Saturday, December 31, 2011

Zephyr brings multitasking gestures to iPhone [Jailbreak]

Zephyr, by jailbreak phenom chpwn, brings iPad-style multitasking gestures to the iPhone.
From swiping up to show the multitasking switcher or quickly swiping to a different app,
...


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/LBzOjkjlQrA/story01.htm

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Egypt police raid U.S.-backed pro-democracy groups (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) ? Egyptian prosecutors and police raided offices of 17 pro-democracy and human rights groups on Thursday - drawing criticism from the United States which hinted it could review its $1.3 billion in annual military aid.

The official MENA news agency said the groups had been searched in an investigation into foreign funding.

"The public prosecutor has searched 17 civil society organizations, local and foreign, as part of the foreign funding case," MENA cited the prosecutor's office as saying. "The search is based on evidence showing violation of Egyptian laws including not having permits."

Among groups targeted were the local offices of the U.S.-based International Republican Institute (IRI) and National Democratic Institute (NDI), a security source and employees at the organizations said.

The U.S. State Department said the raids were "inconsistent with the bilateral cooperation we have had over many years" and urged Egyptian authorities to immediately halt "harassment" of non-governmental organization staff.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland indicated to a news briefing that military aid could be difficult to push through Congress if the situation did not improve.

"We do have a number of new reporting and transparency requirements on funding to Egypt that we have to make to Congress," Nuland said. "The Egyptian government is well aware of that and it certainly needs to be aware of that in the context of how quickly this issue gets resolved."

Nuland said U.S. officials had been in touch with Egyptian Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri and with Egypt's ambassador to Washington to underscore Washington's concern.

Germany's Foreign Ministry said it would summon Egypt's ambassador to Berlin on Friday after the raid targeted the German-based Konrad Adenauer Foundation, which is close to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats.

CRITICISM OF ARMY

Civil society groups, a driving force behind the protests that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in February, have become increasingly vocal in criticizing what they call the army's heavy-handed tactics in dealing with street unrest.

"This is a campaign the military council has launched to defame and stigmatize activists, rights groups and the various forces that have participated in the making of the January 25 revolution," said 27 civil society groups in a joint statement.

The groups added that such a campaign was "unprecedented even in the era of Mubarak and aimed to cover the failures of the military council in its management of the transitional period."

The ruling generals have pledged to stand aside by mid-2012 but many democracy activists say the military is keen to preserve its privileges and broad business interests.

One analyst said the crackdown on civil society groups was an attempt to stymie the protest movement.

"Civil society groups and the media are the two pillars of a successful revolution, because they are radical in their demands. The military council launches intermittent attacks to contain them," said analyst and researcher Yasser Abdel Aziz.

The U.S. State Department comments followed stinging criticism by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the "systematic degradation" of women during protests in Cairo this month in which 17 people were killed.

Images of troops beating demonstrators as they lay on the ground brought thousands of Egyptians onto the streets in protest. The harsh treatment of women protesters attracted particular attention.

The National Democratic Institute (NDI)said in an e-mailed statement that the raid took place on its offices in Cairo, Alexandria and Assiut, from where police confiscated equipment and documents.

"Cracking down on organizations whose sole purpose is to support the democratic process during Egypt's historic transition sends a disturbing signal," NDI President Kenneth Wollack was quoted as saying.

One person working at NDI, who gave her name as Rawda, said: "They are grabbing all the papers and laptops."

A Reuters television reporter who approached the offices of the International Republican Institute (IRI) in central Cairo found the doors sealed shut with wax and saw several police vehicles driving away from the area.

The NDI and IRI, which are loosely associated with the U.S. Democratic and Republican political parties and receive U.S. government funding, say they take a neutral political stance, fostering democracy in Egypt by training members of nascent parties in democratic processes.

CAMPAIGN

Other groups that were raided included U.S.-based Freedom House and local groups set up to defend judicial independence, individual freedoms and democracy, according to the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights.

"This looks like a campaign against human rights defenders," said prominent Egyptian rights activist Negad al-Borai. He said similar campaigns happened during Mubarak's three-decade rule.

"For this to happen after what we call the 'revolution', I am astonished."

Egypt's military has vowed to investigate how pro-democracy and rights organizations are funded and has said repeatedly it will not tolerate foreign interference in the country's affairs.

Egyptian presidential hopeful and former U.N. nuclear watchdog head Mohamed ElBaradei said: "Human rights organizations are the icon of freedom ... Everyone will be watching closely any illegal attempts to distort them. The revolution will prevail."

(Additional reporting by Yasmine Saleh and Patrick Werr; Christian Ruettger in Berlin; and Andrew Quinn in Washington; Writing by Tom Pfeiffer; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111229/wl_nm/us_egypt_groups

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Friday, December 30, 2011

LowellSunNews: Blaze rips through Townsend church building, damages house: TOWNSEND -- A building where children attend religio... http://t.co/nGaXj3Ca

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Verizon Will Charge You Extra to Pay Your Bill Online [Verizon]

Service outages have made Verizon customers grumpy the past few days. They probably won't be any happier about a leak from Droid-Life and confirmed by Phonescoop that start charging a $2 "convenience fee" for paying your bill online or by phone starting January 15th. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Ec0t0CkacRs/verizon-is-going-to-charge-you-extra-to-pay-your-bill-online

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

GOP chairman: Ring not too small for many hats

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The head of the Republican Party says no negative vibes should be inferred from the GOP's inability, so far, to coalesce around a candidate to challenge President Barack Obama.

Reince Priebus (ryns PREE'-bus) tells ABC's "Good Morning America" it's very early, calling it "a horse race."

He adds, "We'll get there and we'll have a nominee pretty quickly." Asked if the muddled contest might be problematical, Priebus replies, "I don't know if I would get too uptight over that."

Priebus says he isn't worried about a third-party candidate, saying that would likely pose a greater threat to Obama than the GOP.

The party chairman says, "I just think America is ready to put a person in the White House who can make a promise and keep a promise.:"

Source: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_REPUBLICANS_PARTY_CHAIRMAN?SITE=KMOV&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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americanfeeds: The Burgermeister of Beignets Is As Useful As Bureau Of Ocean Energy Management http://t.co/8GMD4OCV #news

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Shooting Challenge: Long Party Exposures [Video]

New Year's Eve is this weekend, meaning that most of us are attending parties. For this week's Shooting Challenge, I want you to capture that party...in a really long exposure. 15 seconds to 30 minutes. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/3sPrrJKhmZ4/shooting-challenge-long-party-exposures

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Mexico's cartels build own national radio system

(AP) ? When convoys of soldiers or federal police move through the scrubland of northern Mexico, the Zetas drug cartel knows they are coming.

The alert goes out from a taxi driver or a street vendor, equipped with a high-end handheld radio and paid to work as a lookout known as a "halcon," or hawk.

The radio signal travels deep into the arid countryside, hours by foot from the nearest road. There, the 8-foot-tall (2-meter-tall) dark-green branches of the rockrose bush conceal a radio tower painted to match. A cable buried in the dirt draws power from a solar panel. A signal-boosting repeater relays the message along a network of powerful antennas and other repeaters that stretch hundreds of miles (kilometers) across Mexico, a shadow communications system allowing the cartel to coordinate drug deliveries, kidnapping, extortion and other crimes with the immediacy and precision of a modern military or law-enforcement agency.

The Mexican army and marines have begun attacking the system, seizing hundreds of pieces of communications equipment in at least three operations since September that offer a firsthand look at a surprisingly far-ranging and sophisticated infrastructure.

Current and former U.S. law-enforcement officials say the equipment, ranging from professional-grade towers to handheld radios, was part of a single network that until recently extended from the U.S. border down eastern Mexico's Gulf coast and into Guatemala.

The network allowed Zetas operatives to conduct encrypted conversations without depending on the official cellphone network, which is relatively easy for authorities to tap into, and in many cases does not reach deep into the Mexican countryside.

"They're doing what any sensible military unit would do," said Robert Killebrew, a retired U.S. Army colonel who has studied the Mexican drug cartels for the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank. "They're branching out into as many forms of communications as possible."

The Mexican army said on Dec. 4 that it had seized a total of at least 167 antennas, 155 repeaters, 166 power sources, 71 pieces of computer equipment and 1,446 radios. The equipment has been taken down in several cities in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz and the northern states of Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, San Luis Potosi and Tamaulipas.

The network was built around 2006 by the Gulf cartel, a narcotics-trafficking gang that employed a group of enforcers known as the Zetas, who had defected from Mexican army special forces. The Zetas split from the Gulf cartel in 2010 and have since become one of the nation's most dominant drug cartels, with profitable sidelines in kidnapping, extortion and human trafficking.

The network's mastermind was Jose Luis Del Toro Estrada, a communications expert known as Tecnico who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine in federal court in Houston, Texas, two years ago.

Using millions of dollars worth of legally available equipment, Del Toro established the system in most of Mexico's 31 states and parts of northern Guatemala under the orders of the top leaders in the Gulf cartel and the Zetas. The Gulf cartel boss in each drug-smuggling territory, or plaza, was responsible for buying towers and repeaters as well as equipping his underlings with radios, according to Del Toro's plea agreement.

Del Toro employed communications specialists to maintain and run the system and research new technology, according to the agreement.

Mexican authorities, however, presented a different picture of the cartel radio infrastructure, saying it was less monolithic than the one described by U.S. authorities. A Mexican military official denied that the army and navy have been targeting one network that covered the entire Gulf coast. The operations had been focused on a series of smaller, local systems that were not connected to each other due to technical limitations, he said.

"It's not a single network," the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic. "They use it to act locally."

In recent years, reporters traveling with the Mexican military have heard cartels using radio equipment to broadcast threats on soldiers' frequencies. The military official told the AP that the signals are now encrypted, but cartels are still trying to break in.

At least until recently, the cartel's system was controlled by computers that enabled complex control of the radio signals, allowing the cartel to direct its communications to specific radios while bypassing others, according to Grupo Savant, an intelligence and security consulting firm in Washington that has firsthand knowledge of Mexico's cartel operations.

The radio system appears to be a "low-cost, highly extendable and maintainable network" that shows the Zetas' sophistication, said Gordon Housworth, managing director of Intellectual Capital Group, LLC, a risk- and technology-consulting firm that has studied the structure and operations of Mexican cartels and criminal groups.

Other Mexican criminal organizations maintain similar radio networks, including the Sinaloa cartel, based in the Pacific coast state of the same name, and the Barrios Azteca street gang, which operates in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, a U.S. law-enforcement official said. The Zetas' system is the largest, however, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.

The Mexican raids are "a deliberate attempt to disrupt the business cycle of the cartels," said one former law-enforcement official with direct knowledge of the network. "By going after command and communications you disrupt control."

Law-enforcement officials and independent analysts described the operations against the Zetas' communications system as significant short-term victories in the fight against the cartel.

"The seizures show that the organization is scrambling," said Steven Dudley, co-director of InSight, a group that analyzes and investigates organized crime in Latin America.

The longer-term impact is unclear. The cartel has had little difficulty in replacing radio gear and other equipment seized in smaller operations in recent years. And contacts among the highest-ranking Zetas operatives tend to take place in highly encrypted communications over the Internet, according to Grupo Savant.

Certainly, cartel radio equipment is a near-ubiquitous presence for Mexicans living along the front lines of the drug war.

In the state of Tamaulipas, across the border from eastern Texas, many antennas are concealed in the foliage of the rockrose, an invasive shrub that has spread across much of the state's open land.

Even from a few feet (meters) away it's nearly impossible to see the towers or their power cables.

In Nuevo Laredo, the Zetas' first stronghold, antennas sprout from rooftops and empty lots. One soldier told the AP that even when authorities took down an antenna there, it was swiftly replaced.

___

Associated Press writers E. Eduardo Castillo in Mexico City and Efrain Klerigan in Victoria, Tamaulipas, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-26-Drug%20War-Cartel%20Communications/id-44c7e10488df4ec1830f9397762ae4a1

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Toronto Wedding Photographer ? Amazing & Unique Photography Skills Of Toronto Wedding Photographer

It's usually an excellent thought to analyze a few special in addition to initial photography ideas in case you are your beloved partner or perhaps the photographer. Pretty much many birdes-to-be plus up and coming grooms bestow a huge selection of time planning almost every intricate element from the wedding to ensure it really is fresh new and private just for the woman's, just what exactly some sort of throw away that would be to possess wedding photographs which might be the same as all others. The bride to be she is could possibly have a number of exclusive and also primary wedding photography tips however bride will certainly rely on your photographer at the same time to look at fringe in this region. So how do you think of first and different image suggestions which don't end up being also off the beaten track and will nevertheless reveal a bad as well as design of the wedding day and also the individuality from the happy couple?

To begin with, do not move your nose in place thinking associated with checking out the photography of other people. You can often obtain exclusive in addition to primary photography tips allowing you to ultimately possibly be empowered simply by some other photographs. Studying photos the truth is within various other cds however you may also use the internet. A great deal of locations where promote or advertise show fine art possess wedding pictures which can be simply video craft but also possess some great creates as well as configurations. You may get your notions readily available simple clip craft objects through actually growing your crucial ability and also checking out the information on those pictures. The way performed these people offer the bride to be as well as the bridegroom or blossom young ladies? Precisely how does they'll use diverse lighting methods? Usually these photographs have inimitable poses such as the happy couple in fact leaving from the camera, considering one another instead of at the the len's, or perhaps merely running down the beachfront. You can even come by wonderful ideas from these types of pictures by simply taking a look at the way they employed one of a kind pretty elements inside photos. Possibly these people changed the actual blooms around near the dish shared or even put the sparkling wine goblet with its facet to suggest a party becoming finished. Different facets for photographs to the wedding meal may also be advisable as opposed to just only a lead concentrate.

Additional ?Toronto Wedding Photographer??ideas include showing in one certain detail. This might be a bride's bouquet in their own hands, your unity candle if the several makes use of 1, or perhaps the wedding favors. Frequently a photographer movements to try to get all things in every photograph but this can be a huge miscalculation. When you find yourself past an acceptable limit off you don't feel all-around your current subject. Many astonishing wedding photography ideas include focusing or perhaps centering on a specific subject of which people may well price cut, like people bouquets, the eye from the blossom woman, or perhaps quite a few stunning features of wedding ceremony place. Process your wedding photography suggestions sometimes. Apply steps injections at a friend's or perhaps relative's baseball game or at the pool of the holiday getaway apartment complicated so you're good at genuine pictures. Phase any desk setting in your home as well as recording studio and check out out various aspects in addition to lighting. Building a located beyond wedding celebrations can be hugely worthwhile every time a sole finds out the way to get it done correctly. Should you be contemplating for acquiring into the wedding photography organization, here are some issues you can do to get started away. Skilled photography is definitely additional than the compact digital that many of people understand.

Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/skin-care-articles/toronto-wedding-photographer-amazing-unique-photography-skills-of-toronto-wedding-photographer-5515516.html

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Adam Lambert Celebrates Christmas with Sauli Koskinen


Drunken fight and arrest? What drunken fight and arrest?!?

A few days after Adam Lambert and Sauli Koskinen were both arrested in Finland due to a brawl on the street, the singer - who has expressed embarrassment and regret over the incident - and his boyfriend appear to be on great terms again.

Just consider this photo on Lambert's Who Says page:

Adam Lambert and Sauli Koskinen on Christmas Eve

Adam included the following caption with the pic:

“Xmas Eve with the Koskinens! Just had a huge traditional Finnish feast and now opening gifts! Merry and bright! Hyvää ja rauhallista joulua!”

And Hyvää ja rauhallista joulua to you, as well.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/adam-lambert-celebrates-christmas-with-sauli-koskinen/

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Monday, December 26, 2011

Golf and Nordic Clubhouse Remodel RFP

The Town of Vail is seeking proposals from qualified architectural teams for the remodel of the Vail Golf and Nordic Clubhouse. The remodel project will include confirming and advancing the current schematic design for a major remodel and addition to the existing clubhouse.? The architectural team selected will be responsible for preliminary design, design development, design approval and entitlement, construction documents and construction administration.

Details of the request for proposals are available on the town?s website. Interested proposers must register with Town of Vail Public Works Director Greg Hall at ghall@vailgov.com for consideration.

Proposals are due by 4 p.m. Jan. 16 with the project scheduled to begin on Feb. 8. Construction is anticipated to begin?in February 2013 and take approximately 12 months to complete.?

The remodel is among three voter-approved projects that have been authorized to be funded with monies that had been previously set aside for a conference center. Planning for the other projects, field expansion and restroom renovation at the Ford Park Sports Complex and improvements at the Ford Amphitheater are also underway.

For more information, contact Hall at 479-2160.

Source: http://www.vailgov.com/release.asp?nr_id=6719&type=0

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Matt_Ginella: Tomorrow at 3:00 EST on @NBC's Global Golf Adventure, I'll be running, swimming and swinging my way to Hawaii.

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Tomorrow at 3:00 EST on @NBC's Global Golf Adventure, I'll be running, swimming and swinging my way to Hawaii. Matt_Ginella

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Source: http://twitter.com/Matt_Ginella/statuses/150737502997716993

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

First memories may happen as early as 2

Link Information - Click to View

First memories may happen as early as 2
Your toddler may remember much more than you think. It's long been believed that first memories don't form until age 3 or 4, but a new study indicates that some tots as young as 2 can recall a unique event.

Source: MSNBC
Posted on: Friday, Dec 23, 2011, 7:53am
Views: 44

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116316/First_memories_may_happen_as_early_as__

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Israel drops case against flotilla participants

Israel's attorney general has decided not to prosecute Israelis who participated in a Gaza-bound flotilla that was raided a year ago.

The suspects included an Israeli-Arab lawmaker and an Islamist leader.

A statement released Thursday by Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein's office said the Israelis were suspected of trying to enter the Gaza Strip, which is barred to Israelis. It said the legal proceedings were stopped because of "the discovery of evidential and legal difficulties," without giving specifics.

Nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists were killed when Israeli naval commandos stormed the Gaza-bound ships. The raid prompted an international outcry in which Israel was accused of disproportionate use of force.

Both sides said they acted in self defense.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/22/2557652/israel-drops-case-against-flotilla.html

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Saturday, December 24, 2011

Wal-Mart pulls formula after baby dies in Missouri

This photo provided Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011, by the Holman Howe Funeral Home, shows Avery Cornett of Lebanon, Mo., who died Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011. Federal health agencies are testing samples of liquid and powdered infant formula and some distilled water used to prepare the powder by the Missouri parents of a 10-day-old boy who died from an apparent bacterial infection. Cornett died Sunday night after he was fed Enfamil Newborn powder bought at a Walmart store in Lebanon, Mo. The store has stopped selling the product, and the company pulled a batch of the infant formula from more than 3,000 of its stores nationwide. (AP Photo/Holman Howe Funeral Home)

This photo provided Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011, by the Holman Howe Funeral Home, shows Avery Cornett of Lebanon, Mo., who died Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011. Federal health agencies are testing samples of liquid and powdered infant formula and some distilled water used to prepare the powder by the Missouri parents of a 10-day-old boy who died from an apparent bacterial infection. Cornett died Sunday night after he was fed Enfamil Newborn powder bought at a Walmart store in Lebanon, Mo. The store has stopped selling the product, and the company pulled a batch of the infant formula from more than 3,000 of its stores nationwide. (AP Photo/Holman Howe Funeral Home)

FILE - This photo taken Nov. 14, 2011, shows the rain-soaked handle of a shopping cart outside the Wal-Mart store in Mayfield Hts. Wal-Mart has pulled a batch of powdered infant formula from more than 3,000 of its stores nationwide after a newborn Missouri boy who was given the formula became gravely ill with a suspected bacterial infection and died after being taken off life support, the retailer said Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta, File)

(AP) ? Wal-Mart and health officials awaited tests Thursday on a batch of powdered infant formula that was removed from more than 3,000 stores nationwide after a Missouri newborn who consumed it apparently died from a rare infection.

The source of the bacteria that caused the infection has not been determined, but it occurs naturally in the environment and in plants such as wheat and rice. The most worrisome appearances have been in dried milk and powdered formula, which is why manufacturers routinely test for the germs.

Wal-Mart pulled the Enfamil Newborn formula from shelves as a precaution following the death of little Avery Cornett in the southern Missouri town of Lebanon.

The formula has not been recalled, and the manufacturer said tests showed the batch was negative for the bacteria before it was shipped. Additional tests were under way.

"We decided it was best to remove the product until we learn more," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Dianna Gee said. "It could be returned to the shelves."

Customers who bought formula in 12.5-ounce cans with the lot number ZP1K7G have the option of returning them for a refund or exchange, Gee said.

The product is not exclusive to Wal-Mart. The manufacturer, Mead Johnson Nutrition, declined to answer questions about whether formula from that batch was distributed to other stores.

"We're highly confident in the safety and quality of our products," said Christopher Perille, a spokesman for the company based in the Chicago suburb of Glenview.

A second infant fell ill late last month after consuming several different types of powdered baby formula, but that child recovered, health officials said.

Powdered infant formula is not sterile, and experts have said there are not adequate methods to completely remove or kill all bacteria that might creep into formula before or during production.

Preliminary hospital tests indicated that Avery died of a rare infection caused by bacteria known as Cronobacter sakazakii. The infection can be treated with antibiotics, but it's deemed extremely dangerous to babies less than 1 month old and those born premature.

The bacteria are "pervasive in the environment," Perille said. "There's a whole range of potential sources on how this infection may have got started."

A spokeswoman for the Food and Drug Administration said the agency is investigating the death, along with the Centers for Disease Control and the Missouri Department of Health. Investigators have collected samples from the family and are testing unopened formula purchased at stores.

Siobhan Delancey said the FDA gets four to six reports a year of infant infections related to formula and has not found a powder that tested positive since 2002.

The FDA is also investigating the other case of illness, which involved a baby from Illinois whose case was reported in neighboring Missouri. But the agency does not believe there is any connection between the two, Delancey said.

Public health investigators will look at the formula itself, as well as the water used in preparing it and at anything else the baby might have ingested, Perille said.

Only two to three cases a year are reported. New Mexico saw two in 2008, including one infant who died and another who suffered severe brain damage. A Tennessee infant died in 2001 after being infected.

It could be several days before test results are available.

The family submitted two types of infant formula for testing ? the powdered version and a pre-sterilized, ready-to-eat liquid ? as well as the distilled water used to prepare the powdered product.

"We're just trying to test anything that was consumed by the baby," Laclede County Health Director Charla Baker said.

Avery was taken to a pediatrician Dec. 15 ? a week after he was born ? after showing signs of stomach pain and lethargy. When the pain persisted the next day, his parents took him to an emergency room.

He died Sunday at a hospital in Springfield after being removed from life support.

The Missouri Department of Health advised parents to follow safety guidelines for preparing powdered infant formula, including washing hands, sterilizing all feeding equipment in hot, soapy water and preparing enough formula for only one feeding at a time.

A flood of calls from worried parents prompted Missouri officials to clarify that the formula pulled by Wal-Mart is not being provided to participants in the Women, Infants and Children federal program for low-income parents.

___

Associated Press Medical Writer Mike Stobbe in Atlanta contributed to this report.

___

Alan Scher Zagier can be reached at http://twitter.com/azagier .

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-22-Wal-Mart-Infant%20Formula/id-75baed03113d4b9ca4e7a1f06fbb64c2

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49ers receiver gives salary to college kids

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Braylon Edwards may or may not be in Jim Harbaugh's doghouse but the San Francisco 49ers' wide out is extremely popular with a group of Cleveland students.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45755546/ns/sports-nfl/

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Friday, December 23, 2011

Hackers Plan to Figure Out How Carrier IQ Works Before the Government Does (The Atlantic Wire)

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) put out an open call for developers to help them figure out how the controversial, smartphone-spying Carrier IQ software actually works. For a lot of privacy advocates, the big question is whether or not the diagnostic software is overstepping ethical bounds and potentially even breaking federal wire-tapping laws by collecting user data and selling it to mobile carriers. EFF is a non-profit devoted to "defending your rights in a digital world," to borrow the wording of its tagline, so the project aims to answer that question for the public good. The way to do this, the organization says, is by reverse-engineering the software in order to create a bunch of user profiles that data and legal experts can analyze. EFF's Peter Kearsley describes the goal in a blog post. "Profiles contain instructions about what data to collect, how to aggregate it, and where to send it," explains Kearsley. "To create transparency for the public that has been monitored by the more intrusive variants of this software, we will need a comprehensive library of these Profiles, and to know which ones were pushed to which phones at what times."

Related: Yes, Even iPhones Can Spy on You, Too

Since one hacker-type posted a YouTube video that he said showed how Carrier IQ software records torrents of data, as specific as individual key strokes and the content of text messages, the company has flood of scrutiny from the public and the government. Carrier IQ's been?adamant?about defending its service against accusations that it's breaking the law or abusing its access to the data on the 150 million or so phones that come pre-loaded with the software. It's also notoriously difficult to opt out of the service, much less delete it from your phone. Just last week, Carrier IQ executives were making the rounds at the major government agencies, including the Senate and the Federal Communications Commission, who'd expressed concerns about the company's data collection practices. The company's the government will launch an official investigation, the concern has proved pretty durable; on Friday, Sprint announced that it was removing Carrier IQ software from all of its phones. Does this confirm that Carrier IQ's software is snooping and evil? Not at all. But the EFF's army of hackers just might.

Related: The Latest in the Widening Carrier IQ Phone Spying Scandal

Image by?Yeko Photo Studio?via Shutterstock.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/security/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/atlantic/20111221/tc_atlantic/hackersplanfigureouthowcarrieriqworksgovernmentdoes46529

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Wielerfeed: Nieuws: Mark Cavendish wins 2011 Sports Personality of the Year, http://t.co/aFJRr6Mn #wielrennen

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Source: http://twitter.com/Wielerfeed/statuses/150008276543741954

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Thursday, December 22, 2011

LAPD officers involved in shooting in Pico Union area

LAPD officer involved shooting scene

Los Angeles police Wednesday night were involved a shooting that left one person wounded in the Pico Union area.

The incident began after 7 p.m. when officers made a stop regarding a suspected stolen vehicle at Washington Boulevard and New Hampshire Avenue, the Los Angeles Police Department said.

It was unclear what sparked the shooting and how many officers may have fired their weapons.?

"We do have someone hit," said Officer Norma Eisenman.?

She said no officers were wounded. The condition of the person who was shot was not immediately known.

No other information was immediately available.

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Graphic: Map shows the area where an officer-involved shooting occurred Wednesday night.

Credit: Google Maps

Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/12/lapd-officer-involved-shooting.html

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Monday, December 19, 2011

High school game: Runaway cart at Cowboys Stadium (AP)

ARLINGTON, Texas ? A runaway electric cart raced unmanned from an end zone to midfield at Cowboys Stadium and plowed into several people after a high school championship game Saturday night, bowling over the winning head coach and several others.

An emergency medical technician who declined identification told The Associated Press that one man who was conscious and talking was taken to a hospital with an apparent leg injury. The Arlington medical technician said he had no further information on the man's condition but several others hit or grazed by the cart were checked out by emergency workers as they sprawled stunned on the field.

Separately, a Texas sports league official said a male staffer also was injured, not seriously, when the cart raced across field in a matter of seconds during onfield celebrations after the Texas 5A Division II football championship game. That official also declined identification.

The cart toppled Spring Dekaney coach Willie Amendola, who was being interviewed near the Cowboys midfield star, along with several others clustered about him moments after Dekaney had beaten Cibolo Steele 34-14. Hundreds of people were scattered about the field or were in the stands at the time.

Broadcast footage showed a stunned Amendola falling backwards into the cart's passenger seat as it continued rolling. He appeared to try unsuccesfully to gain control of the cart, spinning the steering wheel with his left hand, before rolling out onto the artificial turf. As he tumbled out, a pursuing field worker hopped aboard and stopped the cart quickly.

"We have a disturbance down the field. Apparently one of the carts on the field got loose and I think there have been some folks injured in this. Oh my! That's like a runaway cart there. And it finally took someone to stop it," a shaken announcer is heard commenting on air as the cart rolled and then stopped. "That's a scary thing."

Others were seen on the ground afterward as emergency personnel rushed up, including one man sprawled motionless while someone cradled his head. Nearby, others helped a visibly stunned man to his feet.

It was unclear why or how the cart began moving under its own power. Stadium workers were picking up fluorescent orange sideline yard markers and pylons in one of the end zones after the game when the cart unexpectedly took off.

During its race across the field, the cart appeared to roll over the legs of some of those onfield. Afterward, televised broadcasts showed Amendola conducting another interview with a small streak of blood on his left forearm.

An Arlington police dispatcher as well as a spokeswoman for Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital, where at least one injured person was reported taken, told AP they had no information to release early Sunday.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111218/ap_on_sp_ot/us_cowboys_stadium_runaway_cart

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Daily Tip: How to set up custom vibration patterns in iOS 5 [Video]

Curious how to set up the new accessibility feature in iOS 5, namely the custom vibration patterns? Custom vibrations patterns let you set up uniquely identifiable series for contacts in your address book — a handy feature to say the least! Turning custom vibration patterns on To get...


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/dLlS6QZC-wA/story01.htm

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GOP candidates to debate in Sioux City, Iowa (AP)

Some of the Republican presidential candidates are squeezing in campaign events before participating in a televised debate in Sioux City, Iowa. It's their last debate before the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3.

The debate, scheduled for 9 p.m. EST Thursday, is sponsored by Fox News and the Iowa Republican Party.

Earlier Thursday, Rick Santorum is set to meet with voters in Rockwell City, Sac City and Holstein, Iowa.

Newt Gingrich will be in Fort Dodge, Iowa, and Rick Perry will be in the Iowa town of Le Mars.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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Saturday, December 17, 2011

TV companies have a year to pipe down loud ads (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Shush, already. That's the message the Federal Communications Commission is sending with new rules that force broadcast, cable and satellite companies to turn down the volume on blaring TV commercials.

On Tuesday, the FCC passed a set of regulations that will prevent commercials from being louder than the shows around them. It's all part of the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (or CALM) Act, which President Obama signed into law last December. The rules go into effect a year from now. Companies that don't comply will face unspecified FCC action.

Thunderous television ads have annoyed viewers for years. The FCC says people have grumbled about the issue for at least a half century. But since 2002 ? thanks in part to all those clangorous car commercials, earsplitting electronics ads and booming beer pitches ? loud advertisements have been one of the top complaints the FCC receives.

Complaints grew in recent years, as ads became even louder. In the days of analog TV, louder ads took up more space on the airwaves. So broadcasters toned them down to avoid interfering with other channels. Since the conversion to digital TV broadcasts two years ago, loud ads no longer take up more airwave space than quiet ones. The change transformed the commercial break into a noisy arms race.

"Nobody wanted to be the quiet guy in the set of commercials," says David Unsworth, senior vice president of satellite and technical operations at DG, a company that distributes ads to broadcasters.

In a recent analysis, DG found that some ads were 10 times as loud as the programs they interrupted.

"Everybody's been trying to push the envelope using (digital) compression to make their spots as loud as they can," Unsworth says.

A few years ago, an annoying ad got to the ears of Rep. Anna Eshoo, the Democratic congresswoman whose district in California's Silicon Valley is home to Facebook and Hewlett-Packard Co. While watching a sporting event with family members, Eshoo was jarred by a "horribly loud" commercial. Her brother-in-law suggested she do something about it. She did ? with what started as a simple, one-page legislative proposal.

The measure became one of the most popular bills she's ever sponsored.

"What I never dreamed of was what kind of chord it would strike with people," Eshoo says.

The FCC rules require TV distributors to set up equipment to monitor the average sound level of ads as they come in. If they're too loud, distributors must adjust the sound levels before they can be aired. It recommends practices set out in 2009 by the Advanced Television Systems Committee, a standards-setting body.

If compliance with the rules places a financial burden on a company, the FCC will give it extra time ? up to December 2014 ? to comply.

Those concessions have helped to reduce opposition.

"We think that the FCC struck the right balance," says National Association of Broadcasters spokesman Dennis Wharton.

In the months leading up to the FCC's release of the new rules, advertisers were already turning down the noise because many broadcasters are now rejecting loud ads. Since DG began monitoring sound levels this summer, the number of ads that were too loud has fallen from about 70 percent of all ads to roughly 30 percent, Unsworth says.

Already, hundreds of TV stations, cable and satellite companies have updated equipment to comply, says Tim Carroll, founder and president of Linear Acoustic Inc., a leading maker of the equipment.

For its part, ABC says it has installed equipment at its eight television stations. CBS has been operating under the guidelines for some time. NBC has sent specifications to its commercial suppliers and has installed equipment to reduce the volume of loud ads. Fox declined to comment, although Unsworth says the network has been rejecting ads that are too loud and getting advertisers to fix them.

Leading cable TV companies Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc. declined to comment.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_hi_te/us_loud_commercials

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Agnieszka Holland illuminates "In Darkness" shoot (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? There are directors who like to keep their actors in the dark. And then there are directors who literally commit to trapping their company of players in...the...dark.

On Tuesday night, Agnieszka Holland told the crowd at TheWrap's Awards Series Screening of "In Darkness" how she overcame the challenge of shooting the Holocaust epic in extremely low light.

The vast majority of the film takes place in sewers where a group of Jewish refugees take shelter for months at the height of World War II. The result more than lives up to its name, being almost literally a film noir.

"It was challenging," Holland told Sharon Waxman, TheWrap's Editor-in-Chief and the evening's moderator, "but for me, as a filmmaker, it was a positive challenge. It was one of the reasons I finally said I cannot not make this movie, because how many times in a lifetime do you have the opportunity to shoot your entire movie, or 80 percent of the movie, in the darkness? Probably once."

And not everybody gets that offer, she pointed out to the Landmark crowd. Children and grandchildren of the real-life Jews who survived the ordeal were on hand for The Wrap's screening, taking their own trip into that visceral dimness for the first time.

This is Holland's third Holocaust drama, following her breakout arthouse hit "Europa Europa" and the lesser known "Angry Harvest." Testing her ability to make a film rich in characters, emotion, and action helped counter-balance any feeling of been-there-done-that, or emotional exhaustion on the topic.

"When the script was sent to me, I was moved by the story, but I passed on it," Holland said. "I said to myself, 'I cannot go there any more.' But the writer was persistent (and told me) that I'm the person who can tell this story."

If anyone else tries to suggest that three Holocaust films is too many, she understandably bristles. "There's a lot of people who are asking, 'Why another Holocaust story?' Which I don't understand, because nobody's asking, 'Why another romantic comedy?'"

The director knew what prettifying traps she wanted to avoid. "When you see movies like 'The Third Man' with Orson Welles," Holland explained, "the sewers of Vienna look beautiful. The cinematographer put the lights in the bottom of these tunnels, and it gives you the counter-light and it looks like a Gothic cathedral or something. I didn't want that. I wanted it to be as it is, which means dark and dull and wet and unbearable.

"But at the same time, of course, we wanted you to see what's important -- to see the action, to see the expressions on the faces of the people, to be with them."

Holland said that each of her three films about the Holocaust grapple with the intersection of the Jewish experience and Jewish victimization in the war and the Gentileworld around them.

She said that she is particularly interested personally by the meeting of Jewish and Gentile sensibilities "because it happens inside of myself. My father was a Jew and his family died in the Holocaust in the Warsaw ghetto. And my mother is Gentile, and she as a very young girl was saving Jewish families in Warsaw during the Holocaust and afterward had her title of 'the righteous among the nation' and her place in the Holocaust museums. So both those two points of view, I was very sensitive to.

"But," Holland added, "most of the Holocaust movies are the movies of the people who survived. And I want once to make the movie about people who didn't survive. Because most of the people didn't, as you know."

Just one obstacle to making her fourth and possibly most harrowing Holocaust film, then: "The people don't want to give money to do those movies. So we need some way around, to deal with that."

Thanks to "In Darkness" Holland is now an expert on a subject she never expected to master.

"About 20 percent we shot in real sewers and the rest on sets," she said. "But the production designer did a great job, and you would not recognize the real sewers from the constructed sewers.

"When we went for the location scouting," Holland added, "I became the big specialist in sewers. I've been in probably 10 or 12. And I also watched this special website where the crazy guy is going into all the sewers all over the world to compare. The most beautiful are the sewers of Montreal, I guess."

Naturally, the lovely sewers never made her short list.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111215/film_nm/us_agnieszkaholland

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Friday, December 16, 2011

Newt Gingrich and the Mars Prize (ContributorNetwork)

The exchange between former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on lunar mining colonies highlighted the future of space exploration as a political issue, along with Gingrich's views on the subject.

The moon is not the only destination that fascinates Gingrich. He supports human expeditions to Mars as well. But Gingrich being who he is has a unique approach on the matter.

How was the Mars Prize first proposed?

According to the Space Prize blog, the idea of a Mars Prize came up in the mid-1990s when space exploration visionary Bob Zubrin had dinner with then-Speaker Gingrich. What if, Zubrin proposed, instead of going to Mars the traditional NASA way, as a multibillion dollar Apollo-style project, that a $20 billion prize be offered for the first private group to send a human to Mars and return him safely to Earth? Gingrich expressed enthusiasm for the idea but never really pushed it during his remaining time in Congress. The idea still crops up in Gingrich's speeches from time to time, according to Space Politics, as well as his writings, according to On the Issues, and even on the campaign trail, as it did in a recent town hall meeting.

How would the Mars Prize work?

This detail is pretty vague. Presumably Congress would appropriate $20 billion and place it in a Mars exploration escrow account, with accompanying legislation that would govern exactly how the money could be won. The Journal of Cosmology speculates a Mars Prize might also consist of a number of lesser prizes, consisting of technological prototypes that would help to further a humans-to-Mars approach. These include solar electric engines, in situ resource development technologies and private robotic missions to Mars.

What are the arguments for a Mars Prize?

The cost of using the Mars Prize approach would be far less than the traditional NASA Apollo-style approach. It would rely on private competition and innovation, which would provide dividends even in advance of the actual Mars mission, to accomplish the feat of human interplanetary travel.

What are the arguments against a Mars Prize?

The problem with instituting a Mars Prize is persuading Congress to appropriate $20 billion all at once, then leaving it alone for a number of years, even more than a decade. Private groups seeking to send people to Mars would still have to raise private money to do so, a dubious prospect at best, especially considering the economic times we live in.

Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker. He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times and The Weekly Standard.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111214/sc_ac/10677065_newt_gingrich_and_the_mars_prize

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Bootleg liquor kills 126 people in eastern India

Indian patients take saline as they are treated after drinking toxic alcohol, in hospital in Diamond Harbour, near Kolkata, India, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. A tainted batch of bootleg liquor has killed scores and sent dozens more to the hospital in villages outside the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, officials said.(AP Photo/Bikas Das)

Indian patients take saline as they are treated after drinking toxic alcohol, in hospital in Diamond Harbour, near Kolkata, India, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. A tainted batch of bootleg liquor has killed scores and sent dozens more to the hospital in villages outside the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, officials said.(AP Photo/Bikas Das)

An Indian woman cries after her relative died from toxic alcohol outside a hospital in Diamond Harbour, near Kolkata, India, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. A tainted batch of bootleg liquor has killed scores and sent dozens more to the hospital in villages outside Kolkata, officials said. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)

Men who drank toxic alcohol receive saline intravenously in a hospital in Diamond Harbour, near Kolkata, India, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. A tainted batch of bootleg liquor has killed scores and sent dozens more to the hospital in villages outside Kolkata, officials said. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)

People who drank toxic alcohol take saline in a hospital in Diamond Harbour, near Kolkata, India, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. A tainted batch of bootleg liquor has killed scores and sent dozens more to the hospital in villages outside Kolkata, officials said. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)

An Indian woman is comforted as she cries after hearing her relative's death from toxic alcohol outside a hospital in Diamond Harbour, near Kolkata, India, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. A tainted batch of bootleg liquor has killed scores and sent dozens more to the hospital in villages outside Kolkata, officials said.(AP Photo/Bikas Das)

(AP) ? Bootleg liquor laced with toxic methanol killed 126 people and sickened dozens more who bought the illegal brew at small shops in eastern India, officials said Thursday. Police arrested seven suspected bootleggers.

Thousands of relatives, many of them wailing, gathered outside the packed hospital. Inside, dead bodies lay on the floor covered in quilts, while the ill waited on staircases to be treated. Groups of men sat in the halls with saline drips running into their arms.

Illegal liquor operations flourish across the slums of urban India and among the rural poor who can't afford the alcohol at state-sanctioned shops. The hooch, often mixed with cheap chemicals, causes illness and death on occasion, but rarely creates such mass carnage.

Day laborers and other poor workers began falling ill late Tuesday after drinking cheap booze from illegal shops near the village of Sangrampur, district magistrate Naraya Swarup Nigam said.

Groups of men gathered after their shifts to drink along a road near a railway station late Tuesday when they began vomiting, suffering piercing headaches and frothing at the mouth, Nigam said. Angry villagers later ransacked the booze shops.

Arman Seikh, 23, rushed his brother-in-law to the hospital.

"He complained of burning chest and severe stomach pain last night," he told The Associated Press.

Police arrested seven people in connection with making and distributing the methanol-laced booze, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said.

Police officials said the spurious liquor was from an illegal distillery in the village of Mograhat that supplies 70 shops in the area. Police are searching for the kingpin of the operation, who has fled, they said.

Alcohol for drinking is made from ethanol, whereas highly toxic methanol ? a clear liquid that can be used as fuel, solvent or antifreeze ? can induce comas and cause blindness and is deadly in high doses.

Anwar Hassan Mullah brought six sickened people to a hospital, and all of them died, he told NDTV news channel. He blamed police for turning a blind eye to bootleggers who spike their alcohol to boost its kick.

"It's a very sad thing that this has happened," Mullah said. "Why don't the police stop this? I cannot understand. What connection do they have (to the bootleggers)?"

By Thursday evening, the death toll had skyrocketed to 126, said Surajit Kar Purkayaspha, a top West Bengal police official. Others continued to come to hospitals, he said, though it was unclear if they were victims or opportunists hoping to get the state's grant of 200,000 rupees (about) $4,000 to the injured and the families of the dead.

Banerjee promised a crackdown.

"I want to take strong action against those manufacturing and selling illegal liquor," she said, according to Press Trust of India. "But this is a social problem also, and this has to be dealt with socially also along with action."

Despite religious and cultural taboos against drinking among Indians, 5 percent ? roughly 60 million people ? are alcoholics. Two-thirds of the alcohol consumed in the country is illegal hooch made in remote villages or undocumented liquor smuggled in, according to The Lancet medical journal.

The state of Gujarat, where all liquor is banned, just approved a death penalty for making, transporting or selling spurious liquor that kills people. The strict measures were proposed after 157 people died from drinking a bad batch of liquor in the city of Ahmedabad in 2009. At least 180 people died in 2008 around the southern Indian city of Bangalore from a toxic batch of homemade liquor.

The mass casualties came just days after a hospital fire in nearby Kolkata killed more than 90 people and led to the arrest of the facility's directors for culpable homicide.

In the latest tragedy, victims had purchased the illegal booze for about 10 rupees (20 cents) a half liter, less than one-third the price of legal alcohol, at shops near Sangrampur, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Kolkata, the city formerly known as Calcutta.

Illicit liquor is a hugely profitable industry across India, where bootleggers pay no taxes and sell enormous quantities of their product, said Johnson Edayaranmula, executive director of the Indian Alcohol Policy Alliance, an organization that fights alcohol-related problems.

The bootleggers, working in homes, hidden warehouses and even in forests, can turn 1 liter of genuine alcohol into 1,000 liters of bootlegged swill with chemicals and additives that usually cause no harm, but on occasion can lead to tragedy, he said.

Every week, one or two people across the country die from tainted liquor, he said. In 2009, at least 112 people died from a toxic brew in western India.

"People don't know what they are drinking," he said. "It's all easy money, big profits. No one is bothered by the health or social consequences."

The trade is allowed to flourish despite strict laws against spurious liquor because corrupt police, local officials and tax authorities all get a cut of the profits, he said.

"Many people are getting a share out of it, so who is going to take action against these people," he said.

___

Associated Press writer Manik Banerjee contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-15-AS-India-Liquor-Deaths/id-0d9892c60971465a81b8b16fec772ccf

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