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Sunday, June 30, 2013
Friday, June 28, 2013
Panama and Panthera establish historic jaguar protection agreement
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Public release date: 28-Jun-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Susie Weller
sweller@panthera.org
347-446-9904
Panthera
Panama-Panthera agreement launches nation's first officially recognized jaguar conservation strategy
Panama City, Panama A significant victory was achieved for the future of jaguars this week with the establishment of an historic conservation agreement by the government of Panama and Panthera, a global big cat conservation organization.
Gathering in Panama City at the prominent Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), the Office of Panama's National Environmental Authority (ANAM) General Administrator, Mr. Silvano Vergara, presided over the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Panthera, the National Environmental Authority, and the Mastozoological Society of Panama (SOMASPA). Through this agreement, Panthera and the government of Panama pledged to collaboratively implement conservation initiatives on behalf of the country's jaguars and their habitats within Panama's Protected Areas System, strategically balance economic development and jaguar habitat preservation throughout Panama, mitigate rancher-jaguar conflict, and initiate jaguar conservation education for the people of Panama.
As Panthera's fifth jaguar conservation agreement with a Latin American government, and two more agreements under review with the governments of Belize and Brazil, this MOU represents a giant step forward for the conservation of the jaguar.
Upon signing the agreement today, Panthera's CEO and renowned jaguar scientist, Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, stated, "The significance, location and timing of the Panama-Panthera conservation agreement for the jaguar are truly historic. Panama represents the birth place of the Jaguar Corridor Initiative, and after just seven years, we have come full circle in establishing the partnerships and projects required to successfully conserve the jaguar and its habitats long into the future."
Rabinowitz continued, "We're seeing jaguars move through human landscapes - ranches, plantations, even swimming the Panama Canal. The ability for these animals to safely get through is what is ensuring genetic connectivity across their range. The corridor is not just a theoretical model, it's alive and functional, and a pathway for the jaguar's long-term survival."
In 2006, Dr. Rabinowitz joined environmental ministers from Central America at the Second Mesoamerica Protected Area Congress meeting to reach consensus on the benefits of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor for the connectivity and conservation of the jaguar in the region. Held in Panama City, this meeting helped launch what is now the largest carnivore conservation program in existence, spanning nearly six million square kilometers: Panthera's Jaguar Corridor Initiative (JCI).
Initiated in 2008, the JCI seeks to 'connect and protect' jaguar populations ranging from Mexico to Argentina within human landscapes to ensure the genetic diversity and survival of the species. Panama's role within this Corridor cannot be overemphasized. As one of 18 Latin American countries that harbor wild jaguars, Panama is also one of 13 countries in which Panthera is conducting jaguar conservation science. Home to a treasure chest of biodiversity, including significant jaguar populations, the narrow isthmus of Panama that snakes between Costa Rica and Colombia serves as the only bridge connecting jaguar populations between Central and South America.
Since 2008, Panthera has worked in partnership with ANAM and SOMASPA to monitor jaguar and prey populations in Panama's protected areas, assess human-jaguar conflict across the country, evaluate the vitality of jaguar habitat via aerial surveys, and train field staff to implement population monitoring studies, conflict mitigation techniques and conservation education workshops.
A majority of these efforts have been carried out in jaguar habitat lying within Panama's Indigenous 'comarcas' or autonomous territories. Due to the country's slim figure, measuring as short as 80 km between its coasts, collaboration with these native communities is necessary to maintain connectivity between jaguar populations. Recently, after months of outreach, Panthera received permission from the Ngobe Bugle community to conduct research in a significant Jaguar Corridor within their territory.
In LightHawk flights taken earlier this year with ANAM General Administrator Silvano Vergara and others, Panthera's team also confirmed that the Kuna Yala and Madugandi indigenous territories in the northeastern stretch of the country, and the neighboring Corridor between Soberania and Alto Chagres National Parks, maintain relatively healthy jaguar habitat.
Now, with the establishment of the nation's first jaguar conservation strategy, Panthera will collaborate with the Panamanian government to strategically shape the development of land in and around the Jaguar Corridor, including the Panama Canal, to ensure a positive balance of economic development and jaguar habitat preservation. As one of the world's most remarkable engineering achievements, the Panama Canal zone continues to experience rapid human development. Today, this represents one of the key threats facing Panama's jaguars, and if unaddressed, could constitute a grave barrier to jaguars at a continental scale.
Panthera's Executive Director of Jaguar Programs, Dr. Howard Quigley, explained, "Through our conservation efforts in Panama, Panthera and our partners have uncovered a fascinating phenomenon jaguars swimming hundreds of meters of the trans-ocean Panama Canal to continue their gene line. While this demonstrates the incredible resilience of the species, we must act now to preserve the jaguar's habitat and ensure this passageway does not soon become the species' only route of survival. We know we can have jaguars, canals and cattle ranching side-by-side if we plan in a way that makes it possible."
Along with implementing new rancher outreach and conflict mitigation projects, Panthera's scientists will continue to work with our regional partners to complete 'ground-truthing' Panama's habitats in 2013, identifying the presence and distribution of the country's jaguars and the safest passageways for the species to move in Panama and between Central and South America. Having surveyed all other jaguar range within Mesoamerica, Panama and Guatemala represent the last remaining corridors for Panthera's scientists to verify.
ANAM General Secretary, Geremas Aguilar, who represented ANAM`s General Administrator at the ceremony, additionally highlighted the role Panama takes on in its efforts to preserve biodiversity and the jaguar in the region, stating, "It is a mammal of the utmost importance to the health of the environment. The loss of biodiversity due to unsustainable human developments is one of the most significant global environmental threats in recent times. This agreement intends to improve the survival condition of the jaguar, a species who represents the good health of Panamanian habitats."
###
See a map of Panama and other resources.
About the Jaguar Corridor Initiative
Panthera's Jaguar Corridor Initiative seeks to link core jaguar populations across the jaguar's range within human landscapes, from Mexico to Argentina, to preserve the species' genetic diversity. Through multilateral partnerships, government support, and local buy-in, Panthera is the driving force behind this initiative. Saving jaguars range-wide is a winning strategy for conserving vast landscapes and ecosystem functions, and preserving human health and livelihoods. Visit the Jaguar Corridor Initiative.
About Panthera
Panthera, founded in 2006, is devoted exclusively to the conservation of wild cats and their ecosystems. Utilizing the expertise of the world's premier cat biologists, Panthera develops and implements global conservation strategies for the largest, most imperiled cats tigers, lions, jaguars, and snow leopards. Representing the most comprehensive effort of its kind, Panthera works in partnership with local and international NGOs, scientific institutions, local communities and governments around the globe. Visit http://www.panthera.org
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 28-Jun-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Susie Weller
sweller@panthera.org
347-446-9904
Panthera
Panama-Panthera agreement launches nation's first officially recognized jaguar conservation strategy
Panama City, Panama A significant victory was achieved for the future of jaguars this week with the establishment of an historic conservation agreement by the government of Panama and Panthera, a global big cat conservation organization.
Gathering in Panama City at the prominent Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), the Office of Panama's National Environmental Authority (ANAM) General Administrator, Mr. Silvano Vergara, presided over the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Panthera, the National Environmental Authority, and the Mastozoological Society of Panama (SOMASPA). Through this agreement, Panthera and the government of Panama pledged to collaboratively implement conservation initiatives on behalf of the country's jaguars and their habitats within Panama's Protected Areas System, strategically balance economic development and jaguar habitat preservation throughout Panama, mitigate rancher-jaguar conflict, and initiate jaguar conservation education for the people of Panama.
As Panthera's fifth jaguar conservation agreement with a Latin American government, and two more agreements under review with the governments of Belize and Brazil, this MOU represents a giant step forward for the conservation of the jaguar.
Upon signing the agreement today, Panthera's CEO and renowned jaguar scientist, Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, stated, "The significance, location and timing of the Panama-Panthera conservation agreement for the jaguar are truly historic. Panama represents the birth place of the Jaguar Corridor Initiative, and after just seven years, we have come full circle in establishing the partnerships and projects required to successfully conserve the jaguar and its habitats long into the future."
Rabinowitz continued, "We're seeing jaguars move through human landscapes - ranches, plantations, even swimming the Panama Canal. The ability for these animals to safely get through is what is ensuring genetic connectivity across their range. The corridor is not just a theoretical model, it's alive and functional, and a pathway for the jaguar's long-term survival."
In 2006, Dr. Rabinowitz joined environmental ministers from Central America at the Second Mesoamerica Protected Area Congress meeting to reach consensus on the benefits of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor for the connectivity and conservation of the jaguar in the region. Held in Panama City, this meeting helped launch what is now the largest carnivore conservation program in existence, spanning nearly six million square kilometers: Panthera's Jaguar Corridor Initiative (JCI).
Initiated in 2008, the JCI seeks to 'connect and protect' jaguar populations ranging from Mexico to Argentina within human landscapes to ensure the genetic diversity and survival of the species. Panama's role within this Corridor cannot be overemphasized. As one of 18 Latin American countries that harbor wild jaguars, Panama is also one of 13 countries in which Panthera is conducting jaguar conservation science. Home to a treasure chest of biodiversity, including significant jaguar populations, the narrow isthmus of Panama that snakes between Costa Rica and Colombia serves as the only bridge connecting jaguar populations between Central and South America.
Since 2008, Panthera has worked in partnership with ANAM and SOMASPA to monitor jaguar and prey populations in Panama's protected areas, assess human-jaguar conflict across the country, evaluate the vitality of jaguar habitat via aerial surveys, and train field staff to implement population monitoring studies, conflict mitigation techniques and conservation education workshops.
A majority of these efforts have been carried out in jaguar habitat lying within Panama's Indigenous 'comarcas' or autonomous territories. Due to the country's slim figure, measuring as short as 80 km between its coasts, collaboration with these native communities is necessary to maintain connectivity between jaguar populations. Recently, after months of outreach, Panthera received permission from the Ngobe Bugle community to conduct research in a significant Jaguar Corridor within their territory.
In LightHawk flights taken earlier this year with ANAM General Administrator Silvano Vergara and others, Panthera's team also confirmed that the Kuna Yala and Madugandi indigenous territories in the northeastern stretch of the country, and the neighboring Corridor between Soberania and Alto Chagres National Parks, maintain relatively healthy jaguar habitat.
Now, with the establishment of the nation's first jaguar conservation strategy, Panthera will collaborate with the Panamanian government to strategically shape the development of land in and around the Jaguar Corridor, including the Panama Canal, to ensure a positive balance of economic development and jaguar habitat preservation. As one of the world's most remarkable engineering achievements, the Panama Canal zone continues to experience rapid human development. Today, this represents one of the key threats facing Panama's jaguars, and if unaddressed, could constitute a grave barrier to jaguars at a continental scale.
Panthera's Executive Director of Jaguar Programs, Dr. Howard Quigley, explained, "Through our conservation efforts in Panama, Panthera and our partners have uncovered a fascinating phenomenon jaguars swimming hundreds of meters of the trans-ocean Panama Canal to continue their gene line. While this demonstrates the incredible resilience of the species, we must act now to preserve the jaguar's habitat and ensure this passageway does not soon become the species' only route of survival. We know we can have jaguars, canals and cattle ranching side-by-side if we plan in a way that makes it possible."
Along with implementing new rancher outreach and conflict mitigation projects, Panthera's scientists will continue to work with our regional partners to complete 'ground-truthing' Panama's habitats in 2013, identifying the presence and distribution of the country's jaguars and the safest passageways for the species to move in Panama and between Central and South America. Having surveyed all other jaguar range within Mesoamerica, Panama and Guatemala represent the last remaining corridors for Panthera's scientists to verify.
ANAM General Secretary, Geremas Aguilar, who represented ANAM`s General Administrator at the ceremony, additionally highlighted the role Panama takes on in its efforts to preserve biodiversity and the jaguar in the region, stating, "It is a mammal of the utmost importance to the health of the environment. The loss of biodiversity due to unsustainable human developments is one of the most significant global environmental threats in recent times. This agreement intends to improve the survival condition of the jaguar, a species who represents the good health of Panamanian habitats."
###
See a map of Panama and other resources.
About the Jaguar Corridor Initiative
Panthera's Jaguar Corridor Initiative seeks to link core jaguar populations across the jaguar's range within human landscapes, from Mexico to Argentina, to preserve the species' genetic diversity. Through multilateral partnerships, government support, and local buy-in, Panthera is the driving force behind this initiative. Saving jaguars range-wide is a winning strategy for conserving vast landscapes and ecosystem functions, and preserving human health and livelihoods. Visit the Jaguar Corridor Initiative.
About Panthera
Panthera, founded in 2006, is devoted exclusively to the conservation of wild cats and their ecosystems. Utilizing the expertise of the world's premier cat biologists, Panthera develops and implements global conservation strategies for the largest, most imperiled cats tigers, lions, jaguars, and snow leopards. Representing the most comprehensive effort of its kind, Panthera works in partnership with local and international NGOs, scientific institutions, local communities and governments around the globe. Visit http://www.panthera.org
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/p-pp062813.php
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OS X Mavericks Finder tabs and tags de-clutters and organizes your Mac
Following the early previews of OS X Mavericks delivered by select media outlets, we're starting to see them broken down a little further and the latest covers the tabs and tags feature in Finder. Finder tabs takes cues from the web browser by combining many finder windows into one. Macworld's Jason Snell takes us through it:
"Each tab behaves like its own Finder window; you can adjust the view settings of each one accordingly, so one tab can show an icon view, another a list view, and so on."
And, with tags, it works just as you might expect it to. Adding a tag to a file means you can group your stuff together however you like, and then find it all by tag. It can be likened to the way we tag articles here on iMore, or at any of the Mobile Nations sites:
"Borrowed from the world of blogging and social networking, tags form a simple, arbitrary method of categorizing information. On a blog, you might add a bunch of tags to every post to indicate its subject matter. This has the benefit of letting users quickly find all the blog posts about a particular subject."
It's a great in-depth read on how tabs and tags operates, and to the right user could add significantly to their workflow. As Snell points out, it's unlikely that casual users will ever pull off the cmd+click operation to bring up a new Finder tab, and that's just fine. I'm pretty sure tabs and tags are going to help get a better handle of the mess that is my Mac, what say the rest of you?
Source: Macworld
     |
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/ox_Z5ZtqO6Q/story01.htm
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US suspending Bangladesh trade benefits after factory tragedies - source
Retail 
2 hours ago
ANDREW BIRAJ / Reuters
People rescue garment workers trapped under rubble at the Rana Plaza building after it collapsed, in Savar, 30 km (19 miles) outside Dhaka in this April 24, 2013 file photo. Sources says President Obama will suspend U.S. trade benefits to Bangladesh.
President Barack Obama is expected to announce on Thursday that the United States is suspending trade benefits for Bangladesh after two tragedies in a year in the country's garment sector that killed more than 1,200 workers, a congressional source said.
U.S. trade officials have said they expected Obama to announce a decision on the matter by the end of June. The U.S. Trade Representative's office did not have an immediate comment on whether an announcement would come Thursday.
Suspending Bangladesh from the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences program would increase U.S. duties on an array of products the Asian country exports to the United States, such as tobacco, sporting equipment, porcelain china, plastic products and a small amount of textile products.
But it would not directly affect Bangladesh's main export, clothing, since garments are not eligible for duty cuts under the GSP program, which was created in 1976 to help economic development in the world's poorest countries and to reduce import costs for U.S. companies.
In 2012, Bangladesh was spared about $2 million in U.S. duties on about $35 million worth of goods under GSP, but it paid about $732 million in U.S. duties on $4.9 billion of clothing exports not covered by the program, according to Ed Gresser, a trade analyst with the GlobalWorks Foundation.
Still, Obama's decision would be a repudiation of working conditions in Bangladesh following the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory building in April that killed 1,129 people and the Tazreen factory fire in November that killed 112. Clothing for several American and European retailers is made in Bangladesh.
It also could influence the European Union's decision whether to suspend trade benefits for Bangladesh, which would have far more impact since Bangladesh's clothing and textiles exports receive duty-free treatment there.
The EU imported roughly 9.2 billion euros ($12.13 billion) of goods from Bangladesh last year, according to data from the EU's executive, the European Commission.
Clothing and textile products ranging from towels and bedding accounted for almost 93 percent of those goods.
EU officials have threatened to kick Bangladesh out of the program - a process that could take more than a year - unless it improves worker safety conditions.
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.
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Thursday, June 27, 2013
Capture the World With a Borrowed Google Trekker Backpack
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/v2E2CWUXXK0/
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Every Smart Appliance Should Be as Brilliant as This Smoke Detector
It's easy to scoff at the idea of smart appliances when you're faced with an onslaught of everyday devices with bewilderingly superflous Internet-y capabilities
Like any smart appliance, the Canary has some theoretically neat auxiliary features. In addition to detecting smoke and carbon monoxide, the Canary also keeps tabs on air quality including dust, pollen, mold and sends that all to the cloud. Someday, if everybody got these, they could work together to map the air quality of entire cities with real, live data. And all the information Canaries gather is anonymized and publicly accessible for anyone who wants to use it. Neat!
But that's not what makes it really great. The Canary's dream feature is that when it goes off, you can tell it "false alarm; shut up" from an app on your phone and get right back to dealing with that burnt dinner without popping out any batteries. And speaking of batteries, when the Canary's get low, it'll warn you on your phone, instead of chirping incessantly for eons like some robo-chick from hell.
It's all fine and dandy for a smart appliance to solve a problem that only some people have, or that only some people could maybe have someday, but those kind of extras are just that: extras. The Canary still has those, but it also uses technology to deftly solve a small but incredibly frustrating problem virtually everyone has, and does it more elegantly than it could without that "smartness."
The Canary is only a prototype for now, but it's picked up second place in the Cleanweb Challenge, and is currently running in the NYC BigApps competition. Hopefully it can make its way to market soon, and at a reasonable price, because its clever solution to smoke detector annoyances seems awesome. And with that simple, universal utility for a foundation, all the other features get that much better. [Canary via Co.Exist]
Source: http://gizmodo.com/every-smart-appliance-should-be-as-brilliant-as-this-sm-597966224
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PasswordBox
When you're planning to introduce a new product, it makes sense to review competing products, taking note of their best features and of any features that seem to be missing. The creators of the PasswordBox password manager seem to have done just that. Quite a few of PasswordBox's feature resemble those of top competitors, but it adds features not found in any of them.
Quite a few password managers use a freemium marketing model. LastPass 2.0 Premium includes significant features not found in the free LastPass 2.0. You can use Dashlane 2.0 and Keeper 5.0 for free on one device, but syncing multiple devices requires a paid subscription.
PasswordBox's freemium model is quite simple. The free edition is completely full-featured, but you can only store 25 passwords. After that you need to pay for a subscription, $12 per year. Note that you can import passwords from any one of several competitors, even if it pushes your total past 25. Don't want to pay? You can "go pro" by successfully referring five friends, and when you do, you get a lifetime license, not just a single year. That's quite a deal!
Getting Started
PasswordBox installs in a flash as an extension for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, or Safari. Just click the toolbar button to pull down its main window. To help get you started, the program presents a collection of popular websites for which it has already created login templates. Click one of the buttons, enter your username and password, and you've created a one-click login for that site.
Like Dashlane, PasswordBox has a built-in system to walk new users through the product's features. As you accomplish each task, it gets crossed out. In order to reach 100 percent, you must add a password, try a one-click login from PasswordBox, and add a total of eight passwords. You also have to send an invitation to at least one friend, and identify a trusted person to receive your passwords in the event of your death; more about that feature later.
When you've accomplished all the setup tasks, the notification bar vanishes, just as in Dashlane. If you need further instruction in how to use the program, you'll find a collection of short video tutorials accessible from the Settings page, as well as built-in help and FAQs.
There is one setting you'll probably want to change. Once you open your browser and launch PasswordBox, it stays unlocked until you shut down the browser. It does have an auto-lock feature, but it's disabled by default. I'd recommend setting it to lock after a fairly short amount of idle time. Note that the corresponding feature in Keeper is always enabled, and the longest timeout you can set is ten minutes.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/B6GD54-3leE/0,2817,2421087,00.asp
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U.S. regulator tells Web search firms to label ads better
By Alexei Oreskovic
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. regulators warned leading Internet firms including Google Inc. to better identify paid ads in search results, particularly as new technology such as mobile services and voice-based online services become more common.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday it had sent letters to 24 Internet search companies, including giants Google, Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc, updating its guidance on advertising practices.
The FTC's update to its 2002 guidance on search advertising practices comes as consumers are increasingly accessing the Internet on small-screened smartphones and using specialized apps and social media services to find information online.
"In recent years, paid search results have become less distinguishable as advertising, and the FTC is urging the search industry to make sure the distinction is clear," the agency said.
The FTC, which sent the letters on Monday, has the power to fine companies that violate its rules against deceptive advertising.
The agency said background shading for search ads that appear alongside natural search results was not always sufficiently visible, particularly on mobile devices.
Text labels intended to flag search ads were not always easy to spot, as some search engines had reduced the font size of the text or placed a single label at the corner of a group of ads.
In the case of voice-based search for instance, the agency said that a search engine should make an "audio disclosure that is of an adequate volume and cadence for ordinary listeners to hear and comprehend it."
The letters, which were also sent to several popular "vertical" search engines that specialize in online shopping, travel and local business, did not specifically accuse any search engines of wrongdoing.
Google, the world's No.1 search engine, accounted for 73.8 percent of the $17.3 billion spent on search advertising in the United States last year, according to research firm eMarketer. Last year Google altered its specialized shopping search engine, making it based solely on paid search listings.
Google said in a statement that clear labeling and disclosure of paid search were important and "we've always strived to do that as our products have evolved."
Yahoo, which had 6.6 percent share of the U.S. online search ad market in 2012 according to eMarketer, said it was reviewing the letter and stressed its commitment to a transparent search experience.
Microsoft, the No.3. online search advertising company in the United States, declined to comment.
(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Stephen Coates)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-regulator-tells-search-firms-label-ads-better-005455219.html
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Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Fans feared reality tv show killed players
TV 
17 hours ago
Eric McCandless / ABC
Sheri was the first (fake) victim on the "Whodunnit?" premiere.
As the premiere episode of ABC's reality TV murder mystery "Whodunnit?" opened Sunday night, a voiceover explained that the contestants knew they were there to play a game, but "what they don't know is: The game is murder."
As it turned out, the contestants weren't the only ones who didn't quite know all the details. For instance, viewers knew the show was a murder mystery, but it's now clear what many of them didn't know was that the murders weren't real.
That's right, despite the fact that killing off contestants would be illegal (and, of course, just plain wrong), some believed that two players might have actually been killed as part of the show.
Concerned viewers even took to Twitter after the first person, Sheri, met her (not really) final fate.
Even after contestant Melina said, "In my heart, I know it's not a dead body, but it feels too real," some viewers remained suspicious.
When Dontae fled the "Whodunnit?" mansion in flames at the end of the show, even more shocked viewers tweeted their fears.
Of course, there was no need to worry about anyone. The mystery -- not the murder -- is the reality in this competition.
Check out the next faux fatalities when "Whodunnit?" airs Sunday night at 9 p.m. on ABC.
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Michael Jackson's son testifies singer was unhappy with promoter
By Brandon Lowrey
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Michael Jackson's eldest son testified on Wednesday in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by his family against AEG Live that the late pop star was unhappy with the concert promoter in the run-up to his "This Is It" concert series in 2009.
Prince Jackson, 16, said he saw his father often get upset on the phone with AEG Live Chief Executive Officer Randy Phillips, but was unable to stand up for himself in disagreements.
"He would get off the phone, he would cry sometimes," Prince told jurors in a Los Angeles courtroom about his father. "He would say, 'They're going to kill me. They're going to kill me.' ... He was like my grandma. He was too kind to fight anybody."
Small parts of a video recording of Prince and younger sister Paris' deposition recorded months earlier had been played in court last week, but Prince was the first Jackson family member to testify in person at the trial.
Prince, who took the stand four years and one day after his father's death, was 12 when Jackson died at age 50 in Los Angeles from an overdose of surgical anesthetic propofol ahead of a series of comeback concerts in London in 2009.
The "Thriller" singer's mother, Katherine, is suing privately held AEG Live, which was promoting Jackson's "This Is It" concerts, for negligence in hiring Dr. Conrad Murray as his personal physician.
Murray was caring for the singer as he prepared for the shows and was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 for administering the propofol that killed Jackson.
Prince, wearing a dark suit and tie, showed little emotion while testifying until he described his father's death, which was the first time any of Jackson's children have spoken publicly about it.
The teenager said he and his two younger siblings - sister Paris and brother Prince Michael II, also known as Blanket - were at their rented Los Angeles home when they heard a scream from the home's second level.
"I ran upstairs and I saw Dr. Conrad doing CPR on my dad on the bed," he said. "My dad was hanging halfway off the bed, and his eyes were rolled back in his head."
He added: "My sister was screaming the whole time, saying she wants her daddy. I was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, crying, waiting for the ambulance."
'IT HURT A LOT'
Prince, his voice cracking with emotion, said Murray told them in a hospital waiting room that Jackson had a heart attack.
"Sorry kids, your dad's dead," Prince remembered Murray telling him.
AEG Live has said it did not hire or supervise Murray and argues that Jackson had prescription drug and addiction problems for years before entering into any agreement with the company.
AEG Live also has said they could not have foreseen that Murray posed a danger to Jackson.
Katherine Jackson, 83, along with the singer's three children are listed as plaintiffs in the case. The trial began in late April and is expected to last for another month.
Earlier witnesses for the plaintiff have testified that Jackson had grown so weak he had difficulty executing dance moves and recalling song lyrics, and that Murray's monthly salary from AEG Live would be a conflict of interest in his care of the singer.
Prince also testified that Jackson's death has taken an emotional toll on the children.
"I have a hard time sleeping," the teen said. "I became emotionally distant from a lot of people."
Paris, 15, who has been hospitalized after an apparent suicide attempt earlier this month, has taken the loss of her father the hardest, Prince said.
"I think out of all of our siblings, she was probably hit the hardest because she was my dad's princess," he said. "It hurt a lot and she definitely is dealing with it in her own way."
Following Prince's testimony, the Jackson family's attorney, Brian Panish, said at a news conference outside the courthouse that Prince had answered questions consistently and credibly.
"He is a nice, bright young man who has a great future and I think that's because of the father who raised him," Panish said.
The attorney added that Jackson's youngest son, Blanket, will not be summoned in this case, and a decision is still being made on whether Paris will be called up to testify.
(Writing by Eric Kelsey, Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Sandra Maler)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/michael-jacksons-son-testify-singers-wrongful-death-trial-013036116.html
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Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Court makes it harder to sue businesses
WASHINGTON (AP) ? A sharply divided Supreme Court on Monday decided to make it harder for Americans to sue businesses for retaliation and discrimination, leading a justice to call for Congress to overturn the court's actions.
The court's conservatives, in two 5-4 decisions, ruled that a person must be able to hire and fire someone to be considered a supervisor in discrimination lawsuits, making it harder to blame a business for a co-worker's racism or sexism. The court then decided to limit how juries can decide retaliation lawsuits, saying victims must prove employers would not have taken action against them but for their intention to retaliate.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote both dissents for the court's liberal wing, and in a rare move, read them aloud in the courtroom. She said the high court had "corralled Title VII," a law designed to stop discrimination in the nation's workplaces.
"Both decisions dilute the strength of Title VII in ways Congress could not have intended," said Ginsburg, who then called on Congress to change the law to overturn the court.
In the first case, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center wanted a discrimination lawsuit won by Dr. Naiel Nassar thrown out. Nassar, after complaining of harassment, left in 2006 for another job at Parkland Hospital, but the hospital withdrew its job offer after one of his former medical center supervisors opposed it. Nassar sued, saying the medical center retaliated against him for his discrimination complaints by encouraging Parkland to take away his job offer. A jury awarded him more than $3 million in damages.
The medical center appealed, saying the judge told the jury it only had to find that retaliation was a motivating factor in the supervisor's actions, called mixed-motive. Instead, it said, the judge should have told the jury it had to find that discriminatory action wouldn't have happened "but-for" the supervisor's desire to retaliate for liability to attach.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the opinion, agreed with the lower court and the university, saying people "must establish that his or her protected activity was a but-for cause of the alleged adverse action by the employer." But he didn't rule completely for the medical center, sending the case back to the lower courts after saying a decision on the resolution of the case "is better suited by courts closer to the facts of this case."
Karen Harned, executive director of the National Federation of Independent Business' Small Business Legal Center, cheered the decision.
"If courts were allowed to label employees with little managerial authority as 'supervisors,' that would have substantially increased the number of frivolous lawsuits brought against small businesses and would have done little, if anything, to reduce harassment," she said. "For small businesses, the increased possibility of liability and ensuing costs would have been devastating. We are very pleased with the Supreme Court's decision."
In the second case, Maetta Vance, who was a catering specialist at Ball State University, accused a co-worker, Shaundra Davis, of racial harassment and retaliation in 2005. Vance sued the school under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, saying the university was liable since Davis was her supervisor. But a federal judge threw out her lawsuit, saying that since Davis could not fire Vance, she was only a co-worker, and since the university had taken corrective action, it was not liable for Davis' actions. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision, and Vance appealed to the Supreme Court.
But Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the majority opinion, said for the university to be liable, Davis must have had the authority to "hire, fire, demote, promote, transfer, or discipline" Vance.
"We hold that an employee is a 'supervisor' for purpose of vicarious liability under Title VII if he or she is empowered by the employer to take tangible employment actions against the victim," Alito said. "Because there is no evidence that BSU empowered Davis to take any tangible employment actions against Vance, the judgment of the Seventh Circuit is affirmed."
Alito shook his head as Ginsburg read her dissent of his opinion. "The court's disregard for the realities of the workplace means that many victims of workplace harassment will have no effective remedy," she said.
Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron said the court made the wrong decision.
"Deferring to the powerful at the expense of the powerless, the Supreme Court majority has imposed a heavier burden for victims of workplace harassment and discrimination seeking justice in our courts," she said. "This decision makes it far easier for employers to evade responsibility for discrimination and harassment in the workplace."
Alito, Kennedy, Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas voted together in those cases.
Ginsburg, and Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented together both times.
Ginsburg said she hopes Congress intervenes in both cases. For example, President Barack Obama in 2009 signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which effectively overturned a Supreme Court decision that had strictly limited workers' ability to file lawsuits over pay inequity.
"Today, the ball again lies in Congress' court to correct this court's wayward interpretations of Title VII," she said.
Ginsburg's call was soon joined by other organizations.
"The rulings are a step backwards in our efforts to ensure equal economic opportunity and to fulfill the promise of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964," said Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. "We call on Congress to once again take action to correct the court's flawed and narrow interpretations of Title VII, just as Congress has done repeatedly in the past."
___
The cases are Vance v. Ball State University, 11-556 and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar, 12-484.
Follow Jesse J. Holland at http://www.twitter.com/jessejholland
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/court-makes-harder-sue-businesses-154005838.html
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Nigeria leads African banking sector - Axe Finance - Vanguard News
By Nnamdi Ojiego
International software company, Axe Finance, has described Nigeria as Africa?s leading IT innovative country in the banking sector with modern infrastructure and a robust customer base.
In a chat with Vanguard? at a workshop organised for financial institutions in Lagos, Senior Manager, Axe Finance, Mr. Dhafer Berrachid, however, stressed that there was need to continue to improve on the infrastructure for global competitiveness.
He said: ?Nigeria is a leading country in the banking sector in Africa. The banks are very mature in terms of IT equipment and there is a strong will to continue to improve the infrastructure and the process for the international market.?
Berrachid explained that the workshop was to present his company?s integrated solution, which according to him, supports financial institutions all over the world through an innovative approach by automating their credit and risk management processes.
The IT expert said: ?Basically, we are in Nigeria to present our company, our partners, our solution and to have a testimonial and return on experience of our current customers.
?We have a lot of banks looking at our solutions and we want to bring everybody together to exchange views and have live reactions about the solution.?
He further explained that the solution was designed to help financial institutions improve their revenues, streamline and automate their processes and enable them to better assess the risk and improve efficiency of their operations.
He said: ?Axe Credit Portal is the solution to more effectively manage your credit life cycle, to optimise firm-wide credit and risk processes and to enable better informed credit origination and risk management decisions.?
Nigeria leads African banking sector ? Axe Finance
By Nnamdi Ojiego
International software company, Axe Finance, has described Nigeria as Africa?s leading IT innovative country in the banking sector with modern infrastructure and a robust customer base.
Speaking at a workshop organised for financial institutions in Lagos, Senior Manager, Axe Finance, Mr. Dhafer Berrachid, however, stressed that there was need to continue to improve on the infrastructure for global competitiveness.
He said: ?Nigeria is a leading country in the banking sector in Africa. The banks are very mature in terms of IT equipment and there is a strong will to continue to improve the infrastructure and the process for the international market.?
Berrachid explained that the workshop was to present his company?s integrated solution, which according to him, supports financial institutions all over the world through an innovative approach by automating their credit and risk management processes.
The IT expert said: ?Basically, we are in Nigeria to present our company, our partners, our solution and to have a testimonial and return on experience of our current customers.
?We have a lot of banks looking at our solutions and we want to bring everybody together to exchange views and have live reactions about the solution.?
He further explained that the solution was designed to help financial institutions improve their revenues, streamline and automate their processes and enable them to better assess the risk and improve efficiency of their operations.
He said: ?Axe Credit Portal is the solution to more effectively manage your credit life cycle, to optimise firm-wide credit and risk processes and to enable better informed credit origination and risk management decisions.?
Comments are moderated. Please keep them clean and brief.
Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/06/nigeria-leads-african-banking-sector-axe-finance/
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94 in Alaska? Weather extremes tied to jet stream
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Lately, the jet stream isn't playing by the rules. Scientists say that big river of air high above Earth that dictates much of the weather for the Northern Hemisphere has been unusually erratic the past few years.
They blame it for everything from snowstorms in May to the path of Superstorm Sandy.
And last week, it was responsible for downpours that led to historic floods in Alberta, Canada, as well as record-breaking heat in parts of Alaska, experts say. The town of McGrath, Alaska, hit 94. Just a few weeks earlier, the same spot was 15 degrees.
The current heat wave in the Northeast is also linked. "While it's not unusual to have a heat wave in the east in June, it is part of the anomalous jet stream pattern that was responsible for the flooding in Alberta," Rutgers University climate scientist Jennifer Francis said Tuesday in an email.
The jet stream usually rushes rapidly from west to east in a mostly straight direction. But lately it's been wobbling and weaving like a drunken driver, wreaking havoc as it goes. The more the jet stream undulates north and south, the more changeable and extreme the weather.
It's a relatively new phenomenon that scientists are still trying to understand. Some say it's related to global warming; others say it's not.
In May, there was upside-down weather: Early California wildfires fueled by heat contrasted with more than a foot of snow in Minnesota. Seattle was the hottest spot in the nation one day, and Maine and Edmonton, Canada, were warmer than Miami and Phoenix.
Consider these unusual occurrences over the past few years:
? The winter of 2011-12 seemed to disappear, with little snow and record warmth in March. That was followed by the winter of 2012-13 when nor'easters seemed to queue up to strike the same coastal areas repeatedly.
? Superstorm Sandy took an odd left turn in October from the Atlantic straight into New Jersey, something that happens once every 700 years or so.
? One 12-month period had a record number of tornadoes. That was followed by 12 months that set a record for lack of tornadoes.
And here is what federal weather officials call a "spring paradox": The U.S. had both an unusually large area of snow cover in March and April and a near-record low area of snow cover in May. The entire Northern Hemisphere had record snow coverage area in December but the third lowest snow extent for May.
"I've been doing meteorology for 30 years and the jet stream the last three years has done stuff I've never seen," said Jeff Masters, meteorology director at the private service Weather Underground. "The fact that the jet stream is unusual could be an indicator of something. I'm not saying we know what it is."
Rutgers' Francis is in the camp that thinks climate change is probably playing a role in this.
"It's been just a crazy fall and winter and spring all along, following a very abnormal sea ice condition in the Arctic," Francis said, noting that last year set a record low for summer sea ice in the Arctic. "It's possible what we're seeing in this unusual weather is all connected."
Other scientists don't make the sea ice and global warming connections that Francis does. They see random weather or long-term cycles at work. And even more scientists are taking a wait-and-see approach about this latest theory. It's far from a scientific consensus, but it is something that is being studied more often and getting a lot of scientific buzz.
"There are some viable hypotheses," Stanford University climate scientist Noah Diffenbaugh said. "We're going to need more evidence to fully test those hypotheses."
The jet stream, or more precisely the polar jet stream, is the one that affects the Northern Hemisphere. It dips down from Alaska, across the United States or Canada, then across the Atlantic and over Europe and "has everything to do with the weather we experience," Francis said.
It all starts with the difference between cold temperatures in the Arctic and warmer temperatures in the mid-latitudes, she explained. The bigger the temperature difference, the stronger the jet stream, the faster it moves and the straighter it flows. But as the northern polar regions warm two to three times faster than the rest of the world, augmented by unprecedented melting of Arctic sea ice and loss in snow cover, the temperature difference shrinks. Then the jet stream slows and undulates more.
The jet stream is about 14 percent slower in the fall now than in the 1990s, according to a recent study by Francis. And when it slows, it moves north-south instead of east-west, bringing more unusual weather, creating blocking patterns and cutoff lows that are associated with weird weather, the Rutgers scientist said.
Mike Halpert, the deputy director of NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, said that recently the jet stream seems to create weather patterns that get stuck, making dry spells into droughts and hot days into heat waves.
Take the past two winters. They were as different as can be, but both had unusual jet stream activity. Normally, the jet stream plunges southwest from western Washington state, sloping across to Alabama. Then it curves slightly out to sea around the Outer Banks, a swoop that's generally straight without dramatic bends.
During the mostly snowless winter of 2011-12 and the record warm March 2012, the jet stream instead formed a giant upside-down U, curving dramatically in the opposite direction. That trapped warm air over much of the Eastern U.S. A year later the jet stream was again unusual, this time with a sharp U-turn north. This trapped colder and snowier weather in places like Chicago and caused nor'easters in New England, Francis said.
But for true extremes, nothing beats tornadoes.
In 2011, the United States was hit over and over by killer twisters. From June 2010 to May 2011 the U.S. had a record number of substantial tornadoes, totaling 1,050. Then just a year later came a record tornado drought. From May 2012 to April 2013 there were only 217 tornadoes ? 30 fewer than the old record, said Harold Brooks, a meteorologist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory. Brooks said both examples were related to unusual jet stream patterns.
Last fall, a dip in the jet stream over the United States and northward bulge of high pressure combined to pull Superstorm Sandy almost due west into New Jersey, Francis said. That track is so rare and nearly unprecedented that computer models indicate it would happen only once every 714 years, according to a new study by NASA and Columbia University scientists.
"Everyone would agree that we are in a pattern" of extremes, NOAA research meteorologist Martin Hoerling said. "We don't know how long it will stay in this pattern."
___
Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at http://twitter.com/borenbears
___
Online:
NOAA on the jet stream: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/global/jet.htm
Jennifer Francis study linking Arctic sea ice loss to jet stream changes: http://bit.ly/1aAFM5g
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/94-alaska-weather-extremes-tied-jet-stream-070623134.html
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Monday, June 24, 2013
The Top 10 Advantages Of Article Marketing | Content for Reprint
Word Count: 754 Date:
So, what's the big deal with article marketing? What is it all about in the first place?
Well, it is the simple practice of creating written content and publishing such articles online on any of the hundreds, if not thousands, of article directories found on the Internet. Now directories that post article submissions can cater to niches that range from broad-based to specific ones. With that out of the way, what's the point of article promoting? Here are its top 10 benefits:
1. Builds Your Online Credibility.
By sharing knowledge to other people, you are establishing a reputation as an expert in a particular field - maybe even several. The more information and knowledge you provide, the more credibility you build. As a consequence, you become someone who can be trusted by your followers/readers, which will eventually be good for business.
2. Let You Help Others.
Speaking of shared knowledge, your articles that get published may be able to help other people learn more, find answers to questions, or solve their problems. Regardless of what kind of business you have, your write-ups contain knowledge that netizens are searching for.
3. Increases Your Business Exposure.
The rule of thumb in promotions and advertising is that it usually takes 3-7 instances of exposure before your brand gets recognized. This means that when someone notices something that's related to your company, say, a logo, online ad, or article, these become part of their subconscious. Now article marketing lets you reach out multiple times to your readers.
4. Develops Brand Awareness.
As was mentioned, having a lot of articles out on the Web will let you reach many customers and prospects several times. What you may not realize, however, is how wide this reach is. You see, article directories often make your work available to websites and blogs the world over for reprint. And if your work is high-quality, imagine how many people will create positive associations with your company.
5. Promotes Your Services and Products.
Although nobody really wants to read sales pitches, you can subtly promote what your business has to offer through your write-ups. This can be done by including 'suggestions' in your work, and perhaps some links that will lead to your website should your input catches the readers' attention somehow. Of course, make sure your content is of value so they'll read in the first place.
6. Stimulate Website Traffic.
Aside from subtle suggestions, you can still directly promote your business through your article. This is since each of your articles will have bio/author boxes where you can include links to your company site. By simply including a short 'teaser' at the conclusion portion of your post, you might entice click-throughs from your readers, which can lead to possible click-to-sales conversions.
7. Attract New Customers.
Whether your business is fresh out of the oven or has been around for several years now, article marketing will help you gain new patrons. In fact, it's almost a guarantee that you do so. You see, when consumers go online for research, they might end up finding your article and getting impressed by it - so they click your site like and voila! You now have a new customer.
8. Enhance Your SEO Efforts.
This is made possible by the link-building that occurs when your article gets published. And the most your work gets reprinted or republished because of its quality, the most links that lead to your website. Search engines will perceive this as reliability and will give your site better rankings. This leads to better market visibility.
9. It Is for Free.
Almost all article directories offer their sites for posting at no charge. Although some offer upgrades that provide more interesting features, such sites are usually free to use. And even if you did decide to pay for more features, your returns are still likely to be very high. The benefits will greatly outweigh the costs.
10. It Is an Incredibly Easy Promotional Method.
Indeed it is, as it's just a matter of writing useful, high-quality content and taking the time to post them. Besides, you don't have to do the work yourself as you can always outsource the writing aspect to professional writers.
In conclusion, article marketing offers a win-win opportunity for any business owner.
Businesses go to so much trouble when there is one sure-fire, simple, very inexpensive way to attract new clients to a business: Teach a free class. That is what article marketing is like. Your articles are just like free classes. You teach your target readers something helpful in your article. Your resource box then says, "If you enjoyed this article you can visit my website and apply what you have learned."
Being an entrepreneur and earning multiple streams of income is a dream that many have, but in reality it does take some initial hard work to achieve this. Earning multiple streams of income is the wave of the future, and here are some tips and advice for you when you are looking for ways in which to do this for yourself.
Starting a home based business to earn income online takes a significant amount of time and energy upfront to get things going. Not seeing results immediately can be discouraging and cause people to give up too early. In this article, we look at the process of starting a home based business and working through the frustrations to be there when the sales come flowing in.
Cyber marketing has now become an indispensable segment of e-commerce as well as the internet and World Wide Web related topics. Cyber marketing simply refers to a technique of attracting potential customers by advertising your products or services through such means as websites, emails, and banners.
When you look at an article, you may say, "That article looks great, but I have no idea how I would produce something that good." In this article I am going to help you break your article creation process down into "blocks"--smaller bits of information that when assembled together will form a top quality article submission.
Source: http://www.content4reprint.com/internet-marketing/the-top-10-advantages-of-article-marketing.htm
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Interior Decorating Ideas for Guest Room | Home Improvement ...
Although its existence was fading, the guest room is a space that is still available in some homes or residential. Structuring the guest room is sometimes constrained by space limitations. But it can be overcome with the right layout to interior. Guest room arrangement technique is an important thing that must be considered, so that the space is not only comfortable, but also beautiful and interesting. Basically, the size of the guest room does not have to be too broad, because this space is not used every day. Tiny guest room gives a distinct advantage, because it does not take a long time to perform maintenance and clean-ups.
Interior decorating ideas for a small guest room can make use of white color wall paint for the room so it seen more spacious. The use of large glass walls can also help ?expand? the guest room. Furniture design is compact, simple, and not too much detail can also support the interior design of a guest room that is not too broad. Utilization of decorations such as paintings or other wall hangings must support the theme of the interior design guest room as a whole. One painting in medium-size, or a wall hanging, is more than enough to adorn the walls of the guest room that is not too broad.
Wide window and height which located in the guest room will add to the impression of the wide guest room. In addition it also will make the guest room gets sunlight and sufficient air circulation.
Source: http://www.dlecn.com/interior-decorating-ideas-for-guest-room/
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White House urges Moscow to expel Snowden to US
Light shines through a cabin window on seat 17A, the empty seat that an Aeroflot official said was booked in the name of former CIA technician Edward Snowden, shortly before Aeroflot flight SU150 takes off from Moscow to Havana, Cuba, Monday, June 24, 2013. Snowden, who has admitted to leaking National Security Agency secrets, was expected to fly from Russia to Cuba and Venezuela en route to possible asylum in Ecuador, but AP reporters on the flight never saw him get on board. (AP Photo/Max Seddon)
Light shines through a cabin window on seat 17A, the empty seat that an Aeroflot official said was booked in the name of former CIA technician Edward Snowden, shortly before Aeroflot flight SU150 takes off from Moscow to Havana, Cuba, Monday, June 24, 2013. Snowden, who has admitted to leaking National Security Agency secrets, was expected to fly from Russia to Cuba and Venezuela en route to possible asylum in Ecuador, but AP reporters on the flight never saw him get on board. (AP Photo/Max Seddon)
President Barack Obama, right, sit across from Steve Case, right, Chairman and CEO, Revolution LLc, and other CEOs, business owners and entrepreneurs during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, June 24, 2013, to discuss immigration reform. Obama hosted the meeting to discuss the importance of commonsense immigration reform including the Congressional Budget Office analysis that concludes immigration reform would promote economic growth and reduce the deficit. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
White House press secretary Jay Carney gestures during the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, Monday, June 24, 2013. Carney said the U.S. assumes that Edward Snowden is now in Russia and that the White House now expects Russian authorities to look at all the options available to them to expel Snowden to face charges in the U.S. for releasing secret surveillance information . (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
A TV screen shows a news report of Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, at a shopping mall in Hong Kong Sunday, June 23, 2013. The former National Security Agency contractor wanted by the United States for revealing two highly classified surveillance programs has been allowed to leave for a "third country" because a U.S. extradition request did not fully comply with Hong Kong law, the territory's government said Sunday. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
Graphic shows key locations in the life and career of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden; 3c x 5 inches; 146 mm x 127 mm;
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The U.S. assumes National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden remains in Russia, and officials are working with Moscow in hopes he will be expelled and returned to America to face criminal charges, President Barack Obama's spokesman said Monday. He declared that a decision by Hong Kong not to detain Snowden has "unquestionably" hurt relations between the United States and China.
Snowden left Hong Kong, where he has been in hiding, and flew to Moscow but then apparently did not board a plane bound for Cuba as had been expected. His whereabouts were a mystery. The founder of the WikiLeaks secret-spilling organization, Julian Assange, said he wouldn't go into details about where Snowden was but said he was safe.
Snowden has applied for asylum in Ecuador, Iceland and possibly other countries, Assange said.
Obama, asked if he was confident that Russia would expel Snowden, told reporters: "What we know is that we're following all the appropriate legal channels and working with various other countries to make sure that the rule of law is observed."
Obama's spokesman, Jay Carney, earlier Monday said the U.S. was expecting the Russians "to look at the options available to them to expel Mr. Snowden back to the United States to face justice for the crimes with which he is charged."
"The Chinese have emphasized the importance of building mutual trust," Carney added. "And we think that they have dealt that effort a serious setback. If we cannot count on them to honor their legal extradition obligations, then there is a problem. And that is a point we are making to them very directly."
Snowden has given highly classified documents to The Guardian and The Washington Post newspapers disclosing U.S. surveillance programs that collect vast amounts of phone records and online data in the name of foreign intelligence, often sweeping up information on American citizens. He also told the South China Morning Post that "the NSA does all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of your SMS data."
Snowden still has perhaps more than 200 sensitive documents, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said over the weekend.
He had been in hiding in Hong Kong, a former British colony with a degree of autonomy from mainland China. The United States formally sought Snowden's extradition but was rebuffed by Hong Kong officials who said the U.S. request did not fully comply with their laws. The Justice Department rejected that claim, saying its request met all of the requirements of the extradition treaty between the U.S. and Hong Kong.
Said Carney: "We are just not buying that this was a technical decision by a Hong Kong immigration official. This was a deliberate choice by the government to release a fugitive despite a valid arrest warrant, and that decision unquestionably has a negative impact on the U.S.-China relationship."
The dual lines of diplomacy ? harsh with China, hopeful with the Russians ? came just days after Obama met separately with leaders of both countries in an effort to close gaps on some of the major disputes facing them.
Snowden arrived in Moscow on Sunday, but his whereabouts were thrown into question Monday when a plane took off from Moscow for Cuba with an empty seat booked in his name. The U.S. has revoked his passport.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said it would be "deeply troubling" if Russia or Hong Kong had adequate notice about Snowden's plans to flee to a country that would grant him asylum and still allowed him leave.
"We don't know, specifically, where he may head, or what his intended destination may be," Kerry said, responding to a question during a news conference in New Delhi where he was discussing bilateral issues between the U.S. and India.
U.S. officials pointed to improved cooperation with the Russians in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing and to assistance the U.S. has given Russia on law enforcement cases.
"We continue to hope that the Russians will do the right thing," Kerry told NBC News. "We think it's very important in terms of our relationship. We think it's very important in terms of rule of law. These are important standards. We have returned seven criminals that they requested for extradition from the United States over the last two years. So we really hope that the right choice will be made here."
"We don't know, specifically, where he may head, or what his intended destination may be," Kerry said during a news conference in New Delhi.
Carney said the U.S. was in touch through diplomatic and law enforcement channels with countries through which Snowden might travel or where he might end up.
"The U.S. is advising these governments that Mr. Snowden is wanted on felony charges and as such should not be allowed to proceed in any further international travel, other than is necessary to return him here to the United States," Carney said.
An Aeroflot representative who wouldn't give her name told The Associated Press that Snowden wasn't on flight SU150 to Havana, which was filled with journalists trying to track him down.
In Moscow, security around the aircraft was heavy prior to boarding and guards tried to prevent the scrum of photographers and cameramen from taking pictures of the plane, heightening the speculation that Snowden might have been secretly escorted on board.
After spending a night in Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, Snowden had been expected to fly to Cuba and Venezuela en route to possible asylum in Ecuador.
Some analysts said it was likely that the Russians were questioning Snowden, interested in what he knew about U.S. electronic espionage against Moscow.
"If Russian special services hadn't shown interest in Snowden, they would have been utterly unprofessional," Igor Korotchenko, a former colonel in Russia's top military command turned security analyst, said on state Rossiya 24 television.
The White House's tough response to Hong Kong's decision to let Snowden leave came just two weeks after Obama met with Chinese President Xi Jinping for two days of personal diplomacy in a desert retreat in California.
Carney said that after the U.S. sought Snowden's extradition from Hong Kong, authorities there requested additional information from the U.S.
"The U.S. had been in communication with Hong Kong about these inquiries and we were in the process of responding to the request when we learned that Hong Kong authorities had allowed the fugitive to leave Hong Kong," Carney said.
Ecuador's foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, said his government had received an asylum request, adding Monday that the decision "has to do with freedom of expression and with the security of citizens around the world."
Ecuador has rejected some previous U.S. efforts at cooperation and has been helping Assange avoid prosecution by allowing him to stay at its embassy in London.
But Assange's comments that Snowden had applied in multiple places opened other possibilities of where he might try to go.
WikiLeaks has said it is providing legal help to Snowden at his request and that he was being escorted by diplomats and legal advisers from the group.
Icelandic officials have confirmed receiving an informal request for asylum conveyed by WikiLeaks, which has strong links to the tiny North Atlantic nation. But authorities there have insisted that Snowden must be on Icelandic soil before making a formal request.
___
Associated Press White House Correspondent Julie Pace and Associated Press writers Philip Elliott, Matthew Lee and Frederic J. Frommer in Washington, Lynn Berry and Vladimir Isachenkov and Max Seddon in Moscow, Kevin Chan in Hong Kong and Sylvia Hui in London contributed to this report.
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