Vic: Let me come home like Jovicic: convicted rapist Nystrom

AAP General News (Australia)
02-27-2008
Vic: Let me come home like Jovicic: convicted rapist Nystrom

A rapist who was deported to Sweden has pleaded to be allowed to return to Australia
.. following the government's decision to let a convicted criminal back in the country
from Serbia.

STEFAN NYSTROM was deported to Sweden last year despite only living there for the first
25 days of his life .. after a High Court ruling allowed then immigration minister AMANDA
VANSTONE to revoke his Australian visa on character grounds.

The former Melbourne man is now …

How the Americans found Bin Laden

ISRAEL KASNETT
Jerusalem Post
05-03-2011
How the Americans found Bin Laden
Byline: ISRAEL KASNETT
Edition: Daily
Section: News
Type: News

While many around the world celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden, America's most wanted terrorist, fascinating reports of how, after a decade, the US finally managed to trace bin Laden to the compound outside Islamabad where he was killed have begun to surface.

What is immediately clear is that this was a major intelligence undertaking. Many small clues and details appear to have existed which, in isolation, were not important but when pieced together, painted a picture that strongly pointed to bin Laden's presence.
US forces were led to a fortress-like three-story building after more than four years tracking one of bin Laden's most trusted couriers, whom US officials said was identified by men captured after the September 11, 2001 attacks, according to Reuters.

"Detainees also identified this man as one of the few al-Qaida couriers trusted by bin Laden. They indicated he might be living with or protected by bin Laden," a senior administration official said in a briefing for reporters.

In August 2010, intelligence officials found the courier had a brother with whom he jointly owned an unusual compound in Abbotabad, a popular summer resort, located in a valley surrounded by green hills near Pakistani Kashmir.

The community is relatively affluent and home to many retired members of Pakistan's military.

The building, about eight times the size of surrounding residences, sits on a large plot of land that was relatively secluded when it was built in 2005. At the time, it was on the outskirts of Abbotabad's center, at the end of a dirt road, but some other homes have been built nearby in the six years since it was constructed, officials said. Incredibly, it is situated approximately one hundred meters from a Pakistani intelligence and military base.

Over an unspecified period of time, intelligence officials noted that the residents were burning their trash and not just leaving it for pickup as neighbors did. There were no Internet or phone lines connected to the building, which was strikingly odd as the compound has been valued at over $1 million.

Unnecessarily high walls topped by barbed-wire surrounded the compound and the third floor was protected by a high privacy wall. Few windows faced outside the property.

By following the brothers' movements, the CIA was able to determine that there were other families living in the compound.

US analysts realized that a third family lived there in addition to the two brothers and found that the age and makeup of the third family matched those of the relatives - including bin Laden's youngest wife - who they believed would be living with him, according to Reuters.

Pakistan's clan traditions hold hospitality in high esteem and as long as the guest can pay, the owner will play host, which is what appears to have taken place.

One terrorism expert clarified that, contrary to the popular notion that bin Laden was living under dismal conditions in a cave far from civilization, US officials expected bin Laden to be living in or near an urban setting as he had a health condition and would have required access to medical treatment.

In 2004, NBC News reported that two senior US officials said bin Laden suffers from kidney stones, a painful but not deadly condition that can be treated with drugs.

In addition, the officials said that the CIA determined that bin Laden had an enlarged heart and chronically low blood pressure. Beyond that, his only known malady was two missing toes from a war wound suffered in Afghanistan fighting the Soviet Union.

Yet just two years ago, many experts and officials still assumed bin Laden was hiding in the wilderness. In 2009, National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe, referring to a recording bin Laden had just released, said the tape demonstrates bin Laden's isolation. Intelligence officials eventually concluded it was highly likely that the person living under extremely tight security with no obvious communication with the outside world, yet so close to Islamabad, could be none other than bin Laden himself.

"Everything we saw, the extremely elaborate operational security, the brothers' background and their behavior and the location of the compound itself, was perfectly consistent with what our experts expected bin Laden's hide-out to look like," another Obama administration official said. "The bottom line of our collection and our analysis was that we had high confidence that the compound harbored a high-value terrorist target. The experts who worked on this issue for years assessed that there was a strong probability that the terrorist who was hiding there was Osama bin Laden."

Over the last few weeks, President Barack Obama held five national security meetings, the last of which took place on Friday when he gave the official okay to launch the operation.

The operation was CIA-led as the US military cannot operate in Pakistan according to agreements with Pakistan's government, according to Sky News.

A small US elite special forces team, unofficially known as Seal Team 6, conducted a helicopter raid on the compound on Sunday afternoon, officials said. After 40 minutes of fighting, the soldiers asked one of the non-combatants to identify bin Laden who they then asked to surrender, according to an intelligence source for Fox News. When he refused, he was shot dead. Other reports clarify that military officials have admitted they planned to kill, not arrest, bin Laden. Seal Team 6 supposedly used facial recognition devices to confirm Bin Laden's identity, along with DNA testing.

DNA taken from brain tissue from bin Laden's sister who died from cancer in Boston about a year ago, and whose body was immediately taken into custody by the FBI for this very purpose, appears to prove beyond doubt that the US has killed the man they were after, news sources reported.(c) Copyright Jerusalem Post. All rights reserved.

(Copyright 2011 The Jerusalem Post)

FED:New claims aired in Cambodia murder case

AAP General News (Australia)
08-29-2011
FED:New claims aired in Cambodia murder case

New criticisms of the Australian government's handling of ransom negotiations concerning
Melbourne backpacker DAVID WILSON who was murdered by Khmer Rouge guerrillas in Cambodia
in 1994 have been aired at a coronial hearing.

Western Australian man DARRYL HOCKEY has given a statement to the Melbourne Coroners'
Court today containing criticisms of the Australian government's efforts.

Mr HOCKEY says he gathered the information from people in Cambodia claiming to have
first-hand knowledge of Mr WILSON's fate.

Mr WILSON was 29 when he was kidnapped along with two companions by the Khmer Rouge
during an attack on a train in which they were travelling in Cambodia in July, 1994.

All three were murdered in early September the same year after negotiations between
the Cambodian and Australian governments and their captors broke down.

When the inquest re-opened today after a 13-year adjournment, counsel assisting the
coroner said Mr HOCKEY had offered his unsolicited statement following his own investigations
in Cambodia.

The inquest has been adjourned to a date to be fixed.

AAP RTV mh/gfr/crh

KEYWORD: WILSON (MELBOURNE)

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

iLuv Launches Newest Generation of iLuv App

Wireless News
02-18-2011
iLuv Launches Newest Generation of iLuv App
Type: News

iLuv, a provider of an accessories line for the Apple and smartphone markets, has launched its free and newly enhanced iLuv App 3.0 now available at the Apple App Store.

iLuv App 3.0 transforms the docks into an Internet Radio with thousands of broadcast options, an iPod music playback station, a highly interactive time display and alarm clock and a source for international weather information.
"iLuv is the first vendor to provide one feature-rich app that pairs seamlessly with all three Apple mobile devices," said Pia Chon, iLuv marketing director. "The iLuv App 3.0 increases the user's enjoyment of compatible iLuv docking stations including our award-winning Audio Cube and App Station."

iLuv new features include:

Internet Radio

Listen to more than 40,000 radio stations from all over the world with SHOUTcast Internet Radio.

Four Clock Options

Various attractive display options give the user his or her own way to view time.

Searchable Weather

Going on vacation? Browse the current weather condition and forecasts for up to five days in a variety of cities worldwide.

iPod Music

Access your iPod music, including artist, song title and album jacket displays.

Alarm

A selection of highly effective alarm sounds are sure to wake up even the heaviest of sleepers. In addition to eight traditional alarm sounds, as well as iPod or Internet Radio music, it also includes 10 "irksome" sounds guaranteed to get any sleepyhead out of bed.

More Information:

www.i-luv.com

((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))

Copyright 2011 Close-Up Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
n/a

NSW:Premier defends metro axing, despite waste

AAP General News (Australia)
12-02-2010
NSW:Premier defends metro axing, despite waste

The New South Wales premier has defended the scrapping of the multi-billion dollar
Sydney Metro transport project .. after it was revealed 356 million dollars was wasted
on the venture.

A report from Auditor-General PETER ACHTERSTRAAT says the debacle not only cost taxpayers
financially .. but also caused other projects to be put on hold.

KRISTINA KENNEALLY says cabinet made a difficult but right decision to stop work on
the metro in february .. so the money could be redirected into trains .. buses .. and
to growing the existing transport network.

State opposition transport spokeswoman GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN says the Auditor-General
hasn't identified a single cent out of the 356 million dollars spent .. that will actually
help the future of NSW public transport.

AAP RTV ab/klm/tm

KEYWORD: TRANSPORT NSW (SYDNEY)

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Main stories on ABC 0600 news

AAP General News (Australia)
04-27-2010
Main stories on ABC 0600 news

- Economic situation for NSW looking brighter says latest Access Economics report;
Roozendaal says confident of strong growth;

- Another new economic report says NSW won't beat housing supply target set in 2005;
predicts that by 2013 85,000 homes short;

- Former Melb Storm CEO calls for inquiry into salary cap breaches he says happening
across the league;

- Thailand's king appears for first on tv since red shirt protesters took over central
Bangkok; didn't speak of crisis directly but told new members of judiciary to do jobs
honestly;

- Tension between French gov't and muslim community after woman fined for wearing burqa
while driving; threatens husband to strip him of citizenship over allegations of 12 children
by several wives;

- NRL gold coast claims scalp of Manly 24-22 in Sydney.

- Weather.

AAP RTV psm/

KEYWORD: MONITOR 0600 ABC (SYDNEY)

2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Vic: Self help courses can cause problems for some

AAP General News (Australia)
12-13-2009
Vic: Self help courses can cause problems for some

By Greg Roberts

MELBOURNE, Dec 13 AAP - A coroner's finding this week that a self-help course was to
blame for a 34-year-old woman jumping to her death from a Sydney office window has raised
questions about the regulation of such courses.

The story of Rebekah Lawrence stripping naked and killing herself after completing
the Turning Point course brought back painful memories for two Melbourne people who attended
self-help courses and were badly affected.

Neither person had suffered mental health issues previously.

The case follows an inquest into the suicide of Queensland soldier and Scientologist
Edward McBride and calls for an inquiry into the church's activities.

Self help can range from something simple like listening to motivators to its extreme
edge which Ms Lawrence's husband David Booth said involved "unqualified people doing damaging
things to people's minds".

Melbourne man John broke down and cried while speaking about the day he thought about
killing himself after completing self-help group Landmark Education's Forum course.

"I considered very seriously the notion of taking myself out because I couldn't live
with the anxiety, that's why I got upset talking to you," John, who does not want his
surname published, told AAP.

Global company Landmark, which has no connection to Turning Point, attracted controversy
in a 2004 French documentary in which leader Alain Roth was secretly filmed berating a
mother and telling her she would be better off dead.

John was 40 when he paid $500 to do the Forum and was happy, owned a successful pharmacy
and had a wife and four young children.

He attended their South Melbourne offices relaxed and open-minded.

He found himself in a room with several hundred people, being urged to embrace Landmark's
'curriculum for living' and achieve a "breakthrough in the technology of living powerfully".

However, he felt uncomfortable about presenters publicly abusing and embarrassing people,
especially those who disagreed with them.

"You are standing up on a Sunday with a couple of hundred strangers and people were
admitting that they'd been abused as children, or were abusers of children, had been raped,
had been molested," he told AAP.

He did the homework, phoning people to be 'truthful and authentic' with, but actually
upset an ex-girlfriend from his teenage years, a former boss with whom he'd fallen out
and his own mother.

"The crux of this weekend was that life is empty and meaningless and it is empty and
meaningless that life is empty and meaningless," he said.

He says such mantras became a "monkey on my shoulder" that he filtered all his thoughts through.

"I wasn't me anymore," he said.

He visited Landmark, where staff told him he was fine.

However, he soon suffered a complete mental breakdown, was diagnosed with severe anxiety
and post traumatic stress disorder, saw a psychiatrist and says he will take anti-depressant
medication for the rest of his life.

"I remember driving home and I was in such a state I couldn't find my way home, I had
to ring my wife Anne up and say I'm lost, and I was crying," he said.

Melbourne man Justin Hamman, who was 25 when he did the course several years ago, felt
angry and abandoned.

Two psychologists he saw later told him Forum broke down his social boundaries and
what he considered normal.

"What really stuffed me up was that they questioned the idea of good and bad, it just
depended on what society you were living in," he told AAP.

"They said 'well Hitler wasn't really bad', and a guy nearly ripped them to pieces
over that but they just manipulated the situation and said: 'look at this aggression,
you must not get along with your kids'."

Mr Hamman said he didn't sleep for two days with his mind racing and missed two weeks of work.

"I freaked out about these ideas and I asked a Landmark lady 'look, what if I was to,
hypothetically kick a dog, would that be good or bad?'," he said.

"She got freaked out by my question, asked me if I had ever had bi-polar disorder or
was screwed up or something, called me a taxi and said that I could get my money back,
which I got in the mail as a cheque."

But plenty of people benefit from self-help courses.

Melbourne woman Kate Al Hassan found it an empowering experience that taught her to
be honest with herself and which she still incorporates into her daily life years later.

The pharmacist and mother of two even persuaded her devout Muslim husband to attend
Forum as "I thought he needed to do it to free himself and grow up, so we were on the
same level of communication".

"I was in a frenzy afterward, I got my closest friends, my husband and family to do
it," she told AAP.

"Empty and meaningless helps you see the big picture, gives you freedom to let go of
all the drama and see the significance of what happened to you when you were young."

Landmark argues that, unlike Turning Point, its programs are educational, not therapeutic,
and therefore any wellbeing problems are not their fault.

If someone was in strife they would be looked after, said one senior Landmark representative.

"While a person can have a negative response while attending a film or being at a sporting
event or listening to a lecture, the events they attended were not the cause of their
illness," she said in a written statement.

"An overwhelming 94 per cent (of health experts) agree that Landmark Educations programs
are professionally conducted and provide great value."

The company has filed lawsuits against critics such as American counsellor Rick Ross,
whose website features articles, studies and letters critical of Landmark and other groups.

In a 3,000-word letter Landmark requested AAP to "reconsider doing an article on Landmark
Education" because of "compelling independent research" showing it was an industry leader.

The company has been named one of the top training and development program providers
in the world by human resources website HR.com/James McNeil.

NSW's Deputy State Coroner Malcolm MacPherson this week recommended regulations and
accreditation to restrict counselling and psychotherapy services to those with relevant
tertiary qualifications.

AAP gr/pmu/mo

KEYWORD: SELFHELP (AAP NEWSFEATURE) (PIC AVAILABLE)

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Qld: Greenpeace coal protest foiled by winds

AAP General News (Australia)
08-04-2009
Qld: Greenpeace coal protest foiled by winds

Wild winds have prevented Greenpeace activists from unfurling a banner while protesting
government inaction on climate change at a north Queensland coal terminal.

The Greenpeace vessel Esperanza stationed itself near the Xstrata Coal terminal at
Abbot Point .. 25km north of Bowen.

An Xstrata spokesman says several protesters tried to set up the banner but heavy winds
stopped them.

The spokesman also says there's been no impact on the terminal because the next ship
isn't due in until tonight.

Greenpeace says the protest is timed to coincide with this week's Pacific Islands Forum
where a regional approach to climate change will be discussed.

AAP RTV pjo/crh

KEYWORD: FORUM PROTEST (BRISBANE)

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

SA: Liberal MPs to visit the SA Riverland

AAP General News (Australia)
02-10-2009
SA: Liberal MPs to visit the SA Riverland

ADELAIDE, Feb 10 AAP - South Australia's Liberal opposition will make the plight of
the River Murray and problems facing irrigators and Riverland communities a key issue
at the next state election.

Liberal MPs will be in the Riverland for the next three days, conducting a community
meeting and holding the party's annual conference.

Opposition Leader Martin-Hamilton Smith said on Tuesday the opposition was keen to
hear from Riverland locals about what should happen to save the Murray and revitalise
their communities.

"The Murray-Darling Basin is in crisis from its most northern extremities to the Murray
Mouth, Mr Hamilton-Smith said.

"The River Murray is dying and the state government has stuck its head in the sand
and is hoping the problem will go away.

"The State Liberal's will not idly stand by and allow inaction to destroy the Riverland,
the food bowl of our state".

Mr Hamilton-Smith said the party's annual conference would continue to develop and
refine areas of policy and direction for the Liberals to take to the next state poll in
March, 2010.

AAP tjd/it

KEYWORD: LIBERALS SA

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Ath: Collated athletics results today =2

AAP General News (Australia)
08-23-2008
Ath: Collated athletics results today =2

MEN

4x400m relay (1st round - 3 first of each heat and 2 best times qualify for final):

Heat 1

1. United States 2:59.98 Q

2. Russia 3:00.14 Q

3. Belgium 3:00.67 Q

4. Australia 3:00.68 q

5. Poland 3:00.74 q

6. South Africa 3:01.26

7. Cuba 3:02.24

8. France 3:03.19

Heat 2

1. Great Britain 2:59.33 Q

2. Bahamas 2:59.88 Q

3. Jamaica 3:00.09 Q

4. Germany 3:03.49

5. Trinidad and Tobago 3:04.12

6. Japan 3:04.18

7. Greece 3:04.30

8. Dominican Republic 3:04.31

4x100m relay final

1. Jamaica (Carter/Frater/Bolt/Powell) 37.10 (WR)

2. Trinidad and Tobago (Bledman/Burns/Callender/Thompson) 38.06

3. Japan (Tsukahara/Suetsugu/Takahira/Asahara) 38.15

4. Brazil (Lima/Viana/Barros/Moreira) 38.24

5. Germany (Unger/Helmke/Kosenkow/Keller) 38.58

6. Canada (Palmer/Henry/Connaughton/Browne) 38.66

7. Netherlands (Heisen/Hoogmoed/Luijk van/Douglas) 45.81

. China (Wen/Zhang/Lu/Hu) DSQ

Pole vault final

1. Steve Hooker (AUS) 5.96 m

2. Evgeny Lukyanenko (RUS) 5.85

3. Denys Yurchenko (UKR) 5.70

4. Derek Miles (USA) 5.70

5. Dmitry Starodubtsev (RUS) 5.70

6. Danny Ecker (GER) 5.70

7. Jerome Clavier (FRA) 5.60

8. Raphael Holzdeppe (GER) 5.60

9. Igor Pavlov (RUS) 5.60

10. Jan Kudlicka (CZE) 5.45

11. Przemyslaw Czerwinski (POL) 5.45

. Leonid Andreev (UZB) 0

. Giuseppe Gibilisco (ITA) 0

Javelin throw - Decathlon (9th event)

Group A

1. Yordani Garca (CUB) 65.60 m

2. Romain Barras (FRA) 65.40

3. Aleksey Drozdov (RUS) 62.57

4. David Gomez (ESP) 62.22

5. Michael Schrader (GER) 60.27

6. Daniel Awde (GBR) 53.18

7. Jangy Addy (LBR) 52.50

8. Oleksiy Kasyanov (UKR) 51.59

9. Maurice Smith (JAM) 51.52

10. Hadi Sepehrzad (IRI) 49.56

11. Damjan Sitar (SLO) 47.23

12. Massimo Bertocchi (CAN) 45.33

13. Slaven Dizdarevic (SVK) 43.58

. Gonzalo Barroilhet (CHI) DNS

Group B

1. Leonel Suarez (CUB) 73.98 m

2. Eugene Martineau (NED) 71.44

3. Bryan Clay (USA) 70.97

4. Andres Raja (EST) 67.16

5. Mikk Pahapill (EST) 67.07

6. Aliaksandr Parkhomenka (BLR) 64.60

7. Alexander Pogorelov (RUS) 64.01

8. Roman Sebrle (CZE) 63.93

9. Qi Haifeng (CHN) 63.09

10. Mikalai Shubianok (BLR) 62.10

11. Andrei Krauchanka (BLR) 60.23

12. Andr Niklaus (GER) 60.21

13. Mikko Halvari (FIN) 55.11

. Trey Hardee (USA) DNS

1500m - Decathlon (10th event):

Heat 1

1. Michael Schrader (GER) 4:26.77

2. David Gomez (ESP) 4:30.74

3. Damjan Sitar (SLO) 4:37.37

4. Eugene Martineau (NED) 4:37.96

5. Mikalai Shubianok (BLR) 4:38.14

6. Qi Haifeng (CHN) 4:39.32

7. Massimo Bertocchi (CAN) 4:42.26

8. Daniel Awde (GBR) 4:44.80

9. Aliaksandr Parkhomenka (BLR) 4:45.17

10. Slaven Dizdarevic (SVK) 4:51.42

11. Hadi Sepehrzad (IRI) 5:06.67

12. Jangy Addy (LBR) 5:12.22

13. Mikko Halvari (FIN) 5:20.26

Heat 2

1. Andrei Krauchanka (BLR) 4:27.47

2. Oleksiy Kasyanov (UKR) 4:28.94

3. Leonel Suarez (CUB) 4:29.17

4. Romain Barras (FRA) 4:29.29

5. Maurice Smith (JAM) 4:31.62

6. Andre Niklaus (GER) 4:32.90

7. Aleksey Drozdov (RUS) 4:41.34

8. Mikk Pahapill (EST) 4:47.03

9. Andres Raja (EST) 4:49.60

10. Roman Sebrle (CZE) 4:49.63

11. Yordani Garcia (CUB) 5:00.49

12. Alexander Pogorelov (RUS) 5:01.56

13. Bryan Clay (USA) 5:06.59

Final overall standings

1. Bryan Clay (USA) 8791 pts

2. Andrei Krauchanka (BLR) 8551

3. Leonel Suarez (CUB) 8527

4. Alexander Pogorelov (RUS) 8328

5. Romain Barras (FRA) 8253

6. Roman Sebrle (CZE) 8241

7. Oleksiy Kasyanov (UKR) 8238

8. Andre Niklaus (GER) 8220

9. Maurice Smith (JAM) 8205

10. Michael Schrader (GER) 8194

11. Mikk Pahapill (EST) 8178

12. Aleksey Drozdov (RUS) 8154

13. Andres Raja (EST) 8118

14. Eugene Martineau (NED) 8055

15. Yordani Garcia (CUB) 7992

16. Mikalai Shubianok (BLR) 7906

17. Aliaksandr Parkhomenka (BLR) 7838

18. Qi Haifeng (CHN) 7835

19. Massimo Bertocchi (CAN) 7714

20. Jangy Addy (LBR) 7665

21. Daniel Awde (GBR) 7516

22. Hadi Sepehrzad (IRI) 7483

23. Damjan Sitar (SLO) 7336

24. Slaven Dizdarevic (SVK) 7021

25. David Gomez (ESP) 6876

26. Mikko Halvari (FIN) 6486

Abandons: Gonzalo Barroilhet (CHI), Trey Hardee (USA), Janis Karlivans (LAT), Alexey
Sysoev (RUS), Pavel Andreev (UZB), Carlos Chinin (BRA), Victor Covalenco (MDA), Frederic
Xhonneux (BEL), Arthur Abele (GER), Hans van Alphen (BEL), Vitaliy Smirnov (UZB), Tom
Pappas (USA), Attila Zsivoczky (HUN), Dmitriy Karpov (KAZ)

WOMEN

4x400m relay (1st round - 3 first of each heat and 2 best times qualified for final):

Heat 1

1. Russia 3:23.71 Q

2. Cuba 3:25.46 Q

3. Great Britain 3:25.48 Q

4. Germany 3:25.55 q

5. Ukraine 3:27.44

6. Poland 3:28.23

7. India 3:28.83

8. Japan 3:30.52

Heat 2

1. United States 3:22.45 Q

2. Jamaica 3:22.60 Q

3. Belarus 3:22.78 Q

4. Nigeria 3:24.10 q

5. France 3:26.61

6. Brazil 3:30.10

7. Mexico 3:30.36

8. China 3:30.77

5000m final

1. Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH) 15:41.40

2. Elvan Abeylegesse (TUR) 15:42.74

3. Meseret Defar (ETH) 15:44.12

4. Sylvia Kibet (KEN) 15:44.96

5. Vivian Cheruiyot (KEN) 15:46.32

6. Lilia Shobukhova (RUS) 15:46.62

7. Almitu Bekele (TUR) 15:48.48

8. Meselech Melkamu (ETH) 15:49.03

9. Kara Goucher (USA) 15:49.39

10. Shalane Flanagan (USA) 15:50.80

11. Priscah Jepleting Kogei (KEN) 15:51.78

12. Gulnara Galkina-Samitova (RUS) 15:56.97

13. Xue Fei (CHN) 16:09.84

14. Jennifer Rhines (USA) 16:34.63

15. Megan Metcalfe (CAN) 17:06.82

4x100m relay final

1. Russia (Polyakova/Fedoriva/Gushchina/Chermoshanskaya) 42.31

2. Belgium (Borlee/Marien/Oudraogo/Gevaert) 42.54

3. Nigeria (Idoko/Kemasuode/Ismaila/Osayomi) 43.04

4. Brazil (Coelho Neto/Moura/Presti/Santos) 43.14

5. Germany (Mollinger/Sailer/Tschirch/Wagner) 43.28

. Great Britain (Kwakye/Douglas/Freeman/Ania) DNF

. Jamaica (Frazer/Simpson/Stewart/Campbell) DNF

. Poland (Klocek/Korczynska/Jedrusinska/Kocielnik) DSQ

Long jump final

1. Maurren Maggi (BRA) 7.04 m

2. Tatiana Lebedeva (RUS) 7.03

3. Blessing Okagbare (NGR) 6.91

4. Chelsea Hammond (JAM) 6.79

5. Brittney Reese (USA) 6.76

6. Oxana Udmurtova (RUS) 6.70

7. Jade Johnson (GBR) 6.64

8. Grace Upshaw (USA) 6.58

9. Carolina Kluft (SWE) 6.49

10. Tabia Charles (CAN) 6.47

11. Keila Costa (BRA) 6.43

12. Funmilayo Jimoh (USA) 6.29

AFP cc

KEYWORD: OLYR08 ATH COLLATED 2 BEIJING

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Vic: Environment ministers begin plastic bags talks

AAP General News (Australia)
04-17-2008
Vic: Environment ministers begin plastic bags talks

Environment ministers from the commonwealth .. states and territories have headed into
a meeting in Melbourne.

The issue of a levy on plastic bags will be at the top of the agenda of the Environment
Protection and Heritage Council meeting.

Federal Environment Minister PETER GARRETT says the aim is to have a constructive meeting
.. as all the ministers recognise how important the environment is for all Australians.

Queensland has said it won't support a levy which would impose more costs on families
.. but has called for an eventual ban on plastic bags.

AAP RTV kb/gfr/af/bart

KEYWORD: PLASTIC MEETING (MELBOURNE)

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED: "No case to answer" Einfeld's lawyers say

AAP General News (Australia)
12-13-2007
FED: "No case to answer" Einfeld's lawyers say

Former Federal Court judge MARCUS EINFELD will find out today if he'll stand trial
for perjury .. perverting the course of justice .. and traffic offences.

But his lawyers say he has no case to answer and a jury won't be satisfied he was behind
the wheel of his car when it was booked committing traffic offences.

Committal proceedings for the former judge and human rights advocate will draw to a
close today in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court .. where EINFELD is fighting 14 charges.

His barrister's called for the case to be discharged .. saying there's not enough evidence
EINFELD was behind the wheel on any of the four separate occasions.

AAP RTV ajc/hn/bart/wz/crh

KEYWORD: EINFELD (SYDNEY)

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Labor's IR laws will not slow productivity: Gillard

AAP General News (Australia)
04-30-2007
Fed: Labor's IR laws will not slow productivity: Gillard

CANBERRA, April 30 AAP - Opposition industrial relations spokeswoman Julia Gillard
has played down big business concerns over Labor's new industrial relations policy.

Business groups around Australia have attacked Labor's new "family friendly" policy,
which includes scrapping Work Choices and Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs), fearing
it will slash productivity and jobs growth.

And some business groups have now said they will promote AWAs in the lead-up to the
federal election.

Ms Gillard said there was nothing in Labor's plan that would slow productivity and
she had told business groups that Labor's plan offered them a way forward.

"If Australian business is saying to us all they're going to do is campaign for the
Howard government and Mr Howard's unfair laws then we are going to have a disagreement
with them," Ms Gillard told Sky News.

"If Australian business is saying to us they want to have high productivity workplaces
we'll be giving that the big tick and we will be ensuring, through talking to them, that
what Labor's industrial relations system delivers."

Ms Gillard said it was not rational for business to claim Australia was in a high productivity
period.

"We're not, we can do better and we can do better with laws that focus on co-operation
rather than fragmentation and division in workplaces."

AAP sld/maur/bwl

KEYWORD: WORKPLACE GILLARD

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Qld: Woman in intensive care following car crash

AAP General News (Australia)
12-30-2006
Qld: Woman in intensive care following car crash

A woman's in a critical condition after a collision between her car and a prime mover
north of Brisbane.

Police say the woman had been parked on the side of the Bruce Highway at Mango Hill
about 7.25 this morning (AEST) before she pulled onto the road .. and into the path of
a prime mover towing a trailer.

The 56 year old woman has severe head injuries and was resuscitated at the scene before
being taken to Redcliffe Hospital.

She has been transferred to the Royal Brisbane Hospital where she is in intensive care.

The 61-year-old truck driver has been treated for shock at Redcliffe Hospital.

Police are still investigating the accident.

AAP RTV jmm/crh

KEYWORD: CRASH (BRISBANE)

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Vic: $50,000 damage, two arrested, over sports pavilion damage

AAP General News (Australia)
08-22-2006
Vic: $50,000 damage, two arrested, over sports pavilion damage

MELBOURNE, Aug 22 AAP - Two teenage boys have been arrested over burglaries at three
sports pavilions at Melbourne's Albert Park that caused $50,000 damage.

The youths, aged 15 and 16, will appear in a children's court today charged with burglary,
theft and criminal damage at the David Mandie, Cox McKenzie and Middle Park bowls club
pavilions in Albert Park.

The incidents occurred some time before 3am (AEST) today, police say.

Irreplaceable sports memorabilia and building fittings were destroyed in the attacks.

AAP jrd/gfr/sp

KEYWORD: PAVILIONS

) 2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Tokyo Exchange to Resume Trading in April

AP Online
04-15-2006
Dateline: TOKYO

A couple pass by a digital screen flashing Wednesday's stock prices in Tokyo April 12, 2006. Japanese stocks fell Wednesday extending losses for a third straight session as traders sold banks and technology issues. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index declined 255.58 points, or 1.47 percent, to 17,162.55 points. (AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara)

The Tokyo Stock Exchange plans to resume full trading hours as early as April 24, ending a three-month stretch of shortened sessions designed to curb surges in trading traffic that shut down the bourse, news reports said Saturday.

The exchange, Asia's biggest, has cut its afternoon session by 30 minutes since being forced to suspended all transactions in January after panic selling overloaded the system.

Taizo Nishimuro, president of the TSE, said last week the bourse would try to resume normal trading hours by the end of the month. The TSE is now looking at April 24 for the restart date, according to the Nihon Keizai newspaper and Kyodo News agency, which cited unidentified officials at the exchange.

Officials from the TSE were unavailable for immediate comment Saturday.

January's panic selling was triggered by the investigation of Internet firm Livedoor Co. on financial fraud charges. The shutdown exposed weaknesses in the TSE at a time of record trading volume and soaring investor interest in Japan's recovering economy.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange is currently overhauling its system to accommodate more trading activity, and Livedoor was delisted from the bourse on Friday. That company's stock was trading for only one hour a day in its final weeks, to avert a run on its shares.

Copyright 2006, AP News All Rights Reserved

Fed: Lawlessness, not racism, blamed for mob violence: Costello

AAP General News (Australia)
12-16-2005
Fed: Lawlessness, not racism, blamed for mob violence: Costello

PETER COSTELLO says violent racist attacks in Sydney are an example of hoodlums out
of control .. rather than racism.

The Treasurer says the threat of racial mob violence has dissipated .. since police
flooded the areas where rioting occurred last weekend.

Mr COSTELLO's condemned the use of the Australian flag during the unrest .. saying
it's a symbol of everything good that the nation stands for .. and shouldn't be used in
fights or hooliganism.

The treasurer says multiculturalism should mean being first and foremost Australian
.. while also retaining elements of immigrant culture.

AAP RTV cb/ce/tm/sco

KEYWORD: SURF COSTELLO (MELBOURNE)

2005 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

YOU UTTER PLANK; Boy, 14, risks life on rail line in web craze.(News)

Byline: LUCY THORNTON

A TEENAGE boy was blasted by magistrates yesterday for lying on a rail line to have his photo taken for Facebook.

A court heard how the 14-yearold risked his life to take part in the internet craze of planking - which involves lying horizontally in bizarre locations.

He posed face-up on one of Britain's busiest railway lines with his head on one rail and his feet on the other as a pal took the picture.

During the stunt, a train hurtled past on the opposite line just a few yards away.

The photograph was then uploaded to the York Planking Association Facebook page - prompting a member of the public to call the British Transport police anonymously. The boy was arrested later that day. Yesterday magistrates sitting at York youth court condemned his actions as an "act of total stupidity". Chairwoman Francesca Horsfield told the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons: "You could have caused untold grief to your family and others, not least a train driver who would have had the awful experience of seeing you die in a horrendous manner."

The youth replied: "You don't realise what you're doing until you've done it, it's not funny when you look at it again."

He was given a four-month referral order after admitting trespassing on the East Coast Main Line, near York station.

Other pictures on the website show people lying on police vans, rooftops, postboxes and petrol pumps. The most dangerous stunt pictures have now been removed.

The phenomenon led to the death of Australian Acton Beale, 20, who fell from a seventh floor balcony railing while planking in May.

CAPTION(S):

BIZARRE J A planker

Internet awareness: Operation "CyberRif" launched in Algiers.

ALGIERS- Operation "CyberRif" has been kicked off Thursday in Culture Palace by Minister of Post and Information and Communication Technologies Moussa Benhamadi. The operation starts by the heading to Medea, of a first cyber-bus, equipped by tens of computers connected to internet via satellite and assisted by ICT experts.

APS 2011. All Rights Reserved

Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company

Of goats and headaches; Academic publishing.(The quietly lucrative world of academic publishing)

Something to chew on

One of the best media businesses is also one of the most resented

HOW much would you pay for an annual subscription to Small Ruminant Research, Queueing Systems or Headache? University librarians pay rather a lot. In Britain, 65% of the money spent on content in academic libraries goes on journals, up from a little more than half ten years ago. With budgets tight, librarians are trying to resist price increases. But Derk Haank, the chief executive of Springer, a big publisher, is firm: "We have to make a living as well."

And what a living it is. Academic journals generally get their articles for nothing and may pay little to editors and peer reviewers. They sell to the very universities that provide that cheap labour. As other media falter, academic publishers have soared. Elsevier, the biggest publisher of journals with almost 2,000 titles, cruised through the recession. Last year it made [pounds sterling]724m ($1.1 billion) on revenues of [pounds sterling]2 billion--an operating-profit margin of 36%.

Academic publishers have jumped deftly from paper to the internet. For more than a decade the dominant model has been the "big deal". Publishers sell access to large bundles of electronic journals for a price based on what colleges used to pay for paper ones. Prices of big deals rise at about double the rate of inflation.

This model has provided an unprecedented wealth of material to researchers and fat profits to publishers. But fiscal crises, particularly in America, are straining big deals. State funding per university student in Arizona has fallen by roughly half since 2007-08. Libraries have taken a hit.

A library with a bundled subscription deal cannot make ends meet by dropping a few journals, as it could in the old days. Instead it must take the drastic step of leaving the all-you-can-eat buffet for the a la carte restaurant. Some universities have dropped big deals in favour of subscriptions to a few key journals, topped up by pay-per-view downloads of individual articles. Academics have not complained, they say. British universities are threatening to do the same en masse if subscription prices are not cut. Are they serious?

Certainly, some journals are more valuable than others. Ted Bergstrom, an economist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has a nifty way of quantifying this. He divides the annual subscription price of a journal by the number of times its articles are cited in other journals. Results vary a lot. Influential journals such as the Lancet cost a few pennies per citation. Others cost hundreds of dollars.

If many universities drop big deals it will be calamitous for the publishers. They could raise the prices of individual journals to make a la carte buying less attractive. But that would stimulate a private trade in e-mailed articles. Claudio Aspesi of Bernstein Research points out that academic authors tend not to care much about copyright protection. Their main interest is in being read and cited.

Many customers resent high prices and have the means to bypass them. The music industry provides a salutary lesson in the dangers of building a business around charging too much for too-large bundles of content (in its case, CD albums).

Yet academic publishers do not have the rabbit-in-the-headlights look that music executives did a few years ago. They have moved quickly to cut or freeze subscription prices for the most troubled universities. They have minimised the threat from open-access journals, which seemed considerable a few years ago, in part by buying some of the best ones. And they are pushing into emerging markets, where universities and government research budgets are swelling.

So far, says Youngsuk Chi of Elsevier, publishers have behaved a bit like hunter-gatherers of research. They are trying to become information providers. That means investing in search and data-management tools to make sure relevant articles find their way to researchers. Earlier this year Elsevier opened some of its article databases to software developers, who have begun to build apps on top of their content. If publishers can hook academics on such innovations, and drive them to articles in relatively obscure journals, dropping big deals will seem a lot more painful.

Academics are heroic complainers and not always well disposed to profit-maximising businesses. So the gripes are likely to continue. The best that the publishers can hope for is that they escape the fate of the music business and come to be viewed rather like pay-television companies. Customers complain about their cable bills, too. But they keep paying them.

Webcast Alert: CPFL Energia S.A. Announces First Quarter 2011 Earnings Conference Call Webcast.

SAO PAULO, May 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- CPFL Energia S.A. (NYSE: CPL and BM&FBovespa: CPFE3) announces the following Webcast:

What:	CPFL Energia 1st Quarter 2011 Earnings Conference Call
When:	Thursday, May 12, 2011 @ 10:00 AM EDT
Where:	http://www.mediatown.com.br/prnewswire/player/?id=544
How:	Live over the Internet -- Simply log on to the web at the address above.

Conference call dial-in phone numbers: From the US: 1-888-700-0802 (toll-free from the US); from Brazil: 11 4688-6361; from other countries: 1-786-924-6977.

Contact: Investor Relations Area of CPFL Energia - + 55 19 3756-6083, ri@cpfl.com.br.

If you are unable to participate during the live webcast, the call will be archived at http://www.cpfl.com.br/ri.

SOURCE CPFL Energia S.A.

CHILD PORNOGRAPHY BILL CLOSES LOOPHOLE, SETS ABSOLUTE BAN ON VIEWING SB 803 ADDRESSES SUPREME COURT RULING THAT RAISED SERIOUS CONCERNS.

SALEM, OR -- The following information was released by the Oregon Senate Democrats:

The Oregon Senate approved legislation this morning that modifies the definition of "visual depiction" in crimes relating to child pornography to include accessing photos on the Internet. Senate Bill 803 was introduced in response to an Oregon Supreme Court ruling in January that said it isn't a crime to look at child pornography on the Internet if the viewer doesn't purposely download images, print them out, or pay for them.

"This bill corrects an oversight and very clearly outlines that viewing child pornography on the Internet is considered a crime in Oregon," said Senator Joanne Verger (D-District 5), one of two chief sponsors of the bill. "Offenders need to know that there are serious consequences to their actions. This bill establishes that their behavior will not be tolerated in Oregon."

In January 2011, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that under current state law it is not a crime to view child pornography online, as long as the viewer does not purchase or download it. The Court also noted that the Legislature has not passed any legislation explicitly banning the viewing of child pornography, unless the images are paid for by the viewer. SB 803 closes this loophole, clearly stating that viewing child pornography, regardless of whether it's paid for or not, is in fact a crime in Oregon. The most serious offenders under this law could face up to five years in prison.

"Our children need to be protected," said Senator Laurie Monnes Anderson (D-Gresham), the other chief co-sponsor of SB 803. "Under no circumstances should the sexual exploitation of innocent children be tolerated. I believe this type of crime is one of the worst imaginable and should be punished to the full extent of the law."

While federal law currently prohibits knowingly accessing child pornography on the Internet, these crimes are typically prosecuted under states' laws, not by the federal government. SB 803 modifies Oregon statute on child pornography so that Oregon prosecutors can charge and prosecute such offenders.

"It is vitally important that we have every law enforcement tool available to fight child pornography," said Attorney General John Kroger. "I want to thank Sen. Joanne Verger and Sen. Monnes for their leadership on this important bill. I'd also like to thank House Judiciary Committee Co-Chair Rep. Jeff Barker and Co-Chair Rep. Wayne Krieger for their work on an identical bill in the House."

SB 803 bill now goes to the House for consideration.

Investors Bancorp, Inc. Announces Date for Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call.

SHORT HILLS, N.J., July 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Investors Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq: ISBC), announced that it expects to report earnings for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010, on Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at approximately 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET). A copy of the news release will be immediately available on its web site, www.isbnj.com.

The Company also announced that it will host an earnings conference call on Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. (ET).

Toll-free dial-in: (877) 317-6789

International dial-in: 1 (412) 317-6789

Internet access to the call (listen only) will be available on the Company's web site at www.isbnj.com by going to Investor Relations and clicking on Webcast. The call will be archived on the Company's website for a period of one year.

A telephone replay will be available beginning on July 29, 2010 from 1:00 p.m. (ET) through October 29, 2010, 9:00 a.m. (ET).

Replay # (Domestic): (877) 344-7529 PIN Code: 442002

Replay # (International): 1 (412) 317-0088 PIN Code: 442002

Investors Bancorp, Inc. is the holding company for Investors Savings Bank. As of March 31, 2010, the Company reported assets of $8.75 billion and operates from its corporate headquarters in Short Hills, New Jersey, and sixty six branch offices located throughout northern and central New Jersey.

SOURCE Investors Bancorp, Inc.

Crestline Hotels & Resorts Appoints Justin J. Presnol General Manager for the Hilton Garden Inn Downtown Detroit.

DETROIT, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Crestline Hotels & Resorts, Inc. today announced the appointment of Justin J. Presnol as General Manager for the 198 guestroom Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Detroit's historic Harmonie Park. The hotel is managed by Crestline Hotels & Resorts. It is located just one block from Comerica Park, the Detroit Tigers' Stadium; Ford Field, the Detroit Lions' Stadium and Compuware's corporate headquarters. It is also within walking distance to the Detroit Opera House, the Greektown Casino and in close proximity to many restaurants.

Mr. Presnol joins Crestline Hotels & Resorts from HEI Hotels & Resorts where he was Assistant General Manager at the Detroit Southfield Marriott. He brings more than 10 years of hospitality industry management experience to his new role having also held positions at InnKeepers Hospitality and White Lodging Services where he worked in management at various Residence Inn's by Marriott and Courtyard's by Marriott.

"Justin has been consistently recognized for excellence in leadership and operations," said Dave Durbin, President & CEO of Crestline Hotels. "We welcome his experience in the Detroit market, as well as his enthusiasm in managing this strategically located Hilton Garden Inn," added Durbin.

   Mr. Presnol can be reached at Justin.Presnol@crestlinehotels.com.    About the Hotel  

The Hilton Garden Inn Detroit welcomes guests with its handsome 10-story red brick exterior that architecturally blends into this charming and historic neighborhood. Inside, guests will find superior service and hospitality as well as 198 spacious guestrooms complete with complimentary high-speed Internet access and printer capabilities. The hotel also offers an indoor heated swimming pool and whirlpool spa; a complimentary 24-hour Business Center; 3,400 square feet of meeting and banquet space; a Fitness Center; and a Pavilion Pantry(TM) convenience mart. The Hilton Garden Inn Detroit is located at 351 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI 48226. For more information and reservations guests can call 1.313.967.0900 or visit the hotel online at http://www.stayhgi.com/.

   About The Company   Crestline Hotels & Resorts  

Crestline Hotels & Resorts, Inc. is one of the nation's largest independent hospitality management companies. Founded in 2000, the company presently manages 70 hotels, resorts and conference and convention centers with nearly 14,600 rooms in 14 states and the District of Columbia. Crestline Hotels & Resorts manages 13 independent properties in major US markets including Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. Crestline also manages properties under such well-regarded brands as Marriott, Hilton, Westin, Renaissance, Sheraton, Crowne Plaza and Wyndham. For more information visit http://www.crestlinehotels.com/.

Note: Certain matters discussed herein are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Certain, but not necessarily all, of such statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, such as "believes," "expects," "may," "will," "should," "estimates" or "anticipates" or the negative thereof or comparable terminology.

CONTACT: Gayle MacIntyre for Crestline Hotels & Resorts, Inc., +1-404-643-8222, gaylemacintyre@aol.com

Web site: http://www.crestlinehotels.com/ http://www.stayhgi.com/

Top Tech Deals.(CheckFree Corp. acquired Corillian Corp .)(VSoft licensing agreement with Diebold Election Systems Inc.)(Obopay acquired BillMonk)(Brief article)

Number One

CheckFree entered into an agreement to buy Corillian, a deal that will bring together Corillian's online banking platform and complimentary suite of financial products and CheckFree's electronic billing and payment services. CheckFree will pay $5.15 per share, or about $245 million.

Number Two

VSoft, which sells process improvement tools to banks and other firms, agreed to certify Diebold's ImageWay ATM software for implementation with its server solution. The arrangement will allow users to use self-service image-enabled deposit features at participating Diebold ATMs.

Number Three

SunGard has made a joint marketing agreement between its ProNvest and Signix business units with Wealth Management Systems, which sells technology-based rollover services. The deal expands the professional advice and guidance services available to participants using the WMSI platform.

Number Four

Obopay, a mobile payment service firm, has acquired BillMonk, the online service that provides the means to track debts and expenses. The deal will provide people who typically reject traditional money management and payment products with a more flexible and easier way to send money via mobile phones.

Number Five

Citigroup bought Egg, the British Internet banking operation of Prudential, for $1.1 billion, nearly a year after the Web bank had been delisted at nearly double the current sale price. The Web bank lost 39 million pounds in the first six months of 2006, and was headed for similar losses at year's end.

(c) 2007 Bank Technology News and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.banktechnews.com http://www.sourcemedia.com

Government steps up import inspections: preparedness helps seafood clear port-of-entry hurdles.(Seafood FAQ)

The United States is the world's third-largest importer of seafood products, behind the European Union and Japan. In 2004, U.S. seafood imports exceeded 2 million metric tons worth more than $11 billion. And every bit of it passed through checkpoints manned by inspectors of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and/or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).

A seafood importer's job has changed since Sept. 11, 2001. Increased security efforts at borders and ports of entry require more attention to de tail than ever. The FDA has more than doubled its food-cargo inspections since passage of the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act in 2002. Importers must maintain all the paperwork required by each agency. Buyers who deal with imported seafood should be cognizant of the challenges importers face. Here's a primer on the regs, technology and challenges involved in importing seafood.

Q. Which agency oversees U.S. seafood imports?

The FDA, which is responsible for ensuring the safety and legality of Americans' food supply. All imported products must meet the same standards as domestic goods and are subject to FDA inspections. Donald Kraemer, acting director for the office of seafood at FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, says that inspectors establish their priorities based on two broad categories: risk and history.

"When we look at products and importers, there is a variety of risks," Kraemer says. "[With] ready-to-eat products, we look for salmonella and other contamination concerns. With fresh fish, it's more likely to be histamines. Our highest priority, without a doubt, is to look at food-safety issues."

The FDA screening process has halted many unsafe products, Kraemer says, such as those contaminated with bacteria or showing traces of illegal antibiotics. The agency keeps a database of offenders and tracks trends on violations regarding products and exporting countries.

"Clearly if you're importing products from one of the firms on our list, you can expect some involvement from the FDA," he says.

FDA inspectors have the right to refuse any shipment that does not meet U.S. standards of cleanliness and accuracy.

One particular red flag, says Kraemer, is hard for inspectors to miss: "Filth. Presence of an indicator organism [such as insect fragments] leads us to believe [a product] was handled in an unsanitary environment. There's a whole world of things that fit into the category of filth."

In short, imported seafood must comply with the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Misbranding infractions, which could include deceptive listings of species and inaccurate weights, are common violations. Refused products are typically held by CBP and refrigerated only at the importer's request--and expense--until they are cleared, which can take up to several days. Depending on the violation, the product may be destroyed or the importer fined, or both.

Q. Has anything made importing seafood more efficient? Prior notice and the Internet. The Bioterrorism Act, in effect since December 2003, mandates that the FDA be notified (online at www.access.fda.gov) in advance of a product's arrival at a port of entry. Prior notice must be given no more than five days before a product's arrival, and no fewer than two hours if transported by land, four hours if carried by air or rail, and eight hours if shipped as ocean cargo. Both agencies say the process has become an important tool in the nations food defense efforts.

Also increasing efficiency is the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which was established in 1963 by the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Codex Alimentarius is a collection of international food standards designed to protect the health of consumers and facilitate fair practices in the food trade. There are 174 member nations that agree to comply with Codex standards, helping to speed products through inspections and provide a measure of accountability on the part of exporting firms.

Q. What are the top seafood-exporting countries into the United States?

Canada is the top exporter of seafood and in 2004 shipped $2.1 billion U.S. (about 20 percent of the total) of seafood across the border, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. Thailand and China place second and third, with seafood imports worth $1.4 billion and $1.2 billion, respectively.

Q. What role does the Customs and Border Protection play in the import-inspection process?

CBP enforces some 400 laws for 40 government agencies, including the FDA. In this capacity, CBP collects antidumping duties on behalf of the Department of Commerce, according to Michael Craig, chief of trade compliance and facilitation, Office of Field Operations for CBP.

"Within the last 18 months, CBP has developed procedural measures [forcing] importers to obtain significantly increased entry bonds [see Top Story, p. 26], along with conducting enforcement actions to counter highly organized evasions of these anti-dumping duties," Craig says.

CBP teams with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to investigate anti-dumping duty evasion cases in order to prosecute violators and recover lost revenue. The agency also works closely with NMFS, routinely providing electronic data to the Department of Commerce for the use of its various agencies.

Q. What seafood products are under the authority of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service?

FWS has jurisdiction over any seafood product or species protected by the Endangered Species Act. It is charged with inspecting a shipment's CITES certification. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora is a voluntary international agreement between governments that places controls on the trade of sturgeon meat and sturgeon caviar from the Caspian Sea, for example. CITES accords varying degrees of protection to more than 30,000 species of animals and plants, whether they are traded as live specimens or as processed products. The United States has been a CITES member since it was established in 1975.

For more information on FDA import regulations, visit www.fda.goy.

Assistant Editor James Wright can be e-mailed at jwright@divcom.com

Geac's Interealty Signs Its Largest MLXchange Agreement Ever Valued at Approximately US$8.3 Million; 24,000 Realtors served by the Southeast Florida Multiple Listing Service, North America's third largest MLS, to use MLXchange.

The five REALTOR(R) associations served by the Southeast Florida Multiple Listing Service (MLS) have entered into a three-year arrangement worth an estimated US$8.3 million to use Interealty's MLXchange(R) as their MLS system. Interealty(R) is a Geac Computer Corporation Limited (TSX: GAC) company.

The five associations - which include the Realtor Association of Greater Fort Lauderdale; the Realtor Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches; the Realtor Association of Miami-Dade County, Inc.; the South Broward Board of Realtors, Inc.; and the Northwestern Dade Association of Realtors, Inc. - have a combined membership of approximately 24,000 Realtors. More than 130,000 real estate professionals across North America have access to MLXchange today.

"We took a long, hard look at all the available options," said Ed Kolaska, Chair of the Southeast Florida Vendor Selection Taskforce. "In the end, Interealty's solution was the most compelling because it offered the best combination of leading technology, customer service, and support."

The Southeast Florida MLS established its Vendor Selection Taskforce and hired Pranix Consulting in December 2002 to conduct a formal search for their next MLS technology provider. Following product demonstrations in January, the MLS systems from Interealty and one other company were short-listed for another two months of hands-on evaluation before the Taskforce made its final recommendation.

"MLXchange's flexibility was an important factor in our decision," said Larry Rowe, President of the Realtor Association of Greater Fort Lauderdale, the largest Florida association with more than 8,000 members. "The system enables MLS-wide property searches and, at the same time, allows each association to maintain its own unique business rules and restrictions. That level of configurability is crucial to a multi-region MLS like Southeast Florida."

"We're tremendously pleased with Southeast Florida's decision to use MLXchange," said Jim McDevitt, Geac vice president and general manager of Industry Specific Applications. "We pride ourselves on being innovators and offering the best technology, but also on our customer service. Geac continues to benefit from the value it places on nurturing long-term relationships with its customers, and this win is testament to the effectiveness of our customer- centric approach."

Despite the challenges of shifting to an Internet-based business model, Interealty has migrated 40 customer accounts from five different systems to the MLXchange platform in just a year and a half. Southeast Florida is the largest Interealty client still using one of its legacy MLS systems.

"This contract is a significant milestone in Interealty's transition to a more cost-effective way of doing business," said Interealty President Bryan Foreman. "We've still got some challenges ahead of us, but moving to the Web has dramatically improved the efficiency of our operations. We've included dozens of customer requests in four major upgrades since MLXchange's debut less than two years ago - we're able to be much more responsive to our customers' needs than before."

The market for Geac's licenses and services remains highly competitive. Price competition in larger orders has been and remains intense. New license revenue sales tend to be uneven and difficult to predict.

About Interealty

Interealty, a Geac Computer Corporation Limited (TSX: GAC) company, provides a full line of technology tools, services and support to each segment of the real estate industry, including Multiple Listing Services (MLSs), national and regional broker franchises, independent broker owners, and agents. For more than three decades, Interealty has provided North America's largest real estate boards and associations with innovative products like its leading MLS system, MLXchange. Headquartered in Vienna, Va., Interealty has offices throughout North America. Further information is available at http://www.interealty.com/ or through e-mail at info@interealty.com.

About Geac

Geac (TSX: GAC) is a global enterprise software company for Business Performance Management, providing customers worldwide with the core financial and operational solutions and services to improve their business performance in real time. Further information is available at http://www.geac.com/ or through e-mail at info@geac.com.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements based on current expectations. Important factors that could cause a material difference between these forward-looking statements and actual events include those set forth under the heading "Risk Factors" in Geac's Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2003 filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on October 31, 2003, copies of which are available through the website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov/; and under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" in Geac's Management Discussion and Analysis for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2003 filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators on June 25, 2003 and available through the website maintained by the Canadian Depository for Securities Limited at http://www.sedar.com/. Geac, Interealty and MLXchange are registered trademarks of Geac Computer Corporation Limited. All other marks are trademarks of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Investor Contact: Melody Firth, Geac, (905) 475-0525 x3325, melody.firth@geac.com; Media Contacts: Bryan Foreman, Interealty, (202) 281-4646, bryan.foreman@interealty.com; David Domeshek, Geac, (508) 871-5064, david.domeshek@geac.com

Yahoo! surprises itself and investors.(Business)

Byline: Louisa Nesbitt and Martin Faint

Yahoo! has unveiled its most successful quarter to date with a strong performance across all divisions substantially boosting profits.

The California-based firm more than doubled its profits after seeing a rise in turnover that was ahead of both its own and analysts' expectations.

And announcing its ninth straight rise in year-on-year quarterly turnover growth, an increased optimism in the business also prompted Yahoo! to lift its forecasts for the full year.

'I think we are just at the beginning of our ability to talk to larger advertisers and satisfy a much greater need of theirs,' said Yahoo! chairman and chief executive Terry Semel, a former Hollywood studio head who has spearheaded the firm's postbubble makeover by beefing up its products, technology and services.

The group, which is one of the internet's most visited sites, said turnover for the first quarter to March 31 was pounds 411 million, up 168 per cent on the same period of 2003.

Gross profits for the period were pounds 258 million, against pounds 130 million last year.

'Yahoo's performance surpassed even our high expectations, delivering the most successful quarter in the company's history,' said Mr Semel.

Yahoo! was founded in 1994 by two PhD students, David Filo and Jerry Yang, and was known as Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web.

It has since become a global brand with more than 237 million users in 25 countries, operating in 13 languages.

Mr Semel said the entire business had performed successfully, with strong growth in its feebased and marketing services.

Fees revenues lifted 39 per cent -mainly driven by the growth in the number of people paying for its premium services.

At the end of the quarter some 5.8 million people were paying for these services, compared with 2.9 million at March 31 last year. The company posted a 235 per cent increase in revenues at its marketing services division and a 16 per cent rise in listings revenue.

It also talked down the threat posed by Google, which is shortly to launch its own email service.

With its main search business under attack by Yahoo! -and soon by Microsoft -Google has struck back with the announcement of a free email service that will offer users more storage than is provided by Yahoo! or Microsoft's Hotmail.

'Yahoo! is accustomed to having competitors in almost every space we're in,' said Mr Semel.

'We've been in the email space for a long time. We're so much in touch with our users that we'll know how they feel about what they need.'

Yahoo! lifted its revenues forecast for the year ending December 31 to between pounds 1.31 billion and pounds 1.37 billion.

It also said it expected to deliver annual earnings before depreciation and goodwill of between pounds 483 million and pounds 526 million and unveiled a two-for-one stock split for its shares which reached their highest levels since November 2000.

The stock had already risen more than seven per cent since the start of the year, which has been taken as a bullish indicator for the entire net sector.

New technology shrinks lines at security checks; Web registration, scanners replacing notebooks; software firms compete.

Byline: stan luxenberg

One consequence of Sept. 11 has been the long lines that form as visitors wait to pass through toughened-up building security. At some prominent skyscrapers, the wait can extend to half an hour. Sometimes, tenants are even required to escort their guests upstairs.

But New Yorkers, famous for hating to wait in any type of line, have developed a number of new Web-based systems that practically eliminate security congestion in a building.

"The latest systems are much more convenient and safer than what we had a year or two ago,'' says Gregg Popkin, executive director of property management services for Insignia/ESG Inc., a Manhattan broker and management company. "We have seen waiting times drop to less than three minutes.''

As many as 100 buildings in the city have installed Internet-based security systems. George Figliolia, president of Builders Group, a Manhattan contractor that installs security equipment, estimates that these high-quality systems cost about $1 per square foot to install.

The new systems resemble airline e-tickets. An executive who expects guests can speed the visits by logging onto the building's Web site and entering the pertinent information, which is then routed to the security desk in the lobby. When guests arrive, they show the guard some form of identification. The guard types in the first few letters of the name, confirms the reservation, and prints out a badge.

Some systems even eliminate the need for typing. Guards simply run business cards through a scanner that reads the name and prints a visitor's badge. The whole process takes only a few seconds.

Handling groups

That's a big improvement from traditional security measures, where guests sign a loose-leaf notebook while a guard phones upstairs and often gets voice mail. The Web-based systems are especially helpful for tenants who invite large groups of guests for conferences or training sessions.

"If 20 people are all expected to arrive at once, the security desk can print out badges ahead of time,'' says Edward LaGrassa, manager of commercial business development for Rose Associates Inc., a building owner in Manhattan.

Some new systems include advanced lobby gates, which rely on so-called proximity cards. Security gates or turnstiles open when an identification card passes within six inches of a card reader. Many employees keep their cards in briefcases or purses and simply wave them past the machines.

"Tenants appreciate the system because they don't have to fumble with their coat and gloves to pull out a card,'' says Andrew Nick, a principal with Taconic Investment Partners, which owns several buildings that have installed the new systems.

Mr. Nick says the Web sites are particularly valuable for his biggest buildings, such as 111 Eighth Ave., which covers an entire block between 15th and 16th streets and houses more than 5,000 employees. The 2.8 million-square-foot building has four tenant entrances, three active loading docks and two entrances for contractors. The site lists the name and employer of each person passing through the gates.

"Those loose-leaf books are useless,'' says Mr. Nick. "When is the last time you signed your name legibly?''

A growing number of software companies are competing in this burgeoning security market. Toronto-based Angus Systems Group and iTendant Inc. of Atlanta are leading players, along with Manhattan-based Workspeed Inc. Workspeed has installed a state-of-the-art system in the General Motors Building at Trump International Plaza.

Security features

Founded four years ago, Workspeed originally focused on developing software to handle property management tasks, such as controlling room temperatures. But after terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, Workspeed expanded its systems to cover security. "We had always planned to offer security features, but we didn't make them a priority until Sept. 12,'' says Richard Ruben, a developer and Workspeed's chairman.

One of the extra features of the Workspeed system is that it can communicate with wireless messaging devices, cutting down on delays if an executive isn't at his or her desk to receive an e-mail notification.

The Builders Group's Mr. Figliolia says some buildings have spent as much as $2 a square foot for systems that can scan an individual's palm. So far, the most expensive gear is being used only by a few insurance companies and Wall Street firms that want to protect their key data-storage facilities.

But exotic equipment could become widespread. Real estate executives predict that within a few years, companies will begin installing systems that use retina or fingerprint scanning.