Calif. marine biologist accused of feeding whale

Via www.ap.org

By Jason Dearen

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A marine biologist who runs popular whale-watching tours on California'sMonterey Bay has been indicted for violating federal laws that protect marine mammals, though her attorneys said her interactions with the creatures were scientific research.

Nancy Black, a marine scientist whose work has been featured on PBS, National Geographic and Animal Planet, was charged Wednesday with four violations of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

She was accused of feeding killer whales in 2005 during a research trip, and misleading investigators by editing video footage of her encounters with other whales during a whale watching trip, and then lying about it. All of the alleged incidents occurred within the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, one of 13 ocean sanctuaries established in 1992.

Prosecutors say the charges were filed after an investigation by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Department of Justice. Wyn Hornbuckle, a spokesman for the DOJ, declined to comment, as well as a spokesman for NOAA.

In addition to her scientific work, Black owns Monterey Bay Whale Watch and operates two commercial whale-watching vessels. Black has also worked with federal agencies on the study of whales, including the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, which is part of NOAA.

If she is found guilty of editing the video and then lying about it, Black could receive a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a half million dollars in fines. Each of the feeding charges carries a maximum penalty of a year in prison and a $100,000 fine. While these are the maximum sentences allowable by law, courts generally do not impose the maximum, instead relying on guidance from the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

According to the indictment, Black was asked to provide video taken from her whale-watching boat during an October 2005 trip that investigators believe included an illegal encounter with a humpback whale. Whale-watching boats are supposed to stay at least 100 yards from the animals.

Black is accused of providing an edited version of the video that took out the humpback encounter.

Lawrence Biegel, one of Black's lawyers, said the videos in question are often edited and offered to whale watching customers as keepsakes of their day. He said Black provided an edited copy to federal investigators, not knowing they wanted the original.

"She was out whale-watching with a full complement of passengers and spotted a humpback whale. It was a friendly whale, which loves to come up close to a boat and breach and frolic," he said. "There's video of this, which she turned over, of this whale doing exactly that, literally going from one side of the boat to another."

Biegel said Black never fed the creatures during her research trips.

Black was working with federal marine scientists at the time, Biegel said, to study the feeding habits of the powerful sea creatures. Orcas sometimes come to Monterey Bay to feed on gray whale calves as they migrate north along the Pacific coast, Biegel said.

Biegel said Black had collected a piece of gray whale blubber that was floating in the sea, cut a hole so a rope could be fed through, and dropped it back into the ocean. The idea was to keep the blubber close to the boat so Black could use a pole camera to film the killer whales eating underwater, he said.

"In the specific incident in question, Ms. Black used an underwater camera and filmed the eating habits of killer whales who were feeding off free floating pieces of blubber from a gray whale that had been killed by a pack of killer whales," Biegel said.

"She was never hiding what she did or how she did it. In fact, she was acting with the knowledge of other marine mammal scientists, some of whom work for agencies of the federal government," he said. Biegel said Black had a permit granted by the federal government to conduct the research.

Prosecution of MMPA violations is not uncommon. In 2010 a recreational fisherman pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor violations after his boat struck two humpbacks in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of Massachusetts. In 2008, four members of the Makah Tribe were sentenced to prison and probation for illegally killing a gray whale off the northwest coast of Washington.

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Immigration process to be eased for some families

Via www.reuters.com

By Roberta Rampton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The government said on Friday it plans to reduce the time that U.S. citizens are separated from spouses and children who have been in the country illegally and who are forced to leave for as long as 10 years while their visa requests are processed.

The move drew immediate praise from Hispanic groups, a key constituency for President Barack Obama in the 2012 election year.

"The purpose of the new process is to reduce the time that U.S. families remain separated while their relative proceeds through the immigrant visa process," U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Servicessaid in its announcement.

Democrats and Republicans have said Hispanic voters could decide the 2012 election. Latino groups have been disappointed in Obama's lack of progress on immigration reform and have disapproved of a stepped-up deportation program.

The largest Hispanic civil rights group in the United States called the current system "unconscionable" and praised the plan.

"This sensible and compassionate proposal helps bring much-needed sanity to an often senseless process," said Janet Murguía, president of National Council of La Raza.

A group that works with Arab immigrants said the changes would help thousands of families who are kept apart because of the current process.

"The modifications ... are an important and humane first step toward alleviating that pain and suffering," said Nadia Tonova, director for the National Network for Arab American Communities.

The changes will not take effect for months. First, the government needs to propose a detailed rule and then it will take public comments, the USCIS said.

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'Synthetic' marijuana is problem for US military

News article from ap.org

By: Julie Watson

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. troops are increasingly using an easy-to-get herbal mix called "Spice," which mimics a marijuana high, is hard to detect and can bring on hallucinations that last for days.

The abuse of the substance has so alarmed military officials that they've launched an aggressive testing program that this year has led to the investigation of more than 1,100 suspected users.

So-called "synthetic" pot is readily available on the Internet and has become popular nationwide in recent years, but its use among troops and sailors has raised concerns among the Pentagon brass.

"You can just imagine the work that we do in a military environment," said Mark Ridley, deputy director of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, adding, "you need to be in your right mind when you do a job. That's why the Navy has always taken a zero tolerance policy toward drugs."

Two years ago, only 29 Marines and sailors were investigated for Spice. This year, the number topped 700, the investigative service said. Those found guilty of using Spice are kicked out, although the Navy does not track the overall number of dismissals.

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Details of lab-made bird flu won't be revealed

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. government paid scientists to figure out how the deadly bird flu virus might mutate to become a bigger threat to people — and two labs succeeded in creating new strains that are easier to spread.

On Tuesday, federal officials took the unprecedented step of asking those scientists not to publicize all the details of how they did it.

The worry: That this research with lots of potential to help the public might also be hijacked by would-be bioterrorists. The labs found that it appears easier than scientists had thought for the so-called H5N1 bird flu to evolve in a way that lets it spread easily between at least some mammals.

"It wasn't an easy decision," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious diseases chief at the National Institutes of Health, which funded the original research.

The scary-sounding viruses are locked in high-security labs as researchers at the Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands and the University of Wisconsin-Madison prepare to publish their findings in leading scientific journals. That's the way scientists share their work so that their colleagues can build on it, perhaps creating better ways to monitor bird flu in the wild, for example.

But biosecurity advisers to the government recommended that the journals Science and Nature publish only the general discoveries, not the full blueprint for these man-made strains. Tuesday, the government announced that it agreed and made the request.

In statements, the two research teams say they're making some changes, if reluctantly. The journals are mulling what to do, and the government didn't say precisely what should be left out.

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Study finds iPads cost most in Europe and UK, cheapest in U.S.

CANBERRA (Reuters) – Britain and Europe are the world's costliest places to buy Apple Inc's new iPad computer, with prices around a quarter higher than in the United States, a new study has found.

"In the UK, Germany, France and Italy an iPad costs 20-25 per cent more than in the U.S.," said Craig James, chief economist at the CommSec share trading division of Australia's Commonwealth Bank

Prices for the cheapest, WiFi-only version range from $499 in the United States to the equivalent of $620 in Britain for the entry-level 16 gigabyte model. Canada ($520), Japan ($536) and Australia ($533) rounded out the price basement countries.

Apple fans have mobbed stores in Europe and Asia as the iPad went on sale outside the United States, with some shoppers queuing all night to get their hands on one.


Article from Yahoo.
Read more Here 

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I am dreaming of having this one!...

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Senator wants disclosure on Call Centers outside USA

   New York (Reuters) - A democratic Senator in USA will push a LEGISLATION to make companies inform their callers that their call will be transfered overseas and charge fees with this transfered calls.








"This bill will not only serve to maintain call center jobs currently in the United States, but also provide a reason for companies that have already outsourced jobs to bring them back," Senator Charles Schumer said in statement. (statement from a yahoo article )


The companies are also required to report at the Federal Trade Commission to certify that they are doing the bill and if not pay the penalties. 


Schumer's bill would also impose a $0.25 excise tax on any customer service call placed inside the United States which is transferred to an agent in a foreign location. The fee would be assessed on the company that transferred the call.


Schumer said the most popular countries for outsourcing of U.S. call centers included India, Indonesia, Ireland, the Philippines and South Africa, places where workers generally receive lower wages and work longer hours than their U.S. counterparts.


Article from Yahoo
For more information go on to this Link --

Senator wants disclosure on outsourced calls

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OK. Call centers is a big Industry here in the Philippines (as it was mentioned above). I wonder how it would affect many people who work for call centers.??..

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UN Command to launch armistice violation probe

By SANGWON YOON, Associated Press Writer 

SEOUL, South Korea – The top U.S. diplomat said Friday that North Korea should face international consequences over the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship, while the South said the U.N. would investigate whether the attack violated the Korean War truce.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak called the sinking a "military provocation" and said it violated the U.N. Charter as well as the truce that ended the fighting in the 1950-53 conflict. But he called for a cautious response to this "serious and grave" issue.

Arriving in Tokyo ahead of a visit to Beijing and Seoul, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that U.S., Japan, South Koreaand China are consulting on an appropriate reaction to an international investigation that blamed North Korea for the incident.

She said the report announced Thursday proves a North Korean sub fired a torpedo that sank the ship, the Cheonan on March 26 and that it could no longer be "business as usual" in dealing with the matter and that there must be "an international response."

While it was "premature" to discuss exact options or actions that will be taken in response, Clinton said it was "important to send a clear message to North Korea that provocative actions have consequences.

"The evidence is overwhelming and condemning. The torpedo that sunk the Cheonan ... was fired by a North Korean submarine," she told reporters.

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US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,385

As of Tuesday, March 16, 2010, at least 4,385 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The figure includes nine military civilians killed in action. At least 3,479 military personnel died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

The AP count is three fewer than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Tuesday at 10 a.m. EST.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 31,732 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department's weekly tally.

___

The latest deaths reported by the military:

• A soldier died of injuries suffered in a vehicle roll-over while conducting a patrol in northern Iraq on Monday. The incident is under investigation.

• A soldier in Ninewa Province died from noncombat related causes on March 13. The incident is under investigation.

___

The latest identifications reported by the military:

• Pfc. Erin L. McLyman, 26, of Federal Way, Wash., died March 13 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked her base with mortar fire. She was assigned to the 296th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

• Sgt. Aaron M. Arthur, 25, of Lake City, S.C., and Spc. Lakeshia M. Bailey, 23, of Columbus, Ga. They died on March 8 north of Al Kut, Iraq, of injuries suffered in a vehicle roll-over. They were assigned to the 203rd Brigade Support Battalion, attached to the 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga.

Source: news.yahoo.com and ap.org

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100316/ap_on_go_ot/us_iraq_us_deaths;_ylt=AidnH596Panx8HJaNcjxm_ayFz4D;_ylu=X3oDMTJuczRlbjdnBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMzE2L3VzX2lyYXFfdXNfZGVhdGhzBHBvcwMxNQRzZWMDeW5fYXJ0aWNsZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA3VzbWlsaXRhcnlkZQ--

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