By Pueng Vongs | The Lookout â€"Â
Article from YAHOO NEWS
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Co-founder worried about Facebook privacy
Eduardo Saverin, who co-founded the world's largest social network with CEO Mark Zuckerberg, keeps a low profile on Facebook these days. Why? Even he's concerned about online privacy.
“I don't like showing my privacy,†Saverin said in a rare interview with the magazine Veja.Â
As Facebook nears a billion unique users, the question of privacy has dogged the social network -- and not just users worried about who will see their private photos or have access to the personal information, it seems.
Ironically, Saverin touted the interview on Facebook, describing Veja as “the top magazine in Brazil -- which I used to read when I was young.â€
Saverin, who made billions off the world's most popular social network, made headlines in mid May with his decision to renounce his U.S. citizenship for residence in Singapore, where there is no capital gains tax.
Had he remained a citizen, Saverin would have been hit with about $600 million in capital gains taxes whenever he sold the Facebook shares.
Veja nevertheless described him as “An American Hero.â€
In the interview, Saverin denies fleeing the country in order to avoid the tax penalty. “The decision was only based on my interest in working and living in Singapore,†he said. “I have and will pay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes to the U.S. government.â€
That news may surprise Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. and Bob Casey, D-Pa., whose so-called "Ex-Patriot Act" bill was their answer to Saverin's decision, first made public in a recently released IRS list.Â
Saverin's back story has become confused through myth and fiction, notably the dramatic and fanciful tale described in the fictionalized account of the company's founding, 2010's “The Social Network,†directed by David Fincher.
Saverin described that film as Hollywood fantasy, telling Veja there is no bad blood between him and Zuckerberg.
“I have only good things to say about Mark. There are no hard feelings between us. His focus on the company since its very first day is anything short of admirable,†Saverin said.
“Facebook wasn't built out of a Harvard dorm window. And I would never throw a laptop at someone, like it appears in the movie. Not even at Mark.â€
Another bit of apocrypha: Saverin's father didn't take the family from Brazil to America in 1992 because of threats from kidnappers.
“I always wanted to live in the United States,†Roberto Saverin, Eduardo's father, told the magazine.
Related Images
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The Facebook page of company co-founder Eduardo Saverin, who renounced his U.S. citizenship ahead of the social network's hotly anticipate IPO.
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Pope breaks silence over leaked documents scandal
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May 27, 2012: Pope Benedict XVI blesses the faithful at the end of a Pentecost Mass inside St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican.AP
VATICAN CITY â€"  Pope Benedict XVI broke his silence Wednesday over the scandal of leaked documents that has convulsed the Vatican, saying he was saddened by the betrayal but grateful to those aides who work faithfully and in silence to help him do his job.
Benedict made his first direct comments on the scandal in off-the-cuff remarks at the end of his weekly general audience. He lashed out at some of the media reports about the scandal, saying the "exaggerated" and "gratuitous" rumors had offered a false image of the Holy See.
The Italian media have been on a frenzy ever since the pope's butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested last week after Vatican investigators discovered papal documents in his Vatican City apartment. He remains in detention and has pledged to cooperate fully with the investigation.
Rumors have been flying in the press about possible cardinals implicated in the probe, pending resignations and details of the investigation that even Gabriele's lawyers say they haven't heard. The Vatican spokesman has spent much of his daily briefings in recent days shooting down the various reports.
The Vatileaks scandal represents one of the greatest breaches of trust and security for the Holy See in recent memory given that a significant number of documents from the pope's own desk were leaked to an investigative journalist. The Vatican has denounced the leaks as criminal and immoral and has opened a three-pronged investigation to get to the bottom of who was responsible.
"The events of recent days about the Curia and my collaborators have brought sadness in my heart," Benedict said at the end of his audience. But he added: "I want to renew my trust in and encouragement of my closest collaborators and all those who every day, with loyalty and a spirit of sacrifice and in silence, help me fulfill my ministry."
Few people think Gabriele worked alone, and his promise to cooperate with the investigation has fueled speculation that other might be arrested soon.
The motivations for the leaks remain unclear: Some commentators say they appear designed to discredit Benedict's No. 2, the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. Others say they're aimed at undermining the Vatican's efforts to become more financially transparent. Still others say they aim to show the 85-year-old Benedict's weakness in running the church.
On Tuesday, the Vatican undersecretary of state, Archbishop Angelo Becciu, lashed out at what he called an unprecedented, "brutal" attack on the pope, saying the stolen papers didn't just concern matters of internal church governance but represented the thoughts of people who in writing to the pope believed they were essentially speaking before God.
"It's not just that the pope's papers were stolen, but that people who turned to him as the vicar of Christ have had their consciences violated," Becciu told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.
The Vatileaks scandal broke in January when Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi revealed letters from a former top Vatican administrator who begged the pope not to transfer him for having exposed alleged corruption that cost the Holy See millions of euros (dollars) in higher contract prices. The prelate, Monsignor Carlo Maria Vigano, is now the Vatican's U.S. ambassador.
The scandal widened over the following months with documents leaked to Italian journalists that laid bare power struggles inside the Vatican over its efforts to show greater financial transparency and comply with international norms to fight money laundering. There was even a leak of a memo claiming that Benedict would die this year.
The scandal reached a peak last weekend, when Nuzzi published an entire book based on a trove of new documentation, including personal correspondence to and from the pope and his private secretary, much of which paints Bertone in a negative light.
The Vatican has warned of legal action for those who stole, received and disseminated the documents. Nuzzi, who in 2009 published a book on leaked documents from the Vatican bank, has justified the publication as an act of transparency.
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Police ID Victim inFace-Chewing Attack
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May 29, 2012: Police say 31-year-old Rudy Eugene, left, bit into 65-year-old Ronald Poppo's, right, face.AP
MIAMI â€"  It is being called one of this city's goriest crimes: A naked man was on top of another nude man along a busy highway, biting into the man's face, tearing it to pieces. A police officer arrived to help, but the mauler growled at him and continued to chew away, stopping only when he was shot to death.
Miami police said little Tuesday about the attack, which took place Saturday afternoon in the shadow of The Miami Herald headquarters. Surveillance video from the newspaper's security camera showed cars, motorcycles, pedestrians and bicyclists passing by.
The victim, identified as 65-year-old Ronald Poppo, a homeless man who lived under the causeway, was in critical condition.
"He had his face eaten down to his goatee. The forehead was just bone. No nose, no mouth," said Sgt. Armando Aguilar, president of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police. "In my opinion, he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Sgt. Javier Ortiz, vice president of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police, said it was one of the bloodiest "and goriest scenes I've ever been to."
"It was not only grotesque, it was just very sad, the amount of blood. It was very sad to see what happened to this gentleman that had his face eaten," Ortiz said.
It's not clear what led Rudy Eugene, 31, to attack Poppo. Eugene's ex-wife, Jenny Ductant, told WPLG-TV, said he was somewhat paranoid.
"I wouldn't say he had mental problem but he always felt like people was against him ... No one was for him, everyone was against him," she told the station. She and Eugene's mother declined comment when reached by The Associated Press.
Larry Vega was riding his bicycle off the causeway, which connects downtown Miami with Miami Beach, when he saw the attack.
"The guy was, like, tearing him to pieces with his mouth, so I told him, `Get off!"' Vega told Miami television station WSVN (http://bit.ly/L6kwWt). "The guy just kept eating the other guy away, like, ripping his skin."
Vega flagged down the Miami police officer, who can be seen exiting his car on the Herald video. Vega said the officer repeatedly ordered the attacker to get off. Eugene just picked his head up and growled at the officer before continuing to maul his victim, Vega said.
The officer shot Eugene, but he just kept chewing, Vega said. The officer fired again, killing Eugene.
Vega refused to comment when reached by The Associated Press, saying he wanted to put what he witnessed behind him.
Detective William Moreno would not release details about the shooting, citing the ongoing investigation. The Miami-Dade County medical examiner declined to provide any information until after the autopsy, which was scheduled for Tuesday. Police have not released details from the autopsy and it could be weeks before the results of toxicology tests are available.
Ortiz said the officer, who is part of a crisis intervention team and trained to deal with the mentally ill, had no choice but to fire.
"He's clearly shaken up," Ortiz said, adding that the officer had been administratively reassigned pending an investigation, as is standard after an officer-involved shooting.
After the shooting, the Herald's video zooms in on the scene. Most of it is blocked by an overpass, but two sets of uncovered legs can be seen. One set never moves, while the other twists and turns as if the person is in pain.
"It was just a blob of blood," Vega said. "You couldn't really see, it was just blood all over the place."
Court records show that Poppo has several arrests for public intoxication.
According to Miami-Dade court records, Eugene had been arrested for multiple misdemeanors, mostly marijuana-related charges. The most recent arrest was in 2009. The Herald reported that he played football at a Miami area high school in the late 1990s.
Ives Eugene, who identified himself as Rudy Eugene's uncle, described his nephew as a "nice and hard-working" man who washed cars at a local dealership.
He said his nephew had asked his girlfriend to borrow her car, but she said no. "So he rode the bicycle, and he never came back home," he said.
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Grammy Winner Watson Dies
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In this April 28, 2001 file photo, Music legend Doc Watson performs at the annual Merlefest at Wilkes Comunity College in Wilkesboro, N.CAP
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. â€"  The manager of Grammy-winning folk musician Doc Watson says the artist has died. He was 89.
Mitchell Greenhill said in a news release that Watson died Tuesday at Wake Forest Baptist Hospital Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. A hospital spokeswoman also confirmed Watson's death.
Watson was a master flatpicker, playing his acoustic guitar at lightning speeds that could intimidate other musicians. The blind musician also sang and played other instruments, including the harmonica.
His many awards include the National Medal of the Arts in 1997 and the lifetime achievement award from the Grammys in 2004. His albums earned seven other Grammys.
Watson was also known for Merlefest, an annual gathering of musicians in Wilkesboro named after his son, who died in a tractor accident in 1985.
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UK Court Says WikiLeaks Chief Can Be Extradited
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June 15, 2011: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen with his ankle security tag at the house where he is required to stay in, near Bungay, England.AP
LONDON â€"  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Wednesday lost his legal fight at Britain's Supreme Court against extradition to Sweden.
The London court announced its judgement in a hearing at around 9:15am local time.
The 40-year-old Australian is wanted in Sweden to face questioning over alleged sex crimes against two women.
He has now exhausted all his legal options in Britain, but could still make a last-ditch appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
Assange lodged his appeal against extradition with the Supreme Court in February, with his lawyers arguing the European arrest warrant used to seek his extradition was not valid as the Swedish prosecutor did not have sufficient authority to order the extradition.
This was rejected by a majority of five to two by the Supreme Court justices.
Attorneys for Assange secured a two-week stay however, arguing the decision by the judges was based on a point of law that was not discussed in court. Dinah Rose QC said the majority of members of the Supreme Court panel had made their decision based on the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties -- which was never brought up at the time. She may decide to challenge the validity of Wednesday's ruling on that basis.
Assange will not be extradited until that two-week period is completed.
Once in Sweden, he would then be tried behind closed doors as rape trials in the country are held in "secret."
Assange fears that if he is sent to Sweden he will then be extradited to the US for prosecution over charges associated with his WikiLeaks website, which released hundreds of thousands of classified diplomatic cables that revealed a mass of US secrets.
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Ex-aide of UK PM arrested over alleged perjury
Former News Of The World editor Andy Coulson has been detained over allegations of perjury.
Mr Coulson was held on suspicion of committing perjury during the Tommy Sheridan trial at the High Court in Glasgow, the Crown Office said.
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Ex-Liberian president gets 50 years in prison
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April 26: Former Liberian President Charles Taylor looks down as he waits for the start of a hearing to deliver verdict in the court room of the Special Court for Sierra Leone in Leidschendam, near The Hague, Netherlands.AP
LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands â€"  Judges at an international war crimes court have sentenced former Liberian President Charles Taylor to 50 years in prison following his landmark conviction for supporting rebels in Sierra Leone who murdered and mutilated thousands during their country's brutal civil war in return for blood diamonds.
The Special Court for Sierra Leone found Taylor guilty last month on 11 charges of aiding and abetting the rebels who went on a bloody rampage during the decade-long war that ended in 2002 with more than 50,000 dead.
Presiding Judge Richard Lussick says the crimes Taylor was convicted of were of the "utmost gravity in terms of scale and brutality."
The 64-year-old warlord-turned-president is the first former head of state convicted by an international war crimes court since World War II.
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Guitar picking master Doc Watson dies at 89
You could hear the mountains of North Carolina in Doc Watson's music. The rush of a mountain stream, the steady creak of a mule in leather harness plowing rows in topsoil and the echoes of ancient sounds made by a vanishing people were an intrinsic part of the folk musician's powerful, homespun sound.
It took Watson decades to make a name for himself outside the world of Deep Gap, N.C. Once he did, he ignited the imaginations of countless guitar players who learned the possibilities of the instrument from the humble picker who never quite went out of style. From the folk revival of the 1960s to the Americana movement of the 21st century, Watson remained a constant source of inspiration and a treasured touchstone before his death Tuesday at age 89.
Blind from the age of 1, Watson was left to listen to the world around him and it was as if he heard things differently from others. Though he knew how to play the banjo and harmonica from an early age, he came to favor the guitar. His flat-picking style helped translate the fiddle- and mandolin-dominated music of his forebears for an audience of younger listeners who were open to the tales that had echoed off the mountains for generations, and to the new lead role for the guitar.
"Overall, Doc will be remembered as one of America's greatest folk musicians. I would say he's one of America's greatest musicians," said David Holt, a longtime friend and collaborator who compared Watson to Lead Belly, Bill Monroe, Muddy Waters and Earl Scruggs.
Like those pioneering players, Watson took a regional sound and made it into something larger, a piece of American culture that reverberates for decades after the notes are first played.
"He had a great way of presenting traditional songs and making them accessible to a modern audience," Holt said. "Not just accessible, but truly engaging."
Watson died at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, where he was hospitalized recently after falling at his home in Deep Gap, 100 miles northwest of Charlotte. He underwent abdominal surgery while in the hospital and had been in critical condition for several days.
Touched and toughened by tragedy several times in life, Watson had proven his mettle repeatedly. Singer Ricky Skaggs called Watson "an old ancient warrior."
"He prepared all of us to carry this on," Skaggs said. "He knew he wouldn't last forever. He did his best to carry the old mountain sounds to this generation."
Watson's simple, unadorned voice conveyed an unexpected amount of emotion, but it was his guitar playing that always amazed - and intimidated. Countless guitarists have tried to emulate Watson's renditions of songs such as "Tennessee Stud," ''Shady Grove" and "Deep River Blues."
Mandolin player Sam Bush remembers feeling that way when he first sat down next to "the godfather of all flatpickers" in 1974.
"But Doc puts you at ease about that kind of stuff," Bush said. "I never met a more generous kind of musician. He is more about the musical communication than showing off with hot licks. ... He seems to always know what notes to play. They're always the perfect notes. He helped me learn the space between the notes is as valuable as the ones you play."
Arthel "Doc" Watson was born March 3, 1923, and lost his eyesight when he developed an eye infection that was worsened by a congenital vascular disorder, according to a website for Merlefest, the annual musical gathering named for his late son Merle.
He came from a musical family. His father was active in the church choir and played banjo and his mother sang secular and religious songs, according to a statement from Folklore Productions, his management company since 1964.
Watson learned a few guitar chords while attending the North Carolina Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh, and his father helped him buy a Stella guitar for $12.
"My real interest in music was the old 78 records and the sound of the music," Doc Watson is quoted as saying on the website. "I loved it and began to realize that one of the main sounds on those old records I loved was the guitar."
The wavy-haired Watson got his musical start in 1953, playing electric lead guitar in a country-and-western swing band. His road to fame began in 1960 when Ralph Rinzler, a musician who also managed Bill Monroe, discovered Watson in North Carolina. That led Watson to the Newport Folk Festival in 1963 and his first recording contract a year later. He went on to record 60 albums, and wowed fans ranging from '60s hippies to those who loved traditional country and folk music.
Seven of his albums won Grammy awards; his eighth Grammy was a lifetime achievement award in 2004. He also received the National Medal of the Arts from President Bill Clinton in 1997.
Guitarist Pete Huttlinger of Nashville, Tenn., said Watson made every song his own, regardless of its age.
"He's one of those lucky guys," said Huttlinger, who studied Watson's methods when he first picked up a guitar. "When he plays something, he puts his stamp on it - it's Doc Watson."
Merle began recording and touring with him in 1964. But Merle Watson died at age 36 in a 1985 tractor accident, sending his father into deep grief and making him consider retirement. Instead, he kept playing and started Merlefest, an annual musical event in Wilkesboro, N.C., that raises money for a community college there and celebrates "traditional plus" music.
"When Merle and I started out we called our music 'traditional plus,' meaning the traditional music of the Appalachian region plus whatever other styles we were in the mood to play," Doc Watson is quoted as saying on the festival's website. "Since the beginning, the people of the college and I have agreed that the music of MerleFest is 'traditional plus.'"
Watson never let his blindness hold him back musically or at home. He rose from playing for tips to starring at Carnegie Hall.
And he was just as proficient at home. Joe Newberry, a musician and spokesman for the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, remembered once when his wife called the Watson home. Rosa Lee Watson, Watson's wife since 1947, said her husband was on the roof, replacing shingles. His daughter Nancy Watson said her father built the family's utility shed.
It's that same kind of self-sufficiency that once led him to refuse his government disability check.
"He basically started making enough money performing - couple of hundred dollars a week," Holt said. "So he went to the services for the blind and said he was making enough money to support his family and they should take what they were giving him and give it to somebody who needed it more."
In 2011, a life-size statue of Watson was dedicated in Boone, N.C. At Watson's request the inscription read, "Just One of the People," echoing a statement he'd once made to Holt about how he'd like to be remembered.
"Just as a good ol' down-to-earth boy that didn't think he was perfect and that loved music," Watson said. "And I'd like to leave quite a few friends behind and I hope I will. Other than that, I don't want nobody putting me on a pedestal when I leave here. I'm just one of the people ... just me."
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Online:
http://www.merlefest.org/
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Get the latest country music news at www.twitter.com/AP_Country.
Contact Entertainment Writer Chris Talbott at www.twitter.com/Chris_Talbott.
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Associated Press writers Martha Waggoner and Tom Foreman Jr. contributed to this report from Raleigh, N.C.
Article from YAHOO NEWS
Bipartisan plan crafted for Medicare funding crisis
When it comes to the debate over Medicare's future, lawmakers appear all too willing to ignore a disturbing fact -- every household in America would have to pay $230,000 more in taxes to cover the unfunded promises made under the health care entitlement.Â
But Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., citing the thousands of seniors who are becoming Medicare-eligible every day, is trying to charge through the Washington deadlock to address the problem with the help of Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.Â
Wyden, a former legal aid lawyer who previously helped seniors with health care, is co-sponsoring a plan with Ryan to reform Medicare before budget problems leave the program in tatters.Â
"What we will see," Wyden predicted, "is a steady diet of benefit reductions for senior citizens and cost shifting. And that will all take place until the Medicare guarantee is threatened.Â
"And I'm just not going to sit by and let that happen," he said.Â
Medicare pays only 80 cents for every dollar private insurance pays, which makes it hard for many seniors to get a doctor.Â
Wyden said that's why more than 40 percent of seniors in Oregon already get Medicare from private insurance companies.Â
"A lot of them tell me, 'Ron, I'm going to those plans because, yes, they do offer me prevention and other kinds of services, but most importantly they guarantee that I will get to see a doctor,'" he recounted.Â
So Wyden joined Ryan in proposing something called premium support, which would allow health care insurers to compete for the business of seniors.Â
Here's what the plan entails:Â
- Those enrolled would still have the Medicare guarantee.Â
- The insurance companies would have to cover everything Medicare covers.Â
- Seniors would get premium support, or government assistance for private plans, equal to the second-lowest bidder, meaning they'd always have two affordable choices for insurance.Â
- The level of support would be updated every year.Â
"We think we have a program that's a guaranteed benefit," Ryan said. "That's guaranteed affordability, choice and competition." Â Â
Though premium support was originally a Democratic idea, many leading Democrats now disown it, including President Obama.Â
Obama said of the idea, "While we do need to reduce health care costs, I'm not going to allow that to be an excuse for turning Medicare into a voucher program that leaves seniors at the mercy of the insurance industry."Â
And House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi condemns anyone who favors such a plan, saying, "they want to end the Medicare guarantee. They want seniors to pay more, as the Medicare guarantee is terminated."Â
Wyden says that he voted against an earlier Ryan plan over such concerns but that the current plan would update the amount of support seniors get every year -- and that ideology cannot be allowed to block reform.Â
"I don't see it as an ideological issue," Wyden said, adding that both political parties have to come together.
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Britain court backs Wikileaks\' Assange\'s extradition
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June 15, 2011: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen with his ankle security tag at the house where he is required to stay in, near Bungay, England.AP
LONDON â€"  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Wednesday lost his legal fight at Britain's Supreme Court against extradition to Sweden.
The London court announced its judgement in a hearing at around 9:15am local time.
The 40-year-old Australian is wanted in Sweden to face questioning over alleged sex crimes against two women.
He has now exhausted all his legal options in Britain, but could still make a last-ditch appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
Assange lodged his appeal against extradition with the Supreme Court in February, with his lawyers arguing the European arrest warrant used to seek his extradition was not valid as the Swedish prosecutor did not have sufficient authority to order the extradition.
This was rejected by a majority of five to two by the Supreme Court justices.
Attorneys for Assange secured a two-week stay however, arguing the decision by the judges was based on a point of law that was not discussed in court. Dinah Rose QC said the majority of members of the Supreme Court panel had made their decision based on the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties -- which was never brought up at the time. She may decide to challenge the validity of Wednesday's ruling on that basis.
Assange will not be extradited until that two-week period is completed.
Once in Sweden, he would then be tried behind closed doors as rape trials in the country are held in "secret."
Assange fears that if he is sent to Sweden he will then be extradited to the US for prosecution over charges associated with his WikiLeaks website, which released hundreds of thousands of classified diplomatic cables that revealed a mass of US secrets.
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Obama Comment at Ceremony Angers Poland
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May 29, 2012: President Barack Obama awards the Medal of Freedom to former Polish Foreign Minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld who is accepting for Jan Karski, a resistance fighter against the Nazi occupation of Poland during World War II, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington.AP
The White House said President Barack Obama misspoke on Tuesday when he referred to a "Polish death camp" while honoring a Polish war hero.
The president's remark had drawn immediate complaints from Poles who said Obama should have called it a "German death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland," to distinguish the perpetrators from the location. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski called it a matter of "ignorance and incompetence."
Obama made the comment while awarding the Medal of Freedom to Jan Karski, a resistance fighter against the Nazi occupation of Poland during World War II. Karski died in 2000.
During an East Room ceremony honoring 13 Medal of Freedom recipients, Obama said that Karski "served as a courier for the Polish resistance during the darkest days of World War II. Before one trip across enemy lines, resistance fighters told him that Jews were being murdered on a massive scale and smuggled him into the Warsaw Ghetto and a Polish death camp to see for himself. Jan took that information to President Franklin Roosevelt, giving one of the first accounts of the Holocaust and imploring to the world to take action."
Sikorski tweeted that the White House would apologize for "this outrageous error" and that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk would address the matter on Wednesday.
"It's a pity that such a dignified ceremony was overshadowed by ignorance and incompetence."
Alex Storozynski, president of the Kosciuszko Foundation, said Obama's comment "shocked the Poles present at the White House and those watching on C-SPAN. ... Karski would have cringed if he heard this."
National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said: "The president misspoke. He was referring to Nazi death camps in Poland. We regret this misstatement, which should not detract from the clear intention to honor Mr. Karski and those brave citizens who stood on the side of human dignity in the face of tyranny."
Anxious to quell the controversy, the White House also noted that the president had visited the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial while in Poland and that he has repeatedly discussed the bravery of Poles during World War II.
The Polish Embassy in Washington, on its website, has a "how-to guide" on concentration camps that states that references to Polish death camps are "factually incorrect slurs" that should be corrected.
The Associated Press Stylebook states that when referring to "World War II camps in countries occupied by Nazi Germany, do not use phrases like Polish death camps that confuse the location and the perpetrators. Use instead, for example, death camps in Nazi-occupied Poland."
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Arizona 4-year-old impaled through eye by drumstick
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May 29, 2012: Alonzo Trinidad shows his scar after being impaled by a drumstick.MyFoxPhoenix
PHOENIX â€"  A 4-year-old Arizona boy miraculously escaped without long-term damage after being impaled through the eye by a drumstick at school.
MyFoxPhoenix reports Alonzo Trinidad spent five hours in surgery as doctors removed the drumstick from his brain. The child was impaled when he tripped and fell at preschool.
"You didn't see the eye, all you saw was a stick lodged in the eye socket," the boy's mother Emily Trinidad told MyFoxPhoenix.
Miraculously, the boy escaped without any long-term damage to either his brain or his vision and is expected to make a full recovery.
"I collapsed that's when it hit me I had to go to a consultation room and collapse because it was a miracle," Trinidad told MyFox Phoenix.
The child's surgeons say the accident was one of the most bizarre they have ever seen.Â
"You never know when you're getting into an operation like this, what to expect, but expect the worst, hope for the best," the child's surgeon Ratan Bhardwaj told MyFoxPhoenix.
Asked what his first thought was following the surgery, Alonzo said, "I wanted to play."
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Los Angeles area jolted by small earthquake
A small earthquake has given a jolt to the Southern California coast but there are no reports of damages or injuries.
The U.S. Geological Survey says in a preliminary report that the magnitude-4.1 quake struck in the Channel Islands region at 10:14 p.m. Tuesday.
The USGS says the earthquake was centered 30 miles southwest of Malibu, about 35 miles southeast of Oxnard and about 50 miles west of downtown Los Angeles.
Sheriff's and fire officials say there have been no calls about damages or injuries from the quake.
Brandon David Wilson, a school teacher who lives in the Culver City area, said on his Twitter account that he felt the earthquake, but it was "just a sharp jolt. No big whoop."
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California death row inmate found hanging in cell
SAN QUENTIN, Calif. â€"  California prison officials say a death row inmate convicted of killing a 13-year-old boy has committed suicide.
The state Department of Corrections says 68-year-old James Lee Crummel was pronounced dead Sunday after being found hanging in his cell at San Quentin State Prison.
Crummel had been on death row since being convicted in 2004 of kidnapping, molesting and killing James Wilfred Trotter. The boy disappeared on his way to school in Orange County in 1979.
Prosecutors said Crummel lived on the same Costa Mesa street where Trotter's family lived.
The boy's body wasn't found until 1990, when Crummel told police he'd found a skull while hiking in the Cleveland National Forest in Riverside County. The body wasn't identified until 1996.
Crummel's attorney said at his sentencing that her client couldn't express regret for a crime he did not commit.
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Facebook shares plumb new depths, valuation questioned
By Alistair Barr and Edwin Chan
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc shares slid below $29 to a new low on Tuesday as nervous investors fled the company's shares, concerned about the social network's long-term business prospects and an initial offering price that proved too rich.
Shares of the No. 1 social network fell 10 percent to an all-time low of $28.65, before closing at $28.84, or down 9.6 percent. Since its market debut at $38 on May 18, the eight-year-old company has shed approximately $25 billion in value - roughly equivalent to the market capitalization of Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter of Facebook's IPO.
Wall Street has harbored concerns that Facebook, while boasting nearly a billion users worldwide and dominating Internet social-networking, would have difficulty translating its growing presence on smartphones and other mobile devices into revenue. Rivals Google Inc and Apple Inc currently dominate the mobile arena.
Facebook's quest to monetize mobile is spurring widespread speculation over its next moves. Technology bankers say the company would benefit from tacking on mobile operating software through an acquisition of Norway's Opera, which has been on the auction block for a while.
The New York Times cited sources dredging up a longstanding rumor that Zuckerberg was pondering building a Facebook phone, and that an easy way to acquire the hardware expertise needed was to buy troubled Research in Motion.
The Blackberry maker said late on Tuesday that it hired J.P. Morgan and RBC Capital Markets to help the company and its board with a "strategic review.
"They are clearly looking at smartphones and are trying to become more vertically integrated with their users," said Ryan Jacob of the Jacob Internet Fund. "They just don't want to be another app on Google's or Apple's platform."
"Speculation that Facebook is dabbling outside their main expertise and possibly planning another large acquisition may be unsettling to some investors," he added. "But I think options trading is behind today's drop in the shares."
TEMPTING OPTION
Facebook options began trading on Tuesday, presenting a tempting target as more investors bet the underlying stock would head south. They piled into put and call options - granting investors the right to sell or buy stock at a certain price - marking one of the busiest debuts ever in the options market.
"The fact that the stock has been weak on the first day of options trading means people are betting on future declines or buying insurance," Jacob said. "Investors may want to hold the stock but are buying protection in case the price falls further."
Jacob said he did not buy Facebook shares in the IPO and has not bought the stock since the debut.
"If the price is right we would consider buying," he added. "It's not quite there yet."
Janet Tavakoli, president of Tavakoli Structured Finance Inc in Chicago, said she bought puts expiring in September with a strike price of $25, at a cost of $210 per contract, with each contract representing 100 shares.
"The valuation is a complete bluff. There is still a long way to go down from here," she said. "There will be insiders selling their shares on August 20, when the first lockout period is over. There will be a lot of shares that will hit the market and more in coming months."
'TRANSITION'
Analysts say apart from the challenge of earning money off smartphone and tablet users, Facebook - which relies on advertising for the majority of its revenue --may also find it difficult to lure and keep large advertisers.
Days before Facebook's debut, General Motors announced it was pulling out of paid advertising on the social network, citing Facebook's unproven track record and echoing potential concerns about the lack of evidence that advertising on Facebook yielded strong returns on investment.
"Facebook is in a transition in their business model," Walter Price, portfolio manager of the Wells Fargo Advantage Specialized Technology Fund, told Reuters Insider. "It was easy to get the first 5 to 10 percent of an advertising budget to try it on Facebook and do some brand advertising, but getting the next 5 to 10 percent, you've got to displace TV and that's a lot more difficult to do.
"Facebook still doesn't have the metrics to prove profitability and prove growth and awareness from their platform," he added.
Facebook debut after an IPO that raised $16 billion was to have been the culmination of years of breakneck growth for the cultural and Internet phenomenon. But a software error on Nasdaq OMX Group Inc's U.S. exchange delayed the start of trade by 30 minutes.
Then, claims of selective disclosure in the days leading up to the IPO about Facebook's slowing revenue growth engulfed the company in controversy, as did perceptions among some investors that the stock had been overpriced coming out the gate.
Skeptics had argued even before the botched debut and subsequent selloff that Facebook's starting valuation of more than $100 billion - about equivalent to that of Amazon.com Inc and exceeding that of Hewlett-Packard Co and Dell Inc combined - was too high for a company that posted $1 billion in profit on revenue of $3.7 billion in 2011.
Facebook stock debuted at over 100 times historical earnings versus Apple's 14 times. Despite that, many investors bet on a modest first-day pop for the company, which upended traditional technology and business models and is used by about one in seven people on the planet.
"We've been talking about a $50 billion valuation as one that makes sense, I think that would be a stock price around $20," Price said. But "the infrastructure that Facebook is building, and the fact that they have many advertisers that have built followers and fans on their platform, gives them a base to build a great business."
WHAT'S NEXT?
Vague talk about Facebook's next moves in a hotly contested mobile arena may also be giving some investors pause. Rumors that the company may be considering acquiring Opera pushed the Oslo-listed shares up more than 26 percent on Tuesday.
Analysts say the mobile-phone software maker could prove a crucial component in Facebook's still-patchy strategy to earn revenue from smartphones, but it could carry a price tag of as high as $1 billion.
Many Wall Street analysts had also been concerned about the apparent hastiness with which Facebook concluded its $1 billion purchase of photo-sharing service Instagram, though Zuckerberg later said it had been considered for months.
A industry source told Reuters on Tuesday that antitrust regulators had given Facebook notice that its proposed Instagram acquisition will get an extended review.
Speculation has been rife about how Facebook might spearhead a drive into mobile advertising, in which its Instagram purchase was considered key.
Talk that the social networking company might actually get into the hardware business re-surfaced after Google, whose Android OS is now the most commonly used mobile software, completed its acquisition of Motorola Mobility.
Bankers and analysts say BlackBerry maker RIM, left behind in the smartphone race against Apple and Samsung, might be doing shareholders a service by allowing itself to be acquired.
Others worry about how Zuckerberg commands more than half of the company's voting shares through agreements with other investors, granting him near-absolute control over Facebook.
The 28-year-old has so far refrained from commenting publicly about the controversy, and in fact is reportedly not even in the country.
As Facebook shares hit a record low on Tuesday, photos of Zuckerberg and his new bride spread across the Internet, depicting the couple - who wed the day after Facebook debuted - touring the Sistine Chapel and sharing a fast-food meal on their honeymoon in Rome.
(Additional reporting by Doris Frankel and Angela Moon in New York; Writing by Edwin Chan; Editing by Matthew Lewis, Steve Orlofsky and Tim Dobbyn)
Article from YAHOO NEWS
Faithful volunteers build church in one day in Iowa
-
The Calvary Tabernacle Church, in Perry, Iowa, went up in a little more than a day.
And on the second day, they rested.
More than 300 volunteers teamed up to build an entire church in a little more than 24 hours last weekend in Perry, Iowa, and the sanctuary was ready for use by Sunday morning. The Calvary Tabernacle Church was the latest of more than 100 houses of worship built at lightning speed through the United Pentecostal Church International's “Church in a Day†program.
"Within ten minutes the four walls were up," said the Rev. Rex Deckard, who heads Calvary Tabernacle's sister church, Calvary Apostolic Church in Des Moines. "It was truly incredible."
"Within ten minutes the four walls were up."
- Rev. Rex Deckard
The organization has been transforming burgeoning Bible study groups into full-fledged congregations for more than 30 years, and has become adept at the overnight church raisings. Once a slab is poured and basic plumbing is installed, the building begins. As supervisors coordinate logistics, volunteer tradesmen handle the wiring, carpenters frame out the walls and roofers cap the building, steeple and all.
“It's like a little ant mound,†Paul Wolff, a carpenter who has helped build 22 churches for the program, told FoxNews.com.
On Friday and Saturday, as this activity was repeated yet again, families cooked for the builders and children armed with bottled water kept the workers hydrated. The 2,900-square-foot church was done in just more than 30 hours.
"There isn't anyone who came here on Friday, Christian or not, who couldn't feel something electric in the air," said Gregg Davison, pastor of the newly-fashioned church. "I do believe we're more visible in the community now."
They didn't set a record: The Church in a Day program, which has built churches in 27 states and in Canada, has finished projects in as little as 18 hours. And often, the clock is not the lone obstacle.
“I've seen them build in the rain. People was walking ‘round in the mud up to their knees," said Brian Hord, executive assistant to the director of the program.
Davison has a church now for the Bible study group he began seven years ago, and which outgrew its rented storefront. The new church is built for 100 worshippers, but double that number squeezed in on Sunday.
"We knew if we planted the seed, God said he would bring up a harvest,†Davison crowed.
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Couple leaves Houston waiter $5,000 tip
HOUSTON â€"  A Houston waiter was left speechless after a gracious couple left him a $5,000 tip, KHOU reports.
Greg Rubar has worked as a waiter at D'Amico's Italian Market for 16 years, and the couple were regulars. The couple gave him the tip after finding out Rubar's car had been destroyed in a thunderstorm.
“I told them thank you when they gave it to me, I knew it was money, but I didn't know how much,†Rubar told KHOU. “Maybe like a half hour after they left I went in the bathroom and I opened it, and looked at it and I could tell it was $5,000 because it was still wrapped, it still had the band on it from the bank.â€
Rubar says the couple told him to buy a car with the money, and that is what he intends to do.
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Bipartisan Plan Crafted for Medicare Funding Crisis
When it comes to the debate over Medicare's future, lawmakers appear all too willing to ignore a disturbing fact -- every household in America would have to pay $230,000 more in taxes to cover the unfunded promises made under the health care entitlement.Â
But Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., citing the thousands of seniors who are becoming Medicare-eligible every day, is trying to charge through the Washington deadlock to address the problem with the help of Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.Â
Wyden, a former legal aid lawyer who previously helped seniors with health care, is co-sponsoring a plan with Ryan to reform Medicare before budget problems leave the program in tatters.Â
"What we will see," Wyden predicted, "is a steady diet of benefit reductions for senior citizens and cost shifting. And that will all take place until the Medicare guarantee is threatened.Â
"And I'm just not going to sit by and let that happen," he said.Â
Medicare pays only 80 cents for every dollar private insurance pays, which makes it hard for many seniors to get a doctor.Â
Wyden said that's why more than 40 percent of seniors in Oregon already get Medicare from private insurance companies.Â
"A lot of them tell me, 'Ron, I'm going to those plans because, yes, they do offer me prevention and other kinds of services, but most importantly they guarantee that I will get to see a doctor,'" he recounted.Â
So Wyden joined Ryan in proposing something called premium support, which would allow health care insurers to compete for the business of seniors.Â
Here's what the plan entails:Â
- Those enrolled would still have the Medicare guarantee.Â
- The insurance companies would have to cover everything Medicare covers.Â
- Seniors would get premium support, or government assistance for private plans, equal to the second-lowest bidder, meaning they'd always have two affordable choices for insurance.Â
- The level of support would be updated every year.Â
"We think we have a program that's a guaranteed benefit," Ryan said. "That's guaranteed affordability, choice and competition." Â Â
Though premium support was originally a Democratic idea, many leading Democrats now disown it, including President Obama.Â
Obama said of the idea, "While we do need to reduce health care costs, I'm not going to allow that to be an excuse for turning Medicare into a voucher program that leaves seniors at the mercy of the insurance industry."Â
And House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi condemns anyone who favors such a plan, saying, "they want to end the Medicare guarantee. They want seniors to pay more, as the Medicare guarantee is terminated."Â
Wyden says that he voted against an earlier Ryan plan over such concerns but that the current plan would update the amount of support seniors get every year -- and that ideology cannot be allowed to block reform.Â
"I don't see it as an ideological issue," Wyden said, adding that both political parties have to come together.
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