Google to merge user data across more services (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Google announced a plan Tuesday to link user data across its email, video, social-networking and other services that it says will create a "beautifully simple and intuitive" user experience. But critics raised privacy concerns like those that helped kill the search giant's Buzz social networking service.

The changes, which take effect March 1, will remove some of the legal hurdles Google Inc. faces in trying to link information across services from Gmail to YouTube to the Google Plus social network that replaced Buzz.

More than 70 different company policies are being streamlined into one main privacy policy and about a dozen others. Separate policies will continue to govern products including Google's Chrome Web browser and its Wallet service for electronic payments.

The company said the new system will give users more relevant search results and information, while helping advertisers find customers ? especially on mobile devices.

For example, if you spend an hour on Google searching the Web for skateboards, the next time you log into YouTube, you might get recommendations for videos featuring Tony Hawk, along with ads for his merchandise and the nearest place to buy them.

"If you're signed into Google, we can do things like suggest search queries ? or tailor your search results ? based on the interests you've expressed in Google (Plus), Gmail and YouTube," the company says on a new overview page for its privacy policies. "We'll better understand (what) you're searching for and get you those results faster."

The changes follow the shutdown of Buzz last month. After its introduction less than two years ago, the social networking tool was ridiculed for exposing users' most-emailed contacts to other participants by default, inadvertently revealing some users' ongoing contact with ex-spouses and competitors.

Google has since made Plus the focal point of its challenge to Facebook's social network. In the first seven months since its debut, Plus has attracted more than 90 million users, according to Google. To promote Plus, Google recently began including recommendations about people and companies with Plus accounts in its search results. That change has provoked an outcry from critics who say Google is abusing its dominance in Internet search to drive more traffic to its own services.

Google and the Federal Trade Commission reached a settlement last year that forbids Google from misrepresenting how it uses personal information and from sharing an individual's data without prior approval. Google also agreed to biennial privacy audits for the next two decades.

Google said it talked to regulators about the upcoming privacy changes, which it will apply worldwide. An FTC spokeswoman declined to comment on the changes or say whether the agency was consulted.

Some critics saw Google as trying to beat regulators to the punch by setting a precedent before the FTC unveils its own framework for protecting online privacy.

Jeff Chester, executive director of the privacy group Center for Digital Democracy, said Google hopes "that by creating a one-stop shop for privacy policy it will deflect regulatory action."

Google, Facebook and other popular Internet services all want to learn as much as possible about their users so they can sell more advertising at higher rates to marketers looking to target people interested in specific products, such as golf clubs or skinny jeans.

Google says users who opt to see personalized ads are 37 percent more likely to respond to an ad than people who opt out of targeting.

The changes follow a rare letdown in revenue growth at Google's lucrative advertising network. Google's fourth-quarter earnings report last week showed the company's average revenue per click fell 8 percent from the previous year, despite robust growth in online shopping at the holidays.

Google shares, which have fallen 9 percent since the report, closed Tuesday at $580.93, down $4.59 for the day.

Ryan Calo, director for privacy at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, said Google is trying to make its policy privacy transparent instead of bogging users down with pages of legalese; the new privacy policies run about 10,000 words, down from 68,000.

But he said the company must ensure that the ways it uses data help users without revealing sensitive information.

"If it creeps people out, then they need to be aware of that," he said.

___

Technology Writer Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_hi_te/us_google_privacy

jermichael finley diana nyad diana nyad vikings bears packers michael vick kenny britt

10 disaster survival tips for pets - Holy Kaw!

After Hurricane Katrina, more than 250,000 pets, including cats, dogs and fish, were left stranded by this storm and the subsequent flooding by owners who thought they would have returned in a few days but were unable to do so.

It's a staggering number, and one that should motivate pet parents to think ahead. Let's look at some of the precautions that can be taken in advance, as well as what to do when time is truly nonexistent and spur-of-the-moment decisions must be made, including:

  • Identity Prep: Tags are a great place to start. Also consider implanting a microchip, one of the most reliable methods for recovering a lost or stray pet.
  • Home Bunker: Don't wait until the tornado drops down in your backyard; heed the advice of FEMA and bring pets inside as soon as any watches or warnings hit the airwaves.
  • S-O-S: Most emergency and rescue organizations strongly urge against ever leaving pets behind during a disaster.

Full list at HowStuffWorks.com.

Total aggregation of HowStuffWorks.com.

Photo credit: Fotolia

Source: http://holykaw.alltop.com/10-disaster-survival-tips-for-pets

dancing with the stars elimination nexus prime nexus prime new iphone new iphone tmobile iphone van jones

AnnaLynne McCord Laughs Off Topless Twitpic Faux Pas

'I am going to tweet myself naked all the time,' the '90210' actress jokes to MTV News at Sundance.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Josh Horowitz


Annalynne McCord
Photo: MTV News

Much like a plot right out of her soapy CW show, "90210," AnnaLynne McCord made headlines when she inadvertently tweeted out a NSFW photo of herself on January 10. It quickly became clear that she took the photo as the wrong angle, exposing a bit more of herself than she had expected to.

After realizing her Twitter faux pas, she laughed off the incident. "This is for you, @meganraee You Rock! Xxx," she initially tweeted, including the nipple-baring photo. She later added, "Hahaha! Megan, you feel like sharing? Very funny I actually LOL-ed xxxA."

When MTV News had the chance to speak to McCord during her trip to the Sundance Film Festival, she had some a very amusing response to the tweet. "I am going to tweet myself naked all the time. I mean I am going to be a press whore from here on out. This is awesome," she joked about the headline-making incident. "You know what's so crazy to me, it's the sensationalism. I mean so disappointing, I'm sorry for everybody who thought I was going to be naked. You see more of me naked as Pauline in ['Excision'].

"Anyone with half of a brain knows it was an accident," she continued. "I have a very small areola and I have to get a magnifying glass to make sure that it's not in pictures in the future. That's the moral of the story."

McCord had a few more laughs at her own expense, adding, "The moral of the story is not to stop taking pictures of yourself naked. We all like being naked. Just make sure that the little bit of your areola isn't in the picture before you send it to a hundred billion people."

How did AnnaLynne McCord handle her Twitter photo faux pas? Leave your comments below!

Related Videos

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677724/annalynne-mccord-twitter-topless-photo.jhtml

kim jong ii dead snapdragon snapdragon kim jong ill dead wedding crashers next iron chef next iron chef

How to Register Your New Business Name

You?ve brainstormed, polled your family and friends and conducted some kind of focus group testing. You?ve come up with a cool domain name. Finally, you?ve crossed one of the trickiest hurdles for any new business ? finding the right name for your new brand.

But not so fast. Before you unleash your name on the world, you?ve got to dot a few administrative ?i?s? and cross a few legal ?t?s.? There are three key legal steps in the naming process.

  • Make sure the name is available.
  • Register the name with your state.
  • Register your property (a.k.a. the name) with the federal government.

Keep in mind that trademark law is complex. While this is a brief introduction to the steps involved, there are specific situations that may vary.

SEE ALSO: How to Pick the Right Name for Your Business

1. Make Sure the Name Is Available to Use


Before you start ordering letterhead and marketing material, you need to make sure your name is available in the state where you are planning to conduct business, and also nationwide. No one wants to find themselves on the wrong end of a trademark dispute. First, there could be punitive damages and legal fees to pay. And even more costly, you could be ordered to rename your company immediately ? putting you back at square one in terms of brand recognition.

  • Before you incorporate or register your business with your state, check the state?s database of company names.
  • At this point, you should also conduct a free trademark search to check if your business name is available to use at the federal level. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) offers a free search tool to see if your name is available to use nationwide.
  • It?s also important to know that you can still infringe upon someone else?s mark even if they?ve never formally registered it with the USPTO. For this reason, you?ll also need to do a comprehensive nationwide trademark search into state and local databases (beyond just your own state). This should include common law and county registrars. You can find affordable online services to simplify this task for you by performing a comprehensive search into state and local databases.

2. Register the Name With Your State


When you incorporate or form an LLC for your new business, the name is registered with your state?s secretary of state. Before approving your application, the secretary of state?s office checks that your name is distinguishable from all other business names registered in the state (just in case you didn?t search yourself in step one). Once approved, the business name is yours, and yours alone, to use within the state. This act protects anyone else from using your name within your state, but it doesn?t offer any kind of protection in the other 49 states.

If you?re not planning on incorporating or forming an LLC, you can still register a business name using a DBA (Doing Business As), which is also known as a Fictitious Business Name. It?s the easiest type of registration, and can be completed through your county government offices.

If you?ve started a business that?s physically tied to your state ? such as a hair salon or a restaurant ? and have no plans to expand into other states, registering your name with the state or county might be enough brand protection for you. However, if you?re planning to conduct business outside your own state (i.e. you sell a product or provide services to clients who live elsewhere), you should look into trademark protection.


3. Register a Trademark with the Federal Government


You?re not actually required by law to register a trademark. Use of a name instantly gives you common law rights as an owner, even without formal registration. However, as mentioned above, trademark law is complex. Simply registering a DBA in your state doesn?t automatically grant you common law rights; in order to claim first use, the name has to be ?trademarkable? and in use in commerce.

Registering a trademark offers a few advantages:

  • Trademarks registered with the USPTO enjoy significantly stronger protection than ?common law? marks, or unregistered marks. When you register a trademark, it?s exponentially easier for you to recover your properties ? for example, if someone happens to be using a close variation of your domain name or is using your company name as their Twitter handle.
  • A trademark is property ? it has value and can be sold as a corporate asset.

To register your business name, you?ll need to file an application with the USPTO. Expect to pay approximately $325 per class in application fees that your mark would fall under. Once you submit your application, the process can take anywhere from 6-12 months, so it?s smart to perform a comprehensive trademark search before starting the application process. If your selected name is not available, your application will be rejected. You?ll lose your application fee, not to mention any time invested in the application.

While the process of registering a trademark is more involved than registering a DBA, rights to your name will be enforced by both the federal and state governments.


Take the Right Steps


As you?re getting your company off the ground, make sure to take brand protection seriously. You?ve spent untold hours deliberating the ideal name, and you?ll be spending even more time cultivating brand recognition. Your name represents your brand and business, so take the right steps up front to protect your identity.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, shironosov, Flickr, thinkpanama

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/01/23/register-business-name/

election results gop debate live gop debate live nome alaska nome alaska alaska map bil keane

Halliburton 4Q profit jumps 50 pct (AP)

NEW YORK ? Halliburton is reporting that its net income jumped nearly 50 percent in the final three months of 2011 as rising oil prices sparked new drilling projects.

The Houston company posted earnings of $906 million Monday, or 98 cents per share, for the fourth quarter. That compares with $605 million, or 66 cents per share, for the same part of 2010.

Excluding a $15 million charge, Halliburton earned $1 per share in the quarter. Revenue increased 36.9 percent to $7.06 billion.

For the full year, Halliburton Co. earned $2.84 billion, or $3.08 per share, compared with $1.84 billion, or $2.02 per share, in 2010. Annual revenue increased 38.1 percent to $24.8 billion.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_halliburton

howard stern americas got talent china aircraft carrier barbara walters most fascinating person 2011 golden globe nominations los angeles clippers los angeles clippers charlize theron

Neuropathy patients more likely to receive high-cost, screening instead of more effective tests

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 23-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Mary F. Masson
mfmasson@umich.edu
734-764-2220
University of Michigan Health System

U-M researchers found more efficient diagnostic tools are not always used, results reported in Archives of Internal Medicine

Researchers at the University of Michigan analyzed the tremendous cost of diagnosing peripheral neuropathy and found that less expensive, more effective tests are less likely to be used.

Almost one-quarter of patients receiving neuropathy diagnoses undergo high-cost, low-yield MRIs while very few receive low-cost, high-yield glucose tolerance tests, according to the study that will be published Jan. 23 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The research was led by Brian Callaghan, M.D., assistant professor of neurology at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Patients diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy typically are given many tests but physicians are highly variable in their approach, says Callaghan.

"We spend a lot of money to work up a diagnosis of neuropathy. The question is whether that money is well spent," Callaghan says.

For patients with peripheral neuropathy, the nerves that carry information to and from the brain don't work property. This commonly leads to tingling or burning in arms or legs and loss of feeling and the symptoms can go from subtle to severe.

Diabetes is the most common cause of this type of nerve problem. Peripheral neuropathy is found in about 15 percent of those over age 40.

Researchers used the 1996-2007 Health and Retirement Study to identify individuals with a diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy. They focused on 15 relevant tests and examined the number and patterns of tests six months before and after the initial diagnosis.

"Our findings, that MRIs were frequently ordered by physicians, but a lower-cost glucose tolerance test was rarely ordered, show that there is substantial opportunity to improve efficiency in the evaluation of peripheral neuropathy," Callaghan says.

"Currently no standard approach to the evaluation of peripheral neuropathy exists . We need more research to determine an optimal approach.

"We do a lot of tests that cost a lot of money, and there's no agreement on what we're doing."

The climbing rates of diabetes in the U.S. make this research even more important, says co-author Kenneth M. Langa, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of Internal Medicine at U-M, a Research Scientist at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System's Center for Clinical Management Research, and Research Professor at the Institute for Social Research.

"We know more and more people may develop peripheral neuropathy because it is commonly caused by diabetes. Our study suggests that the work-up currently used for neuropathy isn't standardized and tests that are less useful and more expensive may be used too often," says Langa. "We need a more efficient way to handle this increasingly common diagnosis."

###

Journal reference: Arch Intern Med. 2012; 172[2]:127-132.

Funding: National Institutes of Health, Katherine Rayner Program and A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute. The Health and Retirement Study is supported by the National Institute on Aging.

Additional authors: Ryan McCammon, Kevin Kerber, M.D., Xiao Xu, Ph.D., and Eva Feldman, M.D., Ph.D.; all of the University of Michigan.

About the University of Michigan's Department of Neurology: The department is an academic medical department with a full range of activities in patient care, education and research. The Neurology inpatient service provides care for acutely ill patients with neurologic disease and includes a dedicated intensive care unit, a separate stroke unit, and inpatient epilepsy monitoring beds. Our faculty also investigate the causes, treatments, natural history and phenotypic spectrum of inherited neurologic disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease. Our studies range from describing novel inherited neurologic syndromes; to family studies including genetic mapping; discovering genes for neurologic diseases; and the creation and analysis of laboratory animals of neurologic disease.



[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 23-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Mary F. Masson
mfmasson@umich.edu
734-764-2220
University of Michigan Health System

U-M researchers found more efficient diagnostic tools are not always used, results reported in Archives of Internal Medicine

Researchers at the University of Michigan analyzed the tremendous cost of diagnosing peripheral neuropathy and found that less expensive, more effective tests are less likely to be used.

Almost one-quarter of patients receiving neuropathy diagnoses undergo high-cost, low-yield MRIs while very few receive low-cost, high-yield glucose tolerance tests, according to the study that will be published Jan. 23 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The research was led by Brian Callaghan, M.D., assistant professor of neurology at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Patients diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy typically are given many tests but physicians are highly variable in their approach, says Callaghan.

"We spend a lot of money to work up a diagnosis of neuropathy. The question is whether that money is well spent," Callaghan says.

For patients with peripheral neuropathy, the nerves that carry information to and from the brain don't work property. This commonly leads to tingling or burning in arms or legs and loss of feeling and the symptoms can go from subtle to severe.

Diabetes is the most common cause of this type of nerve problem. Peripheral neuropathy is found in about 15 percent of those over age 40.

Researchers used the 1996-2007 Health and Retirement Study to identify individuals with a diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy. They focused on 15 relevant tests and examined the number and patterns of tests six months before and after the initial diagnosis.

"Our findings, that MRIs were frequently ordered by physicians, but a lower-cost glucose tolerance test was rarely ordered, show that there is substantial opportunity to improve efficiency in the evaluation of peripheral neuropathy," Callaghan says.

"Currently no standard approach to the evaluation of peripheral neuropathy exists . We need more research to determine an optimal approach.

"We do a lot of tests that cost a lot of money, and there's no agreement on what we're doing."

The climbing rates of diabetes in the U.S. make this research even more important, says co-author Kenneth M. Langa, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of Internal Medicine at U-M, a Research Scientist at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System's Center for Clinical Management Research, and Research Professor at the Institute for Social Research.

"We know more and more people may develop peripheral neuropathy because it is commonly caused by diabetes. Our study suggests that the work-up currently used for neuropathy isn't standardized and tests that are less useful and more expensive may be used too often," says Langa. "We need a more efficient way to handle this increasingly common diagnosis."

###

Journal reference: Arch Intern Med. 2012; 172[2]:127-132.

Funding: National Institutes of Health, Katherine Rayner Program and A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute. The Health and Retirement Study is supported by the National Institute on Aging.

Additional authors: Ryan McCammon, Kevin Kerber, M.D., Xiao Xu, Ph.D., and Eva Feldman, M.D., Ph.D.; all of the University of Michigan.

About the University of Michigan's Department of Neurology: The department is an academic medical department with a full range of activities in patient care, education and research. The Neurology inpatient service provides care for acutely ill patients with neurologic disease and includes a dedicated intensive care unit, a separate stroke unit, and inpatient epilepsy monitoring beds. Our faculty also investigate the causes, treatments, natural history and phenotypic spectrum of inherited neurologic disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease. Our studies range from describing novel inherited neurologic syndromes; to family studies including genetic mapping; discovering genes for neurologic diseases; and the creation and analysis of laboratory animals of neurologic disease.



[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/uomh-npm012312.php

alfa romeo giulietta alfa romeo giulietta xbox update xbox update nba schedule nhl realignment nhl realignment

Well: In Rating Pain, Women Are the More Sensitive Sex

Do women feel more pain than men?

It has long been known that certain pain-related conditions, like fibromyalgia, migraine and irritable bowel syndrome, are more common in women than in men. And chronic pain after childbirth is surprisingly common; the Institute of Medicine recently found that 18 percent of women who have Caesarean deliveries and 10 percent who have vaginal deliveries report still being in pain a year later.

But new research from Stanford University suggests that even when men and women have the same condition ? whether it?s a back problem, arthritis or a sinus infection ? women appear to suffer more from the pain.

There is an epidemic of chronic pain: Last year, the Institute of Medicine estimated that it afflicts 116 million Americans, far more than previously believed. But these latest findings, believed to be the largest study ever to compare pain levels in men and women, raise new questions about whether women are shouldering a disproportionate burden of chronic pain and suggest a need for more gender-specific pain research.

The study, published Monday in The Journal of Pain, analyzes data from the electronic medical records of 11,000 patients whose pain scores were recorded as a routine part of their care. (To obtain pain scores, doctors ask patients to describe their pain on a scale from 0, for no pain, to 10, ?worst pain imaginable.?)

For 21 of 22 ailments with sample sizes large enough to make a meaningful comparison, the researchers found that women reported higher levels of pain than men. For back pain, women reported a score of 6.03, men 5.53. For joint and inflammatory pain, it was women 6.00, men 4.93. Women reported significantly higher pain levels with diabetes, hypertension, ankle injuries and even sinus infections.

For several diagnoses, women?s average pain score was at least one point higher than men?s, which is considered a clinically meaningful difference. Over all, their pain levels were about 20 percent higher than men?s.

Unfortunately, the data don?t offer any clues as to why women report higher pain levels. One possibility is that men have been socialized to be more stoic, so they underreport pain. But the study?s senior author, Dr. Atul Butte, an associate professor at Stanford?s medical school, said that explanation probably did not account for the gender gap.

?While you can imagine such a bias,? he said, ?across studies, across thousands of patients, it?s hard to believe men are like this. You have to think about biological causes for the difference.?

An extensive 2007 report by the International Association for the Study of Pain cited studies showing that sex hormones may play a role in pain response. In fact, some of the gender differences, particularly regarding headache and abdominal pain, begin to diminish after women reach menopause.

Research also suggests that men and women have different responses to anesthesia and pain drugs, reporting different levels of efficacy and side effects. That bolsters the idea that men and women experience pain differently.

One reason for the lack of information about sex differences is that many pain studies, in both animals and humans, are done only in males. One analysis found that 79 percent of the animal studies published in a pain journal over a decade included only male subjects, compared with 8 percent that used only female animals.

In addition, experiments testing pain in men and women have shown that they typically have different thresholds for various types of pain. In general, women report higher levels of pain from pressure and electrical stimulation, and less pain when the source is from heat.

Melanie Thernstrom, a patient representative on the Institute of Medicine pain committee from Vancouver, Wash., said the newest research ?really highlights the need for more treatment and better treatment that is gender-specific, and the need for far more research to really understand why women?s brains process pain differently than men.?

Some researchers believe the pain experience for women may be even more complicated. Women who have given birth, for instance, may have a different threshold for ?worst pain ever,? causing them to underreport certain types of pain. The bottom line, Dr. Butte said, is that far too little is known about how men and women experience pain and that more study is needed so that, ultimately, pain treatment can be customized to each patient?s needs.

?If doctors have a threshold for when they give a dose or start a medication,? he said, ?you could imagine that the number they are using is too high or too low because a person may be in more pain than they are saying.

?In the end, it comes down to what the brain perceives as pain.?

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=9930b456c1e56b4cc784dcd3f04497f5

major league alicia sacramone occupy chicago occupy chicago ron white ron white alcs

Pakistan rejects US self-defense claim on strikes

FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011 file photo, Pakistani protesters burn an effigy of US President Barrack Obama during a protest to condemn killings of Pakistani troops in NATO airstrikes, in Peshawar, Pakistan. Pakistan's army on Monday formally rejected a U.S. claim that American airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops last year were justified as self-defense, a stance that could complicate efforts to repair the troubled but vital relationship between the two countries.(AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad, File)

FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011 file photo, Pakistani protesters burn an effigy of US President Barrack Obama during a protest to condemn killings of Pakistani troops in NATO airstrikes, in Peshawar, Pakistan. Pakistan's army on Monday formally rejected a U.S. claim that American airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops last year were justified as self-defense, a stance that could complicate efforts to repair the troubled but vital relationship between the two countries.(AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 26, 2011 file photo provided by Pakistan's Inter Services Public Relations department, smoke rises after a reported NATO airstrike in Pakistan's tribal area of Mohmand, along the Afghanistan border. Both U.S. and Pakistani officials have said the November killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers in a NATO airstrike and Washington's refusal to outright apologize for the deaths has been a game changer in a relationship characterized by mistrust and mutual acrimony. Pakistan's army on Monday formally rejected a U.S. claim that American airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops last year were justified as self-defense, a stance that could complicate efforts to repair the troubled but vital relationship between the two countries. (AP Photo/Inter Services Public Relations Department, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 18, 2011 file photo, Syed Munawar Hasan, head of the Pakistani religious party Jamaat-e-Islami, addresses people gathered for a rally in Peshawar, Pakistan, to protest the NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistan army soldiers. Pakistan's army on Monday formally rejected a U.S. claim that American airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops last year were justified as self-defense, a stance that could complicate efforts to repair the troubled but vital relationship between the two countries.(AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad, File)

(AP) ? Pakistan's army on Monday formally rejected a U.S. claim that American airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops last year were justified as self-defense, a stance that could complicate efforts to repair the troubled but vital relationship between the two countries.

In a detailed report, the army said that Pakistani troops did not trigger the Nov. 26 incident at two posts along the Afghan border by firing at American and Afghan forces, as the U.S. has alleged. Pakistan's army said its troops shot at suspected militants who were nowhere near coalition troops.

"Trying to affix partial responsibility of the incident on Pakistan is, therefore, unjustified and unacceptable," said the report, which was issued in response to the U.S. investigation that concluded at the end of December.

Washington expressed condolences for the deaths of the Pakistani soldiers but said American troops acted "with appropriate force" in self-defense because they thought they were being attacked by Taliban insurgents.

Pakistan responded quickly by closing its border crossings to supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan. The borders have remained closed, and Pakistan also kicked the U.S. out of a base that was used to service American drones.

The differing accounts of what happened could make it difficult for the two sides to move forward, but many analysts believe they will find a way because it's in their own interests to do so. The U.S. needs Pakistan's help in targeting Islamist militants within the country and negotiating peace with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Islamabad is heavily reliant on billions of dollars in aid from Washington.

Pakistan said the fundamental cause of the deadly airstrikes was the decision by coalition forces not to tell Pakistan that American and Afghan troops were conducting an operation near the border inside Afghanistan before dawn on Nov. 26.

Brig. Gen. Stephen Clark, an Air Force special operations officer who led the U.S. investigation, has said U.S. and NATO commanders believed some of their military operations were compromised after details and locations were given to the Pakistanis.

Clark has also said that U.S. forces did not know that the two relatively new Pakistani outposts ? simple structures constructed with stacked gray stones ? had been set up on a mountain ridge along the border.

The Pakistani army countered that coalition forces must have known about the two posts set up at the end of September 2011, because they had conducted at least one other operation in the area afterward. Coalition aircraft also conducted constant surveillance of the area, the Pakistanis said.

The army said previously that it provided NATO with maps clearly marking the location of the border posts, but that claim did not appear in its report.

The U.S. has said its forces attacked the posts after Pakistani troops targeted them with heavy machine gun fire and "effective" mortar fire.

The Pakistani army said its soldiers did not shoot in the direction of the patrol, but instead fired three mortars and "a few machine gun rounds" at a location at least 1 mile (1.5 kilometers) away from the coalition forces.

The army criticized the U.S. and NATO for "deep, varied and systematic" failures that prevented them from realizing they were targeting Pakistani forces over the course of three separate engagements that lasted at least 90 minutes.

"In the process, every soldier on and around the posts, even on the reverse slope of the ridge, was individually targeted," said the Pakistani report. "This pattern of engagement cannot be justified by calling it 'self-defense.'"

The U.S. has acknowledged that its forces failed to determine who was firing at them and whether there were friendly forces in the area. The U.S. said its troops used incorrect maps and mistakenly provided Pakistan with the wrong location where they said fighting was taking place ? an area almost nine miles (14 kilometers) away.

The Pakistani army accused coalition forces of showing "no urgency whatsoever in a situation where due to use of overwhelming and disproportionate force ... lives were being lost."

"This displays utter disregard for the lives of the Pakistani soldiers," said the report, which pointed out the attack left behind seven widows and 16 orphans.

The Pakistani army claimed coalition forces attacked Pakistani troops four other times between June 2008 and July 2011, killing 18 soldiers.

Pakistan claimed coalition forces failed to hold anyone responsible for these past incidents. It refused to participate in the U.S. investigation into the Nov. 26, 2011, attack, claiming past U.S. probes into border incidents were biased.

"It is increasingly obvious to Pakistan military that the entire coordination mechanism has been reduced to an exercise in futility, is more for the purposes of optics and that it has repeatedly been undermined," said the army report.

___

Associated Press writer Asif Shahzad contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-23-AS-Pakistan-US-Airstrikes/id-6956614d8f3f4ba48b13f04360ff023e

storage wars millionaire matchmaker millionaire matchmaker shawshank redemption 3 10 to yuma west virginia football west virginia football

Marine accepts plea deal in Iraqi civilian deaths (AP)

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. ? A Marine accused of killing unarmed Iraqi women and children pleaded guilty Monday to negligent dereliction of duty in a deal that will bring a maximum of three months confinement and end the largest and longest-running criminal case against U.S. troops to emerge from the Iraq War.

Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, 31, of Meriden, Conn., led the Marine squad in 2005 that killed 24 Iraqis in the town of Haditha in a series of raids on homes after a roadside bomb exploded near a Marine convoy, killing one Marine and wounding two others.

It was a stunning and muted end to the case once described as the Iraq War's version of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. The government failed to get one manslaughter conviction in the case that involved eight Marines.

The Haditha incident is considered among the war's defining moments, further tainting America's reputation when it was already at a low point after the release of photos of prisoner abuse by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison.

"The case doesn't end with a bang, it ends with a whimper and a pretty weak whimper at that," said Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps prosecutor and judge. "When you have 24 dead bodies and you get dereliction of duty, that's pretty good defense work."

Wuterich, his family and his attorneys declined to comment after he entered the plea that interrupted his trial at Camp Pendleton before a jury of combat Marines who served in Iraq.

Prosecutors also declined to comment on the plea deal.

The father of three children had faced the possibility of life behind bars. After pleading guilty to the minor charge, Wuterich now faces a maximum of three months in confinement, two-thirds forfeiture of pay and a rank demotion to private when he's sentenced, which will happen Tuesday morning. The plea agreement calls for manslaughter charges to be dropped.

Seven other Marines in his squad were acquitted or had charges dismissed.

The killings still fuel anger in Iraq after becoming the primary reason behind demands that U.S. troops not be given immunity from their court system.

Kamil al-Dulaimi, a Sunni lawmaker from the Anbar provincial capital of Ramadi, called the plea deal a travesty of justice for the victims and their families.

"It's just another barbaric act of Americans against Iraqis," al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press. "They spill the blood of Iraqis and get this worthless sentence for the savage crime against innocent civilians."

News of the plea agreement came late in the evening in Iraq just hours before curfew most cities still impose, producing no noticeable public reaction. Government officials didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

The issue at the court martial was whether Wuterich reacted appropriately as a Marine squad leader in protecting his troops in the midst of a chaotic war or disregarded combat rules and ordered his men to shoot and blast indiscriminately at Iraqi civilians.

Wuterich was initially charged with nine counts of manslaughter, among other charges.

Prosecutors said he lost control after seeing the body of his friend blown apart by the bomb and led his men on a rampage in which they stormed two nearby homes, blasting their way in with gunfire and grenades. Among the dead was a man in a wheelchair.

Wuterich acknowledged Monday he was negligent in his duties because he told his squad to shoot first and ask questions later, or words to that effect, before the squad stormed the first home.

"Honestly, I probably should have said nothing," Wuterich told the judge, Lt. Col. David Jones. "I think we all understood what we were doing so I probably just should have said nothing."

Later he added: "I shouldn't have done that and it resulted in tragic events, sir."

Wuterich agreed with the judge that those words caused the deaths of unarmed men, women and children.

During Monday's hearing, Wuterich acknowledged he had been trained in rules of engagement before going to Iraq and again when he was deployed, but his words led his squad to believe they could ignore those rules.

He admitted he did not positively identify his targets, as he had learned to do in training. He said he ordered his troops to assault the homes based on the guidance of his platoon commander at the time.

"No one denies that the events ... were tragic, most of all Frank Wuterich," defense attorney Neal Puckett told the North County Times. "But the fact of the matter is that he has now been totally exonerated of the homicide charges brought against him by the government and the media. For the last six years, he has had his name dragged through the mud. Today, we hope, is the beginning of his redemption."

Solis said the government made a critical mistake by failing to push for an earlier trial, and that prosecutors were almost timid, standing by while the defense held up the case for years with motions. Witnesses may have had second thoughts about testifying and memories fade, he said.

Defense attorneys spoke to reporters while prosecutors were silent, potentially allowing jurors to be influenced by public opinion.

"Six years for a trial is unacceptable," said Solis, who teaches law of war at Georgetown University Law Center. "Delay is always to the benefit of the accused."

He said prosecutors may have been cowed by the Army's missteps in its handling of the death of former NFL star and Ranger Pat Tillman from friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2004.

Marine Corps spokesman Lt. Col. Joseph Kloppel said the plea deal was not a reflection or in any way connected to how the prosecution felt their case was going in the trial.

Wuterich also acknowledged in his plea that the squad did not take any gunfire during the 45-minute raid on the homes or find any weapons. Still, several squad members testified they do not believe they did anything wrong because they feared insurgents were inside hiding.

The prosecution was further hurt by the testimony of former Lt. William T. Kallop, Wuterich's former platoon commander, who said the squad was justified in its actions because the house was declared hostile. From what was understood of the rules of combat at the time, that meant Marines did not need to positively identify their targets, Kallop said.

Wuterich has said he regretted the loss of civilian lives but believed he was operating within military combat rules.

After Haditha, Marines commanders ordered troops to try and distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The trial was delayed for years by pre-trial wrangling between the defense and prosecution, including over whether the military could use unaired outtakes from an interview Wuterich gave in 2007 to CBS "60 Minutes." Prosecutors eventually won the right to view the footage.

___

Associated Press writers Barbara Surk and Mazin Yahya in Baghdad, and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_re_us/us_marines_haditha

roasted potatoes turkey recipes turkey recipes happy holidays norad how to carve a turkey how to cook a turkey

'30 Rock' star Tracy Morgan hospitalized at Sundance

Frazer Harrison / Getty Images

Actor Tracy Morgan attends a gala awards dinner at the Sundance film festival Sunday.

By msnbc.com staff and NBC News

Actor and comedian Tracy Morgan was hospitalized on Sunday night in Park City, Utah, where he was attending an awards ceremony as part of the Sundance Film Festival.

The "30 Rock" star?was taken to the Park City Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Amy Roberts confirmed to NBC News.


Morgan, 43, was being honored at the Creative Coalition Spotlight Awards.

Entertainment news website TMZ quoted unidentified?sources as saying the actor "appeared extremely intoxicated during his award acceptance speech".

However,?TMZ later?posted a statement from?Morgan's publicist, Lewis Kay, which said: "Any reports of Tracy consuming alcohol are 100 percent?false. From a combination of exhaustion and altitude, Tracy is seeking medical attention."

("30 Rock"?is broadcast?on NBC. Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft Corp. and NBC Universal.)

NBC News?and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

Source: http://entertainment.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/23/10213849-30-rock-star-tracy-morgan-hospitalized-at-sundance-festival

loma prieta loma prieta harold camping kim kardashian and kris humphries kim kardashian and kris humphries chris morris chris morris