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Sunday, June 16, 2013

Pope taps trusted prelate to oversee Vatican bank

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? Pope Francis has taken his first major step in reforming the troubled Vatican bank by tapping a trusted prelate to oversee its management.

Francis signed off Saturday on naming Monsignor Battista Mario Salvatore Ricca as interim prelate of the Institute for Religious Works.

It's a key job that has been left vacant since 2011: The prelate oversees the bank's activities, attends its board meetings and critically, has access to all its documentation. The prelate reports to the commission of cardinals headed by the Vatican No. 2 who run the bank, giving him a virtually direct line to the pope.

Right before resigning, Benedict XVI tapped German aristocrat and financier Ernst von Freyberg as IOR president. Von Freyberg has said the bank's main problem is its reputation, not any operational shortcomings.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-taps-trusted-prelate-oversee-vatican-bank-110818935.html

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Judge to mull possible remedies in profiling case

PHOENIX (AP) ? A judge who ruled an Arizona sheriff's office had racially profiled Latinos in its signature immigration patrols will hold a hearing Friday to consider proposed changes aimed at ensuring that the agency isn't making unconstitutional traffic stops and arrests.

Attorneys who pressed the case against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio are expected to ask U.S. District Judge Murray Snow to impose a set of remedies that include beefing up training for officers, requiring better record-keeping on traffic stops and a court-appointed official to monitor the agency's operations to ensure that the judge's orders are being followed.

Three weeks ago, Snow concluded that Arpaio's office has systematically singled out Latinos in its immigration patrols and that sheriff's deputies unreasonably prolonged the detentions of people who were pulled over, marking the first finding by a court that the agency racially profiles people.

The six-term sheriff, who turned 81 years old on Friday, is expected to resist a court-appointed monitor. Arpaio rejected a court-appointed monitor last year when the U.S. Justice Department leveled similar racial profiling allegations against the agency. His objection was that allowing a monitor would mean that every policy decision would have to be cleared through an observer and would nullify his authority.

The May 24 ruling by Snow prompted the sheriff's office, which is expected to appeal the decision, to temporarily suspend all his immigration efforts until Friday's hearing. It's not known whether Arpaio will resume immigration enforcement after the hearing.

The ruling doesn't altogether bar Arpaio from enforcing the state's immigration laws, but imposes a long list of restrictions on his immigration patrols, such as prohibitions on using race as a factor in deciding whether to stop a vehicle with a Latino occupant and on detaining vehicle passengers who are Latino on only the suspicion that they're in the country illegally.

Arpaio won't face fines or jail time as a result of the ruling. A group of Latinos that first brought the racially profiling allegations to court wasn't seeking damages and instead wanted a declaration that the agency was violating the constitutional rights of Latinos and to force changes in the agency's operations.

The case focused on Latinos who were stopped during both routine traffic patrols and special immigration patrols known as "sweeps."

During the sweeps, deputies flood an area of a city ? in some cases, heavily Latino areas ? over several days to seek out traffic violators and arrest other offenders. Immigrants who were in the country illegally accounted for 57 percent of the 1,500 people arrested in the 20 sweeps conducted by his office since January 2008.

The agency hasn't conducted any sweeps since October 2011, but continued immigration enforcement by enforcing state laws that ban immigrant smuggling and prohibit businesses from employing people who are in the country illegally.

The ruling against the sheriff's office serves as a precursor to a lawsuit filed last year by the U.S. Justice Department, which also alleges racial profiling in Arpaio's immigration patrols. The Department of Justice, however, alleges broader civil rights violations, such as allegations that Arpaio's office retaliates against its critics and punishes Latino jail inmates with limited English skills for speaking Spanish.

Legal experts say the judge presiding over the Department of Justice case isn't bound by Snow's decision and that the racial profiling allegations and evidence could differ between both cases. Still, the latest decision will loom large for participants in the Department of Justice case.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/judge-mull-possible-remedies-profiling-case-090530702.html

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Saturday, June 15, 2013

Apple Game Console? iOS+OSX Controller Framework | Ubergizmo

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Apple Game Console? iOS+OSX Controller Framework

As we?re getting out of Apple?s worldwide developer conference (WWDC), the news that a new controller framework has been added to the iOS and OS X SDKs is already creating some waves on the net. Specifically, this would be the ?proof?, or at least the ?writing on the wall? that? Apple is working on a game console. Surely, there?s no other reason to support controllers, right? Wrong.

Everybody should support controllers

First of all, every manufacturer who wants to be serious about gaming needs to add some form of controller support, so this is not really a revolution, but rather the logical and smart thing to do. It?s true that the nature of gaming on iOS is very different from Mac OS and other ?fixed? platforms, but there are many mobile games that do benefit from having a physical controller. FPS are the obvious ones (Dead Trigger is 10X better with a controller), but the experience of? Racing and Platform games is also better with an analog/digital pad.

All right, but ?what if? Apple was to build a console?

This would be a very interesting development! For instance, there?s little that prevents Apple from updating its Apple TV to support games and Bluetooth controllers today. In fact, it?s even surprising that it has not happened yet, but Apple has only so many (human) resources and it needs to focus on its main business, namely the iPhone, which brings home half of the revenues and more than half of the profits. Yet, a gaming device is very much a possibility and nearly everything is already in place: app store, developers, games? the controller would be one of the final refinement before it?s all good to go.

Should Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo prepare for the Applecalypse?

If we are talking about an iOS, ARM-based game console, not really? or should I say ?not directly?. I mean that a product like that won?t be able to beat them on their ?gaming? turf. Today, there is nothing ?ARM-powered? that is powerful enough to provide the same gaming experience as the PS4, Xbox One and Wii-U. It?s that simple. Just look at the best E3 2013 Trailers.

However, such a device could harm those established consoles in the sense that it takes ?air time? on the TV. While someone (like young kids) is using the Apple device to play, it may monopolize the TV and therefore the ?real? gaming console can?t be used. Games consoles ?hurt? TV companies in the exact same way: while someone is gaming, nobody can watch TV shows (and therefore TV ads). That of course assumes that we are in the living room and not a bedroom. Basically all these devices will fight for ?air time? on the TV.

More likely, a small Apple console will really compete with devices like Ouya, SHIELD, other ?Android game boxes? and Smart TVs.

Wouldn?t that be a killer-feature for an Apple HDTV?

Assuming that we get some kind of iPhone-6 level hardware in an Apple Television, that would lead to a VERY nice smart TV hardware, but it still won?t compete with classic game consoles. Also, in order to be successful, an Apple television needs to provide better/unique content, and I bet that this is the main problem that Apple is working on tight now. Since Netflix and Amazon are launching their own TV shows, it means that they haven?t cracked the code to get great content deals without creating it.

Apple would probably have a neat industrial design, which is important, but I don?t expect people to buy a TV based on the looks alone. This is not a smartphone that can parade , or a laptop that looks neat at the cafe. To justify the kind of gross margins that Apple investors demands for its product, it needs to provide something else? and iOS games aren?t it.

Conclusion

Apple Game Console? iOS+OSX Controller Framework

An Apple ?box? or TV that would be capable of iOS-level gaming would be great, and in some segments of the market, that could be a game-changer. However, if you look at the grand scheme of things, it?s not as big as one may think. In 2012 there were 66M Smart TVs sold, versus 260M smartphones, and the second segment is the one really accelerating hard. If you add tablets, it is clear that mobile developers have already addressed the biggest part of the market.

The other issue for mobiles games is that very few of them can generate the kind of money that a Modern Warfare would get on console ($1.6B on the first week-end). This means that their production teams don?t have the means to compete with classic consoles titles in terms of quality and production value, at least in the short term.

Since Android Smart TVs are going to arrive in force soon, I am sure that Apple will do ?something? in order to prevent an Android overrun in another segment of the market. An Apple box seems to be a likely solution since it would sell in higher volumes (13M Apple TV boxes sold to date).

Would an Apple iOS game console be a world-changing event? this remains to be seen, but this wouldn?t be anything comparable to the iPhone?s introduction. As of now, devices like Ouya or SHIELD have yet to prove that there is a substantial market for ARM-powered consoles, and I don?t think that NVIDIA is doing this for the money anyway. Let?s wait and see? What would you want from an Apple game console?

Related articles:
PS4 vs Xbox One: Which One Should You Get?
iOS Dev Guide Hints At MFi Gaming Controller
Best E3 2013 Game Trailers
Playstation 4 Starts E3 And Console Race In Pole Position

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DuPont says wet spring to hit operating profit

A new trend among Japanese teenagers called oculolinctus, also known as ?eyeball licking,? or ?worming,? is currently sweeping across the internet in videos and photos. The bizarre trend has started popping up on Youtube, Tumblr and Twitter. The practice, in which teens show affection by...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dupont-says-wet-spring-hit-operating-profit-133901822.html

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Monday, June 10, 2013

Korea talks raise hopes; history may scuttle them

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? The two Koreas will hold their highest-level talks in years Wednesday in an effort to restore scrapped joint economic projects and ease animosity marked by recent threats of nuclear war. That in itself is progress, though there are already hints that disputes in their bloody history could thwart efforts to better ties.

Still, just setting up the two-day meeting in Seoul, through a 17-hour negotiating session that ended early Monday, required the kind of diplomatic resolve that has long been absent in inter-Korean relations, and analysts say it could be a tentative new start. It's also a political and diplomatic victory for new South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who expressed her country's interest in talks and rebuilding trust even as she batted back North Korean war rhetoric with vows to hit back strongly if attacked.

"It's very significant that they're sitting down and talking at all ... after all the heated rhetoric this spring," said John Delury, an analyst at Seoul's Yonsei University. "It shows political will. Both sides could have called it off."

The main topics will be stalled rapprochement projects left over from friendlier days, including the resumption of operations at a jointly run factory park just north of the border. It was the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean cooperation until Pyongyang pulled out its workers in April during heightened tensions that followed its February nuclear test.

North Korea, however, is also pushing for something Seoul hasn't agreed to: A discussion Wednesday of how to jointly commemorate past inter-Korean statements, including the anniversary Saturday of a statement settled during a landmark 2000 summit between liberal President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, the current ruler's late father.

This matters to North Korea because the June 15 statement from the 2000 summit, along with another 2007 leaders' summit, include both important symbolic nods to future reconciliation and also economic cooperation agreements that would benefit the North financially.

Those commitments faded after Park's conservative predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, took office in 2008. His insistence that large-scale government aid be linked to North Korea making progress on past commitments to abandon its nuclear ambitions drew a furious reaction from Pyongyang. Relations deteriorated further in 2010 after a North Korean bombardment of a South Korean island killed four people, and the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan killed 46 sailors.

A Seoul-led international investigation blamed a North Korean torpedo for the Cheonan attack, and South Korea has demanded an apology from the North before it will allow any exchanges. Pyongyang denies any role in the sinking, and the two sides will presumably bring those irreconcilable positions with them Wednesday.

Since her presidential campaign, Park has mixed a tough line with policies of engagement, aid and reconciliation with the North ? a recognition of the frustration many South Koreans felt about Lee's hard-line policies.

Analyst Park Hyeong-jung said North Korea wants the past statements on the agenda to forge a "relationship that is to their advantage. They want to hold the present South Korean administration accountable for the declarations of past administrations."

"This is the first time in a long time both sides are meeting," said Park, a senior research fellow at the government-affiliated Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul. "Rather than a breakthrough, this week's talks are only the beginning."

Both Koreas have also agreed to discuss resuming South Korean tours to a North Korean mountain resort and the reunion of separated families, officials said.

There's little chance that the narrowly defined talks will tackle the crucial question of pushing Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear bombs. North Korea has said it will never give them up, though the U.S. and other countries say it must if it is to rebuild its relationship with the rest of the world.

It's still unclear who will represent each side Wednesday. Seoul said it will send a senior-level official responsible for North Korea-related issues while Pyongyang said it would send a senior-level government official, without elaborating. A minister-level summit between the Koreas has not happened since 2007.

Dialogue at any level marks a positive sign in the countries' recent history, which has seen North Korean nuclear tests and long-range rocket launches. The armistice ending the three-year Korean War that was signed 60 years ago next month hasn't been replaced with a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula technically at war.

Analysts express wariness about North Korea's intentions, with some seeing the interest in dialogue as part of a pattern where Pyongyang follows aggressive rhetoric and provocations with diplomatic efforts to trade an easing of tension for outside concessions.

After U.N. sanctions were strengthened following North Korea's third nuclear test in February, Pyongyang, which is estimated to have a handful of crude nuclear devices, threatened nuclear war and missile strikes against Seoul and Washington, pulled its workers from the jointly run factory park at the North Korean border town of Kaesong and vowed to ramp up production of nuclear bomb fuel. Seoul withdrew its last personnel from Kaesong in May.

Chang Yong-seok, a senior researcher at Seoul National University's Institute for Peace and Unification Studies, said he is optimistic that the Koreas can resume work at Kaesong and reunions for separated families. But he said a quick breakthrough is unlikely because North Korea's gesture for closer ties runs counter to South Korea's demand for apologies.

___

AP writer Elizabeth Shim contributed to this report from Seoul.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/korea-talks-raise-hopes-history-may-scuttle-them-104151267.html

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