Japanese carmaker Honda's Q3 seen hit by disasters, yen (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) ? Honda Motor Co (7267.T) is expected to report a double-digit slide in quarterly operating profit on Tuesday and forecast a still larger drop for the full year, as natural disasters in Japan and Thailand hit it harder than rivals.

Japan's No.3 automaker was the slowest to recover from supply-chain disruptions after the earthquake and tsunami in March, while it was alone in having a car factory inundated by the historic floods in Thailand, Southeast Asia's export hub.

That is expected to push Honda's October-December operating profit down 35 percent to 81 billion yen ($1.06 billion), according to a poll of nine analysts by Reuters.

Honda's announcement is being closely watched after the company withdrew its guidance in October citing uncertainty over when production could resume in Thailand. Honda is the first Japanese automaker to report third-quarter earnings, and is also expected to provide an update on Thai production on Tuesday.

In 2011, Honda's global output dropped by a fifth to 2.909 million cars, slipping below 3 million for the first time in eight years. All other Japanese automakers, except Nissan Motor Co (7201.T), built fewer cars also, but the falls were much smaller than at Honda.

For the year to March 31, 2012, forecasts from 24 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S put Honda's annual operating profit at 283 billion yen, down 50 percent from 2010-11 when it was hit by the yen's rise against the dollar and euro.

The consensus forecast is slightly higher than the 270 billion yen Honda projected in August.

With production steadily recovering in the final months of 2011, investors have turned their attention to an anticipated jump in sales as Honda restocks its depleted inventory.

So far this year, its shares are the best performer among Japanese automakers, rising 14.2 percent as of Monday. Tokyo's auto sector index (.ITEQP.T) has gained 8.9 percent.

LONGER-TERM WORRIES

Still, concern has lingered over whether Honda might be losing its edge after a new version of its top-selling Civic was heavily criticized for its styling and interior in the United States, its biggest market, last year.

Competition in the United States is set to heat up this year as resurgent local giants Ford Motor Co (F.N) and General Motors Co (GM.N) and South Korea's fast-rising Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) flex their muscles in the sedan segment previously dominated by Honda and Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T).

While acknowledging the criticisms of the revamped Civic, Honda Chief Executive Takanobu Ito stressed this month that the car had topped the country's compact sedan segment in the latest quarter, outselling Toyota's Corolla.

Honda is targeting a 25 percent jump in its U.S. sales this calendar year. To this aim, it is shoring up its struggling Acura premium brand.

Honda is scheduled to announce its results at 3 p.m. (0600 GMT) in Tokyo.

Domestic rivals Toyota and Nissan are scheduled to announce third-quarter earnings on February 7 and 8, respectively. ($1 = 76.7350 Japanese yen)

(Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120130/bs_nm/us_honda

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Neeson's 'Grey' mauls box office with $19.7M

In this film image released by Open Road Films, from left, Liam Neeson is shown in a scene from "The Grey." (AP Photo/Open Road Films, Kimberley French)

In this film image released by Open Road Films, from left, Liam Neeson is shown in a scene from "The Grey." (AP Photo/Open Road Films, Kimberley French)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Liam Neeson continues to maul the competition in the winter months.

Neeson's survivalist thriller "The Grey" debuted atop the weekend box office, earning $19.7 million. The 59-year-old actor remains a big draw as an action star, following the thrillers "Taken" and "Unknown."

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:

1. "The Grey," Open Road, $19,665,101, 3,185 locations, $6,174 average, $19,665,101, one week.

2. "Underworld Awakening," Sony/Screen Gems, $12,352,802, 3,078 locations, $4,013 average, $44,978,415, two weeks.

3. "One For the Money," Lionsgate, $11,515,790, 2,737 locations, $4,207 average, $11,515,790, one week.

4. "Red Tails," Fox, $10,370,323, 2,573 locations, $4,030 average, $33,750,118, two weeks.

5. "Man On a Ledge," Summit, $8,001,932, 2,998 locations, $2,669 average, $8,001,932, one week.

6. "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," Warner Bros., $6,980,448, 2,630 locations, $2,654 average, $20,941,702, six weeks.

7. "Contraband," Universal, $6,704,360, 2,650 locations, $2,530 average, $56,573,860, three weeks.

8. "The Descendants," Fox Searchlight, $6,405,285, 2,001 locations, $3,201 average, $58,703,299, 11 weeks.

9. "Beauty and the Beast," Disney, $5,307,807, 2,145 locations, $2,475 average, $41,110,138, three weeks.

10. "Haywire," Relativity Media, $4,002,760, 2,441 locations, $1,640 average, $15,281,962, two weeks.

11. "Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol," Paramount, $3,473,878, 1,654 locations, $2,100 average, $202,565,203, seven weeks.

12. "The Artist," Weinstein Co., $3,315,089, 897 locations, $3,696 average, $16,744,187, 10 weeks.

13. "The Iron Lady," Weinstein Co., $3,204,641, 1,244 locations, $2,576 average, $17,519,123, five weeks.

14. "Joyful Noise," Warner Bros., $3,188,393, 2,021 locations, $1,578 average, $26,675,903, three weeks.

15. "Hugo," Paramount, $2,510,275, 965 locations, $2,601 average, $58,925,857, 10 weeks.

16. "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," Warner Bros., $2,472,141, 1,530 locations, $1,616 average, $182,211,057, seven weeks.

17. "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," Sony/Columbia, $2,190,290, 1,202 locations, $1,822 average, $98,185,403, six weeks.

18. "War Horse," Disney, $2,003,261, 1,861 locations, $1,076 average, $75,618,652, six weeks.

19. "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked," Fox, $1,782,185, 1,070 locations, $1,666 average, $127,041,507, seven weeks.

20. "We Bought a Zoo," Fox, $1,468,347, 1,089 locations, $1,348 average, $71,705,878, six weeks.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-01-30-Box%20Office/id-f86ab7ffa58742598dd34f1a4b6f596a

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Wealthy Greeks of Switzerland ?re Skeptical Over Investing in ...

Extensive talks are being held lately on the willingness of rich Greeks living abroad to help their debt-ridden homeland with investments that would boost the economy and create new jobs.

Although several initiatives have already been organized by Diaspora Greeks, extremely wealthy Greeks currently living in Switzerland seem rather skeptical over investing their money in an already crippled country, where bureaucracy and strikes are hard to deal with.

According to Swissinfo.ch, there are not many Greeks living abroad ?rushing to invest in their homeland? although they personally feel proud to be Greeks.

Greek lawyer Ilias Bissias, an expert in cross-border legal cases between Switzerland and Greece, told swissinfo.ch that Greece is ?hostile? to new investment projects at the time and that Greek owners of Swiss bank accounts are not willing to move their money to Greece.

The new taxation agreement between the two countries has been unsettling for the Greeks owning bank accounts in Switzerland, and many of them are thinking of transferring their money to the United Arab Emirates or Singapore.

Source: http://eu.greekreporter.com/2012/01/30/wealthy-greeks-of-switzerland-%CE%B1re-skeptical-over-investing-in-greece/

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Legal Resources - The Journalist's Toolbox

Tips for Uncovering Sealed Cases

USCourts.gov: Journalist's Guide to the Federal Courts

CourtReference.com
Offers state-by-state links to online court record search services at trial courts and government agencies. Find court locations, other legal services offered and more.

Court Records Blog
Part of CourtReference.org's site, this blog covers some of the basics of court records, understanding documents, how a court room works, etc.

Free Public Records Directory
Free state court resources.

MegaLaw.com
A meta-search engine that scans law sites.

Meta-Index for U.S. Legal Research

World Law
A comprehensive legal search tool. It gives you multiple ways to search legal opinions, legislation, law libraries, etc.

USACops.com
Handy image map links you to local law enforcement agencies. Great for sourcing out-of-state.

ExpertPages.com
A legal site that lists more than 140 expert witnesses on litigation issues. Can be helpful for sourcing stories on various topics, which are listed alphabetically.

Law Library of Congress
Links galore to research, other law centers, collections databases, reading room, bibliographies, etc.

Violence Policy Center
A libertarian public interest law firm offers several free legal resources off its site.

Institute for Justice
A libertarian public interest law firm offers several free legal resources off its site.

ElectionLawBlog.com
Run by a Loyola Law School professor.

Sunshine Week Open Meetings
Events the week of March 12 promote open records.

Oyez: U.S. Supreme Court Multimedia Database
Hundreds of hours of audio materials delivered through a free player available from Real.com as well as summaries of cases before the court, organized by year.

2007 FBI Uniform Crime Report
Look up crimes by state, classification, population group, etc.

2006 FBI Violent Crimes Statistics
Review nationally, by region, state, county, city, universities, etc.

2005 FBI Uniform Crime Report

2004 FBI Uniform Crime Report

Law and Policy Institutions
This site provides access for legal and legislative information. In addition to domestic legal topics, this site provides information on significant international treaties, journals and legal databases etc.

USLegalForms.com
Database has more than 36,000 documents written to comply with the laws of each of the 50 states.

State-by-State Guide to Shield Laws
Poynter site offers image map for easy search.

National District Attorneys Association

Sports Law Blog

Ranchers and Cattlemen Action Legal Fund
R-CALF site offers industry info., links, contacts and an FAQ.

Institute for Justice
A libertarian public interest law firm offers several free legal resources off its site.

On the Issues: Rehnquist Decisions

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U.S. Courts

Findlaw.com: 9-11 Legal Cases
A full listing of the civil and criminal cases. A valuable resource!

A Guide to the U.S. Federal Legal System: Web-Based Publicly Accessible Sources

UScourts.gov
A good starting page for research on federal courts.

Pacer's U.S. Courts
Search district and bankruptcy courts.

Federal Courts Finder
Image map guide to courts from Emory University.

Department of Justice: Office of Solicitor General
Search government briefs filed with the United States Supreme Court.

Supreme Court Collection
A database of upcoming Supreme Court cases compiled by Cornell Univeristy.

Syllabi of Current U.S. Supreme Court Decisions

On the Docket
A database of upcoming Supreme Court cases.

CNN.com: Supreme Court Candidate Bios

C-SPAN Judiciary and Supreme Court Resources

Yahoo!: Supreme Court Nominees

PBS Newshour: Supreme Court Candidates
Full of quotes from politicos on who should be named.

PollingReport.com: Supreme Court Candidates
Full of quotes from politicos on who should be named.

Copyright Database
Use this Library of Congress database to track who owns copyright material.

LLRX.com: Debunking Copyright Myths

Supreme Court Historical Society

Law.com's Supreme Court Monitor

On the Issues: Rehnquist Decisions

Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals
Links to the full-text opinions of all 11 U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals.

Federal Laws and Regulations
The National Archives and Records Administration has a database of public laws, presidential orders and more.

Center for Information, Law and Policy
Information on federal and state courts.

JudgePedia.org
A great election resource that tracks state supreme courts, their elections and news on judges.

National Center for State Courts: Listing of Courts
Links to state appellate, circuit and county courts Web sites organized by states.

Junk FAX Laws by State

360Degrees.org: The U.S. Criminal Justice System
Perspectives on the U.S. justice system.

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Several tools for journalists needing legal resources.

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Legal Directories

LawCrawler
Powered by Google, the Web?s best search engine, it hunts down anything legal online.

Old Bailey Online: History Site
From the famous British courthouse, this online database covers more than 22,000 trials dating between 1714 and 1759. Read the actual transcripts from historic proceedings, view the original documents, etc.

Lawyer Locator
Search a free database of legal experts.

Federal Judicial Center: Judge Bios
Search federal court judge bios, past and present.

Attorney Finder

International Center for Not-For-Profit Law Directory
The International Center for Not-For-Profit Law has a searchable directory of legal documents, court cases, reports, and other civil society resources from countries around the world. ICNL's Online Library currently contains 2,300 resources from 144 countries in 37 languages. The center is an international not-for-profit organization that promotes an enabling legal environment for civil society, freedom of association, and public participation around the world.

Lawyers.com
Look up a lawyer's credentials.

USLegalForms.com
Database has more than 36,000 documents written to comply with the laws of each of the 50 states.

State-by-State Guide to Shield Laws
Poynter site offers image map for easy search.

American Law Sources Online (ALSO)
This site provides "a comprehensive, uniform, and useful compilation of links to all online sources of American law."

Law and Policy Institutions
This site provides access for legal and legislative information. In addition to domestic legal topics, this site provides information on significant international treaties, journals and legal databases etc.

LegalSurvival.com
A comprehensive source of legal information, tools and news covering 30 topics. The site features a newsletter, forms, FAQs, checklists, bookstore, legal plans, Find an Attorney, attorney marketing services and helpful links.

Internet Legal Research Guide
More than 4,000 sites from 238 countries, this site lists law firms, legal experts, journals and more.

WhoRepresents.com: Agent Database
A great shortcut for sourcing, enter celebrity names into the database and get the managers or agents who represents them.

Westlaw.com

Global Legal Information Network
Part of the Library of Congress, this site features hundreds of legal links and resources.

Digital Journalist's Legal Guide
From the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

The Law Engine
A free site with dozens of legal resources.

Counsel.net
A collection of chat rooms and discussion groups for lawyers, legal resources and job boards.

All Law
Search engine and legal directory that has state resources.

FairContracts.org
What have you agreed to today? This site goes over fine print in contracts that many of us never even read.

Finding Law-Related Resources
Dozens of global law links.

Student Press Law Center: Classroom Resources
Presentations, handouts, online quizzes and more. Great tools for teaching the First Amendment.

Medical Privacy State Laws

Legal Transcript Library, Inc.
A legal research tool for medical defense attorneys containing thousands of transcripts of medical expert testimony.

The Avalon Project
Yale Law School site that offers digital documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government.

Expert-Testimony.com

Yahoo! Law Directory

Bankruptcy Law
A directory of state, national and international bankruptcy laws.

National Association of Drug Court Professionals

Electronic Law Library
Targeted to small business owners, but it has a lot of helpful research for anyone.

ElectionLawBlog.com
Run by a Loyola Law School professor.

HG Law Directory
Search more than 500 law directories worldwide.

Strategic Research Investigative Services
Specializes in discrete, sophisticated, and cost-effective fact-finding for law firms, corporations, governments, news organizations and individuals.

Class Action Database
A collection of class action lawsuits broken down by topics.

BRB Public Records online.
A huge sites with links to free and pay public records sites.

Cornell University: Legal Information Institute
Links, libraries, constitutions, codes, legal opinions and some legal news.

Campus Safety and Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool
Analyze college campus crime statistics with this resource from the Office of Postsecondary Education, part of the U.S. Department of Education.

Prairie Net: Full-Text State Statutes and Legislation

Law Library Resource Xchange

Fagan Finder
A great search tool that added several new features in May 2002. Journalists will be especially interested in the search engines, reference, news and law sections.

Registered Patent Attorneys and Agents
Contact information for more than 25,000 attorneys.

Jaffe Legal News Service
The JLNS is a free weekly email tipsheet with sources and story ideas from some of the top law firms in North America and the UK. Each issue has a section providing expert commentary on some of the key issues of the day, an area where by-lined articles written by some of the top legal experts on North America and the UK are available for free, and a wire-like service that lists law firm press releases. Each e-mail also features a link to a form where reporters can request help with specific stories.

TVSpy's Agent List
Includes client names, companies and agent contact information.

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Legal Databases, Documents and Statistics

Bureau of Justice Statistics

State Laws Database
Searchable index of state laws and legislation for all 50 states.

WHO@ (Working to Halt Online Abuse)
Resources, stats, facts and protection tips about online stalking.

Gender Law Library

National Women's Law Center
Blog, health care, expert sources, information center and recent publications on issues.

Covering Crime and Justice: A Guide for Journalists

National Lesbian and Gay Law Association

National Asian American Bar Association

SmallTownMisfit
Colorful crime news stories from a roundup of police blotters throughout the nation.

Dumb Laws Database
Titled: Big Government. Small Brains. Dumb Laws. A collection of silly laws in the United States and othe countries. Good for news feature writing.

FBI 2004 Uniform Crime Report

Findforms.com
A database of thousands of free legal forms.

Cornell University State Laws Database
Look up laws by industry/topic.

Legacy Tobacco Documents Library
A great database from Cal-San Francisco that contains 11.2 million fully searchable documents from the1930s to the 1990s -- previously secret stuff from tobacco industry files obtained as part of the Minnesota AG and Blue Cross lawsuit settled in 1998.

Legacy Drug Industry Document Archive
More than 2,500 documents from drug companies about industry-sponsored clinical trials, publication of study results, pricing, marketing, relations with physicians and involvement in continuing medical education.

Sunshine Week Open Meetings
Events the week of March 12 promote open records.

Info - Encyclopedia and Reference Resource
Browse articles in all areas of topics within Earth & Environment, History, Literature & Arts, Health & Medicine, People, Philosophy & Religion, Places, Plants & Animals, Science & Technology, Social Science, Law, Sports, Everyday Life, and more. Includes Country Studies and North America Gazetteer.

Jury Verdict Research
A for-profit company that maintains a database of nearly 200,000 verdicts and settlements resulting from personal injury claims.

ABA Administrative Procedures Database ABA Administrative Procedures Database
This site "is designed to facilitate the exchange of information about federal and state administrative law among legislators, lawyers, hearing officers, judges, and citizens. (It) contains links to federal and state Administrative Procedure Acts (APA), reform proposals, and organizational and other resources."

North America's Largest Class Action Law Site
Lots of pending class actions and class action settlements. Updated daily. Also offers ability to register for possible class actions.

Catalaw
Organizes legal and government sites into a basic catalog.

Supreme Court Preview
The Supreme Court forwards its briefs to the American Bar Association as they are filed. This site makes them available to the public for free.

State Sex Offender Registries
Thirty-four states have them, but many are under review for accuracy.

Bureau of Justice Statistics Jail Population Study
Study: More than 6.5 million adults were jailed, on probation or on parole at the end of last year, a record-high number that represents 3.1 p of the country's total population or 1 of every 32 adults. Look up your state.

LexisWeb Legal Search Engine

LawCommerce.com Recommended Law Database
A list of sites you can use to look up federal and state laws. A great shortcut..

FBI Crime Statistics: 2001 Summary
Also available as a full-text document.

University of Tennessee: Legal Information
A set of helpful journalism and law links from professor Dorothy Bowles.

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Legal Associations and Organizations

American Bar Association

American Bar Association Lawinfo.org

American Civil Liberties Union
Material on FOI and Sunshine laws.

Association of Trial Lawyers of America Links Page
Dozens of great links to law schools, law organizations, attorney referral sites and more.

National Board of Trial Advocacy

International Center for Not-For-Profit Law Directory
The International Center for Not-For-Profit Law has a searchable directory of legal documents, court cases, reports, and other civil society resources from countries around the world. ICNL's Online Library currently contains 2,300 resources from 144 countries in 37 languages. The center is an international not-for-profit organization that promotes an enabling legal environment for civil society, freedom of association, and public participation around the world.

The Innocence Project
A searchable database of states offering projects to free wrongfully accused prisoners through DNA and other evidence. Run by the Cardozo School of Law in NYC.

National Center for State Courts

National District Attorneys Association

National Center for State Courts
Readers First is an E.W. Scripps initiative for readership-builders in all departments of newspapers.

SPJ Legal Advocacy
Legal defense fund, annual report, other resources.

National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty
Statistics on the homeless, links, public policy, child abuse, health, job training, minimum wage and more.

Institute for Justice
A law firm site with helpful online resources.

National Court Reporters Association (NCRA)

National Women's Law Center
A great resource with tips, research and news stories on a variety of topics, including sexual harassment, athletics, women in the military and more.

Ranchers and Cattlemen Action Legal Fund
R-CALF site offers industry info., links, contacts and an FAQ.

National Resources Defense Council
Environmental issues

Student Press Law Center
Legal issues facing high school and college students.

Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund

Police Executive Research Forum
News page, free document library, sources.

Center for Identity Management and Information Protection
Part of Utica College, the site offers a media center, research projects and can connect you with expert sources.

Identity Theft Resource Center
A nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to the understanding and prevention of identity theft. Site includes a media page and a resource library.

PhotoEnforced.com
Allows users to upload locations of photo-enforced traffic lights around the country.

National Campaign to Stop Red Light Running

U.S. Public Interest Research Groups
Transportation, healthcare, money and politics, media reform, tax and budget, law, higher education and environmental issues.

Child Welfare Information Gateway
A service of the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Has sections on abuse, library search, statistics, online catalog, adoption information and more.

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Law Journals and News

Legal Journals Online
A listing of hundreds of journals from all over the world.

National Law Journal

Findlaw.com
Legal publications and state/local bar association information.

Findlaw News

VineLink: Who's in Jail/Prison
Use this image map to select a state, then sort through the listed jails and prisons to track who's in jail and who is about to be released. A great resource.

National Center for State Courts
Research, newsletter, links to other organizations.

NPR: Justice Talking
Debates, polls, resources on justice issues.

The Business Lawyer
An online business law magazine from the American Bar Association.

National Law Journal: Survey of the 250 Largest Law Firms
Contact information for more than 25,000 attorneys.

University Law Review: Search Law Journals
Links, listings and search.

States with Sex-Offender Registries

In the News
Blog by a forensic psychologist about psychology and the law.

The Jurist: Terrorism Law & Policy Guide
The legal education and information portal at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, has posted an online guide to Terrorism Law & Policy. The guide features breaking news, U.S. policy documents, Executive Orders and federal legislation, academic commentary and an extensive bibliography.

Truth in Justice
A private investigations site with several recent case studies, news stories, trend pieces, related links, a discussion forum and more. A great resource.

Sports Law Blog

Law.com Newswire
Updated several times a day with great stories.

Nolo.com
A super legal site.

CNN.com's Law Page
Several good trend pieces, some breaking news.

Medical Liability Monitor
A monthly online publication on trends and issues in medical malpractice.

LLRX.com
Bills itself as "the premier free web-zine on research and technology related issues for the legal community.

LLRX.com 9-11 Legal Site

Jeff Flax's Super Legal Links Page

JustInfo Newsletter
An online newsletter sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Government Sites

SEC Law
Securities legal resource includes message boards, links to other sites, bookstore and more.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
The official government site has a myriad of resources, including a way to track the status of patents and trademarks pending.

Bureau of Justice Statistics Jail Population Study
Study: More than 6.5 million adults were jailed, on probation or on parole at the end of last year, a record-high number that represents 3.1 p of the country's total population or 1 of every 32 adults. Look up your state.

Library of Congress: A Century of Law Making
Annals of the House and Senate, bills and resolutions.

Library of Congress: Religion and the Government
Takes effect October 2002.

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Cyberspace Law

Electronic Frontier Foundation: Legal Guide for Bloggers

LegalTech

Cyberspace Law and Regulation

UCLA Cyberspace Law and Policy

Intellectual Property and Technology Forum
Boston College Law School site offers current news and in-depth articles on intellectual property and technology law.

Publishing Law Center
Links and articles on intellectual property and legal issues..

TechnoLawyer Community
Free subscriptions to TechnoRelease Tuesdays.

Treatment Advocacy Center
Studies on mental illness, treatments, and various laws and legal interpretations.

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Copyright Law

Internet Law Library
A free collection of articles, statutes, cases and resources on Internet issues such as copyright law, trademark law, domain name law, cookies, data retrieval, etc.

U.S. Copyright Office

Copyright Renewals

Copyright Law and Fair Use

GigaLaw.com

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Miscellaneous Sites

FBI Uniform Crime Report (.pdf)
The site features an image map that helps locate stats from major cities. Sort stats by type of crime, too.

2007 FBI Uniform Crime Report
Look up crimes by state, classification, population group, etc.

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: Juvenile Hearings
Guidelines on access to juvenile courts.

Criminal Justice Links
Florida State University School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

TheSmokingGun.com
Tips for filing FOIAs, "Document of the Week."

The Stanford University School of Law
The school's site has full-text complaints, summaries and briefs on securities class action complaints.

60 Sites in 60 Minutes
A site full of legal research tools on one page.

IRE and NICAR: Legal Databases
There is a fee for the legal databases.

U.S. DOT: Fatal Accident Reporting System Database
This links to details and samples of the data. NICAR charges for the full database. The data covers 1975-2001 and contains information on automobile accidents on public U.S. roads that resulted in the death of one or more people within 30 days of the accident.

Law and Policy Institutions Guide
A great collection of legal and legislative information.

PI Newslink
A blog for private investigators/researchers.

DogBiteLaw.com
Developed by an attorney specializing in dog bites, this is an extensive research site for dog bite victims, dog owners, parents, journalists and others. Covers topics such as the legal rights of victims, how to protect children, and other aspects of the dog bite epidemic.

Cool Sites for Lawyers

PBS Frontline: Criminal Justice
A collection of companion Web sites on various crime, legal system and justice topics.

Tobacco Links
Dozens of links in alphabetical order about pro and anti-smoking, farming, etc.

Law Library of Congress
Law guides, databases and historical documents back to 1774.

PoliceForum.org
Site features cops from large jurisdictions and has done lots of stuff on police shootings, etc.

Criminal Justice Journalists

The Lindbergh Case

Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act
Takes effect October 2002.

Stanford University: Prison Experiment
An online tour of a 1971 psychology experiment on California college students sent to prison. Photos, video, background. Interesting research.

LLRX: Clustering With Search Engines

LLRX: Latest Links
An archive of reviews of legal sites.

MyLemon.com
The site contains an informative guide to the lemon law as well as answers to frequently asked questions. Focuses on New Jersey and Pennsylvania law, but it has helpful resources for anyone.

Purportal.com
This site can quickly assist you in sorting the myths from the half-truths and the actual facts. The site consists of database search engines to check keywords from e-mails you have received, the latest headlines on hoaxes, special reports on 9-11 misinformation, and links to official and commercial sites on fraud, hoaxes and scams.

LLRX.com: 9-11-2001 Related News and Legal/Legislative Resources
This site is updated daily.

Newsaic
Legal issues behind TV shows.

LemonLaw.com
Laws on auto purchasing.

Overlawyered.com
This site chronicles the high cost of the legal system.

Police Foundation Research Brief: Catching Career Criminals

The Florida Medical Malpractice Web Site
Focuses on medical malpractice matters, primarily from a Florida perspective, but also contains info of more national interest. Handy for looking up malpractice information about doctors.

JusticeLink

LawMall
A collection of legal links for lawyers and people not associated with the legal system.

Web Journal of Current Legal Issues
Site from the UK.

Capital Defense Network
The ultimate resource for federal death penalty defense practitioners.

CivicMind.com
Civic resources for lawyers and journalists.

Equal Justice Network
An information source for lawyers and advocates involved in providing legal assistance to low-income people.

Military Law and Justice

ProCon: Sports and Drugs

IJ.org Media Links
Links to stories and cases of national and local interest. Great place to look for offbeat trend stories. Also has a media center, other links.

CrimeLynx.com
Legal resource center with expert links, policy and research links.

National Coalition Against Censorship

National Center for State Courts

American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers

Benedict Copyright Site

Copyright Management Center

Copyright Clearance Center

CyberLaw Encylopedia: Copyright Law

Crash Course in Copyright Law

Intellectual Property Primer

Sports Law Links
Some great resources from Professor Walter T. Champion, Jr., author of Fundamentals of Sports Law and Sports Law in a Nutshell.

Multimedia and Entertainment Law Online News (MELON)

Medicine Malpractice Links
Part of the Electric Law Library.

Index of State Malpractice Laws

Malpractice Litigation News

SafeShopping.org: Tips
Tips on online shopping safety tips from the American Bar Association.

Dog Bite Law Center

ElderWeb.com
This site offers legal, insurance and medical advice (regional and national) for people facing elder-care options.

Mother Jones.com Prisons Study

Lemon Law America
Lists legal rights for car buyers.

Chicago Council of Lawyers
Evaluations of judicial candidates and much more.

Oklahoma State Court Network
Search legal files from divorces, civil, criminal and every document filed at the court clerk by date. You can search by last name, first name, case number.

NRA: State Gun Laws
Use this image map to check gun laws state by state.

CrimeLibrary.com
CourtTV site with news stories, backgrounding, etc.

National Assn. of Legal Professionals
Resource center, studies on employment, etc.

Law Library of Congress
Links galore to research, other law centers, collections databases, reading room, bibliographies, etc.

Insurance Information Institute
Public safety, crime and other stats.

USACops.com
Handy image map links you to local law enforcement agencies. Great for sourcing out-of-state.

ExpertPages.com
A legal site that lists more than 140 expert witnesses on litigation issues. Can be helpful for sourcing stories on various topics, which are listed alphabetically.

Automated Access to Court Electronic Records
Provider of United States bankruptcy data to attorneys, lenders, employers and individuals. Has a helpful press center with statistics, news and trends.

NFL Player Arrests 2000-Present
List compiled by the San Diego Tribune and published in May 2007. Great for reference.

Courts and Law Coverage Beat Guide
From the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism. Simply go to the website and page click on "Learn more" on the "New Resource" box.

Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration
Has several helpful resources, including a blood alcohol content calculator.

Tips for Uncovering Sealed Cases

FBI Violent Crimes Statistics 2006
Review nationally, by region, state, county, city, universities, etc.

Death Penalty Information Center
Opposes capital punishment.

Federal Hate Crime Legislation

DocStoc
Free business forms and legal templates.

TopClassActions.com
Search through top class-action lawsuits. Includes an RSS news feed.

Brennan Center for Justice

National Council on Crime and Delinquency
"The oldest criminal justice research organization in America, NCCD promotes effective, humane, fair, and economically sound solutions to family, community, and justice problems. The organization conducts research, promotes reform initiatives, and seeks to work with individuals, public and private organizations, and the media to prevent and reduce crime and delinquency."

American Library Association: Notable First Amendment Court Cases

Knight Center Beat Guide: Courts & the Law

Center on Wrongful Convictions
Northwestern University School of Law site about a group freeing prisoners wrongfully accused of serious crimes. Includes resources, experts, news and events page and bios of many of the people freed.

Electronic Frontier Foundation: Legal Guide for Bloggers

Podcasting Legal Guide

Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society

Findlaw Cases and Codes
Look up case summaries, jurisdictions, historical documents, etc.

E-Justice Blog

Knight Center: A Beat Guide to: Courts and the Law
From the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism at the University of Maryland.

Cornell: Courts Federal Law Materials and Judicial Opinions

Cornell Law: State Courts Opinions

National Runaway Switchboard
Media page and expert sources on the topic.

National Legal Aid & Defenders Association

Cyberjournalist.net: Legal Issues
Feed of stories and blog posts on web legals issues, etc.

Poynter: Tips for Covering Mass Shootings
Track who is tweeting a site or blog.

Sunshineweek.org

Legal Information Institute: First Amendment Overview

Federal Citizens' Information Center: Privacy Resources

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Technology/civil rights site. Great for finding cases against the FCC and the record industry.

Citizen Media Law Project Legal Guide
Search by keyword or state-by-state map.

World Intellectual Property Organization

Global Legal Information Network
A public government database of official texts of laws, regulations, judicial decisions, and other complementary legal sources contributed by governmental agencies and international organizations. These GLIN members contribute the full texts of their published documents to the database in their original languages. Each document is accompanied by a summary in English and, in many cases in additional languages, plus subject terms selected from the multilingual index to GLIN. All summaries are available to the public, and public access to full texts is also available for most jurisdictions.

BlogInsurance FAQ
Stream video straight from your cell phone.

Library of Congress: Sonia Sotomayor Resources
Articles and books by her, congressional documents, cases and web resources by the Supreme Court nominee.

Chicago Law Blog
Chicago Tribune blog on legal issues in the city.

Source: http://www.journaliststoolbox.org/archive/2012/01/legal-resources-1.html

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Lagarde sees euro zone progress, need for firewall (Reuters)

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) ? Europeans are making progress to overcome the euro zone crisis but need to do more to boost their financial firewall, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Saturday, adding that the IMF is also ready to help.

"There is work under way. There is progress as we see it," Lagarde told a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum.

"But it is critical that the euro zone members actually develop a clear, simple, firewall that can operate both to limit the contagion and to provide this sort of act of trust in the euro zone so that the financing needs of that zone can actually be met."

Lagarde, who made a strong plea in Berlin on Monday for a bigger firewall, added there would be need for IMF funds to help the euro zone.

(Reporting by Paul Carrel, Emma Thomasson)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/bs_nm/us_davos_economy_lagarde

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Launch Center puts Messages, Facebook, Twitter, a flashlight, more in your iPhone Notification Center

Launch Center, a new shortcuts app for iPhone, aims to make everything from sending messages and mail to posting on Facebook and Twitter, to turning on your LED flashlight, faster and easier via an extremely clever, borderline audacious use of URL schemes and iOS 5's Notification Center.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/WkeujsSZqx4/story01.htm

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Valve ventures into mobile with Steam on iOS and Android (Digital Trends)

Launched earlier this week and announced on the Steam site, Valve has started a closed beta for Steam Mobile on the iPhone and Android phones. The mobile application brings a vast amount of core functions found within the PC and Mac version of the Steam software, the most notable being the ability to make purchases through the application. This will allow any mobile Steam user to take advantage of the frequent sales?that cut popular games up to 90 percent off. Assuming the user agrees to notifications from the application, Steam will also be able to feed mobile alerts to the user when a game on a user?s wishlist goes on sale. The interface offers the familiar Steam categories of new, featured, popular and specials. In addition, there?s a search interface allowing the user to find games by price, title or genre.?

After a user logs into the mobile application, they have the ability to chat with Steam friends, peruse friend activity, read gaming news, check out profiles and groups in addition to looking at screenshots and other gaming media. Within the chat interface, friends are split up into?categories?such as?recent chats, in-game, online and offline. However, group chat is?unavailable?through this version of the mobile interface. There?s also no obvious link between the mobile device and a PC at home that would allow a user to queue up Steam downloads while away from the computer.?

While all of Steam?s features aren?t included within the application,?Valve president Gabe Newell?believes?that this application represents a good start.?Newell?stated ?Seeing which of your friends are online and playing a game, sending quick messages, looking at screenshots for an upcoming game, or catching a sale ? these are all features customers have requested. Mobile is changing way people interact, play games and consume media, and the Steam app is part of our commitment to meet customer demands and expand the service functionality of Steam to make it richer and more accessible for everyone.? Newell did not indicate if the Steam platform would start to sell mobile games.

While Steam is moving forward with mobile,?Electronic Arts still hasn?t rolled out a mobile counterpart to the Origin download service. Origin also lags behind Steam in terms of the amount of games offer for sale on the service. While Steam offers more than 1,800 titles for sale, Electronic Arts lists less than 10 percent of that figure. Electronic Arts did announce an additional 11 third-party publishers have been added to the Origin service recently, but did not indicate how many games would be added over the coming months. ?

As reported at CES 2012, Valve is still prepping Steam?s ?Big Picture? user interface designed to bring the Steam experience to the television screen. This will allow users to hook a computer to the television and play games on a much larger screen, similar to user experience of console owners.?Newell hasn?t indicated if Valve will release a set-top box to offer this feature to consumers that don?t have a computer hooked into their main television in the living room. Some analysts have also speculated that the??Big Picture? mode could utilize cloud streaming technology similar to OnLive and be delivered through an application on gaming consoles or through?Internet-connected televisions. However, Valve has said repeatedly that??Big Picture? mode will include controller support.?

While the mobile application is currently in a closed beta, Steam users can download the mobile application onto the iOS platform and log into the application to declare interest in joining the beta. Valve plans to roll out new invites slowly while the application is still being tested over the next few weeks.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20120126/tc_digitaltrends/valveventuresintomobilewithsteamoniosandandroid

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Amazon merchant caught bribing customers for five-star reviews (Digital Trends)

As reported by the New York Times earlier today, an Amazon merchant?known as?VIP Deals issued a letter to all customers that purchased the Vipertek black leather, case folio cover?designed for the newly released Kindle Fire. As detailed in the correspondence here, the merchant?offered a full refund of the $10 case in exchange for a review on Amazon. While the letter didn?t specifically ask for a positive review, it stated ?Please share your experience to help others learn more about the specific features and qualities of the product, what you liked about it and the benefits to owning the product.? Later in the document, the seller went on to state ?Please also rate your 5-star experience, we strive to earn 100% perfect perfect ?FIVE-STAR? scores from you!? The letter was dated December 16, 2011.

By late January, approximately 92 percent of the 335 product reviews were five stars along with glowing?accolades within the text of each review. Only a handful of reviewers made their?displeasure?of the bribe known within the reviews. According to three customers interviewed by the Times, the letter was packaged with the product during shipment. According to the Times, a representative for VIP Deals denied that the letters were included within each package. However, the merchant?had received nearly 5,000 positive reviews on Amazon which rounded out to a 4.9 star rating.?

The bland, form letter design of the correspondence likely allowed the merchant?to include the bribe within all VIP Deals products sold on Amazon. After the Times sent Amazon a copy of the letter, the retail giant started deleting all reviews created for the product. Eventually, Amazon removed all products sold by the merchant?and ultimately banned the seller from the marketplace.

According to Amazon?s guidelines, merchants are forbidden from offering monetary incentive to create product reviews.?However, this marketing scheme allowed VIP Deals to quickly become the top seller of Kindle Fire cases and Amazon definitely profited by the increase in sales over the two-month time period. If Amazon was completely oblivious to VIP Deals operation, the online retailer definitely needs to improve its ability to discover and punish these types of merchants. ?

This isn?t the first time that a seller or brand has attempted to influence the Amazon review system. During late January 2009, networking and peripheral gear maker Belkin was busted using the Amazon-owned?Mechanical Turk service to purchase positive reviews for 65 cents each.?Mechanical Turk workers were directed to mark negative reviews as unhelpful and create a positive review with a story regarding the product. After an investigation, it became evident that Belkin business development representative?Michael Bayard was responsible for the post. After Belkin president?Mark Reynoso apologized for the incident and condemned the unethical nature of the scheme,?Bayard?s employment ended at Belkin during?February?2009 according to his LinkedIn page.

Pointed out by Laura Owen at paidContent.org during June 2011, consumers should also be wary of the Top 1000 Reviewers on Amazon. According to the article, people within the Top 1000 are often courted with free products from various brands. This group of elite reviewers makes calculated choices on what to accept for review as the outcome of the review could easily alter their elite status. For instance, giving a poor review to a well-liked product may result in many ?not helpful? ratings. In addition, the top reviewers that do not like a free product are often encouraged by the company?not to post a review.?

Covered during mid-2011, a group of researchers at Cornell are working on a?computer algorithm that can tell if a review is fake. Designed to point out the fake reviews created by freelancers at Fiverr and Amazon?s Mechanical Turk, researchers found the?algorithm was able to knock out 90 percent of fake reviews during initial testing. The group is continuing to perfect the system and has fielded requests from?Amazon, Hilton and TripAdvisor regarding their progress.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20120127/tc_digitaltrends/amazonmerchantcaughtbribingcustomersforfivestarreviews

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Bruce Jenner: My teens don't need college

Frazer Harrison / Getty Images

?

By Us Weekly

Who needs a college degree when fame and fortune awaits?

Since their first appearance on "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" in 2007, Kendall and Kylie Jenner have become stars in their own right, thanks to lucrative modeling campaigns and a thriving teen fashion empire.

PHOTOS: Kardashians as kids

When Us Weekly spoke to their father Bruce Jenner at the Performance 3D demonstration in NYC Monday, the 62-year-old Olympian admitted his girls' careers are so busy they may not pursue higher education.

"If they want to go to college, certainly, I think it's a good idea. But I'm not the advocate of, 'You've got to go to college!'" Bruce said. "I think by the time they graduate from high school, they will probably be in a position to go right to working."

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Bruce defends Kendall's racy bikini photo shoot

Like their older sisters Kourtney, 32, Kim, 31, and Khloe, 27, Kendall and Kylie are becoming branded businesswomen, Bruce explained. "They've just developing their clothing line for Sears -- it's a little more teen-oriented, the clothing line. And they're working all the time on the show."

With two magazine covers under her belt (American Cheerleader and Teen Prom), Kendall, 16, is poised to become the next big supermodel, Bruce added.

VIDEO: Bruce freaks out when he finds out Kendall is on birth control

"She'll probably have a career by the time she's out of high school," Bruce told Us. "If that's what she wants to do, that's good. I don't know if college is going to be that important for her."

Do you agree the girls don't need college? Vote in our poll, and tell us on Facebook.

{"contentId":"10235644","totalVotes":"14443"}

Bruce Jenner's teens have millions. Do they need college?

Related content:

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/25/10235644-bruce-jenner-my-teens-dont-need-college

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American hostage in Somalia freed in US Navy raid

The Navy SEALs caught the kidnappers by surprise, rescuing Jessica Buchanan and Poul Thisted in Somalia. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.

By Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News chief Pentagon correspondent

Updated at 7:15 p.m. ET:?Navy SEAL Team 6, the unit that?killed Osama bin Laden,?also rescued?an American and a Dane held hostage in Somalia, U.S. officials said, but?the same service members were not involved in both missions, U.S. officials said. Wednesday.

Updated at 12:30 p.m. ET:?The Navy SEALs that rescued the American and Danish hostages in Somalia on Tuesday were?not the same individuals who killed Osama bin Laden, U.S. officials told NBC News, contradicting an earlier news service report.

Published at 1:15 a.m. ET: In a daring nighttime raid Tuesday, U.S. Navy SEALs rescued two hostages, including one American, who were being held by kidnappers in Somalia, U.S. officials tell NBC News.

American Jessica Buchanan, 32,?and a 60-year-old Dane, Poul Thisted, were working for a Danish relief organization in northern Somalia when they were kidnapped last October.?U.S. officials described their kidnappers as heavily armed common criminals with no known ties to any organized militant group.

---

According to the U.S. officials, two teams of?Navy SEALs landed by helicopter near the compound where the two hostages were being held.?

As the SEALS approached the compound on foot gunfire broke out, the U.S. officials said, and several of the militants were reportedly killed. There is no word that any of the Americans were wounded.

Danish Refugee Council

Poul Hagen Thisted, a Danish national who was taken hostage in Somalia alongside American Jessica Buchanan in October 2011. The pair were freed by a U.S. Navy SEALS raid.

The SEALs gathered up Buchanan and Thisted, loaded them onto the helicopters and flew them to safety at an undisclosed location. The two hostages were not injured during the rescue operation and are reported to be in relatively good condition.

The two had been working for the Danish Refugee Council on a demining project in northern Somalia. The humanitarian group has been providing relief to some 450,000 refugees in the Somalia-Kenya border region.

News reports at the time said the two were kidnapped Oct. 25?along with a Somali colleague when their three-car convoy was stopped on the way to an airport. A self-proclaimed Somali?pirate said they had been kidnapped?for ransom by?pirates?stymied by Western nations' efforts to stop the seizure of ships off the coast. The fate of the Somali colleague was unclear.????

STORY: Second American, a writer, held in Somalia; rescue next?

The first indication of the rescue operation came Tuesday night in Washington from President Barack Obama himself.?

As the president entered the House chambers to give his State of the Union Speech, he pointed to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta standing in the crowd and said, "Leon. Good job tonight. Good job tonight."

The president made no mention of the hostage rescue, but finished his speech with a reference to the killing of Osama bin Laden last May in a similar operation to the one conducted by Navy SEALs Tuesday night.?

U.S. military forces launched a dramatic raid in Somalia that freed an American and a Dane held hostage. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.

Updated at?5:57 a.m. ET: In a statement sent?to NBC News and other media, Obama says that he authorized the operation to rescue Buchanan.

"Thanks to the extraordinary courage and capabilities of our Special Operations Forces, yesterday Jessica Buchanan was rescued and she is on her way home," he says. "As Commander-in-Chief, I could not be prouder of the troops who carried out this mission, and the dedicated professionals who supported their efforts."

Obama, who spoke to Buchanan's father Tuesday night,?says she?was "selflessly serving her fellow human beings when she was taken hostage by criminals and pirates who showed no regard for her health and well-being."

He says he told her father that "all Americans have Jessica in our thoughts and prayers, and give thanks that she will soon be reunited with her family."

"The United States will not tolerate the abduction of our people, and will spare no effort to secure the safety of our citizens and to bring their captors to justice,"?Obama adds.?"This is yet another message to the world that the United States of America will stand strongly against any threats to our people."

Updated at 6:50 a.m. ET: A statement from U.S. Africa Command says U.S. forces had received "actionable intelligence" about Buchanan and Thisted and decided to take action.

"During the course of the operation, the rescue force patrolled to the location and confirmed the presence of Mrs. Buchanan and Mr. Thisted guarded by nine captors," the statement says. "All nine captors were killed during the assault."

General Carter F. Ham, of U.S. Africa Command,?says in the statement that the raid, which took place?near Gadaado, was "boldly conducted by some of our nation's most courageous, competent, and committed special operations forces."

"Thanks to them a fellow American and her Danish co-worker are safe and will soon be home with their families," he adds.

Updated at 6:55 a.m. ET: A statement from Panetta?says?he is "grateful to report that there was no loss of life or injuries to our personnel."

He says the rescue --?"undertaken in a hostile environment" -- showed the "superb skills of courageous service members who risked their lives to save others."?

"They are heroes and continue to inspire all of us by their bravery and service to our nation," he says.

Updated at 10:35 a.m. ET: Pentagon officials told NBC News that they are characterizing the people who took Buchanan and Thisted hostage as "criminal suspects,"? rather than pirates. They said the U.S. military has no firm information about whether the captors were connected to pirates or an Islamic militant group like al-Shabaab.

See more of Jim Miklaszewski's reporting on the SEALs raid tonight on NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams.

?More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

?

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/25/10229917-american-hostage-in-somalia-rescued-by-us-navy-seals-in-overnight-raid

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Photo of the Day (Theagitator)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/190341197?client_source=feed&format=rss

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New Genetic Clues to Breast Cancer? (HealthDay)

SUNDAY, Jan. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified three new genomic regions they believe are linked with breast cancer that may help explain why some women develop the disease.

All three newly identified areas "contain interesting genes that open up new avenues for biological and clinical research," said researcher Douglas Easton, a professor of genetic epidemiology at the University of Cambridge in England.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, with about 1 million new cases annually worldwide and more than 400,000 deaths a year.

Scientists conducting genome-wide association studies -- research that looks at the association between genetic factors and disease to pinpoint possible causes -- had already identified 22 breast cancer susceptibility loci. Locus is the physical location of a gene or DNA sequence on a chromosome.

"The three [newly identified] loci take the number of common susceptibility loci from 22 to 25," said Easton.

However, the three new susceptibility loci might explain only about 0.7 percent of the familial risks of breast cancer, bringing the total contribution to about 9 percent, the researchers said.

Michael Melner, scientific program director for the American Cancer Society, said this current research adds some important new clues to existing evidence, but he agreed that the number of cases likely associated with these three variants is probably low.

"So the total impact in terms of patients would be fairly small," Melner said.

The study is published online Jan. 22 in Nature Genetics.

To find the new clues, Easton's team worked with genetic information on about 57,000 breast cancer patients and 58,000 healthy women obtained from two genome-wide association studies.

The investigators zeroed in on 72 different single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). A SNP -- pronounced "snip" -- is a change in which a single base in the DNA differs from the usual base. The human genome has millions of SNPs, some linked with disease, while others are normal variations.

The researchers focused on three SNPs -- on chromosomes 12p11, 12q24 and 21q21.

Easton's team found that the variant on the 12p11 chromosome is linked with both estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer (which needs estrogen to grow) and estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer. The other two variants are only linked with ER-positive cancers, they said.

One of the newly identified variants is in an area with a gene that has a role in the development of mammary glands and bones. Easton said it was already known that mammary gland development in puberty is an important period in terms of determining later cancer risk. "But these are the first susceptibility genes to be shown to be involved in this process," he said.

One of the other SNPs is in an area that can affect estrogen receptor signaling, the researchers found.

Melner, noting some of the research is "fine tuning" of other work, said in his view the new understanding of the signaling pathways and their genetic links is the most important finding.

"When you delineate a pathway, you bring up new potential targets for therapy," he said. "The more targets you have, you open up the potential for having multiple drugs and attacking a cancer more easily, without it becoming more resistant."

Overall, Melner added, the results underscore the complexity of the different mechanisms involved in breast cancer development.

More information

For more about the genetics of breast cancer, visit the American Cancer Society.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120123/hl_hsn/newgeneticcluestobreastcancer

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Olympus turns to Sony to help it get its feet back on the ground

Olympus might have some good news soon: it might have found a hero to rescue it from its woes. The "troubled" (read: it hid $1.7 billion worth of accounting losses, was nearly de-listed from the Tokyo Stock Exchange and is currently suing its leadership team for fraud) company is reportedly about to negotiate a capital-and-business alliance with Sony. The TSE gave the optics-maker three years to clean up its act, which it's hoping Big S (that already owns a 0.03 percent stake in the company) will assist with some know-how, a big pot of cash, and maybe loaning them a competent accountant, or something. Whatever happens, the rumors are that all will be revealed at a press conference next week, we're just hoping Will Smith turns up to announce it.

Olympus turns to Sony to help it get its feet back on the ground originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechCrunch  |  Diamond.jp (translated)  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/23/olympus-sony-talks/

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Haiti leader launches power program (AP)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti ? Haiti's president said Monday he hopes to double the number of rural households that receive electricity within two years by offering people small loans to buy solar kits.

The announcement by President Michel Martelly is part of a $45 million-plus energy package that aims to introduce electricity to thousands of people in this impoverished nation who otherwise illuminate their homes by candlelight.

The program, dubbed "Give me light, give me life," seeks to build credit for rural Haitians as they take out loans to purchase small solar kits for charging their cell phones or computers. It also aims to line streets with light posts in the countryside and repair power lines in poor neighborhoods in the capital.

"If a country wants to talk about development it's imperative to talk about energy and electricity," Martelly said at a news conference at a hotel in downtown Port-au-Prince.

The need for energy in Haiti is critical to the reconstruction of Haiti as the Caribbean country struggles to recover from a massive earthquake two years ago that devastated much of the southern half and initially displaced 1.5 million people.

The 40-year-old state-run Electricity of Haiti can only power 200,000 homes, Martelly said, and only 30 percent of the population in this country of 10 million has access to a power supply. Even then, most parts of Haiti only have electricity for a few hours a day, forcing many businesses and some homes to rely on generators and expensive fuel imports.

The new program will call on smaller Haitian banks to issue $30 million in loans with an interest rate of 7 percent, payable over seven years. The credit will help families purchase solar kits that will each cost between $250 and $350.

The families in question live in two of the most remote corners of the country ? the Grand-Anse, the mountainous tip of the western peninsula, and the Northwest province.

In the end, the program seeks to give a power supply to 200,000 households within two years before moving onto the rest of Haiti, Martelly said.

"We feel they have less access than the rest of the country," said Rene Jean-Jumeau, Secretary of State of Energy.

Another part of the program, budgeted for $15 million, will give the government loans so that mayors in the countryside can line 375 kilometers (233 miles) of streets with lamps. It will begin in three years.

The government project will also focus on urban areas. It will repair street lights and electric posts in 10 popular neighborhoods with $300,000 from the national treasury.

The program joins other efforts to boost energy production in Haiti.

The Inter-American Development Bank last month announced that it had approved a $20 million grant to help refurbish Haiti's Peligre hydroelectric plant, the country's largest renewable energy generation facility.

(This version CORRECTS total amount for project and street lamp portion)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_haiti_energy

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The influence of estrogen on female mood changes

Public release date: 22-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Luo Yue-Jia
luoyj@bnu.edu.cn
Science in China Press

This release is also available in Chinese on EurekAlert! Chinese.

Women's emotional responses can vary significantly premenstrually. They may become depressed or grumpy during menstruation or the premenstrual phase, known as premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Roughly 75% of reproductive-age women report premenstrual mood swings or physical discomfort. Brain scans show a significant increase in activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex related to emotional processing premenstrually, even if women's emotional responses do not vary significantly. The relationship between estrogen and emotion was first investigated over 100 years ago, and it has been shown that estrogen can improve mood. Research has shown that during prepuberty, boys are twice as likely as girls to need psychotherapy. However, the opposite is true postpubertally. Women are twice as likely to develop anxiety or depressive disorders compared to men. Women's increased vulnerability to depressive disorders typically occurs between the beginning of puberty and the age of 55, in concert with estrogen level changes. In addition, it is believed that about 95% of women have recurrent psychosis or a noticeable increase in negative emotions along with the fluctuation in endogenous estrogen level. Therefore, understanding the relationship between estrogen level changes and cyclical mood disorders can provide a theoretical basis for improving female physical and mental health.

In their paper titled "Estrogen Impacts on Emotion: Psychological, Neuroscience and Endocrine Studies", Professor Luo Yue-Jia from the College of Brain and Cognitive Sciences of Beijing Normal University and Dr. Chen Chunping from the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences systematically reviewed research in the fields of neuroscience, psychology and endocrinology. The paper was published in Science China: Life Sciences. The authors hope the study will contribute to a better understanding of how estrogen affects female mood.

Estrogen has a wide range of effects on the body and brain. It exerts influence on the central nervous system through complex mechanisms of physiology and psychology. It can affect the generation and efficiency of neurotransmitters in the amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal lobes, which are important brain areas related to emotion and cognition. It also plays a role in changing emotional behavior by acting on the hypothalamuspituitaryadrenal (HPA) axis. The genetic transcription of estrogen receptors can modulate emotional behavior, and estrogen can influence emotional processing via neuropsychological factors. It enhances the coding of emotion and recognition accuracy for facial expressions. Estrogen can also affect emotional arousal and change the intensity of emotional experiences.

Clinicians have long recognized estrogen's therapeutic potential for mood change. Self-rated depression scores among oophorectomized women with depressive symptoms are significantly decreased by administration of estrogen, alone or in combination with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluvoxamine. In addition, estrogen replacement therapy is often used in postmenopausal women to improve mood, energy level and general well-being. However, estrogen is not simply a natural "physiological protectant". Some have reported that estrogen administration does not improve mood and even causes fear and anxiety. Therefore, the impact of estrogen on emotion varies and may depend on the individual's current state and the situation.

The authors believe that hormones do not exert an absolute and singular effect on the body. They regulate physical and psychological changes in numerous dimensions. Thus, the influence of estrogen on women's emotion is related to multiple systems. If we achieve a comprehensive understanding of the internal mechanisms related to emotional changes and estrogen, we can provide a theoretical support system to help address female emotional disorders. The authors also believe that the psychological, neurological and endocrine systems are interdependent. Therefore, an effective blending of psychology, biology and physiology is needed. This was the original intention of the paper.

Currently, a team led by Professor Luo Yue-Jia in cooperation with Professor Huang Ruiwang from South China Normal University continues to carry out related studies using electroencephalograms and magnetic resonance imaging as well as behavioral and biochemical techniques. In addition to the study of the relationship between estrogen and emotion, we have extended the research to ovarian hormones and complex social cognition.

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See the article: Chen C P, Cheng D Z, Luo Yue-Jia. Estrogen Impacts on Emotion: Psychological, Neuroscience and Endocrine Studies. SCI CHINA Life Sci, 2011, 41(11).

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Public release date: 22-Jan-2012
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Contact: Luo Yue-Jia
luoyj@bnu.edu.cn
Science in China Press

This release is also available in Chinese on EurekAlert! Chinese.

Women's emotional responses can vary significantly premenstrually. They may become depressed or grumpy during menstruation or the premenstrual phase, known as premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Roughly 75% of reproductive-age women report premenstrual mood swings or physical discomfort. Brain scans show a significant increase in activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex related to emotional processing premenstrually, even if women's emotional responses do not vary significantly. The relationship between estrogen and emotion was first investigated over 100 years ago, and it has been shown that estrogen can improve mood. Research has shown that during prepuberty, boys are twice as likely as girls to need psychotherapy. However, the opposite is true postpubertally. Women are twice as likely to develop anxiety or depressive disorders compared to men. Women's increased vulnerability to depressive disorders typically occurs between the beginning of puberty and the age of 55, in concert with estrogen level changes. In addition, it is believed that about 95% of women have recurrent psychosis or a noticeable increase in negative emotions along with the fluctuation in endogenous estrogen level. Therefore, understanding the relationship between estrogen level changes and cyclical mood disorders can provide a theoretical basis for improving female physical and mental health.

In their paper titled "Estrogen Impacts on Emotion: Psychological, Neuroscience and Endocrine Studies", Professor Luo Yue-Jia from the College of Brain and Cognitive Sciences of Beijing Normal University and Dr. Chen Chunping from the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences systematically reviewed research in the fields of neuroscience, psychology and endocrinology. The paper was published in Science China: Life Sciences. The authors hope the study will contribute to a better understanding of how estrogen affects female mood.

Estrogen has a wide range of effects on the body and brain. It exerts influence on the central nervous system through complex mechanisms of physiology and psychology. It can affect the generation and efficiency of neurotransmitters in the amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal lobes, which are important brain areas related to emotion and cognition. It also plays a role in changing emotional behavior by acting on the hypothalamuspituitaryadrenal (HPA) axis. The genetic transcription of estrogen receptors can modulate emotional behavior, and estrogen can influence emotional processing via neuropsychological factors. It enhances the coding of emotion and recognition accuracy for facial expressions. Estrogen can also affect emotional arousal and change the intensity of emotional experiences.

Clinicians have long recognized estrogen's therapeutic potential for mood change. Self-rated depression scores among oophorectomized women with depressive symptoms are significantly decreased by administration of estrogen, alone or in combination with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluvoxamine. In addition, estrogen replacement therapy is often used in postmenopausal women to improve mood, energy level and general well-being. However, estrogen is not simply a natural "physiological protectant". Some have reported that estrogen administration does not improve mood and even causes fear and anxiety. Therefore, the impact of estrogen on emotion varies and may depend on the individual's current state and the situation.

The authors believe that hormones do not exert an absolute and singular effect on the body. They regulate physical and psychological changes in numerous dimensions. Thus, the influence of estrogen on women's emotion is related to multiple systems. If we achieve a comprehensive understanding of the internal mechanisms related to emotional changes and estrogen, we can provide a theoretical support system to help address female emotional disorders. The authors also believe that the psychological, neurological and endocrine systems are interdependent. Therefore, an effective blending of psychology, biology and physiology is needed. This was the original intention of the paper.

Currently, a team led by Professor Luo Yue-Jia in cooperation with Professor Huang Ruiwang from South China Normal University continues to carry out related studies using electroencephalograms and magnetic resonance imaging as well as behavioral and biochemical techniques. In addition to the study of the relationship between estrogen and emotion, we have extended the research to ovarian hormones and complex social cognition.

###

See the article: Chen C P, Cheng D Z, Luo Yue-Jia. Estrogen Impacts on Emotion: Psychological, Neuroscience and Endocrine Studies. SCI CHINA Life Sci, 2011, 41(11).

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/sicp-tio010912.php

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