Keep your tweets your own and your Twitter account safe with two-step verification
After a slew of high-profile account hacks, Twitter has finally launched a two-step verification system to keep your account from falling into the wrong hands. Once enrolled, each time you sign in to Twitter.com you will be asked to enter a six digit verification number sent by SMS to your phone. If you don't have your number, you can't log in.
Existing accounts on other devices should still work, and when your Twitter account to other devices or applications, you'll visit your applications page to generate a temporary password to validate who you are. Users can set up the new account verification system starting today from their Twitter settings, and you'll need a verified phone number and email address.
Two-step authentication is a good move (probably one Twitter should have adopted a while ago) and one that we heartily recommend. It may be inconvenient setting things up the first time, but losing your online identity to hackers is far worse. To learn more, and get started, visit the source link below.
The popularization of the language problem in kindergartens two weeks before the elections and without attracting experts is merely a political game, Reform Party believes (RP).
The matter of language use at kindergartens is mentioned now only because municipal elections will be held in two weeks. This creates tension within society. Only two political powers benefit from it ? the National Alliance and Harmony Centre, says RP Saeima faction?s press secretary Kaspars Odins.
Language education at kindergartens is, primarily, within the competency of experts and parents, the party believes.
On Monday, May 20, during the Coalition Parties Cooperation Council meeting, RP noted that the bill intended to amend the Education Law should first be presented to experts and responsible institutions for review.
?We expect our partners to show a responsible approach in the general legislation process as a whole and this specific matter. We have previously noted that the opinion of the ombudsman and international human rights experts is important not just in regard to limiting the authority of criminally prosecuted deputies?, ? RP Saeima faction?s chairman Edmunds Demiters comments.
According to him, RP requests first getting the opinions of the ombudsman and children?s rights specialists, psychologists and human rights experts on the proposed amendments. It is also necessary to acquire the conclusions of the Education and Science Ministry.
?It is vital to also secure the opinions of different municipalities as well, because they are the one that found pre-school education institutions and provide them with funding?, ? Demiters said.
It will be possible to look into this matter in detail once the conclusions of all aforementioned experts and institution are received, the party representative said.
On Wednesday, May 22, coalition partners will be discussing the initiative of the National Alliance to have pre-school education facilities switch to Latvian language only education.
It should be added that the new Education Minister Vyacheslav Dombrovskis believes that all residents of Latvia, regardless of their ethnicity, are required to know Latvian language. This is why the ministry is working on increasing the teaching of Latvian language at kindergartens of national minorities, LETA reports.
?At the same time, I am certain that multilingualism is Latvia?s national treasure. The more languages Latvian residents know, the larger the country?s economic competitiveness is?, ? the minister says.
Although Google Checkout was rolled into Google Wallet at the end of 2011, it's still been an option for folks who peddle their wares online to collect payments. Come November 20th, however, the service will officially shut down. While Page and Co. recommend US-based merchants switch to the revamped Wallet, they're partnering with Braintree, Shopify and Freshbooks to offer discounted migration options as well. Developers using Checkout for transactions through the Chrome Web Store, Google Play and Offers Marketplace will automatically be transitioned in the coming weeks.
Study of young Israelis emphasizes need for avoidance of sun exposurePublic release date: 20-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jerry Barach jerryb@savion.huji.ac.il 972-258-82904 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Jerusalem, May 20, 2013 A new study conducted using extensive medical records of over one million Israeli adolescents before military service shows clearly how exposure to the Israeli sun of young, light-skinned children increases substantially the risk of cutaneous melanoma (a serious form of skin cancer).
The incidence of cutaneous melanoma is on the rise in all parts of the world where light-skinned people live. Rates have tripled over the last decades in the United States, and the rise was even steeper in Europe.
What about in Israel? What segments of the population are more at risk and at what stage? Dr. Hagai Levine and Prof. Jeremy Kark from the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine and other researchers set out to find the answers, using records of young Jewish males who were examined between 1967 and 2005. These men were followed up by data linkage for cancer incidence until the end of 2006. Females were not included because their baseline data were available only for a more recent period.
In their study, the researchers found not surprisingly a quadrupled higher risk of skin cancer among native-born Israelis of European origin (including the Americas, Australia and South Africa) and those immigrating from those countries over those of North African or Asian origin.
Israel's subtropical latitude means residents are exposed to more solar radiation than in much of Europe, and therefore the findings implicate childhood sun exposure as a clear, preventable risk factor for melanoma. But even for those who spent their childhood in Europe, the data showed that those who came to Israel before age 10 had almost double the risk of cutaneous melanoma compared to those who arrived from Europe later in childhood.
The study of melanoma susceptibility according to countries of origin is especially suited to Israel because of the massive immigration that has taken place since the establishment of the state, bringing Jews of varying skin hues from Europe, North Africa and Western Asia.
The study on Israel and cutaneous melanoma was published recently in the International Journal of Cancer. In addition to Dr. Levine and Prof. Kark, researchers from the Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps, the National Cancer Registry and other institutions
participated in the work.
They used an extensive database culled from military medical examinations, enabling them to conduct a large-scale migrant cohort study in order to identify high-risk populations and critical periods of sun exposure during childhood, which would aid in directing public health and research efforts.
Israel is one of the few western countries where military service is mandatory. All Israeli Jewish adolescents are obligated to present themselves at age 17 for a medical board examination before military service (even if exempted later from service). Consequently, use of these data provides a generally representative sample of the young Jewish population, particularly of males.
These findings, say the researchers, provide solid support for the importance of stressing the issue of childhood sun exposure, particularly in light skinned people, as a preventable risk factor for cutaneous melanoma and can aid in directing public health and research efforts.
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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.
Study of young Israelis emphasizes need for avoidance of sun exposurePublic release date: 20-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jerry Barach jerryb@savion.huji.ac.il 972-258-82904 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Jerusalem, May 20, 2013 A new study conducted using extensive medical records of over one million Israeli adolescents before military service shows clearly how exposure to the Israeli sun of young, light-skinned children increases substantially the risk of cutaneous melanoma (a serious form of skin cancer).
The incidence of cutaneous melanoma is on the rise in all parts of the world where light-skinned people live. Rates have tripled over the last decades in the United States, and the rise was even steeper in Europe.
What about in Israel? What segments of the population are more at risk and at what stage? Dr. Hagai Levine and Prof. Jeremy Kark from the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine and other researchers set out to find the answers, using records of young Jewish males who were examined between 1967 and 2005. These men were followed up by data linkage for cancer incidence until the end of 2006. Females were not included because their baseline data were available only for a more recent period.
In their study, the researchers found not surprisingly a quadrupled higher risk of skin cancer among native-born Israelis of European origin (including the Americas, Australia and South Africa) and those immigrating from those countries over those of North African or Asian origin.
Israel's subtropical latitude means residents are exposed to more solar radiation than in much of Europe, and therefore the findings implicate childhood sun exposure as a clear, preventable risk factor for melanoma. But even for those who spent their childhood in Europe, the data showed that those who came to Israel before age 10 had almost double the risk of cutaneous melanoma compared to those who arrived from Europe later in childhood.
The study of melanoma susceptibility according to countries of origin is especially suited to Israel because of the massive immigration that has taken place since the establishment of the state, bringing Jews of varying skin hues from Europe, North Africa and Western Asia.
The study on Israel and cutaneous melanoma was published recently in the International Journal of Cancer. In addition to Dr. Levine and Prof. Kark, researchers from the Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps, the National Cancer Registry and other institutions
participated in the work.
They used an extensive database culled from military medical examinations, enabling them to conduct a large-scale migrant cohort study in order to identify high-risk populations and critical periods of sun exposure during childhood, which would aid in directing public health and research efforts.
Israel is one of the few western countries where military service is mandatory. All Israeli Jewish adolescents are obligated to present themselves at age 17 for a medical board examination before military service (even if exempted later from service). Consequently, use of these data provides a generally representative sample of the young Jewish population, particularly of males.
These findings, say the researchers, provide solid support for the importance of stressing the issue of childhood sun exposure, particularly in light skinned people, as a preventable risk factor for cutaneous melanoma and can aid in directing public health and research efforts.
###
[ | 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.
Just like Untappd, Beer Hunt for iOS combines the best parts of a night out drinking beer with the best parts of Foursquare. The difference here, though, is that Beer Hunt turns all into one colossal social, brew-drinking, liver-killing experience.
NEW YORK (AP) ? Ryan Seacrest will produce a new music series for the Spanish-speaking Telemundo network that will feature two established artists competing against each other for the audience's vote.
The format for "Superstar Showdown" has been successful in other countries. Emilio Romano, president of Telemundo Media, said he's hoping the "American Idol" host will use his connections and leverage to attract talent. The network hasn't publicly set a start date for the series.
Telemundo announced several of its programming plans for next season on Sunday. The network usually gets less than half of the audience of the dominant Univision, but has become more aggressive with the backing of corporate parent NBC Universal. Telemundo had its highest ratings ever during the first three months of 2013.
"We've been the underdog for so many years and we've been given the mission to fight and fight hard," Romano said.
Telemundo will air five new telenovelas next season. The prime-time soap operas, stuffed with melodrama and romance, are generally the programming backbone for Spanish-speaking networks. One new series, "Camelia la Tejana," is based on a popular song and features a young woman trying to escape from one of Mexico's most powerful drug lords.
Romano said he hopes Telemundo can distinguish itself from its competition by creating telenovelas specifically with the U.S. market in mind, instead of remaking series that originated in other countries. He hopes they will speak more to an American audience concerned about immigration issues and nostalgic for the countries they left behind.
One example he gave was last year's remake of the movie "Maid in Manhattan."
Telemundo also announced the creation of a Los Angeles-based production studio, Fluency, that will produce content for Latinos in the U.S in both Spanish and English.
Telemundo is expanding its sports coverage. The weekly show, "Titulares y Mas," will begin airing all weeknights at 11:35 p.m. The network will also start a daytime game show that pits youngsters against adults.
Former basketball star Dennis Rodman has announced he will be returning to North Korea later this year. Rodman hopes to convince the dictator to free American citizen Kenneth Bae from one of Kim Jong Un?s prison camps because Obama “can’t do sh**”. Kenneth Bae was arrested in November 2012 while he was leading a tour ...
For the first time, the public can track back the environmental changes occurring on our planet's surface over time via Google Earth Engine.?
By Mai Ng?c Ch?u,?Contributor / May 10, 2013
Google has launched Google Earth Engine, a global, zoomable timelapse map that allows you to witness how humans have altered the surface of the Earth since 1984.?
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The interactive map?lets you track year-by-year changes to every spot on Earth, such as the drying up of Aral Sea in Central Asia, the destruction of the Amazon rainforest in South America, or the urban expansion in the Nevada desert.
Google started this project in 2009 through a partnership with NASA and the US Geological Survey (USGS), who provided the search giant with more than two millions of satellite images on Earth's surface to build the map.
The pictures were collected by the Landsat satellite program, a joint mission USGS and NASA started in 1972 to observe the Earth from its orbit.
Google also worked with?the CREATE Lab at Carnegie Mellon University to finalize the website, which animated the images and made them interactive.
By making satellite imagery available online, Google said its Google Earth Engine enables scientists, independent researchers, and nations to explore this massive database to detect deforestation, classify land cover, estimate forest biomass and carbon, and map the world?s roadless areas.
"Much like the?iconic image of Earth from the Apollo 17 mission?which had a profound effect on many of us?this time-lapse map is not only fascinating to explore, but we also hope it can inform the global community?s thinking about how we live on our planet and the policies that will guide us in the future," said Moore.
For USGS, the launch of Google Earth Engine is?the latest example of how its policy of unrestricted access and free distribution of Landsat satellite imagery to the public brings up innovation and mutual awareness of environmental conditions around Earth.
"The 40-year archive of Landsat images of every spot on earth is a treasure trove of scientific information that can form the basis for a myriad of useful applications by commercial enterprises, government scientists and managers, the academic community, and the public at large," said Anne Castle, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Water and Science in a USGS press release.
Google Earth Engine is also part of Time?magazine's Timelapse?project, a website that gathers and compiles the imagery via an interactive presentation.
In an in-depth story on Google Earth Engine, Time said the Google's project benefits not only scientists and governments, but also the public.
"For governments and environmental scientists, there is a lot of arcane data to extract from the maps and movies. For everyone else, there is something subtler but just as important: perspective. We tend our own tiny plots on Earth, our houses and yards often taking up less room than that infield-size pixel. It?s only when we get above ourselves ? say, 438 miles above ? that we can see how we?re changing our planet and begin to consider how we can be better stewards of it."
Other key visualizations included on Google Earth Engine are?the retreat of the Columbia Glacier in Alaska, the creation of the artificial Palm islands off Dubai's coast, and the drying of lake Urmia in Iran. ?
As counting continues in Pakistan's historic elections, Mr. Sharif's party has pulled away from its two main rivals. But the process of building a coalition will take time.?
By Saba Imtiaz,?Correspondent / May 12, 2013
Nawaz Sharif celebrates as early vote counts show his party with a commanding lead in the polls.
K.M. Chaudary/AP
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It took scores of terrorist attacks, months of speculation and campaigning, but the verdict is in: Twice-elected prime minister Nawaz Sharif is set to win a third term after his party won a majority in the country?s parliamentary elections.
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Pakistan went to the polls?Saturday?to elect candidates for the lower house of parliament and four provincial assemblies. Mr. Sharif?s party, the center-right Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ? is projected to win over 120 seats, with the ruling center-left Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) trailing by a huge margin. Despite making gains and galvanizing new voters to take part, a national upset wasn't in the cards for former cricket-star Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).?
But Sharif isn?t going to take over power?tomorrow?? or even next week. There?s a lengthy process ahead of forming a coalition.
The victorious Sharif told supporters?on Saturday?night that he would like an ?absolute majority? and ?not have to ask for votes? but was open to talking to every party. He is often said that he is open to a coalition, but has warned that a ?split mandate? is not what Pakistan needs given the scale of the country's challenges.?
Pakistan?s lower house of parliament ? the main legislative body ? comprises 342 seats, of which 272 were up for grabs in the election. Polls for several seats were suspended after the deaths of candidates. Polling may also be conducted again for one seat in Karachi, which was marred by reports of electoral fraud and delays. The other 60 seats, "reserved" for women and non-Muslims, are indirectly elected based on the number of seats won by their parties. The party that reaches a majority with 172 seats forms ?the next government at the federal level.
To reach the magic 172, Sharif will now have to form alliances, even if these are with parties that his center-right party is ideologically opposed to. So while the dust of the elections has settled and those killed in pre-election violence are mourned, a storm will be kicked up in Lahore, where the PML-N is headquartered.
May 9, 2013 ? Researchers used a multicollector ion microprobe to study hydrogen-deuterium ratios in lunar rock and on Earth. Their conclusion: The Moon's water did not come from comets but was already present on Earth 4.5 billion years ago, when a giant collision sent material from Earth to form the Moon.
Water inside the Moon's mantle came from primitive meteorites, new research finds, the same source thought to have supplied most of the water on Earth. The findings raise new questions about the process that formed the Moon.
The Moon is thought to have formed from a disc of debris left when a giant object hit Earth 4.5 billion years ago, very early in Earth's history. Scientists have long assumed that the heat from an impact of that size would cause hydrogen and other volatile elements to boil off into space, meaning the Moon must have started off completely dry. But recently, NASA spacecraft and new research on samples from the Apollo missions have shown that the Moon actually has water, both on its surface and beneath.
By showing that water on the Moon and on Earth came from the same source, this new study offers yet more evidence that the Moon's water has been there all along.
"The simplest explanation for what we found is that there was water on the proto-Earth at the time of the giant impact," said Alberto Saal, associate professor of Geological Sciences at Brown University and the study's lead author. "Some of that water survived the impact, and that's what we see in the Moon."
The research was co-authored by Erik Hauri of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, James Van Orman of Case Western Reserve University, and Malcolm Rutherford from Brown and published online in Science Express.
To find the origin of the Moon's water, Saal and his colleagues looked at melt inclusions found in samples brought back from the Apollo missions. Melt inclusions are tiny dots of volcanic glass trapped within crystals called olivine. The crystals prevent water escaping during an eruption and enable researchers to get an idea of what the inside of the Moon is like.
Research from 2011 led by Hauri found that the melt inclusions have plenty of water -- as much water in fact as lavas forming on Earth's ocean floor. This study aimed to find the origin of that water. To do that, Saal and his colleagues looked at the isotopic composition of the hydrogen trapped in the inclusions. "In order to understand the origin of the hydrogen, we needed a fingerprint," Saal said. "What is used as a fingerprint is the isotopic composition."
Using a Cameca NanoSIMS 50L multicollector ion microprobe at Carnegie, the researchers measured the amount of deuterium in the samples compared to the amount of regular hydrogen. Deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen with an extra neutron. Water molecules originating from different places in the solar system have different amounts of deuterium. In general, things formed closer to the sun have less deuterium than things formed farther out.
Saal and his colleagues found that the deuterium/hydrogen ratio in the melt inclusions was relatively low and matched the ratio found in carbonaceous chondrites, meteorites originating in the asteroid belt near Jupiter and thought to be among the oldest objects in the solar system. That means the source of the water on the Moon is primitive meteorites, not comets as some scientists thought.
Comets, like meteorites, are known to carry water and other volatiles, but most comets formed in the far reaches of the solar system in a formation called the Oort Cloud. Because they formed so far from the sun, they tend to have high deuterium/hydrogen ratios -- much higher ratios than in the Moon's interior, where the samples in this study came from.
"The measurements themselves were very difficult," Hauri said, "but the new data provide the best evidence yet that the carbon-bearing chondrites were a common source for the volatiles in the Earth and Moon, and perhaps the entire inner solar system."
Recent research, Saal said, has found that as much as 98 percent of the water on Earth also comes from primitive meteorites, suggesting a common source for water on Earth and water on Moon. The easiest way to explain that, Saal says, is that the water was already present on the early Earth and was transferred to the Moon.
The finding is not necessarily inconsistent with the idea that the Moon was formed by a giant impact with the early Earth, but presents a problem. If the Moon is made from material that came from Earth, it makes sense that the water in both would share a common source. However, there's still the question of how that water was able to survive such a violent collision.
"The impact somehow didn't cause all the water to be lost," Saal said. "But we don't know what that process would be."
It suggests, the researchers say, that there are some important processes we don't yet understand about how planets and satellites are formed.
"Our work suggests that even highly volatile elements may not be lost completely during a giant impact," said Van Orman. "We need to go back to the drawing board and discover more about what giant impacts do, and we also need a better handle on volatile inventories in the Moon."
Funding for the research came from NASA's Cosmochemistry and LASER programs and the NASA Lunar Science Institute.
AAA??May. 10, 2013?1:16 PM ET Cleveland kidnapping victim grateful for support By MEGHAN BARRBy MEGHAN BARR, Associated Press??
Elida Caraballo talks about the abuse her late sister, Grimilda Figueroa, suffered at the hands of her common law husband, Ariel Castro, during an interview at her home in Cleveland Thursday, May 9, 2013. Castro has been charged with kidnapping and rape for holding three women captive for a decade in his Cleveland home. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)
Elida Caraballo talks about the abuse her late sister, Grimilda Figueroa, suffered at the hands of her common law husband, Ariel Castro, during an interview at her home in Cleveland Thursday, May 9, 2013. Castro has been charged with kidnapping and rape for holding three women captive for a decade in his Cleveland home. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)
Elida Caraballo talks about the abuse her late sister, Grimilda Figueroa, suffered at the hands of her common law husband, Ariel Castro, during an interview at her home in Cleveland Thursday, May 9, 2013. Castro has been charged with kidnapping and rape for holding three women captive for a decade in his Cleveland home. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)
Elida Caraballo, right, talks about the abuse her late sister, Grimilda Figueroa, suffered at the hands of her common law husband, Ariel Castro, during an interview with her husband, Frank, at their home in Cleveland Thursday, May 9, 2013. Castro has been charged with kidnapping and rape for holding three women captive for a decade in his Cleveland home. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)
In this undated photo provided by Elida Caraballo, her sister, Grimilda Figueroa, is shown with two of her children, Ryan, left, and Rosie. Figueroa, who died last year, was the common law wife of Ariel Castro, accused of kidnapping and holding three women captive for a decade in his Cleveland home. (AP Photo/Elida Caraballo)
Ricky Sanchez describes the inside of the house where three women missing for about a decade were found alive, in Cleveland, Thursday, May 9, 2013. Ariel Castro was charged with kidnapping and rape while his brothers, Pedro and Onil Castro, were arrested and cleared without charges. (AP Photo/David Duprey)
CLEVELAND (AP) ? The only victim still hospitalized after a decade of captivity in a Cleveland house is thanking the public for an outpouring of flowers and gifts.
A statement issued Friday by MetroHealth Medical Center on behalf of Michelle Knight says she is in good spirits and grateful for the Cleveland Courage Fund created to aid the victims.
Knight, rescued Monday with two other women, asks in the statement that her privacy be respected.
A missing-person report on Knight filed one day after she disappeared in 2002 said without elaboration that she has a mental condition and often is confused about her surroundings.
Former Cleveland school bus driver Ariel Castro has been charged with rape and kidnapping for keeping Knight and two other women captive.
It's not the motion of the ocean that matters to Lockheed's Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) power plant, only the temperature of the water.
Lockheed Martin announced yesterday that it is partnering with Beijing-based Reignwood Group to construct a 10MW green power plant that leverages the difference bewteen sun-warmed surface water and icy water from deep below to power a planned low-carbon real estate development on Hainan Island in the South China Sea. It will be the largest commercial OTEC plant ever constructed when it's finished in 2017.
French physicist Jacques Arsene d'Arsonval first described the theoretic principals of thermal energy production in 1881, though it wasn't until 1930 that someone built an actual plant in Cuba. OTEC systems typically operate using either a closed or open loop. Closed systems, like the proposed Hainan plant, use a working fluid with a low boiling point, like ammonia, to create steam which drives a turbine (the ammonia is then recondensed using cold water pumped up from the ocean's depths, hence a closed loop). Open systems on the other hand cycle through seawater vapor as the working fluid.
The primary engineering challenge for these systems revolves around how to wring more energy out of the seawater than it takes to pump it up from the depths. The system is only about 6 percent efficient under ideal conditions (though most OTEC projects float around 2-3 percent). But what it lacks in efficiency, OTEC makes up for in endurance. These systems can produce energy 24/7, unlike wind and solar power that are dependent on, well, the wind and sun.
The plants are also location-limited to areas where there is at least a 40 degree water temperature difference year-round (read: the tropics and a thin band of the Atlantic coast) and deep water is fairly close to shore (unless you're building a floating OTEC platform, in which case you can put it anywhere you please). and to a portion of the Atlantic coast.
The Hainan plant builds off of lessons learned from Lockheed's previous OTEC plant, which has operated for the last few years in Hawaii with help from Makai Ocean Engineering, the DoE, and the US Navy. "The Navy wants a thriving OTEC industry because they would benefit from it," Duke Hartman, a spokesman for Makai Ocean Engineering, told Scientific American. Submarines and ships carrying their own OTEC plants would be granted unlimited range, for example.
It will be a while before our oceans are overrun with super subs, however, the technology is still in its infancy. "The biggest obstacle to OTEC is economies of scale," Hartman said. "You get a lot more bang for your buck if you go bigger." He estimates that a 100MW plant, the kind the Pentagon hopes to eventually build, would run about $1 billion.
The creator of the "Girls Gone Wild" DVD franchise Joe Francis may spend as much as five years in jail after being convicted of assaulting a woman in 2011, according to L.A. Weekly.
The Los Angeles City Attorney's office said on Monday that Francis was convicted of three counts of false imprisonment, one count of "dissuading a witness from reporting" and one count of assault, which caused great bodily injury.
The prosecutors said that the 40-year-old Francis had invited three women into his limo, parked outside the restaurant/bar Supperclub in Hollywood, Calif. two years ago; two of the women said later that they thought they were just being taken to a parked car nearby. But as the City Attorney's spokesman noted in 2011, the limo's driver brandished a sheriff's badge and refused to let them exit the limo.
The City Attorney's office also said that Francis brought them to his place and a physical altercation ensued. "(He) grabbed one of the women by the throat and hair and slammed her head into the tile floor four times."
Afterward, Francis let the women go with a warning not to call police -- but they didn't listen.
Noted City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, "Whether a celebrity or not, you will be held accountable for your misdeeds. The victims in this case should be commended for their courage in stepping forward and reporting these attacks, and for not being intimidated from seeing this matter through the justice system."
Francis has been in trouble with the law before for allegedly assaulting women, but charges have not stuck. In 2012, a car collision in Beverly Hills turned physical, and Playboy model Jayde Nicole also accused him of assault at a nightclub. And last September, he was ordered to pay another $20 million in damages to Steve Wynn for claiming the casino owner threatened to kill him.
DALLAS, May 6, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --?The May 15 deadline for nationwide applications to the prestigious Four Star Leadership Institute with General Tommy Franks is quickly approaching.
4SL is an intense week-long leadership and character development program for high school students. The students meet with politicians, authors, and national leaders, and compete in writing and debate.
The session includes air fare, room and board, and is entirely free to the 50 selected students.? Thousands of dollars in scholarships will be available to all participants.
For more information, and to apply, go to www.fourstarleader.com/.
This year's program will be conducted at Oklahoma Christian University in Edmund, Oklahoma, July 14-20.
"Our grand experiment of America can't last long in gridlock," said Gen. Franks. "We're going to have to get to a point where you can have an opinion, and I can have an opinion, and we can argue the merits of each viewpoint without being disrespectful.?
"It's long been my hope that we could mentor young people in this skill of resolving conflicts through civil discourse, rather than civil discord.? And the Four Stars of this kind of leadership are Character, Common Vision, Communication, and Caring."
Students will be chosen based on the leadership potential demonstrated in their application, references provided and a phone interview.
Three full-tuition scholarships to the University of Texas ? Arlington and $15,000 in scholarship grants will be awarded to competition winners, and every one of the 50 students who will attend Oklahoma Christian University will receive a $1,000 per year scholarship for up to four years.
Gen. Tommy Franks, former commander-in-chief of American and coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, hosts the program, with Oklahoma Christian University (OC), the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) and new 2013 partner the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA).?
95 percent ?say restoring the job market is a top priority.
$166 billion over 10 years for job creation initiatives, including infrastructure repairs and tax credits for small businesses that hire or raise wages.
No new funding for job creation.
$4.2 trillion over 10 years for job creation through infrastructure investment, tax credits, and aid to the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
$100 billion in near-term spending for job creation, including $50 billion for transportation infrastructure and $10 billion for worker training programs.
Medicare
88 percent ?say it is very important to preserve the long-term stability of Medicare.
Negotiates for lower prescription drug prices and raises premiums on wealthy retirees, among other changes, to save $392 billion over 10 years.
Beginning in 2024 seniors would receive a lump sum of money to buy private insurance. The lump sum would keep pace with inflation but not the rate of health care cost growth.
Negotiates for lower prescription drug prices to save $157 billion over 10 years.
Saves $275 billion over 10 years by accelerating health care reforms that reward quality of care rather than pay fee-for-service.
Social Security
88 percent ?say it is very important to preserve the long-term stability of Social Security.
Proposes changing cost-of-living adjustments using an inflation measure known as "chained CPI" to reduce benefits over time and save $230 billion over 10 years.
Requires the president and Congress to submit plans for the long-term financial outlook of Social Security.
No proposed changes.
No proposed changes.
Tax Loopholes
80 percent ?want to see loopholes closed for big corporations, while? 66 percent ?want to see loopholes closed for wealthy taxpayers so that money can be used for deficit reduction.
Places limits on tax deductions for the top 2 percent of income earners (to raise $529 billion over 10 years). Among other changes, ends the ?carried interest? loophole that benefits hedge fund managers ($16 billion) and eliminates special tax breaks for oil and gas companies ($44 billion).
Plans to close tax loopholes but does not specify which ones.
Closes loopholes that favor oil, gas, and coal companies, and that create incentives to move jobs overseas. Eliminates corporate loopholes for stock options, private jets, and meals and entertainment. Also eliminates the home mortgage-interest deduction for vacation homes and yachts.
Plans to close tax loopholes for $975 billion in deficit reduction but does not specify which ones. Plans to target loopholes that currently benefit the wealthy and major corporations.
SNAP (food stamps)
75 percent ?oppose cuts to SNAP.
No proposed changes.
Makes deep cuts to SNAP funding and converts the program to a block grant administered at the state level.
Increases funding for SNAP as part of an overall increase of $312 billion over 10 years for income security programs.
No proposed changes.
Education
73 percent ?say it?s very important to make a college education more affordable, while? 83 percent ?oppose cuts to K-12 education.
Expands access to pre-kindergarten education to move toward a goal of universal pre-kindergarten education and expands mandatory funding for Pell grants.
Freezes the maximum Pell grant award at the same level for the next 10 years, provides financial aid to fewer families, and reduces general discretionary spending for education.
Expands the education budget and provides $25 billion over 10 years to hire back 300,000 laid-off teachers and modernize 35,000 public schools.
Calls for supporting elementary and secondary education and making college more affordable but does not specify how.
Individual Taxes
70 percent ?want a simpler tax code with lower rates and? 66 percent ?want to see higher taxes on the wealthiest taxpayers.
Places limits on tax deductions for the top 2 percent of income earners, as noted above. Also imposes a ?Buffett rule? ? a minimum tax rate on millionaires ? to raise $53 billion over 10 years.
Steeply reduces tax rates for top earners by replacing the current tax brackets with just two brackets of 10 percent and 25 percent.
Ends the Bush-era tax cuts for families earning over $250,000, creates five new tax brackets for millionaires and billionaires, and ends special low tax rates for investment income.
Places limits on tax expenditures claimed by the top 2 percent of income earners.
Corporate Taxes
64 percent ?want to see corporations pay more in taxes, while? 73 percent ?want to prevent corporations from avoiding taxes by shifting profits overseas.
Proposes no new taxes on corporations. Would close some tax loopholes as part of tax reform to simplify the tax code and lower tax rates, thereby raising no new tax revenue from corporations.
Reduces the top corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent and releases overseas profits from U.S. taxation.
In addition to closing tax loopholes (specified above), creates a ?Wall Street sales tax? on financial transactions including the sale of stocks and bonds.
Proposes changing corporate tax provisions that allow corporations to avoid taxes with offshore operations.
War Funding
60 percent favor removing troops from Afghanistan as soon as possible.
Does not specify.
Provides $47 billion for war funding in 2014, a cut of 53 percent below the 2013 level. Maintains annual war funding of $37 billion or more for the next decade.
Calls for an expedited troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and ends war funding beginning in fiscal 2015.
Based on current plans to end the Afghanistan war in 2014, provides $100 billion in fiscal 2013, $50 billion in fiscal 2014 and $25 billion in fiscal 2015.
Military Funding
58 percent ?would like to see major reductions in military spending.
Prevents across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration from affecting the military budget. Proposes a Department of Defense base budget of $526.6 billion in 2014, a cut of 1.6 percent.
Prevents across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration from impacting the military budget.
Reduces military spending by $897 billion over 10 years through a smaller force structure and reductions in Cold War-era weapons.
Would gradually reduce military spending beginning in fiscal 2015, for a savings of $240 billion over 10 years.
Medicaid
52 percent ?support the expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare, while? 46 percent ?oppose any cuts to Medicaid.
Maintains the expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare.
Makes deep cuts to Medicaid funding and converts the program to a block grant administered at the state level.
Maintains the expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare and increases funding for Medicaid through supplemental grants to states over the next two years.
Maintains the expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare.
The popularization of the language problem in kindergartens two weeks before the elections and without attracting experts is merely a political game, Reform Party believes (RP).
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Public release date: 20-May-2013
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Former basketball star Dennis Rodman has announced he will be returning to North Korea later this year. Rodman hopes to convince the dictator to free American citizen Kenneth Bae from one of Kim Jong Un?s prison camps because Obama “can’t do sh**”. Kenneth Bae was arrested in November 2012 while he was leading a tour ...
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