person's posts, choose "close friends." To see less, click "acquaintances." Friends won't know that you've sorted them this way. You can also do this by hovering over the name of the person posting on your timeline. A box will pop up with the person's profile picture and the same "friends" button.
— To tweak what kind of updates you get from each friend, click "settings" under the same "friends" button. You can choose to see only updates on major life events and pictures, for example, while ignoring updates about their comments and likes on other people's posts.
— If specific posts in your news feed annoy you, you can hide them. Hover over the top right corner of the post, click on the box that pops up, and choose "hide..." That will remove the post from your news feed, although you will still get future updates from that person.
— You can also cut off all updates from a friend. After hiding a specific post in your timeline by that person, click "change what updates you get from..." Under the drop-down menu that comes up, click "unsubscribe." You can also ignore a person's Facebook activity by unchecking "show in news feed," under the same menu that lets you sort friends into "close friends" and "acquaintances."
Curating your news feed in this manner is burdensome if you have hundreds of connections. But the result is less tabloid magazine, more personal messages and cute pictures from people who are actually your friends.
SMALLER CIRCLES
One of the great benefits of Facebook is that it helps you keep in touch with a handful of people who have a shared interest. Hundreds of Facebook friends don't need to see the intimate interactions I have with a few closer friends. So I created private spheres for smaller circles — smaller than the lists Facebook automatically generates based on your school information, hometown and employer.
I created such a group with three friends — one from England, one from France and one from Los Angeles — I had spent several days with in a small town in Colombia while on vacation. The four of us use that to post silly photos of ourselves from the trip and write each other personal updates. That spares everyone else from having to hear about the next time we're going to see each other.
To set up a group, go to your news feed by clicking on "home" up top. Then click "create group," which is on the left of the page, in the "groups" section. I typed in the three friends to add and chose to make the group "secret," which means only members of the group can see that it even exists. I also get notifications from Facebook whenever anyone posts to the group. You can turn those on from the "notifications" page under the wheel icon.
Read More..
On Facebook, I'm connected to a lot of people who are not my friends. Over the years, as my Facebook friend list grows, it's made me increasingly uncomfortable that I seem to know so much about people that I don't actually know.
So as the new year approached, I decided to review my Facebook life. I took a four-week break — a "Facebook Fast" — from the world's biggest online social network. The break this fall spanned the presidential campaign and election, Superstorm Sandy, fighting in the Middle East and my college's homecoming weekend — all events I cared about. These were all reasons for me to crave Facebook as a way to check the zeitgeist.
What did I learn? Sure, there are sleazy and annoying aspects to Facebook. It connects us to each other like tabloids connect readers to celebrities, and it compels us to gossip. It often makes us voyeurs accidentally immersed in the intimate lives of people we barely know.
But after eight years on the network, I rely on it for pictures and news of faraway friends and relatives. I can't quit. Like it or not, Facebook is an important part of my life.
Facebook Inc. is in the midst of trying to make its privacy policies more intuitive for users. It has added a little padlock icon at the top right of the website. When you click on it, Facebook walks you through how to change who sees what you post, who can contact you and how to review what others are writing about you.
But if you're trying to curate your Facebook life, there are more steps you need to take. Here are some tips for remaking the network so it's less a tabloid feed of unwanted updates and more a warmer, personal space that better reflects your real-life social circle.
CUT BACK ON TOTAL TIME SPENT
I used to keep Facebook open on my work computer, checking in periodically throughout the day. I relied on the Facebook app on my phone to entertain me whenever I was waiting in line or riding in a taxi. I would also log in at home.
It was overkill. I check Facebook less often now. The goal: Read less and write more.
First, I disabled the app on my phone.
I also enabled email notifications for whenever someone sends me a message, tags me in a photo, or posts on my profile or in one of my groups. If someone's trying to get in touch with me, I still want to know and be able to respond. Because I get the notifications, I don't need to keep Facebook open at work or check on it constantly at home.
Here's how to get those notifications: Click on the wheel icon at the top right corner of Facebook and choose "privacy settings" on the menu that pops up. Then click on "notifications" on the left. Then, you can edit what Facebook sends you over email — as well as via texts and phone alerts.
RESTRICT ACCESS
I hate it when people send me personal messages by broadcasting it on my profile page, or timeline, for everyone to see. I'd rather that person send me an email or a private Facebook message that I alone could see. But many people still insist on posting such messages on my timeline anyway.
To address that, I effectively turned off my timeline. Someone can still post on it, but I've adjusted the settings so that person and I are the only ones who can see that note. I can still publicly share things that I want seen broadly, like a post I wrote promoting my sister's new yoga business. To make these adjustments, choose "privacy settings" under the wheel again. Then click on "timeline and tagging" on the left.
Facebook alerts me when somebody else has attached my name to a post or picture, and I need to approve it before others can see it. The settings for this are found under the same "timeline and tagging" page. Turn on reviews for posts you've been tagged in.
FRIENDS OR "FRIENDS"?
My news feed — the stream of friends' links, photos and life comments — was too cluttered with information about people I didn't know anymore. De-friending people seems rude and aggressive to me (although it may be a good idea down the road as decades of friends pile up).
Without severely paring down your friend list, here's how to get Facebook to show you only what you want to see:
— Determine who shows up more on your news feed. When you're on your timeline page, click on "friends" at the top, near your profile picture, to see a list of all of your friends. Each person has a "friends" button next to his or her picture. To see more of that person's posts, choose "close friends." To see less, click "acquaintances." Friends won't know that you've sorted them this way. You can also do this by hovering over the name of the person posting on your timeline. A box will pop up with the person's profile picture and the same "friends" button.
— To tweak what kind of updates you get from each friend, click "settings" under the same "friends" button. You can choose to see only updates on major life events and pictures, for example, while ignoring updates about their comments and likes on other people's posts.
— If specific posts in your news feed annoy you, you can hide them. Hover over the top right corner of the post, click on the box that pops up, and choose "hide..." That will remove the post from your news feed, although you will still get future updates from that person.
— You can also cut off all updates from a friend. After hiding a specific post in your timeline by that person, click "change what updates you get from..." Under the drop-down menu that comes up, click "unsubscribe." You can also ignore a person's Facebook activity by unchecking "show in news feed," under the same menu that lets you sort friends into "close friends" and "acquaintances."
Curating your news feed in this manner is burdensome if you have hundreds of connections. But the result is less tabloid magazine, more personal messages and cute pictures from people who are actually your friends.
SMALLER CIRCLES
One of the great benefits of Facebook is that it helps you keep in touch with a handful of people who have a shared interest. Hundreds of Facebook friends don't need to see the intimate interactions I have with a few closer friends. So I created private spheres for smaller circles — smaller than the lists Facebook automatically generates based on your school information, hometown and employer.
I created such a group with three friends — one from England, one from France and one from Los Angeles — I had spent several days with in a small town in Colombia while on vacation. The four of us use that to post silly photos of ourselves from the trip and write each other personal updates. That spares everyone else from having to hear about the next time we're going to see each other.
To set up a group, go to your news feed by clicking on "home" up top. Then click "create group," which is on the left of the page, in the "groups" section. I typed in the three friends to add and chose to make the group "secret," which means only members of the group can see that it even exists. I also get notifications from Facebook whenever anyone posts to the group. You can turn those on from the "notifications" page under the wheel icon.
Alexza's agitation drug gets FDA approval
Labels: Health Alexza Pharmaceuticals Inc said the U.S. health regulators approved Adasuve, making it the first treatment for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder that can be inhaled.
Adasuve, which delivers an older antipsychotic drug called loxapine, passes through the lungs and into the bloodstream faster than a typical pill. Loxapine is available as an oral drug for schizophrenia.
The company said the product will include a boxed safety warning about potentially dangerous side effects including the potential for fatal bronchial spasms in people with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and a higher risk of death in elderly people with dementia-related psychosis.
Adasuve use will be restricted to mitigate the potential harm of bronchial spasms, Alexza said.
The FDA also required Alexza to conduct a large post- marketing clinical trial of patients to assess the real-world use of the drug.
"We believe that the ability to deliver medications rapidly and non-invasively will be important for patients and the professionals who care for them," Chief Executive Thomas King said in the statement.
Three injectable drugs, Bristol-Myers Squibb's Abilify, Eli Lilly's Zyprexa and Pfizer Inc's Geodon, are currently approved to calm patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
Adasuve, Alexza's most advanced drug, will be available for commercial launch early in the third quarter of 2013, the company said.
Earlier this month, European health regulators recommended approval of Adasuve.
The FDA denied approval to Adasuve in May, after it found deficiencies at the company's Mountain View, California manufacturing facility during an inspection.
The company's shares fell 12 percent in the after market trading after the trade was halted at $5.79 before the drug- approval announcement.
Read More..
Adasuve, which delivers an older antipsychotic drug called loxapine, passes through the lungs and into the bloodstream faster than a typical pill. Loxapine is available as an oral drug for schizophrenia.
The company said the product will include a boxed safety warning about potentially dangerous side effects including the potential for fatal bronchial spasms in people with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and a higher risk of death in elderly people with dementia-related psychosis.
Adasuve use will be restricted to mitigate the potential harm of bronchial spasms, Alexza said.
The FDA also required Alexza to conduct a large post- marketing clinical trial of patients to assess the real-world use of the drug.
"We believe that the ability to deliver medications rapidly and non-invasively will be important for patients and the professionals who care for them," Chief Executive Thomas King said in the statement.
Three injectable drugs, Bristol-Myers Squibb's Abilify, Eli Lilly's Zyprexa and Pfizer Inc's Geodon, are currently approved to calm patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
Adasuve, Alexza's most advanced drug, will be available for commercial launch early in the third quarter of 2013, the company said.
Earlier this month, European health regulators recommended approval of Adasuve.
The FDA denied approval to Adasuve in May, after it found deficiencies at the company's Mountain View, California manufacturing facility during an inspection.
The company's shares fell 12 percent in the after market trading after the trade was halted at $5.79 before the drug- approval announcement.
Judge denies Texas request for feds to keep funding health program
Labels: WorldA judge on Friday denied a request by Texas for an order requiring the federal government to continue providing money for a state health program for low-income women.
U.S. District Judge Walter Smith in Waco, Texas, denied the state's motion for a preliminary injunction that would have prevented the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services from cutting off Medicaid money for the Women's Health Program.
The federal government pays for most of the cost of the $40-million-a year-program but has told Texas that it will stop at the end of the year because a state decision to exclude Planned Parenthood from the program violates federal law.
Texas decided to enforce a state law that had been on the books for several years barring funding for abortion providers and affiliates.
The program, which does not pay for abortions, provides care such as breast and cervical cancer screenings and birth control, and Planned Parenthood says it serves nearly half the 115,000 Texas women who participate.
The state plans to launch a nearly identical program using only state money.
"Today's decision doesn't change our plans," said Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. "We'll move forward with launching the state program on January 1."
She added: "Our goal remains the same. We're going to continue providing women with family planning services and enforce state law."
But Ken Lambrecht, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, said Texas has embarked on a political crusade that has cost Texas women and taxpayers.
"There is no sound reason Texas should jeopardize this important program by cutting off access to the health care provider relied on by nearly half of the women receiving basic, preventive health care through the program," Lambrecht said in a statement.
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U.S. District Judge Walter Smith in Waco, Texas, denied the state's motion for a preliminary injunction that would have prevented the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services from cutting off Medicaid money for the Women's Health Program.
The federal government pays for most of the cost of the $40-million-a year-program but has told Texas that it will stop at the end of the year because a state decision to exclude Planned Parenthood from the program violates federal law.
Texas decided to enforce a state law that had been on the books for several years barring funding for abortion providers and affiliates.
The program, which does not pay for abortions, provides care such as breast and cervical cancer screenings and birth control, and Planned Parenthood says it serves nearly half the 115,000 Texas women who participate.
The state plans to launch a nearly identical program using only state money.
"Today's decision doesn't change our plans," said Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. "We'll move forward with launching the state program on January 1."
She added: "Our goal remains the same. We're going to continue providing women with family planning services and enforce state law."
But Ken Lambrecht, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, said Texas has embarked on a political crusade that has cost Texas women and taxpayers.
"There is no sound reason Texas should jeopardize this important program by cutting off access to the health care provider relied on by nearly half of the women receiving basic, preventive health care through the program," Lambrecht said in a statement.
Lawmakers play waiting game with 'fiscal cliff' deadline in sight
Labels: Health With only a week left before a deadline for the United States to go over a "fiscal cliff," lawmakers played a waiting game on Monday in the hope that someone will produce a plan to avoid harsh budget cuts and higher taxes for most Americans from New Year's Day.
Though Republicans and Democrats have spent the better part of a year describing a plunge off the cliff as a looming catastrophe, the nation's capital showed no outward signs of worry, let alone impending calamity.
The White House has set up shop in Hawaii, where President Barack Obama is vacationing.
The Capitol was deserted and the Treasury Department - which would have to do a lot of last-minute number-crunching with or without a deal - was closed.
So were all other federal government offices, with Obama having followed a tradition of declaring the Monday before a Tuesday Christmas a holiday for government employees, notwithstanding the approaching fiscal cliff.
Expectations for some 11th-hour rescue focused largely on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, in part because he has performed the role of legislative wizard in previous stalemates.
But McConnell, who is up for re-election in 2014, was shunning the role this year, his spokesman saying that it was now up to the Democrats in the Senate to make the next move.
"We don't yet know what Senator Reid will bring to the floor. He is not negotiating with us and the president is out of town," said McConnell's spokesman, referring to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat. "So I just don't know what they're going to do over there," he said.
Two-day-old tweets on leadership websites told the story insofar as it was visible to the public.
House Speaker John Boehner's referred everyone to McConnell. McConnell's tweet passed the responsibility along to Obama, saying it was a "moment that calls for presidential leadership."
Reid's tweet said: "There will be very serious consequences for millions of families if Congress fails to act" on the cliff.
The next session of the Senate is set for Thursday, but the issues presented by across-the-board tax hikes and indiscriminate reductions in government spending, were not on the calendar.
The House has nothing on its schedule for the week, but members have been told they could be called back at 48 hours notice, making a Thursday return a theoretical possibility.
However, aides to the Republican leaders in Congress said there were no talks with Democrats on Monday and none scheduled after negotiations fell off track last week when Boehner failed to persuade House Republicans to accept tax increases on incomes of more than $1 million a year.
"Nothing new, Merry Christmas," an aide to Boehner responded when asked if there was any movement on the fiscal cliff.
But a senior Obama administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said White House aides were talking with Senate Democratic staffers about the situation.
SCALED-BACK EXPECTATIONS
If there is some last-minute legislation, Republicans and Democrats agreed on Sunday news shows that it will not be any sort of "grand bargain" encompassing taxes and spending cuts, but most likely a short-term deal putting everything off for a few weeks or months, thereby risking a negative market reaction.
A limited agreement would still need bipartisan support, as Obama has said he would veto a bill that does not raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
On Monday, Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison urged fellow Republicans to be flexible.
"We're now at a point where we're not going to get what we think is right for our economy and our country because we don't control government. So we've got to work within the system we have," she told MSNBC.
Two bills in Congress could conceivably form the basis for a last-minute stopgap measure.
Last spring, Republicans in the House passed a measure that would extend Bush-era tax cuts for everyone, reflecting the party's deep reluctance to increase taxes.
The Democratic-controlled Senate passed a bill in August, extending lower tax rates for everyone except the wealthiest Americans - a group defined at that point as households with a net income of $250,000 or above. Obama has since increased that to $400,000 a year, in an effort to win Republican support.
Analysts say Democrats might be able to get the backing of enough Republicans in both the House and Senate, especially if they are willing to raise the number to $500,000.
Under that scenario, lawmakers might also put off spending cuts of $109 billion that would take effect from January and agree to Republican demands for cuts in entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, the government-run health insurance plans for seniors and the poor.
However, with only a few work days left in Congress after Christmas, there is a good chance that no deal can be worked out and tax rates would then go up, at least briefly, until an agreement is reached in Washington.
"We may go off the cliff on January 1, but we would correct that very quickly thereafter," Democratic Representative John Yarmuth told MSNBC.
The prospects of the United States going over the fiscal cliff dampened enthusiasm on Wall Street for a "Santa rally" in the holiday season, when stocks traditionally rise.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 51.76 points, or 0.39 percent, in Monday's shortened holiday session.
Failure to work out tax rates in the coming days would cause chaos at the Internal Revenue Service, said analyst Chris Krueger of Guggenheim Securities.
"Next weekend is going to be a total, total debacle," he said. The IRS is unlikely to have enough time to revise its tables for withholding taxes.
"The withholding tables are sort of like an aircraft carrier, you can't turn the thing on a dime." he said.
Read More..
Though Republicans and Democrats have spent the better part of a year describing a plunge off the cliff as a looming catastrophe, the nation's capital showed no outward signs of worry, let alone impending calamity.
The White House has set up shop in Hawaii, where President Barack Obama is vacationing.
The Capitol was deserted and the Treasury Department - which would have to do a lot of last-minute number-crunching with or without a deal - was closed.
So were all other federal government offices, with Obama having followed a tradition of declaring the Monday before a Tuesday Christmas a holiday for government employees, notwithstanding the approaching fiscal cliff.
Expectations for some 11th-hour rescue focused largely on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, in part because he has performed the role of legislative wizard in previous stalemates.
But McConnell, who is up for re-election in 2014, was shunning the role this year, his spokesman saying that it was now up to the Democrats in the Senate to make the next move.
"We don't yet know what Senator Reid will bring to the floor. He is not negotiating with us and the president is out of town," said McConnell's spokesman, referring to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat. "So I just don't know what they're going to do over there," he said.
Two-day-old tweets on leadership websites told the story insofar as it was visible to the public.
House Speaker John Boehner's referred everyone to McConnell. McConnell's tweet passed the responsibility along to Obama, saying it was a "moment that calls for presidential leadership."
Reid's tweet said: "There will be very serious consequences for millions of families if Congress fails to act" on the cliff.
The next session of the Senate is set for Thursday, but the issues presented by across-the-board tax hikes and indiscriminate reductions in government spending, were not on the calendar.
The House has nothing on its schedule for the week, but members have been told they could be called back at 48 hours notice, making a Thursday return a theoretical possibility.
However, aides to the Republican leaders in Congress said there were no talks with Democrats on Monday and none scheduled after negotiations fell off track last week when Boehner failed to persuade House Republicans to accept tax increases on incomes of more than $1 million a year.
"Nothing new, Merry Christmas," an aide to Boehner responded when asked if there was any movement on the fiscal cliff.
But a senior Obama administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said White House aides were talking with Senate Democratic staffers about the situation.
SCALED-BACK EXPECTATIONS
If there is some last-minute legislation, Republicans and Democrats agreed on Sunday news shows that it will not be any sort of "grand bargain" encompassing taxes and spending cuts, but most likely a short-term deal putting everything off for a few weeks or months, thereby risking a negative market reaction.
A limited agreement would still need bipartisan support, as Obama has said he would veto a bill that does not raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
On Monday, Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison urged fellow Republicans to be flexible.
"We're now at a point where we're not going to get what we think is right for our economy and our country because we don't control government. So we've got to work within the system we have," she told MSNBC.
Two bills in Congress could conceivably form the basis for a last-minute stopgap measure.
Last spring, Republicans in the House passed a measure that would extend Bush-era tax cuts for everyone, reflecting the party's deep reluctance to increase taxes.
The Democratic-controlled Senate passed a bill in August, extending lower tax rates for everyone except the wealthiest Americans - a group defined at that point as households with a net income of $250,000 or above. Obama has since increased that to $400,000 a year, in an effort to win Republican support.
Analysts say Democrats might be able to get the backing of enough Republicans in both the House and Senate, especially if they are willing to raise the number to $500,000.
Under that scenario, lawmakers might also put off spending cuts of $109 billion that would take effect from January and agree to Republican demands for cuts in entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, the government-run health insurance plans for seniors and the poor.
However, with only a few work days left in Congress after Christmas, there is a good chance that no deal can be worked out and tax rates would then go up, at least briefly, until an agreement is reached in Washington.
"We may go off the cliff on January 1, but we would correct that very quickly thereafter," Democratic Representative John Yarmuth told MSNBC.
The prospects of the United States going over the fiscal cliff dampened enthusiasm on Wall Street for a "Santa rally" in the holiday season, when stocks traditionally rise.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 51.76 points, or 0.39 percent, in Monday's shortened holiday session.
Failure to work out tax rates in the coming days would cause chaos at the Internal Revenue Service, said analyst Chris Krueger of Guggenheim Securities.
"Next weekend is going to be a total, total debacle," he said. The IRS is unlikely to have enough time to revise its tables for withholding taxes.
"The withholding tables are sort of like an aircraft carrier, you can't turn the thing on a dime." he said.
UCB gets Japan clearance for two new drugs
Labels: HealthBelgian pharmaceutical company UCB has secured two regulatory clearances in Japan, further cementing its worldwide shift to a new generation of drugs.
The company said in a statement on Tuesday that the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare had approved UCB's Neupro patch to treat Parkinson's disease and moderate-to-severe Restleg Legs Syndrome in adults.
Otsuka Pharmaceutical has the exclusive rights for developing and marketing Neupro in Japan, with UCB responsible in all other regions worldwide. Neupro is available in 35 countries.
In a separate statement on Tuesday, UCB said its drug Cimzia had been approved in Japan for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in adults.
UCB is jointly developing the drug there with Astellas Pharma Inc, with UCB manufacturing it and Astellas managing distribution and sales. UCB said it would receive an unspecified milestone payment from Astellas.
Cimzia is currently being sold in over 30 countries, including the United States and in Europe.
UCB, a central nervous system and immunology specialist, is placing its hopes on three new drugs - Cimzia, Neupro and epilepsy treatment Vimpat - as previous blockbuster Keppra, also for epilepsy, faces patent expiries.
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The company said in a statement on Tuesday that the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare had approved UCB's Neupro patch to treat Parkinson's disease and moderate-to-severe Restleg Legs Syndrome in adults.
Otsuka Pharmaceutical has the exclusive rights for developing and marketing Neupro in Japan, with UCB responsible in all other regions worldwide. Neupro is available in 35 countries.
In a separate statement on Tuesday, UCB said its drug Cimzia had been approved in Japan for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in adults.
UCB is jointly developing the drug there with Astellas Pharma Inc, with UCB manufacturing it and Astellas managing distribution and sales. UCB said it would receive an unspecified milestone payment from Astellas.
Cimzia is currently being sold in over 30 countries, including the United States and in Europe.
UCB, a central nervous system and immunology specialist, is placing its hopes on three new drugs - Cimzia, Neupro and epilepsy treatment Vimpat - as previous blockbuster Keppra, also for epilepsy, faces patent expiries.
One in 12 in military has clogged heart arteries
Labels: HealthJust over one in 12 U.S. service members who died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars had plaque buildup in the arteries around their hearts - an early sign of heart disease, according to a new study.
None of them had been diagnosed with heart disease before deployment, researchers said.
"This is a young, healthy, fit group," said the study's lead author, Dr. Bryant Webber, from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland.
"These are people who are asymptomatic, they feel fine, they're deployed into combat," he told Reuters Health.
"It just proves again the point that we know that this is a clinically silent disease, meaning people can go years without being diagnosed, having no signs or symptoms of the disease."
Webber said the findings also show that although the U.S. has made progress in lowering the nationwide prevalence of heart disease, there's more work that can be done to encourage people to adopt a healthy lifestyle and reduce their risks.
Heart disease accounts for about one in four deaths - or about 600,000 Americans each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The new data come from autopsies done on U.S. service members who died in October 2001 through August 2011 during combat or from unintentional injuries. Those autopsies were originally performed to provide a full account to service members' families of how they died.
The study mirrors autopsy research on Korean and Vietnam war veterans, which found signs of heart disease in as many as three-quarters of deceased service members at the time.
"Earlier autopsy studies... were critical pieces of information that alerted the medical community to the lurking burden of coronary disease in our young people," said Dr. Daniel Levy, director of the Framingham Heart Study and a senior investigator with the National Institutes of Health.
The findings are not directly comparable, in part because there was a draft in place during the earlier wars but not for Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom/New Dawn. When service is optional, healthier people might be more likely to sign up, researchers explained.
Still, Levy said the new study likely reflects declines in heart disease in the U.S. in general over that span.
Altogether the researchers had information on 3,832 service members who'd been killed at an average age of 26. Close to 9 percent had any buildup in their coronary arteries, according to the autopsies. And about a quarter of the soldiers with buildup in their arteries had severe blockage.
Service members who had been obese or had high cholesterol or high blood pressure when they entered the military were especially likely to have plaque buildup, Webber and his colleagues reported Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
More than 98 percent of the service members included were men.
"This study bodes well for a lower burden of disease lurking in young people," Levy, who wrote an editorial published with the report, told Reuters Health.
"Young, healthy people are likely to have a lower burden of disease today than their parents or grandparents had decades ago."
That's likely due, in part, to better control of blood pressure and cholesterol and lower rates of smoking in today's service members - as well as the country in general, researchers said.
However, two risks for heart disease that haven't declined are obesity and diabetes, which are closely linked.
"Obesity is the one that has not trended in the right direction," Levy said.
"Those changes in obesity and diabetes threaten to reverse some of the dramatic improvements that we are seeing in heart disease death rates," he added.
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None of them had been diagnosed with heart disease before deployment, researchers said.
"This is a young, healthy, fit group," said the study's lead author, Dr. Bryant Webber, from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland.
"These are people who are asymptomatic, they feel fine, they're deployed into combat," he told Reuters Health.
"It just proves again the point that we know that this is a clinically silent disease, meaning people can go years without being diagnosed, having no signs or symptoms of the disease."
Webber said the findings also show that although the U.S. has made progress in lowering the nationwide prevalence of heart disease, there's more work that can be done to encourage people to adopt a healthy lifestyle and reduce their risks.
Heart disease accounts for about one in four deaths - or about 600,000 Americans each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The new data come from autopsies done on U.S. service members who died in October 2001 through August 2011 during combat or from unintentional injuries. Those autopsies were originally performed to provide a full account to service members' families of how they died.
The study mirrors autopsy research on Korean and Vietnam war veterans, which found signs of heart disease in as many as three-quarters of deceased service members at the time.
"Earlier autopsy studies... were critical pieces of information that alerted the medical community to the lurking burden of coronary disease in our young people," said Dr. Daniel Levy, director of the Framingham Heart Study and a senior investigator with the National Institutes of Health.
The findings are not directly comparable, in part because there was a draft in place during the earlier wars but not for Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom/New Dawn. When service is optional, healthier people might be more likely to sign up, researchers explained.
Still, Levy said the new study likely reflects declines in heart disease in the U.S. in general over that span.
Altogether the researchers had information on 3,832 service members who'd been killed at an average age of 26. Close to 9 percent had any buildup in their coronary arteries, according to the autopsies. And about a quarter of the soldiers with buildup in their arteries had severe blockage.
Service members who had been obese or had high cholesterol or high blood pressure when they entered the military were especially likely to have plaque buildup, Webber and his colleagues reported Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
More than 98 percent of the service members included were men.
"This study bodes well for a lower burden of disease lurking in young people," Levy, who wrote an editorial published with the report, told Reuters Health.
"Young, healthy people are likely to have a lower burden of disease today than their parents or grandparents had decades ago."
That's likely due, in part, to better control of blood pressure and cholesterol and lower rates of smoking in today's service members - as well as the country in general, researchers said.
However, two risks for heart disease that haven't declined are obesity and diabetes, which are closely linked.
"Obesity is the one that has not trended in the right direction," Levy said.
"Those changes in obesity and diabetes threaten to reverse some of the dramatic improvements that we are seeing in heart disease death rates," he added.
Toll Brothers 4Q net income soars on tax benefit
Labels: Business Toll Brothers says its fiscal fourth-quarter net income soared, helped by a large income tax benefit and a 48 percent rise in revenue. The luxury homebuilder delivered more homes and its order backlog increased.
CEO Douglas C. Yearley Jr. said in a statement on Tuesday that higher home prices, low interest rates, pent-up demand and improving consumer confidence prompted buyers to return to the housing market this year.
Last week a batch of government reports showed that rising home values, more hiring and lower gas prices pushed consumer confidence in November to the highest level in nearly five years. On Tuesday, Core Logic reported that a measure of U.S. home prices rose 6.3 percent in October compared with a year ago, the largest yearly gain since July 2006.
For the three months ended Oct. 31, Toll Brothers Inc. earned $411.4 million, or $2.35 per share. That's up sharply from $15 million, or 9 cents per share, a year ago.
The latest quarter included an income tax benefit of $350.7 million.
Excluding the tax benefit and other items, earnings were 35 cents per share.
Analysts expected earnings of 25 cents per share for the quarter, which typically exclude one-time items, according to a FactSet poll.
Revenue increased to $632.8 million from $427.8 million, topping Wall Street's forecast of $565.1 million.
Homebuilding deliveries climbed 44 percent to 1,088 units, while net signed contracts jumped 70 percent to 1,098 units. The average price of homes delivered increased to $582,000 from $565,000 a year earlier.
Toll Brothers, based in Horsham, Pa., may benefit by catering to the luxury sector. Its target market includes households that typically make more than $100,000 a year, can afford to make a down payment of as much as 30 percent, have great credit record and an unemployment rate about half that of the general population.
Backlog, a measure of potential future revenue, rose 54 percent to 2,569 units. The cancellation rate declined to 4.6 percent from 7.9 percent.
The company's full-year net income jumped to $487.1 million, or $2.86 per share, from $39.8 million, or 24 cents per share, a year earlier. Annual revenue climbed 27 percent to $1.88 billion from $1.48 billion.
Toll Brothers anticipates delivering between 3,600 and 4,400 homes in 2013 at an average price of $595,000 to $630,000 per home.
Its shares fell 57 cents, or 1.8 percent, to close at $31.86 Tuesday. Its shares peaked for the past year at $37.08 in mid-September.
The company has operations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Washington
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CEO Douglas C. Yearley Jr. said in a statement on Tuesday that higher home prices, low interest rates, pent-up demand and improving consumer confidence prompted buyers to return to the housing market this year.
Last week a batch of government reports showed that rising home values, more hiring and lower gas prices pushed consumer confidence in November to the highest level in nearly five years. On Tuesday, Core Logic reported that a measure of U.S. home prices rose 6.3 percent in October compared with a year ago, the largest yearly gain since July 2006.
For the three months ended Oct. 31, Toll Brothers Inc. earned $411.4 million, or $2.35 per share. That's up sharply from $15 million, or 9 cents per share, a year ago.
The latest quarter included an income tax benefit of $350.7 million.
Excluding the tax benefit and other items, earnings were 35 cents per share.
Analysts expected earnings of 25 cents per share for the quarter, which typically exclude one-time items, according to a FactSet poll.
Revenue increased to $632.8 million from $427.8 million, topping Wall Street's forecast of $565.1 million.
Homebuilding deliveries climbed 44 percent to 1,088 units, while net signed contracts jumped 70 percent to 1,098 units. The average price of homes delivered increased to $582,000 from $565,000 a year earlier.
Toll Brothers, based in Horsham, Pa., may benefit by catering to the luxury sector. Its target market includes households that typically make more than $100,000 a year, can afford to make a down payment of as much as 30 percent, have great credit record and an unemployment rate about half that of the general population.
Backlog, a measure of potential future revenue, rose 54 percent to 2,569 units. The cancellation rate declined to 4.6 percent from 7.9 percent.
The company's full-year net income jumped to $487.1 million, or $2.86 per share, from $39.8 million, or 24 cents per share, a year earlier. Annual revenue climbed 27 percent to $1.88 billion from $1.48 billion.
Toll Brothers anticipates delivering between 3,600 and 4,400 homes in 2013 at an average price of $595,000 to $630,000 per home.
Its shares fell 57 cents, or 1.8 percent, to close at $31.86 Tuesday. Its shares peaked for the past year at $37.08 in mid-September.
The company has operations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Washington
IRS finalizes new tax for medical devices in healthcare law
Labels: BusinessThe U.S. Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday released final rules for a new tax on medical devices, products ranging from surgical sutures to knee replacement implants, that starts next year as part of President Barack Obama's 2010 healthcare law.
The 2.3-percent tax must be paid, effective after December 31, by device-makers on their gross sales. The tax is expected to raise $29 billion in government revenues through 2022.
Companies including Boston Scientific Corp, 3M Co and Kimberly-Clark Corp have been lobbying the U.S. Congress for a repeal of the tax.
A repeal bill passed the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives in June, but it has not been voted on by the Democratic-controlled Senate.
"The excise tax is on the medical device manufacturers and importers (who) will now have access to 30 million new customers due to the health care law," Treasury Department spokeswoman Sabrina Siddiqui said in a statement.
Many medical devices that are sold over-the-counter - such eyeglasses, contact lenses and hearing aids - are exempt from the tax, as are prosthetics, the IRS said.
The tax applies mostly to devices used and implanted by medical professionals, including items as complex as pacemakers or as simple as tongue depressors.
Products sold for humanitarian reasons, such as experimental cancer treatment devices, are not exempt from the tax.
Some medical device companies are hoping to delay the tax's start date as part of a resolution of the "fiscal cliff" deadline at the end of the year involving many tax and spending measures, said Steve Ferguson, chairman of Cook Group Inc.
"We would like to be part of the punt," Ferguson said, referring to an extension of current tax policy into 2013.
In one potentially problematic aspect of the tax, companies selling dual-use products to medical and non-medical customers must pay the tax on those products, potentially putting them at a competitive disadvantage, said Lew Fernandez, a director at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and a former IRS official.
For example, it remains "an open question" when latex gloves come under the tax, he said.
Read More..
The 2.3-percent tax must be paid, effective after December 31, by device-makers on their gross sales. The tax is expected to raise $29 billion in government revenues through 2022.
Companies including Boston Scientific Corp, 3M Co and Kimberly-Clark Corp have been lobbying the U.S. Congress for a repeal of the tax.
A repeal bill passed the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives in June, but it has not been voted on by the Democratic-controlled Senate.
"The excise tax is on the medical device manufacturers and importers (who) will now have access to 30 million new customers due to the health care law," Treasury Department spokeswoman Sabrina Siddiqui said in a statement.
Many medical devices that are sold over-the-counter - such eyeglasses, contact lenses and hearing aids - are exempt from the tax, as are prosthetics, the IRS said.
The tax applies mostly to devices used and implanted by medical professionals, including items as complex as pacemakers or as simple as tongue depressors.
Products sold for humanitarian reasons, such as experimental cancer treatment devices, are not exempt from the tax.
Some medical device companies are hoping to delay the tax's start date as part of a resolution of the "fiscal cliff" deadline at the end of the year involving many tax and spending measures, said Steve Ferguson, chairman of Cook Group Inc.
"We would like to be part of the punt," Ferguson said, referring to an extension of current tax policy into 2013.
In one potentially problematic aspect of the tax, companies selling dual-use products to medical and non-medical customers must pay the tax on those products, potentially putting them at a competitive disadvantage, said Lew Fernandez, a director at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and a former IRS official.
For example, it remains "an open question" when latex gloves come under the tax, he said.
H&R Block 2Q loss narrows as revenue rises
Labels: Business H&R Block's fiscal second-quarter loss narrowed, helped by cost-cutting efforts. Revenue climbed mostly because of a strong tax season in Australia.
The nation's largest tax preparation company typically turns in a loss in the August-to-October period because it takes in most of its revenue during the U.S. tax season. H&R Block's quarterly performance beat analysts' estimates and its stock hit the highest level in more than two years.
The company is optimistic and gearing up for its busy season.
"The U.S. tax season is right around the corner and we believe we're on pace to deliver significant earnings and margin expansion in fiscal 2013," President and CEO Bill Cobb said in a statement on Thursday.
For the three months ended Oct. 31, H&R Block Inc. lost $105.2 million, or 39 cents per share. A year earlier it lost $141.7 million, or 47 cents per share, for the quarter.
Its loss from continuing operations was 37 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected a bigger loss of 41 cents per share.
Selling, general and administrative expenses declined and the quarter was free of any impairment charges. The prior-year period included a $4.3 million impairment charge.
Revenue rose 6 percent to $137.3 million from $129.2 million. This topped Wall Street's forecast of $129.6 million.
Shares of H&R Block gained 89 cents, or 5.1 percent, to close at $18.26. Earlier in the session the stock reached $18.40, its highest point since May 2010.
Tax services revenue increased 7 percent primarily due to the strong Australian tax season. Corporate revenue fell because of lower interest income from H&R Block Bank's shrinking mortgage loan portfolio.
H&R Block disclosed in October that it hired Goldman Sachs to help it explore options for its banking arm, H&R Block Bank. Those options, Block said, could result in the company no longer being regulated as a savings and loan holding company by the Federal Reserve.
The Federal Reserve announced some proposed rules in June that would impose higher capital requirements on savings and loan holding companies. H&R Block contends that if the proposed rules are enacted it would have to hold on to significant additional capital.
H&R Block, based in Kansas City, Mo., prepared 25.6 million tax returns worldwide in fiscal 2012.
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The nation's largest tax preparation company typically turns in a loss in the August-to-October period because it takes in most of its revenue during the U.S. tax season. H&R Block's quarterly performance beat analysts' estimates and its stock hit the highest level in more than two years.
The company is optimistic and gearing up for its busy season.
"The U.S. tax season is right around the corner and we believe we're on pace to deliver significant earnings and margin expansion in fiscal 2013," President and CEO Bill Cobb said in a statement on Thursday.
For the three months ended Oct. 31, H&R Block Inc. lost $105.2 million, or 39 cents per share. A year earlier it lost $141.7 million, or 47 cents per share, for the quarter.
Its loss from continuing operations was 37 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected a bigger loss of 41 cents per share.
Selling, general and administrative expenses declined and the quarter was free of any impairment charges. The prior-year period included a $4.3 million impairment charge.
Revenue rose 6 percent to $137.3 million from $129.2 million. This topped Wall Street's forecast of $129.6 million.
Shares of H&R Block gained 89 cents, or 5.1 percent, to close at $18.26. Earlier in the session the stock reached $18.40, its highest point since May 2010.
Tax services revenue increased 7 percent primarily due to the strong Australian tax season. Corporate revenue fell because of lower interest income from H&R Block Bank's shrinking mortgage loan portfolio.
H&R Block disclosed in October that it hired Goldman Sachs to help it explore options for its banking arm, H&R Block Bank. Those options, Block said, could result in the company no longer being regulated as a savings and loan holding company by the Federal Reserve.
The Federal Reserve announced some proposed rules in June that would impose higher capital requirements on savings and loan holding companies. H&R Block contends that if the proposed rules are enacted it would have to hold on to significant additional capital.
H&R Block, based in Kansas City, Mo., prepared 25.6 million tax returns worldwide in fiscal 2012.
Tax filing delay looms if no fix for minimum tax: IRS
Labels: BusinessThe top U.S. tax collector warned on Thursday of a delayed start to 2013's tax season if Congress fails to reset the alternative minimum tax (AMT) on high-income taxpayers so that it does not sweep in millions of middle-income people.
Without another adjustment by lawmakers soon to the AMT, "many of us will see a delayed filing season," said Steven Miller, named just last month as Internal Revenue Service acting commissioner.
Miller did not give an exact date by which Congress must approve an AMT "patch" to prevent a delay to the tax season, which is scheduled to begin on January 22.
"We don't have any drop-dead time in mind," Miller told reporters after a speech at a conference in Washington.
But his remarks came on a day of continued stalemate in Washington between Democrats and Republicans over what to do about the "fiscal cliff" approaching at the end of the year.
The AMT is a crucial part of the assorted tax increases and automatic spending cuts that make up the so-called "cliff," a convergence of events that, absent congressional action, threatens to plunge the U.S. economy back into recession.
"Many people don't realize that they could potentially face a significantly delayed filing season and a much bigger tax bill for 2012," if the AMT is not dealt with, Miller said.
"In programming our systems, the IRS has assumed that Congress will patch the AMT as Congress has for so many years.
"And I remain optimistic that the fiscal cliff debate will be resolved by the end of the year. If that turns out not to be the case, then what is clear is that many of us will see a delayed filing season," Miller said.
The AMT is a tax intended to make sure that at least some tax is paid by high-income people who otherwise could sharply reduce or eliminate their regular income tax bills through using tax loopholes. About 4 million people annually pay the AMT.
Unlike the regular income tax, the AMT is not indexed for inflation. So the thresholds that determine who must pay the tax have to be regularly raised. This prevents the AMT from hitting middle-class people whose incomes may have crept upward on the back of inflation, but who are not wealthy.
Congress last patched the AMT in late 2010. Without another patch, the AMT could hit as many as 33 million people for the 2012 tax year, according to the IRS.
Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York said on Thursday he is "hopeful" that the AMT problem will be fixed with a broader "fiscal cliff" resolution before December 31.
Republicans in Congress may see the AMT as leverage in their "fiscal cliff" negotiations with President Barack Obama and the Democrats.
The IRS might have until mid-January to implement an AMT patch and still start the tax season on time, if Congress approves the fix as expected, said Richard Harvey, a tax professor at Villanova University and a former IRS official.
The AMT "is a ticking time bomb that is going to go off some time in January," Harvey said.
Read More..
Without another adjustment by lawmakers soon to the AMT, "many of us will see a delayed filing season," said Steven Miller, named just last month as Internal Revenue Service acting commissioner.
Miller did not give an exact date by which Congress must approve an AMT "patch" to prevent a delay to the tax season, which is scheduled to begin on January 22.
"We don't have any drop-dead time in mind," Miller told reporters after a speech at a conference in Washington.
But his remarks came on a day of continued stalemate in Washington between Democrats and Republicans over what to do about the "fiscal cliff" approaching at the end of the year.
The AMT is a crucial part of the assorted tax increases and automatic spending cuts that make up the so-called "cliff," a convergence of events that, absent congressional action, threatens to plunge the U.S. economy back into recession.
"Many people don't realize that they could potentially face a significantly delayed filing season and a much bigger tax bill for 2012," if the AMT is not dealt with, Miller said.
"In programming our systems, the IRS has assumed that Congress will patch the AMT as Congress has for so many years.
"And I remain optimistic that the fiscal cliff debate will be resolved by the end of the year. If that turns out not to be the case, then what is clear is that many of us will see a delayed filing season," Miller said.
The AMT is a tax intended to make sure that at least some tax is paid by high-income people who otherwise could sharply reduce or eliminate their regular income tax bills through using tax loopholes. About 4 million people annually pay the AMT.
Unlike the regular income tax, the AMT is not indexed for inflation. So the thresholds that determine who must pay the tax have to be regularly raised. This prevents the AMT from hitting middle-class people whose incomes may have crept upward on the back of inflation, but who are not wealthy.
Congress last patched the AMT in late 2010. Without another patch, the AMT could hit as many as 33 million people for the 2012 tax year, according to the IRS.
Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York said on Thursday he is "hopeful" that the AMT problem will be fixed with a broader "fiscal cliff" resolution before December 31.
Republicans in Congress may see the AMT as leverage in their "fiscal cliff" negotiations with President Barack Obama and the Democrats.
The IRS might have until mid-January to implement an AMT patch and still start the tax season on time, if Congress approves the fix as expected, said Richard Harvey, a tax professor at Villanova University and a former IRS official.
The AMT "is a ticking time bomb that is going to go off some time in January," Harvey said.
Oregon governor says Nike plans to hire thousands
Labels: BusinessSporting goods giant Nike plans to expand its operations in Oregon and hire as many as 12,000 new workers by 2020 but wants the government to promise it won't change the state tax code, prompting a special session of the Legislature.
Gov. John Kitzhaber said he'll call lawmakers together Friday in Salem to create a new law authorizing him to grant Nike's wish.
The governor did not release information about the company's expansion plans but the $440 million project would create 2,900 construction jobs with an annual economic impact of $2 billion a year.
Nike Inc. has its headquarters in Beaverton. Company officials could not immediately be reached.
The Legislature is due to meet in its regular annual session beginning Jan. 14, but Kitzhaber said Nike needed certainty sooner. The company was being wooed by other states, he said.
"Getting Oregonians back to work is my top priority," Kitzhaber said in a news conference.
Either the governor or the Legislature itself can call lawmakers into session at times other than the state Constitution specifies.
For much of the state's history, the Legislature's regular sessions have been held every other year, at the beginning of odd-numbered years. That's the kind of session the Legislature is scheduled to begin early next year.
In recent years, the Legislature has moved to meet annually, running test sessions of briefer sessions in even-numbered years. Those led to voter approval of a constitutional amendment in 2010 that called for annual sessions.
Records list 38 special sessions since Oregon's statehood, ranging from one day on eight occasions to 37 days in 1982.
Read More..
Gov. John Kitzhaber said he'll call lawmakers together Friday in Salem to create a new law authorizing him to grant Nike's wish.
The governor did not release information about the company's expansion plans but the $440 million project would create 2,900 construction jobs with an annual economic impact of $2 billion a year.
Nike Inc. has its headquarters in Beaverton. Company officials could not immediately be reached.
The Legislature is due to meet in its regular annual session beginning Jan. 14, but Kitzhaber said Nike needed certainty sooner. The company was being wooed by other states, he said.
"Getting Oregonians back to work is my top priority," Kitzhaber said in a news conference.
Either the governor or the Legislature itself can call lawmakers into session at times other than the state Constitution specifies.
For much of the state's history, the Legislature's regular sessions have been held every other year, at the beginning of odd-numbered years. That's the kind of session the Legislature is scheduled to begin early next year.
In recent years, the Legislature has moved to meet annually, running test sessions of briefer sessions in even-numbered years. Those led to voter approval of a constitutional amendment in 2010 that called for annual sessions.
Records list 38 special sessions since Oregon's statehood, ranging from one day on eight occasions to 37 days in 1982.
Internet regulation seen at national level as treaty talks fail
Labels: TechnologySAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The world's major Internet companies, backed by U.S. policymakers, got much of what they wanted last week when many nations refused to sign a global telecommunications treaty that opponents feared could lead to greater government control over online content and communications.
In rejecting even mild Internet language in the updated International Telecommunications Union treaty and persuading dozens of other countries to refuse their signatures, the U.S. made a powerful statement in support of the open Internet, U.S. officials and industry leaders said.
But both technologists and politicians fear the Internet remains in imminent danger of new controls imposed by various countries, and some said the rift that only widened during the 12-day ITU conference in Dubai could wind up hastening the end of the Net as we know it.
"If the international community can't agree on what is actually quite a simple text on telecommunications, then there is a risk that the consensus that has mostly held today around Internet governance within (Web-address overseer) ICANN and the multi-stakeholder model just falls apart over time," a European delegate told Reuters. "Some countries clearly think it is time to rethink that whole system, and the fights over that could prove irresolvable."
An increasing number of nations are alarmed about Internet-based warfare, international cybercrime or internal dissidents' use of so-called "over-the-top" services such as Twitter and Facebook that are outside the control of domestic telecom authorities. Many hoped that the ITU would prove the right forum to set standards or at least exchange views on how to handle their problems.
But the United States' refusal to sign the treaty even after all mention of the Internet had been relegated to a side resolution may have convinced other countries that they have to go it alone, delegates said.
"This could lead to a balkanization of the Internet, because each country will have its own view on how to deal with over-the-top players and will regulate the Internet in a different way," said another European delegate, who would speak only on condition anonymity.
Without U.S. and European cooperation, "maybe in the future we could come to a fragmented Internet," said Andrey Mukhanov, international chief at Russia's Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications.
HARD LINE IN NEGOTIATIONS
Spurred on by search giant Google and others, the Americans took a hard line against an alliance of countries that wanted the right to know more about the routing of Internet traffic or identities of Web users, including Russia, and developing countries that wanted content providers to pay at least some of the costs of transmission.
The West was able to rally more countries against the ITU having any Internet role than agency officials had expected, leaving just 89 of 144 attending nations willing to sign the treaty immediately. They also endorse a nonbinding resolution that the ITU should play a future role guiding Internet standards, along with private industry and national governments.
Some delegates charged that the Americans had planned on rejecting any treaty and so were negotiating under false pretenses. "The U.S. had a plan to try and water down as much of the treaty as it could and then not sign," the second European said.
Other allied delegates and a U.S. spokesman hotly disputed the claim. "The U.S. was consistent and unwavering in its positions," he said. "In the end—and only in the end—was it apparent that the proposed treaty would not meet that standard."
But the suspicion underscores the unease greeting the United States on the issue. Some in Russia, China and other nations suspect the U.S. of using the Net to sow discontent and launch spying and military attacks.
Ror many technology companies, and for activists who are helping dissidents, the worst-case scenario now would be a split in the structural underpinnings of the Internet. In theory, the electronic packets that make up an email or Web session could be intercepted and monitored near their origin, or traffic could be subjected to massive firewalls along national boundaries, as is the case in China.
Most technologists view the former scenario as unlikely, at least for many years: the existing Internet protocol is too deeply entrenched, said Milton Mueller, a Syracuse University professor who studies Net governance.
"People who want to `secede' from that global connectivity will have to introduce costly technical exceptions to do so," Mueller said.
A more immediate prospect is stricter national regulations requiring Internet service providers and others to help monitor, report and censor content, a trend that has already accelerated since the Arab Spring revolts.
Jonathan Zittrain, co-founder of Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet Society, also predicted more fragmentation at the application level, with countries like China encouraging controllable homegrown alternatives to the likes of Facebook and Twitter.
Zittrain, Mueller and other experts said fans of the open Net have much work to do in Dubai's wake.
They say government and industry officials should not only preach the merits of the existing system, in which various industry-led non-profit organizations organize the core Internet protocols and procedures, but strive to articulate a better way forward.
"The position we're in now isn't tenable," said James Lewis, a cybersecurity advisor to the White House based at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "For us to say 'No, it's got be an ad hoc arrangement of non-governmental entities and a nonprofit corporation ... maybe we could get away with that 10 years ago, but it's going to be increasingly hard."
Lewis said the United States needed to concede a greater role for national sovereignty and the U.N., while Mueller said the goal should be a "more globalized, transnational notion of communications governance" that will take decades to achieve.
In the meantime, activists concerned about new regulation can assist by spreading virtual private network technology, which can national controls, Zittrain said.
Backup hosting and distribution could also be key, he said. "We can devise systems for keeping content up amidst filtering or denial-of-service attacks, so that a platform like Twitter can be a genuine choice for someone in China."
Read More..
In rejecting even mild Internet language in the updated International Telecommunications Union treaty and persuading dozens of other countries to refuse their signatures, the U.S. made a powerful statement in support of the open Internet, U.S. officials and industry leaders said.
But both technologists and politicians fear the Internet remains in imminent danger of new controls imposed by various countries, and some said the rift that only widened during the 12-day ITU conference in Dubai could wind up hastening the end of the Net as we know it.
"If the international community can't agree on what is actually quite a simple text on telecommunications, then there is a risk that the consensus that has mostly held today around Internet governance within (Web-address overseer) ICANN and the multi-stakeholder model just falls apart over time," a European delegate told Reuters. "Some countries clearly think it is time to rethink that whole system, and the fights over that could prove irresolvable."
An increasing number of nations are alarmed about Internet-based warfare, international cybercrime or internal dissidents' use of so-called "over-the-top" services such as Twitter and Facebook that are outside the control of domestic telecom authorities. Many hoped that the ITU would prove the right forum to set standards or at least exchange views on how to handle their problems.
But the United States' refusal to sign the treaty even after all mention of the Internet had been relegated to a side resolution may have convinced other countries that they have to go it alone, delegates said.
"This could lead to a balkanization of the Internet, because each country will have its own view on how to deal with over-the-top players and will regulate the Internet in a different way," said another European delegate, who would speak only on condition anonymity.
Without U.S. and European cooperation, "maybe in the future we could come to a fragmented Internet," said Andrey Mukhanov, international chief at Russia's Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications.
HARD LINE IN NEGOTIATIONS
Spurred on by search giant Google and others, the Americans took a hard line against an alliance of countries that wanted the right to know more about the routing of Internet traffic or identities of Web users, including Russia, and developing countries that wanted content providers to pay at least some of the costs of transmission.
The West was able to rally more countries against the ITU having any Internet role than agency officials had expected, leaving just 89 of 144 attending nations willing to sign the treaty immediately. They also endorse a nonbinding resolution that the ITU should play a future role guiding Internet standards, along with private industry and national governments.
Some delegates charged that the Americans had planned on rejecting any treaty and so were negotiating under false pretenses. "The U.S. had a plan to try and water down as much of the treaty as it could and then not sign," the second European said.
Other allied delegates and a U.S. spokesman hotly disputed the claim. "The U.S. was consistent and unwavering in its positions," he said. "In the end—and only in the end—was it apparent that the proposed treaty would not meet that standard."
But the suspicion underscores the unease greeting the United States on the issue. Some in Russia, China and other nations suspect the U.S. of using the Net to sow discontent and launch spying and military attacks.
Ror many technology companies, and for activists who are helping dissidents, the worst-case scenario now would be a split in the structural underpinnings of the Internet. In theory, the electronic packets that make up an email or Web session could be intercepted and monitored near their origin, or traffic could be subjected to massive firewalls along national boundaries, as is the case in China.
Most technologists view the former scenario as unlikely, at least for many years: the existing Internet protocol is too deeply entrenched, said Milton Mueller, a Syracuse University professor who studies Net governance.
"People who want to `secede' from that global connectivity will have to introduce costly technical exceptions to do so," Mueller said.
A more immediate prospect is stricter national regulations requiring Internet service providers and others to help monitor, report and censor content, a trend that has already accelerated since the Arab Spring revolts.
Jonathan Zittrain, co-founder of Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet Society, also predicted more fragmentation at the application level, with countries like China encouraging controllable homegrown alternatives to the likes of Facebook and Twitter.
Zittrain, Mueller and other experts said fans of the open Net have much work to do in Dubai's wake.
They say government and industry officials should not only preach the merits of the existing system, in which various industry-led non-profit organizations organize the core Internet protocols and procedures, but strive to articulate a better way forward.
"The position we're in now isn't tenable," said James Lewis, a cybersecurity advisor to the White House based at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "For us to say 'No, it's got be an ad hoc arrangement of non-governmental entities and a nonprofit corporation ... maybe we could get away with that 10 years ago, but it's going to be increasingly hard."
Lewis said the United States needed to concede a greater role for national sovereignty and the U.N., while Mueller said the goal should be a "more globalized, transnational notion of communications governance" that will take decades to achieve.
In the meantime, activists concerned about new regulation can assist by spreading virtual private network technology, which can national controls, Zittrain said.
Backup hosting and distribution could also be key, he said. "We can devise systems for keeping content up amidst filtering or denial-of-service attacks, so that a platform like Twitter can be a genuine choice for someone in China."
Israel sees new US poise, including military, to curb Iran
Labels: TechnologyJERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S.-led efforts to curb Iran's nuclear program have resumed since President Barack Obama's re-election and include preparation for possible military action, a senior Israeli official said on Tuesday.
The remarks by Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon suggested cautious optimism at prospects for an international resolution to the decade-old standoff with Tehran, though Israel says it remains ready to attack its arch-foe alone as a last resort.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has set out a mid-2013 "red line" for tackling Iran's uranium enrichment project. The West says this program is aimed at developing the means to build atomic bombs. Tehran denies this, saying it is enriching uranium solely for peaceful civilian uses.
Yaalon told Army Radio on Tuesday that Israel knew there would be no movement on the issue before the U.S. election in November, but had expected a renewed effort after the vote.
"And indeed it has been renewed," he said.
He cited contacts among the six world powers - the United States, Russia, France, China, Britain and Germany - and Iran about holding new nuclear negotiations, ongoing sanctions against Iran, "and preparations, mainly American for now, for the possibility that military force will have to be used".
Yaalon did not elaborate. Another Israeli official told Reuters the minister was alluding mainly to recent U.S. military mobilization in the Gulf.
The powers said last week they hoped soon to agree with Iran soon on when and where to meet. There have been suggestions it could happen this month, though January now seems more likely.
But, sounding defiant, Iran's top nuclear official was on Tuesday quoted as saying there would be no halt to uranium enrichment to 20 percent fissile purity - an advanced threshold alarming foreign negotiators.
ZONE OF IMMUNITY
A former armed forces chief who belongs to Netanyahu's rightist Likud party, Yaalon questioned Obama's resolve on Iran during the Democratic president's first term. By contrast, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, the lone centrist in Netanyahu's coalition government, argued in Obama's favor.
Yaalon is a frontrunner to succeed Barak, who has announced he will retire from politics after Israel's January 22 election.
On Monday, Barak reiterated Israel's determination to deny Iran the capability to make a bomb. Israel, widely assumed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, sees a nuclear-armed Iran as a mortal threat.
The prospect of unilateral Israeli air strikes, and ensuing retaliation by Iran, a big oil exporter, and its Islamist guerrilla allies in Lebanon and Gaza, worries world powers, in part because it could destabilize a fragile global economy.
Speaking to Jewish leaders in New York, Barak acknowledged the limitations of Israeli forces against Iran's distant, dispersed and well-defended nuclear facilities.
"The Iranians are deliberately trying to create a level of redundancy and protection for their program, what we call the ‘zone of immunity'. Once they enter the zone of immunity, fate will be out of our hands," Barak said.
"The state of Israel was founded precisely so that our fate would remain in our own hands."
Barak's term "redundancy" refers to Israel's belief that Iran seeks to stockpile raw uranium and enrichment centrifuges on a scale that would allow it to restore independent nuclear capacity should its known facilities be attacked.
Iran's nuclear infrastructure has been dogged by sabotage, including cyberwarfare. Iran's Ministry of Communications and Technology Information said on Sunday it had identified a "new, targeted data-wiping malware". The ministry's statement did not say what computer systems might have been affected.
While Israel has not publicly claimed responsibility for such incidents, Yaalon said there could be more in store, in parallel to global economic pressure.
"Sometimes malfunctions happen there - worms, viruses, explosions. Therefore this schedule is not necessarily chronological. It is more technological," he told Army Radio.
"We are, without a doubt, closely tracking developments in the program there, lest they attempt to pass the red line."
Read More..
The remarks by Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon suggested cautious optimism at prospects for an international resolution to the decade-old standoff with Tehran, though Israel says it remains ready to attack its arch-foe alone as a last resort.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has set out a mid-2013 "red line" for tackling Iran's uranium enrichment project. The West says this program is aimed at developing the means to build atomic bombs. Tehran denies this, saying it is enriching uranium solely for peaceful civilian uses.
Yaalon told Army Radio on Tuesday that Israel knew there would be no movement on the issue before the U.S. election in November, but had expected a renewed effort after the vote.
"And indeed it has been renewed," he said.
He cited contacts among the six world powers - the United States, Russia, France, China, Britain and Germany - and Iran about holding new nuclear negotiations, ongoing sanctions against Iran, "and preparations, mainly American for now, for the possibility that military force will have to be used".
Yaalon did not elaborate. Another Israeli official told Reuters the minister was alluding mainly to recent U.S. military mobilization in the Gulf.
The powers said last week they hoped soon to agree with Iran soon on when and where to meet. There have been suggestions it could happen this month, though January now seems more likely.
But, sounding defiant, Iran's top nuclear official was on Tuesday quoted as saying there would be no halt to uranium enrichment to 20 percent fissile purity - an advanced threshold alarming foreign negotiators.
ZONE OF IMMUNITY
A former armed forces chief who belongs to Netanyahu's rightist Likud party, Yaalon questioned Obama's resolve on Iran during the Democratic president's first term. By contrast, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, the lone centrist in Netanyahu's coalition government, argued in Obama's favor.
Yaalon is a frontrunner to succeed Barak, who has announced he will retire from politics after Israel's January 22 election.
On Monday, Barak reiterated Israel's determination to deny Iran the capability to make a bomb. Israel, widely assumed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, sees a nuclear-armed Iran as a mortal threat.
The prospect of unilateral Israeli air strikes, and ensuing retaliation by Iran, a big oil exporter, and its Islamist guerrilla allies in Lebanon and Gaza, worries world powers, in part because it could destabilize a fragile global economy.
Speaking to Jewish leaders in New York, Barak acknowledged the limitations of Israeli forces against Iran's distant, dispersed and well-defended nuclear facilities.
"The Iranians are deliberately trying to create a level of redundancy and protection for their program, what we call the ‘zone of immunity'. Once they enter the zone of immunity, fate will be out of our hands," Barak said.
"The state of Israel was founded precisely so that our fate would remain in our own hands."
Barak's term "redundancy" refers to Israel's belief that Iran seeks to stockpile raw uranium and enrichment centrifuges on a scale that would allow it to restore independent nuclear capacity should its known facilities be attacked.
Iran's nuclear infrastructure has been dogged by sabotage, including cyberwarfare. Iran's Ministry of Communications and Technology Information said on Sunday it had identified a "new, targeted data-wiping malware". The ministry's statement did not say what computer systems might have been affected.
While Israel has not publicly claimed responsibility for such incidents, Yaalon said there could be more in store, in parallel to global economic pressure.
"Sometimes malfunctions happen there - worms, viruses, explosions. Therefore this schedule is not necessarily chronological. It is more technological," he told Army Radio.
"We are, without a doubt, closely tracking developments in the program there, lest they attempt to pass the red line."
Three burning questions loom as RIM gets ready to report
Labels: TechnologySome people say that the November quarter that Research In Motion (RIMM) will report this week is not important. They are wrong. Even though the new BlackBerry model range debuting in 2013 is the key for RIM’s long-term survival, there are three issues that are vitally important for the company right now. RIM must keep certain aspects of its performance from caving in before the new phones begin trickling to the market early next year, and here are three things to watch for as RIM reports its fiscal third-quarter results on Thursday.
[More from BGR: How to turn an old Kindle Fire into a Nexus 7 with Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean [video]]
Global subscriber base. RIM surprised the market when it reported its summer quarter by showing continuing global subscriber growth despite its U.S. collapse and European trouble. Blackberry’s growth has continued in Africa, Middle Wast and South-East Asia, giving RIM surprising longevity considering its share of new smartphone sales in America may have caved below 3% by now. However, a recent Kantar Worldpanel study showed that in the three months ending in October, BlackBerry market share slipped badly in markets like Brazil and Spain. Until last summer, RIM had maintained a decent grip on Latin America and Mediterranean countries via its cheap Curve devices. They may have finally started eroding even in those countries where BlackBerry had retained some vigor as a low-end youth brand. After its surprisingly robust 80 million subscriber base number from the summer quarter, RIM can afford to show a bit of erosion in November and February quarters. But steep drops would be deeply worrisome — RIM may not get aggressively priced low-end models based on the new OS out before next summer or even autumn.
ASP level. RIM has experienced steep average sales price decline over the past year. Nevertheless, another major plunge is still possible. In the UK market, BlackBerry Christmas promotions are almost entirely built around the cheap Curve 932o — and its price as a pre-paid model has plunged to unprecedented 99 pounds. This is exceptionally low for a model that debuted just last spring. European operators have effectively abandoned RIM’s more expensive business-focused models like the Bold. BlackBerry phones are now being marketed as some of the cheapest smartphones anyone can buy. How deep will this cut into RIM’s ASPs? If the plunge is bad enough, reversing the damage with new high-end models next summer may be extremely difficult. The core customer base for RIM’s high-end devices was built on the U.S. and the UK markets, but RIM has wiped out in America nearly completely and the UK carriers have switched to marketing BlackBerry handsets as bargain bin specials on par with Huawei or ZTE models. If BlackBerry ASP level dives too low during November and February quarters, undoing the damage will be a herculean task.
BlackBerry Messenger popularity. Business News reported last January that BlackBerry Messenger was growing at 140% pace in Nigeria, one of the key African mobile phone markets. BBM’s user base growth last winter was also torrid in South Africa. However, stand-alone messaging apps like WhatsApp and 2go have delivered scorching growth in Africa and Asia during 2012. 2go has soared ahead of Blackberry Messenger in popularity in Nigeria and is spreading rapidly in South Africa. WhatsApp became a top-three iPhone app in more than 100 countries last winter and offers cross-platform support that is a big draw in the South-East Asian markets that remain RIM’s lifeline: Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia. Globally, WhatsApp has grown from relaying 1 billion daily messages in the fall of 2011 to 10 billion by fall 2012. By now, that rampant growth may have started encroaching on BBM popularity. RIM does not report on Messenger user numbers every quarter, so visibility on this front could remain limited in coming months. But any erosion in the Messenger user base is likely to have an impact on RIM’s overall subscriber base.
Read More..
[More from BGR: How to turn an old Kindle Fire into a Nexus 7 with Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean [video]]
Global subscriber base. RIM surprised the market when it reported its summer quarter by showing continuing global subscriber growth despite its U.S. collapse and European trouble. Blackberry’s growth has continued in Africa, Middle Wast and South-East Asia, giving RIM surprising longevity considering its share of new smartphone sales in America may have caved below 3% by now. However, a recent Kantar Worldpanel study showed that in the three months ending in October, BlackBerry market share slipped badly in markets like Brazil and Spain. Until last summer, RIM had maintained a decent grip on Latin America and Mediterranean countries via its cheap Curve devices. They may have finally started eroding even in those countries where BlackBerry had retained some vigor as a low-end youth brand. After its surprisingly robust 80 million subscriber base number from the summer quarter, RIM can afford to show a bit of erosion in November and February quarters. But steep drops would be deeply worrisome — RIM may not get aggressively priced low-end models based on the new OS out before next summer or even autumn.
ASP level. RIM has experienced steep average sales price decline over the past year. Nevertheless, another major plunge is still possible. In the UK market, BlackBerry Christmas promotions are almost entirely built around the cheap Curve 932o — and its price as a pre-paid model has plunged to unprecedented 99 pounds. This is exceptionally low for a model that debuted just last spring. European operators have effectively abandoned RIM’s more expensive business-focused models like the Bold. BlackBerry phones are now being marketed as some of the cheapest smartphones anyone can buy. How deep will this cut into RIM’s ASPs? If the plunge is bad enough, reversing the damage with new high-end models next summer may be extremely difficult. The core customer base for RIM’s high-end devices was built on the U.S. and the UK markets, but RIM has wiped out in America nearly completely and the UK carriers have switched to marketing BlackBerry handsets as bargain bin specials on par with Huawei or ZTE models. If BlackBerry ASP level dives too low during November and February quarters, undoing the damage will be a herculean task.
BlackBerry Messenger popularity. Business News reported last January that BlackBerry Messenger was growing at 140% pace in Nigeria, one of the key African mobile phone markets. BBM’s user base growth last winter was also torrid in South Africa. However, stand-alone messaging apps like WhatsApp and 2go have delivered scorching growth in Africa and Asia during 2012. 2go has soared ahead of Blackberry Messenger in popularity in Nigeria and is spreading rapidly in South Africa. WhatsApp became a top-three iPhone app in more than 100 countries last winter and offers cross-platform support that is a big draw in the South-East Asian markets that remain RIM’s lifeline: Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia. Globally, WhatsApp has grown from relaying 1 billion daily messages in the fall of 2011 to 10 billion by fall 2012. By now, that rampant growth may have started encroaching on BBM popularity. RIM does not report on Messenger user numbers every quarter, so visibility on this front could remain limited in coming months. But any erosion in the Messenger user base is likely to have an impact on RIM’s overall subscriber base.
New Android botnet discovered across all major networks
Labels: TechnologyA new Android spam botnet has been discovered across all major networks that sends thousands of text messages without a user’s permission, TheNextWeb reported. The threat, which is known at SpamSoldier, was detected on December 3rd by Lookout Security in cooperation with an unnamed carrier partner. The malware is said to spread through a collection of infected phones that send text messages, which usually advertise free versions of popular paid games like Grand Theft Auto and Angry Birds Space, to hundreds of users each day.
[More from BGR: Facebook’s Instagram monetization plan: License users’ photos without paying for them]
Once a user clicks on the link to download the game, his or her phone instead downloads the malicious app. When the app is downloaded, SpamSoilder removes its icon from the app drawer, installs a free version of the game in question and immediately starts sending spam messages.
[More from BGR: How not to fix Apple Maps]
The security firm notes that the threat isn’t widespread, however it has been spotted on all major carriers in the U.S. and has potential to do serious damage if something isn’t done soon to stop it.
Read More..
[More from BGR: Facebook’s Instagram monetization plan: License users’ photos without paying for them]
Once a user clicks on the link to download the game, his or her phone instead downloads the malicious app. When the app is downloaded, SpamSoilder removes its icon from the app drawer, installs a free version of the game in question and immediately starts sending spam messages.
[More from BGR: How not to fix Apple Maps]
The security firm notes that the threat isn’t widespread, however it has been spotted on all major carriers in the U.S. and has potential to do serious damage if something isn’t done soon to stop it.
16 Things You Forgot Happened in 2012
Labels: Technology1. GoDaddy Supported SOPA and Faced the Consequences
Technically this debacle took place in the last week of 2011, but the backlash lasted well into 2012. GoDaddy, the popular domain registrar and web hosting company, showed early support for the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a hotly contested bill regarding copyright violations that was introduced by U.S. Representative Lamar S. Smith. Many Internet users believed SOPA would lead to extreme censorship of the web and were shocked to hear that GoDaddy supported it. As a result, hundreds of high-profile sites joined a boycott and mass-transfer movement sparked by Ben Huh, founder of the Cheezburger Network, moving their domains away from GoDaddy. The company eventually withdrew its support for SOPA, but not before it lost many customers. In September 2012, GoDaddy faced another PR nightmare when its DNS servers went down due to a distributed denial of service attack, and with the servers went many customers' websites for a long period of time. The company apparently didn't have a backup plan, furthering soiling its reputation. Image courtesy of Flickr, dsleeter_2000.
Click here to view this gallery.
[More from Mashable: 7 Ways Augmented Reality Will Improve Your Life]
This has been quite the eventful year. What with the U.S. presidential election, Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath, the continued influence of social media in the Arab Spring and countless other major headlines, it's easy for smaller yet nonetheless significant news events to escape our memories.
SEE ALSO: 40 Essential Mashable Stories You May Have Missed in 2012
[More from Mashable: Cinemagram’s Picks for 13 Incredible GIFs of 2012]
Since it's nearly impossible to remember everything that happened in 365 days, we've rounded up 16 stories that you may have forgotten about in 2012. From the serious to the hilarious, the offensive to the heartwarming, you'll be reminded of something worth remembering.
What other 2012 news do you think is worth remembering? Share your small but important picks in the comments.
Read More..
Technically this debacle took place in the last week of 2011, but the backlash lasted well into 2012. GoDaddy, the popular domain registrar and web hosting company, showed early support for the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a hotly contested bill regarding copyright violations that was introduced by U.S. Representative Lamar S. Smith. Many Internet users believed SOPA would lead to extreme censorship of the web and were shocked to hear that GoDaddy supported it. As a result, hundreds of high-profile sites joined a boycott and mass-transfer movement sparked by Ben Huh, founder of the Cheezburger Network, moving their domains away from GoDaddy. The company eventually withdrew its support for SOPA, but not before it lost many customers. In September 2012, GoDaddy faced another PR nightmare when its DNS servers went down due to a distributed denial of service attack, and with the servers went many customers' websites for a long period of time. The company apparently didn't have a backup plan, furthering soiling its reputation. Image courtesy of Flickr, dsleeter_2000.
Click here to view this gallery.
[More from Mashable: 7 Ways Augmented Reality Will Improve Your Life]
This has been quite the eventful year. What with the U.S. presidential election, Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath, the continued influence of social media in the Arab Spring and countless other major headlines, it's easy for smaller yet nonetheless significant news events to escape our memories.
SEE ALSO: 40 Essential Mashable Stories You May Have Missed in 2012
[More from Mashable: Cinemagram’s Picks for 13 Incredible GIFs of 2012]
Since it's nearly impossible to remember everything that happened in 365 days, we've rounded up 16 stories that you may have forgotten about in 2012. From the serious to the hilarious, the offensive to the heartwarming, you'll be reminded of something worth remembering.
What other 2012 news do you think is worth remembering? Share your small but important picks in the comments.
Afghan leader: Foreigners to blame for corruption
Labels: WorldKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's president accused on Saturday the countries that fund his government and military with enabling the widespread corruption that undermines his efforts to establish rule of law in the war-wracked country.
Graft and payoffs are widely recognized as a major problem facing Afghanistan as the government works to establish authority over a volatile country and win the trust of the people over from the Taliban insurgency. The country regularly ranks among the most corrupt in the world in indexes and nearly every Afghan has stories of having to pay a bribe to a police officer or a government official.
International donors have long argued that they are trying to help Karzai's administration clean up the endemic corruption but are stymied by his unwillingness to prosecute political allies. Karzai in turn has repeatedly said that he has not been given the ability to control the billions of dollars flowing in to Afghanistan from foreign countries and so has not been able to police the funding.
"Corruption in Afghanistan is a reality, a bitter reality," Karzai said in a nationally televised speech. "The part of this corruption that is in our offices is a small part: that is bribes. The other part of corruption, the large part, is hundreds of millions dollars that are not ours. We shouldn't blame ourselves for that. That part is from others and imposed on us."
Karzai argued that foreign donors give contracts to high-ranking Afghan officials or to their relatives in an effort to gain influence over the government, thereby sowing the seeds for corruption.
As an example, he brought up his half-brother Ahmed Wali Karzai, who was seen as the main power broker in southern Kandahar province before he was assassinated by insurgents in 2011. Karzai recalled a conversation with former U.S. commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal in which McChrystal told Karzai to rein in his brother because he was corrupt. Karzai said he pointed out that it was the U.S. government, not the Afghan government, that was awarding contracts to Ahmed Wali Karzai.
"I asked him, why have you given contracts to the president's brother? Why give to him and to other high ranking government officials?" Karzai told the crowd assembled for the speech at a high school in the capital.
The question of the roots of corruption in Afghanistan is only going to become more important in the coming years, as donors have made much of their future funding conditional on evidence that the Afghan government is cleaning up the pervasive system off payoffs and patronage. And there has been debate within the Afghan government over who to blame.
Even at Saturday's event, Karzai's top anti-corruption official spoke first and pointed his finger at other Afghan officials, without mentioning the international donors. He said that the courts have not done enough to prosecute corruption cases and administration officials and lawmakers need to be forced to explain things like large property acquisitions.
"The system is the problem," Azizullah Ludin told the crowd.
Karzai has repeatedly taken populist stances against his foreign allies, placing blame on them for many of the country's ills. In the past, he has said that NATO local offices known as Provincial Reconstruction Teams undermine the Afghan government's authority by doling out money directly to the public, and that foreign countries encourage criminality by funding private security companies that operate outside the law. The foreign security companies have since been shut down and the Provincial Reconstruction Teams are being phased out.
Read More..
Graft and payoffs are widely recognized as a major problem facing Afghanistan as the government works to establish authority over a volatile country and win the trust of the people over from the Taliban insurgency. The country regularly ranks among the most corrupt in the world in indexes and nearly every Afghan has stories of having to pay a bribe to a police officer or a government official.
International donors have long argued that they are trying to help Karzai's administration clean up the endemic corruption but are stymied by his unwillingness to prosecute political allies. Karzai in turn has repeatedly said that he has not been given the ability to control the billions of dollars flowing in to Afghanistan from foreign countries and so has not been able to police the funding.
"Corruption in Afghanistan is a reality, a bitter reality," Karzai said in a nationally televised speech. "The part of this corruption that is in our offices is a small part: that is bribes. The other part of corruption, the large part, is hundreds of millions dollars that are not ours. We shouldn't blame ourselves for that. That part is from others and imposed on us."
Karzai argued that foreign donors give contracts to high-ranking Afghan officials or to their relatives in an effort to gain influence over the government, thereby sowing the seeds for corruption.
As an example, he brought up his half-brother Ahmed Wali Karzai, who was seen as the main power broker in southern Kandahar province before he was assassinated by insurgents in 2011. Karzai recalled a conversation with former U.S. commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal in which McChrystal told Karzai to rein in his brother because he was corrupt. Karzai said he pointed out that it was the U.S. government, not the Afghan government, that was awarding contracts to Ahmed Wali Karzai.
"I asked him, why have you given contracts to the president's brother? Why give to him and to other high ranking government officials?" Karzai told the crowd assembled for the speech at a high school in the capital.
The question of the roots of corruption in Afghanistan is only going to become more important in the coming years, as donors have made much of their future funding conditional on evidence that the Afghan government is cleaning up the pervasive system off payoffs and patronage. And there has been debate within the Afghan government over who to blame.
Even at Saturday's event, Karzai's top anti-corruption official spoke first and pointed his finger at other Afghan officials, without mentioning the international donors. He said that the courts have not done enough to prosecute corruption cases and administration officials and lawmakers need to be forced to explain things like large property acquisitions.
"The system is the problem," Azizullah Ludin told the crowd.
Karzai has repeatedly taken populist stances against his foreign allies, placing blame on them for many of the country's ills. In the past, he has said that NATO local offices known as Provincial Reconstruction Teams undermine the Afghan government's authority by doling out money directly to the public, and that foreign countries encourage criminality by funding private security companies that operate outside the law. The foreign security companies have since been shut down and the Provincial Reconstruction Teams are being phased out.
Mob in Pakistan kills man accused of burning Quran
Labels: WorldKARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — A mob in southern Pakistan stormed a police station to seize a mentally unstable Muslim man accused of burning a copy of Islam's holy book, beat him to death, and then set his body afire, police said Saturday.
The case is likely to raise further concerns about the country's harsh blasphemy laws, which can result in a death sentence or life in prison to anyone found guilty. Critics say an accusation or investigation alone can lead to deaths, as people take the law into their own hands and kill those accused of violating it. Police stations and even courts have been attacked by mobs.
Local police official Bihar-ud-Din said police arrested the man on Friday after being informed by residents that he had burned a Quran inside a mosque where he had been staying for a night.
An angry mob of more than 200 people then broke into the police station in the southern town of Dadu and took the accused man, who they say was under questioning. Din said police tried their best to save the man's life but were unable to stop the furious crowd.
He said that police had arrested 30 people for suspected involvement in the attack, while the head of the local police station and seven officers had been suspended.
Past attempts by governments in predominantly Muslim Pakistan to review these laws have met with violent opposition from hardline Islamist parties.
Read More..
The case is likely to raise further concerns about the country's harsh blasphemy laws, which can result in a death sentence or life in prison to anyone found guilty. Critics say an accusation or investigation alone can lead to deaths, as people take the law into their own hands and kill those accused of violating it. Police stations and even courts have been attacked by mobs.
Local police official Bihar-ud-Din said police arrested the man on Friday after being informed by residents that he had burned a Quran inside a mosque where he had been staying for a night.
An angry mob of more than 200 people then broke into the police station in the southern town of Dadu and took the accused man, who they say was under questioning. Din said police tried their best to save the man's life but were unable to stop the furious crowd.
He said that police had arrested 30 people for suspected involvement in the attack, while the head of the local police station and seven officers had been suspended.
Past attempts by governments in predominantly Muslim Pakistan to review these laws have met with violent opposition from hardline Islamist parties.
Pakistan says 29 nationals beaten by Afghans
Labels: WorldKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan officials say they are investigating allegations by neighboring Pakistan that Afghan forces severely beat Pakistani nationals.
The Saturday protest note from Islamabad's Foreign Office provided no details other than to say that all 29 had valid travel documents.
Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai says he has no information about the allegations, but Kabul will try to investigate them.
Relations between the neighboring countries are poor, with the Kabul government accusing Pakistan of harboring and supporting Taliban insurgents. But last month a top Afghan peace mediator hailed Pakistan's recent decision to free nine Taliban members who favor negotiations, saying it was a sign that Pakistan is willing to bring the militants to the table and end Afghanistan's 11-year war.
Read More..
The Saturday protest note from Islamabad's Foreign Office provided no details other than to say that all 29 had valid travel documents.
Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai says he has no information about the allegations, but Kabul will try to investigate them.
Relations between the neighboring countries are poor, with the Kabul government accusing Pakistan of harboring and supporting Taliban insurgents. But last month a top Afghan peace mediator hailed Pakistan's recent decision to free nine Taliban members who favor negotiations, saying it was a sign that Pakistan is willing to bring the militants to the table and end Afghanistan's 11-year war.
Bombing at political rally kills 8 in Pakistan
Labels: WorldBombing at political rally kills 8 in Pakistan
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police say a suicide bomber attacked a political rally in the country's northwest, killing eight people.
Police officer Arfan Khan says the bombing Saturday in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, also wounded more than 20 people.
Khan says the rally was being held by the Awami National Party, whose members have been repeatedly targeted by the Taliban. A provincial Cabinet minister from the party, Bashir Balour, was wounded in the attack.
Read More..
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police say a suicide bomber attacked a political rally in the country's northwest, killing eight people.
Police officer Arfan Khan says the bombing Saturday in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, also wounded more than 20 people.
Khan says the rally was being held by the Awami National Party, whose members have been repeatedly targeted by the Taliban. A provincial Cabinet minister from the party, Bashir Balour, was wounded in the attack.
Bombing at political rally kills 9 in Pakistan
Labels: WorldPESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber in Pakistan killed nine people including a provincial government official at a political rally held Saturday by a party that has opposed the Taliban, officials said.
The rally in Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was held by the Awami National Party, whose members have been repeatedly targeted by the Taliban.
Among the dead was Bashir Bilour, the second most senior member of the provincial Cabinet, said Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, the politician's brother and federal railways minister.
Over 20 others were wounded by the blast, said local police officer Sabir Khan.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the bombing in a statement, reiterating the United Nations' support for Pakistani efforts "to combat the scourge of terrorism."
Bilour was leaving the rally after delivering the keynote speech when the attack occurred, said Nazir Khan, a local Awami National Party leader.
"There was smoke and dust all around, and dead and wounded people were lying on the ground," he said.
The suicide bomber was on foot, said another police officer, Imtiaz Khan.
Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa information minister and a member of the Awami National Party, said both he and Bilour had repeatedly received threats from militants. He condemned the attack and said the government needed to intensify its battle against the Taliban.
"Terrorism has engulfed our whole society," said Hussain. "They are targeting our bases, our mosques, our bazars, public meetings and our security checkpoints."
Ten Taliban militants attacked the military area of an international airport in Peshawar with rockets and car bombs a week ago, killing four people and wounding over 40 others. Five of the militants were killed during the attack, and five others died the next day in a gunbattle with security forces.
Also Saturday, police said a mob in southern Pakistan stormed a police station to seize a mentally unstable Muslim man accused of burning a copy of Islam's holy book. The crowd beat him to death, and then set fire to his body.
The case is likely to raise further concerns about the country's harsh blasphemy laws, which can result in a death sentence or life in prison to anyone found guilty. An accusation or investigation alone can lead to deaths, as people take the law into their own hands and kill those accused of violating it. Police stations and even courts have been attacked by mobs.
Police arrested the man on Friday after being informed by residents that he had burned a Quran inside a mosque where he had been staying for a night, said local police official Biharud Deen.
An angry mob of more than 200 people then broke into the police station in the southern town of Dadu and took the accused man, who they say was under questioning. Deen said police tried their best to save the man's life but were unable to stop the furious crowd.
Police have arrested 30 people for suspected involvement in the attack, said Deen. The head of the local police station and seven officers had been suspended, he said.
Past attempts by governments in predominantly Muslim Pakistan to review these laws have met with violent opposition from hardline Islamist parties.
In southwestern Pakistan, gunmen late Friday killed 11 Pakistanis and Afghans who were trying to cross into neighboring Iran to travel on to Europe as illegal immigrants, said local government official Zubair Ahmed. The shooting took place in Sunsar town in Baluchistan province, he said.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack, but hundreds of Pakistanis and Afghans are captured by Iranian border guards every year for illegally trying to travel to Europe to find better jobs.
Read More..
The rally in Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was held by the Awami National Party, whose members have been repeatedly targeted by the Taliban.
Among the dead was Bashir Bilour, the second most senior member of the provincial Cabinet, said Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, the politician's brother and federal railways minister.
Over 20 others were wounded by the blast, said local police officer Sabir Khan.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the bombing in a statement, reiterating the United Nations' support for Pakistani efforts "to combat the scourge of terrorism."
Bilour was leaving the rally after delivering the keynote speech when the attack occurred, said Nazir Khan, a local Awami National Party leader.
"There was smoke and dust all around, and dead and wounded people were lying on the ground," he said.
The suicide bomber was on foot, said another police officer, Imtiaz Khan.
Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa information minister and a member of the Awami National Party, said both he and Bilour had repeatedly received threats from militants. He condemned the attack and said the government needed to intensify its battle against the Taliban.
"Terrorism has engulfed our whole society," said Hussain. "They are targeting our bases, our mosques, our bazars, public meetings and our security checkpoints."
Ten Taliban militants attacked the military area of an international airport in Peshawar with rockets and car bombs a week ago, killing four people and wounding over 40 others. Five of the militants were killed during the attack, and five others died the next day in a gunbattle with security forces.
Also Saturday, police said a mob in southern Pakistan stormed a police station to seize a mentally unstable Muslim man accused of burning a copy of Islam's holy book. The crowd beat him to death, and then set fire to his body.
The case is likely to raise further concerns about the country's harsh blasphemy laws, which can result in a death sentence or life in prison to anyone found guilty. An accusation or investigation alone can lead to deaths, as people take the law into their own hands and kill those accused of violating it. Police stations and even courts have been attacked by mobs.
Police arrested the man on Friday after being informed by residents that he had burned a Quran inside a mosque where he had been staying for a night, said local police official Biharud Deen.
An angry mob of more than 200 people then broke into the police station in the southern town of Dadu and took the accused man, who they say was under questioning. Deen said police tried their best to save the man's life but were unable to stop the furious crowd.
Police have arrested 30 people for suspected involvement in the attack, said Deen. The head of the local police station and seven officers had been suspended, he said.
Past attempts by governments in predominantly Muslim Pakistan to review these laws have met with violent opposition from hardline Islamist parties.
In southwestern Pakistan, gunmen late Friday killed 11 Pakistanis and Afghans who were trying to cross into neighboring Iran to travel on to Europe as illegal immigrants, said local government official Zubair Ahmed. The shooting took place in Sunsar town in Baluchistan province, he said.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack, but hundreds of Pakistanis and Afghans are captured by Iranian border guards every year for illegally trying to travel to Europe to find better jobs.
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