'Crazy Turtle Woman' transforms graveyard into maternity ward

MATURA, Trinidad
Saddened and frustrated, Baptiste launched a crusade to help end the slaughter of the gentle giants. Today, she and her group are succeeding: What was once a turtle graveyard is now a maternity ward -- one of the largest leatherback nesting colonies in the world.

With its white sand and clear, blue water, Trinidad's Matura Beach looks like a postcard. It's a far cry from its recent past, when leatherback sea turtle carcasses littered the ground and kept tourists away.
"Twenty years ago, this was a graveyard," Suzan Lakhan Baptiste said of the six-mile stretch of beach near her home.

'Crazy Turtle Woman'

For years, Baptiste and her group patrolled the beaches every night of turtle nesting season. She often walked alone until sunrise.

Locals mocked her efforts, calling her the "Turtle Police" or "Crazy Turtle Woman," yet her dedication to the unpaid work was fierce; when it conflicted with her day job, she quit and found a new job.

Leatherbacks were a vital source of income for some members of her village, and the poachers who prowled the beaches with machetes could be threatening. When Baptiste's then-husband was injured during a patrol, she became more determined to stand her ground.

"I was very vigilant," she said, adding that at times, she even got into physical fights.

Three men hanged in Iran for mosque bombing

TEHRAN, Iran

The Thursday evening blast occurred in the southeastern Sistan-Balochistan province at a mosque in during prayers to commemorate the seventh century death of Fatima, the daughter of the prophet Mohammed.
"The U.S. strongly condemns all forms of terrorism. We do not sponsor any form of terrorism in Iran. And we continue to work with the international community to try to prevent any attacks against innocent civilians anywhere," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters in a Friday afternoon briefing.
Sistan-Balochistan province -- which shares a border with Pakistan -- is the site of frequent clashes involving Iranian police, drug dealers and armed groups. The province is located on a major narcotics-smuggling route between Afghanistan and Pakistan

Iranian authorities hanged three men convicted for their involvement in a bombing of a Shia mosque, Iran's IRNA news agency reported Saturday.

Reports on the number of casualties varied in Iranian reports. Some local agencies said more than 20 people were killed and 125 were wounded in the bombing.

The suspects were arrested and being questioned on Friday.

Royal chauffeur suspended after alleged palace security breach

"Our investigator is sitting where the queen sits in the royal limo," Jobson said, referring to the video. "And the fact is, we've been told that security has been tightened up, that these things wouldn't happen again, new rules and regulations were brought in -- they simply haven't worked."
A royal chauffeur was suspended Sunday after he allegedly allowed undercover reporters from a British tabloid to enter Buckingham Palace in exchange for cash.
Mazher Mahmood, of the London-based News of the World, claimed he was allowed to enter the London residence of Queen Elizabeth II without security checks after paying a man identified as a Buckingham chauffeur £1,000

A palace spokesperson told CNN that the chauffeur "has been suspended pending further investigation."

Buckingham Palace has experienced a number of high-profile security lapses in the past. In 2003 an investigation was launched after "comedy terrorist" Aaron Barschak gatecrashed Prince William's 21st birthday party at Windsor Castle, PA reported.

Wearing a dress, beard and sunglasses, Barschak climbed on stage as the prince addressed the crowd, and kissed him on both cheeks.

Britain's Press Association named the chauffeur as Brian Sirjusingh and added that he had been suspended following reports that two reporters, posing as wealthy Middle-Eastern businessmen, were allowed into the palace

11 killed at music festival stampede in Morocco

Among the victims of the stampede at the Mawazine festival in the capital city of Rabat were five women, four men and two children, the Maghreb Arab Press said.

They were among thousands who had packed the Hay Nahda stadium on Saturday night.

At least 11 people were killed and 30 wounded after a stampede ensued at the close of an eight-day music festival in Morocco on Saturday night.

It was the last night of the festival that took place in several locations and featured, among others, Australian singer Kylie Minogue, Algerian pop star Khaled and American R&B artists Alicia Keyes and Stevie Wonder

Pakistan intensifies offensive against militants in northwest

About 15,000 to 20,000 civilians remain in the city, but the fighting has not led to civilian casualties, said military spokesman Maj. General Athar Abbas. Tens of thousands of others have fled.
Pakistan intensified its military operation to regain control of the country's northwest from Taliban militants, with fighting focused on the largest city in the Swat Valley on Sunday.
Security forces cleared and secured two important areas in Mingora, he said. One of them is the power station and authorities hope to restore power to the town soon, he added.

Swat Valley, which is close to the border with Afghanistan, was once one of Pakistan's biggest tourist destinations. However the central government has long exerted little control in the area.

As retaliation for the government's military presence, the Taliban carried out a series of deadly attacks, beheadings and destruction of girls' schools.

Earlier this year, Islamabad struck a peace deal with the Taliban. As part of the pact the Taliban was allowed to impose sharia, or Islamic law, in the valley, which among other restrictions, prevents women from being seen in public without their husbands or fathers.

Church of Scotland endorses gay minister's appointment

The 37-year-old's appointment at Queen's Cross Church in Aberdeen, on Scotland's northeast coast, provoked opposition from traditionalist members of the church and has led to fears it could cause a damaging split.
A gay minister at the center of a row about his appointment to a church in a Scottish city said he was "humbled" after the Church of Scotland upheld his appointment.
In a ground-breaking move, the Church's ruling body voted by 326 to 267 in support of the Reverend Scott Rennie, the British Press Association reported Sunday.

In a statement released after Saturday night's vote in the Scottish capital, Rennie said: "I am humbled that the General Assembly has recognized God's call upon my life."

Ewen Gilchrist, interim moderator at Queen's Cross Church, was quoted by PA as saying: "It's a good decision for the General Assembly to have made because it sends out a message that we desire to be welcoming, accepting and inclusive.

Man who spent 22 years on death row is cleared

WASHINGTON (CNN)

House had been scheduled to be executed next month for the 1985 murder of Carolyn Muncey. He had been on death row for 22 years but was released on bail last year. He has multiple sclerosis and must use a wheelchair.

A former death row inmate in Tennessee has been cleared of murder, three years after the Supreme Court raised repeated questions about his conviction.
State prosecutors on Tuesday asked a judge to drop all charges against Paul House, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to die in 1986. Special Judge Jon Blackwood accepted the request.

House, who was on parole at the time as a sex offender, was questioned by police. He denied any involvement in the crime. He was a friend of Muncey's husband, but claimed he was in his own house several miles away the evening of the murder. But prosecutors found a hole in his alibi, discovering that he had left his home the night of the murder and returned about an hour later with unexplained cuts and bruises.

But Phillips noted the "substantial sentence" House has served as another reason for the charges being dropped now.

Joan Rivers: I stand behind Hitler comment

Comedian Joan Rivers and real estate mogul Donald Trump -- that's a twosome never known for mincing their words.
Among the topics covered: Rivers' long-running war of words with runner-up Annie Duke, her dust-up and make-up with Clint Black and the "reason" she is against same-sex marriage. And the Donald explains why Rivers had what it took to emerge the winner.

King: Joan, in last night's finale, you beat poker champion Annie Duke. You and Annie were still at each other up until the final moments. Let's take a look.

[King shows a video clip from "The Celebrity Apprentice"]

Annie Duke: I do not know a boardroom in this country where someone would be allowed to say that someone would spit on the ground and drown their mother in it, where someone would be allowed to call their friends Mafia, where someone would be allowed to say that someone is worse than Hitler. If that happened in a real office...

King: Joanny, where did you come up with that 'worse than Hitler' crack?

Rivers: Oh, I don't know. You know, you're always saying things. Hitler is the worst villain in the world. So when you really get furious at someone, you say, 'Oh, you're a female Hitler' or something, you know? It's just an expression. But I stand behind it.

King: What did she do to you?

Rivers: She was very duplicitous ... there was so much mud-slinging, which I'm not going to go into. I was told she said she wished I would die; she said I was a cancer.

King: What did you make of that squabble

Michael Landon's oldest son found dead

LOS ANGELES, California
The son of actor Michael Landon was found dead in his West Hollywood, California, home Monday afternoon, according to investigators.

There was "no indication of foul play" in the death of Mark Landon, 60, according to the report from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Mark Landon was the son of Dodie Frasier, who married Michael Landon in 1956. The actor adopted the child and his younger brother.

Mark Landon had a few acting credits, playing small roles in three movies, according to the Internet Movie Database.

He played a cab driver in "Us," a film his father directed and starred in just before his death from cancer in 1991.

Michael Landon was once one of Hollywood's biggest TV stars. He is best known for his 14 years as "Little Joe" Cartwright in TV's long-running "Bonanza," and later as Charles Ingalls in nine seasons of "Little House on the Prairie."

Researchers develop printable rubber-like OLED displays

The rubbery display, pictured here on the left, can be stretched to 50% of its normal size, folded in half or crumpled up without incurring any damage, and can also cover complex three-dimensional objects.
Researchers at the University of Tokyo have given new meaning to the term flexibility in the context of displays. They’ve developed of a stretchable display connected by organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and organic transistors with a new highly-elastic conductor.

Takao Someya, professor of engineering at the University of Tokyo, and his colleagues created the stretchy electronic circuits using a cheap industrial printing process by spraying carbon nanotubes with a fluoro-rubber compound. Unlike their previous conductor, the new version is significantly more conductive, can stretch to more than twice its original size, and can be printed, according to an article from Nature Materials cited in the Technology Review article. Plus, the printing is cheap, allowing for the organic transistors to cover a large-area and still operate efficiently

Medieval secrets behind Microsoft research

At a Microsoft Research's open day at Cambridge recently, this line was promoted heavily in the keynote speech: fundamental research helps generate brand new technologies that give companies competitive advantages. In some cases, that's unarguable. If Intel shut down its research, it would die overnight. But what would happen if Microsoft stopped doing research? Based on the researchers' demonstrations, the answer is 'not very much'.

The ideas on show in Cambridge, while good and interesting, did not address Microsoft's core problems, nor even any of their minor ones. There was research into ecological systems, into displaying networks of influence, into low-power network hardware, into capturing people's lives as a time line. Try matching those with any known Microsoft strategy — or any conceivable one — in a way that makes compelling sense.

With Intel, you can see the research up on the screen. I've had a briefing from a solid-state physicist on a new transistor design and seen it emerge as a major strand of processor strategy three years later. With Microsoft, it's hard to trace such developments – easier now than it has been, but the link between bright idea and bottom line is very weak.

Military beefs up cyberwar capabilities with games, Linux

A team of cadets spent four days struggling around the clock to establish a computer network and keep it operating while hackers from the National Security Agency in Maryland tried to infiltrate it with methods that an enemy might use. The N.S.A. made the cadets’ task more difficult by planting viruses on some of the equipment, just as real-world hackers have done on millions of computers around the world.
The Defense Dept. is beefing up its cyberwarfare capabilities, as evidenced by the cyberwar games at West Point last month, as the Times reports, but it’s a slow slog.

While the military has embraced offensive cyberwar, the emphasis is still clearly on defense. The cadets in last month’s war games are headed for Afghanistan where they’ll need to set up secure Internet connections in a hurry. And one of the key technologies for doing so is Linux, explained Cadet Brian McCord:

Even so, the military has a long way to go to truly integrate cyberwar consciousness throughout operations. Only 80 students a year graduate from cyberwar schools.

Secretary Robert Gates complained the Pentagon is “desperately short of people who have capabilities in this area in all the services, and we have to address it.”

Will Motorola make T-Mobile's next Google Android phone?

Those of us in the gadget biz feel a little bad for Motorola.

After a huge hit with the Razr, the company just hasn’t seemed to grasp the attention of the fickle U.S. consumer. No matter how many zany handsets the company produces, it remains (along with Nokia) as the has-beens of the U.S. mobile world. The growing popularity of the smartphone only served to underline this.

At this point I’m not willing to guess as to which design cues on this image indicate Motorola influence (rather than HTC, Apple, RIM or Palm), but I am willing to say this: if Motorola hops on the rapidly accelerating Google Android train with gusto, the battle for smartphone glory will become a full-scale war.

But a possible rebirth may be coming. BuyGeniusReport is saying that the successor to the HTC-manufactured T-Mobile G1 smartphone — still the only mobile handset in the wild running Google Android, though not for long — may actually be made by Motorola.

DOJ signals newly vigorous antitrust enforcement

Now, with Google in ascendance, it appears the search boys will receive more attention than they’ve been used to. Reports say Microsoft is prodding the government to look into Google’s dominance of search, advertising and many other area. Microsoft aside, I’d say more scrutiny would be a very good thing.
Sounds like Google — and the rest of the tech industry - can expect a whole lot more antitrust enforcement from the Obama Administration. The New York Times reported that Christine Varney, head of the Justice Department’s Antitrust division, gave a speech today (prepared remarks here) signaling a new, aggressive approach to antitrust.

That’s a drastic change from the policy under the Bush Administration, which Varney said, “lost sight of an ultimate goal of antitrust laws — the protection of consumer welfare.”

Furthermore, the idea that the government should go easy on monopolistic companies is flat-out wrong, Varney said.

There is no adequate substitute for a competitive market, particularly during times of economic distress. Vigorous antitrust enforcement must play a significant role in the government’s response to economic crises to ensure that markets remain competitive.

She didn’t mention any industries specifically, but observers clealy expect more attention to be paid to technology, telecom, energy and health care. Her senior aides include a who’s who of antitrust litigators, many of whom worked in the case against Microsoft during the Clinton Administration

Another racy Prejean photo emerges; site promises more

LOS ANGELES, California
The 21-year-old Miss USA contestant has been the center of controversy since she declared her opposition to same-sex marriage in a response to a question on the national pageant stage last month. She finished as runner-up to Miss USA.

After the appearance of the first photo, the possibility that racier images could emerge prompted "closed-door meetings" Tuesday to consider stripping Prejean of her beauty queen title, pageant spokesman Ron Neal said.

Although Neal said Prejean "breached her contract" by keeping the semi-nude photo or photos a secret, the only pictures published so far appear about as revealing as the bikini Prejean wore in the pageant's swimsuit competition.

The first photo made public shows Prejean -- who said she was 17 at the time -- wearing pink panties and no top. She is turned away from the camera, with her arm hiding most of her breast. The second photo is essentially the same, but Prejean is looking over her opposite shoulder.

Prejean announced last week that she would star in a new $1.5 million ad campaign supporting "opposite marriage" (marriage between a man and a woman) funded by the National Organization for Marriage.

"Marriage is good," Prejean said at a news conference announcing the ad campaign. "There is something special about unions of husband and wife. Unless we bring men and women together, children will not have mothers and fathers."

White House: Obama wants to cut $17B from budget

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama asked Congress on Thursday to eliminate or trim 121 federal programs for a savings of $17 billion in the coming budget year. Many of the proposed cuts have already been rejected by Obama's allies in Congress, including some programs that his predecessor, President George W. Bush, repeatedly sought to end.

White House budget director Peter Orszag said the president's plan for program cuts is just a start and that a lot more needs to be done to dig the government out of its fiscal hole, especially curbing the growth of the Medicare and Medicaid health care programs for the elderly and the poor.
Answering criticism that his cuts were but a drop in a multi-trillion-dollar spending bucket, Obama said: "Some of the cuts we're putting forward today are more painful than others. Some are larger than others. In fact a few of the programs we eliminate will produce less than a million dollars in savings. Outside of Washington, that's still a lot of money."

In a preview, administration officials named a few examples Thursday which mostly represented easy-to-pluck targets, like ending the Education Department's attache in Paris, at a savings of $632,000 a year. Another example: the obsolete LORAN-C marine navigation system, which still gets $35 million a year despite being made obsolete by the satellite-based Global Positioning System.

Thousands flee as fire burns homes in Calif. city

SANTA BARBARA
Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department spokesman Drew Sugars said 5,430 homes were under mandatory evacuation. The estimated population of those homes was 13,575 people, he said. Another 13,000 were warned they may need to evacuate.

A wildfire that burned at least a dozen homes quieted at dawn Thursday, but it was still out of control, thousands of people remained out of their homes and another round of howling winds was expected later in the day.

More fire crews were called in from around the state to battle the blaze that had swelled to 500 acres and forced the evacuation of more than 13,000 people in this scenic coastal city.

At least a dozen homes, some of them mansions, were reduced to rubble but authorities had no precise figure. The flames hopscotched across the canyon homes, burning some while sparing.

Two of the firefighters suffered second- to third-degree burns and could receive skin grafts on Fridaythers.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency, and the National Weather Service issued a "Red Flag" warning for fire danger through Friday morning.

Why Cisco can't call a bottom: Customers are still reeling

Cisco’s third quarter earnings of 30 cents a share excluding items topped Wall Street estimates by 5 cents a share. Revenue of $8.2 billion was down 16.6 percent from a year ago. The takeaway: Cisco has been savvy about managing its costs. Chambers noted that the company is close to exceeding its “stress goal” of lowering its annual expenses by $1.5 billion.

Nevertheless, Cisco’s outlook for the fourth quarter was better than expected. JMP Securities analyst Samuel Wilson said that Cisco quarter was like putting air into a flat tire. When a rebound does eventually occur Cisco will be rolling.

Cisco’s third quarter earnings were solid courtesy of savvy expense management, but CEO John Chambers refrained from calling a bottom. A deep dive into Cisco’s customer trends reveal why: Most of the company’s growth markets—India, emerging markets and advanced technologies–are still reeling.

U.N. probe blames Israel for deaths during Gaza offensive

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- The Israeli government is responsible for deaths and more than $10 million in damage to U.N. buildings during the recent military offensive in Gaza, a U.N. committee said in a report.

"The government of Israel has informed me that it has reservations and objections to elements of the summary," Moon said. "At the same time, I am pleased that the Israeli government has agreed to meet United Nations officials to address some of the board's recommendations."

"The board found that the government of Israel is responsible for the deaths and injuries that occurred within the United Nations premises and the physical damage that was done to United Nations' premises," the report stated. "The board found that the United Nations Relief Works Agency sustained losses and damage to property with a total estimated repair and replacement cost of over $10.4 million."

Israel has said that its military incursion into Gaza in December and January was aimed at Palestinian militants, primarily members of Hamas.

In April, Israeli officials said the military had conducted its own investigation of the fighting and concluded that its forces did not break international law. 

Source: No charges seen over interrogation memos

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration decided last month to make public legal memos authorizing the use of harsh interrogation methods but not to prosecute CIA interrogators who followed the advice outlined in the memos.

Justice Department investigators say Bush administration lawyers who approved harsh interrogation techniques of terror suspects should not face criminal charges, according to a draft report that also recommends two of the three attorneys face possible professional sanctions.

Officials conducting the internal Justice Department inquiry into the lawyers who wrote those memos have recommended referring two of the three lawyers — John Yoo and Jay Bybee — to state bar associations for possible disciplinary action, according to a person familiar with the inquiry. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was not authorized to discuss the inquiry.

The memos were written as the Bush administration grappled with the fear and uncertainty following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Over the years that followed, lawyers re-examined and rewrote much of the legal advice.

Investigators also shared a draft copy with the CIA to review whether the findings contained any classified information. According to the letter, the CIA then requested to comment on the report.

Obama to press Pakistan on fight against Taliban

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama wants Pakistan to step up its commitment to fighting Taliban militants who are growing in strength and compromising vital U.S. interests.

"The president is deeply concerned about the security situation," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday. "That's why we're sending additional troops to Afghanistan and that's why we'll talk with both the Afghans and the Pakistanis about our renewed commitment in helping them seek the aid that they need to address those extremists."

In meetings at the White House on Wednesday, Obama will press Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to do more against the Taliban, which recently has alarmed the U.S. and its allies by striking out from strongholds on the Pakistani-Afghan border to areas closer to the capital of Islamabad. Obama also will seek renewed commitment from Afghan President Hamid Karzai to better coordinate operations with Pakistan and the U.S., which will expand its military presence in Afghanistan under the president's revised war strategy against the Taliban.

On Thursday, other top Obama officials will meet separately with their counterparts from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Those include Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller. 

Pakistan expects 500,000 to flee Taliban fighting

MINGORA, Pakistan – Black-turbaned militants roamed city streets and seized buildings in a northwestern Pakistan valley Tuesday as thousands of people fled fighting between the Taliban and troops that the government said could lead to an exodus of half a million people. The Taliban declared the end of their peace deal with the government

A witness in Mingora told an Associated Press reporter that black-turbaned militants were deployed on most streets and on high buildings, and security forces were barricaded in their bases. Another reported heavy gunfire for much of the day. Both asked for anonymity out of fear for their life.

Pakistan has waged several offensives in the border region in recent years that have often ended inconclusively amid public anger at civilian casualties. The country's army, trained to fight conventional battles against rival India, is not used to guerrilla warfare.

Washington has called for tougher action, and U.S. officials said Obama would seek assurances fromPresident Asif Ali Zardari that his country's nuclear arsenal was safe and that the military intended to face down extremists in coordination with Afghanistan and the United States.

Buses carrying the residents of Mingora, the region's main town, were crammed inside and out: Refugees clambered onto the roofs after seats and floors filled up. Children and adults alike carried their belongings on their heads and backs — all of them fleeing fighting they fear is about to consume the region.

.

Mexico tries to restart economy after flu shutdown

MEXICO CITY – Mexico announced steps Tuesday to jump start an economy punished by the swine flu epidemic. Cinco de Mayo celebrations, however, will have to wait until next year.

Mexican Finance Secretary Augustin Carstens, who unveiled plans to stimulate key industries and fight bans on Mexican pork products, said persuading tourists to come back will be a top priority as Mexico tries to "immediately rebuild confidence in our country."

Tuesday's canceled events included Mexico's largest re-enactment of the May 5, 1862, victory over invading French troops in the central state of Puebla. President Felipe Calderon compared the threats in a speech to the nation Tuesday.

"Almost a century and a half later, Mexico is facing a new threat, this time of a very different kind, an unusual threat, specifically the appearance and spread of an epidemic that has put at risk the lives and health of Mexico's families," Calderon said.

After 26 confirmed deaths, nobody has died from swine flu in Mexico since April 29, giving some confidence to restaurants and other non-essential private businesses that were ordered shut for five days.

Pregnant Briton to escape death penalty in Laos

The country's criminal law prohibits courts from sentencing pregnant women to death, spokesman Khenthong Nuanthasing told CNN. The woman's trial hasn't been scheduled yet, he said, but is likely to happen next week.

 Orobator was alleged to have been carrying just over half a kilogram (about 1lb) of heroin, Reprieve lawyer Anna Morris told CNN by phone from Vientiane, the Laotian capital. Those found guilty of carrying that amount normally face the death penalty, she said.

Reprieve has said Orobator became pregnant in prison, possibly as a result of rape, and that she is due to give birth in September. That would mean Orobator became pregnant in January

CNN) -- A British woman who had been facing possible execution in Laos will escape the death sentence because she is pregnant, a spokesman for the Laotian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

Orobator's mother said she found out about her daughter's pregnancy in January. Jane Orobator told CNN she heard the news from the British Foreign Office, which has been monitoring the case.

There is no British Embassy in Laos; a British vice-consul arrived in the country over the weekend, the British Foreign Office said.

Jane Orobator said she cannot believe her daughter was involved in drug trafficking, and she was surprised to learn she was in Laos.

Obama to hold talks on Taliban as deal unravels

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistani forces were continuing their assault on the Taliban on Tuesday as the country's leader flew to Washington to discuss strategy against the militant group with U.S. President Barack Obama.

uthorities in Swat lifted a curfew Tuesday between 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. to allow residents to leave the area, Swat District Coordination Officer Khushal Khan said. He noted that after Wednesday "there will be no time" for evacuations.

The provincial government is planning to set up six new camps for the displaced people, in addition to existing camps in and around Peshawar, according to a North West Frontier Province spokesman.

Some 500,000 civilians are expected to flee the troubled Swat Valley, heeding a government evacuation order issued Tuesday ahead of the expected offensive in the Taliban-dominated region.

The Pakistani government has been criticized for not cracking down on militants along its border with Afghanistan. The militant activity in the border region has led the U.S. military to carry out its own airstrikes against militant targets in Pakistan. However those strikes have rankled relations between the two countries.

Pakistan has asked the United States to supply its forces with helicopters, communication equipment and night-vision technology as part of a U.S. plan to beef up the country's counterterrorism efforts.

Obama told reporters last week that he was "gravely concerned about the situation in Pakistan."

IBM cements cloud, appliance, BPM, CEP and SOA into an IMPACT 2009 solution brick

The pizza box-size WebSphere CloudBurst appliance, announced only recently, had its coming out party at today’s keynote session, moderated by a hilarious Billy Crystal. See Twitter #IBMIMPACT by searching on the tag in Twitter for more on the live event.

This appliance approach to private clouds will be a big trend in the industry, with Oracle (using acquired Sun technology), HP and perhaps Cisco sure to follow. One has t wonder how Microsoft does appliances, with one or some partners? Will be curious to watch. [Disclosure: HP is a sponsor of BriefingsDirect podcasts.]

LAS VEGAS — Wasting no time in bringing a needed cohesion across its products and solutions, IBM on Monday at its IMPACT 2009 event here unveiled a cloud-based business process modeling (BPM) service, tighter alignment with Amazon, better complex event processing (CEP) integration, re-introduced a WebSphere private cloud appliance and double-downed on a slew of its industry framework solutions.

IBM in the cloud in a lot of ways is a very smart move. Getting BPM there first — in the middle of processes, solutions, and moving to governance — will be hard to resist for users and tough to beat by competitors.

Microsoft to defend its IE policies in closed-door antitrust hearing

Microsoft’s failure to keep IE up-to-date and release newer/better/faster versions in a timely manner has resulted in it losing a hefty chunk of marketshare in recent years. Would the market continue to “right” itself even if the courts don’t intervene? Perhaps….. I think the EC is going to intervene, however, given its past track record, and the result is not likely to be to Microsoft’s liking.Microsoft currently has close to 68 percent of the worldwide browser marketshare, according to Net Applications. Microsoft’s biggest competitor for IE 8 is older versions of IE, rather than Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera or any other third-party browser.

Since Opera filed its complaint, Mozilla, Google and members of the European Committee for Interoperable Systems have joined in to help back Opera’s case. Microsoft, for its part, added a new “remove Internet Explorer” option to the latest build of Windows 7 — a move that many industry watchers see as an attempt to blunt the potential impact of any kind of antitrust-related ruling.Opera execs said last year that Opera is in favor of seeing Microsoft be required to distribute its competitors’ browsers via its Automatic Update mechanism and/or to bundle its compeitors’ browsers with Windows.

The EC released its preliminary findings, charging Microsoft with abusing its dominant monopoly position, earlier this year. So far, the EC has not said what kinds of financial or other remedial actions it intends to require if it rules in Opera’s favor. As part of a previous antitrust case in the EU, via which Microsoft was found guilty of abusing its Windows monopoly, Microsoft was required to offer versions of Windows with Media Player removed and to pay billions of dollars in fines.Microsoft officials are slated to present orally between June 3 and June 5 the arguments the company submitted in written form on April 28 to the European Commission (EC) regarding Opera Software’s complaint filed in December 2007 over Microsoft’s browser-bundling policies.