Sunday, March 31, 2013

BlackBerry wins dismissal of U.S. shareholder lawsuit

By Nate Raymond

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. shareholder lawsuit accusing smartphone manufacturer BlackBerry of seeking to fraudulently obscure its falling market position was dismissed on Friday.

U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan in Manhattan granted the company's motion to dismiss the proposed class-action lawsuit, finding the plaintiffs failed to adequately allege that the company or various executives had made deliberate and material misstatements.

Sullivan said BlackBerry clearly had failed to keep pace with rivals in developing smartphones and information technology, and the defendants "have paid a price for their mistakes by way of demotions, terminations and sizable financial setbacks."

"Nevertheless, corporate failings alone do not give rise to a securities fraud claim," Sullivan said.

David Brower, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at Brower Piven, declined comment. A spokeswoman for BlackBerry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

BlackBerry, known as Research In Motion Ltd until recently, has sought to achieve a turnaround its new Z10 smartphones after years of losing market share as consumers moved to Apple Inc's iPhone as well as smartphones using Google Inc's Android software.

The lawsuit, filed in 2011 by investor Robert Shemian, sought to recover losses on behalf of U.S. shareholders who bought the company's stock from December 2010 through June 2011.

The lawsuit followed a series of setbacks the company suffered in 2011. The complaint cites slowing sales of its aging BlackBerry phone product line, delays in releasing a new operating system and a botched launch of its first tablet.

The lawsuit contended all those setbacks were known by the company and its executives, who nonetheless allegedly began misleading investors, who bought its stock at inflated prices.

From February 11, 2011 to June 17, 2011, when the company announced disappointing earnings and announced layoffs, the company's stock slid from $69.86 to $27.25.

The case is Shemian v. Research In Motion Limited, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 11-04068.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blackberry-wins-dismissal-u-shareholder-lawsuit-140238919--sector.html

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Beckham relishing chance to play Barcelona

By JEROME PUGMIRE

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 2:00 p.m. ET March 30, 2013

PARIS (AP) - David Beckham says he feels fit enough to start the biggest game in Paris Saint-Germain's recent history when the club takes on Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal on Tuesday.

PSG has not played in the quarterfinals of the competition since 1995, when a 19-year-old Beckham was just breaking into the Manchester United team. That year PSG beat Barca in the quarterfinals.

After joining the French leader in January, Beckham has shown he can keep the pace at age 37. He made an impact as a substitute in Friday night's 1-0 home win against Montpellier, which moved PSG provisionally eight points ahead in the league.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Saturday, March 30, 2013

North Carolina Eliminates Latino Outreach Office (Taegan Goddard's Political Wire)

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Exhibit of Jews in Germany raises interest, ire

BERLIN (AP) ? "Are there still Jews in Germany?" ''Are the Jews a chosen people?"

Nearly 70 years after the Holocaust, there is no more sensitive an issue in German life as the role of Jews. With fewer than 200,000 Jews among Germany's 82 million people, few Germans born after World War II know any Jews or much about them.

To help educate postwar generations, an exhibit at the Jewish Museum features a Jewish man or woman seated inside a glass box for two hours a day through August to answer visitors' questions about Jews and Jewish life. The base of the box asks: "Are there still Jews in Germany?"

"A lot of our visitors don't know any Jews and have questions they want to ask," museum official Tina Luedecke said. "With this exhibition we offer an opportunity for those people to know more about Jews and Jewish life."

But not everybody thinks putting a Jew on display is the best way to build understanding and mutual respect.

Since the exhibit ? "The Whole Truth, everything you wanted to know about Jews" ? opened this month, the "Jew in the Box," as it is popularly known, has drawn sharp criticism within the Jewish community ? especially in the city where the Nazis orchestrated the slaughter of 6 million Jews until Adolf Hitler's defeat in 1945.

"Why don't they give him a banana and a glass of water, turn up the heat and make the Jew feel really cozy in his glass box," prominent Berlin Jewish community figure Stephan Kramer told The Associated Press. "They actually asked me if I wanted to participate. But I told them I'm not available."

The exhibit is reminiscent of Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann sitting in a glass booth at the 1961 trial in Israel which led to his execution. And it's certainly more provocative than British actress Tilda Swinton sleeping in a glass box at a recent performance at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Eran Levy, an Israeli who has lived in Berlin for years, was horrified by the idea of presenting a Jew as a museum piece, even if to answer Germans' questions about Jewish life.

"It's a horrible thing to do ? completely degrading and not helpful," he said. "The Jewish Museum absolutely missed the point if they wanted to do anything to improve the relations between Germans and Jews."

But several of the volunteers, including both German Jews and Israelis living in Berlin, said the experience in the box is little different from what they go through as Jews living in the country that produced the Nazis.

"With so few of us, you almost inevitably feel like an exhibition piece," volunteer Leeor Englander said. "Once you've been 'outed' as a Jew, you always have to be the expert and answer all questions regarding anything related to religion, Israel, the Holocaust and so on."

Museum curator Miriam Goldmann, who is Jewish, believes the exhibit's provocative "in your face" approach is the best way to overcome the emotional barriers and deal with a subject that remains painful for both Jews and non-Jews.

"We wanted to provoke, that's true, and some people may find the show outrageous or objectionable," Goldmann said. "But that's fine by us."

The provocative style is evident in other parts of the special exhibition, including some that openly raise many stereotypes of Jews widespread not only in Germany but elsewhere in Europe.

One includes a placard that asks "how you recognize a Jew?" It's next to an assortment of yarmulkes, black hats and women's hair covers hanging from the ceiling on thin threads. Another asks if Jews consider themselves the chosen people. It includes a poem by Jewish author Leonard Fein: "How odd of God to choose the Jews. But how on earth could we refuse?"

Yet another invites visitors to express their opinion to such questions as "are Jews particularly good looking, influential, intelligent, animal loving or business savvy?"

Despite the criticisms, the "Jew in the Box" has proven a big hit among visitors.

"I asked him about the feelings he has for his country and what he thinks about the conflict with Palestine, if he ever visited Palestine," visitor Panka Chirer-Geyer said. "I have Jewish roots and I've been to Palestine and realized how difficult it was there. I could not even mention that I have Jewish roots."

On a recent day this week, several visitors kept returning to ask questions of Ido Porat, a 33-year-old Israeli seated on a white bench with a pink cushion.

One woman wanted to know what to bring her hosts for a Shabbat dinner in Israel. Another asked why only Jewish men and not women wear yarmulkes. A third inquired about Judaism and homosexuality.

"I guess I should ask you about the relationship between Germans and Jews," visitor Diemut Poppen said to Porat. "We Germans have so many insecurities when it comes to Jews."

Viola Mohaupt-Zitfin, 53, asked if Porat felt welcome as a Jew living among Germans "considering our past and all that."

Yes, Porat said, Germany is a good place to live, even as a Jew. But the country could do even more to come to terms with its Nazi past, he added. He advised the would-be traveler that anything is permissible to bring to a Shabbat dinner as long as it's not pork.

"I feel a bit like an animal in the zoo, but in reality that's what it's like being a Jew in Germany," Porat said. "You are a very interesting object to most people here."

Dekel Peretz, one of the volunteers in the glass box, said many Germans have an image of Jews that is far removed from the reality of contemporary Jewish life.

"They associate Jews with the Holocaust and the Nazi era," he said. "Jews don't have a history before or after. In Germany, Jews have been stereotyped as victims. It is important that people here get to know Jews to see that Jews are alive and that we have individual histories. I hope that this exhibit can help."

Still, not everyone believes this is the best way to promote understanding.

Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal from the Jewish Chabad community in Berlin said Germans who are really interested in Jews and Judaism should visit the community's educational center.

"Here Jews will be happy to answer questions without sitting in a glass box," he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-29-Germany-Jew%20In%20The%20Box/id-161d996566be4fb08dc639c60569954e

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Britain loses battle over EU bank bonus caps

By Claire Davenport

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain suffered a long-expected political defeat on Wednesday when it failed to stop European Union countries waving through a cap on bankers' bonuses, an EU law that will hit London hardest.

Corporate largesse is under attack across Europe with Switzerland earlier this month voting to impose some of the world's strictest controls on executive remuneration amid public anger at Wall Street-style excess in company boardrooms.

But capping bonuses at the level of base salary represents a setback for Britain - home to the EU's largest financial centre - and, for some, underscores the country's waning influence in the EU.

Earlier this year, Chancellor George Osborne tried to change the new rules but none of his EU counterparts supported him. Britain could not veto the rules on its own.

A spokeswoman for the rotating EU presidency, currently held by Ireland, said ambassadors from member states had reached a qualified majority agreement on the rules.

The bonus caps are one element of new regulations to strengthen banks' balance sheets and prevent a repeat of the taxpayer bailouts that have fuelled public anger at the sector.

Other measures include increasing the level of capital and liquid assets held by banks and are part of the new framework to introduce internationally agreed rules known as Basel III.

Some members of the European Parliament are also seeking to extend bonus curbs to fund managers but these have not yet been agreed.

On Wednesday the cap for banker bonuses received the support of 26 EU countries - all members except Britain - at a meeting of the bloc's ambassadors.

A referendum this month in Switzerland - which is outside the European Union - voted 67.9 percent in favour of allowing shareholders to veto executive pay proposals and banning big rewards for new and departing managers.

Britain's Osborne opposes the bonus caps which he says would weaken rather than strengthen banks by forcing them to raise fixed salaries to retain staff.

While the rules are set to be introduced as early as January 2014, the provisions for bonus limits will impact payouts made only in the following year.

The rules should make it harder to make large payouts such as the bonus worth more than 17 million pounds cashed in this week by Rich Ricci, the head of Barclays' investment bank.

The strict limits have already been slightly eased by allowing bonuses of twice base salary if shareholders agree, but are nonetheless the toughest in the world. They will also apply to the staff of European banks operating outside the region.

Bankers willing to wait longer than five years for some of their payout could slightly exceed the two times salary limit.

Up to a quarter of a banker's bonus can be paid in such long-term instruments as share options, bonds or other non-cash payments which can be cashed in after five years.

The European Parliament is set to formally endorse the new rules in April.

(Editing by David Cowell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/britain-loses-battle-over-eu-bank-bonus-caps-154142432--sector.html

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Engadget HD Podcast 342 - 03.26.2013

Engadget HD Podcast 342 - 03.26.2013

This week we'll discuss several Ultra HD displays, some of which can be purchased (Samsung's $40K 85-inch LCD and JVC's $261K 8K projector) and some that can't, like Microsoft's sweet 120-inch demo unit. We also take a peek at Sonos' new soundbar, and the changing media landscape with news and rumors about HBO Go, BBC iPlayer, and even our old friend Intel.

Hosts: Ben Drawbaugh (@bjdraw), Richard Lawler (@rjcc)

Producer: James Trew (@itstrew)

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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Bar Refaeli roils: Is supermodel a super Israeli or simply a shirker?

Vincent Kessler / Reuters, file

Model Bar Refaeli arrives at the screening of the film "The Beaver" at the 64th Cannes Film Festival in May, 2011.

By Martin Fletcher, Correspondent, NBC News

TEL AVIV, Israel -- As the beautiful face of a nation, supermodel Bar Refaeli?has few rivals. So Israel?s foreign ministry thought it was on to a winner this month when it?picked the blond, blue-green-eyed, willowy, tall and curvy Refaeli to lead a public relations campaign highlighting Israel?s world-beating technologies.

Instead, it sparked a bitter controversy about just who is a?'real' Israeli. The Israeli army attacked the proposal, saying that the 27-year-old Sports Illustrated cover girl was a draft dodger and a bad example to Israel?s youth.

"I wish to turn your attention to the negative message that could be delivered to Israeli society," an army spokesman wrote to the foreign ministry.

The foreign ministry?s private response to the military was to mind its own business. As diplomats, though, their public reaction?was phrased more carefully: "Bar Refaeli ... is considered one of the most beautiful women in the world and she is widely recognized as Israeli. There is no reason to dredge up the past when we are dealing with a public diplomacy campaign of this kind."

The dispute hit a nerve.

With compulsory conscription of three years for men and two years for women, army service is?traditionally seen as a social equalizer and the glue that holds the society together. But today, about half of Israeli women don?t serve and about a third of men don?t. In both cases, these numbers are made up of Arabs and?ultra-Orthodox?Jews who are excused, as well as those who are exempt for a variety of medical and other reasons.

Yehuda Raizner / AFP - Getty Images, file

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man waits to cross the street opposite a billboard featuring Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli advertising lingerie in Tel Aviv in Nov., 2009.

Refaeli?s case, however, was particularly provocative.

She stated that she did not want to serve because it would obstruct her career. Then, when obliged by the system, she reportedly evaded service by marrying a family friend and getting an exemption as a married woman. It was widely reported in Israel that she got a divorce as soon as her exemption was accepted.

That didn?t win her many friends. But her beauty did, as did her liaison with one of the world's most eligible bachelors, film star Leonardo DiCaprio.

Refaeli is very popular. So much so that sometimes it seems like everyone in tiny Israel has claimed acquaintance with her or her family. She also routinely espouses Israeli causes like calling for the release of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, who has languished in American jails for 28 years. She never fails to support Israel in any forum and when at home she hangs out on the beach like anyone else.

But according to the army, the fact that she didn't serve in the army disqualifies her from representing her country. For them, she is not a true Israeli.

And that is exactly the message the foreign ministry is trying to do away with. The diplomats want to dispel the notion that Israel is merely a military success story. They want to highlight Israel?s many other achievements in the field of technology, where Israel shines, to show the world that it is more than just a country in conflict.

So who is the 'perfect' Israeli? Refaeli in a bikini?or Refaeli in battle fatigues?

It is a metaphor for a country seeking peace yet is mired in conflict -- a nation in transition and struggling to define itself. ?

Martin Fletcher is the author of "The List,""Breaking News" and "Walking Israel."

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New model predicts hospital readmission risk

Mar. 25, 2013 ? Hospital readmissions are a costly problem for patients and for the United States health care system with studies showing nearly 20 percent of Medicare patients are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge at an annual cost of $17 billion. Preventing avoidable readmissions could result in improved patient care and significant cost savings. In a new model developed at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), researchers help clinicians identify which medical patients are at the greatest risk for potentially avoidable hospital readmissions so extra steps can be taken to keep those patients healthy and out of the hospital.

The model is published in the March 25, 2013 online edition of JAMA Internal Medicine.

"The strength of this model is its simplicity," said Jacques Donz?, MD, MSc, a research associate in the Department of Medicine at BWH and co-creator of the model. "We have identified seven important variables that a physician can easily run through at a patient's bedside prior to discharge. If a patient is determined to be at high-risk for readmission, a return trip to the hospital could be prevented by providing additional interventions such as a home visit by a nurse or pharmacist consultation.

The seven independent factors, which were discovered over the course of three years of research, include:

  • Hemoglobin level at discharge
  • Sodium level at discharge
  • Whether or not the patient is being discharged from an oncology service
  • Whether or not non-surgical patients had a procedure during their hospital stay
  • Whether or not the hospital admission was elective
  • The number of times the patient has been admitted to the hospital during the last year
  • The length of the patient's hospital stay

The more of these risk factors a patient has, the greater the risk of readmission.

"This model can be a valuable tool in the national effort to reduce health care costs and improve the quality of care," said Jeffrey Schnipper, MD, MPH, the director of clinical research for the BWH hospitalist service and a co-creator of the model. "Identifying patients who at least have the potential to benefit from more intensive transitional interventions is an important first step in reducing hospital readmissions."

Researchers stress that this model predicts the risk of potentially avoidable readmission, and that no prediction model will be a perfect indicator of preventable hospital readmission. Because the model was created and validated at one hospital, a multi-center international validation of the model is now underway.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Brigham and Women's Hospital, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Jacques Donz? et al. Potentially Avoidable 30-Day Hospital Readmissions in Medical PatientsDerivation and Validation of a Prediction ModelPotentially Avoidable 30-Day Hospital Readmissions. JAMA Internal Medicine, 2013; : 1 DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.3023

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/iUteg6GZwxY/130325183947.htm

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Monday, March 25, 2013

IRL: Bing Translator, ioSafe N2 and the Mophie Juice Pack Air

Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment.

Yes, again with the mobile battery packs. (We're power users, okay?) In this week's roundup, Joe ditches his Elecom charger for the Mophie Air, and tells you everything you may wanted to know (and maybe a few things you didn't). Rounding things out, Darren kicks the tires on ioSafe's durable, "disaster-proof" NAS box, while Dan uses Bing Translator to avoid offending the lovely people of Germany.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/24/irl-bing-translator-iosafe-n2-mophie-juice-pack-air/

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Sunday, March 24, 2013

Hyperkin Retron 5 plays the cartridges of nine classic consoles (video)

Hyperkin Retron 5 plays cartridges from nine classic consoles

Hyperkin has developed a reputation for modern takes on legendary game consoles that are often better than the real thing. If true, its just-unveiled Retron 5 is a nostalgia singularity. The hardware emulator can use its namesake five cartridge slots to play original games from no less than nine vintage consoles, including the Genesis (Megadrive), NES (Famicom), SNES (Super Famicom) and GameBoys from the original through to the GameBoy Advance. It keeps going: there's a custom Bluetooth controller that can handle every system, mix-and-match original controller support, save states and upscaling for both video (to 720p, through HDMI) as well as audio. While we'll have to see just how well the Retron 5 works whenever it exists as more than a conceptual graphic, that opportunity may come quickly when Hyperkin is tentatively shooting for a July release at less than $100. About all that's left for a follow-up Retron are Jaguar and Turbografx 16 slots -- pretty please?

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/24/hyperkin-retron-5-plays-cartridges-of-nine-classic-consoles/

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Argentine Nobel peace laureate Esquivel defends pope

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel defended Pope Francis on Thursday against accusations he failed to speak out against repression during the 1976-83 military dictatorship in their native Argentina, saying he preferred "silent diplomacy".

Links between some high-ranking Roman Catholic clergymen and the U.S-backed military regime that kidnapped and killed up to 30,000 leftists between 1976 and 1983 tarnished the Church's reputation in Argentina and the wounds have yet to heal.

Critics of Pope Francis say that in his then role, he failed to protect priests who challenged the junta and has said too little about the complicity of the Church during military rule.

"The pope had nothing to do with the dictatorship. He was not an accomplice of the dictatorship," Esquivel told reporters after a 30-minute meeting with Francis in the Vatican.

"He preferred a silent diplomacy, to ask about the missing, about the oppressed. There is no proof that he was an accomplice because he was never an accomplice. Of this I am sure," he said.

The pope, formerly Jorge Bergoglio, was not a bishop during the dictatorship but was a priest. He headed the Jesuit order in Argentina between 1973-1979 and was appointed a bishop in 1992.

According to Horacio Verbitsky, a journalist and author close to President Cristina Fernandez, with whom Bergoglio has a prickly relationship, he withdrew his order's protection of two Jesuit priests after they refused to quit visiting the slums, paving the way for their capture.

The Vatican has denied the charges and on Thursday Esquivel, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980 for defending human rights in Argentina during the dictatorship, said he believed there were "many errors" in Verbitsky's book about the period, called "The Silence".

Esquivel, meeting reporters in an apartment near the Vatican, said he found the new pope "sure of himself and determined to carry out his mission," particularly his desire to help the poor.

WORRIED ABOUT THE POOR

"What worries him most is the situation of the poor," the Nobel laureate said.

Francis, the first non-European pope in 1,300 years, took his name from the 13th Century St. Francis of Assisi, a symbol of poverty, simplicity, charity and love of nature.

"The first few signs that Francis has given are very positive and I hope he will continue on the same path," Esquivel said.

Since his election last week, Francis has set the tone for a humbler papacy and has called for the Church to defend the weak and protect the environment.

In that vein, the Vatican said on Thursday Francis will hold a ceremony next week in the chapel of a youth prison instead of the Vatican or a Rome basilica where it has been held before.

He will conduct the Holy Thursday afternoon service at the Casal del Marmo jail for minors on Rome's outskirts.

During the service, the pope washes and kisses the feet of 12 people to commemorate Jesus' gesture of humility towards his apostles on the night before he was crucified.

All previous popes in living memory held the service either in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican or in the Basilica of St. John in Lateran, which is the pope's cathedral church in his capacity as Bishop of Rome.

When he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, he often celebrated the Holy Thursday service in a jail, a hospital, a home for the elderly or with poor people.

(Additional reporting by Alejandro Lifschtz and Helen Popper in Buenos Aires; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/argentine-nobel-peace-laureate-esquivel-defends-pope-161126301.html

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Taxpayer-money finances IRS "Star Trek" video (cbsnews)

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Library of Congress to Preserve 1st Message from Space

The first audio message to be relayed from outer space will be preserved as part of the National Recording Registry alongside Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon," Simon and Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence," and Chubby Checker's rendition of "The Twist," the Library of Congress announced Thursday (March 21).

The space-based message, which was a recording of then-President Dwight Eisenhower conveying "America's wish for peace on Earth and goodwill toward men everywhere," was broadcast Dec. 19, 1958, from aboard the world's first communications satellite, Project Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay Equipment, or SCORE.

The 30-second transmission, heard by shortwave radio as the satellite passed overhead, is one of 25 recordings that were selected by the Library of Congress because of their cultural, artistic and historic importance to the aural legacy of the United States.

"Congress created the [Registry] to celebrate the richness and variety of our audio heritage," said James Billington, Librarian of Congress, in a statement. "And to underscore our responsibility for long-term preservation, to assure that legacy can be appreciated and studied for generations."

Under the National Recording Preservation Act, Billington, as Librarian, and with advice from the National Recording Preservation Board, is tasked every year with selecting 25 recordings that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and are at least 10 years old. The selections for 2012 bring the total number of recordings held in the registry to 375. [Video: 1st Song Recorded in Space]

SCORE for space history

Project SCORE was not the United States' first satellite in space ? that distinction goes to Explorer 1, launched on Jan. 31, 1958 ? but in addition to it being the world's first communications satellite, the project also marked the first use of a missile-guidance system to steer a satellite into orbit.

The Dec. 18, 1958 liftoff was the first successful use of Convair's Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) as a space-launch vehicle ? a rocket that would later go on to lofting the first American astronauts into orbit.

Project SCORE, as the first endeavor of the then newly-established Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), was devised in six months under complete secrecy. Only 88 people were ever aware of Project SCORE prior to its launch, and of those, 53 were purposely misled to believe the project had been canceled before its planned liftoff.

Rather than the launch vehicle deploying the satellite as a separate spacecraft, SCORE's communications package was built into the Atlas' fairing pods and the entire rocket body entered orbit. At 9,000 pounds (4080 kilograms), it was the heaviest object to circle the planet at the time.

President Eisenhower recorded his message in the White House two days before it was heard relayed from space. The audio was loaded onto a tape recorder, one of two aboard SCORE, which ground stations in the southern United States could command to play back the message.

Eisenhower's message was, "This is the President of the United States speaking. Through the marvels of scientific advance, my voice is coming to you via a satellite circling in outer space. My message is a simple one: Through this unique means I convey to you and all mankind, America's wish for peace on Earth and goodwill toward men everywhere."

Posterity's playlist

The addition of Eisenhower's Project SCORE broadcast to the National Recording Registry means more than it just being added to a list of songs and spoken word titles. The 30-second space message will now be actively preserved for future generations.

The Library of Congress is identifying and preserving the best existing versions of each recording on the registry. These recordings will be housed in the Library's Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation in Culpeper, Va., a state-of-the-art facility that is home to more than 6 million items, including nearly 3.5 million sound recordings.

After 10 years of collaborative effort and the 2010 release of the first comprehensive study on the state of recorded-sound preservation in the United States, the Library unveiled its plan last month to save the country's endangered aural legacy. This long and short-term blueprint covers the strategies for infrastructure, preservation, access, policy, and education.

In addition to the Project SCORE audio and the recordings earlier identified, the 2012 selections for the registry also include the soundtrack to the 1977 John Travolta movie "Saturday Night Fever," the radio broadcast featuring Will Rogers' 1931 folksy insights in support of Herbert Hoover's nationwide unemployment relief campaign aired during the Great Depression, and The Ramones self-titled 1976 rock album.

Click through to collectSPACE.com to listen to President Dwight D. Eisenhower?s Project SCORE audio message, as now a part of the National Recording Registry.

Follow collectSPACE on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2013 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/library-congress-preserve-1st-message-space-112525173.html

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Saturday, March 23, 2013

Historic lunch: Pope meets (ex) pope

AP

Pope Francis, left, and Pope emeritus Benedict XVI pray together in Castel Gandolfo Saturday, in this photo provided by the Vatican paper L'Osservatore Romano.

By Claudio Lavanga and Emma Ong, NBC News

Pope Francis and his predecessor Benedict prayed together before having lunch in a historic meeting Saturday.

The new pontiff flew to the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo in the Alban Hills outside of Rome by helicopter Saturday. Pope Benedict XVI has been living there since he resigned Feb. 28, becoming the first pope to step down in 600 years.

Both men wore white papal outfits.

Father Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, said that Benedict and Francis had embraced at the helipad, then went to a private chapel to pray.

Pope Francis and his predecessor Benedict prayed together before having lunch in a historic meeting Saturday. NBC's Lester Holt reports.

Benedict, who looked frail and walked with a cane, told Francis to kneel in front of the altar, but Francis said, "let's kneel together" and they did so, Lombardi said.

"We're brothers," Francis reportedly told the former pope as the two prayed together on the same prie dieu.

They then had a private conversation for about 40 minutes in the library, before going to lunch.

Francis presented Benedict with a gift of an icon of the Virgin Mary.

?When I saw this picture of the Madonna of Humility, my thoughts turned immediately to you,? Francis told his predecessor, according to Eurovision News.


The Associated Press reported that crowds gathered near then villa in the hope of catching a glimpse of history.

The news agency speculated about what the two men would discuss:

The two popes might discuss the big issues facing the church: The rise of secularism in the world, the drop in priestly vocations in Europe, the competition that the Catholic Church faces in Latin America and Africa from evangelical Pentecostal movements.

They might also discuss pressing issues concerning Francis' new job: Benedict left a host of unfinished business on Francis' plate, including the outcome of a top-secret investigation into the leaks of papal documents last year.

Francis might want to sound Benedict out on his ideas for management changes in the Holy See administration, a priority given the complete dysfunctional government he has inherited.

They might also discuss the future of Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, Benedict's trusted aide who has had the difficult task of escorting his old pope into retirement and then returning to the Vatican to serve his successor.

Gaenswein has appeared visibly upset and withdrawn at times as he has been by Francis' side. The Vatican has said Francis' primary secretary will be Monsignor Alfred Xuereb, who had been the No. 2 secretary under Benedict.

NBC News' Ian Johnston and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

Pope Francis spoke of being 'dazzled' by girl, possible change of celibacy rule

Pope stuns newsstand owner by calling to cancel home delivery

Pope's personal touch with crowds a 'nightmare' for security, expert says

This story was originally published on

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'The Croods' is sweet, but lacks wit, robust plot

By David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

DreamWorks

REVIEW -- Two of the principal plot drivers in "The Croods" are an athletic Neanderthal chick with a wild titian mop top and a rockin? bod packed into a tiger-fur sheath and a brainy boy babe with skater-dude hair, perfect pecs and the waistline of a supermodel, not to mention a pioneering flair for accessories. But the core audience for DreamWorks? 3D animated prehistoric family adventure is probably less the tweens and teens those adolescent lovebirds would suggest than the younger tykes who flocked to a comedy franchise situated elsewhere on the paleontology chart,?"Ice Age."

More from THR: PHOTOS: Berlin 2013: Behind the Scenes of THR's Actors Roundtable

The humor and charm in?Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco?s film is too uneven to help it approach that series' mammoth market share. But its mostly fast-moving roller coaster of kinetic action and its menagerie of fantastic creatures ? from cute to menacing ? should keep kids entertained. They?ll also have no trouble grasping the simple message to face your fears and embrace change.

The film evolved out of a project first announced at Cannes in 2005 under the title "Crood Awakening," which was to reteam DreamWorks with artisanal British toon shop Aardman Animation after successes like "Chicken Run." That earlier version was being co-written by DeMicco with John Cleese, who retains a story credit here.

While his neighbors steadily have succumbed to the perils of the Stone Age, Crood brood patriarch Grug (Nicolas Cage) has kept his family safe by sticking to the simple rules mapped out in the cave paintings. His credo is: ?Fear keeps us alive. Never not be afraid.? (Grammar obviously isn?t his strong point.) ?No one said survival was fun.? Curiosity, for Grug, equals danger.

The hell they have to go through for sustenance is outlined in a dizzying hunting sequence near the start that?s like an over-caffeinated pro football game with a giant bird egg in place of the pigskin. Everyone in the family plays a role on the team, from wife Ugga (Catherine Keener) to plucky teenage daughter Eep (Emma Stone), lunkhead son Thunk (Clark Duke) and leathery Gran (Cloris Leachman), Grug?s barely tolerated mother-in-law. Even the feral infant, Sandy, is deployed on cue with the battle cry, ?Release the baby!?

But despite their tight synergy, the Croods? world literally is crumbling around them. Eep?s growing rebellion against the physical and mental darkness of cave life also is causing friction with Dad. When she follows the light one night and meets Guy (Ryan Reynolds), with his mysterious invention of fire and his warnings of the destruction to come, Eep propels the family onto a quest toward the higher ground of tomorrow. Once she?s seen fire and she?s seen rain, there?s no looking back.

Aside from the earth opening up beneath them, the boulders flying and the predators at every turn, the chief conflict is between brawny Grug?s belief in his strength and Guy?s revolutionary reliance on ideas. The protective father?s anxiety over his daughter?s first crush adds to this still-somewhat-undernourished friction. Guy has a de rigueur animal sidekick in a sloth named Belt (?voiced? by co-director Sanders), who serves to hold up his pants as well as bring a cheeky sense of the dramatic.

Sanders and DeMicco?s script doesn?t have the robust plotting, consistent wit or flavorful character development of the best family animation. And some of the voice actors have too little to work with. Keener?s Ugga, for instance, is a strictly standard-issue caring Mom, while much of the humor built around Thunk?s obtuseness is soft. And like Betty White?s raunchy oldsters, Leachman?s ornery crones are starting to get as tired as those funky rapping grannies from ?90s New Line comedies.

More from THR:'The Croods' Makes World Debut With Eye Towards Possible Franchise

With his weary rasp, however, Cage makes Grug a touching figure -- a knuckle-dragger at first and then steadily more resourceful as he sees the light. Stone?s smoky-voiced sweetness is nicely paired with the character?s butt-kicking physicality (it?s refreshing to see an animated teen girl more strapping than the cookie-cutter slender-princess model), and Reynolds brings the right note of earnestness to his forward-thinker.

Basically a journey tale with its erratic momentum pumped up by Alan Silvestri?s hard-working score, "The Croods" has its share of rambunctious episodes and frantic narrow escapes. Notable among them is the threat of a tornado-like flock of vicious Piranhakeets, razor-toothed birds that can strip a beast to its bones in seconds. ?Stay inside the family kill circle!? warns Grug as they descend.

There?s a large assortment of fantasy animals to keep the merchandise division busy, among them parrot-hued giant felines, dogs with crocodile jaws, land-dwelling whales, monkeys with killer right hooks and owl-headed bears that owe a debt to Maurice Sendak. These critters give the film more in common with the slapsticky Looney Tunes era than with animation of recent vintage.

"The Croods"?mercifully refrains from leaning too hard on anachronistic dialogue for laughs, settling for the occasional ?awesome? or ?sucky.? And it?s light on pop cultural cross-referencing, which also is a blessing. But especially after so many animated movies have raised the bar, the shortage of sophisticated humor likely will narrow the appeal here chiefly to the 4-to-10 age range.

More from THR: DreamWorks Animation Stock Surges 8 Percent After Analyst Upgrade

There are some decent gags built around inventions and accidental discoveries, such as snapshots, shoes (?Aaahhh!!! I love them,? squeals Eep in her prototype Uggs) and popcorn, in a crowd-baiting wink to the multiplex populace. Other touches, like the birth of the hug (rhymes with Grug), tap into an innocuous vein of schmaltz. But another polish or two to punch up the script wouldn?t have hurt.

Aside from teen dreamboat Guy, the character animation is not the prettiest; even Eep is slapped with rough-hewn features on an ultra-wide face. But there?s considerable imagination in the rendering of the landscapes, ranging from barren rock to lush jungle vegetation full of vibrantly exotic flora. Cinematography luminary Roger Deakins is credited as visual consultant, his influence perhaps discernible in the glow of stars, sun and fire, which is fitting given the thematic centrality of stepping into the light after hiding in darkness.

More in Entertainment:

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Source: http://entertainment.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/21/17404747-the-croods-is-sweet-but-lacks-wit-and-robust-plot?lite

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Stocks rise on Wall Street aided by earnings

Stocks opened higher on Wall Street, bolstered by strong earnings from some major U.S. corporations.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 47 points, or 0.3 percent, to 14,469 as of 9:44 a.m. EDT. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced five points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,551. The Nasdaq composite gained 11 points, or 0.4 percent, to 3,224.

Nike shares hit an all-time high, rising more than 10 percent in early trading, after it surprised Wall Street late Thursday with a 55 percent spike in net income for the quarter. Tiffany rose $2.57 to $70.46 after its fourth-quarter earnings beat predictions thanks to strong customer demand in Asia for its pricey baubles.

Yet the S&P 500 appears to be headed for its second weekly decline of the year as a deadline looms for the Mediterranean nation of Cyprus to avoid an economic disaster.

Cypriot lawmakers are expected to vote Friday on a raft of new measures they hope will qualify the country for a 10-billion euro lifeline from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Without a bailout, Cyprus could be forced out of the EU monetary block.

The S&P 500 is down 0.7 percent for the week, paring its gain for the year to 8.7 percent. The Dow is down 0.3 percent on the week, trimming its advance for the year to 10.4 percent.

Stocks have had a strong start to the year with the housing sector in recovery mode and with companies bringing more workers on board. Healthy profits for companies and continuing stimulus from the Federal Reserve have also boosted stock prices.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose from 1.91 percent to 1.93 percent.

Among other stocks making big moves Friday;

? Micron Technology rose 93 cents to $10.01 despite reporting a loss in its fiscal second-quarter later Thursday. The chipmaker said that revenue grew 3 percent, to $2.08 billion, better than analysts had expected.

? Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc. climbed $1.97 to $6.83 Friday, after the drug developer reported strong data from a mid-stage study of a potential chronic rash treatment.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-rise-wall-street-aided-earnings-140542959--finance.html

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Friday, March 22, 2013

Heyzap Introduces Ads To Its Mobile Gaming Network

heyzap adsHeyzap, a Y Combinator-incubated social platform for mobile games, is releasing a software development kit today allowing developers and publishers to introduce Heyzap ads to their games. Basically, it's turning Heyzap's social network into an ad network too. Developers can use it to make more money, or to promote their games in other Heyzap games. You can see a sample ad to the left, highlighting one of Heyzap's big advantages as an ad platform: The company knows what games users have played (since they're sharing that information with friends on Heyzap), and it can make a reasonable guess as to other games you might be interested in.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/K1gyoLIlXe0/

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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

S. Korea on alert after hackers strike TV, banks

Ahn Young-Joon / AP

A customer stands in front of automated teller machines at a branch of Shinhan Bank in Seoul after the bank's computer networks were paralyzed by hackers Wednesday.

By Ju-min Park and Joyce Lee, Reuters

SEOUL -- South Korean police were investigating a hacking attack on an Internet provider that brought down the servers of three broadcasters and two major banks on Wednesday, and the army raised its alert level due to concerns of North Korean involvement.

The network provided by LG UPlus Corp. showed a page that said it had been hacked by a group calling itself the "Whois Team," an unknown group. It featured three skulls and a warning that this was the beginning of "Our Movement."

Servers at television networks YTN, MBC and KBS were affected as well as Shinhan Bank and NongHyup Bank, both major financial institutions, police and government officials said.

"We sent down teams to all affected sites. We are now assessing the situation. This incident is pretty massive, and it will take a few days to collect evidence," a police official said.

Police and government officials declined to speculate on whether North Korea, which has threatened to attack both South Korea and the United States after it was hit with United Nations sanctions for its February nuclear test, was behind the cyberattack.

North Korea has in the past staged cyberattacks on the world's most wired country, targeting conservative newspapers, banks and government institutions.

South Korea's military said it was not affected but raised its state of readiness in response.

None of South Korea's oil refineries, power stations, ports or airports was affected.

The biggest attack by Pyongyang was a 10-day denial of service attack in 2011 that antivirus firm McAfee, part of Intel Corp, dubbed "Ten Days of Rain" and which it said was a bid to probe the South's computer defenses in the event of a real conflict.

Shinhan Bank, one of the financial institutions affected, said its servers were back up by 4 p.m. local time (3 a.m. ET).

Related:

Full South Korea coverage from NBC News

Full technology and science coverage from NBC News

This story was originally published on

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/20/17380277-south-korea-on-alert-after-hackers-strike-banks-broadcasters?lite

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Rockefeller imposter tried to hide 1985 California murder: prosecutor

By Brandon Lowrey

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A German man who once posed as a member of the wealthy Rockefeller clan before his secret life unraveled was accused in a California courtroom on Monday of murdering his landlord in 1985 and then going to great lengths to cover up the death.

The accusations against Christian Gerhartsreiter, whose life of assuming false identities was portrayed in the 2010 made-for-TV movie "Who Is Clark Rockefeller?" came during opening arguments in his murder trial.

Gerhartsreiter, once part of Boston's high society, rose to national prominence after he was arrested in 2008 for abducting his daughter and was revealed to have assumed a fake identity to pose as a member of the Rockefeller family.

While Gerhartsreiter was serving a four-year prison term in Massachusetts for that crime, prosecutors in Los Angeles said they had charged him with the murder of his landlord, John Sohus, who went missing in 1985 along with his wife, Linda.

"You will hear evidence, ladies and gentlemen, that this couple is dead," deputy district attorney Habib Balian told jurors in a downtown Los Angeles court.

At the same hearing, Gerhartsreiter's attorney argued the landlord's long-missing wife was the one who killed him. Linda Sohus is presumed dead, but her body has never been found. Gerhartsreiter is not charged in her death.

The remains of John Sohus, 27, were discovered in 1994 in the backyard of the home in the Los Angeles suburb of San Marino where the couple lived and where Gerhartsreiter had rented a guest house. At the time, Gerhartsreiter used the name Christopher Chichester, prosecutors say.

BLOOD UNDER CARPET

On Monday, prosecutors said their case against Gerhartsreiter would include evidence from investigators who found large amounts of blood beneath the carpets in the guest house he had occupied.

Balian said Gerhartsreiter, who came to the United States as a student from his native Germany in the 1970s, tried to cover up the killing by making it seem the couple was still alive.

After they went missing, cryptic postcards in Linda's handwriting and postmarked from Paris arrived at the homes of Linda's boss, her mother and her best friend, Balian said.

But Linda never boarded an intercontinental plane, had a passport or showed any desire to go to Europe, he said. Balian suggested Gerhartsreiter had someone else mail the postcards from Europe, possibly after forcing Linda to write them.

Linda Sohus also played a prominent role in the narrative Gerhartsreiter's attorney Brad Bailey presented to jurors.

Bailey sought to pin the blame for John Sohus' death on her, arguing that she weighed 200 pounds (91 kilograms) and was physically capable of murdering her husband.

"There will be enough evidence for you to reasonably conclude it could well have been John Sohus' vanished wife Linda" who committed the killing, Bailey told jurors.

Bailey said he would not try to deny that Gerhartsreiter had assumed a number of identities over the years.

"As all of you know, when you have an old and a cold case, it's sometimes human nature to blame the drifter or the grifter or the con artist, isn't it?" Bailey told jurors.

Gerhartsreiter faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of the murder of John Sohus.

(Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rockefeller-imposter-tried-hide-1985-california-murder-prosecutor-001005004.html

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Monday, March 18, 2013

Darkain Arts Gamers ? Vote in the Xbox Entertainment Awards

Microsoft has announced the first Xbox Entertainment Awards! Bringing together the best and broadest range of entertainment ? inclusive of games, movies, TV, music and more ? the Xbox Entertainment Awards celebrate Xbox community favourites, as voted on by fans.

From March 18th through March 26th, fans can vote and nominate in the following categories:

GAMES
- Best Game
- Best Family Game
- Best Xbox LIVE Arcade Game
- Best Add-on (or Consumable)

TV & MOVIES
- Best TV Show or TV Series
- Best Movie
- Best Superhero Movie
- Best Comedy

MUSIC
- Best Album
- Best Single
- Best Artist
- Best Music Video

Everyone that votes can also enter into a prize draw to win an Xbox 360 Limited Edition Halo 4 320 GB console, Kinect sensor, Xbox LIVE Gold One Year Membership, 2000 Microsoft Points, games and swag from some of the biggest blockbusters on Xbox.

The finalists in each category will be announced on 9th April, with interactive voting then taking place on the Xbox LIVE dashboard until 16th April ? and the ultimate winners announced on 17th April. Everyone who votes on Xbox LIVE between 9th-16th April will also be placed into a sweepstake* to win prizes, including a VIP experience at gamescom 2013 in Cologne, Germany.

The only snag is that the entrants have to be residents of the UK to become eligible for the prizes. Regardless anyone can vote for the categories.

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Source: http://www.darkainarts.com/gamers/2013/03/vote-in-the-xbox-entertainment-awards/

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Pakistan's education crisis: What about Malala's friends?

When 16-year-old Malala Yousafzai was shot point-blank on her school bus in October for her vocal support of girls' education in Pakistan, it provoked an outcry in Pakistan and around the globe, but it also changed the lives of the two girls sitting next to her on that bus.

Almost half a year after the Taliban attack, the two girls injured alongside Malala struggle to deal with the not-so-pleasant notoriety that came with being associated with the young female education activist.

Kainat Riaz, 16, and Shazia Ramzan, 14, were squeezed on either side of Malala on the bench of the school bus when a Taliban gunman boarded the bus and shot the teenage activist. Malala was shot in the head and neck. Kainat was shot through her upper right arm and required four stitches. Shazia was injured in her left hand and shoulder.

RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about Pakistan? Take this quiz.

The attack made Malala an international symbol of the many lives claimed by the violent extremism that plagues Pakistan and highlighted the country's education crisis.

?There won?t be any progress until there is across-the-board political consensus to address Pakistan?s education crisis,? says Mosharraf Zaidi, director of Alif Ailaan, a recently-launched campaign focused on improving education in Pakistan, and former adviser to Pakistan?s Foreign Ministry.

There are 12 million school-age children in Pakistan who have never been to school, two-thirds of whom are girls. Many view Pakistan?s education crisis through the prism of deep-rooted cultural hostility toward educating girls ? an analysis that is at best an oversimplification.

In the past 40 years, there has been a huge expansion of private schools in Pakistan. In the 1970s, barely 1 percent of schools were private, says Mr. Zaidi. Today over a third of all children attend private schools, a statistic that reveals the huge appetite for education in Pakistan.

But the quality of education remains low, and there is also a simple shortage of girls' schools, says Anwar Saifullah Khan, president of the ruling Pakistan People?s Party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Malala?s home province. In Pakistan, boys and girls generally attend separate schools.

According to Mr. Saifullah Khan, only 8 to 10 percent of school-age girls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province are enrolled in full-time education, while half of all boys are. The federal government also spends less than 3 percent of gross domestic product on education, placing Pakistan in the bottom eight countries in the world for per capita spending on education.

Security is also an issue, and it often prevents parents from sending their daughters to school, says Saifullah Khan.

BEFORE AND AFTER THE INCIDENT

Both Kainat and Shazia returned to school two months after the attack, but their movements are severely restricted by the police guards the provincial government has provided to them for their protection.

?Before, I was a normal girl,? says Kainat. ?I was totally free. Now I am afraid to go out and can?t go anywhere freely.? Outside the front door of Kainat?s home, three police officers stand guard. Another two guard the alley that runs along the back of the family home.

Kainat?s father, Riaz Ahmad, a primary school teacher in Amankot, a village on the edge of Mingora, says he varies his route to work because he has been warned that he, too, has become a target.

On Dec. 4, 2012, a blast in Kainat?s neighborhood killed one woman and injured another six. The police said that the blast was caused by a gas leak, but many in the community believed that it was a targeted attack aimed at Kainat.

?After the blast, the neighbors said that it was because of me and told my father we had to move,? says Kainat. ?They said that I would attract more attacks.?

Shazia lives on the other side of the city of Mingora, down a narrow alley behind Gulshan Chowk, a local marketplace, where her father runs a small bakery. She says that local residents also told her father that the family had to move because Shazia posed a threat to the whole community.

Neither family has moved, and Mingora has been relatively peaceful since the October attack. The Pakistani Army has maintained tight control over the area since a 2009 operation to purge the Taliban from the region, which had become their stronghold. The endless roadblocks manned by heavily armed soldiers serve as a constant reminder of military?s presence.

While security has improved, the national dialogue to improve education in Pakistan ? and girls' enrollment ? has stagnated.

In April 2010, a little more than two years before the attack on Malala, the National Assembly, Pakistan?s main legislative body, passed a constitutional amendment making state-funded education a right for all children from the age of 5 to 16. Still, a deeper rethink at the policy level did not follow the amendment.

'TEACHERS NEED TO BE TAUGHT TO TEACH'

Saifullah Khan says that a lack of accountability is the biggest challenge. There are no mechanisms in place to ensure that teachers in state-funded schools turn up each day, he says. This is less of a problem at private schools as it is easier for the parent companies to maintain oversight over their network of schools, but at both private and state schools there are no set standards to which teachers and their students are held.

?Teachers simply need to be taught to teach,? says Saifullah Khan.

The Alif Ailaan campaign recently launched by Zaidi aims to rekindle the education debate in Pakistan by bringing together policymakers, teachers, parents, and students. Central to the campaign?s manifesto is passing legislation to implement the 2010 constitutional amendment.

Its ambitious goal is to achieve meaningful progress within 100 days of general elections, set for May. It is currently lobbying all the political parties to endorse its 12-point manifesto.

RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about Pakistan? Take this quiz.

Both Kainat and Shazia say that they are very proud that Malala has been nominated for the Noble Peace Prize. But, when asked about changes that might positively impact their lives, Kainat says that she doesn?t see a way to change the current situation.

Still, her ambition and desire for education has not been quashed. Kainat is about to take her final exams, and hopes to go to college in the fall. She wants to become a doctor, and her father has said that he will find a way to pay for her to continue her studies.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pakistans-education-crisis-ever-happened-malalas-friends-162400946.html

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