Former CIA officer accused of terror leaks

This undated image, taken from video, and provided by ABC News show former CIA officer John Kiriakou interviewed on ABC's World News, Monday Dec. 10, 2007. Kiriakou, who told reporters he participated in the interrogation of terrorist Abu Zubaydah has been charged with leaking classified secrets about CIA operatives and other information to reporters. (AP Photo/ABC News)

This undated image, taken from video, and provided by ABC News show former CIA officer John Kiriakou interviewed on ABC's World News, Monday Dec. 10, 2007. Kiriakou, who told reporters he participated in the interrogation of terrorist Abu Zubaydah has been charged with leaking classified secrets about CIA operatives and other information to reporters. (AP Photo/ABC News)

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (AP) ? An ex-CIA officer who helped track down and capture a top terror suspect was charged Monday with disclosing classified secrets about his teammates to the media, the latest criminal case in the Obama administration's effort to punish leakers.

John Kiriakou, 47, is charged with violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act and the Espionage Act. A judge at a federal court hearing ordered Kiriakou to be released on a $250,000 unsecured bond.

According to authorities, Kiriakou told a New York Times reporter classified information about a fellow officer who participated in interrogating suspected al-Qaida financier Abu Zubaydah in 2002, eight months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times and his case has been made an example by those who believe the interrogation technique should be outlawed.

According to an affidavit, FBI agents interviewed Kiriakou last week, and he denied leaking the names of covert CIA officers. When specifically asked whether he had provided the Zubaydah interrogator's name to the Times for a 2008 article, he replied "Heavens no." A New York Times spokeswoman said the newspaper declined comment.

Kiriakou's attorney, Plato Cacheris, said after his hearing that a potential defense argument could be that the charges criminalize conduct that has been common between reporters and government sources for decades. If convicted, Kiriakou could face decades in prison and a fine up to $1 million.

Prosecutors started their investigation after defense attorneys for suspected terrorists filed a classified legal brief in 2009 that included details that had never been provided by the government. Authorities concluded that Kiriakou had leaked the information to reporters, and that reporters had provided the information to the defense.

The charges state that Kiriakou, who was an intelligence officer from 1990 to 2004, leaked information about the identity of another officer who interrogated Zubaydah. In a 2007 interview with ABC News, Kiriakou said that waterboarding was used ? effectively ? to break down Zubaydah. But he expresses ambivalence about the use of waterboarding in general.

Kiriakou has worked as a consultant to ABC News, although he hasn't appeared on the network since early 2009. ABC had no comment on his arrest.

According to a court affidavit, the photographs of the CIA officer who participated in the Zubaydah interrogation were found in the possession of terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

The charges also accuse Kiriakou of lying about his actions in an effort to convince the CIA to let him publish a book, 2010's, "The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA's War on Terror."

Since leaving the agency, Kiriakou has worked as a consultant and on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to his LinkedIn profile. He earned a bachelor's degree in Middle Eastern studies in 1986 and a master's degree in legislative affairs in 1988, both from George Washington University in Washington.

The Justice Department's campaign to punish leakers has been unrelenting. This is the sixth criminal leak case opened under the Obama administration and the second involving a former CIA officer and The New York Times. Federal prosecutors claim Jeffrey Sterling divulged classified information to Times reporter James Risen about CIA efforts to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions. Sterling is awaiting trial.

"Safeguarding classified information, including the identities of CIA officers involved in sensitive operations, is critical to keeping our intelligence officers safe and protecting our national security," said Attorney General Eric Holder. "Today's charges reinforce the Justice Department's commitment to hold accountable anyone who would violate the solemn duty not to disclose such sensitive information."

In light of the indictment, CIA Director David Petraeus reminded his agency's employees of the essential need for secrecy in their work.

"When we joined this organization, we swore to safeguard classified information; those oaths stay with us for life," he said "Unauthorized disclosures of any sort ? including information concerning the identities of other Agency officers ? betray the public trust, our country, and our colleagues."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-23-CIA%20Leak%20Charges/id-426fb22344264eff85138d84100f7217

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Palestinian woman says locked in bathroom for 10 years (Reuters)

RAMALLAH (Reuters) ? A 21-year-old Palestinian woman has told authorities she was locked in a bathroom for the past decade by her father, who let her out only in the dead of night so she could clean their house.

"People are monsters," Baraa Melhem said her father would tell her, according to a social worker dealing with the case.

Palestinian police said Monday they freed Melhem from the small bathroom of a home in the West Bank city of Qalqilya on Saturday after an anonymous tip.

Her father, who holds Israeli citizenship, was arrested and handed over to Israeli authorities. He is due to appear in an Israeli court Wednesday, an Israeli police spokesman said.

Melhem told Voice of Palestine radio that when she was 11, her father confined her to the toilet and did not allow her to go to school or see her mother, whom he had divorced.

She was beaten with a baton and metal wires and given only one blanket to keep her warm, said the social worker, Hala Shreim.

"The bathroom was only 1-1/2 meters big, it was like a cell," Shreim said.

According to a statement issued by Palestinian police, the father, citing a "family dispute," admitted to locking up his daughter and feeding her mainly bread.

Melhem told Voice of Palestine that her father used to shave her hair and her eyebrows, and allowed her to shower only once a month. He would let her out of the bathroom every night at 1 a.m. to clean the house until 4 a.m., she added.

Melhem's father, the social worker said, often encouraged his daughter to commit suicide.

"Her only consolation was a radio which kept her connected to the world," Shreim said.

The young woman has now been reunited with her mother.

"She told me that she loves life and has to live," Shreim quoted Melhem as saying.

(Reporting By Jihan Abdalla; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/wl_nm/us_palestinians_woman

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Communications Degree Admission and Course Requirements ...

Get to know the different admission requirements for a communications degree including the course requirements for various concentration areas.

Do you know what you can do with a communications degree?
A communications degree can put you in various career paths connected to communications such as journalism, teaching, journalism and more.
Both the admission and course requirements for this degree vary, and this depends on the focus of the program and the school you are attending.

Communications degree students with a journalism concentration are often required to undergo a few writing and editing classes.
Those with a focus on advertising should take more classes about public relations.
In general, communication degrees require several classes that every student will have to take, irrespective of the areas of concentration.

Before enrollment, most communication program departments often require interested applicants to take an entrance exam.
The purpose of the test is to know each student?s level of proficiency in grammar and writing.
Besides assessing each applicant, the placement test may also serve as a screening tool to determine which classes are necessary before taking up the core curriculum that make up the requirements of communications degree.

Applicants that scored too low may have to attend the introductory language classes.
However, those that get exceptionally high scores may not be required to get prerequisite courses.
During the first to second years, course requirements will focus on the basics of communications program.

Every student will be required to attend classes on writing compositions and speech communications, regardless of the degree program.
These two classes are important since they provide foundation for the rest of the classes in the communication curriculum.
Other basic classes include psychology and sociology.

During the third and fourth years of the program, the course requirement for communications will start to focus on the student?s chosen concentration.
Students going to print journalism field will likely be required to take basic classes on feature writing, news writing and copy-editing.
Those who want to be an advertising specialist will concentrate on public relations and marketing classes.

The head or director of the communications department may assist students in determining the best classes that are needed for their chosen specialty.
Just to add to the classroom communications requirements, students are usually expected to take an internship related to their respective specialty.
For instance, print journalism students will practice at a local magazine or newspaper while radio journalism may do duties at a local radio station.

An internship usually consists of between four to 12 credits towards this degree.
Apart from completing internships, many degree programs encourage students to join extracurricular activities that matches with the curriculum.
Debate teams, film festivals, college newspapers, TV stations and radio stations are great choices for extracurricular activities.

For those interested in taking up a masters in communication, most schools require a bachelor?s degree from an accredited university or college.
Of course, an official transcript should be submitted with at least 2.75 cumulative GPA and a professional resume.
In addition, applicants are requested to write an application essay, more or less a 500-word essay about the things you expect to gain by completing the degree; the essay will also demonstrate your writing skills.

However, for applicants with less than 2.75 GPA, some schools may accept applications provided you have an above average score on GRE (Graduate Record Exam) or MAT (Miller Analogies Test).
Applicants are subjected for review of potential as a communications degree graduate student.
To add, applicants whose bachelor?s degrees are not related to communication may have to take up prerequisite courses in addition to the core curriculum of the masters degree.

Source: http://www.podcampfoundation.com/2012/01/communications-degree-admission-and-course-requirements/

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House members call for probe into Lap-Band safety, marketing

Members of Congress are calling for an investigation into the 1-800-GET-THIN weight-loss surgery marketing campaign and the safety and effectiveness of the Lap-Band device.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) and two other House members called for congressional hearings to examine whether the sponsors of the ad campaign, their affiliated clinics and the device's manufacturer are improperly promoting a potentially dangerous surgery.

In a letter sent Friday to the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Waxman said Congress should subpoena documents from 1-800-GET-THIN and Lap-Band manufacturer Allergan Inc.

FULL COVERAGE: Lap-Band investigation

The letter cited a series of articles in The Times about patient deaths and recent studies that have questioned the long-term effectiveness of the Lap-Band, a ring that is surgically implanted around the stomach to discourage overeating.

"We believe the Committee should hold hearings to examine whether FDA device regulation has been ineffective in protecting the public from dangerous medical devices like the Lap-Band," Waxman and Reps. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) and John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) said in the letter.

Five patients have died in Southern California since 2009 after Lap-Band surgeries at clinics affiliated with 1-800-GET-THIN, according to lawsuits, autopsy reports and other public records.

Robert Silverman, president of 1-800-GET-THIN, did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did Michael and Julian Omidi, brothers who, according to a recent lawsuit, run the Lap-Band surgery business from offices in Beverly Hills.

A spokeswoman for Lap-Band manufacturer Allergan of Irvine said the device is safe and effective, if "inserted by an experienced and qualified bariatric surgeon who offers the patient appropriate follow-up care."

Allergan spokeswoman Naziah Lasi-Tejani also questioned a study that Congress members cited in the letter as evidence that the Lap-Band often has long-term complications. That study examined the effectiveness of an earlier version of the Lap-Band and surgical techniques that are no longer used, she said.

In addition to the effectiveness of the Lap-Band, Waxman and his colleagues questioned "aggressive marketing" of the device through 1-800-GET-THIN ads on freeway billboards, radio, television, direct mail and the Internet.

Last month, the Food and Drug Administration sent warning letters to 1-800-GET-THIN and some of its affiliated surgery centers, saying the ads were misleading because they did not adequately disclose dangers of the surgery. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has asked its legal team to determine whether the county can regulate the advertising.

The company responded by adding a disclosure to its website that said Lap-Band procedures can result in death. Silverman later told supervisors that the company planned to change its ads to address the FDA's concerns.

Waxman, in a statement to The Times, said he hopes the House committee holds the hearings because "the evidence is clear that there are devices on the market today that pose dangerous risks." The issue is important, he said, because this year Congress is expected to reevaluate how medical devices such as the Lap-Band are regulated.

"The fundamental mission of the FDA is to ensure the safety and effectiveness of medical devices," he said. "That is why it's critical that we understand how unsafe devices get on the market and how to protect patients from these risks."

Kathryn Trepinski, an attorney who has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against 1-800-GET-THIN on behalf of relatives of a woman who died following Lap-Band surgery, said she welcomed congressional scrutiny.

"I'm pleased to see increased action on a federal level," Trepinski said. "I would like to see Allergan and its product, the Lap-Band, put under a microscope and examined."

The congressional concern comes three days after two former employees filed a whistle-blower lawsuit in Los Angeles that accused 1-800-GET-THIN and its affiliated surgery centers of operating in unsanitary conditions, improperly billing insurers and putting an emphasis on profits over patient safety.

The lawsuit also said workers affiliated with the companies persuaded patients to have surgeries they did not need, including hysterectomies and other organ removals, in order to drive up profits.

Company officials did not respond to The Times about the lawsuit's allegations.

stuart.pfeifer@latimes.com

Times staff writer Alejandro Lazo contributed to this report.

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/t6JwEkaJVgM/la-fi-0121-get-thin-congress-20120121,0,518487.story

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Why People Love Beats By Dre Headphones [Music]

Part of it is branding, to be sure. But in Pitchfork's Resonant Frequency column, Mark Richardson rails not against the quality of the Beats line of headphones and its signature, overloaded bass, but rather argues that they're a viable alternative for a new era of music. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/0j0E2uydZRo/why-people-love-beats-by-dre-headphones

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Apple Announcement: iBooks 2 to Replace Textbooks!

Make no mistake, Apple's announcement of its new iBooks 2 for Digital Textbooks today wasn't quite as awe-inspiring as the unveiling of some of its past innovations.

The loss of co-founder Steve Jobs certainly contributed to that.

Still, the company which changed music with its iPod and mobile communications with the iPhone, said today it was offering software that would reinvent textbooks.

It was a project inspired by Apple’s late CEO Jobs himself:

Apple iBooks 2 Presentation

“A lot may be wrong with education. One thing we hear louder than all else and where we can help is in student engagement,” said Phil Schiller, Apple’s marketing chief.

“That’s why we get excited when students get their hands on an iPad. “The textbook is not always the ideal learning tool,” said Schiller. “Yet their content is amazing.”

As such, Schiller and his Apple colleagues showed off two new applications to take the information in textbooks and put it, in interactive form, on iPads and computers.

iBooks 2, a free download for iPads, available from Apple’s app store starting today. iBooks Author is a tool he said authors and publishers can use on their computers.

The new interactive books would cost $14.99, far less than most paper textbooks. They could be updated continually, said Apple, without a programming degree.

Students will be able to “mark up” iPad books electronically, creating the digital equivalent of note cards as they go through lessons, and keep the iBooks when done.

Apple is partnering with three of the biggest publishers of school texts: Pearson, McGraw-Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, responsible for 90 percent of U.S. textbooks.

Will it be successful? Do you really have to ask?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/apple-announcement-ibooks-2-to-replace-textbooks/

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News Corp pays out over hacking claims (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? The British newspaper arm of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp settled a string of legal claims over phone hacking on Thursday, and said this was not an admission that management had known about the practice or tried to cover it up.

Murdoch's News International had claimed for years that the hacking of voicemails to generate stories was the work of a single "rogue" reporter who went to jail for the crime in 2007.

However, under a wave of evidence last year it finally admitted that the problem was widespread, sparking a scandal that has rocked the company, the British press, police and the political establishment.

On Thursday, lawyers for victims who had reached settlements said their agreements were based on News Group Newspapers (NGN), publisher of some of News International's titles, acknowledging that senior management were at fault.

They said the company was now seeking to settle all the claims. "News Group has agreed to compensation being assessed on the basis that senior employees and directors of NGN knew about the wrongdoing and sought to conceal it by deliberately deceiving investigators and destroying evidence," the lawyers said in a statement.

But News International said in a "clarification" late on Thursday that despite agreeing the settlements it was not making any admission that senior staff or directors at NGN had known about the wrongdoing or tried to conceal it.

"However, for the purpose of reaching these settlements only, NGN agreed that the damages to be paid to claimants should be assessed as if this was the case," News International said.

In a London court packed with journalists and lawyers, Judge Geoffrey Vos went through each case and heard the grounds for the settlement. At the end of each statement a lawyer for News Corp confirmed the details and offered "sincere apologies."

Settlements announced in court generally ranged from around 30,000 pounds ($46,000) to 60,000 pounds, while some were not revealed. Actor Jude Law accepted 130,000 pounds after he was physically followed abroad as well as in Britain.

"It is clear that I, along with many others, was kept under constant surveillance for a number of years," Law said in a statement. "No aspect of my private life was safe from intrusion by News Group newspapers, including the lives of my children.

"I believe in a free press but what News Group did was an abuse of its freedoms. They were prepared to do anything to sell their newspapers and to make money."

The settlements may lift some immediate pressure off the group, as it will prevent lawyers from poring over further details in open court, and it could result in all cases eventually settling as the size of the payouts set a precedent.

But it could also lead to increased scrutiny of the role played by James Murdoch.

Rupert Murdoch's son James was placed in charge of News International only after the hacking, but has been accused of leading a cover-up. He has denied all knowledge of the scale of the problem and blamed many of those around him for the failings.

PAY-OUT TIME

The court was told that 36 claimants were now ready to settle, including Law, former deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, politician Chris Bryant and other celebrities, while 10 cases were ready to go to court.

News Corp has already received 60 claims and police say there are almost 6,000 potential victims. The legal costs to be paid by News International will also vary hugely, lawyers said.

Lawyers for the victims said they had obtained documents from News International that revealed the scale of the malpractice, partly thanks to the fact that the 12 solicitors' firms involved had joined forces to work together.

"As a result, documents relating to the nature and scale of the conspiracy, a cover-up and the destruction of evidence/email archives by News Group have now been disclosed to the claimants," their statement said.

The long-running case blew up in July when it emerged that the voicemail of missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler, later found murdered, had been hacked into by the News of the World.

News Corp took the drastic step of shutting down the 168-year-old tabloid and pulled its plan to take full control of Britain's highly profitable satellite broadcaster BSkyB.

The scandal had already forced the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman, a former News of the World editor, and later prompted the resignations of senior police officials who were accused of failing to properly investigate the affair.

Three criminal investigations are under way while a judge-led inquiry into Britain's press ethics sits most days, bringing yet more attention to the conduct of the media as it seeks to draw up new regulations.

"I'm grateful to News Group for finally acknowledging, admitting and apologizing for their unlawful voicemail interception," Graham Shear, a lawyer representing victims who also had his own phone hacked, told Reuters.

"But I'm a bit frustrated that they didn't find a way to do this earlier, having previously strenuously defended my own claim and the claims on which I'm acting."

(Additional reporting by Tim Castle; Editing by Peter Graff)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enindustry/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/media_nm/us_newscorp_hacking_compensation

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