Sunday, September 30, 2012

Parents desperately search for missing kids


World Hot Topics Blog

In China, parents desperately search for missing kids

11:25AM EST September 30. 2012 - BEIJING -- Every Mid-Autumn Festival, farmer Yang Zengjian's son used to wolf down mooncakes and other traditional treats.

At Chinese New Year, "he loved firecrackers and would beg me to buy more and more," Yang says of son Dingding. "Now I hate the sound of firecrackers."

Yang's boy disappeared in 2008 age 7, one of up to 20,000 children abducted each year, according to the U.S. State Department's 2010 human rights report. Other estimates run much higher.

In the USA, a missing-child alert sparks concerns about imminent abuse and murder. In China, home to a centuries-old scourge of buying and selling children, abduction appears less lethal but no less painful.
China's traditional preference for sons, to continue the family line, drives an illegal trade now bolstered by the market-shrinking impact of the one-child policy, the ruling Communist Party's three-decade-old drive to restrict family size. World Hot Topics Blog

"At the local level, police don't do their best to find lost kids, so more people dare to abduct and buy them. It's a vicious circle," says Xiao Chaohua, 37, whose 5 year-old son Xiaosong was abducted in 2007.
Instead of waiting for the government to act, five fathers have taken their case to the people. This weekend is when Chinese families traditionally reunite for the Mid-Autumn Festival, and Yang and four other fathers of missing children have driven hundreds of miles to Beijing in a minivan covered with photos of victims of child trafficking.

In a nation of over 1.3 billion people, looking for lost people invites the Chinese, hopeless phrase, "Finding a needle in the ocean." In recent years, these five dads' desperate search for clues has cost them their marriages, jobs and savings.

And in a stability-obsessed system like China's, where the space for civic activism remains minimal, their persistence in publicizing a widespread but sensitive problem like trafficking has landed them in trouble with the authorities too. World Hot Topics Blog

"It's a miracle we've made it this far," says Yang, 38, in the semi-rural suburbs of east Beijing's Tongzhou district, where the group has hidden the van while they print leaflets and handbooks on how to prevent child abduction. On previous trips to the capital, police have detained Yang and others, and sent them back to their home provinces, he says.

"A policeman told me, 'You lose face for the country,' but we ought to get support from the government as we help society by raising awareness on preventing abductions," Yang says. "We tell people that trafficking is not some remote danger, it's right beside you."

Official statistics are hard to come by. China's police ministry said in 2010 that up to 60,000 children are reported missing every year, but did not estimate how many are victims of human trafficking. The Chinese media have reported estimates of child abductions as high as 200,000 case a year.

A wave of Internet activism last year in China, inspired by a popular campaign to photograph child beggars who may have been abducted and forced to beg, compelled the nation's police to promise greater vigilance.
Xiao, from southern Guangdong province, once owned a fashion store there but is now focused solely on finding his son. He drives the publicity van, one of eight he is aware of. Passengers picked up en route, including Yang, are friends Xiao made online through their shared sorrow.

Other cities traversed since early July have proved less sensitive than Beijing. Encountering only minor harassment, Xiao and friends have laid out hundreds of photos on city streets, garnered some publicity in China's tightly controlled media, and won useful leads, he says, though not for their own cases.
To spread the word, Xiao and Yang have distributed lighters and matchboxes bearing photos of missing children. Shen Hao, another activist who posts online videos of the relatives of missing children and adults, hands out poker packs printed with their pictures. World Hot Topics Blog

The authorities' lack of effective response has forced Xiao and other parents to acquire multiple new skills. He's learned how to use the Internet, how to micro-blog and network – and how to dodge the police.
"We're now black-listed as 'sensitive personnel,' " says Xiao, who kept this latest trip secret from his social networking group, which he believes is infiltrated by Chinese security agents.

"The police should help them find their kids, not give them hassle," says lawyer Gan Yuanchun, an expert on missing children in Hunan's Changsha city, and consultant to two organizations working on abduction.
"The case clearing rate on abducted children is normally around 5%, though it spiked to 8-10% last year, but it's still very low," Gan says.

Social tradition, the one child policy and a weak legal environment all contribute to the problem, he says. The almost non-existent penalties on buyers of stolen children remain those set by China's Criminal Law in 1997.
"Fifteen years later, it's high time to change the law," Gan says.

Beijing established a formal anti-abduction network within its Ministry of Public Security in 2007. Several high-risk provinces have since set up specialist police units, but others have merely put up an office nameplate without dedicating any full-time staff, reported the state-run Legal Daily newspaper in April.
The top police officer responsible for fighting the traffickers, Chen Shiqu, has 2.7 million followers on his Twitter-like micro-blog account on Weibo
– a record among China's 50,000 government weibo that reflects public interest in the problem. He blames easy profits.

Usually a male child sells for about $8,000 to $9,500, and a girl child for $4,800 to $6,400, Chen told The Beijing Times' This Week magazine. World Hot Topics Blog

"Engaging in this kind of crime, criminals basically have little economic costs, so we constantly crack down on these cases but they still exist," he said.
To tackle the scourge, China's police established a DNA database in 2009 that by March 2012 had helped over 2,000 abducted kids return home, according to state-run Xinhua News Agency. Yang and Xiao, who in 2010 protested in vain outside the police ministry to visit to the new database, remain unconvinced that the data they submitted are being actively used.

U.S.-trained DNA expert Wu Yuanming, a professor at a military hospital university in Xian, is trying to set up a civilian-operated DNA database that will match the police ministry's existing 20,000-sample database within five years.

"I have been moved by the large numbers of people seeking to find their parents or children. We need a database that can serve the people cheaply and effectively," he says.
But after years of fruitless searching, the group of fathers has exhausted their relatives' and friends' patience and savings.

"My father says, 'You've searched for so long. I've lost my grandson, but now I'm losing my son too,' " says Yang, who has sold his tractor and no longer farms.
Despite the toll, the fathers say they will not give up.

"We won't stop as we still have hope every day," Xiao insists. "I think every day of ways to find our kids, and how to prevent others being abducted."

Contributing: Sunny Yang

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In China, parents desperately search for missing kids
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Friday, September 28, 2012

Researcher Says Flaw in Android Creates Phone Risk


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Researcher Says Flaw in Android Creates Phone Risk

Cellphones using Google's Android operating system are at risk of being disabled or wiped clean of their data, including contacts, music and photos because of a security flaw that was discovered several months ago but went unnoticed until now.

Opening a link to a website or a mobile application embedded with malicious code can trigger an attack capable of destroying the memory card in Android-equipped handsets made by Samsung, HTC, Motorola and Sony Ericsson, rendering the devices useless, computer security researcher Ravi Borgaonkar wrote in a blog post Friday. Another code that can erase a user's data by performing a factory reset of the device appears to target only the newly released and top selling Galaxy S III and other Samsung phones, he wrote.
Borgaonkar informed Google of the vulnerability in June, he said. A fix was issued quickly, he said, but it wasn't publicized, leaving smartphone owners largely unaware that the problem existed and how they could fix it. World Hot Topics Blog

Google declined to comment. Android debuted in 2008 and now dominates the smartphone market. Nearly 198 million smartphones using Android were sold in the first six months of 2012, according to the research firm IDC. About 243 million Android-equipped phones were sold in 2011, IDC said.

Versions of Android that are vulnerable include Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean, according to Borgaonkar. He said the Honeycomb version of Android, designed for tablets, needs to be tested to determine if it is at risk as well.

Samsung, which makes most of the Android phones, said only early production models of the Galaxy S III were affected and a software update has been issued for that model. The company said it is conducting an internal review to determine if other devices are affected and what, if any, action is needed. Samsung said it is advising customers to check for software updates through the "Settings: About device: Software update" menu available on Samsung phones. World Hot Topics Blog

Borgaonkar, a researcher at Germany's Technical University Berlin, said the bug works by taking advantage of functions in phones that allow them to dial a telephone number directly from a web browser. That convenience comes with risk, however. A hacker, or anyone with ill intent, can create a website or an app with codes that instruct the phones linking to those numbers to execute commands automatically, such as a full factory reset.

The phone's memory card, known as a subscriber identity module, or SIM, can be destroyed remotely in the same way, Borgaonkar said. "Vulnerability in Android can be exploited to kill the SIM card permanently by clicking a single click," he wrote. "After the successful attack, the end user has to go to the mobile network operator and buy a new SIM card."

While Borgaonkar has drawn attention to the problem, it's unclear how useful the vulnerability would be to cybercriminals who are primarily interested in profits or gaining a competitive advantage, said Jimmy Shah, a mobile security researcher at McAfee. "There's no benefit to the attacker if they can't make money off it or they can't steal your data," Shah said. "It's really not that useful."

But the technique could cause huge headaches if it were harnessed to issue outbound phone calls, said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure, a digital security company in Helsinki, Finland. "If that would be doable, we would quickly see real world attacks causing phones to automatically dial out to premium-rate numbers," he said.

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Researcher Says Flaw in Android Creates Phone Risk
http: // abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/researcher-flaw-android-creates-phone-risk-17350732#.UGYdWK6bFcA

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Terrorists killed U.S. ambassador to Libya: Panetta


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Terrorists killed U.S. ambassador to Libya: Panetta

(Reuters) - Terrorists killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya, but an ongoing investigation into the attack will have to determine which group was involved and whether it had links to al Qaeda, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Thursday.World Hot Topics Blog

The assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi September 11 that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens "was a terrorist attack," Panetta told a news conference at the Pentagon.

"A group of terrorists obviously conducted that attack on the consulate and against our individuals. What terrorists were involved, I think, still remains to be determined by the investigation," he added.
Panetta's remarks came a day after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seemed to link the Benghazi attack to militants with ties to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
World Hot Topics Blog
Stevens died of smoke inhalation when he was trapped alone inside the burning consulate in Benghazi after it was attacked by militants. Another diplomat, Sean Smith, and two U.S. security men were also killed.

Libyan Prime Minister-elect Mustafa Abushagur told a news conference in Tripoli on Thursday that the "investigation is under way, it is progressing," but added there was no "complete definite investigation to say who did this yet."

He said the Libyan and U.S. governments were closely cooperating on the investigation.
There was initial confusion about whether the attack had been planned in advance or was opportunistic, taking advantage of mob violence over an anti-Islam film made in the United States.
Panetta and Army General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Pentagon news conference it took time before officials determined that extremists were behind the attack.
"As we determined the details of what took place there, and how that attack took place, ... it became clear that there were terrorists who had planned that attack," Panetta said. "That's when I came to that conclusion."
World Hot Topics Blog
Dempsey said he wasn't aware of any specific threat to the consulate before the attack.
He said intelligence reporting from eastern Libya indicated some militant groups were trying to work together, but "there wasn't anything specific and certainly not a specific threat to the consulate."

(Reporting by David Alexander and Phil Stewart in Washington and Ali Shuaib and Marie-Louise Gumuchian in Libya; Editing by Sandra Maler and Stacey Joyce)

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Terrorists killed U.S. ambassador to Libya: Panetta
http:// www .reuters.com/article/2012/09/27/us-libya-usa-investigation-idUSBRE88Q1JW20120927


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N.J. woman accused of cancer scam for wedding, cash


World Hot Topics Blog

N.J. woman accused of cancer scam for wedding, cash

MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. (AP) -- When Lori Stilley told her friends and family that she had bladder cancer, they delivered meals, held raffles and a T-shirt sale, hastily planned and paid for her wedding and raised more than $10,000 for her treatment.But prosecutors say it was all a scam.
Stilley, a 40-year-old who lives in Delran, N.J., was charged Wednesday with theft by deception, charges her lawyer denies.

Authorities say she told family and friends in February 2011 that she had stage 3 bladder cancer and would need chemotherapy and radiation. Two months later, she told them -- and posted on her Facebook page and personal website -- that it was now stage 4, which means the cancer was spreading to other parts of her body.

Her friends and supporters pitched in the way people often do for sick loved ones: making a schedule of meal deliveries and --when she said she didn't have medical insurance -- raising money.
The Burlington County Prosecutor's Office said family and friends also hastily planned and paid for her wedding to her boyfriend last year.

Stilley even wrote an e-book about her experience. They say Impossible: How A Facebook Group Loved Me Through Bladder Cancer, selling for $14.99 a copy, raised more than $3,000.
Her own sister says she was the one who turned in Stilley. Lori DiGiovanni told WCAU-TV that she became suspicious when Stilley's story changed quickly. Soon after telling friends and family that she was making hospice plans and was being given a month to live, she posted on Facebook that she felt a miracle coming and was feeling better.

DiGiovanni said she believes her sister needs mental-health help.
Stilley's lawyer, however, said she did not do anything wrong.

"The Prosecutor's Office has not presented me with any competent evidence that would lead me to believe they are able to prove my client did anything wrong," Adam Malamut told the Burlington County Times in a story published Thursday. "The only evidence I'm aware of are statements made that I believe to be slanderous in nature from a family member with whom she's had a fractured relationship."
Stilley was arrested Wednesday and released on bail of $25,000.

"For this defendant to represent that she was dying from this terrible disease for the sake of personal gain and sympathy goes way beyond simply being a criminal offense," Burlington County Prosecutor Robert Bernardi said in a statement, "it was extremely cruel to those who were concerned and worked hard to lend assistance."

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N.J. woman accused of cancer scam for wedding, cash
http://www. donsidepiper.co.uk/news/scottish-headlines/us-may-deport-madam-charge-briton-1-2546899 

US may deport madam charge Briton


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US may deport madam charge Briton

A British mother accused of running a multimillion-dollar escort service in New York City could face deportation after admitting a charge of promoting prostitution.

US prosecutors said Anna Gristina, who is originally from Edinburgh but now lives in Monroe, New York, as a legal US citizen, was the madam of a Manhattan sex service for 15 years.

The 45-year-old has said previously that she was merely starting a matchmaking service, not peddling call girls, and admitted the single charge of promoting prostitution as part of a plea deal at Manhattan Supreme Court on Tuesday. World Hot Topics Blog

It stems from an incident in July 2011, in which authorities say she arranged a tryst between two women and an undercover police officer posing as a client. Gristina spent four months in jail before being released on a 250,000 US dollars (£154,000) bond in June. The judge said she will be sentenced on November 20 and that she could also be deported.

Gristina lives on a 12-acre property in Monroe, which is about 50 miles (80km) north of New York City, and is said to have spent time helping abandoned pet pigs find new homes. Prosecutors alleged that she made millions from the business, which was said to have had a roster of wealthy clients.

Co-accused Jaynie Baker, a former matchmaking recruiter charged with helping Gristina set up sexual encounters, reached a deal to resolve her case. Baker, 31, is due back in court on October 2.
Gristina was arrested on February 22 as she left a friend's office after a fundraising meeting for her business, prosecutors said. World Hot Topics Blog

In trying to get the case dismissed, her lawyer, Norman Pattis, wrote that the district attorney's office "vindictively prosecuted her as a result of her failure to co-operate with investigators" during what he called an illegal interrogation.

Gristina said in court papers that investigators shrugged off her requests for a lawyer and told her they would let her go if she gave them information about five men - not named in her filings, but described as a financier, an international banker and a member of a politically connected family, among others.
The district attorney's office said in court papers that Gristina "has not produced a shred of evidence of actual vindictiveness".

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US may deport madam charge Briton
http://www. donsidepiper.co.uk/news/scottish-headlines/us-may-deport-madam-charge-briton-1-2546899 

Mitt Romney tells voters: If I'm elected, don't expect huge tax cuts


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Mitt Romney tells voters: If I'm elected, don't expect huge tax cuts

Mitt Romney provided nuance to his proposed tax cuts, saying they must fit his goal of reducing federal deficits. But left unanswered is the question of how this will affect the middle class.
World Hot Topics Blog
Mitt Romney says Americans shouldn't expect a big tax cut from him if he's elected president, because the nation also has to think about how to tame out-of-control federal deficits.
"Don't be expecting a huge cut in taxes, because I'm also going to be closing loopholes on deductions," Mr. Romney said Wednesday in Westerville, Ohio, flanked by a national debt clock, chronicling the nation's rising burden on future taxpayers.

The comments in some ways raise as many questions as they answer.
On one hand, they may be aimed in part at addressing skeptics who say Romney's tax plan is "mathematically impossible." He wants to lower the deficit by cutting spending while keeping tax revenues neutral. To do the latter, he would cut income tax rates across the board by 20 percent and make up the difference by eliminating some deductions and credits. Wednesday's comments could be a nod to the scope of those proposed deduction eliminations. World Hot Topics Blog

Yet, according to a recent independent analysis, such a plan could result in the unpopular prospect of a net tax decrease for the wealthy and a net tax increase for the middle class.

In general, many tax experts endorse the concept Romney is talking about: reducing tax rates while also reducing or eliminating many deductions or credits to "broaden the base" of income that is subject to taxation. The idea is that a simpler tax code will be more efficient at both gathering federal revenue and stimulating strong economic growth – even if the reform makes no change in total federal revenue.

The independent review of Romney's proposals, released in August by the Tax Policy Center in Washington, did not claim to be an official "scoring" of the plan, because "certain components of his plan are not specified in sufficient detail." But the analysis did examine the implications of key Romney ideas. Those include the 20 percent cut, being revenue neutral, eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax, and maintaining current tax breaks for savings and investment. World Hot Topics Blog

Even if Romney completely eliminates remaining tax breaks for high-income households, the net effect effect would be a tax decrease for them, the study concluded. Meanwhile, the reductions in tax breaks on other households would be large enough to result in a "net tax increase" for them, it added. Otherwise, it concluded, Romney's goal of revenue neutrality wouldn't be met.

The candidate's comments Wedensday, which offered no new details about his tax plan, leave this math question about deductions unanswered.

"I don’t interpret this as evidence that Governor Romney wants to increase taxes on the middle class in order to cut taxes for the rich, as an Obama campaign ad claimed," Tax Policy Center director Donald Marron wrote in a blog shortly after the controversial study was released. "Instead, I view it as showing that his plan can’t accomplish all his stated objectives." World Hot Topics Blog

But a Romney adviser this week suggested that there could be another solution. In a debate between economic advisers affiliated with the two presidential campaigns, pro-Romney economist Kevin Hassett echoed the thought that Romney would put a priority on not raising taxes for the middle class.

Mr. Hassett, an American Enterprise Institute economist and an informal adviser to Romney, predicted that if the Romney math doesn't add up, Romney's response would be to scale back the cut in tax rates in order to avoid asking middle-class families to provide more tax revenue.

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Mitt Romney tells voters: If I'm elected, don't expect huge tax cuts
http:// news.yahoo.com/mitt-romney-tells-voters-im-elected-dont-expect-225633186.html

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Creative Ways to Improve Your Resume


World Hot Topics Blog

Creative Ways to Improve Your Resume

Career experts are unanimous on the importance of customizing our resumes for each new job we apply for. But for many of us, when it comes to revising our resumes, the first question is "How?"
It's easy to get stuck in a rut when you're working with material you know so well. So here are some ways to take a fresh look at revising your resume.
Analyze the Job Post's Wording
 

An easy way to make sure your resume gets you in the door for an interview is to echo the language in the job post. Look for ways to use the words in the post; a resume reader -- human or software -- may be screening for them. (If there is no job post, check the company's Web site -- especially the About Us page and any corporate mission statements -- for language you might adopt.)
If your resume says "supervise," but the job post says "manage," change it. If your last job title was "Social Media Ninja," and you're applying for a "Social Media Marketing Specialist" position, include the term "Marketing Specialist" in parentheses after your Ninja title (as long as you feel that this term could describe your past role).
Of course, don't stretch the truth.
Weed Out Fibs World Hot Topics Blog
 
It's all too easy for little fibs to make their way into a resume. Several years ago, you added an unearned certification to your resume, just to get your foot in the door at a new company. Or you claimed competence in a software program you figured you could learn on-the-fly.
Then, as the years went on, those temporary resume fibs somehow became set in stone. Now's the time to chisel them out. Any resume lie -- even a seemingly inconsequential one -- can put your job search and future job security in jeopardy.
Replace lies with truths -- or set about making the lies true. It could be as simple as putting the word "pursuing" before that imaginary degree on your resume.
Get Rid of the Objective Statement
  

Beginning with a resume objective statement (a phrase that starts with something like "Seeking a challenging position...") is out. "Employers already know that your objective is to get a job, after all," says Lauren Milligan, resume expert at ResuMayDay. Milligan suggests creating a career summary statement that "illustrates how you are better than other candidates for the job." She adds, "Identify a few areas in your profession that you excel at...and that you really enjoy doing."
Tell the hiring manager who you are and how you can solve her company's problems, not what you want.
Get Rid of Redundancies

Don't waste time telling hiring managers what they already know. Many people do this in their descriptions of past jobs. For instance, if your last job was as a copywriter for an online rug retailer, saying something like "wrote marketing copy for a wide variety of rugs" is unnecessary. Instead of taking up space with definitions no one needs, describe specific achievements. Did your work improve sales, get praise from management or improve SEO rankings? Use job highlights, not job descriptions.
Cut Unnecessary Resume 'Stories'
 

Work Coach Cafe's Ronnie Ann advises removing items not directly related to the story you're telling about yourself and the job you're applying for. "I have an abundantly varied job history -- better than 'job hopper,' huh? -- and remember back to resumes where I just wanted to make each job so full-bodied and rich that I was sure the employer would want to meet me," she says. "But as interesting as we may be as human beings, employers just want to know if we're right for their company -- and specifically the job in question."
For instance, if you're both a professional accountant and a certified dog groomer, you might want to play down your dog-grooming experience when applying for accounting jobs.
Look for Ways to Use Exciting LanguageWorld Hot Topics Blog
    
Check your resume's verbs, and use strong verbs to make your resume more vibrant. For instance, "responsible for daily bank deposits" (no verb) could easily be "oversaw daily bank deposits" (strong verb). And as you find each verb, look at its subject -- is it you? If not, should it be? For instance, in "duties included writing press releases," the subject is "duties." It'd be much better to say something like "Wrote all company press releases."
Turn Your Resume Upside-Down
  

Seriously. Turn your resume upside-down and look at it from a distance. This will help you analyze your resume's appearance separately from its content. Does it look too dense? Is it heavier on the top or bottom? "Sometimes a resume will catch my eye simply because it's formatted beautifully," says Emily Bennington, co-author of Effective Immediately: How to Fit In, Stand Out, and Move Up at Your First Real Job. "I know the most important component is the content on the page, but you should also pay attention to the packaging. Trust me, hiring managers notice."
Write a Draft in a Different Format
  

In his book The Overnight Resume: The Fastest Way to Your Next Job, career expert Donald Asher suggests writing a letter to a family member about your job accomplishments as a way to rethink your resume. (Go ahead, brag a little.) Then he suggests turning this into a resume draft by removing most personal pronouns ("I" and "we"), taking out articles ("a," "an" and "the") and cutting transition words like "and" (unless doing so would distort meaning).


Thinking of your resume as a letter or a story (in which you're the hero), or some other medium, is a great way to start making it fresher, more personal and more effective.
Make your resume shine with help from Monster's resume writing experts!

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Creative Ways to Improve Your Resume
http:// career-services.monster.com/yahooarticle/creative-ways-to-improve-your-resume-hot-jobs#WT.mc_n=yta_fpt_article_creative_ways_to_improve_resume  

World of Warcraft - Mists of Pandaria launches


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World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria launches

World of Warcraft might be dealing with a subscriber downturn these days, but nothing draws the crowds back like a new expansion.

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, the fourth expansion for the hit MMO, releases today, bringing with it a higher level cap, a new character class and a new race — pretty much catnip to lapsed WoW players.
The biggest draw, of course, are the Pandarens themselves. The new race of giant Panda-like warriors live on a previously inaccessible island, and unlike other races in the game, they aren't aligned with the Alliance or the Horde right off the bat. Instead, Pandarens remain faction-neutral for their first 10 levels, letting players explore both sides.

While Mists of Pandaria has been in beta for a while, there aren't a lot of reviews out there yet. That's no surprise, as the only way to really test an MMO is when it's out in the wild.

Early impressions have been mixed, though. Tecca is extremely impressed with the game's changes and addition, calling it "a friendly, more open experience" and applauding the look of the new continent.
"Beautifully animated with entertaining, fun quests, Pandaria reimagines the usual online role-playing game fare," they write. "You quest, kill monsters, and collect baubles just like you do in most games, but you do it an incredibly lovely setting." World Hot Topics Blog

PC Gamer, on the other hand, isn't in love with the rotund new characters. "It's not ... particularly thrilling so far," they say, adding that the Pandarens may not be "a joke race, but they're definitely very kiddy."
Kotaku's Kate Cox is even less enthusiastic.

"The general feeling I have picked up from my first, brief, newbie foray into Mists of Pandaria this morning is that even in its newest content, World of Warcraft remains a product of its time -- a time that now feels archaic," she writes.

While the critics aren't finding themselves instantly charmed, World of Warcraft enthusiasts are still excited. Over 1,000 people lined up in Orange County Monday night for signed copies of the game.

Still, WarCraft is a notably smaller juggernaut than it was when the last expansion hit shelves, having lost 3 million subscribers since 2010's Cataclysm broke sales records. Part of that loss has come amidst criticisms that new content doesn't arrive quickly enough. Blizzard co-founder and president Mike Morhaime says that could be changing soon.

"One of the things we're doing in MoP … is we've introduced scenarios, which make it easier for us to add content to WoW more frequently," he said in a launch-day interview with the Orange County Register. "I think that's important because we'll be able to add these scenarios more and more frequently than we've added content to the game in the past."

 Booster World Of Warcraft Leveling Addon

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World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria launches
http:// games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/world-warcraft-mists-pandaria-launches-191614315.html

Obama leads in Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania: Poll


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Obama leads in Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania: Poll

President Barack Obama has stretched his lead over Republican nominee Mitt Romney in battleground states Ohio and Florida and retains a 12-point lead in Pennsylvania, according to a Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS poll released Wednesday.

The president is ahead 53 to 43 percent in Ohio and 53 to 44 percent in Florida, according to surveys of likely voters conducted Sept. 18-24. In Pennsylvania, Obama leads 54-42 percent.

Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, attributed the swing in Obama's favor to negative media coverage of Romney over the past few weeks but said the Republican nominee still has time to reverse the president's lead.

"Gov. Mitt Romney had a bad week in the media and it shows in these key swing states," Brown said. "The furor over his 47 percent remark almost certainly is a major factor in the roughly double-digit leads President Barack Obama has in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The debates may be Romney's best chance to reverse the trend in his favor."
World Hot Topics Blog
If national electorate models hold, Florida and Ohio will be crucial for Romney to reach the 270 Electoral College votes needed to best Obama on Election Day. According to the Quinnipiac University poll, Romney continues to struggle with female voters, who favor Obama by 19 percentage points in Florida, 25 percentage points in Ohio and 21 percentage points in Pennsylvania. The surveys in Ohio and Pennsylvania have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percent and plus or minus 2.8 percent in Florida.

Other recent polls, however, show closer races in these battleground states. A Mason-Dixon survey unveiled Sunday and conducted Sept. 17-19 showed a statistical tie between Obama and Romney in Florida. According a recent Washington Post poll, Obama leads by 8 percentage points in Ohio and 4 percentage points in Florida.

This World Hot Topics Blog is Originally from here :
Obama leads in Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania: Poll
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/poll-obama-leads-ohio-virginia-pennsylvania-121943706--election.html

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Harmful Side Effects of Antibiotics


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Harmful Side Effects of Antibiotics

Antibiotics can save lives by fighting bacterial infections, but that’s not to say that they’re without risk. These strong medicines can have some alarming side effects, resulting in thousands of lawsuits each year. 

What kinds of side effects do antibiotics cause?

It’s been estimated that over 140,000 emergency visits are made to the hospital each year due to antibiotic-associated side effects, with allergic reactions being the most common. “Minimizing unnecessary antibiotic use by even a small percentage could significantly reduce the immediate and direct risks of drug-related adverse events in individual patients,” a 2007 study showed.
Oral fluoroquinolones are the most popular antibiotics, and include Cipro (ciprofloxacin), Levaquin (levofloxafin) and Avelox (moxifloxacin). But taking these antibiotics increases your risk of developing a retinal detachment by five times compared with nonusers, a recent study shows.
In 2006, consumer group Public Citizen petitioned the FDA to place a notice on fluoroquinolones warning of the potential for tendon ruptures. “The tendon that most frequently ruptures is the Achilles tendon, which causes sudden and severe pain, swelling and bruising, and difficulty walking,” a press release states, adding that ruptures have also occurred in the rotator cuff, biceps, hand and thumb. “One theory is that fluoroquinolones are toxic to tendon fibers and may decrease blood supply in tendons that already have a limited blood supply,” the press release reads. It was not until 2008 that the FDA began to require a warning label 
In addition, a Swedish study found that these types of antibiotics can sometimes cause peripheral neuropathy, a condition that causes numbness and pain in the hands and feet, although the number of reported cases was small.
Another dangerous antibiotic, azithromycin, was recently shown to nearly triple cardiovascular mortality compared to the rate for a group of patients who didn’t take the antibiotic. Although deaths associated with the use of this antibiotic are rare, the highest rate was seen in people with cardiovascular disease.
Heart Attack Warning Signs You Should Watch Out For

Are antibiotics used too often?

Antibiotics are overused “by lazy doctors who are trying to kill a fly with an automatic weapon,” pharmacological epidemiologist Mahyar Etiman told the New York Times. 
For example, antibiotics don’t work against colds, flu, and viral infections such as bronchitis, but are sometimes prescribed anyway.
Sore throats are often prescribed antibiotics, but according to updated (voluntary) guidelines released by the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) this week, a sore throat is likely to be a virus, not strep throat. 
The Most Addictive Prescription Drugs on the Market

Antibiotic Resistance World Hot Topics Blog

Overusing antibiotics for viruses or conditions in which they’re not required can lead to antibiotic resistance, which means that these powerful drugs become less effective at fighting the bacteria they’re actually intended to treat. In fact, infectious organisms adapt to the antibiotics, developing new strains of bacteria that are immune to it.
In the example of strep throat, the revised IDSA guidelines recommend penicillin or amoxicillin for treatment, since strep is becoming resistant to broader-spectrum (and pricier) antibiotics which were commonly prescribed in the past, including azithromycin and other macrolides.
A scarier drug-resistant bacteria is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, also known as staph infection. There is a clear association between antibiotics and MRSA, a 2007 review of 76 studies with close to 25,000 patients showed. MRSA often causes mild skin infections, but it can also be more serious and even life threatening. The infection is hard to treat, and can even infect the lungs, bloodstream heart valve, bones, joints, or lungs.
The overuse of antibiotics can also make one susceptible to Clostridium dificile, which can cause diarrhea, abdominal cramping and pain, and other unpleasant symptoms. The infection can even cause colitis.

What You Can Do

Do not pressure your doctor to prescribe antibiotics for viruses, including colds, flus, most coughs, bronchitis, and sore throats not caused by strep.
If you are prescribed antibiotics, make sure to follow the instructions on the bottle carefully, and to complete the entire bottle as prescribed even if you feel better better earlier on.
Check with your doctor to see what the common side effects for the antibiotics he or she wants to prescribe, and if there are any alternatives. Contact your doctor immediately if you are suffering from any unusual symptoms.


PS : Watch Video presentation Be Healthy and Fit without any Antibiotics - CLICK HERE



This World Hot Topics Blog is Originally from here :
Harmful Side Effects of Antibiotics
http:// health.yahoo.net/experts/dayinhealth/harmful-side-effects-antibiotics

Monday, September 24, 2012

US Consulate attack an act of terrorism: Hillary Clinton


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US Consulate attack an act of terrorism: Hillary Clinton
Terming the assault on the US Consulate in Benghazi that killed four Americans including the country's ambassador to Libya as "terrorist attack", US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday vowed to bring to justice those who were responsible for it.

In joint press availability with the visiting Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Clinton said: "What happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack and we will not rest until we have tracked down and brought justice the terrorists who murdered the four Americans."

Before the start of her meeting with Khar, she said, "We are taking aggressive measures at all of our posts to protect staff, their families along the locally employed people who provide so many important contributions to the works of our missions."

Referring to the protests in several cities in Pakistan, some of which turned violent, resulting in loss of life, Clinton appreciate the effort of the Pakistan government to protect the diplomatic enclave in Islamabad and consulates in Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi.

However, she emphasized on the need of world leaders to speak out against such violence.

Reiterating that the US has nothing to do with the "disgusting" anti-Islam video that has resulted in an outrage in the Muslim world, she said there can be no justification to the violence that is seen in cities across the world.

"I want to be clear that the violence we have seen cannot be tolerated. There can be no justification. We have made clear that we do not in any way support provocation. We found the video that is at the core of this series of events offensive, disgusting, reprehensible," she said, adding "That does not provide justification for violence."

Clinton said it is important for responsible leaders and people everywhere to stand up and speak out against violence in particularly against those who would exploit this difficult moment to advance their extremist ideology.

The Secretary of State said the Obama Administration is determined to keep Americans safe anywhere in the world and this is their top priority.

In her remarks, Khar appreciated the "very strong condemnation" of the anti-Islam video by President Barack Obama and also by Clinton.

Meanwhile, an influential US politician has cast doubt over whether there was even an anti-American protest going on when the American ambassador to Libya was killed earlier this month.

Envoy Chris Stevens and three other Americans died at the consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on September 11, hours after demonstrations over an anti-Islamic movie trailer erupted at the US embassy in Cairo, Egypt.

President Barack Obama's administration initially said it believed extremists had not really planned the attack in Libya but simply taken advantage of a spontaneous protest over the anti-Islamic trailer.

Rogers said he believed it was a revenge attack timed to coincide with the 11th anniversary of 9/11 but that it wasn't clear if the militants had known Stevens was there or just got lucky.

The State Department is under rising scrutiny about what appears to be inadequate security for Stevens and the consulate in Benghazi before the attack.

With Agency inputs


This World Hot Topics Blog is Originally from here :
US Consulate attack an act of terrorism: Hillary Clinton
http: // indiatoday.intoday.in/story/us-consulate-attack-act-of-terrorism-hillary-clinton/1/221943.html

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Scientists Aim to Put a Pox On Dog Cancer



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Scientists Aim to Put a Pox On Dog Cancer

ScienceDaily Researchers report that myxoma -- a pox virus that afflicts rabbits but not humans, dogs or any other vertebrates so far studied -- infects several different types of canine cancer cells in cell culture while sparing healthy cells. The study adds to the evidence that viruses or modified viruses will emerge as relatively benign cancer treatments to complement or replace standard cancer therapies.

The new study, reported in the American Journal of Veterinary Research, is unique in that it focused on spontaneously occurring cancers in dogs. This allowed the researchers to avoid a common practice: testing viral therapies on mice or rats with induced human cancers. Such animals must be immunosuppressed to prevent their immune systems from rejecting the foreign tissue, complicating the results.

Treating cancers with viruses could offer several advantages over standard cancer therapies, said University of Illinois veterinarian and pathobiology professor Amy MacNeill, who led the new study. Many cancers have impaired anti-viral defenses, which allow viruses to target tumors while sparing healthy cells. And under the right conditions, infection with an oncolytic (cancer-killing) virus exterminates cancer cells and elicits an anti-cancer immune response without spurring a harmful inflammatory response, she said. Chemotherapy and radiation kill healthy cells along with cancer cells and radiation can cause abrupt cell death that spurs inflammation and pain, she said. World Hot Topics Blog.



"Ideally, what would happen is the virus would get into a few cancer cells, cause cell death and then spread to the other tumor cells nearby," she said.
Recent studies have shown that oncolytic viral therapies can be used successfully in conjunction with traditional approaches, MacNeill said.

"There was a study in cats where they removed the tumor surgically and then they put a viral therapy in the area where the tumor had been removed," she said. The animals that received the viral therapy had significantly less regrowth of the cancer than those that weren't exposed to the virus after surgery.

"Other studies (1, 2, 3, 4) have shown that once you've eliminated a cancer with an oncolytic virus, if you re-challenge that animal with the same cancer cells, they don't develop tumors," MacNeill said. Viral infection of the cancer cells appears to train the immune system to better recognize the cancer, she said.

In the new study, the researchers wanted to see if spontaneously occurring cancers in dogs were responsive to infection with a virus that is not a pathogen in humans or dogs. They found that cancerous and healthy canine cells respond as human cells do to myxoma infection: The virus invades cancer cells and leaves healthy cells alone. The team also showed that a version of the myxoma virus with a single gene deleted was four times better at killing cancer cells than the unmodified virus. The deleted gene codes for a protein that hinders cell death in infected cells.

More preliminary tests are needed and researchers have many more years of tests and trials ahead, but if all goes well they will eventually test the virus or a modified version of the virus in dogs with cancer, MacNeill said.

"We wanted to make sure that the dog cells were like the human cells because we want to use these viruses not only to cure dogs of cancer but also to use the dogs as better models for humans with cancer," she said. "People are beginning to see the logic of this approach. These dogs have spontaneous tumors just like humans, they're living in the same environment as humans, they're exposed to the same carcinogens in the water if there are any and they sometimes even share our food."

She calls this approach a "win-win" for dogs and humans.
"This way we can test the therapy in dogs while at the same time treating them," she said. "Other researchers can take our results and use them to develop therapies for human patients."
The study team also included researchers from the University of Florida.

Learn to keep your Dog Healthy Click Here

This World Hot Topics Blog is Originally from here : 
Scientists Aim to Put a Pox On Dog Cancer
http:// www .sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120910143410.htm

 World Hot Topics Blog

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Microsoft positioning new personnel and wearable controller for Xbox 720



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Microsoft positioning new personnel and wearable controller for Xbox 720

Microsoft's next-generation console, the Xbox 720, has been a topic of discussion the last couple of weeks and it continues to be one today with reports surfacing regarding a potential controller change and new personnel being hired by the technology giant.

First, another report has come up, stemming from the released public documents summarizing Microsoft's patent application from 2011, regarding potential innovations and changes that could be coming to the Xbox 720.

This time around, folks have been discussing the possibility of a wearable controller being developed by Microsoft.

The application filed summarizes a wearable electromyography-based controller that will supposedly measure muscle activity and will be able to control devices such as a gaming console, television, stereo, etc.
A wearable controller, much like a VR set, is something that has been talked about and even tried, but no one has been able to master the concept (the Oculus is pretty close with their VR headset).
This could be a valid and great way to change gaming, but it needs to be the right fit and also practical for gamers to fully embrace it.

In addition to the controller rumors, news broke on Tuesday regarding Microsoft signing a former CBS executive Nancy Tellem to help develop original content for Xbox.
"I am excited to be a part of the continued evolution of Xbox from a gaming console to the hub of every household’s entertainment experience.

"I look forward to building a studio team that embraces the challenges of creating true interactive content that the Xbox platform supports and to work with talent to create content that will change the way entertainment content is experienced and delivered," Tellem said.

In what seems to be a race among consoles to bring the most diverse content and unique features to their customers, this move by Microsoft only goes to show just how focused they are on not only bringing the best gaming to Xbox, but also the best entertainment.

We've already seen the impressive features and additions the Wii U will have, and it is going to be difficult for most people to resist not getting their hands on Nintendo's next console.

It's looking a lot like the next-generation of consoles will all not only be focused on bringing improved and superior gaming experiences, but they will also be looking to provide the most peripheral services and features possible.

What do you think the Xbox 720 will be featuring, aside from its gaming capabilities?



This World Hot Topics Blog is Originally from here : 
Microsoft positioning new personnel and wearable controller for Xbox 720
http:// www. examiner.com/article/microsoft-positioning-new-personnel-and-wearable-controller-for-xbox-720?CID=obinsite