Solomons tsunami destroys villages

People are staying on higher ground as they wait for aftershocks to subside following an earthquake and tsunami in the Solomon Islands on Wednesday. Officials estimate 100 homes were damaged and six people were killed.

By Kristen Gelineau,?Associated Press / February 6, 2013

A badly damaged home is seen Wednesday following a Tsunami at Lata, Temotu province, Solomon Islands.

AP Photo / World Vision

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Six bodies, including a child's, have been found in the sodden wreckage left by a tsunami that smashed into villages in the?Solomon?Islands, flattening dozens of homes in the South Pacific island chain.

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The 1.5-meter (4 foot, 11-inch) waves that roared inland on Santa Cruz Island, in the eastern?Solomons, on Wednesday were too fast to outrun for five elderly villagers and one child, who died after being sucked under the rushing water, George Herming, a spokesman for the prime minister, said Thursday. Several other people were still missing and dozens of strong aftershocks were keeping frightened villagers from returning to the coast, Herming said.

"People are still scared of going back to their homes because there's nothing left, so they are residing in temporary shelters on higher ground," Herming said.

The tsunami was generated by a powerful 8.0-magnitude earthquake that struck near the town of Lata, on Santa Cruz in Temotu, the easternmost province in the?Solomons. Temotu has a population of around 30,000.

Smaller waves were recorded in Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

The damage appeared to be concentrated to the west side of Santa Cruz, with five villages wiped out, Herming said. Authorities were still struggling to reach the remote area but an estimated 100 homes had been damaged or destroyed, he said.

The tsunami flooded the airstrip at the nearest airport and left it littered with debris, preventing relief workers from reaching the region by air. Smaller islands may also have sustained some damage, but workers had also not yet reached those areas, Herming said.

More than 50 people were killed and thousands lost their homes in April 2007 when a magnitude-8.1 quake hit the western?Solomon?Islands, sending waves crashing into coastal villages.

The?Solomons?comprise more than 200 islands with a population of about 552,000 people. They lie on the "Ring of Fire" ? an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones that stretches around the Pacific Rim and where about 90 percent of the world's quakes occur.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/dGvkUC7_VH0/Solomons-tsunami-destroys-villages

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ASUS TAICHI 21 review: are two screens better than one?

More Info

• ASUS reveals TAICHI convertible notebook / tablet with dual 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch displays
• ASUS TAICHI dual-screen Ultrabook coming in November for $1,300, 13-inch version to follow a month later
• ASUS TAICHI shipments reportedly pushed to at least December

It's tough to forget the ASUS TAICHI: out of all the Windows 8 convertibles we've seen (and we've seen a lot) this is the only one with two screens on board. In particular, it's got one on the inside, which you'd use in regular notebook mode, along with a touchscreen on the outside that allows you to use the PC as a tablet. If you like, you can shut the lid completely and turn the machine into a slate-type of device, but you can also leave the lid open so that you're mirroring your desktop, or displaying something different on each one (imagine the possibilities for presenters!). As an added trick, that outer screen also accepts pen input, though you'll have to splurge on the highest-end configuration to get it with a stylus.

For now, ASUS is selling the 11.6-inch TAICHI 21 ($1,299 and up), though a 13-inch version is going to start shipping later this month. Hopefully, though, our review after the break answers questions you'd have about either model. Namely, what's it like to use a machine with two screens, anyway?

Gallery: ASUS TAICHI 21 review

Filed under: Laptops, ASUS

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ComScore: iPhone up to 36 percent of US phone share in December, Android stayed put

There's been indications that Apple staged something of a comeback in the US during the fourth quarter, owing partly to an iPhone 5-related spike. ComScore's smartphone share data for December appears to bear that out. It estimates that the Apple claimed a 36.3 percent slice of the American market in the last month of 2012: that's a noticeable boost from 35 percent in November, and two points up since the iPhone 5's September arrival. Android remained on top at 53.4 percent, but it was once again unusually static, edging down from highs earlier in the year. Other platforms took their usual blows, although there's no doubt some hopes for revival.

Just don't anticipate looking for overall cellphone market share. ComScore has switched to focusing on smartphones, and it's telling a different story than we've seen in the past. When only smartphones count, Samsung's December share left it in second place, at 21 percent -- still an increase over prior months, but not as large as Apple's 36.3 percent. The biggest surprise is LG's rise to 7.1 percent and fifth place, quite possibly due to the Optimus G and Nexus 4. Enough shifted that the market may be even less recognizable in 2013, for better or worse.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, HTC, Nokia, LG, Blackberry

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Source: ComScore

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Islamic Minister calls on state to withdraw all cases against religious ...

Minister of Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali has called on the state to withdraw all court cases filed against Islamic scholars during past administrations.

?The cases filed against scholars during past administrations often involve charges for preaching religious advice without permits,? Shaheem told local media SunOnline.

?There are some charges previously filed against certain scholars, for example Sheikh [Ibrahim] Fareed. The charges against him are for preaching without a permit. I have spoken with Sheikh Fareed about this matter. In my capacity as Islamic minister, I call on the relevant authorities of the government to withdraw cases like this. These are very hurtful charges. Such charges should not be allowed to be levied against university educated, capable scholars, especially not under the current constitution,? Shaheem said.

Shaheem said that in a time where freedom to preach religion is exercised so freely, it is the duty of scholars to ?invite people to religion to the extent of their capabilities? and that they should be granted that freedom as long as they do not make any statement which goes against Islam.

?Now, if they start giving out ?fatwa?s, giving out?judgements?on what is ?haram? or ?halal? and speaking against the principles of Sharia, then action against them can be taken under the Religious Unity Act. I, however, cannot agree that there must be charges against someone for simple religious preaching, like asking people to go pray or pay alms,? Shaheem stated.

Speaking about scholars who held different views on religious matters, Shaheem said that such differences should be sorted through peaceful dialogue, and not through jail sentences and torture.

The Ministry of Islamic Affairs has previously held meetings to resolve dissenting opinions on religious matters, under the name of ?Scholar?s Dialogue?.

Shaheem was travelling and unable to speak at the time of press.

Source: http://minivannews.com/politics/islamic-minister-calls-on-state-to-withdraw-all-cases-against-religious-scholars-52461

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Amazon announces Coins, a virtual currency coming to the Kindle Fire in May

Jeff Bezos, whose fortune is probably built upon real money, has decided to invent a fake one for his customers. Amazon is launching a virtual currency, called Amazon Coins, which is designed to encourage Kindle Fire users to buy apps, games and in-app item purchases. When it launches in May, Amazon plans to give away tens of millions of dollars worth of free coins to consumers, just to get 'em hooked -- before pulling the old switcheroo and demanding they stump up their hard-earned in order to be able to buy things from Farmville.

Filed under: Tablets, Internet

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Source: Amazon

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Pocket-sized drones deployed to Afghanistan

John Roach , NBC News ? ? ? 1 hr.

Four-inch long, helicopter-shaped drones designed to provide frontline reconnaissance have been deployed to Afghanistan with British soldiers, the United Kingdom?s defense ministry reported Monday.

While they look like toys, the Norwegian-designed Black Hornet Nano drones carry pan-and-tilt cameras that stream images to soldiers? tablet computers.

?We use it to look for insurgent firing points and check out exposed areas of the ground before crossing, which is a real asset,? Sergeant Christopher Petherbridge of the Brigade Reconnaissance Force in Afghanistan said in a news release.

Military drones are nothing new, but these represent a new class of mini-robots on the front lines. Each weighs as little as 16 grams.

The drone is controlled with a handheld, thumb-operated joystick. They can also fly pre-programmed search patterns. The range is 1,000 meters (about six-tenths of a mile), they can fly for 25 minutes, and go from pocket to the airborne in less than 60 seconds, IEEE, an engineering association, noted.

Black Hornets have been in use in Afghanistan since 2012, according to BBC News. They were built by Prox Dynamics as part of a $30 million contract with military supplier Marlborough Communications.

While the current price tag will keep these out of the general public's hands, a future where tiny, high- tech drones make helicopter parenting easy for the masses no longer seems too distant.

? via IEEE

John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/pocket-sized-drones-deployed-afghanistan-1B8261027

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Dominican lawyer dismisses prostitution reports

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) ? A prominent Dominican lawyer who has been accused of hosting outings on his yacht in which a New Jersey senator used the services of prostitutes strongly denied the allegations Monday and said he would seek a criminal investigation into the source of the reports.

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez on Monday issued his own denial of the allegations from Washington, calling them false "smears."

The attorney, Vinicio Castillo Seman, says the allegations, published in U.S. media and on the Internet, are "absurd." He filed a formal complaint with the district attorney of Santo Domingo, a step that typically triggers a criminal investigation under the legal system of the Caribbean country.

A prosecutor was scheduled to meet with Castillo on Tuesday to discuss his complaint, according to the district attorney's office.

Castillo, the son of a presidential adviser and the brother of a member of the Congress, called a news conference to discuss what he called the "false and defamatory" allegations that his yacht was the scene of encounters involving prostitutes, two of whom were underage, hired for the use of Menendez.

He said he has known the U.S. senator for about 15 years and had never seen him with a prostitute.

"I have never seen him behave in any way that was not impeccable and dignified," Castillo said.

The senator met with reporters in Washington on Monday and acknowledged that he flew on the doctor's private plane to the Dominican Republic. But Menendez denied meeting with prostitutes and blamed the allegation on political enemies.

A watchdog group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, said it had received emails starting in April 2012 alleging that Menendez used the services of prostitutes from 2009-2010 in the Dominican Republic, and that two of them may have been 16, which would be illegal in both the Dominican Republic and the U.S., which prohibits people from traveling overseas to engage in sex with minors. The emails came from someone identified as "Peter Williams," though that may be a pseudonym.

The tipster said the senator traveled to the Dominican Republic in the private plane of Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye doctor of Dominican descent who is a prominent Democratic campaign contributor, and that the encounters with the prostitutes occurred in homes owned by Melgen and in a yacht owned by Castillo.

Castillo said he has never hosted any parties involving prostitutes on his boat and never lent it to Melgen. The accounts are "absurd," he said.

"It's absolutely false and slanderous to say that I have been on trips or at parties with underage prostitutes with Sen. Robert Menendez and Dr. Salomon Melgen," he said.

CREW said it investigated the allegations, but was unable to prove or disprove them and sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice asking for an investigation. A conservative website, The Daily Caller, then published the allegations, which drew more attention after Melgen's offices in South Florida were recently raided by U.S. federal agents. The FBI has declined to say why it searched Melgen's office or whether he is under investigation.

In a series of emails sent to CREW, the person identified as Williams provided names, numbers and an address for some of the alleged prostitutes. The phone numbers are not in service except in one case in which the woman who has the number says she has no connection to any of the parties involved in the allegations and is not a prostitute. The names of the alleged prostitutes in the emails are either nicknames or common and The Associated Press has been unable to locate any of them.

Castillo said the episode is a "smear campaign," intended to scuttle a contract for port security by a company controlled by Melgen.

The Dominican Republic, which has become a busy transit point for drugs destined for the United States and Europe, has only one X-ray to screen port cargo. It was donated by the United States.

A company called I.C.S.S.I. signed a contract in 2002 to provide screening throughout the country but the government suspended it in 2004 before it went into effect amid claims that it was too expensive and the bid process had not been competitive. A company run by Melgen bought the company in 2011 and he has been seeking to reinstate the contract, which has been tied up in the courts.

"It's evident that drug traffickers and their powerful allies in our country have no interest in the use in seeing this technology implemented in our ports," he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-04-Dominican%20Republic-Menendez/id-cca404e5949f4807851a7461568a5107

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Calorie labels for beer, wine and spirits considered by UK Government

According to public health minister Anna Soubry, officials have been in talks with the drinks industry about the possible inclusion of calorie content on labels.

Ministers are hoping that displaying the calorie content in beers, wines and spirits could encourage those who are watching their weight to drink less.

Most manufacturers already include information on units of alcohol on labels in a voluntary agreement with the Government.

A recent study by the Drink Aware Trust has linked the large amount of calories in alcoholic drinks to people being overweight and obese.

At around 250 calories per pint, lager is as fattening as a slice of pizza, while two large glasses of wine contain around 400 calories ? the same amount as a beefburger.

Half of those polled by Drink Aware knew how many calories there are in a cheeseburger but just one in three knew the correct number in a glass of wine.

?We?re continuing to work with the drinks industry to take forward the plans we set out in the alcohol strategy on labelling of alcoholic drinks,? said Soubry.

?By the end of this year, 80% of all alcoholic drinks on shop shelves will include clear labelling on units and health messages.

The Skinnygirl wine range

?Through the Responsibility Deal we will continue to discuss how to give consumers more information on alcoholic drinks, including calorie labelling,? she added.

Retailers including Asda, Sainsbury?s and Tesco are working with the Department of Health on how to display calorie counts on alcohol.

The Co-Op already includes calorie information on its own brand beer, wine, cider and spirits.

A number of new low and lower alcohol wine launches, such as Skinnygirl wine from US reality TV star Bethenny Frankel, have flagged up their low calorie credentials in their marketing material.

Meanwhile, London-based mixologist Joe McCanta recently told db?s sister title, The Spirits Business, that??skinny? cocktails were set to trend in the capital this year.

There is a chance the European Commission could suggest mandatory calorie information on alcoholic drinks when it reviews the issue within two years.

Voluntary Government ?responsibility deals? have got fast food companies, including McDonalds and KFC, to provide calorie information on their menus.

Soubry?s comments come as the Home Office prepares to make a decision on whether to introduce minimum pricing of 45p per unit of alcohol in the UK.

Source: http://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2013/02/calorie-labels-for-beer-wine-and-spirits-considered/

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Businesses in Combe Martin, Ilfracombe and Woolacombe working ...

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? Employment, issues, Training ? Businesses in Combe Martin, Ilfracombe and Woolacombe working to increase youth employment

While the Local Government Association has called for local councils to be given a bigger role in addressing youth unemployment, COMBEbusiness is already working to address this in Combe Martin, Ilfracombe and Woolacombe in North Devon.

COMBEbusiness?hosted its first community apprentice event in February 2012 and is widening this to its?youth employment, enterprise and training event from 7pm to 9pm on Wednesday 6 February at the Ilfracombe Centre.

Anyone can drop in to this free event:

Young people, students and jobseekers: to find out about opportunities, information and support.

Families: to learn more about how they can support children, grandchildren and young relatives get on to the careers ladder.

Businesses: to find out about what part they can play in employing apprentices and offering work experience as well as the funding and support available for this.

Every section of the community has a part to play in encouraging, supporting and advising young people choosing their future career path. Representatives from Careers South West, Construction Industry Training Board, Ilfracombe Arts College, Jobecentre Plus, Petroc and PLUSS will be on hand to offer advice and answer questions. Businesses will also be there to answer questions on working in different sectors and to give tips on job seeking.

COMBEbusiness welcomes all opportunities to unlock existing local expertise, advice and support within the community which can often produce powerful results.

Tags: businesses, Combe Martin, employment, enterprise, Ilfracombe, North Devon, people, training, unemployment, Woolacombe, young, youth

Source: http://combebusiness.co.uk/issues/businesses-in-combe-martin-ilfracombe-and-woolacombe-working-to-increase-youth-employment

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Pakistan: Toll from army post attack rises to 8

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) ? Pakistani officials say the death toll from a pre-dawn Taliban assault on an army post in the country's northwest has risen to eight. They say 12 attackers also died.

The Saturday assault followed a suicide bombing at a Shiite Muslim mosque elsewhere in the northwest on Friday that killed 24 people. It was the latest in a rising number of sectarian attacks in the country.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks. The group has been waging a bloody insurgency against the government for years and has carried out previous attacks on the country's minority Shiite sect.

A security official said the raid on the army post in Serai Naurang town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province killed two civilians and six security force personnel. He spoke anonymously, as is customary.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-toll-army-post-attack-rises-8-073021636.html

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Bateman bleeds for his role in 'Identity Thief'

By Randee Dawn, TODAY contributor

As a showbiz veteran, Jason Bateman knows a person has to be willing to take his lumps to make it in Hollywood. "It's really hard to stay employed in this business," he told TODAY's Matt Lauer Thursday.

That hasn't been a problem for Bateman, who after all these years is still ready to bleed for his art. Take "Identity Thief," in which he spars with Melissa McCarthy, who plays the film's titular criminal. Earlier this week, McCarthy mentioned that she beat "the bejeepers out of" her co-star, and on Thursday Bateman confirmed it.

"The throat punch (she gave me) was a fake," he said. "The smacks to the beak were real. My nose bled twice during the filming!"

He added, tongue-in-cheek, "She has a lot of anger issues."

He should have been able to guess that McCarthy would be a no-holds-barred performer after watching her in "Bridesmaids"; that performance led him to decide to cast her in "Identity Thief," which he also produced.

"I, like everybody fell in love with her (in "Bridesmaids")," he explained. "I went to the premiere of that film and the next day called the studio and my producing partner ... said, 'Why don't we switch the thief from a man to a woman' so that I can work with this woman ... because she's going to be white-hot. And we were correct. She's way too expensive now.'"

And it all worked out beautifully. Lauer noted that McCarthy does make mincemeat of him in this film, and Bateman nodded and smiled. "I let her have me," he said. "I like to be submissive to women."

"Identity Thief" opens in theaters on Feb. 8.

Related content:

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/01/31/16790045-jason-bateman-identity-thief-melissa-mccarthy-has-a-lot-of-anger-issues?lite

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