Obama to name White House cyber official

Fri May 29, 2009 12:03pm EDT

By Diane Bartz
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Friday he would name a top cybersecurity official to the White House as he released a report that recommended how to safeguard the nation's cyber network.
"Cyberspace is real and so are the risks that come with it," said Obama in remarks at the White House.
Obama also said that his administration would not dictate cybersecurity standards for private companies.
The tech industry had pushed for a cybersecurity official to be in the White House to assure access to the president.
The cybersecurity review, headed by Melissa Hathaway, had urged the president to name a White House coordinator to oversee cybersecurity. It also said that the private sector must be involved.
"Now our virtual world is going viral," said Obama. "We have only begun to explore the next generation of technologies that will transform our lives in ways we can't even begin imagine. So a new world awaits, a world of greater security and greater potential prosperity if we reach for it, if we leap."
Holes in U.S. cybersecurity defenses have allowed major incidents of thefts of personal identity, money, intellectual property and corporate secrets.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

Obama's new Supreme court pick

David --I am proud to announce my nominee for the next Justice of the United States Supreme Court: Judge Sonia Sotomayor.This decision affects us all -- and so it must involve us all. I've recorded a special message to personally introduce Judge Sotomayor and explain why I'm so confident she will make an excellent Justice. Please watch the video, and then pass this note on to friends and family to include them in this historic moment.
Judge Sotomayor has lived the America Dream. Born and raised in a South Bronx housing project, she distinguished herself in academia and then as a hard-charging New York District Attorney.Judge Sotomayor has gone on to earn bipartisan acclaim as one of America's finest legal minds. As a Supreme Court Justice, she would bring more federal judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any Justice in 100 years. Judge Sotomayor would show fidelity to our Constitution and draw on a common-sense understanding of how the law affects our day-to-day lives.A nomination for a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land is one of the most important decisions a President can make. And the discussions that follow will be among the most important we have as a nation. You can begin the conversation today by watching this special message and then passing it on:http://my.barackobama.com/SupremeCourtThank you,

5-25-09

Iran tests missile as election race starts

Wed May 20, 2009 3:01pm EDT
By Zahra Hosseinian and Fredrik Dahl
TEHRAN (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday Iran had tested a missile that defense analysts say could hit Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf, a move likely to fuel Western concern about Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Washington voiced concern after Ahmadinejad announced the test on the same day campaigning for the Iran's June 12 presidential election officially started.
U.S. President Barack Obama "has long been concerned" by any development in Iran's missile program, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. A U.S. official said the test was a "step in the wrong direction".
One Western expert saw the missile test as Iran's response to the Israeli prime minister's U.S. visit this week.
Coming a day after Iran's supreme leader accused the United States of promoting terrorism, the test was a further disappointment for the Obama administration, which is seeking rapprochement with Iran after three decades of mutual mistrust.
"Iran just keeps going in the wrong direction. We want them to engage with us, to talk about how we can make the region more stable. This is just a step in the wrong direction," the U.S. official said.
U.S. patience is "not infinite", the official added.
The United States and its allies suspect the Islamic Republic is seeking to build nuclear bombs, a charge Tehran denies, but Obama has offered a new beginning of diplomatic engagement with Iran if it "unclenches its fist."
A U.S. defense official confirmed the launch, although Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to say whether the U.S. military had any evidence of an Iranian missile test.
AT CROSSROADS
"Our concerns are obviously based on their nuclear ambitions and the implications that long- and medium-range missiles have with respect to that," Whitman told reporters. "Iran is at a bit of a crossroads. They have a choice to make.
"They can either continue on this path of continued destabilization of the region or they can decide that they want to pursue relationships with countries in the region and the United States that are more normalized," he said.
In Rome, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini canceled a trip to Iran after Tehran demanded he meet Ahmadinejad in the same northern Iranian province where the missile launch took place, the Italian Foreign Ministry said.
He would have been the most senior official from a European government to visit since Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005.
Ahmadinejad, whose moderate challengers in the June 12 vote accuse him of isolating Iran with his anti-Western speeches, said the country had the power to send any attacker "to hell." Continued...

Samsung Camcorders Stay Out of Your Face

By Rik Fairlie
Samsung’s two new camcorders have a cool design feature that you may not notice at first glance. The ultracompact SMX-C14 and SMX-C10 both employ the same Active Angle Lens design as their forerunner, the $500 HMX-R10.

I spent some hands-on time with the HMX-R10 at a recent Samsung event, and the Active Angle Lens design is both cool and clever. The lens is tilted downward, so the camcorder stays out of your line of sight when shooting, enabling you to interact with your subjects as you record them. In other words, there is no camcorder attached to your face. It takes a few minutes to get the hang of it, but the Active Angle Lens design brings a whole new feel to shooting video.
Both the SMX-C14 and SMX-C10 should handle very comfortably, based on my time with the HMX-R10. The space-age design is pretty sweet, too.
The SMX-C14 has 16 gigabytes of internal memory, plus an SD/SDHC memory card slot for expansion. The SMX-C10 is strictly bring-your-own SD memory card. Samsung says you can record more than six hours of video with 16 gigabytes of memory.
Both models shoot video at a high-definition resolution of 720 by 480 pixels, and also feature a 10X optical zoom, image stabilization, and a swiveling 2.7-inch LCD. Other features include time-lapse recording that enables you to record images at preset intervals that range from every 1 second to 30 seconds. Samsung ships both with software that lets you connect to computers via USB and edit and play video without installing software on the PC. They also offer a one-button straight-to-YouTube capability.
Look for the SMX-C14 and SMX-C10 in July. No word yet from Samsung on pricing.
nytimes.com----Personal Tech

Coming This Week: A Newer, Bigger Kindle

May 04, 2009 05:14pm EDT by Sarah Lacy in Internet, Media, Networking and Communication, Recession
Related: NYT, AMZN, NEWS, ^IXIC

Play VideoNow Playing
It seems that Amazon is not content to bask in its Kindle 2 glow. After a few weeks of rumors, several media outlets are reporting a new large-format Kindle will launch this week, likely on Wednesday. The speculation is that the new Kindle will be about the size of a sheet of paper, and still black-and-white. But the chatter is less about the specs and more about the impact of a newer, larger Kindle.
Much of the expectation had been centered around the new device making a real play at the education market, given the hefty price and weight of textbooks and younger generations’ willingness to read and process information through screens.
But a Sunday article in the New York Times shifted the debate from education to newspapers. As revenues fall by 30% or more, could a new Kindle reignite traditional media subscriptions the way it juiced book sales? Publishers hope so, including the Times. And Amazon isn’t the only horse in the race. The article mentioned competing e-readers are due out from Hearst, News Corp., and Plastic Logic in the next year.
My guest is blogger Om Malik of GigaOm. He was one of several bloggers who said a bigger format Kindle was too little too late for old media. But textbooks? That’s an industry the device could revolutionize.

U.S. cybersecurity review done, heads to Obama soon

Reuters Friday, April 17, 2009; 11:04 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will soon receive the results of a 60-day review of cybersecurity that should weigh in on whether he should name a cybersecurity czar, the White House said on Friday.
The review could also make recommendations on how much should be budgeted to prevent potential hacker attacks on critical infrastructure and fight widespread Internet fraud.
"Today, the interagency group undertaking the review concluded its work and is now in the process of submitting its findings and recommendations for the President's review," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement.
"After the President has had an opportunity to carefully review the group's report, we will begin discussing the results," he added.

The review, led by Melissa Hathaway, a top adviser to the former director of national intelligence, was ordered by the White House in early February. Its importance was driven home earlier this month when the Wall Street Journal reported that cyber-spies had penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system.
The United States for several years has accused the Chinese and Russians, among others, of using cyber-attacks to try to steal American trade and military secrets.
Obama was in Trinidad and Tobago on Friday for a summit with Latin American and Caribbean leaders.
Obama's proposed fiscal 2010 budget, announced in late February, included $355 million for the Department of Homeland Security to make private- and public-sector cyber infrastructure more resilient and secure. The administration also said it would put "substantial" funding for cybersecurity efforts into the national intelligence program, but gave no details since that funding is kept secret.
Some of those funds will go to the National Security Agency, which is responsible for breaking codes and electronic spying.
The White House said previously that it would initiate a drive to develop next-generation secure computers and networking for national security applications; establish tough new standards for cyber security and physical resilience; battle corporate cyber espionage and target criminal activity on the Internet.
Industry executives and analysts say the cybersecurity market will be a fast-growing area in coming years and could generate more than $10 billion in contracts by 2013.
From washingtonpost.com

Is Google evil?

BY Matt Marrone DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, March 19th 2009, 1:05 PM

Is Google evil?
In 2001, just a few years after Sergey Brin and Larry Page formed Google out of a garage, company brass adopted the phrase "Don't Be Evil" as a corporate motto and philosophy. And why not? Their search product revolutionized the Internet and their ad platform broke up the agency stranglehold to help empower the little guy.
Things got murky, though. Google began raising ethical concerns with various projects including mapping the entire planet, archiving classic works of literature and storing newspaper articles. With a project aimed at photographing every street in America and beyond, a feature that tracks the physical location of its users, an e-mail service that searches for keywords in written correspondence - and now with a new online service that records and transcribes voicemail - Google has raised eyebrows among privacy advocates.
Google has built a multi-billion dollar empire, with thousands of employees and a stock price envied around the world - but with great power comes great responsibility, and some fear the Mountain View, Calif.-based company could slowly be turning into a 21st century Big Brother.
Could Google, in fact, be evil?

Google Denies that White House 'Ditched' YouTube

DATE: 03-MAR-2009

By Chloe Albanesius
Google on Monday denied that the White House was dropping YouTube as its video provider of choice.
"One report stated that the White House had 'ditched' YouTube. That report is wrong," Steve Grove with YouTube news and politics wrote in a blog post. "The White House decision does not mean that the White House has stopped using YouTube. The White House continues to post videos to its YouTube channel, as do other agencies like the U.S. Department of Education and the State Department."
President Obama has posted several video messages to his transition Web site and whitehouse.gov via YouTube. Amidst privacy concerns over YouTube cookies, however, Obama's most recent weekly Saturday address used an embedded player on whitehouse.gov instead of the Google-owned video site.
Google has created a special embeddable video player that does not send a cookie until someone plays the video, Grove wrote.
"The White House also informs whitehouse.gov visitors about these cookies in its privacy policy," he said.
The news comes the same day that John Brennan, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, provided an update on his office's 60-day cyber security review.
Among the goals of that review? To "safeguard the privacy rights and civil liberties of our citizens," Brennan said in a statement.
The government also wants to make sure its cyber-security efforts are coordinated between the executive branch, Congress, and the private sector, he said.
The review is set to be completed by April 2009, Brennan said. The team's recommendations will be presented to Obama, including an action plan to identify and prioritize further work related to cyber security.

DTV call center has no problem handling calls

Play Video AP – What the stimulus bill may do for you
Slideshow:Economic Stimulus Plan

Security
Hackers Steal Thousands of Wyndham Credit Card Numbers PC World - Wed Feb 18, 5:30 PM ET
Hackers broke into a computer at Wyndham Hotels and Resorts last July and stole tens of thousands of customer credit card numbers, the hotel chain warns


NEW YORK – The federal call center set up to help viewers through the shutdown of analog broadcast TV signals at many stations this week has been able to easily deal with the volume of calls so far, the Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday.
More than 28,000 people called 1-888-CALL-FCC on Tuesday for help getting their TV sets working, the commission said.
The call center was originally expected to handle 100,000 calls per day around Tuesday, when all U.S. full-power stations were supposed to give up on analog. The deadline was pushed to June 12, but 421 stations, a quarter of the total, elected to stay with the Feb. 17 date. Most big-city stations are holding off until June.
Since many of the 421 stations didn't shut down analog signals until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, more calls are expected on Wednesday. By 11 a.m. Wednesday, the volume was up 5 percent from the day before, the FCC said.
Many of the calls were from customers who didn't know they had to force their converter boxes or digital TV sets to "rescan" the airwaves to find stations that changed their channel assignments when dropping analog, the FCC said.
The abandonment of analog TV signals only affects sets that use antennas. Cable and satellite services are unaffected.
TV stations operated their own call centers or took calls from viewers on a less formal basis. None reported a storm of angry viewers. The National Association of Broadcasters said the DTV call center in Virginia, where two markets went digital, had only 150 calls on Tuesday.

Burning smell fails to tip off driver who drags man 20 miles underneath van

BY Mike Jaccarino And Jonathan Lemire DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Updated Wednesday, February 11th 2009, 8:56 PM

A pedestrian hit by an SUV on a Queens street got stuck under a passing van that dragged him for an incredible 20 miles to Brooklyn, police said.
The gruesome journey began Wednesday on 108th St. in Corona - and did not end until the van driver finally noticed the man's mangled corpse in Brighton Beach nearly an hour later, police said.
"You can't imagine the shock I felt when I climbed out of the van and saw the body," said the van's driver, Manuel Gaspar Latune Sanchez.
"I was in shock," said Sanchez, a freelance deliveryman. "My nerves. ... I couldn't look anymore."
Sanchez had even stopped twice along the way, thinking he smelled something burning.
He did not make the terrible discovery until a passerby flagged him down on Brighton 10th Terrace - nearly 20 miles from the accident scene.
The man had been impaled on a metal skid plate on the underside of the van, and the back of his body had worn off during the long ride, police said.
It is not known if the man was alive when he was swept under the van, although he is believed to have been dead for most of the trip.
Investigators said the victim - whose body was too destroyed to identify immediately - was not in the crosswalk when he tried to cross 108th St. near 51st Ave. just after 6:10a.m.
The driver of an approaching Ford Expedition attempted to swerve, but the SUV slammed into the pedestrian, knocking him to the ground and then running over him with a rear wheel, police said.
Driver Gustavo Acosta pulled over and called 911.
When cops arrived moments later, they could not find the victim, who was already stuck under Sanchez's van.
Sanchez, who had been two cars behind the SUV, later told detectives he thought drivers were swerving to avoid a pothole.
The van's metal skid plate tore into the pedestrian, who was lying faceup in the street, and lodged in his sternum, hooking the victim to the van's chassis, police said.
A security video confirmed Sanchez pulled over a few minutes later and walked around the van.
Because the dead man - who cops said was about 5-feet-4 - could not easily be spotted from the road, Sanchez drove off again.
"I didn't feel it, and I didn't hear anything," said Sanchez, who had been listening to the radio. "I didn't know what happened."
Still oblivious, Sanchez got on the Long Island Expressway a few blocks away and then drove south on the Van Wyck Expressway and west on the Belt Parkway before exiting in Brighton Beach.
He stopped again at Brighton Sixth St., but again found nothing.
"I'm just so nervous and very sad," Sanchez said. "I'm very sorry for the family of the man."
Both men involved in the accident have clean driving records, and neither was charged, detectives said.
The dead man was not carrying identification, but cops found a broken iPhone a business card and a Western Union receipt in his pockets, sources said. A blue jacket was found along the route.
jlemire@nydailynews.com

House Votes to Delay Switch to Digital TV

House Votes to Delay Switch to Digital TV
By Brian Stelter
Television owners appear to have four more months to upgrade their old sets before they will no longer receive analog signals.
The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to extend the transition to digital television by four months, ending a debate about whether to allow consumers more time to make the switch. Broadcasters were scheduled to cease analog broadcasts on Feb. 17, as part of a long-awaited move to digital broadcasting that will make the analog spectrum available for other applications, including for use by wireless companies and public safety agencies. The new deadline is expected to be June 12.
The Senate passed similar legislation last week, and President Obama has signaled that he will sign the bill. In a statement Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage said that “the passage of this bipartisan legislation means that millions of Americans will have the time they need to prepare for the conversion.”
Most television owners, including those with cable or satellite connections, will not be affected by the signal change. But viewers with old antennas will lose service unless converter boxes are installed to translate the digital signals.
Last month The Nielsen Company estimated that 6.5 million households are completely unprepared for the switch, meaning that no televisions in those homes are equipped to receive digital signals.
Jan. 29: Digital TV Beckons, but Many Miss the Call
Mr. Obama had raised concerns about the impending switch during the presidential transition process last month. His transition team called financing for the switch inadequate and called on Congress to consider a delay.
On Wednesday, Ms. Brundage said the White House would “continue to work with Congress to improve the information and assistance available to American consumers in advance of June 12, especially those in the most vulnerable communities.” The stimulus package before Congress may include up to $650 million in financing for coupons to ease the transition.
“Wednesday’s vote came one week after House Republicans blocked the bill when it was in a special fast-track vote that required two-thirds support to pass,” The Associated Press reports. “This time, the bill passed the House under a regular floor vote, which only requires a simple majority.” The House voted 264 to 158.
Michael J. Copps, the acting chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said that the additional four months of transition time would afford “urgently-needed time for a more phased transition.”
In a separate statement, fellow commissioner Robert M. McDowell said the government should stay on message, saying: “If you need a converter box, get it today and hook it up today and start enjoying the benefits of digital television today.” Information on the transition is available at DTV.gov.

Seniors: Don't cut B25 (life)line

BY ERIN DURKIN DAILY NEWS WRITER
Wednesday, February 4th 2009, 2:10 AM
Plans to ax a key bus line in East New York would leave thousands of elderly residents stranded - and scrambling for a way to get to doctors' appointments, shopping, church or the bank.
The B25, which runs from downtown Brooklyn to Broadway Junction, is one of six borough bus lines set to be eliminated unless the MTA gets a massive infusion of funds from the state.
Elderly riders rely on the bus to get downtown because there's no escalator leading to the A train at the Broadway Junction subway station.
"I'm old and arthritic," said Edith Stanley, 77, who takes the B25 to church every Sunday and to go shopping downtown. "I can't go up or down those steps with these legs. Leave the buses alone. We really need them."
Chris Banks, executive director of East New York United Concerned Citizens, estimated 2,000 to 3,000 seniors in Brownsville and East New York depend on the B25.
"We don't want the MTA to balance the budget on the backs of the less fortunate or the elderly," he said.
The MTA is urging the state legislature to approve a plan to raise $2.5 billion a year through a payroll tax and tolls on the East River and Harlem River bridges.
"We don't want to have to implement the service cutbacks," said MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan. "We are asking anyone who uses transit to contact their state legislators."
The agency faces a $1.2 billion budget gap this year. But Barbara Fisher, 72, who can't climb stairs because of upper respiratory problems, urged the authority to find savings elsewhere.
"I need that bus to get to the hospital, get my medicine and get some decent food," said Fisher. "I think it's very unfair that they're cutting that line."
Councilman Charles Barron (D-East New York, Brownsville) plans to lead a march along the route of the B25 on Feb. 21 to protest the cut.
"This cannot happen," Barron said. "Our seniors will have to take the B15 to the 46 to the 48 just to get downtown. That's absurd."
That prospect was daunting for Delores McCowan, 74, who takes the B25 downtown to get to doctor's appointments and to go shopping.
"I really don't know what I would do" if the route was eliminated, she said, adding, "I would be stuck in the house alot."

Digital TV conversion puts customers at risk of glitches, further cost

WASHINGTON — In less than a month, on Feb. 17, all full-power stations plan to shut off analog signals and air digital- only broadcasts. Viewers with older analog TV sets will need to hook up a converter box to receive over-the-air programs. Digital TV sets will automatically receive the new signals. Cable and satellite subscribers should not be affected by the switch.

But many consumers are finding that upgrading to a digital set or adding a converter box may not be enough to get a reliable digital signal. Some will also have to buy more-powerful antennas to install in living rooms or on roofs, adding expense and frustration for the nearly 14 million households who rely on over-the-air signals.
“People are very surprised when they realize they can’t get [the channels],” said Barry Goodstadt, an independent analyst who has been studying digital reception issues. He predicts that 70 percent of households with indoor “rabbit ears” antennas will have to upgrade to more powerful equipment.

Problems with television antennas and reception were the most common issues among residents of Wilmington, N. C., a city that switched to all-digital broadcasting in September as a test case for the Federal Communications Commission.
About 75 percent of consumers who called help lines reported that their converter boxes did not appear to be working, according to a team of student volunteers answering calls. More than half of the callers were advised to change the direction of their antenna and to have their converter boxes scan for channels.

New digital audiences will probably discover the “digital cliff,” the all-or-nothing quality of digital reception. The picture is excellent until the signal weakens or is interrupted, causing the picture to disappear completely.

Digital signals are supposed to travel farther over flat terrain, but they are susceptible to interference from hills, trees, buildings, bad weather or planes flying overhead.

Meanwhile, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N. Y., is pushing a bill to delay the transition to digital broadcasting until this summer.

Thousands of coupons to help owners of older analog sets buy digital converter boxes have expired, according to Schumer, leaving some households unprepared for the transition.

This would ultimately leave consumers scrambling to purchase newer sets or digital converter boxes with their own money after the switch to digital- only broadcasting.

The proposed bill, also pushed by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W. Va., would delay the transition until June 12, leaving enough time, in Schumer’s and Rockefeller’s opinion, to resolve problems with expired coupons and better prepare households for the transition.
Phillip Lucas of The Buffalo News Washington Bureau contributed to this report.

$650 million more sought for digital TV transition

(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

Thu Jan 15, 2009 11:23am EST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats in the House of Representatives proposed $650 million to continue the coupon program for the transition to digital television, according to a summary of the economic stimulus legislation released by Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday.
Congress mandated the February 17 switch to digital television, which will affect some 20 million consumers who do not already use the technology. Owners of older television sets receiving over-the-air signals must buy converter boxes, replace their TVs with digital models, or subscribe to satellite or digital cable service.
But the government has said it had run out of $40 discount coupons for consumers to help pay for converter boxes needed to keep their sets from going blank, leading to calls for delaying the analog switch-off and for more money in the economic stimulus package for the program.
(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

Waiting list in place for digital TV converter box coupons

Waiting list in place for digital TV converter box coupons
New applicants put on hold until more funds are freed up
Jon Yates What's Your Problem?
January 7, 2009
The picture just got fuzzier for those of you who waited until the last minute to apply for the federal government's $40 TV converter box coupons.With demand skyrocketing, the agency that oversees the program has exhausted the coupons it has on hand, so new applicants are being placed on a waiting list.That means if you apply for a coupon today, it might not arrive before Feb. 17, when TV broadcasters are mandated to switch from analog to digital signals.Without a converter box, analog televisions that are not hooked up to cable or a satellite service will not be able to receive digital signals after the switch.
Todd Sedmak, a spokesman for the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said viewers who have not yet applied for the coupons need to consider alternatives."If you're someone who needs to make the switch and you haven't gotten your coupon yet, you can buy a converter box without a coupon," he said. "You can buy a new TV or subscribe to cable or satellite service."In October, the Problem Solver set up a coupon-sharing program called Converter Boxes For Everyone. Almost 1,000 readers requested coupons from the Problem Solver after having problems with the federal system. More than 800 readers donated coupons.Many of you explained that you cannot afford the boxes, which cost $40 to $80, without the coupons. The latest glitch is a reflection of how the federal program was set up. In creating the program, Congress placed a $1.34 billion cap on the amount the government could promise in coupons at any one time. The cap includes coupons that have been redeemed or have been issued but not yet turned in or expired.The coupons are coded to expire in 90 days. When an unused coupon expires, $40 is put back into the program's budget and a new coupon is issued to the next person on the waiting list.As of Monday, the waiting list was 103,000 coupons, Sedmak said. According to federal statistics, roughly 300,000 unused coupons expire each week, meaning an equal number of new coupons will be printed and distributed. Given those numbers, it is possible applicants will spend only a short time on the waiting list.But even before the waiting list, it took three to four weeks for applicants to receive coupons. With 41 days before the switch, any delay could push the turnaround time past Feb. 17.And a flood of fresh applications is expected as the switch date draws near. In December, the government received 7 million coupon requests; 4.5 million had been anticipated. So far, the government says it has sent coupons to 12.6 million households that rely on televisions with antennas. The Nielsen Co. said in January 2007 that 14.3 million households rely on over-the-air television.So if you need the coupons and you haven't applied, do so immediately.It wouldn't hurt to also prepare a backup plan.yourproblem@tribune.com

Zimbabwe 'to prosecute 140 white farmers'

Zimbabwe Video: Tutu accuses S Africa over Mugabe
HARARE (AFP) – Zimbabwe will prosecute 140 white landowners on charges of failing to vacate their farms under the country's controversial 2000 land reform programme, state media reported Sunday.
"A total of 140 farmers are to be prosecuted for failing to vacate farms after being issued with eviction notices," The Sunday Mail said, citing a report presented at the ruling ZANU-PF party's national conference.
The government ordered the white owners to leave by September 30 to make way for resettlement by landless blacks, under often-violent land reforms that critics blame for causing chronic food shortages in this onetime regional breadbasket.
The report did not specify what charges the farmers would face but law experts said it could be trespassing for failing to comply with the government ultimatium.
The report to the just-finished conference said another 278 farms owned by 13 countries would be spared from government seizure and prosecution under a Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements (BIPAs).
This provision involves more than 522,000 hectares (1.3 million acres) owned by Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Mauritius, the Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States, it said.
The government also recommended that 341 white farmers be allowed to continue farming across the country, and is drafting documents to give them a 99-year security of tenure on their properties "as the land reform programme nears conclusion," the report said.
A further 97 white farmers will be allowed to continue running conservancies or private game parks in six provinces, it said.
This brings to 438 the number of white farmers allowed to retain their land out of 6,708 operating in Zimbabwe before the reforms were launched eight years ago, The Sunday Mail said.
A total 1,530 new black farmers have received land offer letters from the government as of September 30 and the figure is expected to rise 1,800 by the end of this week, it added.
Under President Robert Mugabe's programme, at least 4,000 properties formerly run by white farmers have been seized for redistribution to blacks, the majority of whom lacked the skills and means to farm.
The chatoic programme is held largely responsible for the country's economic crisis, which has saddled Zimbabwe with the world's highest inflation rate and left nearly half the population in need of aid.
Mugabe, however, blames the food crisis on successive droughts and Zimbabwe's economic woes on Western-backed sanctions slapped on him and his aides for allegedly rigging his re-election in 2002.
Scores of frustrated white farmers have left the country to resettle in other African states, notably Nigeria. Many others have sought legal recourse to try to prevent the loss of their farms.
Nigeria, a regional powerhouse, invited the farmers to set up shop in April 2005 in a project located in Shonga in central Kwara state, which three years later is shaping up as an economic success story.

Voting starts in Ghanaian presidential run-off

by Susan Njanji Susan Njanji – 2 hrs 13 mins ago
AFP/File – Nana Akufo-Addo (right), presidential candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party and John Attah Mills, …
ACCRA (AFP) – Ghanaians turned out Sunday to choose a successor to outgoing president John Kufuor in the second round of an election seen as a test of just how stable the west African nation is.
Nana Akufo-Addo of Kufuor's New Patriotic Party (NPP) is squaring off against John Atta-Mills of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) of ex-president Jerry Rawlings.
The vote was forced into a run-off after neither of the leading candidates won more than 50 percent of ballots cast in the first round on December 7. The elections are only the third since the country's return to democracy in 1992.
The first round of voting was hailed by observers as peaceful but tensions have risen in the past few days, with the NPP and NDC trading accusations of plots to rig the election.
At polling stations Sunday voters were unanimous that they wanted peace.
"Before the election people were talking about possible fighting and war. But we don't want war in Ghana, we don't want what happened in Ivory Coast to happen here," said Lydia Amponseah, a 28-year-old hairdresser with a baby at her breast.
Neighbouring Ivory Coast, once held up as an African success story, has been in the grip of a political crisis since a failed coup in 2002.
Okyere Darko, a retired military officer of 60, echoed a similar sentiment as he voted in Accra's Abokobi district:
"We've seen troubles before - we don't want a repeat of that," he told AFP, referring to the years before democracy when Ghana suffered a series of coups.
After the first round the NPP's Akufo-Addo led with 49.13 percent of valid ballots cast while the NDC's Atta-Mills trailed with 47.92 percent.
But the NDC is now the largest party in parliament after it swept 114 seats out of the 230, while the NPP took 107 seats, according to new figures from the electoral commission.
Seven seats went to smaller opposition parties and two seats are yet to be determined.
The NPP lost 19 seats, all to the NDC.
On the eve of the runoff the two parties accused each other of trying to rig or disrupt the voting.
The NDC said it had noted irregularities in early voting, while the NPP said opposition leaflets were trying to inflame tribal and ethnic tension.
Kufuor called for calm: "I am appealing to all Ghanaians... we should all keep cool, go and vote, as a peaceful exercise, as a legitimate exercise."
The polls are being closely watched as a litmus test of whether the country has truly consolidated its democracy.
Some 12.5 million people are eligible to cast ballots in the polls which close at 5 pm (1700 GMT).
Last week Guinea, Africa's second-oldest independent state, was rocked by a bloodless coup, moments after the death of a its longtime leader Lansana Conte.
Mauritania's first democratically-elected leader was ousted in a coup in August.

Zimbabwe 'to prosecute 140 white farmers'

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UN warns 5.5m Zimbabweans need food, collapse of health system

Yahoo News 12-22-08
HARARE (AFP) – About half of Zimbabwe's population needs food aid, UN experts said Monday, as a first consignment of supplies designed to help fight a cholera epidemic arrived in the troubled southern African nation.
As President Robert Mugabe faced fresh calls to step down from Western powers, the UN's warning highlighted yet another crisis facing Zimbabwe as it also battles a deadly cholera epidemic and runaway inflation.
And in a further bid to tighten the screw on Mugabe, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she planned to lobby Washington's allies to impose sanctions against the regime in Harare.
"An estimated 5.5 million people may need food assistance," said the UN's special rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutterhe, in a joint statement from four senior UN officials.
There was "just not enough food" in the country of around 12 million which was once the bread basket of Africa, he added, calling on Zimbabwe's government and the international community for increased help.
In the same statement, the special rapporteur on health rights, Anand Grover said the country's medical services could not control the cholera outbreak, which has killed more than 1,120.
"Zimbabwe's health system has completely collapsed. It cannot control the cholera outbreak which is spreading throughout the country, with a daily increase in the death toll," he said.
As the UN experts sounded the alarm bells, the children's fund UNICEF was delivering its first consignment of aid -- intravenous fluids, drip equipment, essential drugs, midwifery and obstetric kits -- to boost government services in the fight against cholera.
"This is a strategic measure to address a desperate situation," said UNICEF acting representative in Zimbabwe, Roeland Monasch.
Once seen as a post-colonial role model, Zimbabwe's economy has been in a downward spiral since the turn of the decade when thousands of white-owned farms began being seized under a controversial land reform programme.
Food production has since plummetted and inflation has skyrocketed, hitting 231 percent when the last official data was released in August.
Zimbabwe has also been in political crisis since elections in March when the long-ruling ZANU-PF party lost control of parliament and Mugabe was pushed into second place by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in a poll for president.
Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, pulled out of a run-off after scores of his supporters were killed.
A power-sharing agreement signed by the two rivals in September was seen as an opportunity for the country to turn a corner but it has yet to be implemented amid disagreements over the control of key organs of state.
Under the terms of the power-sharing deal, Mugabe would remain president with Tsvangirai becoming prime minister.
But with Mugabe now declaring that Zimbabwe is "mine", both the United States and former colonial power Britain have the deal will be unacceptable as unless the 84-year-old Mugabe leaves office.
"Power-sharing isn't dead but Mugabe has become an absolute impossible obstacle to achieving it," said Britain's Africa minister Mark Malloch Brown.
"He's so distrusted by all sides that I think the Americans are absolutely right, he's going to have to step aside."
Malloch-Brown's comments came a day after the top US diplomat for Africa, Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer, said Washington would not restore aid to the cholera-wracked country unless Mugabe stood down.
In an interview with AFP, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she would consult Washington's allies about imposing international asset freezes and other sanctions against the Mugabe regime which Washington has already put in place.
"I am going to consult with our allies, particularly with some of our African allies and with the British and we will see," Rice said.
"But I think it high time that the international community step up the sanctions on this regime."
Mugabe, who has ruled the southern African nation ever since independence in 1980, has made clear that he has no intention of standing down.
In a defiant weekend speech at ZANU-PF's annual conference, he vowed that he would "never, never surrender" and that "Zimbabwe is mine."

Chinese ship rescued from pirates in Gulf of Aden

By David Clarke – 2 hrs 36 mins ago
NAIROBI (Reuters) – A multilateral force rescued a Chinese ship from Somali pirates on Wednesday, in a sign foreign navies patrolling the shipping lane linking Europe to Asia are adopting tougher new tactics.
The Chinese boat Zhenhua 4 was one of four vessels seized by pirates on Tuesday, the same day the United Nations Security Council took a strong stand against the attacks and authorized countries to pursue the gunmen on land.
A Kenyan maritime group said the crew locked themselves in their cabins and radioed for help. A warship and two helicopters came and fired on the pirates, but did not kill them, it said.
Chinese state media said a "multilateral" force with helicopters hovered over the ship and successfully fought off the pirates.
Rampant piracy off the coast of Somalia this year has earned gunmen millions of dollars in ransom, hiked shipping insurance costs and caused international alarm.
The seizures have prompted some of the world's biggest shipping firms to switch routes from the Suez Canal and send cargo vessels around southern Africa instead -- which could push up the cost of commodities and manufactured goods.
Foreign navies have rushed to patrol shipping lanes off the Horn of Africa nation, but have had little impact so far on the pirates who mostly operate out of northern Somalia.
According to the Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers Assistance program, there have been 124 incidents of piracy off Somali this year and some 60 successful hijacks.
Nearly 400 people and 19 ships are being held along the coast, including a Saudi supertanker with 2 million barrels of oil and a Ukrainian cargo ship with 33 tanks.
VERY ROBUST APPROACH
Last week the European Union launched an anti-piracy operation with warships and aircraft from Britain, France, Greece and Spain, and pledged to take a "very robust" approach.
China is reported to be seriously considering sending naval ships to the region to escort vessels and Kenya said this week it would sink any pirates carrying out attacks in its waters.
Mwangura said on Wednesday the Chinese vessel, with 30 Chinese crew, and a yacht with two on board had been seized off Yemen a day earlier. A tugboat and a 100-meter (330-ft) cargo ship belonging to an Istanbul-based shipping company were also taken in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday.
Analysts say the problem must be tackled on land as well, but the weak Somalian government says it does not have the resources to tackle the buccaneers.
The country has been in virtual anarchy since the collapse of a dictatorship in 1991. Islamist insurgents control most of the south and feuding clan militias hold sway elsewhere.
The fractured Western-backed administration controls only the capital Mogadishu and the seat of parliament Baidoa, while pirates are mostly based in the northern Puntland region.
The resolution passed by the 15-nation Security Council on Tuesday said states "may undertake all necessary measures in Somalia, including in its airspace" to stop the pirates.
The Security Council called on countries to "take part actively" in the fight against piracy and Washington said the United Nations should deploy a peacekeeping force.
Authorities in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland welcomed the decision to take the battle onto land.
"We, Puntland authority, have agreed to support this resolution. And we want our security forces to work with the U.N. forces because we are the main victims of piracy," Abdulqadir Muse Yusuf, Puntland's assistant minister for fisheries, told Reuters.
Iran also called for tougher action on Tuesday, saying five of its oil tankers had been attacked this year and the cost of crude could rise if strategic sea lanes went unprotected.
Somalia's neighbor Kenya also began extensive air and sea patrols this week. "We are daring them to try any attacks on Kenyan waters and we will sink them," Chief of General Staff Jeremiah Kianga said on Monday.
(Additional reporting by Wangui Kanina in Nairobi, Celestyne Achieng in Mombasa, Abdiqani Hassan in Bosasso and Ian Ransom and Sally Huang in Beijing; editing by Andrew Roche)
Microsoft releasing emergency patch for perilous IE flaw

Iraqi shoe-throwing reporter becomes the talk of Iraq

By Waleed Ibrahim
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush in a supreme insult has suddenly become the talk of Iraq, hailed by marchers as a national hero but blasted by the government as a barbarian.

The little-known Shi'ite reporter, said to have harbored anger against Bush for the thousands of Iraqis who died after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, had previously made headlines only once, when he was briefly kidnapped by unknown gunmen in 2007.
TV reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi remained in detention on Monday, accused by the Iraqi government of a "barbaric act." He would be sent for trial on charges of insulting the Iraqi state, said the prime minister's media advisor, Yasin Majeed.
His employer, independent al-Baghdadiya television, demanded his release and demonstrators rallied for him in Baghdad's Sadr City, in the southern Shi'ite stronghold of Basra and in the holy city of Najaf, where some threw shoes at a U.S. convoy.

"Thanks be to God, Muntazer's act fills Iraqi hearts with pride," his brother, Udai al-Zaidi, told Reuters Television.
"I'm sure many Iraqis want to do what Muntazer did. Muntazer used to say all the orphans whose fathers were killed are because of Bush."
Zaidi shouted "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," at Bush in a news conference he held with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during a farewell visit to Baghdad on Sunday.
The journalist then flung one shoe at Bush, forcing him to duck, followed by another, which sailed over Bush's head and slammed into the wall behind him. Throwing shoes at someone is the worst possible insult in the Arab world.
Zaidi was dragged struggling and screaming from the room by security guards and could be heard shouting outside while the news conference continued after momentary mayhem.
'BARBARIC'
The government said Zaidi had carried out "a barbaric and ignominious act" that was not fitting of the media's role and demanded an apology from his television station.
Al-Baghdadiya television played endless patriotic music, with Zaidi's face plastered across the screen.
A newscaster solemnly read out a statement calling for his release, "in accordance with the democratic era and the freedom of expression that Iraqis were promised by U.S. authorities."
It said that any harsh measures taken against the reporter would be reminders of the "dictatorial era" that Washington said its forces invaded Iraq to end.
At a university in Baghdad, students appeared to abandon routine classes to talk about Zaidi and his shoe-throwing. Continued...
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