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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
EU leaders seek growth as Greece crisis looms (AP)
BRUSSELS ? With another recession looming, European leaders on Monday met in Brussels to discuss ways to stimulate growth and create badly needed jobs, even as they drew up tighter spending limits to avoid a repeat of the crippling debt crisis.
Europe's debt crisis has put the continent and its leaders in an almost impossible situation. While they have to slash their deficits to reassure investors reluctant to lend to them, the debt crisis has also hammered the so-called "real economy," sending unemployment soaring. Many think that only government spending can restart growth.
While the 27 EU leaders meeting in Brussels will focus on walking the fine line between reining in spending and stimulating growth, the elephant in room is Greece.
Greece and its bondholders have come closer to a deal to significantly reduce the country's debt and pave the way for it to receive a much-needed euro130 billion ($170 billion) bailout.
Negotiators for Greece's private creditors said Saturday that a debt-reduction deal could become final within the next week. If the agreement works as planned, it could help Greece avoid a catastrophic default, which would be a blow to Europe's already weak financial system.
But European officials are afraid that even that deal may not be enough to fix Greece's finances, with some blaming Athens for dithering in its austerity promises.
German officials over the weekend proposed that Athens temporarily cede control over tax and spending decisions to a powerful eurozone budget commissioner before it can secure further bailouts.
The idea proved immediately controversial ? both the European Commission and the Greek government refuted it ? to the point that German Chancellor Angela Merkel pulled back on the idea when she arrived in Brussels.
She said Europe had to support Greece in implementing promised austerity and reform measures, "but all that will only work if Greece and all other states discuss this together."
Luxembourg Prime Minister, and head of the group of eurozone finance ministers, Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters as he entered the summit that Greece couldn't be singled out.
"I'm strongly against the idea of imposing the debt commissioner only to Greece, that's just not acceptable" neither for Greece nor the rest of Europe, Juncker said.
The negotiations in Greece are crucial because it is clear that Athens will never be able to pay off all of its debts, especially as austerity measures take their toll on its anemic economy. Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, cautioned against punishing Greece too severely.
"Greece needs an economic relaunch today and not in 2016," he told reporters on the sidelines of the summit. "So why not put together a stimulus package today instead of discussing another time a reduction in spending in a country that's in an economic depression?
He said that there are European funds for that kind of stimulus, but unlocking them has always posed a challenge.
The European Commission has proposed to summit leaders that euro82 billion in existing development funds be redirected toward countries in dire need of help to fix their labor markets.
Greece is not alone in facing slow growth and high unemployment. In Spain, for example, unemployment has soared to nearly 23 percent and closed in on 50 percent for those under age 25, leaving more than 5 million people ? or almost one out of every four ? out of work as the country slides toward recession.
Even countries in the so-called European "core" ? which are generally better off ? are suffering. The French government was forced Monday to revise down its growth forecast for the year from 1 percent to just 0.5 percent.
In fact, many now fear that Europe is on the verge of another recession, and leaders gathering Brussels said that spurring growth would be the focus of their talks Monday.
A draft of the summit conclusions, obtained by The Associated Press, proposes reducing barriers to do business across the EU's 27 states and giving better training to young people, who are particularly hard-hit by unemployment.
But it does not contain any new financial stimulus to boost growth, even though turning around Europe's economy would likely require more stimulus from governments, which are currently under pressure to cut ? rather than increase ? spending.
"We have to have balanced budgets and at the same time focus on growth and jobs," said Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt of Denmark, which holds the rotating presidency of European Council. "It is possible to both at the same time and it is important to understand that these are two sides of the same coin."
The 27 heads of state and government got a taste of the popular frustration with austerity and high unemployment on their way to Monday's summit in a city paralyzed by strikes. Leaders had to fly into the military airport of Beauvechain 20 miles (30 kilometers) outside of Brussels after the city's main airport was shutdown by a 24-hour strike.
Belgium's three main unions joined forces in the walkout to protest national budgetary measures that have in part been imposed on the country by the EU. If the country hadn't met cost-cutting targets, financial sanctions would have been imposed.
Monday's strike has been mirrored in many other member states. Overall, 23 million people are jobless across the EU, 10 percent of the active population.
"Europe has to offer jobs, social protection and perspective for the future. Otherwise it risks losing the support of its citizens," said the strike manifesto of the ACV union.
___
Associated Press writers Don Melvin, Robert Wielaard and Raf Casert contributed to this story.
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Oscar-nominated Glenn Close film opens strong (Reuters)
LOS ANGELES, Jan 29 (TheWrap.com) ? Buoyed by three Oscar nominations, "Albert Nobbs" took a solid $772,730 in its first weekend of wide release.
The Roadside Attractions movie, which earned Glenn Close a best actress nomination, Janet McTeer a best supporting actress nomination and the makeup team a best makeup nomination, opened at 245 locations. Including its Oscar-qualifying numbers in December, the R-rated movie has taken in $822,981.
That's a per-location average of $3,154.
Academy Award nominations were good for a raft of indie films this weekend: The Weinstein Company's "The Artist," nominated for 10 Oscars, including best picture, and "The Iron Lady," nominated for two, each passed $15 million at the box office.
"The Artist," now in its 10th weekend in release, took in $3.3 million at 897 locations. It has grossed $16.7 million. "The Iron Lady" took $3.2 million at 1,244 locations, for a total of $17.5 million. That movie is in its fifth weekend.
And "The Descendants," nominated for five Oscars, including best picture, best director and, for George Clooney, best actor, had its best weekend since its debut 11 weeks ago.
Fox Searchlight expanded the film by 1,441 locations, to 2,001, and saw its numbers increase by 176 percent over last weekend -- to $6.55 million. That's good enough to put it at No. 7 at the overall box office.
"This is a great result for the Academy-nominated movie that has benefited big time from the award season and has become the darling of the general moviegoing audience," Sheila DeLoach, Fox Searchlight's executive VP distribution, told TheWrap. "When you nurture these pictures on this journey and then they break through like this to the general audience, it becomes such a special movie."
It also broke -- or is about to break -- a few records.
With its new total of $58.8 million, "The Descendants" is now the top-grossing independent film released in 2011. Sony Pictures Classics' "Midnight in Paris" -- also a best picture nominee -- had been No. 1 with $56.43 million.
"Descendants" is on the way to becoming director Alexander Payne's top-grossing film. His 2002 "About Schmidt" grossed $65 million, and his 2004 "Sideways" took $71.5 million.
Finally, "The Descendants" is about to surpass "Little Miss Sunshine" as Fox Searchlight's fifth-highest-grossing film ever. The 2006 "Little Miss Sunshine" took $59.9 million.
Another Oscar nominee, Wim Wenders' "Pina," broke the million-dollar mark this week, according to Rentrak.
The 3D film, nominated for best documentary, is about dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch. It expanded from 10 locations to 35, and now has grossed just short of $1.05 million.
Other new indie films opening this weekend include IFC's "Declaration of War," which, according to Rentrak, took $14,400 at six locations, and "An Inconsistent Truth," which grossed $20,282 at one location.
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Forrester: Apple makes strides into enterprises, users iWork hard for the money
Forrester has announced the results of its latest survey, which encompassed 10,000 enterprise computer users, across 17 countries. It looked at the degree of Apple product adoption in businesses and support for them within IT services. There's plenty to chew on, but here's the big one; over a fifth of those surveyed uses an Apple product for work. This, however, includes workers using their personal devices for work tasks, with 11 percent using their iPhone, 9 percent their iPad and 8 percent working on their Macs. Half of the enterprises included in Forrester's survey plan to increase the number of Macs used by 52 percent, while nearly half of the firms are already issuing Apple PCs to employees, gaining even more traction within IT departments in the US and Western Europe. Unsurprisingly, given its premium pricing, those using Apple gear are more likely to be higher paid, while also (paradoxically) younger and in a senior rank. More specifically, 43 percent of those making over $150,000 a year use an iPhone, iPad or Mac. No cause or effect here, ladies and gents, but we'll be putting in our expense claim for a new set of business iPads very soon.
Forrester: Apple makes strides into enterprises, users iWork hard for the money originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 09:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Collaborative research sheds light on new cancer stem cell therapies
ScienceDaily (Jan. 27, 2012) ? A collaborative anti-cancer research jointly conducted by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School and Nevada Cancer Institute has led to the development of a novel class of chemical inhibitors that specifically target cancer cells with pluripotency.
This cutting-edge research has combined the effort of three research teams including one led by Dr Tao Ye (??), Associate Professor of PolyU's Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology. This breakthrough may help the selective removal of cancer stem cells and potentially provide a novel strategy to eradicate cancers.
Cancer is a major cause of human death in China and all around the world. It is difficult to treat cause of the existence of cancer initiating cells/cancer stem cells. Although they exist in very few in numbers, cancer stem cells (CSCs) can proliferate and self-renew, and are pluripotent and multipotent, which have the capability to differentiate into various more heterogeneous cancer cells that constitute the entire tumor mass. As stem cells, they are more resistant to most conventional cancer therapies such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy due to their differences in the cell cycle regulation and DNA repair processes. They also act as the source for metastasis and recurring drug resistant cancers after conventional cancer therapy. Currently, there are no chemical inhibitors or other agents that can specifically and selectively target cancer stem cells. The development of compounds that target cancer stem cells is an unmet medical demand for the eradication of malignant cancers.
According to Dr Ye, the potential clinical applications of new LSD1 inhibitors include the following:
(1) They can be used to treat malignant germ cell tumors such as teratoma/teratocarcinomas, embryonic carcinomas, seminomas, choriocarcinomas, and tumors of yolk sac. These tumors are usually treated by surgery or cis-platinum, but after initial treatment, these tumors always become resistant to platinum drugs. So far, the LSD1 inhibitors are highly effective towards these pluriptont cancers with stem cell properties.
(2) The LSD1 inhibitors may also be used to remove teratomas/embryonic carcinomas during stem cell-based therapy. One major problem in stem/iPS cell-based therapy is the formation of embryonic carcinomas, teratomas, or teratocarcinomas by incomplete differentiation of ES/iPS cells in the organs of recipients.? Because LSD1 selectively inhibit these pluripotent embryonic carcinomas, teratomas, or teratocarcinomas, LSD1 inhibitors may help ensure the successful application of stem cell-based therapy.
(3) More importantly, since teratomas/embryonic carcinomas are pluripotent cancer stem cells, researchers will probe whether cancer stem cells of other types of major organ-specific cancers such as breast, ovarian, lung, and brain cancers are sensitive to these LSD1 inhibitors. Further studies indicated that LSD1 inhibitors can also be used to inhibit many cancer stem cell-like cells such as breast and ovarian cancers.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, via ResearchSEA.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal References:
- Felix Cheung. Cancer biology: Ridding the seeds of evil. Nature China, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nchina.2012.1
- J. Wang, F. Lu, Q. Ren, H. Sun, Z. Xu, R. Lan, Y. Liu, D. Ward, J. Quan, T. Ye, H. Zhang. Novel Histone Demethylase LSD1 Inhibitors Selectively Target Cancer Cells with Pluripotent Stem Cell Properties. Cancer Research, 2011; 71 (23): 7238 DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-11-0896
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120127135444.htm
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
Twitter to begin 'reactively' censoring tweets in specific countries, still no love for China
This may seem like some form of censorship taking over Twitter, but the company only mentioned those of "historical or cultural reasons" like the ban of pro-Nazi content in France and Germany; so it's not clear whether Twitter will also handle similarly with tweets that potentially lead to events such as the UK riots last year. Even though Twitter didn't elaborate further for Reuters, there is one reassuring line in the post:
One such country is most likely China, and back at AsiaD in October, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey told us that there's simply no way for his company to work with the Chinese government (you can watch him answering us at 38:17 in the video -- courtesy of All Things D -- after the break):"Some [countries] differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there."
There are obviously many factors that add up to this sour relationship, but the contradiction between China's strict internet monitoring policy and Twitter's core values is most likely the biggest obstacle. And of course, the Chinese government would favor its home-grown tech properties, anyway. That said, several months ago, one of the country's largest microblogging services Sina Weibo was criticized by the authorities for not censoring fast enough, so it's obvious that it'd be even trickier to work with a foreign company that sees things differently. Things are unlikely to change any time soon, or ever, unless China relaxes its policy."The unfortunate fact is we're just not allowed to compete in this market, and that's not up to us to change. The person to ask is trade experts between both governments, but at the end of the day we can't compete. They (Chinese microblogging platforms) can compete in our markets, and we're certainly interested in what that means for us... We would love to have a strong Twitter in China, but we'd need to be allowed to do that."
Twitter to begin 'reactively' censoring tweets in specific countries, still no love for China originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Demi Moore 911 Call: 'She's Been Having Some Issues'
'She's shaking, convulsing, burning up,' one caller says the night of Moore's hospitalization.
By Jocelyn Vena
Demi Moore
Photo: Jason Kempin/ Getty Images
In the 911 call made the night of Demi Moore's hospitalization, a female caller is heard describing the events that led to the actress' Monday health scare.
Describing Moore's condition as "semiconscious, barely," the caller told the 911 operator, "She smoked something. It's not marijuana, but it's similar to it. It's similar to incense. She seems to be having convulsions of some sort."
The first caller then passed the phone to another woman, who added, "She's shaking, convulsing, burning up. I'm taking cold water and putting it on her back because she's burning up. I don't know what would have made her do it."
Demi's hospitalization has soon-to-be ex-husband Ashton Kutcher "deeply concerned."
There appeared to be several other people present at the time of the call, as they all frantically tried to keep the actress afloat. When asked if it was common for Moore to react in this way, one caller said, "There has been some stuff recently that we're just finding out." Another caller added: "She's been having some issues lately with some other stuff, so I don't know what she's been taking or not."
As the seven-minute phone call wrapped up, the paramedics arrived to the residence. On Tuesday, Moore's rep said she had been hospitalized due to "exhaustion"; however, there has been speculation that she had been inhaling nitrous oxide at the time of the incident.
Moore's health scare caps a rough patch for the actress.
Sources told E! News that her three daughters are doing fine. Rumer, 23, visited her mother several times at the hospital before she was discharged earlier this week. Tallulah, 17, is with her dad, Bruce Willis. "She's doing great," the source told E! "Her grandmother [Bruce's mom] is also there with her." Moore's other daughter, 20-year-old Scout, goes to Brown University in Rhode Island and reportedly hasn't been home since the incident.
On Friday (January 27), news broke that Mary Louise-Parker has replaced Moore in the "Lovelace" film, currently filming in Los Angeles.
Related PhotosSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1678052/demi-moore-911-call.jhtml
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Friday, January 27, 2012
Stocks bounce on low interest rate promises
The Dow rose 83 points to close at 12758, its highest close since May 2011, after the Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates near zero for almost three more years.
The stock market bounced to its highest close since last spring Wednesday after the Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates near zero for almost three more years.
Skip to next paragraphBond yields dropped sharply, then climbed back later in the day when investors began looking more closely into the Fed's deliberations. The yield on the five-year Treasury note touched an all-time low.
The big moves in both markets came at 12:30 p.m. (1730 GMT), when the Fed's monetary policy committee said it was unlikely to raise interest rates before late 2014. It had previously promised to keep rates low into the middle of 2013.
The Fed cut rates to near zero in December 2008, during the financial crisis, and has held them there ever since. The announcement was a sign that the Fed expects the economy, which is improving, to need significant help for three more years.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down as much as 95 points in the morning and about 60 points before the Fed announcement. It shot to a gain of 103 points during the afternoon.
The Dow closed up 83.10 points, or 0.7 percent, at 12,758.85. That's the highest close since May. The Dow peaked for last year in April at 12,810. Before that, it had not been so high since May 2008.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note was at 2.05 percent an hour before the announcement and quickly fell to 1.92, a significant move. It rose to 1.99 percent two hours later.
The bounce-back happened at about 2 p.m. (1900 GMT), when the Fed released details of how the committee voted. Six of its 17 members had favored an interest rate increase this year or next ? well before late 2014 in either case.
The yield on the five-year Treasury note hit 0.76 percent, an all-time low. Bond yields fall when their prices rise.
The Fed's extension of low rates signaled that it expects inflation to stay low. Low inflation makes Treasurys more attractive by helping to maintain the value of bond owners' fixed returns. Rising prices would eat into those returns.
The announcement guaranteed that short-term loans will remain cheap, making it easier for investors to finance longer-term purchases, such as 10- and 30-year Treasurys, said John Canally, investment strategist and economist for LPL Financial.
Monetary decisions by the Fed can change the market's momentum in the short term but rarely have a longer-term impact, Canally warned.
The market changed directions after 22 of the past 24 Fed policy announcements, he said, yet the change evaporates quickly. The market essentially has an equal chance of rising or falling in the five days after Fed meetings, he said.
"It's a coin flip, really," Canally said.
Keeping rates ultra-low for a longer period increases the likelihood that the Fed will engage in more bond-buying programs to help the economy, a policy known as quantitative easing, said Anthony Chan, chief economist with JPMorgan Private Wealth Management. Those tend to boost bond prices by increasing the overall demand in the market.
Chan called the Fed's move insurance against the European debt crisis and a recession across the Atlantic Ocean. Stock buyers, he said, were happy about the prospect of low inflation and a Fed leaning toward promoting economic growth.
The promise of lower rates pushed the dollar lower against other major currencies. Low interest rates make the dollar less attractive because they reduce the returns traders get on U.S. debt and other bonds priced in dollars.
Markets had opened mostly lower on fears about Greece's slow progress in talks with bondholders aimed at reducing that nation's crushing debt load.
Technology stocks rose all morning, bucking the wider market, after Apple reported its best quarter and blew away analyst estimates because of strong holiday sales of the iPhone and iPad.
Apple once again passed Exxon Mobil as the company with the biggest market value. Wall Street was watching the results closely because they were for the company's first quarter since the death of founder Steve Jobs.
Apple stock jumped 6.3 percent, helping lift the Nasdaq composite index by 31.67 points, or 1.1 percent, to close at 2,818.31. The Nasdaq is up 8.2 percent this year, nearly twice the gain for the Dow Jones industrial average.
Netflix Inc., the DVD-by-mail and video streaming provider, jumped 13 percent in after-hours trading after reporting earnings that far exceeded Wall Street's expectations.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 11.41 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,326.06. The S&P is up 5.4 percent for the year and more than 14 percent from its Nov. 25 low.
As fears recede about Europe, big-time investors such as hedge funds will be drawn back into the market, fueling more gains, said Joe Bell, senior Equity Strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research.
After such a strong rally, there might be a slight decline, but "overall we're bullish," Bell said.
Among the other companies making big moves after announcing earnings:
? US Airways Group Inc. jumped 17.3 percent and Delta Air Lines Inc. rose 6.2 percent. Both airlines reported profits far better than Wall Street analysts expected. The airlines raised fares during the fourth quarter while keeping costs under control. Delta also cut the number of flights it makes to keep pace with demand.
? WellPoint Inc., the largest U.S. health insurance company based on enrollment, fell 4.8 percent. Its quarterly profit dropped 39 percent, far more than analysts had expected. Its full-year forecast also fell short of forecasts. Medical claims, its largest expense, rose nearly 10 percent in the quarter.
? Guidewire Software Inc. soared 37 percent on its first day of trading. The company, which makes software for the insurance industry, rose to $17.80 after selling initially at $13. The 11-year-old company raised $115 million in its debut ? or about $27 million less than the profit Apple turned in an average day last quarter.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/j3ipt6LDQAQ/Stocks-bounce-on-low-interest-rate-promises
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
U.S. to Iraq: don't "blow this opportunity" (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The United States has warned Iraq not to "blow this opportunity" to become a prosperous, unified nation, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday, saying it must start to act like a democracy and embrace compromise.
Iraq has suffered its worst political crisis in a year with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's move to arrest Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi last month, which has raised fears of renewed sectarian violence following the U.S. troop withdrawal.
Speaking in a question-and-answer session with State Department employees, Clinton said U.S. ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey has taken the lead in urging Iraqi politicians including Maliki, a Shi'ite, to settle their differences peacefully.
"He is constantly ... reaching out, meeting with, cajoling, pushing the players, starting with Prime Minister Maliki, not to blow this opportunity," she said. "This is an opportunity to have a unified Iraq and the only way to do that is by compromising."
Hashemi, a Sunni, was accused of running death squads. He has denied the charges and sought refuge in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, where he is unlikely to be arrested.
The current political crisis threatens to break up the country's fragile coalition government, raising fears it could slip back into the sectarian carnage that broke out following the 2003 U.S. invasion.
Clinton said despite the downfall of Saddam Hussein, whose Sunni-dominated regime oppressed Iraq's Shi'ite majority, Iraqis' "minds are not yet fully open to the potential for what this new opportunity can mean to them."
She said the United States would do whatever it could to help "but at the end of the day, Iraq is now a democracy but they need to act like one and that requires compromise."
(Reporting By Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Vicki Allen)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/wl_nm/us_iraq_usa
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Obama?s tax deform agenda
In his State of the Union address, President Obama offered?a?laundry list?of new tax subsidies but said almost nothing about a top-to-bottom rewrite of the Tax Code.?
For a while there, I thought President Obama was going to embrace tax reform in his?State of the Union?address.? Instead, following the lead of his predecessors, he offered?a?laundry list?of new tax subsidies, bragged about some old ones, and said almost nothing about a top-to-bottom rewrite of the Tax Code.
Skip to next paragraphHere?s just a partial list of the targeted tax breaks Obama promoted: Tax credits for clean energy and college tuition, as well as?tax?cuts for small business that create jobs,?domestic manufacturers,?high-tech manufacturers, and?companies that close overseas plants and move production back to the U.S.
At the same time, he?d require individuals making more than $1 million to pay an effective income tax rate of at least 30 percent, in part by eliminating their ability to take many deductions. And, he?d use the tax code to punish companies that do business overseas, creating a new minimum levy that is supposed to assure that all multinationals pay some U.S. tax.
Obama?s embrace of the tax code as a vehicle to pick winners and losers sounded more than a little discordant in a speech whose theme was ?everyone gets a fair shot and plays by the same set of rules.?? Not so much in a tax code where you get special rules for the government?s favored activities.
As Obama was tossing out his tax baubles, I kept wondering about those firms that somehow didn?t get on his gift list. I can just imagine lobbyists? cell phones abuzz from furious clients wondering why they weren?t getting a tax break of their very own.
For instance, think about a start-up software company that has to compete with an established firm. Because new businesses rarely make money in their first years, extra tax deductions do them no good. By contrast, a more established competitor, especially if it can qualify for Obama?s high-tech tax break, would benefit?perhaps substantially.
The?multinationals??minimum tax?would be entirely unworkable. Even if Congress passed the levy, which it won?t, those firms will find ways around it. Minimum taxes are Band-Aides for a flawed tax system. The solution is not to create a new?penalty for firms that learn to manipulate the law, it is to fix the basic law in the first place.
If Obama wants to prevent companies from gaming the system, he could lower the corporate rate and eliminate tax preferences. He raised this in last year?s?state of the union address?but did nothing about it. That?s too bad. With a low enough domestic tax rate, companies would have less incentive to shuffle income overseas.
Or he could go in the opposite direction and eliminate deferral, the practice that allows multinationals to avoid U.S. tax until they bring earnings back to the U.S. But this minimum tax seems to be a half-measure that may play to his populist base but will achieve little.
I suppose it is inevitable that a president beginning his fourth year in office and facing a deeply divided Congress would go small-bore. After all, there will be no fundamental tax reform in the current environment and even proposing such a step would only open him to criticism from the usual suspects in housing, non-profits, finance and other industries that are very happy with the system as it is.
Still, it is a shame that, instead, Obama would make things worse.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/JFVefhF4B30/Obama-s-tax-deform-agenda
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Arduino hack gives a second screen to Android phones, isn't very useful (video)
Continue reading Arduino hack gives a second screen to Android phones, isn't very useful (video)
Arduino hack gives a second screen to Android phones, isn't very useful (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In GOP response, Daniels blames Obama for economy
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama has resorted to "extremism" with stifling, anti-growth policies and sought to divide Americans, not unite them, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said Tuesday in the formal Republican response to the president's State of the Union address.
Eight months after deciding against a bid for his party's presidential nomination, Daniels used his nationally televised speech to lash out at Obama and cast the GOP as compassionate and eager to unchain the country's economic potential.
He took particular aim at Obama's efforts to raise taxes on the rich and castigate them for not contributing their fair share to the nation's burdens. Joined by Republicans on Capitol Hill and the presidential campaign trails, the GOP goal was to both blunt and shift the focus away from Obama's theme on Tuesday of fairness, which included protecting the middle class and making sure the rich pay an equitable share of taxes.
"No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant effort to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others," Daniels said, speaking from Indianapolis. "As in previous moments of national danger, we Americans are all in the same boat."
"This election is going to be a referendum on the president's economic policies," which have worsened the economy, said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "The politics of envy, the politics of dividing our country is not what America is all about."
Also drawing frequent GOP attacks were Obama's proposed tax increases, which included making sure millionaire earners pay at least a 30 percent tax rate.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., said Obama's proposals to boost taxes on the wealthy and give tax breaks for domestic U.S. manufacturers and others were "nothing more than the usual Washington game that has led to a tax code already littered with lobbyist loopholes."
Daniels is a rarity in the GOP these days ? a uniting and widely respected figure, contrasting with the divisiveness emanating from the contest for the presidential nomination being waged among former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and others.
President George W. Bush's first budget chief and a two-term Indiana governor, Daniels often rails against wasteful spending big budget deficits, though critics note he served during the abrupt shift from fleeting federal surpluses to massive deficits early in Bush's term.
"When President Obama claims that the state of our union is anything but grave, he must know in his heart that this is not true," Daniels said. He added that while Obama did not cause the country's economic and budget problems, "He was elected on a promise to fix them, and he cannot claim that the last three years have made things anything but worse."
The night's rhetoric come at the dawn of a presidential and congressional election year in which the defining issues are the faltering economy and weak job market and the parties' clashing prescriptions for restoring both. Obama and congressional Democrats have focused on the more populist pathway of financing federal initiatives by taxing millionaires, while Republicans preach the virtues of less regulation and smaller government.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called Obama's address "a campaign speech designed to please his liberal base," and warned that he should keep legislation advancing his priorities "free from poison pills like tax hikes on job creators."
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who heads large group of House conservatives, said Obama's speech was riddled with "the ridiculous idea that America isn't fair because successful people get to keep too much of the money they earn."
Republicans fired back at Obama's vision of "an economy built to last," saying it was their party that understood the best way to trigger economic growth was to get the government out of the way.
"The extremism that stifles the development of homegrown energy, or cancels a perfectly sane pipeline that would employ tens of thousands, or jacks up consumer utility bills for no improvement in either human health or world temperature, is a pro-poverty policy," Daniels said.
Obama has halted, for now, work on the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from western Canada to Texas' Gulf Coast. Republicans say the project would create thousands of jobs, a claim opponents say is overstated. The administration has also pursued policies aimed at reducing pollution and global warming.
To underscore Obama's decision on Keystone, Boehner invited three officials from companies he said would be hurt by the pipeline's rejection to watch the speech in the House chamber, along with a pro-pipeline legislator from Nebraska, through which the project would pass.
?????Obama was delivering his address during a rowdy battle for the GOP presidential nomination that has ended up providing ammunition for Obama's theme of fairness.
????? That fight has called attention to the wealth of one of the top contenders, Romney, and the low ? but legal ? effective federal income tax rate of around 15 percent that the multimillionaire has paid in the past two years. Romney, in Florida campaigning for that state's Jan. 31 primary, released his tax documents for the two-year period on Tuesday.
???? ?"The president's agenda sounds less like 'built to last' and more like doomed to fail," Romney said in Tampa, Fla.?"What he's proposing is more of the same: more taxes, more spending, and more regulation."
???? ?Romney's chief rival at this point, Gingrich, said in a written statement that the top question about Obama's speech was whether he "will show a willingness to put aside the extremist ideology of the far left and call for a new set of policies that could lead to dramatic private sector job creation and economic growth."
Associated Presseric johnson eric johnson russell pearce russell pearce emergency alert system 21 jump street 19 kids and counting
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Heaven help us. |ooc&su|
In 2018, the United States and North Korea exchanged nuclear bombs. Two to each country. The two in the U.S took out most of Los Angles, and a good part of Sacramento. And then for a whole year or so, it seemed as if Californians were the only ones who really suffered...but in 2019, the entire nation was subject to nuclear fallout. The past year, the radiation from the bombs had hung in the air and was pushed along by wind currents, and eventually, it came down to earth. Everyone was subject to a bit of it at first. Some more than others, of course. But almost as soon as the first person went to the hospital for minor effects of it, the nation panicked and everyone took all measures possible to prevent from it. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough for some people.
During that time of radiation babies, were born, naturally. For the women with little radiation, births went just as births are expected to, with mother and child going on perfectly healthy. But those with more radiation weren't faced with such happy endings. In those cases, it wasn't uncommon for mother or child to die. In fact, in most cases neither made it. But there were quite a few occurrences also where the baby made it...although they all suffered from radiation poisoning passed down through their mother.
In eight of those cases in which the babies survived, the radiation didn't effect them in the harmful way it would be expected to. It actually altered them in such a way that gave them special abilities...superpowers, if you will. Of course no one knew this until the children were around three, and started to exhibit these powers. When a man named Gary Batts caught word of this, he adopted, or in some cases even kidnapped, these special children. After he had acquired all of them, he made it his mission to train them. To teach them how to use and control their powers, and not let having them corrupt them. They were all home schooled, and rarely saw life outside of the house...but since it was what they knew, they all seemed to be content with their situation. Well, all accept for the one child that disappeared when they were all around the age of ten.
---
The year is now 2036. All of the children are either seventeen or eighteen years old now. They've mastered their powers, and have been allowed to experience the outside world for the last two years...they'd even been offered the chance to move out. But none of them did. Not even after Mr. Batts passed away. That particular event actually left them lost, not knowing what to do with themselves.
As if coming from a comic book, they've decided that they must become a team of protectors for the dirty New Jersey city riddled with crime. Because they think it's probably what Mr. Batts would want from them. A couple of them have taken up jobs in order to privide for the essentials, but the rest of them usually stay at home. They'll occasionally go out and act as regular citizens...but only a couple times a week or so. They prefer to stay in the comfort of their own home most of the time. But whenever there's word of some kind of crime to be taken care of, they're all in the action.
Also not unlike a comic book, they have their own nemesis who is trying to destroy them. Due to this person also having powers, it can only be assumed that they are the run away member of their little family. And they have obviously chosen to use their powers for 'evil'. What their overall plan is is unknown. They just seem bent on killing their 'siblings'...maybe, just maybe, it could be to leave them the only one with powers. Maybe it's that they want to be the one to actually protect the city instead of harming it.. But again, that information is not known to anyone just yet.
So for now, they just fight.
The children
+TheOneAndOnly+
+TheOneAndOnly+
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight (now their nemesis)
There is a lot to read, I'm sorry =\ Please don't be put off by that...or if it seems confusing. Because I will explain anything that needs explaining if you just ask =)
Also, I want an equal gender count. 4 boys and 4 girls. I may or may not ask people to double, depending on how much interest this gets.
Anyway, that's about it out of me for now I suppose =p
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/sFLMYCdTa8g/viewtopic.php
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Experts Say Joe Paterno's Dismissal Could Have Hastened His Death
The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Did the hammer blow to Joe Paterno's lifelong legacy hasten his death?
At least one national expert on aging said Paterno's firing as football coach at Pennsylvania State University, and the accusation that he should have done more to prevent a sex-abuse scandal, could have diminished his will to live.
Read the whole story: The Philadelphia Inquirer
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Monday, January 23, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Egypt army pardons 1,959 detainees, prominent activist (Reuters)
CAIRO (Reuters) ? Egypt's military ruler has pardoned 1,959 people convicted by military courts in the year since President Hosni Mubarak's ouster, including activist Michael Nabil whose hunger strike had brought him close to death.
The state Al Nil television channel said the convicts had been pardoned by Hussein Tantawi, head of the military council that has ruled Egypt since Mubarak's removal in February 2011 in the midst of the Arab Spring protests that swept the region.
The pardon comes just four days before the first anniversary of the 18-day Egyptian uprising which began on January 25, though it was not clear if any of the detainees had yet been released.
Nabil, jailed by a military court for defaming the army, had his prison term reduced to two years from three in December following criticism from international human rights groups.
The 25-year-old was arrested in March and began a hunger strike to protest against his conviction for posting remarks saying the army had tried to quell the uprising against Mubarak.
The generals now ruling Egypt say the army took no part in a police crackdown on protesters and have pledged to hand over to civilian rule by June.
Activists say Nabil's case highlights the Egyptian army's heavy-handed approach to dissenters who criticize its top generals for using tactics reminiscent of Mubarak's regime.
"We can only say the revolution has succeeded when they release all activists, besides Michael, who are still being held in military courts and retry all civilians who have been prosecuted by courts they shouldn't have been prosecuted by," Nabil's brother Mark told Reuters.
No To Military Trials, a pressure group set up after the uprising, says at least 12,000 cases have come before the military courts since February. The group says sentences are often handed out swiftly behind closed doors and without proper legal representation.
It is not clear exactly how many activists and protesters convicted by military courts in the past year remain in jail.
The pardon comes as youth groups plan to hold major demonstrations to mark the anniversary of a revolt they say will not be complete until the generals hand power to civilians.
"The family has only received word of the decree but Michael is still in custody and they are waiting to hear of his movements," Mark Nabil said.
"The revolution must continue as long as any civilian is still being held unjustly in a military prison."
(Reporting by Lin Noueihed and Dina Zayed; editing by Myra MacDonald)
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
Obama's State of the Union: Jobs, re-election time
President Barack Obama sings before speaking at a campaign event, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, at the Apollo Theatre in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
President Barack Obama sings before speaking at a campaign event, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, at the Apollo Theatre in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
President Barack Obama pauses before shaking hands at a campaign event, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, at the Apollo Theatre in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, at the Apollo Theatre in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Vilified by the Republicans who want his job, President Barack Obama will stand before the nation Tuesday night determined to frame the election-year debate on his terms, using his State of the Union address to outline a lasting economic recovery that will "work for everyone, not just a wealthy few."
As his most powerful chance to make a case for a second term, the prime-time speech carries enormous political stakes for the Democratic incumbent who presides over a country divided about his performance and pessimistic about the nation's direction. He will try to offer a stark contrast with his opponents by offering a vision of fairness and opportunity for everyone.
In a preview Saturday, Obama said in a video to supporters that the speech will be an economic blueprint built around manufacturing, energy, education and American values.
He is expected to announce ideas to make college more affordable and to address the housing crisis still hampering the economy three years into his term, people familiar with the speech said. Obama will also propose fresh ideas to ensure that the wealthy pay more in taxes, reiterating what he considers a matter of basic fairness, the officials said.
His policy proposals will be less important than what Obama hopes they all add up to: a narrative of renewed American security with him at the center, leading the fight.
"We can go in two directions," Obama said in the campaign video. "One is toward less opportunity and less fairness. Or we can fight for where I think we need to go: building an economy that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few."
That line of argument is intended to tap directly into concerns of voters who think America has become a nation of income inequality, with rules rigged to help the rich. The degree to which Obama or his eventual Republican opponent can better connect with millions of hurting Americans is expected to determine November's presidential election.
Obama released his video hours ahead of the South Carolina primary, where Republican candidates fought in the latest fierce contest to become his general election rival.
The White House knows Obama is about to get his own stage to outline a re-election vision, but carefully. The speech is supposed to an American moment, not a campaign event.
Obama didn't mention national security or foreign policy in his preview, and he is not expected to break ground on either one in his speech.
He will focus on the economy and is expected to promote unfinished parts of his jobs plan, including the extension of a payroll tax cut that is soon to expire.
Whatever Obama proposes is likely to face long odds in a deeply divided Congress.
More people than not disapprove of Obama's handling of the economy, and he is showing real vulnerability among the independent voters who could swing the election. Yet he will step into the moment just as the economy is showing life. The unemployment rate is still at a troubling 8.5 percent, but at its lowest rate in nearly three years. Consumer confidence is up.
By giving a sneak peek to millions of supporters on his email list, Obama played to his Democratic base and sought to generate an even larger audience for Tuesday's address. He is unlikely to getter a bigger stage all year.
More people watched last year's State of the Union than tuned in to see Obama accept the Democratic presidential nomination in Denver in 2008.
The foundation of Obama's speech is the one he gave in Kansas last month, when he declared that the middle class was at a make-or-break moment and he railed against "you're on your own" economics of the Republican Party. His theme then was about a government that ensures people get a fair shot to succeed.
The State of the Union will be the details to back that up.
But even so, the speech will still be a framework ? part governing, part inspiration.
The details will be rolled out in full over the next several weeks, as part of Obama's next budget proposal and during his travels, which will allow him more media coverage.
On national security, Obama will ask the nation to reflect with him on a momentous year of change, including the end of the war in Iraq, the killing of al-Qaida terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and the Arab Spring protests, with people clamoring for freedom. He is expected to note the troubles posed by Iran and Syria without offering new positions about them.
Despite low expectations for legislation this year, Obama will offer short-term ideas that would require action from Congress. For now, the main looming to-do item is an extension of a payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits, both due to expire by March.
His travel schedule following his speech, to politically important regions, offers clues to the policies he was expected to unveil.
Both Phoenix and Las Vegas have been hard hit by foreclosures. Denver is where Obama outlined ways of helping college students deal with school loan debt. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Detroit are home to a number of manufacturers. And Michigan was a major beneficiary of the president's decision to intervene to rescue the American auto industry.
Republican leaders in Congress say Obama has made the chances of cooperation even dimmer just over the last several days. He enraged Republicans by installing a consumer watchdog chief by going around the Senate, which had blocked him, and then rejected a major oil pipeline project the GOP has embraced.
Obama is likely, once again, to offer ways in which a broken Washington must work together. Yet that theme seems but a dream given the gridlock he has been unable to change.
The address remains an old-fashioned moment of national attention; 43 million people watched it on TV last year. The White House website will offer a live stream of the speech, promising extra wrinkles for people who watch it there, and then invite people to send in questions to administration officials through social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
Obama's campaign is also organizing and promoting parties around the nation for people to watch the speech.
__
AP deputy director of polling Jennifer Agiesta and Associated Press writer Ken Thomas contributed to this report.
__
Online:
White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov
___
Follow Ben Feller at http://twitter.com/BenFellerDC
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Is Sony producing a Windows 7 smartphone? This leak suggests so...
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Source: http://www.facebook.com/MobileChoice/posts/175803299187055
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Friday, January 20, 2012
Video: President Obama Sings Al Green at the Apollo Theatre (Little green footballs)
US Internet piracy case brings New Zealand arrests
Megaupload.com employees Bram van der Kolk, also known as Bramos, left, Finn Batato,second from left, Mathias Ortmann and founder, former CEO and current chief innovation officer of Megaupload.com Kim Dotcom (also known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor), right, appear in North Shore District Court in Auckland, New Zealand, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. The four appeared in court in relation to arrests made to Megaupload.com, which is linked to a U.S. investigation into international copyright infringement and money laundering. (AP Photo/Greg Bowker, New Zealand Herald) NEW ZEALAND OUT, AUSTRALIA OUT
Megaupload.com employees Bram van der Kolk, also known as Bramos, left, Finn Batato,second from left, Mathias Ortmann and founder, former CEO and current chief innovation officer of Megaupload.com Kim Dotcom (also known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor), right, appear in North Shore District Court in Auckland, New Zealand, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. The four appeared in court in relation to arrests made to Megaupload.com, which is linked to a U.S. investigation into international copyright infringement and money laundering. (AP Photo/Greg Bowker, New Zealand Herald) NEW ZEALAND OUT, AUSTRALIA OUT
This undated image obtained by The Associated Press shows the homepage of the website Megaupload.com. Federal prosecutors in Virginia have shut down one of the world's largest file-sharing sites, Megaupload.com, and charged its founder and others with violating piracy laws. (AP Photo)
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) ? With 150 million registered users, about 50 million hits daily and endorsements from music superstars, Megaupload.com was among the world's biggest file-sharing sites. Big enough, according to a U.S. indictment, that it earned founder Kim Dotcom $42 million last year alone.
The movie industry howled that the site was making money off pirated material. Though the company is based in Hong Kong and Dotcom was living in New Zealand, some of the alleged pirated content was hosted on leased servers in Virginia, and that was enough for U.S. prosecutors to act.
The site was shut down Thursday, and Dotcom and three Megaupload employees were arrested in New Zealand on U.S. accusations that they facilitated millions of illegal downloads of films, music and other content, costing copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue.
New Zealand Police also seized guns, artwork, more than $8 million in cash and luxury cars valued at nearly $5 million after serving 10 search warrants at several businesses and homes around the city of Auckland.
News of the shutdown seemed to bring retaliation from hackers who claimed credit for attacking the Justice Department's website. Federal officials confirmed it was down for hours Thursday evening and that the disruption was being "treated as a malicious act."
A loose affiliation of hackers known as "Anonymous" claimed credit for the attack. Also hacked was the site for the Motion Picture Association of America.
On Friday, New Zealand's Fairfax Media reported that the four defendants stood together in an Auckland courtroom in the first step of extradition proceedings that could last a year or more.
Dotcom's lawyer raised objections to a media request to take photographs and video, but then Dotcom spoke out from the dock, saying he didn't mind photos or video "because we have nothing to hide." The judge granted the media access, and ruled that the four would remain in custody until a second hearing Monday.
Dotcom, Megaupload's former CEO and current chief innovation officer, is a resident of Hong Kong and New Zealand and a dual citizen of Finland and Germany who had his name legally changed. The 37-year-old was previously known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor.
Two other German citizens and one Dutch citizen also were arrested and three other defendants ? another German, a Slovakian and an Estonian ? remain at large.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which defends free speech and digital rights online, said in a statement that the arrests set "a terrifying precedent. If the United States can seize a Dutch citizen in New Zealand over a copyright claim, what is next?"
The indictment was unsealed one day after websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to make it easier for authorities to go after sites with pirated material, especially those with overseas headquarters and servers.
Before Megaupload was taken down, the company posted a statement saying allegations that it facilitated massive breaches of copyright laws were "grotesquely overblown."
"The fact is that the vast majority of Mega's Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay. If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch," the statement said.
Several sister sites were also shut down, including one dedicated to sharing pornography files.
The $8 million in cash seized had been invested in various New Zealand financial institutions, and has been placed in a trust pending the outcome of the cases.
Police spokesman Grant Ogilvie said the seized cars include a Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe worth more than $400,000. Two short-barreled shotguns and a number of valuable artworks were also confiscated, he added.
According to the indictment, Megaupload was estimated at one point to be the 13th most frequently visited website on the Internet. Current estimates by companies that monitor Web traffic place it in the top 100.
Megaupload is considered a "cyberlocker," in which users can upload and transfer files that are too large to send by email. Such sites can have perfectly legitimate uses. But the Motion Picture Association of America, which has campaigned for a crackdown on piracy, estimated that the vast majority of content being shared on Megaupload was in violation of copyright laws.
The website allowed users to download some content for free, but made money by charging subscriptions to people who wanted access to faster download speeds or extra content. The website also sold advertising.
Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy. Before the website was taken down, it contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, among others.
The company listed Swizz Beatz, a musician who married Keys in 2010, as its CEO. He was not named in the indictment and declined to comment through a representative.
The five-count indictment, which alleges copyright infringement as well as conspiracy to commit money laundering and racketeering, described a site designed specifically to reward users who uploaded pirated content for sharing, and turned a blind eye to requests from copyright holders to remove copyright-protected files.
For instance, users received cash bonuses if they uploaded content popular enough to generate massive numbers of downloads, according to the indictment. Such content was almost always copyright protected, the indictment said.
The Justice Department said it was illegal for anyone to download pirated content, but their investigation focused on the leaders of the company, not end users who may have downloaded a few movies for personal viewing.
A lawyer who represented the company in a lawsuit last year declined to comment Thursday. Efforts to reach an attorney representing Dotcom were unsuccessful.
Although Megaupload is based in Hong Kong, the size of its operation in the southern Chinese city was unclear. The administrative contact listed in its domain registration, Bonnie Lam, did not respond immediately for a request for comment sent to a fax number and email address listed.
The indictment was returned in the Eastern District of Virginia, which claimed jurisdiction in part because some of the alleged pirated materials were hosted on leased servers in Ashburn, Virginia. Prosecutors there have pursued multiple piracy investigations.
The Justice Department also was investigating the "significant increase in activity" that disrupted its website. It said in a statement that it was working to "investigate the origins of this activity, which is being treated as a malicious act until we can fully identify the root cause."
The site appeared to be working again late Thursday. A spokesman for the Motion Picture Association of America said in an emailed statement that the group's site also had been hacked, but it too appeared to be working later in the evening.
"The motion picture and television industry has always been a strong supporter of free speech," the spokesman said. "We strongly condemn any attempts to silence any groups or individuals."
____
Matthew Barakat reported from McLean, Virginia.
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