FED:Smugglers won't find passengers: minister

AAP General News (Australia)
08-07-2011
FED:Smugglers won't find passengers: minister

Eds: Fixes spelling Bowen in lead par

CANBERRA, Aug 7 AAP - Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says he doesn't believe people
smugglers will find 800 asylum seekers willing to come to Australia by boat once Labor's
swap deal with Malaysia begins in earnest.

His comments came as another boat was intercepted in Australian waters on Sunday morning.

It's the second vessel to be picked up since the transfer deal was signed late last month.

"Nobody will be able to doubt this government's resolve ... after they have seen this
arrangement implemented," Chris Bowen told Network Ten.

"Let's not assume that people smugglers will successfully sell to 800 people the product
of being taken to Australia for $15,000 or $20,000 and then returned to Malaysia where
... the majority started their boat journey."

The first 54 asylum seekers taken to Christmas Island after the swap deal became effective
are due to be flown to Malaysia within days.

Mr Bowen says the deal has already reduced the number of asylum seekers arriving by boat.

There's been 1000 fewer arrivals since the Gillard government flagged the transfer
plan in early May than in the corresponding period last year, he said.

The minister also insisted the 4000 processed refugees from Malaysia who will be resettled
in Australia over the next four years were the forgotten side of the equation.

"I think the Australian people do say that we should accept refugees, and I say, and
I think many agree, that we can accept more refugees," Mr Bowen said.

"But we need an orderly process and this is what this arrangement delivers."

The first of those refugees, a Burmese family, will arrive from Malaysia this week.

AAP klc/jc/it

KEYWORD: BOAT BOWEN REISSUE

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Habib's lawyer sacks psychiatrist for speaking out

AAP General News (Australia)
02-17-2005
Fed: Habib's lawyer sacks psychiatrist for speaking out

CANBERRA, Feb 17 AAP - A senior psychiatrist who examined Mamdouh Habib has been sacked
by the lawyer representing the former Guantanamo Bay detainee.

The psychiatrist was dismissed after he made his professional assessment public, saying
Mr Habib showed signs he had been tortured.

Sydney University professor of psychiatry Christopher Tennant said he was asked by
Mr Habib's lawyer Stephen Hopper to examine him for signs the former detainee was tortured.

"He has evidence of having been exposed to very significant and unpleasant events,
probably torture, in that he was significantly depressed and had post-traumatic stress
disorder," Prof Tennant told ABC radio today.

He also asked a colleague, a physician, to examine Mr Habib for physical indications of torture.

Prof Tennant said the doctor found traces of cigarette burns and old bruising on one thigh.

He said the federal government's rejection of the claim that Mr Habib had been tortured
prompted him to speak out, despite the apparent breach of patient confidentiality.

"In technical terms, yes I did (breach the confidentiality), but I did try to contact
Mr Hopper, and through him Mr Habib, and was unable to do so," Prof Tennant said.

"After considerable deliberation, I thought at this point in time Mr Habib's version
warranted at least some substantiation."

But Mr Hopper is furious with the disclosure.

"It's simply not his decision to make that call," Mr Hopper told the ABC.

"There are strategies put in place and things are very sensitive."

AAP dep/br

KEYWORD: HABIB PSYCHIATRIST

2005 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW:Reforms won't help problem gamblers: clubs

AAP General News (Australia)
04-11-2011
NSW:Reforms won't help problem gamblers: clubs

SYDNEY, April 11 AAP - The federal government's proposed gambling reforms won't help
problem gamblers, Clubs Australia says.

"A licence to punt won't reduce problem gambling, how can it when you are providing
problem gamblers with a licence to continue gambling," president of Clubs Australia Peter
Newell said on Monday, at the launch of an advertising campaign against the reforms at
a bowling club in Sydney's inner west.

The cost of implementing the reforms, which would see see gamblers forced to carry
cards to set gambling limits, would be too much for many pubs and clubs, he said.

"The costs of this technology are prohibitively expensive - more than three billion
nationally," Mr Newell said.

Anti-pokies politician Andrew Wilkie says punters will still be able to have a casual
bet without registering, with "low intensity" machines limiting gambling losses to $50
an hour.

But Mr Newell said the reforms "treat everyday ordinary Australians like problem gamblers".

"It is quite simply un-Australian," he said.

He denied independent senator Nick Xenophon's claim that 40 per cent of gambling revenue
comes from problem gamblers, saying the figure was more like 16 per cent.

He refused to put a figure on the cost of the industry's upcoming advertising blitz
on the reforms, saying only that the industry will spend whatever it has to as it was
a matter of "life and death" for many pubs and clubs.

"This licence to punt is a multi-billion-dollar noose around the necks of clubs and
pubs," he said.

AAP ct/tr/sn

KEYWORD: POKIES CLUBS

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

QLD:New ride for adrenaline junkies.

AAP General News (Australia)
12-21-2010
QLD:New ride for adrenaline junkies.

The Gold Coast theme park Wet'n'Wild is doing what it can to keep its newest attraction
under wraps until it's launched next month.

But that's proving to be a problem .. as it's made up of a bright white A frame and
pole .. which soar 30 metres into the sky and can be seen several kilometres away.

Ride experts say it's likely to be a Skycoaster .. described as a cross between skydiving
and hang gliding.

Up to three riders are strapped face down into a harness .. winched to the top of a
launch tower then dropped to the ground to swinging on a cable.

AAP RTV bart/crh/tm

KEYWORD: SKYCOASTER (GOLD COAST)

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

VIC:Chaouk reportedly shot dead=2

AAP General News (Australia)
08-13-2010
VIC:Chaouk reportedly shot dead=2

Police have confirmed the man died from gun shot wounds.

MORE pmu/jlw

KEYWORD: CHAOUK 2 MELBOURNE

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Roads minister urges drivers to take care on way home

AAP General News (Australia)
04-05-2010
NSW: Roads minister urges drivers to take care on way home

SYDNEY, April 5 AAP - NSW Transport Minister David Campbell has urged motorists to
drive safely as they head home after the Easter long weekend, after a jump in the state's
road toll.

Three people have died on NSW roads over the long weekend so far, and while this is
down significantly on last year's toll of nine, it is still too many, Mr Campbell said.

"Sadly (police) have found again people drinking and driving and speeding," he told
AAP on Monday after visiting an RTA Slow Down campaign stand at the Sydney Royal Easter
Show.

The minister said drivers must take personal responsibility for their driving behaviour.

"No one has control of a vehicle's speed other than the driver," he said.

"People travelling home this afternoon ... drive to the speed limit, put your seatbelt
on ... and take rests."

Earlier on Monday, a young woman become the third person to die on NSW roads over the
weekend after a car crash in the state's southern highlands.

Police say the woman died after her car struck a tree on Berrima Road at Moss Vale
shortly after 7am (AEST).

At 11.30am AEST, the national road toll stood at 13, up from 10 late on Sunday, following
one death recorded in each of NSW, Victoria and South Australia on Monday morning.

Meanwhile, Mr Campbell also urged people to visit the state's MyZone website before
new bus, train and ferry ticketing systems begin on April 18.

"We know that about 94 per cent of passengers will be the same or better off in terms
of the cost of their fare," he said.

Asked whether some people would be paying more under the new system he said a "significant
change like this has to have some impacts".



(EDS: AAP's Easter road toll figures are for the period 0001 April 1 to 2359 April
5. Some states and territories may have different periods.)

AAP ct/klm/cjb

KEYWORD: TOLL NSW CAMPBELL

2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED: Optus launches latest Australian satellite

AAP General News (Australia)
08-22-2009
FED: Optus launches latest Australian satellite

SYDNEY, Aug 22 AAP - Australia's latest satellite has rocketed into space after the
Optus D3 successfully lifted off from French Guiana.

The Ariane 5 rocket, operated by Arianespace, lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana,
at 8.08am (AEST) on Saturday.

Optus D3 will expand the telecommunications company's satellite technology by providing
redundant capabilities and expanded capacity for subscription television, free-to-air
TV and voice, internet and radio services.

It is the fifth Optus satellite to be launched into space since 1994 and was on board
with a Japanese satellite on Saturday.

The Optus D3 and its two predecessors cost an estimated $600 million.

The satellite will take a few days to assume its orbit of 35,000km above Australia.

It will then undergo two months of tests before it commences commercial operations.

Optus wholesale and satellite managing director Vicki Brady said the launch marked
another advancement in Australia's space technology.

"Our successful launch this morning represents the next advance into space by Australians
as well as being an exciting milestone for Optus Satellite," Ms Brady said in a statement.

Arianespace is a joint commercial space agency between France and other European nations
and is responsible for more than half of the commercial satellites currently in operation.

AAP vpm/sn/de

KEYWORD: SATELLITE

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED: Easter road toll finishes at 14

AAP General News (Australia)
04-14-2009
FED: Easter road toll finishes at 14

A drowning death in New South Wales has left the Easter national holiday road toll at 15.

A woman's drowned after her car was washed off a road in flash flooding near Cootamundra
last night .. taking the NSW toll to six .. the highest in the country.

Also yesterday a Queensland woman was killed west of Brisbane .. bringing that state's
total to five.

Victoria .. Western Australia .. the ACT and Tasmania have all recorded one death each
.. while South Australia and the Northern Territory were fatality free.





(EDS: AAP's Easter road toll figures are for the period 0001 April 9 to 2359 April
13. Some states and territories may have different periods.)

AAP RTV jlw/wf/fdf/sw/wf/fdf/tm

KEYWORD: TOLL NATIONAL (SYDNEY)

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Qantas bogged down by more problems

AAP General News (Australia)
12-08-2008
Fed: Qantas bogged down by more problems

By Angela Harper

BRISBANE, Dec 8 AAP - A Qantas jet that got bogged at Sydney airport is the latest
in a series of mishaps to dog the Australian airline.

Maintenance workers took a shortcut while towing an aircraft along a taxiway on Friday,
which landed it in trouble, according to a number of witnesses' accounts on the professional
pilot rumour network website www.pprune.org

The Airbus A330, laden with fuel but not carrying passengers, was due to fly to Tokyo,
but because of the mishap the flight was cancelled.

Qantas confirmed the incident saying a towbar holding the aircraft to the truck had
failed and two of the jet's wheels went onto the grass beside the taxiway.

"Obviously it is a fairly unusual incident," a Qantas spokesman told AAP.

"It was all resolved relatively quickly - there were no passengers on it, there was
no inconvenience to any passengers."

After being pulled out the plane returned to operations within 12 hours, he said.

It is understood a safety advisory note, called a NOTAM (notice to airmen) - which
alerts pilots to changes at airports and in airspace - was issued about some changes to
the taxiway.

Emergency vehicles were seen surrounding the jet.

One observer told the pprune website: "(It) looked hilarious, all the orange safety
car lights going off around it."

It has been a tough few months for the flying kangaroo, including a mid-air incident
over Western Australia, an exploding oxygen tank blowing a hole in the fuselage on an
international flight, security screening breaches and a number of maintenance incidents.

AAP ahe/pjo/jfm/bwl

KEYWORD: QANTAS

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Qld: Eighth teenager charged over school attack

AAP General News (Australia)
08-05-2008
Qld: Eighth teenager charged over school attack

BRISBANE, Aug 5 AAP - A 15-year-old boy has become the eighth person to be charged
over a gang attack at a Brisbane private school.

Police allege a teenage gang, armed with a meat cleaver and other weapons, invaded
St Laurence's College in South Brisbane on July 28.

Two students at the school were injured in the attack.

Seven other teenagers had already been charged.

AAP stg/imc/nf

KEYWORD: ATTACK

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Inquest into death of Pvt Kovco will hear new evidence

AAP General News (Australia)
02-11-2008
NSW: Inquest into death of Pvt Kovco will hear new evidence

A jury's been told an inquest into the death of Private JAKE KOVCO will hear a large
amount of new evidence .. gathered since the military inquiry.

Coronial proceedings into the Baghdad shooting of Private KOVCO have begun in Sydney today.

The 25-year-old was shot in the head with his own service pistol at barracks outside
the Australian embassy in April 2006.

A six person jury was sworn in at Glebe Coroner's Court to hear five weeks of evidence.

In a break with tradition for NSW inquests .. they'll be asked to return a finding
on the manner and cause of death.

Counsel assisting the inquest JOHN AGIUS has urged the three men and three women ..

to put widespread publicity about Private KOVCO'S death and the subsequent military inquiry
out of their minds.

He says the inquest will in no way be a "re-hash" of the military proceedings.



EDS: on the advice of the coroner .. no further reference can be made to the military
board of inquiry findings at this stage

AAP RTV ajc/nap/was/af/bart

KEYWORD: KOVCO (SYDNEY)

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: City Homicide will lie and die by its audience, Garner

AAP General News (Australia)
08-24-2007
Fed: City Homicide will lie and die by its audience, Garner

City Homicide star NADINE GARNER is confident the Seven Network's new police drama can be a hit.

But she's also well aware it could be shot down in flames when it premieres with a
two-hour episode on Monday.

City Homicide has been given the full weight of Seven's promotional support .. has
a stellar cast .. and has already been given the thumbs up by critics.

But GARNER isn't getting ahead of herself .. saying viewers will decide its fate.

GARNER plays the character of JENNIFER MAPPLETHORPE .. the newest addition to a tight-knit
.. yet competitive .. unit of homicide detectives .. alongside DANIEL MACPHERSON .. AARON
PEDERSON and DAMIEN RICHARDSON.

They work cases in a metropolitan city .. which looks distinctly like Melbourne.

AAP RTV mdg/wz/tm/psm/

KEYWORD: GARNER (MELBOURNE)

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Showbag withdrawn amid paedophile fears

AAP General News (Australia)
04-09-2007
NSW: Showbag withdrawn amid paedophile fears

SYDNEY, April 10 AAP - A showbag containing a fluorescent police vest has been withdrawn
from sale at the Easter Show amid fears paedophiles might use it to lure children.

The top-selling Mega Cop bag contained the police vest, a baseball cap, sunglasses,
baton and a toy gun.

Showbag seller Joe Jonoski said he voluntarily removed it from sale following concerns
people wearing the vest could be mistaken for policemen, News Ltd reported.

He said the vest with "Police" printed across it was larger than in recent years and
could fit an adult.

"We were concerned that it could get into the wrong hands, like paedophiles," Mr Jonoski said.

"If little kids got lost they could have mistaken people wearing it for police officers."

He said the bag had been one of his biggest sellers.

AAP sk/goc/cdh

KEYWORD: SHOW BAG

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Qld: Spy probes to be tested in regional Qld

AAP General News (Australia)
12-07-2006
Qld: Spy probes to be tested in regional Qld

Unmanned spy planes .. capable of a range of tasks from crop-spraying to detecting
terrorists .. will be tested in regional Queensland.

A workshop at the Queensland University of Technology is focusing on remote-controlled
aircraft .. or unmanned aerial vehicles.

UAVs could be used in the early detection of bushfires .. traffic management .. power
line maintenance .. wildlife surveillance and crop spraying.

The federal government is also looking at the technology to protect remote facilities
like offshore oil rigs from terrorist attack .. and to detect illegal fishing.

Steps are being taken to establish a test area and facility at Kingaroy .. northwest of Brisbane.

AAP RTV pjo/sc/ibw/bart

KEYWORD: PROBE (BRISBANE)

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: NSW government in panic mode ahead of election - opposition

AAP General News (Australia)
08-01-2006
NSW: NSW government in panic mode ahead of election - opposition

The NSW Opposition .. claims reports the state government's recruiting high profile
candidates for next year's election .. shows it's in panic mode.

Former rugby league test player .. GREG ALEXANDER .. has confirmed the Labor party's
asked him to run as a western Sydney candidate.

Mr ALEXANDER .. who played for the Penrith Panthers for most of his NRL career .. has
been touted to replace the current member for Penrith .. KARYN PALUZZANO.

Opposition leader PETER DEBNAM says the government's approach reflects its panic ahead
of the election next March.

AAP RTV dmc/kaj/klw/srp/bart

KEYWORD: LABOR NSW (SYDNEY)

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Macklin slams new doctor training places

AAP General News (Australia)
02-10-2006
Fed: Macklin slams new doctor training places

CANBERRA, Feb 10 AAP - Prime Minister John Howard's decision to lift the cap on full-fee
paying medical places at universities will do nothing to fix the critical doctor shortage
facing Australia, Labor says.

Mr Howard said after today's Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in Canberra
that there would be an increase from 10 to 25 per cent in the cap on the number of full-fee
paying places in university medical schools.

He said this would not replace future increases in HECS-funded places or be at the
expense of existing HECS-funded places.

These medical students will also have their student loan cap raised from $50,000 to
$80,000 - a move not yet made available to students of other courses.

But opposition education spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said all full-fee medical degrees
available in Australia's public universities now cost more than $100,000.

Three of the courses - at the University of NSW, Bond University and University of
Melbourne - cost more than $200,000.

"It is ridiculous to expect that someone with a $200,000 debt is going to work on an
average GP's salary in the country," Ms Macklin said.

"Doctors with fee debts bigger than mortgages will prefer high-pay specialisations
like plastic surgery."

Ms Macklin said more HECS places in medicine were the only solution to the nation's
severe doctor shortage.

"The Howard government's plan will exacerbate the existing biased distribution of graduate
doctors staying in metropolitan areas because full-fee places in medicine are not rural-bonded,"

she said.

"Full-fee students can not be required to work in a rural or regional area."

Federal Labor would oppose any moves to lift the cap on full-fee paying medical students,
Ms Macklin said.

AAP db/sb/evt/de

KEYWORD: COAG DOCTORS LEAD

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

platinum

platinum Symbol Pt. A silvery white metallic transition element (see also platinum metals); a.n. 78; r.a.m. 195.09; r.d. 21.45; m.p. 1772°C; b.p. 3827±100°C. It occurs in some nickel and copper ores and is also found native in some deposits. The main source is the anode sludge obtained in copper–nickel refining. The element is used in jewellery, laboratory apparatus (e.g. thermocouples, electrodes, etc.), electrical contacts, and in certain alloys (e.g. with iridium or rhodium). It is also a hydrogenation catalyst. The element does not oxidize nor dissolve in hydrochloric acid. Most of its compounds are platinum(II) or platinum(IV) complexes.

Securant Technologies Secures e-Business From Web to Mainframe with Threat Detection.

Business/Technology Editors

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 17, 2000

ClearTrust SecureControl 4.0 Detects Suspicious Activity to Prevent

Fraud, Centralizes Access Management for All Platforms, and Eases

User Administration for Extranets, B2B Exchanges, ASPs, Portals

Securant Technologies - the access management company that secures e-business - today announced ClearTrust SecureControl version 4.0, the first access management solution that uses integrated application level threat detection to proactively secure e-business transactions and prevent fraud. ClearTrust SecureControl 4.0 also allows enterprises to centrally protect and control user access to any Web application regardless of operating platform including UNIX, Windows NT/2000, MVS, AS/400 and application servers, via the new Smart Proxy module. To ease the cost and resource burden of user account management, ClearTrust SecureControl 4.0 is the only access management solution that allows enterprises and service providers to securely delegate granular administration powers on three levels: within an enterprise, outside the enterprise, and to individual subscribers via a self-service function.

Threat Detection for Proactive Security

Breaking away from the limited capabilities of a static security model, ClearTrust SecureControl 4.0 now provides integrated application level threat detection to proactively secure high value and sensitive transactions. The Detector module complements network level intrusion tools and provides a new line of defense for protecting Web applications, content and transactions. Detector allows enterprises to establish policies for detecting application misuse, monitor Web resources for suspicious activity, and automatically take counter measures to deter attackers. Administrators can choose to be alerted via pager or e-mail, suspend or disable an account, or execute custom responses - whenever a user breaches a security policy.

ClearTrust SecureControl 4.0 monitors Web resources for pre-defined as well as custom defined patterns of suspicious activity including password guessing, unauthorized access attempts, unauthorized transaction attempts, and expired accounts. In a typical configuration, when ClearTrust SecureControl 4.0 detects a pattern of suspicious activity the user's activities are logged for analysis, notification is sent to the administrator, and the user is automatically restricted from further application access.

To help administrators track the origin and targets of attempted security violations, ClearTrust SecureControl 4.0 features reporting and analysis tools that list detected events ranked by time/severity, violating IP sources, most frequently attacked internal resources, and suspicious users. ClearTrust SecureControl 4.0 also allows administrators to develop custom reports using a simple query interface. All reports can be viewed via a standard Web browser, and exported to other applications for more powerful analysis or centralized data management.

Smart Proxy Unifies Web Access Management Across All Platforms

To allow enterprises with heterogeneous computing environments to deploy a single Internet security infrastructure and eliminate the need to port the security system to each operating environment, ClearTrust SecureControl 4.0 features the integrated Smart Proxy module that protects Web content hosted on any platform. The Smart Proxy module enables enterprises to implement a consistent security policy regardless of the operating system on which the application and content is hosted, while providing a single point of security configuration and management. ClearTrust SecureControl 4.0 protects Web content on UNIX, Windows NT/2000, MVS, AS/400 as well as other enterprise operating systems.

The ClearTrust SecureControl 4.0 Smart Proxy module can also be used to secure application servers that are hosted on Web servers, or that are implemented using a direct HTTP interface to the Internet. It supports all HTTP capable Web application servers including Cold Fusion, Forte, Lotus Domino, Net Dynamics, Netscape Application Server, Oracle, People Soft 7.5, SAP R/3, Web Logic/BEA Systems, and Web Sphere/IBM.

"As enterprises and service providers move more and more of their business operations to the Web, they require a centralized security infrastructure that can proactively protect all transactions, content, and applications," said Eric Olden, Chief Technology Officer, Securant Technologies. "ClearTrust SecureControl is the only security infrastructure that provides a single point of control and integrated threat detection to secure all e-business resources regardless of platform, while preventing user management bottlenecks by allowing routine administration to be delegated both inside and outside the enterprise."

Three Tiers of Distributed Administration

To reduce the cost and complexity of user management, ClearTrust SecureControl 4.0 is the only access management solution that provides three tiers for securely delegating user administration within an enterprise, outside the enterprise, and to individual users via a self-service function. This allows time consuming and escalating user administration workloads to be shared internally across individual departments, divisions, and operating companies; externally to Extranet partners and customers; and to individual users/subscribers. By creating and maintaining clearly defined administrative hierarchies, called Virtual Business Units (VBUs), enterprises and service providers can control on a very granular basis which resources and users an administrator can access and manage.

ClearTrust SecureControl 4.0 provides 23 different options of control for delegating administrative rights, which allows administrators to grant as much or as little control as needed. For example, help desk personnel may only be granted the ability to unlock accounts and reset passwords. To overcome the scalability challenges of managing large user populations, ClearTrust SecureControl 4.0 also supports self-service administration to empower users to perform common management tasks such as registration, profile editing, password resets and subscription management.

ClearTrust SecureControl VBUs also significantly reduce the administration burden for Extranets and Internet Portals, by allowing partners/vendors/customers to manage their own users. This capability is a critical requirement for new Internet based business models such as business-to-business electronic exchanges and ASPs, where user administration can rapidly scale beyond the resources of the largest MIS departments.

Pricing and Availability

ClearTrust SecureControl 4.0 is available immediately from Securant Technologies and its business partners. Pricing starts at $20 per user.

Company Background

Securant Technologies, the access management company that secures e-business, is a leading developer of Internet security software that provides a secure infrastructure for controlling user access to Web-based resources including applications, content and transactions. The company's flagship product, ClearTrust SecureControl, uses business rules to centralize, unify and automate every component of access management including access control, single-sign on, authentication, authorization, delegated administration and auditing. Securant customers include Chase Hambrecht & Quist, First Union/The Money Store, Lehman Brothers, Thomson Financial and Wells Fargo Bank. The company's partners include BEA / WebLogic (NASDAQ: BEAS), Check Point (NASDAQ: CHKP), Entrust Technologies (NASDAQ: ENTU), Fujitsu, Netscape Communications, Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL), Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ:SUNW), Sybase (NASDAQ: SYBS) and Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN). Securant is privately held and headquartered in San Francisco. To contact Securant call 415.315.1500, visit us on the Web at http://www.securant.com, or write to info@securant.com.

Unified Access Management, 24/7 Security, ClearTrust, ClearTrust SecureControl, ClearTrust Virtual Business Units and SpeedSecure are trademarks of Securant Technologies Inc. Product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

firstsource.com Selects MS&L Global Technology To Spearhead Public Relations Campaign.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., Sept. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- firstsource.com has named MS&L Global Technology to conduct a full-scale public relations and marketing program. MS&L will work to build market preference for firstsource.com as the leading business-to-business portal on the Web, through an aggressive communications campaign targeting computer-trade/general- business media and analysts, key industry influencers, partners, vendors, distribution channels and customers and prospects.

firstsource.com's Web site utilizes its proprietary, in-house virtual inventory software application to tap into a wide range of business product supplier inventories ranging from office supplies to computer products. This enables small- to medium-sized businesses to search, compare, price and purchase office products and services directly from multiple suppliers. The site will also offer real-time online assistance where users can communicate with live "Web coaches" customer service representatives via phone or text conferencing to assist with their online shopping.

MS&L Global Technology, part of Manning Selvage & Lee, is the leader in Creating Preference(TM) the art of influencing and changing behavior through strategic marketing initiatives based on analysis and insights. The company has demonstrated success with industry leaders and emerging companies alike, in virtually all technology markets. "Change is a constant force in the world of high technology and firstsource.com has recognized that their public relations firm must be able to analyze and predict trends, and develop insights that will put them ahead in both the Internet and E-commerce arenas," said Bonnie Quintanilla, senior vice president, MS&L Global Technology.

About firstsource.com

firstsource.com, a subsidiary of En Pointe Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: ENPT), is a leading online provider of one stop business solutions. firstsource.com provides small- and medium-sized businesses with the products, services and resources to empower them to grow into big businesses faster. firstsource.com has received numerous prestigious Internet awards for its customer service including being listed in Inc.'s 500 for two consecutive years and earning a four-star rating from PC/Computing. firstsource.com also bears the Better Business Bureau seal.

About MS&L Global Technology

MS&L Global Technology is part of the worldwide Manning Selvage & Lee network, which includes 63 offices spanning 47 countries. MS&L's customers include Earthlink, eBay, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Motorola, and NMB Technologies. Founded in 1938, MS&L is the eighth largest public relations firm in the world.

comScore Releases First Public Report on Web Usage in Peru, Expanding Coverage of Latin American Market.

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, released its first public study of Internet usage in Peru based on data from its online audience measurement and media planning service, comScore Media Metrix. The study found that Google Sites ranked as the most-visited destination in April 2011, reaching 97 percent of all home and work Internet users in Peru, followed by Microsoft Sites and Facebook.com. The study also analyzed how visitors spent their time online and found that the most engaging site categories, Portals, Social Networking and Instant Messengers, accounted for more than 70 percent of total time spent on the web.

"We are pleased to offer our suite of online measurement services to Peru's digital media community," said Alejandro Fosk, comScore senior vice president of Latin America. "As Peru's digital industry continues to grow and mature, the need for accurate and reliable digital measurement will become increasingly important for agencies, advertisers and publishers in their quest to move dollars online and create a healthy and vibrant digital economy."

Google Sites Sees Most Visitors, Microsoft Sites Accounts for Largest Share of Time

In April 2011, 4 million people age 15 and older accessed the Internet from a home or work location in Peru spending an average of 24.4 hours online during the month. Google Sites led as the most-visited online property with 3.9 million unique visitors, representing 97 percent of the entire online population. Microsoft Sites followed with nearly 3.6 million visitors (89.1 percent), followed by Facebook.com with 3.4 million visitors (85.8 percent). When looking at engagement at these top properties, Microsoft Sites led by a wide margin with visitors averaging 8.6 hours on the property during April. Facebook.com ranked second in terms of engagement, as the social networking giant saw visitors spend an average of more than 5 hours on the site during the month.

Top Internet Properties by Total Unique Visitors in Peru

Keywords: Advertise, Advertising, comScore, comScore Inc.

This article was prepared by Marketing Weekly News editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2011, Marketing Weekly News via VerticalNews.com.

Pediatric Nurse Bloggers at Children's Hospital Los Angeles Offer Helpful Tips to Parents through "RN Remedies".

LOS ANGELES -- Nurses are often asked by patient parents, family members, neighbors and friends to speak on diverse topics in pediatric health and safety. The Internet is filled with many opinions, personal comments, urban myths and general medical advice that are not authored by a licensed professional and may do more harm than good to a child.

(L-R) Jennifer Buchanan, RN, and Kelli Anderson, RN (Photo: Business Wire)

Experienced pediatric nurses at Children's Hospital Los Angeles have created a dynamic education forum for parents and the online community by developing an innovative blogging program called "RN Remedies." Answers to tough questions asked by parents on clinical floors of our hospital, desperate emails to clinicians and mommy blogs looking for experts can now all be found on the worldwide web through the expertise of trusted health professionals for children: the pediatric nurses at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

"Our nurses are a diverse and extraordinary group who are continuously teaching, exploring and growing," said Mary Dee Hacker, RN, MBA, vice president, Patient Care Services and chief nursing officer. "Our pediatric nurse bloggers are taking our profession's core commitment to education and combining it with the Internet's remarkable power to reach families everywhere."

Children's Hospital has leveraged social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook, directing fans to the "RN Remedies"blog featureeach Monday morning and has accumulated a steady core of followers, reaching over 4,000 hits each month. Readers are encouraged to email their questions and topic suggestions to our RN Remedies blog at wearechildrens.org/RN-REMEDIES, creating an intimate connection between the nurse bloggers and health information seekers.

"I was thrilled to learn about Children's Hospital's blogging nurses who share their expertise about children safety," says Erika Yontz, a nanny, teacher and expectant mother. "As a professional who works with children and a mother-to-be, I feel much more confident getting my resources from an experienced nurse for kids. While located in South Carolina, the value of this blog could be life-saving across the country."

Since its inception in November 2010, a core group of eight nurses have posted more than two dozen blog topics ranging from childhood obesity, flu symptoms, onset of puberty, teens and texting, car seat safety, doctor visit tips and symptoms to common childhood conditions. Through frequently asked questions and the help of a parent advisory board, the nurse bloggers base their posts on popular pediatric health content that is current, informative and emblematic of the care provided by experts at Children's Hospital.

"We are excited to share our experiences and expertise to parents on a global level. The blog allows us to get information out to parents regarding children of all ages," said Kelli Anderson, RN, one of the "RN Remedies" creators. "It's a whole new world and I'm thrilled to be a part of making a difference in the community, one post at a time."

About Children's Hospital Los Angeles

Founded in 1901, Children's Hospital Los Angeles is one of the nation's leading children's hospitals and is acknowledged worldwide for its leadership in pediatric and adolescent health. The Saban Research Institute at Children's Hospital Los Angeles is among the largest and most productive pediatric research facilities in the United States. In addition, Children's Hospital Los Angeles is a premier teaching hospital and has been affiliated with the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California since 1932.

For more information, visit www.CHLA.org. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn, or visit our blog: www.WeAreCHLA.org.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6758767&lang=en

Forestar Group to Present at JMP Securities Research Conference.(Conference news)

Forestar Group Inc. (NYSE: FOR) announced that Jim DeCosmo, president and chief executive officer, will be presenting at the JMP Securities Research Conference in San Francisco on Wednesday May 11, 2011 at 1:00 p.m. EDT.

The live presentation may be accessed through Forestar Group's Internet site, www.forestargroup.com, by clicking on "Investor Relations - Investor Events." Replays of the presentation will be available for two weeks following completion of the live presentation. About Forestar Group Forestar Group Inc. operates in three business segments: real estate, mineral resources and fiber resources. The real estate segment owns directly or through ventures approximately 219,000 acres of real estate located in nine states and twelve markets in the U.S. The real estate segment has 18 real estate projects representing over 29,600 acres currently in the entitlement process, and 73 entitled, developed and under development projects in seven states and eleven markets encompassing almost 15,800 acres, comprised of over 27,200 planned residential lots and over 2,300 commercial acres. The mineral resources segment manages about 604,000 net acres of oil and gas mineral interests. The fiber resources segment includes the sale of wood fiber and management of our recreational leases. The company also has a 45% nonparticipating royalty interest in groundwater produced or withdrawn for commercial purposes from approximately 1.4 million acres in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia and Alabama and about 17,800 acres of ground water leases in Central Texas. Forestar's address on the World Wide Web is www.forestargroup.com. Forward-looking Statements This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements reflect management's current views with respect to future events and are subject to risk and uncertainties. We note that a variety of factors and uncertainties could cause our actual results to differ significantly from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors and uncertainties that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to: general economic, market, or business conditions; the opportunities (or lack thereof) that may be presented to us and that we may pursue; fluctuations in costs and expenses including development costs; demand for new housing, including impacts from mortgage credit availability; lengthy and uncertain entitlement processes; cyclicality of our businesses; accuracy of accounting assumptions; competitive actions by other companies; changes in laws or regulations; and other factors, many of which are beyond our control. Except as required by law, we expressly disclaim any obligation to publicly revise any forward-looking statements contained in this news release to reflect the occurrence of events after the date of this news release.

Keywords: Energy, Forestar Group Inc., Mortgage, Oil & Gas, Oil And Gas, Real Estate.

This article was prepared by Energy Weekly News editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2011, Energy Weekly News via VerticalNews.com.

PIRATE POWER.(Sport; Opinion, Columns)

Byline: by CHRIS FOY Rugby Correspondent

HENDRE FOURIE expects to be back among friends and family in South Africa this week, taking a deserved break after toiling in vain to steer Leeds away from relegation.

But on Wednesday, in spirit, he will be in Penzance, urging on the Cornish Pirates.

England's Afrikaner flanker delivered a performance of heroic defiance at Franklin's Gardens on Saturday as his Yorkshire club went down fighting against Northampton.

Neil Back's side stormed into a 24-3 lead against the Heineken Cup finalists, before the Saints summoned the cavalry from the bench, dragging them to a 31-24 win which secured an Aviva Premiership play-off trip to face Leicester at Welford Road on Saturday.

Having mounted one last desperate onslaught, the stunned, distraught Leeds players were left to contemplate a return to the Championship after finishing bottom on points difference.

Yet, they will be handed a reprieve if the Pirates of Penzance -- who cannot be promoted because they do not fulfil Premiership entry criteria --beat Worcester.

The Cornish club's Mennaye Field ground is too small for the top flight and there are not enough facilities, including toilets. Worcester, however, do meet requirements and will go up if they win the homeand-away Championship playoff final.

Fourie and head coach Back are among those likely to leave Headingley if Leeds' relegation is confirmed after the second leg at Sixways Stadium on May 18.

But in the meantime, 30-year-old openside Fourie will pray for salvation via outside intervention. He said: 'Over the season we didn't take our opportunities.

'We finished with seven losing bonus points and if we had turned one of those into a win, we wouldn't be in this position.

'But that's just the way it went so, come on Pirates!

'I might be in South Africa by the time they play but I will keep an eye on the internet.

'They won at Worcester and lost by just three points at home, so there is a chance.' Leeds' hierarchy, however, is already planning for the worst-case scenario.

Chief executive Gary Hetherington, whose club are [pounds sterling]2million in debt, said yesterday: 'I will be meeting Neil Back on Wednesday to review the campaign. The board will then approve the budget for next season and we will be planning for life in the Championship, regardless of the play-off final result.

'Compared with our previous two relegations, we are in a much stronger position with over 20 players contracted for next season.' Tries by Fourie, Rhys Oakley and Lee Blackett shocked Northampton after their demolition of Perpignan six days earlier.

But their scrum power presented a means of wriggling off the hook. However, the full-strength Saints cannot be this bad at Leicester on Saturday, or there will be no Double this season.

c.foy@dailymail.co.uk

CAPTION(S):

ABPPts 403 12 78 318 4 76 452 9 67 430 9 65 Down and probably out: Leeds players face up to relegation

Guile 3D Studio Debuts Virtual Assistant.

Guile 3D Studio announced that this system developed by a Brazilian company combines computer graphics, artificial intelligence, voice recognition and other technologies to perform the role of virtual secretary, governess or almost human interface for a variety of applications.

The Company said the scene looks like something from a movie that takes place in the future, but it is a reality. "Denise" is a virtual assistant with the appearance of a human being, whom the user can talk to and ask to perform tasks using natural language. The system, now available for sale over the Internet, was developed by a Brazilian company, the Curitiba-based Guile 3D Studio, using computer graphics, integrated with artificial intelligence software, and voice recognition and synthesis in 46 languages as well as biometric systems. The dialogue above provides an example of Denise in action as a virtual secretary, but she can also be used in different roles.

"Denise is the first of a series of digital assistants. In addition to female characters, there will also be males and children, since the technology is intended for people of all ages. Other applications now being tested include a Virtual Nurse to keep children and elderly people company in hospitals, an assistant to interact with car computers, and for using at information kiosks at airports and shopping centers, self-service terminals and support systems, and automated call centers," says Guile Lindroth, director of Guile 3D Studio. He explains, moreover, that a special version is currently under development for handicapped individuals that will make it possible for them to control the computer using their voices and movements of the head and hands.

According to a release, one example of how Denise can help in interactions between people and technology is in the role of a virtual governess at a hi-tech condominium in Sao Paulo, called Pinheiros Connections. Here she will be in charge of the interface between residents and automated residence services. "The residents will interact with Denise, who will receive voice commands in Portuguese and interpret them to perform a variety of different actions in apartments, such as turning lights on and off, playing music, announcing e-mails, controlling the alarm and even authorizing entrance into apartments using facial and digital recognition," says Lindroth.

Guile 3D Studio developed the software for Denise, the virtual assistant, based on its own 3D real time computer graphics and an artificial intelligence system, to provide any computer user with a more human way to interact with the machine, using voice recognition and natural language to perform everyday actions, such as checking email, latest news, personal appointments, and doing internet searches, getting spoken answers through text synthesis in a voice that is almost human.

Denise understands voice commands such as, "check my e-mails," "my schedule," "new document," "look for videos on the Internet," "movie schedules " or "play my songs." Using only voice commands, it is possible to control the playing of music and videos (starting, stopping, turning up or lowering the volume), as well as surfing the Internet. It is also possible to add and personalize voice commands for specific tasks.

In addition, the Company noted that a series of modules can be added to expand Denise's abilities, such as facial recognition (available soon), digital recognition, electronic secretary, language interpreter, Skype and MSN connection, simultaneous search on several different Web search engines, connection to GPS systems, residential automation or onboard car computers (Car PCs), among other things.

New modules under development should soon make possible integration with social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, with the new Microsoft Kinects device (that will allow users to operate their computers solely by gestures), and working with cell phones, smart phones and mobile devices. Voice recognition for dictation mode is one of the features soon to be made available to enable Denise to "write" documents and e-mails dictated by users.

Denise can even operate in computers with slower processors, such as netbooks and tablets.

Founded by Guile Lindroth, systems analyst, specialist in Artificial Intelligence and 3D graphic arts, Guile 3D Studio has been receiving financial support from a group of investors for a number of years to pursue the development of its own technologies involving Artificial Intelligence and Real Time Graphics.

More information:

www.guile3d.com

((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))

Sigma Designs Announces New 3D Graphics-Enabled Media Processor and Celrun Set-Top Box Design Win.

SoC Enhances Adobe Flash, User Interface Capabilities and Over-the-Top Viewing Experience

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Sigma Designs (Nasdaq:SIGM), a leading provider of system-on-chip (SoC) solutions used to deliver entertainment and control throughout the home, today announced the availability of its new SMP8656 media processor SoC. Targeted at higher performance IPTV set-top boxes and Digital Media Players, the SMP8656 provides a range of new features including 3D graphics with OpenGL ES 2.0 and enhanced security. Sigma also announced that set top box manufacturer Celrun is launching a new line of advanced set top boxes based upon the SMP8656. Celrun is one of four design wins for this new SoC.

The SMP8656 will be showcased at this week's Computex 2010 Show, located in the Sigma suite at the Shangri-La Far Eastern Plaza Hotel, Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, June 1 to Friday, June 4, 2010.

Adding 3D Graphics To The Mix with Open GL ES 2.0

To meet OEM demand for sophisticated user interfaces, Android support and downloadable applications, Sigma's robust 3D graphics chip uses the OpenGL ES 2.0 APIs to render high performance 3D imaging. This 3D graphics platform, based on licensed technology from Imagination, features a tile-based architecture with a universal shader engine supporting multi-threaded operations with both pixel and vertex shading. It is capable of rendering 16 million polygons/second, pixel fill rates of 500 million pixels/second, and texture element fill rates of over 100M texels/second.

Expanding Security and Conditional Access

As integration continues to deliver more capabilities in one product, set-top boxes have become more sophisticated and often feature multiple forms of conditional access for various modes of reception. The SMP8656 now provides an enhanced security core that features on-chip OTP technology and the latest revisions of conditional access technologies offered by leading providers like Nagravision and NDS.

Early Adoption By Celrun Enables New IPTV Product Line

Working in early collaboration to take advantage of this new technology as quickly as possible, Celrun will use the SMP8656 in their new CR-2200. Using advanced, pin-compatible prototypes, Celrun enhanced their line of set-top boxes with the addition of 3D UI accelerated graphics capabilities supported with OpenGL ES 2.0, VoD services, gateway functionality including a wired Internet router, a built-in web browser, and Adobe Flash support. The solution handles multi-tasking performance by processing multiple streams of content in tandem at speeds up to 20 Mbps and advanced encryption technology for enhanced copyright protection.

"We have been successfully designing IPTV set-top boxes using Sigma media processor solutions for over 10 years," said Byung-Ju Lee, Executive Director at Celrun. "Sigma makes it easy to migrate from older chipsets to the next generation and they always provide us with high performance, affordably priced chips that offer innovative new features."

Fast time to market for upgraded Media Players

The Media Player market is primed to add new 3D UI, cover flow concepts and visual effects for enhanced user experience. More and more devices are relying on frameworks like Adobe Flash and Qt whose performance is significantly enhanced by the SMP8656 due to the presence of real hardware accelerated 3D graphics. Even Android platforms benefit from OpenGL ES2.0 capability. Being pin compatible with the SMP8654, gives current Media Player customers a fast time to market in order to add new features like 3D graphics, enhanced DRM capabilities and GbE. The SDK builds on prior architecture to allow for portability of prior development.

"With the increasing demand for IPTV services and media players around the world, set-top box and CE manufacturers continue to turn to Sigma's industry leading price and performance offerings," said Ken Lowe, vice president of strategic marketing. "We are also proud of our long history working with Celrun and are committed to helping them provide their customers with best-in-class set-top boxes for the Korean market."

Availability

Samples of the SMP8656 are available immediately and production volumes will be available within 60 days.

About Sigma Designs, Inc.

Sigma Designs is a leading fabless semiconductor provider of highly integrated system-on-chip (SoC) solutions that are used to deliver entertainment and control throughout the home. SoC solutions include media processing, wired and wireless networking, video image processing, and home control along with system software to form the critical components of consumer electronic products that include Internet protocol TV (IPTV) set-top boxes, gateways, Blu-ray players, and media communication devices. Headquartered in Milpitas, Calif., Sigma Designs has direct sales representatives in the United States, Brazil, China, Europe (Denmark), Israel, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and distributors in Korea, Russia and India. For more information, please visit Sigma Designs' web site at www.sigmadesigns.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including statements regarding the future potential of the SMP8656, sales of SMP8656 products by Celun or demand for 3D graphics-enabled SoCs. Actual results may vary materially due to a number of factors including, but not limited to, general economic conditions, including continuance of the current economic conditions specific to the semiconductor industry, the rate of growth of the home control market in general, the ability of the integrated home control solution to compete with other technologies or products in this emerging market as well as other risks that are detailed from time to time in Sigma's SEC reports, including its quarterly report on Form 10-K as filed April 1, 2010. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Sigma undertakes no obligation to publicly release or otherwise disclose the result of any revision to these forward-looking statements that may be made as a result of events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Bar's owner told to pay up over music copyright violation.(Front)

By Hattie Brown Garrow

The Virginian-Pilot

SUFFOLK

Would you pay almost $14,000 to hear a local band play a cover version of Tom Petty's hit, "I Won't Back Down" ?

Randy White might, and he's not happy about it.

White's problems began Aug. 10, 2007. It was a Friday night, and a crowd came to his club, called Randzz, to drink beer, play pool and maybe listen to the band.

At least one person listened - closely. The band's playlist, which included hits by Stone Temple Pilots and Bob Sege r, got that person's attention.

About 10 months later, several music publishers filed a lawsuit against White, accusing him of copyright infringement. They argued that he was allowing bands to play copyrighted songs without their permission or the proper license. In late May, a federal judge ruled in their favor.

White said he plans to appeal . "I just don't feel I'm responsible for it," he said. "They should be talking to the bands."

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers says otherwise. For an annual fee, ASCAP issues licenses that allow TV networks, radio, restaurants, nightclubs and a slew of other venues the right to play clients' music - an inventory of about 81/2 million songs.

ASCAP has gotten a lot of publicity for its lawsuits against people accused of illegally downloading music, but it also has been policing places such as Randzz Restaurant & Pub .

The 2009 licensing fee, based on seating capacity and other factors, would cost White $1,501.20 for his business .

"This is how songwriters make a living," said Vincent Candilora, ASCAP's senior vice president of licensing. "I think the problem with the public is they don't separate the songwriter from the recording artist. They think that everybody is Bruce Springsteen or Rob Thomas."

For a place that isn't easy to find, Randzz drew ASCAP's attention quickly after it opened in 2006.

Randzz sits on a 55 mile-per-hour stretch of Holland Road, surrounded by farm fields. Motorcycle parts, Harley-Davidson memorabilia, quirky signs and women's lingerie line the walls. Its slogan: "Conveniently located in the middle of nowhere, but worth the ride!" It bills itself as more than a biker bar, with live music most Friday and Saturday nights.

ASCAP has teams assigned to monitor whether businesses are following the public performance aspect of copyright law. About five employees cover Virginia and North Carolina, scouring the Internet for leads and making note of openings and closings, Candilora said.

They will call and send letters to remind business owners that they need a license to play songs in the ASCAP inventory - whether on compact disc or performed by a live band . Most comply , Candilora said.

White didn't .

Between September 2006 and August 2007, he received at least nine letters regarding the need for a license or artist permission, according to an opinion filed May 22 by U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis.

White said he ignored the letters and also some phone calls because he thought they were "bogus."

"How does this little place do irreparable damage to some Joe Blow who wrote a song 20 years ago?" he asked.

ASCAP sent an investigator to the bar on that August night in 2007 . The investigator cited three instances where ASCAP members' songs were performed live.

The publishers of those songs - "I Won't Back Down," "Interstate Love Song" and "The Fire Down Below" - filed the copyright infringement lawsuit almost a year later, after White still refused to buy a license from ASCAP.

"I guess he figured he was the small fish: 'I'm in Suffolk, Virginia. They must have bigger fish to fry,'\" Candilora said of White. "It isn't about the size. They gave us no choice."

White said t he performances are done by garage bands made up of people who play on weekends.

"I have nothing to do with the playlist for the bands," White said.

It d oesn't matter, Candilora said. People go out to eat or drink for the atmosphere, for which music is a critical component. White benefits from having a band play live, he said.

The judge agreed.

"Defendant asserted to ASCAP that the performer has the sole responsibility to obtain permission or a license to perform copyrighted material. This argument is without merit," Davis wrote . "As Defendant was operating an ostensibly profit-making establishment, he had a financial interest in the infringing activity."

Davis forbade White from allowing performances of any music in the ASCAP inventory without authorization and ordered him to pay $10,500 in statutory damages, plus about $3,300 for the music publishers' attorney fees and other costs.

White said he might close down if he loses the appeal.

Hattie Brown Garrow, (757) 222-5562,

hattie.brown@pilotonline.com

CAPTION(S):

genevieve ross | the virginian-pilot

Root 66 plays at Randzz Restaurant & Pub on Friday. The bar's owner, Randy White, has been accused of allowing bands to play copyrighted songs without a proper license. He was fined nearly $14,000. genevieve ross photos | the virginian-pilot

Randzz, which sits among farm fields off Holland Road in Suffolk, offers live music most Friday and Saturday nights. The bar's owner, Randy White, was sued for copyright infringement after he refused to buy a license for music played at his establishment.

Delete doesn't mean 'Disappear'.

By Rob Pegoraro This might not seem obvious when you're struggling to locate the e-mail somebody sent you last week, but it's not easy to make an e-mail message vanish for good. A lot of the time, it's outright impossible.Some executives at Enron found that out the hard way a few years ago. Some people in the White House -- who seem to have deleted important messages that they shouldn't have -- may be on their way to making the same discovery.The secret life of e-mail isn't obvious from looking at your mail program. It sensibly simplifies things, presenting a message as a single object you can open, read, and then delete. Once you empty your mail program's trash, no trace of the message remains.But under normal circumstances, nothing you delete on a computer vanishes immediately. The computer clears its own record of where it put the file, but the file itself won't disappear until enough other data gets written to that same spot. Given the vast size of most new computers' hard drives, that can take years.The same thing happens with theoretically erased e-mail. Most mail programs don't store each message as its own separate document; instead, they squirrel away all your messages in one database file. When you hit the delete key, your mail program can just update its internal records to mark that message's location as vacant. You could say it conveniently forgets about the e-mail.You can try specialized software that can overwrite a deleted file to prevent later retrieval, but those products may not work inside an e-mail program's database.E-mail also leaves a long trail as it hops from computer to computer across the Internet. Most of the copies aren't kept, but at the receiving end, at least two can stick around: one on the mail server that delivers new messages to each user's computer, the other on the user's own machine.So even if both the sender and recipient strive to make a message disappear, "data forensics" companies can dig it up. Brian Karney, the director of product management for one such firm, Guidance Software of Pasadena, Calif., bragged about how easy it is to unearth a long-buried message from the database file created by Microsoft Outlook -- the software used by many businesses and organizations, including the White House.Encrypting e-mail -- something most users never bother to do -- can keep the contents of your correspondence secret. But it can't hide other data about the e-mail, such as subject, addresses, dates and times, which can be incriminating on their own.Just because it's possible to find long-lost e-mails doesn't mean anyone is doing that with yours right now. Your Internet service provider or Web-mail service, if it wants to stay in business, is not likely to eavesdrop.And your office's IT department may be too busy to bother. So when you compose your e-mail, write carefully and write for posterity. You never know who might read it. n LATWP News ServiceDelete doesn't mean 'Disappear'

2003 Jordan Press & publishing Co. All rights reserved.

Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company

Nickelodeon to launch virtual world and social network in UK.(Nicktropolis)(Brief article)

Nickelodeon is readying itself for a major push into social networking for children in the UK.

The children's TV channel, owner of nick.co.uk, is preparing to roll out Nicktropolis, its version of virtual world Second Life, in Britain.

It's also preparing to launch a separate social network that will be tailored towards children's needs.

The strategy has emerged following the publication of a report commissioned by Nickelodeon and MTV into the internet habits of 18,000 8-14-year-olds around the world.

Among the headline findings were that UK children are more frequent users of social networks than those in other developed nations, such as Japan and Germany. Some 26% of UK kids use them over three times a week.

The research also found UK social networkers have larger friend networks than those in any other country - 117 on average.

Andy Goodhead, VP of planning and presentation at Nickelodeon, said it's with these findings in mind that it's launching the virtual world, which will compete with a CBBC version currently being planned.

"We'll be looking at launching Nicktropolis in this country," he said. "It's exciting because it has been so successful in the US.

"But there are perils. For children, social networking isn't about making new friends, it's about existing friends. It's the playground brought into the home, which is something we understand," Goodhead added.

"Also, next year we'll be launching a new show with user-generated content for kids. This will be interesting as they're not great at creating it but they love to watch it. For them to create it you need to give them the parameters, and this is what we'll be trying to do."

Goodhead said that the advancement of the internet would sound the death knell for red-button technology.

"We still use it at the moment but feel that it doesn't have a future," he said. "We'll be looking to online for the future."

Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

Child Exploitation And Online Protection Centre (CEOP) (National) joining forces to protect children online - the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre hosts partner workshops for safer internet day.

M2 PRESSWIRE-6 February 2007-UK Government: Child Exploitation And Online Protection Centre (CEOP) (National) joining forces to protect children online - the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre hosts partner workshops for safer internet day(C)1994-2007 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

RDATE:06022007

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre is joining forces with child protection and industry partners to help young people to stay safe online.

As part of a European campaign to promote Internet Safety, the Centre will host a series of workshops, designed to educate children about how to have fun online without exposing themselves to potential risks.

Their online habits will provide a focus for the specialist workshops which will be delivered at the CEOP Centre for European Safer Internet Day on Tuesday February 6, 2007.

More than 100 secondary school children will take part in activities to increase their awareness about Social Networking, Cyberbulling, Gaming and Online Auctions. The interactive sessions will be presented by the CEOP Centre's Education Team, Childnet, Microsoft UK and SwapitShop. They are supported by Communications Industry Regulator, Ofcom.

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre will also launch its latest education film at the event. The hard-hitting, four-minute film shows how a teenage boy falls victim to sexual abuse, after he is tricked into meeting a girl he believed he'd been talking to online.

The film will form part of a rolling education programme, currently being delivered in secondary schools throughout the UK.

Helen Penn is the Education Team Co-ordinator at the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre. She said: "As part of Safer Internet Day we're asking young people to stop and think about the risks they take online. By coming together with our partners in this way, we're able to focus on the areas of the Internet children enjoying using most and show them how they can better protect themselves in these environments."

Matthew Bishop, Microsoft's Business & Marketing Officer said; "No one can deny the positive impact the Internet has made to the lives of young people, who are more connected and have better access to information than ever before. But sadly with the opportunities come risks. It's vital that we help educate young people so they are in the know, in control and can make the Internet a safer place for themselves and their friends."

"As a youth focused business, child safety has to be at the centre of everything we do at SwapitShop," explains Jonathan Attwood, CEO at SwapitShop. "We find working on initiatives like Safer Internet Day invaluable as they provide a forum where we can let young people know what we are doing about online safety and the issues involved, whilst getting their feedback and ideas on how we can make SwapitShop even better."

"Childnet is delighted to have been invited to run a workshop on cyberbullying at the CEOP Centre," said Will Gardner from Childnet.

Cyberbullying is a really important issue affecting young people online and it's good that it's being addressed as part of Safer Internet Day. Childnet is currently undertaking a project for the Department for Education and Skills to research and provide guidance for schools on preventing and responding to cyberbullying".

Useful facts and figures:

* 75% of children and young people aged between 9-19 years have internet access at home

* According to the OfCom Communications Market Report 2006, 70% of young people aged between 16 and 24 are using new online social networking sites to make friends, share information and have fun

* 1 in 12 children have met someone offline who they initially engaged with online

* 31% of young people have received unwanted sexual comment online or by text message though only 7% of parents are aware that their child has received such material.

* More than 2000 reports have been received by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre since its launch in April 2006

* Approximately 50% of these reports relate to online grooming through social networking sites.

Note to Editors:

* Safer Internet Day projects are organised in association with UCLAN (The University of Central Lancashire) and with the support of the

EU funded ISCA Project.

* More than 30 countries across Europe will take part in events to support Safer Internet Day 2007.

* The CEOP Centre is affiliated to the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and powers are derived from the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. It is based in Pimlico, London with developing outreach channels to all areas of both domestic and international policing as well as industry and specialist support and educational faculties.

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Healthia Launches First Integrated Health Care Shopping Portal for Consumers and Small-to-Medium-Sized Businesses.

To Inaugurate Service, Healthia Offers HSAs from Any Bank in the Country Free of Set-up Fees

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Healthia, the nation's first integrated comparison-shopping portal for health care products and services, today launched a website ( http://www.healthia.com/ ) that allows businesses and consumers to research and select health insurance plans, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and doctors from across the country. Healthia is the first company to eliminate HSA set-up fees for customers who sign up for a health insurance plan on the Healthia web site. Founded by Internet industry veterans from WebMD and Valicert, the Healthia vision is to save consumers hundreds or thousands of dollars by providing information they need to shop around for health care as carefully as they do for other products.

"Healthia will help consumers and small business owners answer real-life questions they ask every day about health care, which is the most important purchase they will make," said Chini Krishnan, CEO and co-founder. "These questions include, 'How do I get my family on an HSA plan without paying excessive fees? Which is the right HSA plan? Will high-deductible plans really save me money? Which plan is right for me or my employees? Of the doctors covered by my health plan, which is the right specialist for the problem I have right now? How do I compare my local hospitals compare in price and ratings?'"

"Offering employee benefits is a key retention and recruiting tool for us, but the sky-rocketing prices and the expense of managing these plans is always threatening to make it cost-prohibitive to offer health benefits," said Girish Gaitonde, CEO at Xoriant, one of Healthia's clients. "Using Healthia's comprehensive site, we were able to choose the best plans for our employees, providing them better benefits and saving us thousands of dollars on plans and management fees."

Healthia's decision to reimburse start-up fees for HSAs, which can be as high as $40, is designed to spur the adoption of these tax-free private savings accounts. Like IRAs for health care, they allow money to accumulate for routine medical expenses and are used in conjunction with high-deductible health insurance policies. Industry-watchers have recognized the increasing popularity of HSAs as one of the cornerstones of the "Consumer-Driven Health Care" (CDH) movement. Healthia today offers its no-start-up-fee HSA program in most states, with full nationwide coverage expected soon. Consumers can find and compare dozens of no-setup-fee HSA right away at http://www.healthia.com/hsa_ds.php .

Ken Wood, former President and CEO of Blue Shield of California and now Principal at The Kohala Group, noted, "There is significant movement toward the consumer-driven health care concept because consumers are demanding the same depth of information and personal choice in selecting health insurance, doctors and hospitals as they do in making other major purchases -- especially when more of the cost is coming out of their own pockets." "But," added Wood, "there remain large gaps in the information resources consumers need to establish CDH as the norm in America's health care delivery system. That's why we see the Healthia site as so important, because it provides a user-friendly, research-driven comparison site for employers to compare insurance plans and consumers to choose packages that include doctors they trust at prices they can afford."

In another consumer health care innovation, Healthia has integrated its comparison-shopping tools into the nation's most-visited health care site, http://www.hsainsider.com/ , which previously served as an information portal for HSA shoppers.

"As successful as HSAInsider.com has been in providing information about the Health Savings Account concept, we realized its highest value would be in allowing consumers to compare and purchase actual HSA plans," said Dan Perrin, Managing Editor at HSA Insider. "That's why we're so excited about integrating Healthia's comparison-shopping capabilities into our site."

How Healthia Works

The Healthia site allows businesses and consumers to compare health plans by filling in a few fields such as company zip code, number of employees, average employee age and the desired amount of deductible. The same fields apply to individual plans, which are similarly displayed. The site also allows selection of doctors based on geography, specialty, average length of experience and whether they are board-certified or not. A "Reviews" tab allows shoppers to search for reviews of all selected doctors.

Healthia's innovation is its ability to allow shoppers to combine information about one subject -- favorite doctors, for instance -- with information about health plans covering those doctors. This integration of all critical health care buying information will ultimately be extended to cover the entire spectrum of health care decision-making: doctors, hospitals, prescriptions, health care plans, procedures and savings vehicles like HSAs.

As an example of cost savings through the Healthia site, by logging on to http://www.healthia.com/ihdhpselector.php , individuals can compare health plans with similar deductibles, request quotes, and choose the one with the lowest monthly premium. Consumers and businesses can realize even bigger savings via the Healthia site through lowered premiums achieved by combining an HSA with a high-deductible health plan, and in near future, by pricing out and comparison shopping for specific medical procedures.

"Unless we bring the same market forces to bear on health care costs that exist for other sectors of the US economy, our health care system will soon become unaffordable for all but the very rich," said David Cowan, general partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, the primary funding source of Healthia. "Bessemer supports Healthia because it is the most comprehensive solution to providing market information on health care products and services that we have seen."

About Healthia

Healthia was founded in 2005 to provide integrated comparison-shopping information on health care products and services, doctors and health plans to empower the drive for Consumer-Driven Health Care. Its co-founders are Chini Krishnan, founder of public-key infrastructure (PKI) validation company Valicert (which merged with Tumbleweed Communications), and Shankar Srinivasan, a member of the founding tem of Healtheon/WebMD. Healthia is a privately-held company headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, funded initially by Bessemer Venture Partners. Insurance brokers or banks that are interested in partnering with Healthia can visit http://www.healthia.com/brokercenter or http://www.healthia.com/bankcenter for more information. For further information, call Healthia toll-free at 877-296-3805 or visit the Healthia web site at http://www.healthia.com/ .

About Bessemer Venture Partners

Bessemer Venture Partners carries on the longest-standing venture capital operation in the country. With more than a billion dollars under management, BVP has nearly a century's experience financing and helping to build innovative, high-growth companies. Many leading innovators, including Parametric, Ciena, VeriSign, Staples, Gartner Group, Veritas and Skype selected BVP as their early-stage venture partner. BVP has offices in Silicon Valley, Massachusetts, New York, Shanghai, Bangalore and Mumbai.

CONTACT: Jackie Peterson of Trainer Communications, +1-415-831-5491, or mobile, +1-415-370-7059, or fax, +1-415-831-5492, or jackie@trainercomm.com, for Healthia

Web site: http://www.healthia.com/