Jan. 31, 2013 ? A new device called a soft X-ray electrostatic precipitator protected immunocompromised mice from airborne pathogenic bacteria, viruses, ultrafine particles, and allergens, according to a paper published online ahead of print in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. This device, known for short as a SXC ESP, is highly versatile, with multiple potential uses, and Washington University is working on licensing the technology.
"Small particles are difficult to remove, and our device overcomes that barrier," says Pratim Biswas of Washington University, St. Louis. The device not only captures particles with a high level of efficiency that has never before been achieved; it also inactivates them. Even bioterror agents are blocked and completely inactivated, says Biswas.
The range of potential uses includes indoor protection of susceptible populations, such as people with respiratory illness or inhalation-induced allergies, and young children; protection of buildings from bio-terror attack; protection of individuals in hospital surgical theaters, for example, during open organ surgery; protection in clean rooms for semiconductor fabrication; removal of ultrafine particles in power plants; and capture of diesel exhaust particulates, says Biswas.
The device could be used in homes, with a cost similar to that of high efficiency air cleaners, says Biswas. "But it would be much easier to operate, and much more effective," he adds. It could be added into stand-alone indoor air cleaners, or incorporated into HVAC systems in homes, offices, and even in aircraft cabins. In the study, the device exceeded standards for high efficiency articulate air filters, which must be capable of removing particles larger than 0.3 micrometers with 99.97 percent efficiency.
The SXC ESP works by placing a charge on the particles -- "which it does very effectively," says Biswas -- and then using an electrical field to trap the particles. The SXC unit then also completely inactivates biological particles, by irradiating them, and photoionizing them -- as UV light does, only more energetically.
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Society for Microbiology.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
E. M. Kettleson, J. M. Schriewer, R. M. L. Buller, P. Biswas. Soft X-ray Enhanced Electrostatic Precipitation for Protection against Inhalable Allergens, Ultrafine Particles, and Microbial Infections. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2012; DOI: 10.1128/AEM.02897-12
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
LONDON (Reuters) - Premier League Fulham are now clear of debt after owner Mohamed Al Fayed converted loans totalling more than 200 million pounds into shares in the club.
Al Fayed, the former owner of the Harrods department store, bought Fulham in 1997 and has seen them establish themselves in the Premier League.
"Following the previous season's announcement of record profits, the most significant development is the Club ending the financial year with no debt, having repaid any external indebtedness and Chairman Mohamed Al Fayed converting his previous loans to the Club into equity," the club said on their website.
Jody Sherman, a longtime web entrepreneur most recently known as the co-founder and CEO of healthy kids products site Ecomom, has passed away. He was in his late 40s. Details on the cause of death have not been confirmed. The news was relayed earlier today to close friends, family, and business associates, and has spread this evening from a Facebook post written on his profile today by his wife Kerri, which reads:
Google's?Nexus 4 smartphone will go back on sale in the UK today at 3pm.
Yesterday we were alerted to the possibility of more Nexus 4 stock coming to the Google Play Store. Now it seems the Android handset will go back on sale later today (30 January) at precisely 3pm, according to Phone Arena.
Since yesterday the Nexus 4 status changed from 'Sold out' to 'Temporarily out of stock' hinting that more stock was on the way. We don't know if the information is reliable as Phone Arena only cites the Google Play Store as its source.
It coincides exactly with the launch of RIM's BlackBerry 10 operating system.
Our advice is to be ready at 3pm with your browser and the refresh button if you want to grab an 8GB for ?239 or 16GB model at ?279. As usual we don't know how much stock will be available so get the Nexus 4 while you can. All other times the smartphone has gone on sale it's gone back out of stock extremely quickly. See also: Google Nexus 4 launches on Virgin Mobile.
Phone Arena also has shots of a white Nexus 4 which was supposed to have launched already. There's been no word from Google as to when this will launch.
Google apologised blamed LG, which makes the Nexus 4, for not producing enough units. However, LG denied this claim stating it had fulfilled the orders Google placed. LG said demand for the smartphone has been 10 times higher than expected in the UK and Germany taking Google by surprise.
LG said it would ramp up production of the Nexus 4 in February. So if the Nexus 4 goes back on sale today and quickly sells out, more should be on the way.
According to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) and the Dutch data authority College Bescherming Persoonsgegevens (CBP), the popular cross-platform messaging application WhatsApp violates privacy laws. A joint investigation between the two groups revealed that, with the exception of devices running iOS 6, the app requires access to a customer's address book in order to use the software. This stipulation results in non-user contact information being recorded to WhatsApp servers without permission, which contravenes Canadian and Dutch privacy laws. In September of 2012, the company added encryption to its services as a response to these investigations, but both the OPC and CBP remain concerned about unauthorized data collecting. As it stands, both organizations will continue to monitor WhatsApp's progress toward compliance, with the Dutch agency reserving its right to impose fines against the firm if necessary.
Show full PR text
WhatsApp's violation of privacy law partly resolved after investigation by data protection authorities
Canadian and Dutch data privacy guardians release findings from investigation of popular mobile app
Ottawa, Canada and The Hague, The Netherlands, January 28, 2013 -The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) and the Dutch Data Protection Authority (College bescherming persoonsgegevens, (CBP)) today released their findings from a collaborative investigation into the handling of personal information by WhatsApp Inc., a California-based mobile app developer.
The coordinated investigation is a global first, as two national data protection authorities conducted their work together to examine the privacy practices of a company with hundreds of millions of customers worldwide. This marks a milestone in global privacy protection.
"Our Office is very proud to mark an important world-first along with our Dutch counterparts, especially in light of today's increasingly online, mobile and borderless world," said Jennifer Stoddart, Privacy Commissioner of Canada. "Our investigation has led to WhatsApp making and committing to make further changes in order to better protect users' personal information."
Jacob Kohnstamm, Chairman of the Dutch Data Protection Authority, adds: "But we are not completely satisfied yet. The investigation revealed that users of WhatsApp - apart from iPhone users who have iOS 6 software - do not have a choice to use the app without granting access to their entire address book. The address book contains phone numbers of both users and non-users. This lack of choice contravenes (Dutch and Canadian) privacy law. Both users and non-users should have control over their personal data and users must be able to freely decide what contact details they wish to share with WhatsApp."
Key findings and outcomes
The investigation focused on WhatsApp's popular mobile messaging platform, which allows users to send and receive instant messages over the Internet across various mobile platforms. While WhatsApp was found to be in contravention of Canadian and Dutch privacy laws, the organization has taken steps to implement many recommendations to make its product safer from a privacy standpoint. At this time however, outstanding issues remain to be fully addressed.
The investigation revealed that WhatsApp was violating certain internationally accepted privacy principles, mainly in relation to the retention, safeguard, and disclosure of personal data. For example:
In order to facilitate contact between application users, WhatsApp relies on a user's address book to populate subscribers' WhatsApp contacts list. Once users consent to the use of their address book, all phone numbers from the mobile device are transmitted to WhatsApp to assist in the identification of other WhatsApp users. Rather than deleting the mobile numbers of non-users, WhatsApp retains those numbers (in a hash form). This practice contravenes Canadian and Dutch privacy law which holds that information may only be retained for so long as it is required for the fulfilment of an identified purpose. Only iPhone users running iOS6 on their devices have the option of adding contacts manually rather than uploading the mobile address numbers of their address books to company servers automatically. At the time the investigation began, messages sent using WhatsApp's messenger service were unencrypted, leaving them prone to eavesdropping or interception, especially when sent through unprotected Wi-Fi networks. In September 2012, in partial response to our investigation, WhatsApp introduced encryption to its mobile messaging service. Over the course of the investigation, it was found that WhatsApp was generating passwords for message exchanges using device information that can be relatively easily exposed. This created the risk that a third party may send and receive messages in the name of users without their knowledge. WhatsApp has since strengthened its authentication process in the latest version of its app, using a more secure randomly generated key instead of generating passwords from MAC (Media Acess Control) or IMEI (International Mobile Station Equipment Identity) numbers (which uniquely identify each device on a network) to generate passwords for device to application message exchanges. Anyone who has downloaded WhatsApp, whether they are active users or not, should update to the latest version to benefit from this security upgrade. Next steps
The OPC and CBP have worked closely together, but have issued separate reports, respecting each country's data protection law (Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and the Dutch Data Protection Act (Wet bescherming persoonsgegevens (Wbp)). Following the issuance of their respective reports of findings, the OPC and CBP will pursue outstanding matters independently.
Following investigation, the Dutch Data Protection Act provides for a second phase in which the CBP will examine whether the breaches of law continue and will decide whether it will take further enforcement actions. The Dutch legal framework contains the possibility to enforce the Dutch privacy law by imposing sanctions.
Under Canada's PIPEDA, the OPC will monitor the company's progress in meeting commitments made in the course of investigation. In most cases, companies are cooperative in meeting their obligations, and WhatsApp has demonstrated a willingness to fully comply with the OPC's recommendations. Unlike the CBP, the OPC does not have order making powers.
THOR-Online available for examining of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite data remotely
Amsterdam, January 29, 2013 A paper published in the February issue of Computers & Geosciences, describes a case study in which an earth-observing satellite tool, the Tool for High-Resolution Observation Review (THOR), using minimal coding effort, is converted into a practical web-based application, THOR-Online. In addition, a 3D visualization technique is also described in this paper.
Initially only operable from a desktop computer, with the approach outlined in the study, THOR is now accessible online from NASA's Precipitation Processing System website. This allows researchers to remotely examine the 15-year archive of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite data. Efforts to improve THOR have been on-going since the 1997 launch of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite, which carries first space-borne radar capable of observing detailed three-dimensional structure of regions of precipitation inside of storm clouds.
"The 3D display technique can be used to make features of, for example, a hurricane, visually accessible even to those without technical training in meteorology," explained Owen Kelley, author of the study. "The TRMM satellite observed Hurricane Sandy a day before its U.S. landfall affecting New Jersey and New York, among other states. Using this technique, TRMM 3D images of the storm's overflight and other tropical cyclones during the final months of 2012 could be made available through NASA Hurricane Resource Page (www.nasa.gov/hurricanes)."
"Addressing an important problem at intersection of the geosciences (remote sensing, hydrology, meteorology) and computer sciences, this article is a poster child example of what we aim to publish in Computers & Geosciences," explains Jef Caers Co-Editor-in-Chief of Computers & Geosciences. "It uses modern computer science paradigms such as the World Wide Web, code re-use and practical graphical user interfaces to address an important geoscience problem."
The approach outlined in the paper may be of interest to other organizations responsible for earth-observing satellites that have custom desktop visualization tools which may need to be converted to online applications for broader usage, or that have 3D datasets that require the development of an interactive visualization tool.
###
The paper "Adapting an existing visualization application for browser-based deployment: A case study from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission" can be found at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0098300412003433
The THOR-Online application described in the study can be found at: http://pps.gsfc.nasa.gov/thor/
Notes for editors
"Adapting an existing visualization application for browser-based deployment: A case study from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission" by Owen A. Kelley, appears in the Computers & Geosciences 51 (2013) 228-237 published by Elsevier; the article is available online on ScienceDirect.
Full text of the article is available to credentialed journalists upon request; contact newsroom@elsevier.com
About Computers & Geosciences
Computers & Geosciences publishes high impact, original research at the interface between Computer sciences and geosciences. Publications should apply modern computer science paradigms, whether computational or informatics-based, to address problems in the geosciences.
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include ScienceDirect, Scopus, Reaxys, ClinicalKey and Mosby's Nursing Suite, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.
A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world-leading provider of professional information solutions in the Science, Medical, Legal and Risk and Business sectors, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Satellite visualization tool for high-res observation accessible from anywhere with internet accessPublic release date: 29-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
THOR-Online available for examining of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite data remotely
Amsterdam, January 29, 2013 A paper published in the February issue of Computers & Geosciences, describes a case study in which an earth-observing satellite tool, the Tool for High-Resolution Observation Review (THOR), using minimal coding effort, is converted into a practical web-based application, THOR-Online. In addition, a 3D visualization technique is also described in this paper.
Initially only operable from a desktop computer, with the approach outlined in the study, THOR is now accessible online from NASA's Precipitation Processing System website. This allows researchers to remotely examine the 15-year archive of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite data. Efforts to improve THOR have been on-going since the 1997 launch of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite, which carries first space-borne radar capable of observing detailed three-dimensional structure of regions of precipitation inside of storm clouds.
"The 3D display technique can be used to make features of, for example, a hurricane, visually accessible even to those without technical training in meteorology," explained Owen Kelley, author of the study. "The TRMM satellite observed Hurricane Sandy a day before its U.S. landfall affecting New Jersey and New York, among other states. Using this technique, TRMM 3D images of the storm's overflight and other tropical cyclones during the final months of 2012 could be made available through NASA Hurricane Resource Page (www.nasa.gov/hurricanes)."
"Addressing an important problem at intersection of the geosciences (remote sensing, hydrology, meteorology) and computer sciences, this article is a poster child example of what we aim to publish in Computers & Geosciences," explains Jef Caers Co-Editor-in-Chief of Computers & Geosciences. "It uses modern computer science paradigms such as the World Wide Web, code re-use and practical graphical user interfaces to address an important geoscience problem."
The approach outlined in the paper may be of interest to other organizations responsible for earth-observing satellites that have custom desktop visualization tools which may need to be converted to online applications for broader usage, or that have 3D datasets that require the development of an interactive visualization tool.
###
The paper "Adapting an existing visualization application for browser-based deployment: A case study from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission" can be found at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0098300412003433
The THOR-Online application described in the study can be found at: http://pps.gsfc.nasa.gov/thor/
Notes for editors
"Adapting an existing visualization application for browser-based deployment: A case study from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission" by Owen A. Kelley, appears in the Computers & Geosciences 51 (2013) 228-237 published by Elsevier; the article is available online on ScienceDirect.
Full text of the article is available to credentialed journalists upon request; contact newsroom@elsevier.com
About Computers & Geosciences
Computers & Geosciences publishes high impact, original research at the interface between Computer sciences and geosciences. Publications should apply modern computer science paradigms, whether computational or informatics-based, to address problems in the geosciences.
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include ScienceDirect, Scopus, Reaxys, ClinicalKey and Mosby's Nursing Suite, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.
A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world-leading provider of professional information solutions in the Science, Medical, Legal and Risk and Business sectors, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NEW YORK (AP) ? Hostess has picked the maker of Little Debbie as the lead bidder for its Drake's cakes.
According to a filing in U.S. bankruptcy court, McKee Foods has offered $27.5 million in cash for the cake brands, which include Devil Dogs, Funny Bones and Yodels. The fate of Twinkies and other Hostess cakes are still being negotiated with other bidders.
Hostess also said United States Bakery Inc. agreed to pay $28.9 million for its remained bread brands, which include Sweetheart, Eddy's, Standish Farms and Grandma Emilie's. That offer includes four bakeries, 14 depots and equipment. Earlier this month, Hostess picked Flowers Foods, which makes Tastykake and Nature's Own and Bunny bread, as the lead bidder for six of its major bread brands, including Wonder.
The "stalking horse" bids set the floor for an auction process that lets competitors make better offers. A judge would have to approve any final sales.
McKee Foods, based in Collegedale, Tenn., makes a variety of snack cakes under the Little Debbie banner that compete with Hostess cakes at a lower price. For example, its Cloud Cakes resemble Twinkies and its Devil Cremes resemble Devil Dogs. A representative for McKee Foods, Mike Gloekler, said the company didn't plan to scrap any brands as a result of the deal.
"Our intent is to produce like products as they are since they have different packaging and formulae," Gloekler said in a statement.
McKee's bid includes some equipment but not the Drake's bakery in Wayne, N.J. Gloekler said McKee hoped to make Drake's products at its plant in Stuarts Draft, Va. since Drake's cakes are best known in the northeast region.
When asked about the fate of the Drake's bakery, Hostess spokesman Tom Becker said the company continues "to market all remaining assets."
Hostess has said in court previously that it needed to move quickly in selling off its brands to capitalize on the outpouring of nostalgia and media coverage prompted by its demise. The company repeated the sentiment in its court filing Monday, noting that there is no advertising or marketing for Drake's brands, which also include Ring Dings, Sunny Doodles and Yankee Doodles.
"The longer Drake's products stay off the shelves, the more likely it is that consumers will begin to use competitors' products," the filing said.
McKee generates about $1.1 billion in sales a year, with its Little Debbie cake division accounting for $800 million of that, according to the company. In recent years, McKee has seen its sales remain flat or fall as eating habits have changed.
Hostess Brands Inc., based in Irving, Texas, has been plagued by even greater problems. The company announced in November that it was shutting down its business and selling its breads and snack cakes. Its demise came after years of management turmoil and turnover, with workers saying the company failed to invest its brands. Hostess filed for its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy in less than a decade this January, citing costs associated with its unionized workforce.
After declaring that it was going out of business, Hostess had solicited bids for its brands by a Dec. 10 deadline. The company said in its filing Monday that it had received one bid for "substantially all" of its assets. But Hostess said the bid was not as valuable as the combined total for of the bids it received for individual brands. In addition, Hostess said the bidder that made the offer for conducted "very limited diligence."
___
Follow Candice Choi at www.twitter.com/candicechoi
PORT SAID, Egypt (AP) ? The death toll from rioting in the Egyptian city of Port Said has risen to 31, health officials said Sunday, as army troops backed by tanks and armored vehicles staked out positions at key government facilities to try to restore order.
The violence erupted Saturday after a court handed down death sentences to almost two dozen local fans involved in a deadly melee at a Port Said soccer game last year. Immediately after the ruling was announced, angry residents and young men went on a rampage in the city, attacking the prison where the defendants were being held and trying to storm police stations and government offices.
The street clashes in Port Said were the latest in a bout of unrest that has left a total of 42 people dead in two days, including 11 killed in clashes between police and protesters marking Friday's second anniversary of the uprising that overthrew longtime leader Hosni Mubarak. On Sunday, clashes continued for the fourth successive between protesters and police near Cairo's central Tahrir square, birthplace of the 2011 uprising. Police used tear gas, while the protesters pelted them with rocks.
The bloodshed highlights the challenges facing President Mohammed Morsi, who took office nearly seven months ago following the uprising that ousted Mubarak. Critics say Morsi has failed to carry out promised reforms in the country's judiciary and police force, and claim little has improved in the two years after the uprising against Mubarak.
As the situation spiraled out of control Saturday, police disappeared from Port Said's streets, residents and security officials said.
The military then dispatched troops to the city, which is located on the northern tip of the Suez Canal. Soldiers took up positions at vital state facilities, including the local power and water stations, the city's main courthouse, the local government building and the city prison. Navy sailors were guarding the local offices of the Suez Canal company.
Navy vessels were escorting merchant ships sailing through the international waterway, and army helicopters were flying over the canal to ensure the safety of shipping, according to Suez Canal spokesman Tareq Hassanein.
Residents said Port Said was quiet overnight except for the intermittent bursts of gunfire. The city was still on edge Sunday, although a degree of calm had returned. Streets were largely deserted, stores were closed for the second successive day, and some hotels asked guests to leave, fearing more violence.
Funerals for those killed on Saturday were to be held later Sunday, and residents said they expected more street clashes after the city buries its dead.
The officials and residents spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Saturday's riot in Port Said mostly stemmed from animosity between police and die-hard soccer fans know as Ultras, who also were part of the uprising that toppled Mubarak's regime.
The Ultras were at the forefront of protests against the military generals who took over from Mubarak and are now again on the frontlines of protests against the rule of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
Survivors and witnesses of the Feb. 1 soccer melee in Port Said say Mubarak loyalists had a hand in instigating the killings, which began after Port Said's home team Al-Masry beat Cairo's Al-Ahly 3-1. Some say "hired thugs" wearing green T-shirts posing as Al-Masry fans led the attacks.
Others say, at the very least, police were responsible for gross negligence in the soccer violence, which killed 74 people, most of them Al-Ahly fans.
Anger at police was evident in Port Said, home to most of the 73 men accused of involvement in the bloodshed, although the trial was held outside Cairo.
Judge Sobhi Abdel-Maguid did not give his reasoning when he handed down the sentences for 21 defendants on Saturday. Executions in Egypt are usually carried out by hanging.
Verdicts for the remaining 52 defendants, including nine security officials, are scheduled to be delivered March 9. Some have been charged with murder and others with assisting the attackers. All the defendants ? who were not present in the courtroom Saturday for security reasons ? can appeal the verdict.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon plans to assign significantly more personnel in coming years to counter increasing threats against U.S. government computer networks and conduct offensive operations against foreign foes, a U.S. defense official said on Sunday.
The plan, which would increase both military and civilian staffing at U.S. Cyber Command, comes as the Pentagon moves toward elevating the new command and putting it on the same level as the major combatant commands.
The official said no formal decisions had been made on the expanding staffing levels or changing Cyber Command into a "unified" command like U.S. Strategic Command, which currently oversees cyber command and the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal.
Any changes to the combatant command structure would be made based on strategic and operational needs, and take into account the need for efficient use of taxpayer dollars, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly.
The Pentagon was working closely with U.S. Cyber Command and the major military commands to develop "the optimum force structure for successfully operating in cyberspace," the official said.
The Washington Post, quoting senior defense officials, reported late Sunday that the Pentagon had decided to expand Cyber Command's current staffing level of 900 to 4,900 in coming years.
The official confirmed that Cyber Command planned to expand its force significantly, but said the specific numbers cited by the Post were "pre-decisional."
The newspaper said senior Pentagon officials had agreed to increase the force late last year amid a string of attacks, including one that wiped out more than 30,000 computers at a Saudi Arabian state oil company. it said
The plan calls for creating three types of force under the Cyber Command, said the defense official.
"National mission forces," would protect computer systems that undergird electrical grids and other kinds of infrastructure. "Combat mission forces," would help commanders abroad execute attacks or other offensive operations, while "cyber protection forces," would focus on protecting the Defense Department's own systems.
Details were still being worked out, the official said.
(Reporting by Sarah Lynch and Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by David Brunnstrom)
Middle-class jobs not only in this country, but in developed countries around the world, have been lost due to the march of technology, and experts predict the majority of these jobs will not return.
Science fiction novels have warned of a future in which robots and computers would replace humans, and, according to an article in NBCNews.com, that day may be here.
As the software that runs computers, machines and devices becomes both more powerful and sophisticated, these computers, machines and devices can now more capably and efficiently complete the tasks that humans have done in the past, and unfortunately, many workers find themselves replaced by these software driven machines.
One expert in the field, Andrew McAfee, who is the principal research scientist for MIT, stated that he ?has never seen a period where computers demonstrated as many skills and abilities as they have over the past seven years.?
Labor economists in this country report that half of the 7.5 million jobs lost during the recession were middle-class wage positions.? Unfortunately, they also state that only two percent of the 3.5 million jobs gained back after the recession ended are in mid-pay industries, with seventy percent of the jobs gained being in low-pay industries.? Experts predict? the loss of mid-pay jobs is not over, and as technology becomes more sophisticated, more jobs will be lost.
There are those occupations that benefit from technological advances.? App designers for smart phones and tablet computers, and, of course, software engineers, all benefit by the increasingly technical and sophisticated computer software advances.? But overall, technology eliminates more jobs than it creates.
Well, I'm sitting here drinking wine and chillin' out on a cold night so what the heck?
I won't do the online dating thing. But I live in a metropolitan area and have a lot of options. To me, online dating is just too much work and too much like shopping for a new car or something. I'll bet soon Amazon will have an online dating site. Suprised they don't already!
What I've done is get involved in Meetup.com but not specifically to meet someone..just to go out and have a good time. I figured that if happened to meet someone nice to go out and have a good time with then it would be icing on the cake but my primary objective it just to get out and socialize. I really enjoy the whole getting dressed up and going out scene.
But I DID meet someone with some interesting results and posted a bit about it on the other thread..so here's the conclusion:
But I think it's an example of what NOT to do if you have expressed interest in someone else:
I met this guy right after Christmas at a Meetup.com event. We hit it off quite well and talked until everyone else left. The next night we went to another event at a bar and danced and afterwards he walked me to my car and asked if he could date me. He seemed eager to see me and even asked about the next day.
I said I'd like to date him but had plans the next day but we'd see each other a few days later at New Years and was looking forward to it. I definitely gave him the impression that I was interested. I said "Sure" and we kissed each other goodnight. First time I'd kissed another man or expressed interest in one in 25 years!
A few days later we saw each other at a New Years Party. Had a good time, danced, kissed each other when the ball dropped. He told me he wasn't sure about his schedule with his kids (he has two kids ages, 10 and 12) but would be in touch about us getting together. I said "No problem, you let me know."
Week later I texted him to say "hi". We chatted a bit and he said he wanted to see me. I replied the same thing to him. He told me he'd let me know what his schedule was after he talked to his ex.
A few days later he emails me not to ask me out but to inform me that he will be at the same Meetup event that I signed up for that coming Saturday. I said "Ok, see you there" but am wondering about us actually going out.
The night of this event I get a text from him saying he's sick. I don't answer. It's not like we had an actual date or anything and sometimes the best reaction is no reaction. Ball is in his court now as far as I'm concerned.
Almost 10 days later, on Martin Luther King Day, I got an email from him that morning asking if I want to go to a movie. I was at work and didn't read it until that evening. I replied to his email. He then says he never saw the movie and would I like to go see it this coming Saturday? He said he'd get back to me "By the end of the week about what time".
I said "Sure"..and said that I was looking forward to it. I mentioned that I'd be away all day Friday and he should text or call if he needed an answer right away. No reply from him at all that week.
I came home last night (Friday) at 9:30pm. No email, text or call from him at all. Checked my email this morning at 10 am and nothing from him at all.
Then, TODAY at 11:30 am I get a text from him asking:
"How is your day looking?".
That's it. This is on the DAY of our supposed date, almost at noon.
My reply was:
"Well, originally I thought I had a date with this guy but I never heard from him so I made other plans"
His reply: "Sorry I meant to get to you yesterday"
My reply: "Oh well. BYE"
What a
What's ironic is that I don't much care about dating or meeting someone so I doubt he's going to get someone more laid back than me. Good luck to him out in the dating world cuz he's gonna need it.
__________________ And now it's your chance to move on
Change the way you've lived for so long
And find the strength you've had inside all along
'Cause life starts now
Last edited by Freak On a Leash; Today at 08:49 PM.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? J.D. Williams didn't think much about the smoke cloud that often shrouded his air base in Iraq. Not when it covered everything he owned with black soot or when his wheezing and coughing made it difficult to sleep at night.
"We just went about our business because there was a war going on," said Williams, a retired chief warrant officer who was responsible for maintaining some 250 aircraft for the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division.
He returned home from that second stint in Iraq in 2006 and subsequently was diagnosed with an irreversible lung disease that his doctor suspects could be related to smoke from one of the hundreds of burn pits that dotted Iraq and Afghanistan during the course of the two wars. The pits were used to burn off the garbage that accumulates at military bases, everything from Styrofoam and metal to paints, solvents, human waste and medical waste.
A new Department of Veterans Affairs registry, mandated by Congress, will be used to try to determine if there is a link between the burn pits and long-term health problems.
Military personnel who were stationed near an open burn pit can sign up. Researchers will use the database to monitor health trends in participants, and the VA will alert them to major problems detected.
Over the long term, the findings could make it easier for veterans who served near burn pits to obtain disability payments.
Williams, 56, of Huntsville, Ala., was initially told that he would have to prove that his illness, diagnosed as constrictive bronchiolitis, was service-related. He walked out of the room. Eventually, after he traveled to Washington and met with members of Congress, the VA increased his disability rating 10 percent.
He said he's hoping the registry will pave the way for other soldiers to avoid a similarly exasperating process. If researchers find certain illnesses are linked to exposure to burn pits, then the VA would be more likely to declare those illnesses a presumptive condition, eliminating the need for a veteran to prove that his or her illness is service-related.
Sixty-three burn pits were still being used in Afghanistan as of Dec. 26; those in Iraq were closed by December 2010. Camps with fewer than 100 people are not required to report the use of a burn pit, so there could be more, but generally much smaller ones. Proponents say the burn pits were so widespread that the large majority of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan could participate in the registry.
In 2009, the military updated its policies on burn pits to prohibit the burning of hazardous materials such as certain medical waste, batteries and tires, and whenever possible, to situate them where the smoke would not blow over work and living quarters.
"When our service members voice concerns about burn pit exposures as well as other health issues, we take our responsibility seriously to investigate these exposures and possible health risks, and to implement any protective measure that are indicated and feasible," said Defense Department spokeswoman Cynthia O. Smith.
The creation of the burn pit registry has been several years in the making.
Air Force Lt. Col Darrin Curtis said in a memo disclosed by the Army Times in 2008 that he believed a particularly large burn pit at Joint Base Balad, one of the largest air bases in Iraq, was an acute health hazard, and he was amazed that it was allowed to operate without restrictions.
Congressional hearings followed that featured sick veterans, contractors and family members who had lost a loved one from illnesses they attributed to burn pits. The Pentagon said that none of the monitoring conducted at Balad identified an increased risk for long-term health problems. It has maintained that position over the years but also acknowledges that some personnel have persistent symptoms, possibly as a result of elevated exposures to the smoke, existing health conditions or other unknown factors.
An Institute of Medicine study requested by the VA and made public in 2011 concluded there was insufficient data to determine whether burn pit emissions had long-term health consequences. The study found the pollutants measured at Balad were generally present at a concentration so low that it would not be expected to cause any harm, even if a person was exposed to that concentration for a lifetime. The two exceptions were particulate matter and acrolein.
Particulate matter is a mixture of small particles and liquid droplets that can lead to acute respiratory problems. But the high concentrations at Joint Base Balad came primarily from local sources such as traffic and dust storms, rather than the burn pit, according to the institute, which advises the government on health issues.
Acrolein is a liquid primarily used as a herbicide and in making other chemicals. Exposure can lead to eye, nose and throat irritation. Although the concentration exceeded precautionary levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency, it was still far below the concentration that led to nasal and lung damage in laboratory animals, the study said.
The Pentagon said it is continuing to study the potential hazards of burn pit exposure.
The VA opposed the legislation setting up the burn pit registry even though it has registries for those exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam and for those who served during the Gulf War. The department did not oppose trying to track potential burn pit-related illnesses, just the mechanism proposed.
"We said it was not the best scientific approach for learning about long-term health outcomes and it really wasn't necessary for outreach because we have other programs in place," said Dr. Paul Ciminera, director of the VA's Post-9/11 Era Environmental Health Program.
As to whether the burn pits lead to health problems in soldiers, Ciminera cited the Institute of Medicine report. "We need to do further research to see what the long-term effects could be," he said.
Democratic Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico, the lead Senate sponsor of the registry legislation, said he pushed ahead despite VA objections because the department seems to instinctively reject concerns that veterans are harmed by their surrounding environment. He cited Agent Orange as an example and said the VA initially resisted a link between the defoliant and the health of soldiers who served in Vietnam.
Many supporters of the registry, including Williams, are also participants in a class-action lawsuit filed against KBR Inc., which contracted with the government to operate several of the burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some 50 lawsuits were consolidated into one case in a Maryland federal court. The plaintiffs are seeking damages for various injuries, emotional distress and fear of future disease. KBR is seeking to dismiss the lawsuits on grounds it deserves the same immunity that prevents the plaintiffs from suing the federal government.
"Every type of waste imaginable was and is burned in these pits," the plaintiffs said in their lawsuit.
Veterans groups were big backers of the registry, and an often-divided Congress overwhelmingly sides with them rather than the VA.
"You've been told since you're a little kid: 'Don't put a Styrofoam cup in a fire and breathe it because it's bad for you," said Ray Kelley, national legislative director for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. "They do that all day long on these stops along with Lord knows what else, from human waste to all sorts of garbage. You're inhaling that on a daily basis. It can't be good for you."
___
Online:
Department of Veterans Affairs: http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/burnpits/index.asp
Construction of new residential buildings saw a sharp increase in December, driven largely by work begun on new apartments.
The Commerce Department reported that builders started on new housing at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 954,000 units, up 12.1% from November and up 36.9% from December 2011.
Although construction became a part of the housing recovery last year, it hasn?t made a significant contribution to the hiring picture, Jed Kolko, chief economist for real estate website Trulia.com, wrote in an e-mailed analysis.
?The construction rebound hasn?t created new construction jobs,? Kolko wrote. ?In 2012 builders bet on local markets with strong job growth and low vacancy rates, not markets experiencing a big price bounce-back.?
Builders began work on 780,000 homes last year ? up 28.1% from 2011, when new home construction hit a record low, and the most since 2008. But the number of starts last year was still sluggish compared with historical standards, economists noted.
via latimes.com
Check out new homes offered at Heritage Lane by Robson Homes
(January 26, 2013) SHANGHAI, China ? Ford continues Go Further in China as independent industry sales data show the Ford Focus was the country?s best-selling nameplate in 2012. For the full year, sales of the Focus totaled 296,360 vehicles, more than any other domestically manufactured passenger car, according to industry consultancy IHS Automotive. ? Coming soon after Ford China announced an annual sales record in 2012, the IHS data illustrate Ford?s growth momentum entering 2013 as it launches two new SUVs in the world?s largest auto market. Ford sold 626,616 wholesale vehicles in China in 2012, up 21% from a year earlier. ? ?It?s really exciting for us to see how enthusiastically Chinese consumers have taken to the Focus, making it the best-selling passenger vehicle in 2012,? said John Lawler, chairman and CEO of Ford Motor China. ?And now with the all-new Kuga and all-new EcoSport, we?re preparing to go even further in 2013 as we aggressively expand our SUV lineup.? ? The all-new Kuga and all-new EcoSport SUVs will be produced at Changan Ford?s advanced manufacturing facility in Chongqing, giving Ford a strong position in the SUV market, the fastest-growing segment in China?s auto industry. ? The Kuga was officially launched on Jan. 22, with six models featuring 1.6 liter and 2.0 liter variants of the EcoBoost GTDi Engine. Ford has also announced pre-sale pricing for the all-new EcoSport featuring the award-winning 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine or 1.5L Ti-VCT engine. While aimed at different market segments, both vehicles bring class-leading quality, safety, and advanced green and smart technologies to Chinese consumers. ? ?Kuga and EcoSport are the latest examples of our commitment to bring 15 new vehicles to China by 2015, while also doubling our production capacity and our China dealership network,? said Lawler. ?We?ve seen that Chinese consumers love the Focus, and we think they?ll love our all-new SUVs, too.?
NEW YORK (AP) ? PepsiCo Inc. is removing a controversial ingredient from its Gatorade sports drink in response to customer complaints.
Molly Carter, a spokeswoman for the company, said Friday that the removal of brominated vegetable oil was in the works over the past year after the company began "hearing rumblings" from consumers about the ingredient. She said it wasn't a reaction to a recent petition on Change.org by a Mississippi teenager.
The ingredient is also used in other drinks, including some flavors of Powerade made by rival Coca-Cola Co. The Atlanta-based company did not say whether it would remove the ingredient from Powerade as well but noted that it takes customer concerns into account when looking for ways to improve its drinks.
Ingredients in food and drinks have come under greater scrutiny in recent years, helped by the ability of consumers to mobilize online. The petition on Change.org noted that brominated vegetable oil has been patented as a flame retardant and is banned in Japan and the European Union. It had more than 200,000 supporters Friday.
For Gatorade, Carter said the ingredient is used as an "emulsifier," meaning it distributes flavoring evenly so that it doesn't collect at the surface. She said it was used only in select varieties including orange and "citrus cooler." Other drinks that use brominated vegetable oil, or BVO, include Coca-Cola's Fanta and PepsiCo's Mountain Dew.
A spokesman for competitor Dr Pepper Snapple Group said Sun Drop and Squirt are among its drinks that have BVO.
Carter noted that the ingredient is not banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and that PepsiCo's decision wasn't the result of any health or safety concerns. She said it was specifically a response to concerns expressed by Gatorade customers. The company's decision was first reported by the trade journal Beverage Digest.
Pulin Modi, a spokesman for Change.org, said the move reflects the "shift in power we're seeing between businesses and their customers."
Sarah Kavanagh, the 15-year-old who posted the petition in November, said she's "very, very happy" that Gatorade is making the change. Kavanagh said she used to drink Gatorade frequently before she checked the ingredients to see if it was in line with her vegan diet. When she looked up brominated vegetable oil online, she didn't like what she found.
Now that the ingredient is being removed, she said she'll likely go back to drinking Gatorade. Kavanagh also taped a segment on the topic for The Dr. Oz Show this week that is set to air Wednesday.
PepsiCo, based in Purchase, N.Y., is replacing the BVO in Gatorade with an ingredient called sucrose acetate isobutyrate, which Carter said will maintain the flavor and taste of the drinks.
Although Americans have been drinking less soda since 1998, sports drinks have remained a growth area for PepsiCo and Coca-Cola. Gatorade remains the dominant player with about 69 percent of the market, while Powerade has 30 percent, according to Beverage Digest.
___
Follow Candice Choi at www.twitter.com/candicechoi
PARK CITY, Utah (AP) ? Ashton Kutcher says playing Steve Jobs on screen "was honestly one of the most terrifying things I've ever tried to do in my life."
The 34-year-old actor helped premiere the biopic "jOBS" Friday, which was the closing-night film at the Sundance Film Festival.
Kutcher plays the Apple Inc. founder from the company's humble origins in the 1970s until the launch of the first iPod in 2001. A digital entrepreneur himself, Kutcher said he considers Jobs a personal hero.
"He's a guy who failed and got back on the horse," Kutcher said. "I think we can all sort of relate to that at some point in life."
Kutcher even embodied the Jobs character as he pursued his own high-tech interests off-screen.
"What was nice was when I was preparing for the character, I could still work on product development for technology companies, and I would sort of stay in character, in the mode of the character," he said. "But I didn't feel like I was compromising the work on the film by working on technology stuff because it was pretty much in the same field."
But playing the real-life tech icon who died in 2011 still felt risky, he said, because "he's fresh in our minds."
"It was kind of like throwing myself into this gauntlet of, I know, massive amounts of criticism because somebody's going to go 'well, it wasn't exactly...,'" Kutcher said.
While the filmmakers say they tried to be as historically accurate as possible, there was also a disclaimer at the very end of the credits that said portions of the film might not be completely accurate.
Still, realism was always the focus for Kutcher, who watched "hundreds of hours of footage," listened to Jobs' past speeches and interviewed several of his friends to prepare for the role.
The actor even adopted the entrepreneur's "fruitarian diet," which he said "can lead to some serious issues."
"I ended up in the hospital two days before we started shooting the movie," he said. "I was like doubled over in pain, and my pancreas levels were completely out of whack, which was completely terrifying, considering everything."
Jobs died of complications from pancreatic cancer.
Still, Kutcher was up to the challenge of playing Jobs, in part because of his admiration for the man who created the Macintosh computer and the iPod.
"I admire this man so much and what he's done. I admire the way he built things," Kutcher said. "This guy created a tool that we use every day in our life, and he believed in it when nobody else did."
The film also shows Jobs' less appealing side, withholding stock options from some of the company's original employees and denying child support to the mother of his eldest child.
Kutcher still found the man inspiring. Jobs had a singular focus, Kutcher said, and felt like anyone could change the world.
"I don't know if there's ever been an entrepreneur who's had more compassion and care for his consumer than Steve Jobs," Kutcher said. "He wanted to put something in your hand that you could use and you could use it easily... and he really cared about that."
___
AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen is on Twitter: www.twitter.com/APSandy.
Some health experts on Friday blamed the prevalence of breast cancer on the sedentary lifestyles of many women.
They expressed the view in separate interviews with the NAN in Lagos. They also blamed the disease on obesity, increased alcohol consumption and the growing trend for delaying motherhood.
Dr Madaki Ayuba, Head of Histopathology Department, Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), said that people now ate more of processed and refined foods than natural foods.
Ayuba said, ?People are also becoming more sedentary in their lifestyles and these are risk factors that make an individual, especially women prone to breast cancer.
?We eat more of processed foods, which are usually high in saturated fat and salt. The more fat in the system increases the chances of breast cancer because it increases a woman?s level of estrogens.
?It is important for a woman to attempt to control her weight, particularly after menopause.
?Once a woman has stopped menstruating, her levels of estrogen and progesterone are much higher than they once were. Excess fat tissue may cause significant increase in her hormone levels.?
Ayuba said that engaging in physical exercise would help women to reduce the risk of breast cancer by maintaining a healthy body weight.
Also, a Gynaecologist, Dr Gregory Michael, said, ?due to the levels of estrogen decline during pregnancy, those who delay motherhood and consequently have fewer babies will be exposed to estrogen.
?The risk is elevated further because breast-feeding has been shown to protect against the tumours as it lowers the level of estrogen and other hormones. ?
Michael advised women not to delay motherhood and to have enough babies to be breastfed. (NAN)
?
Comments are moderated. Please keep them clean and brief.
Excellent Photography Advice That Everyone Ought To Know
There exists a wide variety of differing information on how to accept greatest images. Make use of the subsequent advice in the write-up beneath to produce effectively-well balanced and high quality pictures that can display your creative talents.
Should you be aiming to take the finest images, you should be sure that your subject areas happen to be in correct concentrate. Excellent camera emphasis is a crucial aspect in composing your picture and it is step to developing a graphic that demonstrates your very own fashion. If you are a starting professional photographer, you should concentrate on keeping your subject structured within the photograph. The backdrop will work it?s own issue.
End up in the habit of changing the white harmony on your own camera. When you find yourself using pictures inside, you can aquire a yellowish tint because of bulbs. You could potentially affect the room?s lighting effects, but alternatively check out your camera?s white stability establishing. It could fully change the truly feel of your space. It absolutely can create a much more skilled look for your photos.
Photography is really a complex craft that can take some perserverance to understand, and is particularly not perfected immediately. The picture is simply excellent after it is, you cannot help it become happen. Attempting to force the issue will just give you lousy photos filled with problems.
It is very important possess a enough storage to keep plenty of photographs the simplest way to get excellent photographs is to take numerous them. If you have a roomy memory card, then you will be capable to help save your photos. You can even make use of digital camera to shoot your photos from the RAW structure, which allows for greater modifying in the future.
Use some all-natural lights. When getting outside the house images, try and select a time of working day once the sunshine is lower in the heavens: either early morning or past due mid-day. In case your subject is going through into the sun, it could distort the picture with shadows, and can also help it become challenging for your at the mercy of keep a calm encounter. You?ll be employing sun rays to your advantage in the event you placement your picture so your subject is receiving the sun rays from your part.
Photography enthusiasts will frequently concentration a great deal in the background the foreground is entirely neglected or perhaps afterthought, but it can make up the bulk of the take pictures of and needs a reasonable volume of attention. Set more time into composing your shot?s foreground to produce more striking and serious photos.
Framing is definitely a important factor of picture taking. Should you zoom in the direction of your subject, you can find rid of undesired points within the image. This will make certain that folks will not get sidetracked from the principal center of attention, as well as keep the pictures nicely designed minus the history mess.
Get photographs of modest information while on a trip. The images might seem insignificant once you use the photographs, nevertheless the photos will serve as a storage of the trip in the future. Getting photographs of such things as road symptoms, storefronts along with other fascinating items will help bring about recollections you will have ignored or else.
The ideas over have presented you several of the fundamentals with regards to taking good images. Now you probably know how it is possible to boost on the caliber of your taking photos.
Thanks for reading. For more information on recent instagram privacy changes and how they affect your photography see our website
A bridge loan is a form of short-term financing which extends a line of credit to a borrower for a short period of time, typically at a very high rate of interest. As the name suggests, a bridge loan bridges the gap between more permanent methods of financing; these loans are sometimes used in the real estate industry, by venture capitalists, and by some investors. In this video, Commercial Bridge Loans will teach you how to get that loan you wanted today.
This entry was posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2013 at 6:27 am and is filed under Finance. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
PARIS (AP) ? A Frenchwoman who spent seven years in prison in Mexico on kidnapping charges returned to a hero's welcome in Paris on Thursday, declaring she had been cleared by the Mexican court that ordered her freed.
Florence Cassez was greeted by France's foreign minister as she left the plane, with the promise of a meeting Friday with the president. Her arrest, trial and 60-year prison sentence made her a cause celebre in France, where television networks carried her return live, hours after relatives of kidnap victims angrily shouted "Killer!" as a police convoy whisked her away from the Mexico City prison.
Two consecutive French presidents called for the release of Cassez, who was ordered freed Wednesday because of flaws in her trial, bringing to a close a case that had strained relations between the countries.
"I was cleared," she said Thursday. "I suffered as a victim for more than seven years."
Anti-crime activists in Mexico vigorously opposed the ruling to free her.
The wife of one kidnap victim showed up on Wednesday as reporters gathered outside the Mexico City prison where Cassez had been held. Michelle Valadez said her husband, Ignacio, was kidnapped and held for three months by Cassez's boyfriend's gang in 2005.
"We paid the ransom, but they killed him anyway," she sobbed. "It's not fair what they've done to us, it's not fair they're freeing her."
The Mexican Supreme Court panel voted 3-2 to release Cassez because of procedural and rights violations during her arrest, including police staging a recreation of her capture for the media. The justices pointedly did not rule on her guilt or innocence, but said the violations of due process, the right to consular assistance and evidentiary rules were so grievous that they invalidated the original guilty verdict against her.
Cassez, 38, was arrested in 2005 and convicted of helping her Mexican then-boyfriend run a kidnapping gang.
"If she had been turned over to court custody promptly, if she had been allowed prompt consular assistance, this (raid) staging couldn't have taken place, and the whole affair would have been totally different," Justice Arturo Zaldivar said during discussion of the ruling.
Because the case was mishandled, the truth remains unknown, said the president of Mexico City's Human Rights Commission, Luis Gonzalez Placencia.
"In this country we can no longer ignore police obtaining evidence by tampering with it, by using torture, by staging raids," Gonzalez said. "We will never know whether Florence is guilty or innocent, but we know for certain there are specific people who violated due process."
Wednesday's ruling put another spotlight on Mexico's historically corrupt justice system and drew reactions from both countries' presidents.
"I want to recognize the Mexican justice system because it put the law first," French President Francois Hollande said on television on Wednesday. "That was the trust we put in it. And today we can say that between France and Mexico, we have the best relations that it is possible to have."
Cassez, in a news conference at the airport in Paris, said the decision showed the Mexico is transforming its approach to human rights.
"It's not just good for Florence Cassez. It's good for all of Mexico," she said. "I hope it will be a precendent."
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said in a statement that he will "absolutely" respect the court's decision.
Agustin Acosta, an attorney for Cassez, called the ruling "a resounding message in favor of justice and respect for human rights." Police torture and fabrication of evidence have long been tolerated in Mexico.
Mexican police acknowledged they staged a raid on a ranch outside Mexico City to depict the hostages' rescue and Cassez's detention. After Cassez was detained and held incognito for a day, Mexican police hauled her back to the ranch and forced her to participate in the raid staged for television cameras, a type of display for the news media not unusual in Mexico.
The Frenchwoman said she had lived at the ranch, but did not know kidnapping victims were held there.
Cassez ultimately spent seven years in prison and became the center of a vigorous debate between Mexicans who say she was abused by the criminal justice system and those who say setting her free would only reinforce a sense that crimes such as kidnapping go unpunished.
Mexico has one of the world's highest kidnapping rates, and there has been increasing public pressure to halt what is seen as widespread impunity for criminals.
At least one victim identified Cassez as one of the kidnappers, though only by hearing her voice, not by seeing her.
It was not immediately clear how the ruling might affect the case against Cassez's ex-boyfriend, Israel Vallarta, who is charged with allegedly leading the gang and is being tried separately.
But the ruling provoked a backlash from Mexican anti-crime activists, including Isabel Miranda de Wallace, who led a successful decade-long fight to bring her son's kidnappers to justice even though his body was never found.
"Today, they opened the door to impunity, today a lot of people are going to go free," Miranda de Wallace told news media. "We already live without public safety, now it's going to be worse."
Ezequiel Elizalde, a kidnap victim who testified against Cassez, told local media that the ruling discredited the Mexican justice system. "Get a weapon, arm yourself, and don't pay any attention to the government," he said.
____
Associated Press writers Olga R. Rodriguez and E. Eduardo Castillo in Mexico City and contributed to this report.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 29-Jan-2013
Share ] 
Well, I'm sitting here drinking wine and chillin' out on a cold night so what the heck? 
I said "Ok, see you there" but am wondering about us actually going out. 
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) provider 
(January 26, 2013) SHANGHAI, China ? Ford continues Go Further in China as independent industry sales data show the Ford Focus was the country?s best-selling nameplate in 2012. For the full year, sales of the Focus totaled 296,360 vehicles, more than any other domestically manufactured passenger car, according to industry consultancy IHS Automotive.