Pope presides over trimmed Easter Vigil service

Pope Francis leads Easter vigil service in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican Saturday, March 30, 2013. Pope Francis is celebrating a trimmed back Easter Vigil service after having reached out to Muslims and women during a Holy Week in which he has begun to put his mark on the Catholic Church. Francis processed into a darkened and silent St. Peter's Basilica at the start of the Saturday service, which recalls the period between Christ's crucifixion on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Francis leads Easter vigil service in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican Saturday, March 30, 2013. Pope Francis is celebrating a trimmed back Easter Vigil service after having reached out to Muslims and women during a Holy Week in which he has begun to put his mark on the Catholic Church. Francis processed into a darkened and silent St. Peter's Basilica at the start of the Saturday service, which recalls the period between Christ's crucifixion on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Francis holding a tall, lit, white candle, enters a darkened St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican Saturday, March 30, 2013, to begin the Vatican's Easter vigil service. Pope Francis is celebrating a trimmed back Easter Vigil service after having reached out to Muslims and women during a Holy Week in which he has begun to put his mark on the Catholic Church. Francis processed into a darkened and silent St. Peter's Basilica at the start of the Saturday service, which recalls the period between Christ's crucifixion on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Francis leads the Easter vigil service in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican Saturday, March 30, 2013. Pope Francis is celebrating a trimmed back Easter Vigil service after having reached out to Muslims and women during a Holy Week in which he has begun to put his mark on the Catholic Church. Francis processed into a darkened and silent St. Peter's Basilica at the start of the Saturday service, which recalls the period between Christ's crucifixion on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Francis leads Easter vigil service in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican Saturday, March 30, 2013. Pope Francis is celebrating a trimmed back Easter Vigil service after having reached out to Muslims and women during a Holy Week in which he has begun to put his mark on the Catholic Church. Francis processed into a darkened and silent St. Peter's Basilica at the start of the Saturday service, which recalls the period between Christ's crucifixion on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Francis leads Easter vigil service in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican Saturday, March 30, 2013. Pope Francis is celebrating a trimmed back Easter Vigil service after having reached out to Muslims and women during a Holy Week in which he has begun to put his mark on the Catholic Church. Francis processed into a darkened and silent St. Peter's Basilica at the start of the Saturday service, which recalls the period between Christ's crucifixion on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? Pope Francis celebrated a trimmed back Easter Vigil service Saturday after having reached out to Muslims and women during a Holy Week in which he began to put his mark on the Catholic Church.

Francis processed into a darkened and silent St. Peter's Basilica at the start of the service, in which the faithful recall the period between Christ's crucifixion on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter Sunday.

One of the most dramatic moments of the Easter Vigil service that usually follows ? when the pope would share the light of his candle with others until the entire basilica twinkled ? was shortened this year as were some of the Old Testament readings.

The Vatican has said these provisions were in keeping with Francis' aim to not have his Masses go on too long. The Easter Vigil service under Benedict XVI would typically run nearly three hours. The new pope has made clear he prefers his Masses short and to the point: he was even caught checking his watch during his March 19 installation ceremony. Saturday was no different: The vigil ended just shy of 2.5 hours.

A trimmed-back vigil ? and one that started earlier than usual ? was just one of the novelties of this Holy Week under an Argentine Jesuit pope who just two weeks ago stunned the world by emerging from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica after his election with a simple "Brothers and sisters, good evening."

He riled traditionalists but endeared himself to women and liberals by washing and kissing the feet of two young girls during a Holy Thursday Mass at a juvenile detention center in Rome, when the rite usually calls for only men to participate. A day later, Francis reached out with friendship to "Muslim brothers and sisters" during a Good Friday procession dedicated to the suffering of Christians from terrorism, war and religious fanaticism in the Middle East.

In his homily Saturday, Francis kept his message simple and tied to the liturgical readings, recalling how Jesus' disciples found his tomb empty a day after his death and were surprised and confused.

"Our daily problems and worries can wrap us up in ourselves, in sadness and bitterness, and that is where death is," he said. "Let the risen Jesus enter your life, welcome him as a friend, with trust: he is life!"

He later baptized four men, part of the Easter Vigil ritual.

Just a few hours after the vigil ends, Francis on Sunday will celebrate Easter Mass and deliver his "Urbi et Orbi" speech, Latin for "To the city and the world." Usually the pope also issues Easter greetings in dozens of languages.

In his two weeks as pope, Francis' discomfort with speaking in any language other than Italian has become apparent. He has even shied away from speaking Spanish when the occasion would call for it, though the Vatican has said he has done so to avoid discriminating against other languages by favoring his native tongue.

Italian is the lingua franca of the Vatican and Francis has emphasized his role as bishop of Rome over that of pope of the universal church, making his use of Italian logical.

It's not clear how Francis will handle the multilingual greetings Sunday.

Typically, after the busy Easter week ceremonies, the pope would go to the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo for a few days of vacation. Francis can't do that since the previous pope, Benedict XVI, is currently living there in retirement.

The Vatican has said Francis would stay put in the Vatican.

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-30-Vatican-Easter%20Vigil/id-533729310db649578709e82565860b27

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88% A Place at the Table

All Critics (50) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (44) | Rotten (6)

You don't have to be a fan of info-graphics in social-justice docs to be troubled by one showing that the price of processed food has decreased in almost exact proportion to the rise in cost of fresh fruits and vegetables.

"A Place at the Table" presents a shameful truth that should leave viewers dismayed and angry: This nation has more than enough food for all its people, yet millions of them are hungry.

One thing is clear from "A Place at the Table": You cannot answer the question "Why are people hungry?," without also asking "Why are people poor?"

It specifically addresses our country's hunger crisis. But it also speaks to larger hungers. Hungers for independence, a dignified life, a better chance for ones children-in short, the American dream. See it and weep.

As rich as we are as a nation - still - many of our citizens are, at best, malnourished. One in six says they regularly don't have enough to eat.

It deserves to be seen, along with "Food, Inc.," "King Corn" and other muckraking food docs of recent years.

It doesn't offer much in terms of optimism, but provides an eye-opening glimpse into a frequently overlooked social issue.

Jacboson and Silverbush know how to make this potentially unpleasant news palatable and inspiring.

A documentary about the shocking extent of hunger in America, affecting 1 in 4 children.

Provides plenty of moving case studies...[but] it's most useful for its prismatic look at the problem of American hunger, examining the problem's recent history, its root causes...and its inextricability from other national crises...

Hunger in America, seen through the eyes of its victims, with an emphasis on children. Sobering documentary addresses a shameful problem.

As moving as the real lives are, for a film clearly intending to be a call for action, hunger cries out for more journalism and not just depressing stories and statistics.

A Place at the Table makes a strong case that hunger for one is a problem for all.

Directors Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush explore the surprisingly difficult obstacles to ending a situation where about 1 child out of 4 faces insecurity over where to get a meal.

A Place at the Table may bring to light a hunger epidemic the entire United States faces, but it also casts an even darker shadow on an already tainted world.

Powerful docu explores the problem of hunger in America.

An explosive investigative documentary about the injustices emanating from agricultural capitalism, how it's more about who gets to define what food is, and exactly who hugely profits from it.

...joined by an eclectic array of advocates and advisors to hit home the fact that, daily, millions of Americans go hungry.

Fine but conventional documentary on the problem of hunger in contemporary America.

No quotes approved yet for A Place at the Table. Logged in users can submit quotes.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_place_at_the_table_2013/

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Mathematician publishes 2013 Major League Baseball projections

Mar. 28, 2013 ? It looks like 2013 will be a thrilling season for baseball fans as four of the six divisions can be expected to deliver tight races, says baseball guru NJIT Associate Professor and Associate Dean Bruce Bukiet. Over the years, Bukiet has applied mathematical analysis to compute the number of regular season games each Major League Baseball team should win. Though his expertise is in mathematical modeling, his projections have compared well with those of so-called experts.

The numbers indicate that only one game might separate the first and second place teams in both the National League's (NL) East and West divisions, with the Atlanta Braves (94 wins) edging out the Washington Nationals (93 wins) in the East and the Los Angeles Dodgers (88 wins) coming in just ahead of the San Francisco Giants (87 wins) in the West. Even in the NL Central, the St. Louis Cardinals (90 wins) don't have much breathing room, winning that division by a projected 3 games over the Cincinnati Reds (87 wins). The Braves, Nationals, Cards, Reds and Dodgers should make the playoffs, while the Giants miss by a single game.

It is hard to believe that in the American League (AL), the contests could be even closer. While the Detroit Tigers should have the best record in baseball (102 wins) and run away with the Central division, with the next best team (the Chicago White Sox) more than 20 wins behind, the other two divisions could end up in ties. In the AL West, Bukiet has the Anaheim Angels and the Oakland Athletics tied with 92 wins each, while in the AL East, he says there could be a 3-way tie!!! The guru predicts that the Toronto Blue Jays, the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees all will win 87 games. Such results would mean that the Tigers, Angels, and Athletics would make the playoffs, while the other two teams to make the playoffs would be from among the Blue Jays, Rays, Yankees or Texas Rangers, all whom the model show come in at 87 wins.

Bukiet makes these projections to demonstrate and promote the power of math. He wants to show young people that math can be fun, that it can be applied to improve one's understanding of many aspects of life and that if you love mathematics, it can be a great college major and lead to a satisfying career.

Bukiet bases his predictions on a mathematical model he developed in 2000. He has made revisions over the years. His results have led to back-to-back wins for himself in 2010-2011 as predictions champ at baseballphd.net.

Bukiet should have plenty of time this summer to spend doing math since once again his favorite team, the New York Mets, should win the same number of games (74) as they did last year. Once again they should come in fourth in their division, while the Miami Marlins have the worst record in the NL with 59 wins. The worst team overall should be the Houston Astros in their debut in the AL with only 56 successful outcomes and 106 losses. Yes, and once again, for the 21th year in a row, the Pittsburgh Pirates should finish with a losing record.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/qeqBTqb5-Bs/130329125258.htm

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Chew on this: Sexiest stars eat what you eat

By Kurt Schlosser, TODAY

If you ever wanted six-pack abs on your way to being named the Sexiest Man Alive, or if you crave the toned legs and flat belly of an international pop superstar, a trip to your nearest fast-food establishment may be in order.

Startraks, FameFlynet

Ryan Reynolds, left, gets his Burger King on during a break from filming in New York this week. Britney Spears grabs KFC to go in Thousand Oaks, Calif., on March 19.

If that doesn't make sense, than neither does Ryan Reynolds walking down the street with Burger King to go, or Britney Spears hauling a bag of KFC across a parking lot. We know stars are supposed to be "just like us," but have you seen us? We don't look like them.

Let's just assume that Reynolds and Spears ate whatever was in those bags. Instead of collapsing into a cheeseburger coma in front of "South Park," it's safe to say these two burned it off. Probably before the bags hit the trash. (In Reynolds' case, the task may have been a little easier. A publicist tied to the actor called Friday to say that's just a turkey burger and unsweetened iced tea!)

Albert Michael / startraksphoto.com

No Coke. Pepsi. Actress Denise Richards at Arby's.

Celebs with six-packs under their shirts and not in their shopping carts get that way thanks to a strict diet-and-exercise routine. And there's a good chance that both of those disciplines are maintained under the watchful eye of well-paid personal chefs and trainers. It also doesn't hurt to go the "kale and dust" route if fitting into a catsuit is in your job description.

So those of you envisioning looking like any of these people because you eat at the same drive-thru, take note. Joy Bauer, nutrition and health expert for TODAY, says "limit fast food outings to once per week, and alternate fattening fare with healthier offerings like grilled chicken salads, turkey burgers, and snack wraps."

If the thought of a snack wrap taking the place of your bacon-double sounds unappetizing, Bauer crunches some numbers for you.

She says to pay penance for a Burger King Whopper (630 calories), large fries (500 calories), and?40-ounce soda (380 calories) -- totaling 1,510 calories -- you would have to:

• run for 2 hours straight, or
• swim for 4 hours, or
• bike for 2 hours, or
• play full-court basketball for 2 hours

INFphoto.com

Rihanna hits the drive thru at a fast food joint in her native Barbados.

If you scarf down KFC's Original Recipe chicken-thigh value box (540 calories), a side of mashed potatoes with gravy (120 calories), and?30-ounce sweetened iced tea (260 calories) -- totaling 920 calories -- you'd need to:?

• spin for one hour and 10 minutes, or
• walk for 3 hours, or
• hit the dance floor and boogie down for an hour and a half, or
• do yoga for 5 hours straight!

"Celebs have cravings just like everyone else ... and when they succumb to fast food faves -- just like us mortals -- they must work hard to burn off the calorific splurges," Bauer says.

Maybe you're burning calories right now at the thought of Ryan Reynolds burning calories to work off his meal. Maybe the thought of his wife, Blake Lively, in a swimsuit is enough to motivate him to stay in shape. We know she'd never eat ... aw, forget it!

Who's making a food run?

More in TODAY Entertainment:

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/03/29/17505755-chew-on-this-the-sexiest-people-alive-eat-what-you-eat?lite

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Beyonce, Rihanna Top Little Mix's 'X Factor' Judge Wish List

'They've done it themselves, and they're incredible,' U.K. 'X Factor' winners tell MTV News about the two superstars.
By Jocelyn Vena

Beyonce
Photo: Kevin Mazur/ Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704549/beyonce-rihanna-little-mix-x-factor-judge-picks.jhtml

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Dentist's office a 'menace'; thousands possibly exposed to HIV

Dr. Scott Harrington, an oral surgeon in Tulsa, Okla., is being charged for unsafe and unsanitary practices, possibly exposing as many as 7,000 patients to hepatitis and HIV after one patient tested positive for both after a visit to his office. NBC's Dr. Nancy Snyderman reports.

By Justin Juozapavicius, The Associated Press

The crisp, stucco exterior of an Oklahoma dental clinic concealed what health inspectors say they found inside: rusty instruments used on patients with infectious diseases and a pattern of unsanitary practices that put thousands of people at risk for hepatitis and the virus that causes AIDS.

State and local health officials planned to mail notices Friday urging 7,000 patients of Dr. W. Scott Harrington to seek medical screenings for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. Inspectors allege workers at his two clinics used dirty equipment and risked cross-contamination to the point that the state Dentistry Board branded Harrington a "menace to the public health."

"The office looked clean," said Joyce Baylor, who had a tooth pulled at Harrington's Tulsa office 1? years ago. In an interview, Baylor, 69, said she'll be tested next week to determine whether she contracted any infection.

"I'm sure he's not suffering financially that he can't afford instruments," Baylor said of Harrington.

Health officials opened their investigation after a patient with no known risk factors tested positive for both hepatitis C and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. After determining the "index patient" had a dental procedure about the likely time of exposure, investigators visited Harrington's office and found a number of unsafe practices, state epidemiologist Kristy Bailey said.

"I want to stress that this is not an outbreak. The investigation is still very much in its early stages," Bailey said.

Harrington voluntarily gave up his license, closed his offices in Tulsa and suburban Owasso, and is cooperating with investigators, said Kaitlin Snider, a spokeswoman for the Tulsa Health Department. He faces a hearing April 19, when his license could be permanently revoked.

"It's uncertain how long those practices have been in place," Snider said. "He's been practicing for 36 years."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is consulting on the case, and agency spokeswoman Abbigail Tumpey said such situations involving dental clinics are rare. Last year a Colorado oral surgeon was accused of reusing needles and syringes, prompting letters to 8,000 patients, Tumpey said. It wasn't clear whether anyone was actually infected.

"We've only had a handful of dental facilities where we've had notifications in the last decade," Tumpey said.

The Oklahoma Dentistry Board lodged a 17-count complaint against Harrington, saying he was a "menace to the public health by reasons of practicing dentistry in an unsafe or unsanitary manner." Among the claims was one detailing the use of rusty instruments in patients known to have infectious diseases.

"The CDC has determined that rusted instruments are porous and cannot be properly sterilized," the board said.

Health officials are sending letters to 7,000 known patients but cautioned that they don't know who visited his clinics before 2007. The letters urge the patients to be tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV ? viruses typically spread through intravenous drug use or unprotected sex, not occupational settings.

Harrington could not be reached for comment Thursday. A message at his Tulsa office said it was closed, and the doctor's answering service referred callers to the Tulsa Health Department. Phone numbers listed for Harrington were disconnected. A message left with Harrington's malpractice attorney in Tulsa, Jim Secrest II, was not immediately returned.

Harrington's Tulsa practice is in a thriving part of town, on a row of some of medical practices. The white-and-green stucco, two-story dental clinic has the doctor's name in letters on the facade.

NBCLatino: You may have Hep C and not know it

According to the complaint, the clinic had varying cleaning procedures for its equipment, needles were re-inserted in drug vials after their initial use and the office had no written infection-protection procedure.

Harrington told officials he left questions about sterilization and drug procedures to his employees.

"They take care of that, I don't," the dentistry board quoted him as saying.

The doctor also is accused of letting his assistants perform tasks only a licensed dentist should have done, including administering IV sedation. Also, the complaint says the doctor's staff could not produce permits for the assistants when asked.

Susan Rogers, executive director of the state Dentistry Board, said that as an oral surgeon Harrington regularly did invasive procedures involving "pulling teeth, open wounds, open blood vessels." The board's complaint also noted Harrington and his staff told investigators a "high population of known infectious disease carrier patients" received dental care from him.

Despite the high-risk clientele, a device used to sterilize instruments wasn't being properly used and hadn't been tested in six years, the board complaint said. Tests are required monthly.

Also, a drug vial found at a clinic this year had an expiration date of 1993 and one assistant's drug log said morphine had been used in the clinic last year despite its not receiving any morphine shipments since 2009.

Officials said patients will be offered free medical testing at the Tulsa Health Department's North Regional Health and Wellness Center.

Related:

Dental chain accused of hurting kids, bilking taxpayers

This story was originally published on Thu Mar 28, 2013 4:06 PM EDT

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Travel Tips - Better Business Center - Tork

Donna Duberg examines hygiene and infection prevention while traveling in an ongoing series on SCA?s Tork Better Business Center.???

The opportunity to try new and unique foods is one of the best reasons why traveling abroad is so much fun.?

Unfortunately, 20 to 50 percent of international travelers ? an estimated 10 million people ? develop Traveler?s Diarrhea, the most common illness affecting travelers a year and can occur as a result of food poisoning. Foodborne illnesses stem from eating contaminated foods that have not been safely prepared or stored. The most common bacteria include Salmonella, E. coli and Campylobacter.?

Here are five tips to help prevent foodborne illnesses while overseas:?

1)????? Research your destination. Stay up-to-date on current health news in the location you are visiting. This will help you track any major health advisories, particularly those for E. coli, cholera or Salmonella outbreaks. It will also keep you abreast of foods and areas that you should avoid. Finally, make sure you gather all the necessary healthcare information such as nearby hospitals and/or other healthcare facilities should an emergency occur. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers useful information on their website.

2)????? Avoid tap water. Contaminated water is one of the leading causes of Traveler?s Diarrhea. Stick to bottled beverages that have been properly sealed and avoid putting ice cubes in your drinks. According to the CDC, filtered water or hot beverages ? such as tea ? are okay to drink as long as it?s had at least a minute to boil.

3)????? Avoid raw or undercooked foods. Stick to foods that have been thoroughly cooked to ensure that all harmful microorganisms are killed. This includes seafood that may have been washed with contaminated water or non-pasteurized dairy products ? all of which can pose a serious risk to your health.

4)????? Talk to your doctor. Schedule an appointment with your doctor to ensure you?re fit for traveling abroad. This is the perfect time to get all of your immunizations and have a thorough discussion with your health care provider about ways to avoid foodborne illnesses. The CDC also offers valuable health information for travel anywhere in the world.

5)????? Hygiene is key. Wash hands thoroughly throughout the day to ensure that you?re not infecting yourself with any harmful bacteria before or during a meal. It might be a good idea to keep bottled water or hand sanitizer with you if clean water isn?t easily accessible. Additionally, always be wary of the establishments you dine at. If it looks dirty, chances are it is dirty.

Source: http://betterbusiness.torkusa.com/travel-tips-how-to-avoid-food-poisoning-while-traveling-abroad/

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The truth behind N. Korea's threats

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Across North Korea, soldiers are gearing up for battle and shrouding their jeeps and vans with camouflage netting. Newly painted signboards and posters call for "death to the U.S. imperialists" and urge the people to fight with "arms, not words."

But even as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is issuing midnight battle cries to his generals to ready their rockets, he and his million-man army know full well that a successful missile strike on U.S. targets would be suicide for the outnumbered, out-powered North Korean regime.

Despite the hastening drumbeat of warfare, none of the key players in the region wants or expects another Korean War ? not even the North Koreans.

But by seemingly bringing the region to the very brink of conflict with threats and provocations, Pyongyang is aiming to draw attention to the tenuousness of the armistice designed to maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula, a truce North Korea recently announced it would no longer honor as it warned that war could break out at any time.

It's all part of a plan to force Washington to the negotiating table, pressure the new president in Seoul to change policy on North Korea, and build unity at home ? without triggering a full-blown war if all goes well.

In July, it will be 60 years since North Korea and China signed an armistice with the U.S. and the United Nations to bring an end to three years of fighting that cost millions of lives. The designated Demilitarized Zone has evolved into the most heavily guarded border in the world.

It was never intended to be a permanent border. But six decades later, North and South remain divided, with Pyongyang feeling abandoned by the South Koreans in the quest for reunification and threatened by the Americans.

North Korean army officers punch the air as they chant slogans during a rally at Kim Il Sung Square in downtown Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, March 29, 2013. Tens of thousands of North Koreans ... more? North Korean army officers punch the air as they chant slogans during a rally at Kim Il Sung Square in downtown Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, March 29, 2013. Tens of thousands of North Koreans turned out for the mass rally at the main square in Pyongyang in support of their leader Kim Jong Un's call to arms. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin) less? ?

In that time, South Korea has blossomed from a poor, agrarian nation of peasants into the world's 15th largest economy while North Korea is struggling to find a way out of a Cold War chasm that has left it with a per capita income on par with sub-Saharan Africa.

The Chinese troops who fought alongside the North Koreans have long since left. But 28,500 American troops are still stationed in South Korea and 50,000 more are in nearby Japan. For weeks, the U.S. and South Korea have been showing off their military might with a series of joint exercises that Pyongyang sees a rehearsal for invasion.

On Thursday, the U.S. military confirmed that those drills included two nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers that can unload the U.S. Air Force's largest conventional bomb ? a 30,000-pound super bunker buster ? powerful enough to destroy North Korea's web of underground military tunnels.

It was a flexing of military muscle by Washington, perhaps aimed not only at Pyongyang but at Beijing as well.

In Pyongyang, Kim Jong Un reacted swiftly, calling an emergency meeting of army generals and ordering them to be prepared to strike if the U.S. actions continue. A photo distributed by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency showed Kim in a military operations room with maps detailing a "strike plan" behind him in a very public show of supposedly sensitive military strategy.

North Korea cites the U.S. military threat as a key reason behind its need to build nuclear weapons, and has poured a huge chunk of its small national budget into defense, science and technology. In December, scientists launched a satellite into space on the back of a long-range rocket using technology that could easily be converted for missiles; in February, they tested an underground nuclear device as part of a mission to build a bomb they can load on a missile capable of reaching the U.S.

However, what North Korea really wants is legitimacy in the eyes of the U.S. ? and a peace treaty. Pyongyang wants U.S. troops off Korean soil, and the bombs and rockets are more of an expensive, dangerous safety blanket than real firepower. They are the only real playing card North Korea has left, and the bait they hope will bring the Americans to the negotiating table.

Narushige Michishita, director of the Security and International Studies Program at Japan's National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, isn't convinced North Korea is capable of attacking Guam, Hawaii or the U.S. mainland. He says Pyongyang hasn't successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile.

But its medium-range Rodong missiles, with a range of about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers), are "operational and credible" and could reach U.S. bases in Japan, he says.

More likely than such a strike, however, is a smaller-scale incident, perhaps off the Koreas' western coast, that would not provoke the Americans to unleash their considerable firepower. For years, the waters off the west coast have been a battleground for naval skirmishes between the two Koreas because the North has never recognized the maritime border drawn unilaterally by the U.N.

As threatening as Kim's call to arms may sound, its main target audience may be the masses at home in North Korea.

For months, the masterminds of North Korean propaganda have pinpointed this year's milestone Korean War anniversary as a prime time to play up Kim's military credibility as well as to push for a peace treaty. By creating the impression that a U.S. attack is imminent, the regime can foster a sense of national unity and encourage the people to rally around their new leader.

Inside Pyongyang, much of the military rhetoric feels like theatrics. It's not unusual to see people toting rifles in North Korea, where soldiers and checkpoints are a fixture in the heavily militarized society. But more often than not in downtown Pyongyang, the rifle stashed in a rucksack is a prop and the "soldier" is a dancer, one of the many performers rehearsing for a Korean War-themed extravaganza set to debut later this year.

More than 100,000 soldiers, students and ordinary workers were summoned Friday to Kim Il Sung Square in downtown Pyongyang to pump their fists in support of North Korea's commander in chief. But elsewhere, it was business as usual at restaurants and shops, and farms and factories, where the workers have heard it all before.

"Tensions rise almost every year around the time the U.S.-South Korean drills take place, but as soon as those drills end, things go back to normal and people put those tensions behind them quite quickly," said Sung Hyun-sang, the South Korean president of a clothing maker operating in the North Korean border town of Kaesong. "I think and hope that this time won't be different."

And in a telling sign that even the North Koreans don't expect war, the national airline, Air Koryo, is adding flights to its spring lineup and preparing to host the scores of tourists they expect to flock to Pyongyang despite the threats issuing forth from the Supreme Command.

War or no war, it seems Pyongyang remains open for business.

___

Lee is chief of AP's bureaus in Pyongyang, North Korea, and Seoul, South Korea. She can be followed on Twitter at twitter.com/newsjean. Eric Talmadge in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-nkorea-threat-may-more-bark-bite-132942749.html

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Colo. massacre suspect's plea offer rejected

DENVER (AP) ? Prosecutors in the Colorado theater massacre case have rejected an offer from suspect James Holmes to plead guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty, saying the proposal can't be considered genuine because the defense has repeatedly refused to give them information needed to evaluate it.

No plea agreement exists, prosecutors said in a scathing court document Thursday, and one "is extremely unlikely based on the present information available to the prosecution."

They also said anyone reading news stories about the offer would inevitably conclude "the defendant knows that he is guilty, the defense attorneys know that he is guilty, and that both of them know that he was not criminally insane."

Neither the defense nor the prosecution immediately returned phone calls Thursday.

Holmes is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder in the July 20 shootings in a packed theater in the Denver suburb of Aurora. Twelve people were killed and 70 were injured.

Holmes' attorneys disclosed in a court filing Wednesday that their client has offered to plead guilty, but only if he wouldn't be executed.

Prosecutors criticized defense attorneys for publicizing the offer, calling it a ploy meant to draw the public and the judge into what should be private plea negotiations.

Prosecutors did not say what information the defense refused to give them, but the two sides have argued in court previously about access to information about Holmes' mental health.

Karen Steinhauser, a former prosecutor who is now an adjunct professor at the University of Denver's law school, said prosecutors clearly do not want to agree to a plea deal without knowing whether Holmes' attorneys could mount a strong mental health defense.

"One of the issues the prosecution needs to look at is, is there a likelihood that doctors, and then a jury, could find that James Holmes was insane at the time of the crime?" she said.

Prosecutors also criticized comments to The Associated Press by Doug Wilson, who heads the state public defenders' office.

Wilson told the AP Wednesday that prosecutors had not responded to the offer and said he didn't know whether prosecutors had relayed the offer to any victims as required by state law.

Prosecutors said that violated the gag order.

They also said they have repeatedly contacted "every known victim and family member of a victim ? numbering over one thousand" about possible resolutions of the case, including the death penalty and life in prison without parole.

George Brauchler, the Arapahoe County district attorney, is scheduled to announce Monday whether he will seek the death penalty for Holmes. He has refused repeatedly to comment on the case, citing the gag order.

Pierce O'Farrill, who was shot three times, said he would welcome an agreement that would imprison Holmes for life. The years of court struggles ahead would likely be an emotional ordeal for victims, he said.

"I don't see his death bringing me peace," O'Farrill said. "To me, my prayer for him was that he would spend the rest of his life in prison and hopefully, in all those years he has left, he could find God and ask for forgiveness himself."

A plea bargain would bring finality to the case fairly early so victims and their families can avoid the prolonged trauma of not knowing what will happen, said Dan Recht, a past president of the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar.

"The defense, by making this public pleading, is reaching out to the victims' families," he said.

___

Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/colo-massacre-suspects-plea-offer-rejected-082005643.html

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Do millennials stand a chance in the real world?

Annie Lowrey , The New York Times ? ? ? 15 hrs.

When I was a kid, my grandmother used to spirit packets of oyster crackers from restaurants. She unwrapped gifts meticulously, peeling back the tape with her nails so that she could reuse the paper. She also stockpiled so many coupon-bought cans that she probably could have had her own show on TLC.

These habits, judging by both anecdote and literature, were generational. My grandmother was born in 1917 and entered the work force during the Great Depression. I?ve been thinking of her generation ? the one that saved rather than spent, preserved rather than squandered ? a lot lately. In the past year or so, data have come in regarding how my own generation, often called Generation Y, or the millennials, has adapted to our once-in-a-lifetime financial crisis ? the one that battered career prospects, drove hundreds of thousands into the shelter of schools or parents? basements and left hundreds of thousands of others in continual underemployment. And some of that early research suggests that we, too, have developed our own Depression-era fixation with money.

The millennials have developed a reputation for a certain materialism. In a Pew Research Center survey in which different generations were asked what made them unique, baby boomers responded with qualities like ?work ethic?; millennials offered ?clothes.? But, according to new data, even though the recession is over, this generation is not looking to gorge; instead, they are the kind of hungry that cannot stop thinking about food. ?Call it materialism if you want,? said Neil Howe, an author of the 1991 book ?Generations.? It seems more like financial melancholy. ?They look at the house their parents live in and say, ?I could work for 100 years and I couldn?t afford this place,? ? Howe said. ?If that doesn?t make you focus on money, what would? Millennials have a very conventional notion of the American dream ? a spouse, a house, a kid ? but it is not going to be easy for them to get those things.?

This condition is becoming particularly severe for the group that economists call younger millennials: the young adults who entered the job market in the wake of the recession, a period in which the unemployment rate among 20- to 24-year-olds reached 17 percent, when graduate school competition grew more fierce and credit standards tightened. Many also saw their parents struggle through a pay cut, a job loss or another economic disruption during the recession.

These troubles, many economists fear, left serious scars, and not just psychic ones. Now that the economy has entered a steady but slow recovery, younger millennials wonder if they can make up that gap. Lisa Kahn, a labor economist at the Yale School of Management, studied the earnings of men who left college and joined the work force during the deep recession of the early 1980s. Unsurprisingly, she found that the higher the unemployment rate upon graduation, the less graduates earned right out of school. But those workers never really caught up. ?The effects were still present 15 or 20 years later,? she said. ?They never made that money back.?

Kahn worries that the same pattern is repeating itself. And new research from the Urban Institute augurs that this emerging income gap is compounding into a wealth gap. The institute?s research shows that even as the country has grown richer, Generations X and Y, meaning people up to about age 40, have amassed less wealth than their parents had when they were young. The average net worth of someone 29 to 37 has fallen 21 percent since 1983; the average net worth of someone 56 to 64 has more than doubled. Thirty or 40 years from now, young millennials might face shakier retirements than their parents. For the first time in modern memory, a whole generation might not prove wealthier than the one that preceded it.

The millennials? relationship with money seems quite simple. They do not have a lot of it, and what they do have, they seem reluctant to spend. Millennials are buying fewer cars and houses, and despite their immersion in consumer culture, particularly electronics, they are not really spending beyond their limited means. Their credit-card debt has declined, most likely because many millennials cannot get a credit card, and in part because they know they cannot afford to spend now and pay back later. ?They have this risk aversion that we?ve seen with millennials since they were teenagers,? Howe said. ?It?s declining alcohol use, declining drug use. I mean, declining sex.?

There might be one more factor at play in the millennials? economic anxiety. For my grandmother?s generation, the economic boom that followed World War II expanded the middle class and its share of the nation?s wealth. Our great recession, however, came after three decades of wage stagnation for a huge swath of middle-class American workers, which is one reason income inequality has yawned to levels not seen since the late 1920s. And since the worst days of the recession ended, inequality has continued to grow. Corporations that shed workers became leaner and more profitable. Members of the 1 percent have taken nearly all the wage gains made in the recovery. Their incomes bounced back. Nearly everyone else?s fell. Worse, our savings rate before the recent crisis was near a record low.

During World War II, the ethos was ?use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.? But the 21st-century rallying cry among the young is ?We are the 99 percent.? This recession?s emphasis was never on making do with little; for many millennials, it has seemed more about wondering why they had to make do with so little when so few had so much. This sentiment was captured in recent exit polls that found that nearly two-thirds of presidential voters 29 and younger thought the American economic system favored the wealthy.

The millennials, in other polls, remain optimistic about their futures. Economists are less so. There is a persistent fear that they have entered a permanently lower earnings and savings trajectory. Even if the generation recovers, even if it ends up wealthier than the one before it, the scars will be deep and long-lasting. Kahn has started comparing recent graduates during the recent recession with recent graduates in the 1981-82 recession. She said the initial wage losses were comparable, and the trend looks set to repeat. ?My inclination is pessimism,? Kahn said. ?If anything, these guys might experience something worse.?

Other economists also envisioned a future in which millennials would spend less and save less. ?I was talking with a mom who has a son in his mid-20s and told her the generation is not on the same wealth-building path,? said Signe-Mary McKernan, one of the authors of the Urban Institute study. ?She had this look of terror on her face; our children are in trouble, and that?s such a worry for a parent. I told her, ?Maybe this generation won?t have a worse life, but just a different life.? ? And that may be true. Millennials are the best-educated generation ever. Their challenge may just be to preserve that advantage for their own children.

This article, "Do Millennials Stand a Chance in the Real World?," first appeared in The New York Times.

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Copyright ? 2013 The New York Times

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Picking The Best Auto Insurance Company |

Choosing the right auto insurance company is essential given that they will be the one to assist you to settle any auto related injuries in the future. Car insurance companies follow a fundamental group of benefits which they offer their policyholders. They only differ in the costs. There are automobile insurance companies that offer expensive insurance premiums and there are also those that offer inexpensive premiums. But just how can you know that the automobile insurance company you?ve selected is a reliable company?

A reliable car insurance company is one which includes a good reputation of spending or settling claims in the fastest time possible and pays the proper level of claims. To check on your selected automobile insurance company you might visit your states department of insurance site. May very well not be aware of this but every state has a unique department of insurance. Nowadays, these types of sections have their own internet sites which present customer issue rates of all insurance companies that sell in their state. These rates will tell you so how many issues all the listed motor insurance received per 1000 claims submitted.

The criticism relation provides you with a measure which car insurance to choose. Likewise, out of the set of your selected car insurance you might be in a position to also get the company that gives the lowest premium estimates. But be sure that your chosen auto insurance company has one of the percentages of problem. The automobile insurance that ranks on both lists should benefit your strongest consideration.

The next thing is always to learn which body shops are encouraged by your selected motor insurance. Observe the locations of their certified human body shops. See if you have a licensed store that is locally. If they have one in your neighborhood therefore much the better but you still have to check on the auto human body shop to see if it has all the essential auto repair equipment and machines that can effortlessly reply any auto repair that you might be requiring in the future.

After checking on the auto body shop and you will need to ask them about they that are accredited by the insurance company. They?ll sometimes provide you with a positive feedback or even a bad one. Lucky for you if its a positive opinion because this means that you?ve finally found the auto insurance that you want. Because there are still other elements you have to appear however it is not the end of one?s search into.

More information on the automobile insurance company that you?re considering could be found on the J.D. Power and Associates internet site. This company is known to gather information from individual policyholders national and asks these same policyholders to rate their auto insurance company based on insurance options, price, claims handling, pleasure with representatives, including the general knowledge they?ve with their respective auto insurance companies.

Yet another issue for you to appear into before you eventually settle and pay your very first quality may be the financial strength rating of the automobile insurance company that you?re considering. You may take a peek at the A.M. Most useful and the Conventional & Poors scores. These two companies are known for creating financial strength ratings of most insurance companies. The financial power of an auto insurance provider can determine its ability to pay for or even to settle claims. Automobile insurance companies that reflect an extremely low economic power rate would mean they do not have the functions of settling claims and for that reason shouldn?t be opted for.

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'Judge Joe Brown' to end its run in september

By Tim Kenneally

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Sorry, daytime court-show fans; "Judge Joe Brown" will bang its gavel for the last time at the end of its current season in September.

The syndicated offering "Judge Joe Brown" will end its run after its current 15th season, CBS Television Distribution - which syndicates the series - said Tuesday.

"'Judge Joe Brown' will not be returning for another season," a CBS Television Distribution spokesperson told TheWrap in a statement. "We would like to thank Joe for 15 great years, as well as executive producer John Terenzio and the entire staff for all their hard work and dedication to the show."

The show had been sold through 2015.

According to Broadcasting & Cable, Brown and CBS Television Distribution have recently been in contract negotiations, with CBS offering a sharply decreased salary. Brown had reportedly approached other distributors, including Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios, as potential new homes for the series.

In the meantime, legions of unemployed across the nation will find themselves with a dark, dreary hole in their television viewing options, which they'll have to somehow try to fill in the hours that they're not flipping between "Judge Judy," "Judge Alex," "People's Court," "Judge Mathis" and "Divorce Court."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/judge-joe-brown-end-run-september-000502987.html

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http://www.prioritymediasolutions.com Priority Media Solutions 888-712-2988 is an internet marketing firm that helps businesses create an overwhelming online presence. Building and Branding companies online, creating 1000?s of places for businesses to be
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Must See HDTV (March 25th - 31st)

The second weekend of the NCAA Basketball tournament takes place this week with the Sweet 16 and Elite 8, but hoops fans will also want to keep an eye on the streaking Miami Heat. Meanwhile, some sci fi / fantasy favorites are highlights thanks to their seasonal return or departure this week, but we'd also give new series like BBC America's Orphan Black a chance in between sessions of Bioshock: Infinite. Look below for the highlights this week, followed after the break by our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames.

Doctor Who
Doctor Who is back, now featuring actress Jenna-Louise Coleman as companion Clara Oswald for the next half season. There's a preview trailer embedded after the break, and the BBC has a rundown of the first four episodes right here.
(March 30th, BBC America, 9PM)

The Walking Dead
This season of everyone's favorite zombie series is finally ready to wrap up with what we expect will be an epic showdown between the prison residents and Woodbury. Last season's finale certainly met our expectations in terms of action, we'll see if it can repeat or even top that effort this time around.
(March 31st, AMC, 9PM)

Game of Thrones
Winter is... still coming. Game of Thrones is back for season three and there is an appropriate amount of backstabbing, intrigue, violence and dragons to go around. By now we know what to expect from the lands of Westeros, if you need to be filled in check after the break for a recap of the last two seasons.
(March 31st, HBO, 9PM)

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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'Sideline quasars' stifled early galaxy formation

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Britain's Dido is "Girl Who Got Away" in first album in 5 years

Mar 26 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $3,787,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,154,500 4. Steve Stricker $1,820,000 5. Phil Mickelson $1,650,260 6. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 7. John Merrick $1,343,514 8. Dustin Johnson $1,330,507 9. Russell Henley $1,313,280 10. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 11. Keegan Bradley $1,274,593 12. Charles Howell III $1,256,373 13. Michael Thompson $1,254,669 14. Brian Gay $1,171,721 15. Justin Rose $1,155,550 16. Jason Day $1,115,565 17. Chris Kirk $1,097,053 18. ...

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US Training Syrian Forces In Jordan: Report

WASHINGTON ? The United States is training secular Syrian fighters in Jordan in a bid to bolster forces battling President Bashar Assad's regime and stem the influence of Islamist radicals among the country's persistently splintered opposition, American and foreign officials said.

The training has been conducted for several months now in an unspecified location, concentrating largely on Sunnis and tribal Bedouins who formerly served as members of the Syrian army, officials told The Associated Press. The forces aren't members of the leading rebel group, the Free Syrian Army, which Washington and others fear may be increasingly coming under the sway of extremist militia groups, including some linked to al-Qaida, they said.

The operation is being run by U.S. intelligence and is ongoing, officials said, but those in Washington stressed that the U.S. is providing only nonlethal aid at this point. Others such as Britain and France are involved, they said, though it's unclear whether any Western governments are providing materiel or other direct military support after two years of civil war that according to the United Nations already has killed more than 70,000 people.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the program.

Officially, the Obama administration has been vague on the subject of what type of military training it may be providing, while insisting that it is doing all it can ? short of providing weapons to the rebels or engaging in its own military intervention ? to hasten the demise of the Assad family's four-decade dictatorship.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday the U.S. has "provided some logistical nonlethal support that has also come in handy for the Syrian rebels who are, again, fighting a regime that is not hesitating to use the military might of that regime against its own people.

"That is something we're going to continue to work to bring to an end," he told reporters.

It's unclear what effect the training has had in the conflict, which has become a quagmire with Assad's regime unable to snuff out the rebellion and Syria's opposition incapable thus far of delivering any serious blow to the ruling government's grip on Damascus and control over much of the country.

Some of the Syrians the U.S. is involved with are, in turn, training other Syrians inside the border, officials said.

They declined to provide more information because they said that would go too deep into intelligence matters. Defense Department officials insisted the Pentagon isn't involved with any military training or arms provisions to the Syrian rebels, either directly or indirectly. The CIA declined to comment.

The New York Times reported Monday that the CIA helped Arab governments and Turkey sharply increase their military aid to Syria's opposition in recent months, with secret airlifts of arms and equipment. It cited traffic data, officials in several countries and rebel commanders, and said the airlift began on a small scale a year ago but has expanded steadily to more than 160 military cargo flights by Jordanian, Saudi and Qatari planes landing in Turkish and Jordanian airports.

The training in Jordan, however, suggests the U.S. help is aimed somewhat at enhancing the rebels' capacity in southern Syria, the birthplace of the revolution two years ago when teenagers in the sleepy agricultural outpost of Dara'a scribbled graffiti on a wall and were tossed into jail, spurring Syria's own version of an Arab Spring uprising. Much of the violence since, however, has been in the northern part of the country where rebels have scored several military successes after the Assad regime cracked down brutally on peaceful protesters.

Despite months of U.S. and international support to build a cohesive political movement, however, Syria's fractured opposition is still struggling to rally Syrians behind a common post-Assad vision. And the opposition coalition appears as much hampered by its political infighting as its military deficiencies against an Assad regime arsenal of tanks, fighter jets and scud missiles.

The coalition's president, Mouaz al-Khatib, resigned his position on Sunday because of what he described as restrictions on his work and frustration with the level of international aid. He said Monday he would still represent the opposition this week in Doha, where the Gulf state of Qatar will host a two-day Arab League summit starting Tuesday.

Al-Khatib's resignation comes only days after the opposition chose Ghassan Hitto, a long-time Texas resident, to head its interim government after intense wrangling over posts and influence that U.S. officials say has strained the opposition's unity and caused friction among its primary benefactors Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.

It's also unclear how al-Khatib's departure will affect the U.S. goal of political negotiations with amenable members of the Assad regime to end the civil war, given the moderate preacher's support for talks. Much of the Syrian opposition, including Hitto, rejects such talks.

"He's been a courageous leader," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said of al-Khatib.

"But the bottom line is what we're looking for is unity," Ventrell said. "We continue to support the coalition's vision for a tolerant, inclusive Syria. We want them to continue to work together to implement that vision."

Secretary of State John Kerry travels to Paris on Wednesday to meet French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius for talks expected to focus on arming Syrian rebels. The discussions also are expected to touch on the suspected use of chemical weapons in Syria, according to French officials.

U.S. officials say there are strong indications that chemical weapons weren't used in an attack last week in northern Aleppo, over which the regime and the rebels have issued counterclaims.

Washington has said it will support a U.N. investigation.

___

Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor and Lara Jakes in Washington and Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.

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Cody Simpson on Justin Bieber Tour Antics: We're Young!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/cody-simpson-on-justin-bieber-tour-antics-were-young/

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'Voice' season premiere to be 'the best episode'

By Ree Hines, TODAY contributor

Get ready for some chair-spinning action -- "The Voice" returns for an all-new season of the talent competition Monday night. But this time, the would-be contestants won't be the only new part of the show.

Coaches Usher and Shakira are joining the act, filling the spots vacated by Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green -- not that the shakeup should concern faithful fans. According to host Carson Daly, the new additions just add to the appeal.

"You're looking at a guy that could have been on any one of these (TV? talent) shows," Daly said, gesturing toward Usher, who joined him on TODAY Monday morning. "But him and Shakira, they were fans of 'The Voice,' and that was a great place to start."

It's especially great for fellow fans, who have high hopes for season four.

"(Monday night) is the best episode of 'The Voice' ever," Daly added, "and it's in large part to Usher and Shakira, Blake (Shelton) and Adam (Levine)."

As for Usher, he offered a sneak peek of the talent reviews to come by evaluating TODAY's Matt Lauer -- who didn't even sing.

"Well, the first thing that I have to make you aware of is that you were incredible -- an incredible talent," the singer said with a smile before demonstrating how he would persuade Lauer to join his team. "In my opinion, I think that you need a coach that really understands how to nurture your talent. Now you've heard from the rest of them, you need to rock with the best of them."

See just how the actual auditioners handle the evaluations when the "The Voice" returns Monday at 8 p.m. on NBC.

Are you looking forward to seeing what Usher and fellow new coach Shakira bring to "The Voice"? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

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Experts: N. Korea training 'cyber warriors'

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Investigators have yet to pinpoint the culprit behind a synchronized cyberattack in South Korea last week. But in Seoul, the focus remains fixed on North Korea, where South Korean security experts say Pyongyang has been training a team of computer-savvy "cyber warriors" as cyberspace becomes a fertile battleground in the standoff between the two Koreas.

Malware shut down 32,000 computers and servers at three major South Korean TV networks and three banks last Wednesday, disrupting communications and banking businesses, officials said. The investigation into who planted the malware could take weeks or even months.

South Korean investigators have produced no proof yet that North Korea was behind the cyberattack, and on Friday said the malware was traced to a Seoul computer. But South Korea has pointed the finger at Pyongyang in six cyberattacks since 2009, even creating a cyber security command center in Seoul to protect the Internet-dependent country from hackers from the North.

It may seem unlikely that impoverished North Korea, with one of the most restrictive Internet policies in the world, would have the ability to threaten affluent South Korea, a country considered a global leader in telecommunications. The average yearly income in North Korea was just $1,190 per person in 2011 ? just a fraction of the average yearly income of $22,200 for South Koreans that same year, according to the Bank of Korea in Seoul.

But over the past several years, North Korea has poured money and resources into science and technology. In December, scientists succeeded in launching a satellite into space aboard a long-range rocket from its own soil. And in February, North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test, its third.

"IT" has become a buzzword in North Korea, which has developed its own operating system called Red Star. The regime also encouraged a passion for gadgets among its elite, introducing a Chinese-made tablet computer for the North Korean market. Teams of developers came up with software for everything from composing music to learning how to cook.

But South Korea and the U.S. believe North Korea also has thousands of hackers trained by the state to carry its warfare into cyberspace, and that their cyber offensive skills are as good as or better than their counterparts in China and South Korea.

"The newest addition to the North Korean asymmetric arsenal is a growing cyber warfare capability," James Thurman, commander of the U.S. forces in South Korea, told U.S. legislators in March 2012. "North Korea employs sophisticated computer hackers trained to launch cyber-infiltration and cyber-attacks" against South Korea and the U.S.

In 2010, Won Sei-hoon, then chief of South Korea's National Intelligence Service, put the number of professional hackers in North Korea's cyber warfare unit at 1,000.

North Korean students are recruited to the nation's top science schools to become "cyber warriors," said Kim Heung-kwang, who said he trained future hackers at a university in the industrial North Korean city of Hamhung for two decades before defecting in 2003. He said future hackers also are sent to study abroad in China and Russia.

In 2009, then-leader Kim Jong Il ordered Pyongyang's "cyber command" expanded to 3,000 hackers, he said, citing a North Korean government document that he said he obtained that year. The veracity of the document could not be independently confirmed.

Kim Heung-kwang, who has lived in Seoul since 2004, speculated that more have been recruited since then, and said some are based in China to infiltrate networks abroad.

What is clear is that "North Korea has a capacity to send malware to personal computers, servers or networks and to launch DDOS-type attacks," he said. "Their targets are the United States and South Korea."

Expanding its warfare into cyberspace by developing malicious computer codes is cheaper and faster for North Korean than building nuclear devices or other weapons of mass destructions. The online world allows for anonymity because it is easy to fabricate IP addresses and destroy the evidence leading back to the hackers, according to C. Matthew Curtin, founder of Interhack Corp.

Thurman said cyberattacks are "ideal" for North Korea because they can take place relatively anonymously. He said cyberattacks have been waged against military, governmental, educational and commercial institutions.

North Korean officials have not acknowledged allegations that computer experts are trained as hackers, and have refuted many of the cyberattack accusations. Pyongyang has not commented on the most recent widespread attack in South Korea.

In June 2012, a seven-month investigation into a hacking incident that disabled news production system at the South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo led to North Korea's government telecommunications center, South Korean officials said.

In South Korea, the economy, commerce and every aspect of daily life is deeply dependent on the Internet, making it ripe grounds for a disruptive cyberattack.

In North Korea, in contrast, is just now getting online. Businesses are starting to use online banking services and debit cards have grown in popularity. But only a sliver of the population has access to the global Internet, meaning an Internet outage last week ? which Pyongyang blamed on hackers from Seoul and Washington ? had little bearing on most North Koreans.

"North Korea has nothing to lose in a cyber battle," said Kim Seeongjoo, a professor at Seoul-based Korea University's Department of Cyber Defense. "Even if North Korea turns out to be the attacker behind the broadcasters' hacking, there is no target for South Korean retaliation."

___

Associated Press writer Jean H. Lee contributed to this story with reporting from Pyongyang, North Korea; Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul also contributed to this report. Follow AP tech writer Youkyung Lee at www.twittter.com/YKLeeAP and AP Korea bureau chief Jean H. Lee at www.twitter.com/newsjean.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/experts-nkorea-training-teams-cyber-warriors-050713868.html

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Putin foe Berezovsky dead, circumstances "unexplained"

By Guy Faulconbridge and Maria Golovnina

LONDON (Reuters) - Boris Berezovsky, the Russian oligarch who helped broker Vladimir Putin's rise to the Kremlin's top job only to become his sworn enemy, has been found dead at his home in Britain in unclear circumstances. He was 67.

Police in Britain, where the tycoon fled in 2000 after falling foul of the Kremlin under Putin, said on Saturday the death was unexplained and they had started an investigation.

Associates said the man who personified the ruthless world of post-Soviet politics may have committed suicide or suffered a heart attack following the stress of losing a $6 billion court case to Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich.

He was found at his house in Ascot, a commuter town 25 miles west of London, by one of his bodyguards, possibly in his Russian sauna.

"I can confirm he died in his home. I've known him for a long, long time, we have spent a lot of time together," Andrei Sidelnikov, a Russian dissident living in London who was a friend of Berezovsky's, told Reuters.

"I am shocked. It is the end of an epoch."

A fast-talking former mathematician who scaled the heights of the ruthless world of post-Soviet business and politics, Berezovsky clashed with Putin soon after his election in 2000 and fled for Britain where he became his most vociferous enemy.

From his base in London, Berezovsky vowed to overthrow Putin whom he cast as a corrupt 'bandit' surrounded by venal ex-KGB spies. Once a supporter, he accused Putin of rolling back the freedoms won after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

Berezovsky's court included some of Putin's most wanted enemies, including a former Chechen rebel, and the former billionaire funded opposition leaders and former spies such as Alexander Litvinenko, who was murdered in London in 2006.

Putin fumed at any mention of Berezovsky and his asylum in Britain strained ties between London and Moscow, which cast Berezovsky as a criminal who should stand trial for massive fraud and tax evasion.

"UNRELIABLE WITNESS"

Once cast as the 'godfather of the Kremlin' by foes and admirers alike, Berezovsky was humiliated in 2012 when he lost a legal battle with former partner Abramovich, over shares in Russia's fourth biggest oil company.

The judge, Elizabeth Gloster, said Berezovsky was an "unimpressive and inherently unreliable witness" who would say "almost anything to support his case".

Some associates said that Berezovsky, once one of Russia's richest billionaires, had grappled with the financial impact of losing the case, which lawyers at the time said could open him up to claims for costs of considerably more than $100 million.

Clearly shaken by the verdict in August, Berezovsky said it appeared to have been written by Putin himself but in the months following he kept a low profile and was rarely seen in public.

Berezovsky had sought as much as $6 billion from Abramovich whom he accused of using the threat of Kremlin retribution to intimidate him into selling out of Russia's fourth biggest oil company at a knockdown price. He also accused Abramovich of selling his shares in RUSAL, the world's top aluminum producer, without his permission.

The judge dismissed all of Berezovsky's claims.

In an effort to recoup some of the losses incurred during case, Berezovsky is said to have auctioned off an Andy Warhol portrait of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin to raise cash.

He agreed to pay one of Britain's biggest-ever divorce settlements to his former wife Galina in 2011. Local media said the settlement was believed to be more than $100 million.

"My sources say it was heart failure," said Alexei Venediktov, editor of Russia's Ekho Moskvy radio. "After his recent loss in court against Roman Abramovich he was in deep depression, he was being treated, he was treated in Israel."

"I think it was probably his health, including depression, and his age. Boris Abramovich never took it easy - he was a fighter, he led an active lifestyle, and unfortunately he has left life in this way."

Known for his love of cognac, beautiful women and for his ability to talk well into the night, Berezovsky lived the adrenaline-fuelled life of Russia's A-team of oligarchs.

Whatever the circumstances of his final hours, his death marks the end of an era for many Russians for whom Berezovsky epitomized the oligarch of the 1990s: brash, arrogant and dangerous alpha males who made their own rules.

UNLIKELY OLIGARCH

As a mathematician working in an obscure section of the Academy of Sciences, Berezovsky was an unlikely oligarch.

But the collapse of the Soviet Union helped propel him from academia to the pinnacle of one of the most ruthless, corrupt and violent business environments on earth - post Soviet Russia.

As the Soviet empire crumbled and gang wars erupted in Moscow, Berezovsky forged a profitable relationship with AvtoVAZ, Russia's biggest carmaker and producer of the Lada.

With the rouble worth nothing, cars were a tradeable asset, though to protect his fortune, Berezovsky forged ties with the Chechen gangs - some of the most feared in Russia.

The graveyards of Russia attest to the short lifespans of many businessmen in the 1990s and Berezovsky came close: in 1993 he faced a gun battle in central Moscow and a year later the Mercedes he was in was blown up, decapitating his driver.

But with nerves of iron and flush with cash, Berezovsky went for gold: he paid for the publication of President Boris Yeltsin's memoirs, securing him the goodwill of Russia's leader.

His political clout gave him access to Aeroflot, once the Soviet flag carrier, and then to oil.

After meeting on a Caribbean yacht trip organized by fellow tycoon Pyotr Aven, Berezovsky and Abramovich, then a 28-year-old oil trader, came up with a simple idea: merge Russia's best refinery with some of the top oil and gas fields of Siberia.

The result was Sibneft over which they would clash years later in a London courtroom.

"Everything can be bought and everything on earth has a price," he once said. "Politicians are the hired help of entrepreneurs."

But if Kremlin politics under Yeltsin had helped Berezovsky to the top, Kremlin politics under Putin proved his downfall.

'GODFATHER OF THE KREMLIN'

Facing the prospect of a Communist victory in 1996, Berezovsky helped rally the billionaire barons of Siberia to Yeltsin's side. He won. And the oligarchs carved up more of Russia's vast oil and metals sector.

But as Yeltsin's health deteriorated in 1999 and his popularity plummeted, Berezovsky and others began to look for a protege who could rule Russia for its second post-Soviet decade.

The obscure and quiet former KGB spy they found was Putin and Berezovsky helped pitch him when the powerbrokers of Russia met at their country houses, known as dachas, outside Moscow.

"Boris Berezovsky was certainly the political father of Vladimir Putin. He was the person who found Putin," commentator Sergei Parkhomenko said on Ekho Moskvy radio.

While Putin was happy to receive support, he resented the meddling that Berezovsky and oil oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky felt was their right. Berezovsky could not win. His only option was to flee.

According to Russian journalist Ilya Zhegulev, who spoke to him on Friday, Berezovsky was pining for Russia.

"I should not have left Russia," she quoted him as saying. "He said: I don't know what to do. I am 67 and I don't know."

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told state-run Rossya-24 television that Berezovsky had written to Putin and asked for help in returning to Russia.

Berezovsky did not return.

(Additional reporting by Peter Griffiths in London and Steve Gutterman in Moscow; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kremlin-foe-boris-berezovsky-died-britain-reports-173123054.html

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