Robert Downey Jr. promotes 'Iron Man 3' in Beijing

U.S. actor Robert Downey Jr. tries out "bingtanghulu," a traditional Chinese snack, during a world premiere event of his new movie "Iron Man 3" at a Beijing hotel Saturday, April 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

U.S. actor Robert Downey Jr. tries out "bingtanghulu," a traditional Chinese snack, during a world premiere event of his new movie "Iron Man 3" at a Beijing hotel Saturday, April 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

U.S. actor Robert Downey Jr. tries out "bingtanghulu," a traditional Chinese snack, next to Chinese actor Wang Xueqi, right, during a world premiere event of his new movie "Iron Man 3" at a Beijing hotel Saturday, April 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

U.S. actor Robert Downey Jr. speaks during a world premiere event of his new movie "Iron Man 3" at a Beijing hotel Saturday, April 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

U.S. actor Robert Downey Jr, center, speaks on stage during the world premiere event of his new movie "Iron Man 3" at a Beijing hotel Saturday, April 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

U.S. actor Robert Downey Jr. center, shakes hands with Chinese actor Wang Xueqi after a photo session during a world premiere event of his new movie "Iron Man 3" at a Beijing hotel Saturday, April 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

BEIJING (AP) ? Hollywood actor Robert Downey Jr. has traveled to Beijing to promote "Iron Man 3," which was filmed partly in China and features well-known Chinese actors.

At a news conference Saturday, Downey ? who reprises the role of Tony Stark in the upcoming movie ? said he's fascinated with Chinese culture and loves Chinese movies, while urging the local audience to see the superhero film.

"Iron Man 3" was financed in part by the Chinese company DMG, which has created for the movie the role of Dr. Wu, played by the Chinese actor Wang Xueqi.

DMG chairman Xiao Wenge said introducing Chinese culture to the world is a core mission of his company. China also is a major overseas market for Hollywood movies.

"Iron Man 3" opens internationally later this month.

Associated Press

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Maui Blog - Georgina M. Hunter R(S): Maui Hawaii vacant land ...

Two vacant land sales this week caught my eye for being very cheap. ?There are good deals out there on Maui if you have the cash and the ability to make it happen.

SOLD in Kula Maui Hawaii - 22.4 acres on Homestead road just sold for $400,000. ?Why so cheap? ?No county water meter makes this lot not very practical for most buyers. ?Not all usable either. ?But for the right buyer it's a steal when just last month a 2 acre lot in Kula with a water meter sold for $615,000.

SOLD in Haiku Maui Hawaii - 28.9 acres on Haumana Rd and Hana Highway sold for $869,000. ?Again, no water meter with this parcel but water catchment works well in the area.

call or text me?808 283-0635?~?EMAIL?

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Search the Maui MLS listings here?

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Source: http://mymauiblog.com/post/3684316/maui-hawaii-vacant-land-sales-update-some-large-parcels-for-very-cheap-

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Consider the BlackBerry Z10, a Smart Fish in an Ocean of Smartphones

So maybe you're shopping for a new cellphone this weekend. You could wait for that heady new Facebook phone, but that would make you one of them. Or you could hold out for that cheap iPhone, which Apple swears is coming. And then there's the latest savior from BlackBerry, which, hey, when I tried it out over the last two?weeks ? and out at the bar on the weekend ? at least nobody made fun of it.

RELATED: BlackBerry's Not Selling Enough New Phones Yet

Indeed, the BlackBerry Z10 has succeeded for the struggling Canadian company in at least one sense: It's no longer embarrassing to whip out a BlackBerry in public, a low bar for an information and communication machine. Although one BetaBeat blogger had the exact?opposite?experience, every time I took out the Z10 people responded with awe and wonder. It has the "BlackBerry" name right there on the front. And yet, people wanted to touch it ? it was almost as if they'd hoped the once popular BBM machine had cleaned itself up a bit. Nostalgia is powerful these days, but is it powerful enough?

RELATED: The Future of BlackBerry 10 Sales Looks Hazy

Just looking at the thing, one does get the impression of an evolution. Before turning on the BlackBerry Z10, you want to like it. While switched off, the buttonless screen looks like a chic yet wise black hole full of information. Its plastic "BlackBerry" crested back adds durability, not chintz, making it the type of phone I can throw in my purse without investing in another $30 case. And while it has a much bigger screen than the 3.5-inch iPhones 4 and 4S, its slim body makes an otherwise giant 4.2-inch screen manageable. It's after turning the thing on when those impressed BlackBerry onlookers started to lose interest ? not because of anything too offensive, just for a lack of interest to learn.

RELATED: Emails Tying Apple to Indian Intelligence Were Likely Faked

As other reviewers have noted in the two weeks since the Z10's release (are you sick of that commercial yet?), the BlackBerry 10 operating system has a "steep learning curve." That's an accurate statement for phone savvy tech bloggers and an understatement for most phone users. Indeed, there is a lot of learning involved, mainly because the Z10 has no home screen button. Users have to swipe to get around: swipe up to get to some places, swipe left to get to others, swipe right to get elsewhere. Once in a program, you might find yourself swiping furiously just to get out of it. (When in doubt, swipe up!) It is possible to get used to the swiping, but unforunately for BlackBerry when someone comes in to a phone store and tries out the phones, familiarity matters.

RELATED: How to Spot a Fake Online Product Review

Windows 8 has had this problem (especially when it comes to its Surface tablet), with sales lagging because people don't like the totally new look, something CEO Steve Ballmer says consumers will get over once they get used to the product. BlackBerry has already had a similar adoption issue, per its first (otherwise good) earnings report:?It hasn't sold enough phones to loyal users yet. That report, however, did not include U.S. sales, since the phone only went on sale in U.S. markets two Fridays ago. But there was a notable lack of lines, which drove down BlackBerry's shares on its debut day, according to multiple media reports. Despite what that says about future sales, even with a big launch event, all that March Madness marketing, and generally favorable reviews from the tech press, people didn't show in droves.

RELATED: Londoners Turn to Technology to Stop the Looting

I suspect it has something to do with this familiarity problem. But this is more than just a nostalgia issue. People can get over the newness of something. Remember the original iPhone reviews? People didn't understand a phone without a keyboard. The problem with the new BlackBerry, however, is that it doesn't give to many people a legitimate reason to switch back to their old BBM-ing, clickety-clack ways. The loyalists who like the BlackBerry of yonder will find it too different. And the current iPhone and Samsung customers won't have a reason to align with a new brand and its new OS. (The BlackBerry Q10, with the same new operating system and that familiar tactile keyboard, arrives later this month.)

Think about it: BBM is only as good as the number of people that use it. For people who live in cities, BlackBerry Maps doesn't have subway directions. The whole app itself is a big mess. It only maps directions from a current location to another place. So, if you want to figure out distances or routes from somewhere you're not, it's impossible. By the way, for Google loyalists, the app store, BlackBerry World, doesn't feature a Google Maps app. Speaking of the World store, it doesn't offer Instagram, which is kind of bizarre because it prominently features its the trademark app of its owners at Facebook (which would now tell you too much Facebook up front is not enough). Maybe that's not your social network of choice, but it's indicative of a larger issue: BlackBerry isn't at the forefront of apps, a thing that kind matters for a gadget aspiring to be on the vanguard.

None of which is to say the Z10 doesn't offer some (very user-specific) reasons to switch from your iPhone or Android device this weekend. The new BlackBerry's keyboard is smart and responsive. And BlackBerry users care about these things, because of the tactile keyboard. Once you realize that you can basically type a sentence of garbled up typos and the phone knows what you mean, translating it into real words, you won't miss the old clicky keys.

The hub, which shows emails, phone calls, text messages, and all modes of communication in one easy to read screen (pictured at right), provides the perfect snapshot of phone happenings. iPhone and Android software feature similar notifications centers, but BlackBerry collects them all in one place without making you launch a bunch of applications to read a text message or answer an email. Click on "Gmail," and the email screen just slides right over. Instead of clicking the (non-existent home button), just thumb right to get back the hub. It's all very smooth.

While nice, those two things alone probably won't get?hoards?of people to tackle a device with so much learning involved. But there is one group I can see loving this phone: business people currently using two different phones. BlackBerry's whole work-personal balance thing makes this an enticing device for?consolidating?gadgets. BlackBerry Enterprise Service, which involves setup with your company business, keeps work email completely separate,?technically,?but aligned physically. So, say you want to leave your company; you can just disengage that account, which your company has complete control over and keep the phone. Unless you're like the Path CEO and get some sick bragging-rights pleasure out of toting two gadgets with the same purpose, the promise of ditching the ole "work-only" BlackBerry makes the purchase of a Z10 more than worthwhile.

And for those of you who take the plunge, take heart: The stigma of owning a BlackBerry has evaporated. The judgmental masses will look at you and your phone like a celebrity and her entourage on the verge of a comeback, like Britney Spears circa Blackout. Nobody's quite ready to call it a comeback. But it's something. Something very promising.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/consider-blackberry-z10-smart-fish-ocean-smartphones-220336338.html

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New Zealand Withdraws Its Troops From Afghanistan, Grants Afghan Interpreters Residency

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Stocks dip; worst week of year for S&P, Nasdaq

JeeYeon Park , CNBC ? ? ? 16 hrs.

Stocks closed well off their lows Friday, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq still logged their worst one-week declines this year, pressured by a disappointing March unemployment report in addition to ongoing jitters over North Korea.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 40.86 points to close at 14,565.25, cutting most of its losses after being down more than 170 points at its session low. American Express and Cisco led the blue-chip laggards, while Boeing gained. The Dow posted its worst week since February and logged its second weekly decline in the last seven weeks.

The S&P 500 slipped 6.70 points to finish at 1,553.28. Major averages have struggled for direction since the S&P 500 pierced through its 2007 closing high last week. The index has zigzagged between gains and losses for the 13th-consecutive session.

The Nasdaq fell 21.12 points to end at 3,203.86.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, ended unchanged near 14.

For the week, the Dow erased a negligible 0.09 percent, the S&P 500 dropped 1.01 percent, and the Nasdaq tumbled 1.95 percent. Hewlett-Packard was the worst weekly performer on the Dow, while UnitedHealth soared.

Among the key S&P sectors, techs slumped for the week, while telecoms rallied.

U.S. employers hired at the slowest pace in nine months in March, adding just 88,000, while the unemployment rate notched lower to 7.6 percent, largely due to people dropping out of the work force, according to the Labor Department. The unemployment rate is the lowest since December 2008, while the labor force participation rate is at the lowest since 1979. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a gain of 200,000.

(Read More: Unemployment Rate Falls, but Hold the Champagne)

"Today's number was heavily telegraphed by the data received earlier this week, which were unanimously disappointing," said Lawrence Creatura, Portfolio Manager, Clover Small Value Fund. "So to a certain extent, the disappointment was foreshadowed, but the magnitude of the disappointment was the real eye-opener."

Earlier this week, private sector employment and jobless claims data indicated weakness in the labor market. Reports on the manufacturing and services sectors also disappointed.

"This jobs number is going to have to revise GDP lower?at the end of the day, if people aren't making money, they're not spending. So this number has huge ramifications," said Alan Valdes, director of floor operations at DME Securities. "More striking is the fact that this may be the new norm."

(Read More: Lousy Jobs Report Means 'End of the End of QE Talk')

Adding to fears, geopolitical tensions remained in focus after North Korea placed two of its intermediate range missiles on mobile launchers and hid them on the east coast of the country, according to South Korean media. In addition, North Korea asked several foreign embassies including Russia to consider evacuating staff from Pyongyang because of increasing tension.

Shares of the iShares MSCI South Korea Capped Index Fund ETF, hit a seven-month low, dropping for the sixth-consecutive session.

"The situation in North Korea is escalating ? and investors are nervous because it's not just chatter anymore," said Creatura. "We're going to be stuck with focusing on national and geopolitical events until earnings season comes and we get more granular information."

But Japan's benchmark Nikkei index continued its upward momentum after the Bank of Japan launched a $1.4 trillion stimulus program.

(Read More: Nikkei Erupts and This Time It May Be Different)

F5 Networks plunged nearly 20 perecnt after the network appliances company slashed its second-quarter outlook. At least six brokerages slashed their price target on the company. Rivals Cisco and Juniper also declined.

First-quarter earnings season is scheduled to kick off next week with results from aluminum producer Alcoa on Monday after the closing bell. S&P 500 earnings are expected to have increased just 1.6 percent from a year ago, according to the latest data from Thomson Reuters, down from 4.3 percent forecast in January.

Facebook gained a day after the company unveiled its new software for Android devices called 'Home,' which will be deeply integrated with Google's Android operating system. The social-networking giant also showcased the HTC First, a smartphone that will come pre-installed with Facebook's new 'Home' software. In addition, Argus Research upgraded its rating on the company to "buy" from "hold."

Boeing turned higher after the company said it plans to make a test flight later this afternoon with its 787 Dreamliner jet after more than two months on the ground.

Also on the economic front, the U.S. trade gap narrowed unexpectedly to $43 billion in February, from an unrevised $44.5 billion in January, as crude oil imports fell to their lowest level since March 1996 and overall exports increased slightly, according to the Commerce Department. Economists surveyed by Reuters expected the gap to widen to $44.6 billion.

And consumer credit rose by $18.14 billion in February to $2.799 trillion and January was revised to show a smaller jump than previously expected, according to the Federal Reserve.

(Read More:Stocks, Bonds Tell Two Stories; So Who's Right?)

?By CNBC's JeeYeon Park (Follow JeeYeon on Twitter: @JeeYeonParkCNBC)

? 2013 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved

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Lululemon Exec: OUT After Yoga Pants Debacle!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/lululemon-exec-out-after-yoga-pants-debacle/

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Small Business Owners Support Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Small business owners throughout the United States have a pulse on the goings on within their local communities. They recognize that immigrant workers and their families are also consumers, which helps to create additional jobs and bolster local economies. Within that context, two new polls highlight small business owners? perspectives of immigration and its positive effects on the ground in communities. Overwhelmingly, the surveys show small business owners, regardless of political affiliation, support comprehensive immigration reform.

Small Business Majority recently released the results from a poll exploring the extent to which small businesses support comprehensive immigration reform. The results stem from an internet survey conducted in early March of a sample of 500 small business owners from across the United States. Main Street Alliance and the American Sustainable Business Council released the results of a similar survey yesterday. Their results derive from a telephone interview survey of small business owners also conducted in March. The sample populations for both surveys were demographically, geographically, and politically diverse, with strong bipartisan agreement across party lines for most items in each report.

The detailed Small Business Alliance report and Main Street Alliance report both contain similar key findings around small business owners? views on immigration reform and immigration?s impact on local economies and communities:

• Most small business owners ? nine in ten ? in the Small Business Majority report recognize that our current immigration system is tragically flawed and the majority of respondents support a bipartisan effort to reform it. Similarly, the Main Street Alliance report shows strong small business support for immigration reform, with further emphasis on the role of immigrants in the economy and in communities.
• The Small Business Majority report shows that small business owners recognize that immigration and immigration reform is good for America (84 percent) and that immigrant entrepreneurs help facilitate business and economic growth for the country (66 percent).
• According to the Small Business Majority report, almost three-quarters of small business owners recognize the need to allow more high-skilled workers to enter the country to benefit the overall economy, while 64 percent agree that there is an economic need to allow more less-skilled workers to enter the U.S.
• Many small business owners (73 percent) in the Small Business Majority report see a need to revise the guest worker system by creating a new worker visa that would allow portability and mobility for workers to change employers as part of a protection from abusive employers, as well as a path to transition beyond temporary status.
• The Main Street Alliance report shows that two-thirds of small business owners support a roadmap to citizenship for immigrants already living in the U.S., and 61 percent favor a roadmap to citizenship for future immigrants over a temporary worker program with no path to citizenship. Most small business owners (three-fourths) in the Small Business Majority report support a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the U.S.

Furthermore, the Main Street Alliance report finds small businesses largely agree with the following three statements about immigration?s role in American communities, economy, and society:

• 82 percent agreed with the statement: ?Generations of new Americans, both business owners and workers, have helped build strong local economies and communities. Today, outdated and out-of-touch immigration policies are hindering our economic progress. Addressing immigration is important.?
• 71 percent agreed with the statement: ?Our immigration policies should encourage the economic integration of new American immigrants. This will strengthen the customer base for small businesses, bring new talent to the nation and help those businesses grow and create jobs.?
• 67 percent agreed with the statement: ?Small business owners and their employees are like family. When an employee?s family is separated by our current immigration laws, it impacts morale and focus in the workplace. Keeping families together is important to ensure a productive and focused workforce for small businesses.?

These two survey reports offer yet more evidence that small business owners value immigration reform not only for its economic impact, but for the role it plays in strengthening families and communities.? While small businesses see the positive impacts of immigration in local economies and communities, big business is also beginning to get that message too, as the example of Facebook supporting a new comprehensive immigration reform group suggests. More and more, immigration reform is being recognized for what it is?one of the ways that we can create a better and more productive country that benefits everyone.

Source: http://immigrationimpact.com/2013/04/03/small-business-owners-support-comprehensive-immigration-reform/

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Melissa Joan Hart: Nutrisystem Spokeswoman, Weight Loss Champ

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/melissa-joan-hart-nutrisystem-spokeswoman/

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With Record Growth, Direct Capital Named Top 5 ... - Franchising.com

April 03, 2013 // Franchising.com // PORTSMOUTH, N.H. - Backed by remarkable growth that outpaced any other independent business lender and $330 million in new business volume, Direct Capital was named No. 4 on Monitor?s 2013 Top Independents list. The annual benchmark list measures the overall new business volume and percentage growth for all independent business lenders in the United States.

Direct Capital, which is celebrating its 20th year in business, recorded new business volume growth of nearly $100 million over the previous year, outperforming the next closest lender by more than $35 million. With 43.2% growth year over year, Direct Capital was the only company in the Top 5 to record double-digit percentage organic growth.

The company, a leading provider of equipment leasing, business loans and working capital, has been highly successful in delivering capital to the grossly underserved small business market by offering a wide range of finance options and deploying unique scoring algorithms that significantly expand its ability to approve businesses. That capability has been well received by the small business community, which has responded with very positive feedback on the company. Direct Capital?s Net Promoter Score ? which measures customer satisfaction ? reached 65% versus a financial industry average of 23%.

?Our goal is to deliver the financial products that small businesses need at competitive prices and with extraordinary speed and wrap it all in a remarkable customer experience,? said James Broom, CEO of Direct Capital. ?Our growth in 2012 is a strong endorsement that we are on the right track. I?m especially proud of our repeat business growth. When customers continue to return to us for their financing needs we are doing the right things. It?s that simple.?

To learn more, visit the Monitor website.

About Direct Capital

Established in 1993, Direct Capital (www.directcapital.com) is a financial technology company that delivers financial solutions for small & medium sized businesses, franchisors, and equipment and technology sellers. The company is headquartered in Portsmouth, N.H. and operates offices in New York, California, and Georgia. You can follow Direct Capital on http://blog.directcapital.com.

SOURCE?Direct Capital

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U.S.: N. Korea poses 'real and clear danger'

By Jack Kim and Phil Stewart

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said it would soon send a missile defense system to Guam to defend it from North Korea, as the U.S. military adjusts to what Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called a "real and clear danger" from Pyongyang.

Hours later, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said North Korea had moved what appeared to be a mid-range Musudan missile to its east coast. It was not clear if the North planned to fire the rocket or was just putting it on display as a show of force, one South Korean government source was quoted as saying.

North Korea also barred entry to a joint industrial complex it shares with the South for a second day on Thursday and said it would shut the zone if Seoul continued to insult it.

Events on the Korean peninsula have begun to unnerve global financial markets long used to the rhetoric North Korea routinely hurls at Seoul and Washington.

"The assumption remains that this is more bluster ...," said Rob Ryan, a strategist with RBS in Singapore. "But from here, we've reached a level of tensions that say things can't get too much worse without an actual exchange of fire."

The broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.6 percent, dragged down by a 2 percent slump in South Korean shares, while the South Korean won slid 0.7 percent against the U.S. dollar.

U.S. stocks sank on Wednesday after Hagel's comments and the Guam deployment news.

North Korea also repeated its threat to launch a nuclear attack on the United States. Pyongyang said it had ratified a potential strike because of U.S. military deployments around the Korean peninsula that it claimed were a prelude to a possible nuclear attack on the North.

Washington had been informed of the potential attack by North Korea, a spokesman for its army said in a statement carried by the English-language service of state news agency KCNA. It was unclear how such a warning was given since North Korea does not have diplomatic ties with Washington.

The report from KCNA appeared to re-state many of the month-long fusillade of threats emanating from Pyongyang.

Experts say North Korea is years away from being able to hit the continental United States with a nuclear weapon, despite having worked for decades to achieve nuclear-arms capability.

North Korea has previously threatened a nuclear strike on the United States and missile attacks on its Pacific bases, including in Guam, a U.S. territory in the Pacific.

Those threats followed new U.N. sanctions imposed on the North after it carried out its third nuclear test in February.

"Some of the actions they've taken over the last few weeks present a real and clear danger," Hagel told an audience at the National Defense University in Washington.

Despite the rhetoric, Pyongyang has not taken any military action and has shown no sign of preparing its 1.2 million-strong armed forces for war, the White House said on Monday.

That indicates its threats are partly intended for domestic consumption to bolster young leader Kim Jong-un ahead of celebrations marking the anniversary of the April 15 birthday of Kim Il-sung, the state's founder and the younger Kim's grandfather.

Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, criticized the latest North Korean statement.

"It is yet another offering in a long line of provocative statements that only serve to further isolate North Korea from the rest of the international community and undermine its goal of economic development," Hayden said.

HAGEL: TAKE THREATS SERIOUSLY

Hagel said he had to take the threats seriously, language he has used in recent weeks as the United States has revamped its missile defense plans and positioned two guided-missile destroyers in the western Pacific.

The United States has also flexed its muscles during annual military drills with South Korea, flying two radar-evading stealth bombers on a first-of-its-kind practice bombing run over South Korea.

In the latest move, the Pentagon said it was deploying a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to Guam in the coming weeks. The THAAD system includes a truck-mounted launcher, interceptor missiles and an AN/TPY-2 tracking radar.

Last month, Hagel said the Pentagon would add 14 new anti-missile interceptors in Alaska and move ahead with the deployment of a second missile-defense radar in Japan.

Yonhap quoted multiple government sources privy to intelligence from U.S. and South Korean authorities as saying North Korea had moved what appeared to be a Musudan missile to its east coast.

The missile is believed to have a range of 3,000 km (1,865 miles) or more, which would put all of South Korea and Japan in range and possibly also Guam. North Korea is not believed to have tested the Musudan mid-range missiles, according to most independent experts

South Korea's defense ministry declined to comment.

The missile was moved to the coast by train. The North has a missile launch site on its northeastern coast, which it has used to unsuccessfully test-fire long-range rockets in the past.

The Yonhap report did not say if the missile had been moved to the missile site.

The South Korean government said the North would allow 222 South Korean workers to leave the Kaesong industrial zone on Thursday. That would leave another 606 South Koreans in the complex. Seoul has urged its citizens to get out.

North Korea has threatened to shut the complex, one of the impoverished North's few sources of ready cash.

The industrial park, just inside the border with North Korea, has not formally stopped operations since it was inaugurated in 2000. It houses 123 companies and employs 50,000 North Koreans making cheap goods such as clothing.

(Additional reporting by Christine Kim in SEOUL, Ju-min Park in PAJU, David Alexander in WASHINGTON and Vidya Rangananthan in SINGAPORE; Writing by Dean Yates; Editing by Paul Tait)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-send-missile-defenses-guam-over-north-korea-011546394.html

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Amazon's AutoRip now includes vinyl

For about as long as we can remember, each new CD we've purchased has made a trip to our computer for a good, old fashioned ripping, first thing out of the plastic. So the concept of offering up free MP3s with the purchase of a compact disc always felt a bit superfluous (particularly in these days when fewer and fewer are buying music in a physical form). The increasingly popular concept of offering up downloads with the purchase of a vinyl LP, on the other hand, makes an awful lot of sense -- after all, it's a lot harder for most of us to transfer that music onto our PCs. Amazon's embracing the concept by extending its AutoRip promotion to records, giving consumers a 256 Kbps cloud-based copy of the music they buy on vinyl. The promotion extends to thousands of titles -- anything sporting the AutoRip logo is fair game, including a number of top sellers like Mumford & Sons and the Lumineers. It's a nice way of supporting the growing boutique vinyl industry and helping keep a bit of focus on the album as self-contained work, rather than the move toward singles we've been experiencing as a result of the digital music explosion of the past several years.

Filed under: Amazon

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/03/amazons-autorip/

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California accident justifies crying over spilled milk

By John Newland, Staff Writer, NBC News

They say never to cry over spilled milk, but motorists headed for Los Angeles on busy Interstate 5 Tuesday night very well might have.

Two tractor-trailers, one of them a tanker loaded with milk, collided on the interstate, which serves as California's main north-south artery, just before 9 p.m. near Santa Clarita, police said.

The accident and accompanying milk spill closed three of the four southbound lanes of the interstate, causing a backup for almost two hours, California Highway Patrol Officer Cheyenne Quesada said.

The milk truck's driver might have shed a tear as well. He was traveling at 65 mph and apparently did not see the other truck pulling out from the road's shoulder and into his lane, Quesada said. He required medical treatment after the fierce impact, but both drivers left the scene under their own power, the officer said, adding that an investigation was continuing.

Traffic was light when the crash occurred, Quesada said, so the incident could have been significantly worse for other motorists, too. "If it was northbound when people were still leaving for work, it might have been a different story," he said.

As for the people who found themselves tied up at the scene, Quesada offered just one tip: "I said they needed some cookies."

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Cano switching agents from Boras to Jay-Z company

NEW YORK (AP) ? Robinson Cano plans to switch agents from Scott Boras to a new company formed by musician Jay-Z's Roc Nation and CAA Sports.

Cano will be represented in baseball matters by CAA Sports' Brodie Van Wagenen. The New York Yankees second baseman is making $15 million this season and can become a free agent at the end of the World Series.

"At this point in my career, I am ready to take a more active role in my endeavors both on and off the field," Cano said in a statement.

As of Tuesday, Boras remained Cano's agent listed with the Major League Baseball Players Association.

"I have yet to speak to Robinson, so I'm not going to comment until I talk with him," Boras said.

While the Yankees usually wait for contracts to expire before negotiating new agreements with players, they have said they hope to reach a deal with the 30-year-old Cano while he remains under their control. Boras usually prefers that his clients become free agents to increase bidders and maximize their values.

The new company, Roc Nation Sports, is led by Shawn Carter, better known as Jay-Z, and Juan Perez, who will be the company president. Jay-Z, a part owner of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, is friendly with injured Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, a former Boras client.

"Because of my love of sports, it was a natural progression to form a company where we can help top athletes in various sports the same way we have been helping artists in the music industry for years," Carter said in a statement.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Feb. 28 that the team had made a significant offer to Cano for a new deal. The agent fees for Cano's next contract could become subject to litigation between Boras and the new company.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cano-switching-agents-boras-jay-z-company-173537052.html

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Singapore prime minister visits White House

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Singapore's prime minister on Tuesday becomes the third Asian leader to visit the White House this year, as President Barack Obama pursues closer ties with countries in the region in his second term.

It will be Lee Hsien Loong's first Oval Office meeting in six years and comes as the U.S. pushes for completion by fall of a trans-Pacific free trade pact. Singapore, a close ally, is one of 11 countries taking part in the negotiations.

The U.S. and Singapore also have strong defense ties. Next week, the U.S. will begin rotational deployments of Navy vessels in Singapore, part of its efforts to shift American military presence toward the Asia-Pacific as the U.S. disentangles itself from a decade of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Defense cuts at home and turmoil in the Middle East have raised doubts in Asia about the U.S. ability to sustain its "pivot" to the region. But Obama made his diplomatic priorities clear by traveling to Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand soon after his November re-election, and then by hosting the leaders of Japan and Brunei. South Korea's new president will visit in May.

"The prime minister's visit underscores the strategic importance the president places on Asia and the value we place on our relationship with Singapore as a key partner," a White House statement announcing Lee's trip said.

Lee is the eldest son of Singapore's founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew. He last visited the U.S. for a nuclear security summit in 2010. He'll address the U.S. Chamber of Commerce after his White House meeting.

While much attention is currently on Northeast Asia, and North Korea's threats to attack the U.S. and South Korea, Lee's four-day visit also takes place against the backdrop of tensions in the South China Sea, where assertive Chinese actions near disputed islands have unnerved other claimants in Southeast Asia.

Singapore itself is not a claimant, but its prosperity depends on commerce through those busy waters. It is a strong supporter of the U.S. security presence in the region, although it retains cordial ties with China.

During his visit, Lee is also meeting with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Secretary of State John Kerry. He'll also travel to New York City and meet with Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

___

State Department background note on Singapore: http://www.state.gov/p/eap/ci/sn/

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/singapore-prime-minister-visits-white-house-070811591--politics.html

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Streams stressed by pharmaceutical pollution

Apr. 1, 2013 ? Pharmaceuticals commonly found in the environment are disrupting streams, with unknown impacts on aquatic life and water quality. So reports a new Ecological Applications paper, which highlights the ecological cost of pharmaceutical waste and the need for more research into environmental impacts.

Lead author Dr. Emma Rosi-Marshall, a scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, comments: "Pharmaceutical pollution is now detected in waters throughout the world. Causes include aging infrastructure, sewage overflows, and agricultural runoff. Even when waste water makes it to sewage treatment facilities, they aren't equipped to remove pharmaceuticals. As a result, our streams and rivers are exposed to a cocktail of synthetic compounds, from stimulants and antibiotics to analgesics and antihistamines."

With colleagues from Indiana University and Loyola University Chicago, Rosi-Marshall looked at how six common pharmaceuticals influenced similar-sized streams in New York, Maryland, and Indiana. Caffeine, the antibiotic ciprofloxacin, the antidiabetic metformin, two antihistimines used to treat heartburn (cimetidine and ranitidine), and one antihistamine used to treat allergies (diphenhydramine) were investigated, both alone and in combinations, using pharmaceutical-diffusing substrates.

Rosi-Marshall explains, "We focused on the response of biofilms -- which most people know as the slippery coating on stream rocks -- because they're vital to stream health. They might not look like much to the naked eye, but biofilms are complex communities composed of algae, fungi, and bacteria all living and working together. In streams, biofilms contribute to water quality by recycling nutrients and organic matter. They're also a major food source for invertebrates that, in turn, feed larger animals like fish."

Healthy streams are slippery streams. And it turns out that antihistamines dry more than our noses. The most striking result of the study was diphenhydramine's effects on algal production and microbial respiration. Exposure caused biofilms to experience up to a 99% decrease in photosynthesis, as well as significant drops in respiration. Diphenhydramine also caused a change in the bacterial species present in the biofilms, including an increase in a bacterial group known to degrade toxic compounds and a reduction in a group that digests compounds produced by plants and algae.

Results suggest that this antihistamine is disrupting the ecology of these sensitive biofilm communities. Rosi-Marshall notes, "We know that diphenhydramine is commonly found in the environment. And its effect on biofilms could have repercussions for animals in stream food webs, like insects and fish. We need additional studies looking at the concentrations that cause ecosystem disruption, and how they react with other stressors, such as excess nutrients."

The other pharmaceuticals investigated also had a measurable effect on biofilm respiration, both alone and in combinations. More work is needed to understand how drug mixtures, which most natural streams experience, impact freshwater systems.

Society's dependence on pharmaceuticals is not likely to wane. Nor is its need for clean, fresh water. This study adds another piece of evidence to the case calling for innovations in the way we manage waste water. Currently, only a fraction of the world's waste water is treated, and the infrastructure in many developed nations is aging.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/QEvOQ14YL1U/130401090709.htm

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Afghans warned: the taxman is coming after you

By Katharine Houreld

KABUL (Reuters) - One of Afghanistan's most surprising success stories lies tucked away on a potholed street notorious for suicide bombings and lined with rusting construction equipment.

The work of the country's top tax collector is more inspiring than the view from his office in Kabul. Taxes and customs raised $1.64 billion last financial year, a 14-fold increase on 10 years ago. That means, now, the government can pay just over half of its recurrent costs such as salaries.

Thanks to tougher enforcement procedures, Afghanistan's tax to GDP ratio today stands above 11 percent - ahead of neighboring Pakistan's dismal 9 percent.

Increasing revenues is vital as donors begin reducing aid ahead of the 2014 drawdown of NATO troops, who have provided the backbone for security since U.S. forces invaded after the September 11 attacks on the United States.

By the end of this year the United States alone will have spent $100 billion on Afghan reconstruction. But future pledges are a fraction of that.

"We are largely dependent on international aid. We would like to be independent," said Abdurrahman Mujahid, the new head of the revenue department. "I would like a sustainable Afghanistan for all the children."

Despite rising revenues, the government will rely heavily on donors for years to come. Taxes, customs and mining revenue will only meet $2.5 billion out of a $7 billion budget this year.

Most of the revenue comes from large corporate taxpayers, who complain their payments have not improved power cuts, potholed roads or security.

Corporations pay a flat tax of 20 percent - the same rate for an individual earning over $2,000 a month.

But unlike developed countries where personal income tax generates a sizeable chunk of revenue, most Afghans scoff at the idea of giving the government some of their meager earnings.

The average annual income, in a country ranked one of the world's poorest, is just $470, according to the World Bank. Those making less than $100 a month don't have to pay tax.

"It's not a good government," said moneychanger Abdurrahman Arif, 28, as he held a wad of soiled notes and scanned for customers. "I don't pay tax. The rich people don't and the government should go to them before they come to me."

Afghanistan has a similar problem to neighboring Pakistan - the very wealthy don't pay their share, and weak institutions often have little way of forcing them.

Authorities admit that taxing the rich isn't easy in a country where the powerful often command militias. But Mujahid promises tax evaders will "be introduced to the law enforcement agencies".

SUBSTANTIAL ACHIEVEMENT

Much of Afghanistan's money is in an undocumented black economy. Corruption is endemic and the country produces 90 percent of the world's opium. Billions of dollars in cash leave the country every year in suitcases.

The security situation is discouraging. Taliban and other militias have made gains in many areas as foreign combat forces wind down their missions.

But some Afghans still manage to make money. Many businesses are fuelled by the aid dollars that have poured into the country over the last decade. Luxury supermarkets, travel agencies and stationery shops crowd the capital's streets.

A U.S. embassy official in Kabul commended Afghanistan's ability to raise tax revenues.

"It's a pretty substantial achievement," the official said, but noted the nation still faced a large funding gap, partly because of its huge security bill.

"It's going to continue being a problem until they can get revenues from the extractive industry, and that's going to take some time," the official said, referring to Afghanistan's rich but undeveloped mineral deposits.

Donors currently pay for just under half Afghanistan's operating costs - mostly government salaries - and more than three-quarters of all development projects like roads, dams and electricity equipment.

Rampant corruption means this money is often stolen, angering donors, fuelling anti-government rage and keeping aid from some of the world's neediest families.

Donors hope that if Afghans foot more of the bill for public services they may become less tolerant of graft from their leaders.

PUGNACIOUS PREDECESSOR

Mujahid, the new head of the revenue department, has large shoes to fill. His predecessor Ahmad Shah Zamanzai oversaw much of the department's growth and didn't shrink from confrontation.

When a vice-president refused to pay tax on income from renting out houses he owned, Zamanzai threatened to leak it to the press. Elections were approaching. The vice president paid up.

Under Zamanzai, the tax department jailed more than 20 tax evaders, froze bank accounts, slapped on travel bans and shuttered the premises of businesses that refused to pay.

In one showdown, he took on the glitzy wedding halls that have mushroomed up in the capital. When the 60 or so venues refused to pay their dues, he had police padlock a dozen of the biggest until the rest fell into line.

Zamanzai was appointed head of the state-run Pashtany Bank as part of a bureaucratic reshuffle this month. His first task, he said, would be to use skills honed in the tax department to extract overdue loan repayments from powerful Afghans.

But the tough tax enforcement has angered some businessmen.

Najib Ullah Latify's spotless factory, full of humming machinery and rows of workers in blue overalls and yellow hard hats, stands a few minutes drive from the tax office. High Standard Pipe employs 850 people and supplies pipes for projects providing clean water all over Afghanistan.

Latify said he'd expand but harassment from the tax man was hurting his business.

In recent years, he says, he's been repeatedly overcharged by the tax office and promised refunds have not been credited. Officials frequently offer to slash his tax bill in return for bribes, he added. When he refuses, he says, officials disrupt his imports and suspend his license.

"I don't know what to do, I have shouted everywhere that they are ruining my business," he said.

"I don't mind paying taxes. Even if 60 percent of it is spent on drinking and shopping and trips for (politicians') wives, maybe 40 percent will go to schools or hospitals. But they must tax me correctly."

The new tax chief, Mujahid, was not familiar with Vitaly's case, but promised to investigate. More than 10 tax collectors - whose basic salaries start at $180 a month - have been fired for corruption in the last two years.

"Corruption is a part of public life in Afghanistan," said Mujahid. "We have the aim to make this department corruption-free."

This year he's planning to finish computerizing tax records, usher through a law on Value Added Tax, and strengthen collection in the provinces - more than 90 percent of government taxes currently come from the capital.

"There's a lot of achievements, but for sure we have problems, and the biggest problem is corruption," he said.

(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/afghans-warned-taxman-coming-075922090.html

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Kobe passes Wilt for 4th on NBA scoring list

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) ? Kobe Bryant has passed fellow Los Angeles Lakers great Wilt Chamberlain for fourth place on the NBA's career scoring list.

Bryant made a pull-up jumper from the free throw line with 7:54 remaining in the second quarter to eclipse Chamberlain's mark of 31,419 points. He tied Chamberlain 22 seconds earlier with a layup.

Bryant entered the game four points behind Chamberlain.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar tops the NBA's career scoring list with 38,387 points, Karl Malone is second with 36,928 and Michael Jordan is third with 32,292.

The 34-year-old Bryant is in his 17th season ? all with the Lakers.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-03-30-BKN-Lakers-Bryant-Scoring-List/id-0222737041bc4350a5b14490fe79c1fc

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30 years ago, Michael Jackson debuted the Moonwalk (Americablog)

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Stocks waver; Retail sales rose in February

NEW YORK (AP) ? Stocks were little changed in early trading on Wall Street after a report showed that retail sales rose more than forecast in February.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 24 points, or 0.2 percent, to 14,426 as of 9:52 a.m. EDT. The index rose for an eighth straight day Tuesday, its longest streak of advances in more than two years.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell three points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,549. The Nasdaq composite fell 9 points, or 0.2 percent, to 3,233.

Americans spent at the fastest pace in five months in February, boosting retail spending 1.1 percent compared with January, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Economists had forecast a rise of just 0.2 percent, according to data provider FactSet.

The solid increase in retail sales is encouraging because it shows that Americans kept spending despite a payroll tax increase that has lowered take-home pay this year for most workers. Consumer spending drives about 70 percent of the U.S. economy.

If the Dow closes higher, it would match the longest streak of advances since May 1996, according to Ryan Detrick, an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research. The Dow is up 10.1 percent this year and has closed at record highs over the previous six days.

Demand for stocks has been propelled this year by optimism that the housing market is recovering and that companies have started to hire. Strong company earnings and ongoing stimulus from the Federal Reserve are also helping make stocks more attractive.

The broader S&P 500 index has gained 8.7 percent and is within less than a percentage point of its record close of 1,1565.15 set in October 2007.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.04 percent from 2.02 percent.

Among stocks making big moves;

? Spectrum Pharmaceuticals plunged $4.36, or 35 percent, to $8.03 after the pharmaceutical company said sales of its drug Fusilev could fall by more than half this year.

? Dole dropped 60 cents to $11.12 after the company's fourth-quarter results fell short of analysts' expectations. The fruit company cited lower banana prices in North America.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-waver-retail-sales-rose-february-140641641--finance.html

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Cardinals gather to begin secret voting for successor to Pope Benedict

VATICAN CITY, Italy - A conclave to elect the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church begins today, with Canada's Cardinal Marc Ouellet among those in the running to be the new pontiff.

Ouellet and 114 other cardinals will seal themselves into the ornate Sistine Chapel to pick a successor to Pope Benedict, who retired last month after eight years in office.

Ouellet is a Quebec native who holds a powerful post in the Vatican where he plays a key role in the selection of bishops and archbishops around the world.

The centuries-old process for choosing a new pope is veiled in secrecy and the chapel has been swept for listening devices by Vatican security.

The election of the new pope will be signalled by a puff of white smoke from a special chimney installed on the roof of the Vatican.

Black smoke indicates no decision has been reached.

Several rounds of balloting could be held and the conclave will go on until a new pontiff is chosen.

Auravelia Colomer, 27, cashed in all her annual vacation time to make the pilgrimage to Italy. The Toronto public relations consultant was originally meant to arrive in Rome for Holy Week but set her sights on witnessing the new pope's election after the date of the conclave was announced.

"I thought I needed to be there, it's going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, it's going to be historic," said Colomer, who waited on standby over the weekend before finally securing a flight for Tuesday night.

She's hoping to get there before the decision is made and plans to "run over to St. Peter's Square and camp out until I see the smoke."

Colomer said it's long been her dream to be present for such a pivotal moment for the Catholic faith, but admits "the possibility of a Canadian pope is also a driving factor."

Cardinals held a final debate on Monday on the type of man best suited for the job.

Some wonder whether Catholics need a solid manager to address the Vatican bureaucracy and controversies over scandals and alleged corruption or a more inspirational figure to bring more people into the church.

Some possible candidates are Italian Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan, and Brazilian Cardinal Odilo Scherer.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cardinals-gather-begin-secret-voting-successor-pope-benedict-080732117.html

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Cash can bribe dieters to lose weight, study finds

In this Friday, Feb. 24, 2012 photo, doughnuts are fried in cooking oil in New York. Willpower apparently can be bought. The chance to win or lose $20 a month enticed people in a yearlong study to drop an average of nine pounds - four times more weight than others who were not offered dough to pass up the doughnuts. The new study, done at the Mayo Clinic, was released Thursday, March 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

In this Friday, Feb. 24, 2012 photo, doughnuts are fried in cooking oil in New York. Willpower apparently can be bought. The chance to win or lose $20 a month enticed people in a yearlong study to drop an average of nine pounds - four times more weight than others who were not offered dough to pass up the doughnuts. The new study, done at the Mayo Clinic, was released Thursday, March 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Willpower apparently can be bought. The chance to win or lose $20 a month enticed dieters in a yearlong study to drop an average of 9 pounds ? four times more weight than others who were not offered dough to pass up the doughnuts.

Many employers, insurers and Internet programs dangle dollars to try to change bad habits like smoking or not exercising, but most studies have found this doesn't work very well or for very long.

The new study, done with Mayo Clinic employees, was the longest test yet of financial incentives for weight loss. Doctors think it succeeded because it had a mix of carrots and sticks ? penalties for not losing weight, multiple ways to earn cash for succeeding, and a chance to recoup lost money if you fell off the "diet wagon" and later repented.

Incentives are "not like training wheels where people learn healthy habits and then will continue them on their own" ? you have to keep them up for them to work, said one study leader, Dr. Steve Driver of Mayo in Rochester, Minn.

And if you're looking to set up a system like this at work or among friends, the key is to make it self-sustaining, Driver said. The Mayo one did that by having people who didn't lose weight put penalties into a fund that paid rewards to those who did.

It's also a good idea to make people pony up in advance. One woman flew into a tizzy when she stepped on a scale at a weigh-in and was told she'd have to pay.

"She headed for the door" but later came back and paid, Driver said. "People in Minnesota are pretty honest."

Driver will discuss the study this weekend at an American College of Cardiology conference in San Francisco. The group released results Thursday. Mayo paid for the study and Driver owns stock in Gympact, a company with an Internet program that gives financial incentives for exercising.

The diet study involved 100 obese employees at Mayo Clinic but was not a workplace wellness program. Half were given weight-loss counseling, monthly weigh-ins and a three-month gym membership. The others had those things plus financial incentives.

The aim was to lose 4 pounds a month up to a goal that depended on their starting weight. If they failed, they paid $20 into a kitty. If they succeeded, they got a voucher to collect $20 when the study ended. Part of the kitty was used to pay the rewards. The rest was put into a lottery that anyone could win, whether they had made their weight-loss goals or not.

"People saw that if they stuck with it, they had a chance at winning more than they had lost," Driver said.

Participants in the financial incentives group also earned $10 a month and lottery "tickets" for coming to monthly weigh-ins and texting their weights to study leaders each week, said Dr. Don Hensrud, preventive medicine chief at Mayo. So people could have lost as much as $240 or won as much as $360, plus what built up in the lottery fund.

After a year, 27 of the 50 financial incentive participants came out ahead moneywise. About 62 percent of them completed the study versus 26 percent of the other group. The incentives group lost a little more than 9 pounds on average, compared to 2.3 pounds for the others.

The results are promising, but people may need to lose more than 9 pounds to make a big difference in health, said Dr. Kevin Volpp, director of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics.

"There's been an explosion of interest in this" and 86 percent of large employers now provide incentive programs like this, he said.

The cash was a big motivator for one study participant ? Audrey Traun, 29, a lab training specialist who dropped 40 pounds, from 215 pounds to 175.

"I was impressed. I didn't think I was quite capable of that," said Traun, who lives in Kellogg, Minn. As the study went on, though, the cash became less important, and "it was actually more motivating to see my progress ? pounds lost and how my clothes were fitting," she said.

Traun used the nearly $400 she earned in the study on a family vacation.

In England, there was big enthusiasm a few years back for campaigns using cash or gift certificates to convince people to make healthier choices, like getting vaccinated, quitting smoking and losing weight. But after a few limited trials, the programs have mostly petered out. The most successful were those that offered pregnant women vouchers if they stopped smoking; several of those programs are still in place.

"You have to prove these schemes work otherwise it's just money down the drain," said Eleni Mantzari, who studies financial incentives in health at King's College London. People often revert to unhealthy habits once the financial motivation is gone, she said.

___

AP Medical Writer Maria Cheng in London contributed to this report.

___

Online:

Health incentives research: http://chibe.upenn.edu/

___

Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-03-07-US-MED-Diet-Bribes/id-affc25db5b1647e68661e37f5b617e20

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Bill Clinton says anti-gay marriage law he signed should be overturned (reuters)

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Attorney General Claims Aaron Swartz Case Was ?A Good Use of Prosecutorial Discretion?

Attorney General Eric Holder claims critics are wrong to blame prosecutors for misconduct in the handling of Internet activist Aaron Swartz. Swartz committed suicide after allegedly facing 50+ years in prison for releasing millions of pay-walled academic articles. During a congressional Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, Holder claimed that the media overhyped the assumption of an overzealous prosecutor, saying that a plea deal of a few months in prison was offered and rejected by Swartz.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/P7Zfs6doSH8/

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Cardinals impose media blackout ahead of conclave

Cardinal Daniel Nicholas DiNardo, left, and Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley, right, arrive for a meeting, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Cardinals from around the world have gathered inside the Vatican for a round of meetings before the conclave to elect the next pope, amid scandals inside and out of the Vatican and the continued reverberations of Benedict XVI's decision to retire. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Cardinal Daniel Nicholas DiNardo, left, and Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley, right, arrive for a meeting, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Cardinals from around the world have gathered inside the Vatican for a round of meetings before the conclave to elect the next pope, amid scandals inside and out of the Vatican and the continued reverberations of Benedict XVI's decision to retire. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet holds on to his umbrella and his skull cap on a rainy windy day as he walks in St. Peter's Square after attending a cardinals' meeting, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Cardinals are meeting to discuss the problems of the church and to get to know one another because there is no clear front-runner in the election of the new pope. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Cardinal Daniel Nicholas DiNardo steps out of a bus as he arrives for a meeting, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Cardinals from around the world have gathered inside the Vatican for a round of meetings before the conclave to elect the next pope, amid scandals inside and out of the Vatican and the continued reverberations of Benedict XVI's decision to retire. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin is surrounded by reporters after a cardinals' meeting, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Cardinals from around the world have gathered inside the Vatican for their first round of meetings before the conclave to elect the next pope, amid scandals inside and out of the Vatican and the continued reverberations of Benedict XVI's decision to retire. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Cardinal Theodore Adrien Sarr, of Senegal, arrives for a cardinals' meeting, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Cardinals are meeting to discuss the problems of the church and to get to know one another because there is no clear front-runner in the election of the new pope. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? In the end, American-style transparency was no match for the Vatican's obsession with secrecy.

Cardinals attending closed-door discussions ahead of the conclave to elect the next pope imposed a media blackout Wednesday, forcing the cancellation of the popular daily press briefings by U.S. cardinals that had provided crucial insights into the deliberations.

The official reason for the blackout was that some details of the secret discussions about the problems in the church appeared in the Italian newspaper La Stampa.

But speculation mounted that the underlying aim of the blackout was to silence the Americans, who have been vocal in their calls for disclosure about allegations of corruption and dysfunction in the Holy See's governance before they enter the conclave to elect a successor to Benedict XVI.

As a result, the conflict appears to be a microcosm of the likely battle lines heading into the election: American and German cardinals have indicated they want a pope who will impose some order on the Vatican's inner workings, while the Vatican-based cardinals are defending their record and seeking to end the discussion.

One Italian cardinal said the Curia, or the Vatican bureaucracy, had been sorely maligned and that he could "only say good things about it."

"In the Curia, the pope has a docile tool that does exactly what he wants and tries to help him in the best of ways," Italian media quoted Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, the retired administrator of the Vatican City State as saying during a book launch Tuesday. "Of course it can always be improved."

That picture is at odds with evidence of turf battles, Machiavellian machinations and allegations of corruption and cronyism that were exposed last year when private papal documents were leaked to an Italian journalist. The documents paint a portrait of an utterly dysfunctional, ungovernable Italian bureaucracy.

The Vatican denied it had exerted any pressure on the American cardinals to keep quiet and cancel their briefings. But the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, made clear that the Holy See considered this week's pre-conclave meetings to be secret and part of a solemn process to choose a pope, suggesting that he didn't necessarily appreciate the Americans' candor.

"The College (of Cardinals) as a whole has decided to maintain a line of an increasing degree of reserve," he said.

The debate played out as the Vatican awaited the arrival of the last voting-age cardinal: Vietnamese Cardinal Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man, who was expected in Rome on Thursday. With his arrival, the College of Cardinals was expected to be able to set a date for the start of the conclave, where 115 men will select the next pontiff.

The spokeswoman for the U.S. cardinals, Sister Mary Ann Walsh, said Wednesday's briefing and all cardinal interviews were canceled after other cardinals expressed concern about the content of articles in Italian daily La Stampa, which over the past several days reported details of comments individual cardinals made in the closed-door meetings.

La Stampa reported Wednesday, for example, that the head of the Vatican's legal office had told the cardinals of the need for improved coordination among the various Vatican offices and better communication between the Holy See and local dioceses. None of those details came from the American briefing, where the U.S. cardinals took pains to stress the secrecy of the actual proceedings.

"I don't think anyone was angry at the Americans. They were angry at La Stampa," Walsh told The Associated Press.

"In true old-style Catholic school teacher fashion, someone talks and everybody stays after school," Walsh said. She added that the Americans had been assured that the Vatican was pleased with their briefings.

Perhaps. But Lombardi's palpable irritation suggested otherwise.

Italian media reported that Vatican-based cardinals wanted the election to take place quickly and speculated that Italian cardinals in particular were displeased with the Americans for making clear they were requesting more information about the Vatican's internal governance problems. The implication was the Rome-based cardinals didn't want the Vatican's dirty laundry aired out.

Cardinals Daniel DiNardo of Texas and Sean O'Malley of Boston said in Tuesday's briefing that they favored taking a longer time for pre-conclave discussions to gather more information.

"We need to give it the time that's necessary," O'Malley told the packed press conference at the North American College, the U.S. seminary up the hill from the Vatican. "I believe the feeling of the cardinals is that we want to have enough time in the general congregations so that when we go to the conclave itself it's a time of decision."

Drawing laughs, O'Malley added: "And it is hard to get a bad meal in Rome."

German Cardinal Walter Kasper also called for more time. "Among the cardinals, we barely know one another," he told La Repubblica newspaper. "There's no hurry."

Italian newspapers and international media, including The Associated Press, have reported on the Americans' unique briefings and how they contrasted with the near-silence from other cardinals and Lombardi's comparatively sedate Vatican briefings.

During Tuesday's briefing, DiNardo and O'Malley held a lively and informative 30-minute chat with some 100 reporters and two dozen television crews from around the globe. They revealed no details of their closed-door discussions. But they nevertheless provided journalists with insight about the process from two people actually involved.

"We're trying to help people have a greater understanding of what the process is and the procedures and background information," O'Malley told reporters. "Right now that's about all we can share with you but we're happy to try to do it."

Although the Americans were the only cardinals who were holding daily briefings, other individual cardinals have given occasional interviews to individual media.

And in an indication that the blackout wasn't total, U.S. Cardinal Timothy Dolan went ahead with his live radio show broadcast Wednesday.

_____

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-06-Vatican-Pope/id-04e17aafecee482ebaa170400b320330

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