WA:Death prompts audit into WA govt housing

AAP General News (Australia)
08-04-2011
WA:Death prompts audit into WA govt housing

PERTH, Aug 4 AAP - An independent audit will examine the West Australian government's
management of the tenancy of an elderly man whose body was left undiscovered in a state
housing unit for up to two years.

The audit will also examine the extent to which the Housing Department has implemented
the recommendations of the Auditor-General's 2010 report into the fitting and maintenance
of safety devices and property inspections.

Robert Roll, 75, was discovered by a Housing Department worker slumped against a bed
in his unit on July 7 this year.

Housing Minister Troy Buswell said he was not satisfied with the explanation of the
situation provided to him by the department.

"The information I received contained discrepancies in regard to the last contact the
department had with Mr Roll, and my main concern is that the department's systems showed
that an inspection was undertaken in 2010, when an inspection did not actually occur,"

he said.

"Whether this was caused due to human error or improper actions, we need to make sure
this doesn't happen again."

Mr Buswell said the department was finalising a report on its response to the Auditor-General's
2010 report, but said it was logical to have an independent body also scrutinise the response.

"I expect the audit will identify any key concerns or weaknesses in the department's
management of Mr Roll's tenancy and any continuing issues around systems and procedures,
with recommendations as to how these may be improved," he said.

The audit will begin this month and is expected to take eight weeks.

AAP anr/jnb

KEYWORD: APARTMENT (FILE PIX AVAILABLE)

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

How to become a productivity superstar.(Operations)

When we compiled this year's Soft-letter 100 rankings, we missed a small company with an eye-opening story about employee productivity. Altura Software, a developer of cross-platform development tools, managed to generate $5.1 million in revenues last year with a staff of just 14 people--equal to a hefty $365,164 in sales per employee.

As a point of comparison, Altura managed to crank out roughly twice as much revenue per employee as most small and mid-sized software companies. And Altura wins the productivity race against most large companies as well: Only six Softletter 100 companies (including Microsoft, at $520,113) had higher sales-per-employee numbers in 1997.

What's Altura's secret? From the beginning, says Altura president Lee Jay Lorenzen, employee productivity has been "a guiding principle" for the company. "When you get the sales-peremployee number right, everything else--profitability, growth, market focus--follows almost automatically." In fact, Lorenzen points out, Altura last year generated $2.5 million in profits and grew by 45%, "so we must be doing something right."

But high productivity doesn't just happen, he notes. Lorenzen recently described five principles that contribute to Altura's stellar sales-per-employee ratio:

* Treat employees like owners: To make sure Altura's employees are constantly aware of productivity and profitability trends, Lorenzen opens the company's books every month and shows everyone the impact of product sales, major contracts, and other financial indicators. "They're as informed as I am," he says. "No one is ever in the dark about how we're doing."

* Give employees a stake in company-wide productivity: Altura has an employee profit-sharing plan that distributes 10% of the company's pre-tax profits to its employees. A quarter of this amount, says Lorenzen, is distributed equally to all employees, "independent of salary level or contribution." This flat-rate percentage--which may represent a "hugely motivational" 30% bonus for some employees--gets employees excited about the company's success. More importantly, Lorenzen says, Altura's employees have a stake in keeping the company's payroll lean--because a larger staff means a smaller share of profits for individual employees.

* Reward big contributors: The other three-quarters of Altura's profit-sharing program goes to product- or project-specific pools that reflect how much each team (and individual team members) contributed to company revenues. "One result is that developers don't want to be assigned to projects that won't bring in substantial sums of money," says Lorenzen. "This kind of push-back keeps us focused on making the right decisions about opportunity costs."

* Structure prices to drive high sales-per-employee: Altura tends to avoid mass-market segments where prices are low, Lorenzen notes. Instead, the company targets customers who will pay premium prices for high-performance tools and intensive support, usually as part of renewable annual licenses. "There are a lot of businesses we could be in, so we try to pick segments that are willing to pay a premium price for extra value."

* Set a ceiling on salaries: "I've learned over time that big salaries aren't really a motivating factor," Lorenzen says. "We're willing to pay big bonuses based on profits, but we have a company-wide salary cap--currently $80,000--that helps keep our payroll costs under control." Lorenzen concedes that new employees are often taken aback by the idea of a salary cap, but so far Altura hasn't had problems recruiting top-quality engineering talent. "When the company does well, our developers have a chance to earn 40% to 50% of their base salary in bonus money--that's the incentive."

Lee Jay Lorenzen, president, Altura Software, 510 Lighthouse Ave., Pacific Grove, Calif. 93950-2756; 408/655-8005. E-mail:

FED:Famous faces dominate 2011Archibald prize

AAP General News (Australia)
04-08-2011
FED:Famous faces dominate 2011Archibald prize

SYDNEY, April 8 AAP - Famous faces are dominating this year's Archibald prize finalists,
with portraits of actors, TV personalities and even teen sailor Jessica Watson among the
chosen entries.

Model Gemma Ward, actors Cate Blanchett, Richard Roxburgh and Robyn Nevin, celebrity
chef Matt Moran and Olympic champion Cathy Freeman all feature in the 2011 Archibald prize
finalist selections, unveiled in Sydney on Friday.

A portrait of Blanchett surrounded by her three children, `Mother (a portrait of Cate)'
is in the same distinctive style that won its painter, Del Kathryn Barton, the 2008 Archibald
prize.

The 2004 prize-winner Craig Ruddy chose Freeman as his latest subject, while 2000 Archibald
winner Adam Cullen also made the final 41 with `Charlie'.

Ward's distinctive features shine from Matthew Doust's `White Cocoon'; Watson looks
typically windswept in Thomas Macbeth's `Jessica' and Governor-General Quentin Bryce is
immortalised in Barbara Tyson's `The Country's Woman'.

Some artists have chosen to portray their colleagues, with Giles Alexander's painting
of Sam Leach, Deidre But-Husaim's of Roy Ananda and Ben Quilty's of Margaret Olley all
making the cut.

Meanwhile, last year's winner of the Sulman painting prize, Michael Lindeman's `Portrait
of Wilfred' also is in the running.

There were 798 entries to the Archibald prize this year, but for the gallery's packing
room workers, who unpacked them all, the winner of the 20th annual Packing Room prize
was a "no-brainer".

A portrait of celebrity chef Matt Moran wielding a butcher's knife in front of a meat
carcass was the clear favourite, head storeman Steve Peters said.

"For me it was a no-brainer," he said.

"It was by far the best picture we've seen during the week.

"It was getting a little depressing for a while and this one came in and it sort of
hit you. Beauty."

The Packing Room prize winner has never gone on to win the Archibald, but this year
Mr Peters is convinced the curse will be reversed.

"Usually it's the kiss of bloody death, but I just think it's a fantastic picture,"

he said, advising reporters to place bets on it.

The winning artist, Vincent Fantauzzo, certainly wasn't cast down by the $1000 prize
and said the curse "should be broken".

Melbourne-based Fantauzzo, who won the People's Choice Award in 2008 and 2009 for portraits
of actor Heath Ledger and `Australia' child actor Bandon Walters, said the standard of
the entries this year was "amazing".

Fantauzzo is good friends with Moran and said creating the work had been easy.

"I know Matt really well and I know his face really well. I've looked at his head way
too much recently," he joked.

Moran said some people might find the portrait a bit "gruesome".

"But to be honest it's what I do every day, it's not foreign to me," he said.

The winner of the 90th annual Archibald Prize will be announced in Sydney on Friday,
April 15, with the exhibition of all the finalists open to the public on April 16.

AAP ih/wjf/psm/

KEYWORD: ARCHIBALD (VIDEO AND PIX AVAILABLE)

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

FED:Aust Post must keep branches open: union

AAP General News (Australia)
12-19-2010
FED:Aust Post must keep branches open: union

A union says Australia Post must fight to keep the doors of its local post offices open.

The communications union says Australia Post promised it would do everything possible
to boost the performance of its outlets.

But there are reports this morning that 27 post offices around the country are facing
closure from December 31 .. after Australia Post lost money on letters for the first time
last financial year.

AAP RTV bsb/wf

KEYWORD: POST (CANBERRA)

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

VIC:Baillieu in tax row

AAP General News (Australia)
08-11-2010
VIC:Baillieu in tax row

Victorian Opposition Leader TED BAILLIEU has rubbished allegations he has links to
a company based in an overseas tax haven.

But the government's called on the millionaire MP to prove the allegations are false
and settle his financial dealings once and for all by putting his share interests in a
blind trust.

News Limited's reported that Mr BAILLIEU has an interest in two companies of which
accountant WILLIAM HEMPHILL is a director or secretary.

Mr HEMPHILL is also secretary of a third company whose parent company is based in the
European tax haven of Jersey.

Mr BAILLIEU's office says the claims are false and fabricated and Mr BAILLIEU has no
link to any tax haven or companies based in an overseas tax haven.

The government's expected to attack Mr BAILLIEU's wealth as it seeks to tarnish his
credibility and ability to relate to Victorians in the lead up to the November election.

AAP RTV cmb/gfr/crh

KEYWORD: BAILLIEU (MELBOURNE)

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

HighLights of the AAP National Wire at 19:30, April 1

AAP General News (Australia)
04-01-2010
HighLights of the AAP National Wire at 19:30, April 1

CANBERRA - With the clock ticking down to COAG, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will have
to work overtime to win over a new Tasmanian leader to his health and hospitals reform
plan. (Election Wrap). Second Wrap to come, including new Tasmanian premier-elect's comments
on hospitals



CANBERRA, April 1 AAP - Health Minister Nicola Roxon has defended her $436 million
sweetener for diabetic care from claims it would be open to rorting by doctors, who could
earn $10,000 bonuses under the scheme. (Hospitals Wrap)

SYDNEY - After a frosty meeting last month, the ice seems to have thawed between Prime
Minister Kevin Rudd and NSW Premier Kristina Keneally. (Hospitals NSW Wrap)

ADELAIDE - Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon's birthday wish sounds simple in theory
- it has nothing to do with family or friends - she wants the states to sign up to national
health reforms. (Hospitals Roxon)

HOBART - The man who expects to become Tasmania's next premier, Liberal leader Will
Hodgman, has been in contact with federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon about her government's
hospitals funding reforms. (Hospitals Tas)



HOBART - Unlikely bedfellows the Liberals and the Greens have been coupled in Tasmania
by caretaker premier David Bartlett in his strategic decision to yield power after the
state election. (PollTas Wrap)

HOBART - Tasmania's caretaker Premier David Bartlett has given former federal Labor
powerbroker Graham Richardson a spray for calling him "silly". (PollTas Richardson)



CANBERRA - Householders holding out for a new $1000 rebate on roof insulation may have
their hopes dashed as the federal government lurches towards another crisis. (Insulation
Wrap)



CANBERRA - Easter weekend celebrations may be somewhat tainted for homeowners with
the risk of another interest rate increase when they head back to work next week. (Economy
Wrap)



PERTH - Former West Australian premier turned lobbyist Brian Burke has been found guilty
on one count of lying to the state's Corruption and Crime Commission. (Burke Wrap)



GOLD COAST - Gold Coast mayor and Olympian Ron Clarke says Sri Lanka's decision to
bid for the 2018 Commonwealth Games could play right into Australia's court. (Com18 Wrap)



CANBERRA - Australia has expressed its alarm as support grows internationally for a
pact to legalise whaling. (Whaling Wrap)



LOS ANGELES - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is in hot water with the governor
of Alabama for his response to comedian Robin Williams' "Australians are basically English
rednecks" jibe. (Williams Rudd Update)

SYDNEY - Comedian Robin Williams says he loves Australia and has laughed off criticism
from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, poking fun at him in the process. (Williams Rudd 2nd Update)



PERTH - A Perth woman who received a controversial second liver transplant after her
first failed due to drug addiction has died in a Singapore hospital. (Liver)



CANBERRA - Croatia has expressed concern that a man it wants to try for war crimes
is at large in Australia. (Vasiljkovic)



MELBOURNE - A Victorian magistrate has written a "please explain" to corrections officers
after gangland widow Judy Moran claimed she was injured when she was flung around in a
prison van on the way back from court. (Moran Wrap)



MELBOURNE - A convicted killer who allegedly was hired to kill a man at the wedding
of underworld figure Mick Gatto's son is on the run after skipping bail. (Potter Wrap)



MELBOURNE - Family First party leader Steve Fielding says the federal government plans
on calling an early election to get rid of him. (Fielding)



SYDNEY - A NSW Supreme Court jury found Abdullah Ahmadi an extortionist and persecutor
who threatened to abduct a man and kill him and his family if he wasn't paid $5000. (Ahmadi)



MORE

KEYWORD: HIGHLIGHTS NATIONAL UPDATE

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

FED: Renew emissions trading talks: gov't

AAP General News (Australia)
08-20-2009
FED: Renew emissions trading talks: gov't

The RUDD government says carbon emissions will continue to grow if Australia doesn't
adopt an emissions trading scheme .. despite a huge boost to the renewable energy sector.

Assistant Climate Change Minister GREG COMBET says the coalition must pass the emissions
trading scheme .. Australia's key weapon in fighting climate change .. which they voted
down in the Senate last week.

Mr COMET's paid credit to the coalition for negotiating an agreement on the Renewable
Energy Target scheme .. and told ABC TV we need a repeat performance regarding emissions
trading.

AAP RTV cj/ldj/rt

KEYWORD: CLIMATE COMBET (CANBERRA)

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

What Australian newspapers say on Friday, April 10, 2009

AAP General News (Australia)
04-10-2009
What Australian newspapers say on Friday, April 10, 2009

SYDNEY, April 10 AAP - The Sydney Morning Herald says in its editorial today as governments
scramble to "do something" about the financial crisis, there is no denying the call for
new rules on corporate responsibility, accountability and transparency.

But blunt issues of governance are not enough. We are all in this together, and how
we respond to these realities will have a profound effect on how we emerge from this period.

Do we surrender to despair? Should we turn inward and view our neighbour as a competitor
for the things we hold dear?

The Easter story goes to the heart of these deeper, moral questions, the newspaper says.

"In its broadest sense, Easter precludes despair because it holds that there is another
force at work in human affairs that is independent of our failings, our limited possibilities
and our sense of the inevitable.

That force is a God who so loves humanity He took human form in the person of Jesus
of Nazareth so He might suffer death for humanity's salvation.

"This is why the faith built on the Easter story is primarily a celebration of hope
- the confident hope in the power of Providence acting in this world (and beyond it) according
to its own rules - in our best interests."

Sydney's The Daily Telegraph says teenager Jamie Cook, was killed early on Thursday
just two hours into the annual Easter driving blitz when the Corolla he was a passenger
in struck a tree.

Cook made the fatal error of joining some mates in a stolen car. He is emblematic of
so many high-spirited young people who lose their lives in pointless accidents.

Reckless driving and so-called "joyriding" are killers. To avoid the misery being suffered
by Jamie Cook's family and friends, avoid the mindless behaviour that causes it, the newspaper
says.

Many reckless drivers are old enough to know better but still travel at dangerous speeds.

"Even with double demerit points, some people never learn."

Melbourne's Herald Sun says Victorian have supported three-year-old Thomas Warren,
who is fighting a rare cancer, and dangerously ill children like him since the Herald
and Weekly Times, publishers of the Herald Sun, established the Royal Children's Hospital
Good Friday appeal in 1931.

The cancer makes it too painful for Thomas to move from his bed, the newspaper says,
"but his game grin in the face of adversity has endeared him to everyone he has met at
the RCH.

"People have already given generously to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal and can be counted
on to do their best for the children being cared for by the RCH."

Melbourne's The Age says Easter has shaped the culture all Australians share, and believers
in Christianity and others can share the idea of hope celebrated in the festival of resurrection.

The year 2009 is one in which hope is needed, following Victoria's devastating bushfires.

Living in hope is not the same as expecting everything to be remade just as it was
before. The fire-devastated hillsides at Kinglake will turn green again, but Kinglake
and the other towns that are rebuilt are unlikely to be restored as they were before the
fires, the newspaper says.

"The qualities that made places like Kinglake and Marysville so appealing were also
qualities that made them highly vulnerable to fire.

"To live in hope that these communities can be renewed is also to be tough-minded enough
to accept that the new life must be a changed life. And that kind of toughness overcomes
bleakness any time."

AAP jrd/rs

KEYWORD: EDITORIALS

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

Fed: Blockbuster to help Australian tourism through crisis

AAP General News (Australia)
12-05-2008
Fed: Blockbuster to help Australian tourism through crisis

By Jessica Marszalek

BRISBANE, Dec 5 AAP - The movie Australia will help the tourism industry break through
the global financial crisis in a stronger position than ever, the federal government says.

Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson has appealed to the industry not to pocket its advertising
dollars during current tough times.

Mr Ferguson said it was essential Australia continued to be marketed to the world to
ensure it crisis-proofed itself ready to capitalise on future international growth.

If not, it would be even harder to claw back key markets such as the US, UK, Japan,
Germany, New Zealand, China and India.

"Whilst we've got a global economic crisis confronting us we've actually got to continue
to work on those markets to lay the foundations for the future to grab whatever tourists
we can," Mr Ferguson told a Queensland Tourism Industry Council (QTIC) function on Friday.

He said advertising piggybacking off the Baz Luhrmann film Australia was encouraging
people to take a break from life's stresses Down Under.

But Tourism Australia hadn't put all its eggs in one basket with the film.

"Tourism Australia is using the film Australia in an opportunistic way to fill in the
period whilst the new creative advertising agency, DDB Worldwide, works out a new way
forward following the mixed success of its previous campaign `Where the bloody hell are
you?'," Mr Ferguson said.

And positives were already being seen, with the film causing a dramatic increase in
hits to Tourism Australia's UK website.

Mr Ferguson also announced Tourism Australia would meet with employer groups next week
to convince them to shed some of the 121 million days of accrued annual leave on the books
of Australian businesses.

He said encouraging their employees to take an Australian holiday benefited everyone.

"I actually think it's smart because they come back to work with greater energy and
satisfaction in their lives," Mr Ferguson said.

Mr Ferguson said the tourism industry was strong and had survived September 11, the
Ansett collapse and the threats of bird flu and SARS.

"Just like things have been tough in the past, they will be tough in the immediate
future," he said.

"One way or another we'll get through it and we will then position ourselves to maximise
the growth opportunities as we come out of this global financial crisis in the next 12
to 18 months time."

AAP jmm/pjo/mn/de

KEYWORD: TOURISM FERGUSON

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

Qld: SEQ welcomes relaxed water restrictions

AAP General News (Australia)
08-02-2008
Qld: SEQ welcomes relaxed water restrictions

For the first time in two years households in south-east Queensland can use their hoses
on a regular basis.

Heavy level six water restrictions have been replaced with level five .. as combined
dam levels in the region reach 40 per cent.

Premier ANNA BLIGH's today visited her local nursery to celebrate the relaxed restrictions
.. which have been dubbed Target 170.

Under the new restrictions residents can use their hose for 30 minutes on the weekend
.. and water usage aims per person have been increased from 140 to 170 litres per day.

Ms BLIGH says the community has done a remarkable job at saving water .. and she's
confident higher water restrictions won't need to be introduced in south-east Queensland
again.

AAP RTV nm/af

KEYWORD: WATER (BRISBANE)

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

Vic: 2007 warmest year ever in Victoria: bureau

AAP General News (Australia)
12-31-2007
Vic: 2007 warmest year ever in Victoria: bureau

On the last day of the year .. Melbourne's expected to have its hottest day in 2007
.. a year climate experts say is Victoria's hottest year on record.

The temperature's tipped to hit 42 degrees in the city today.

And the Age reports preliminary Bureau of Meteorology figures show the average temperature
across Victoria is up about one degree from the long-term average.

The report says the data averages maximum and minimum temperatures across the state.

It's put Victoria's average temperature at 15.1 degrees in 2007 .. about one degree
above the average for the period from 1961 to 1990.







Senior forecaster TERRY RYAN says the warmer year's due to a range of factors .. including
global warning.

Mr RYAN says there's a greater than 50 per cent chance that 2008 will also be warmer
than average .. and possibly hotter than 2007.

AAP RTV jrd/tm

KEYWORD: CLIMATE VIC (MELBOURNE)

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

NSW: Villawood rooftop protest enters third day

AAP General News (Australia)
08-22-2007
NSW: Villawood rooftop protest enters third day

A rooftop protest by three detainees at Sydney's Villawood detention centre has entered
its third day.

New Zealanders MONTANA KELLY and his cousin BRUCE NGAROMOA .. and Vietnamese man VAN
NGUYN climbed onto the roof on Monday night .. in a protest sparked by the cancellation
of home visits.

Two of the men say they need surgery after cutting themselves running through razor
wire to get onto the roof of the western Sydney facility.

A spokeswoman for Immigration Minister KEVIN ANDREWS says centre management won't force
the men to come down.

About 48 detainees are on a hunger strike in support of the resumption of home visits
and better conditions .. with 10 of them sleeping on a basketball court.

AAP RTV sk/jmt

KEYWORD: DETENTION (SYDNEY)

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

Vic: One dead, four injured in head-on smash

AAP General News (Australia)
04-06-2007
Vic: One dead, four injured in head-on smash

Victoria's Easter road toll has risen to three after a head-on smash near Swan Hill
.. in the state's north .. which has left at least one person dead and four injured.

Two cars collided head-on at high speed on the Murray Valley Highway between Kerang
and Swan hill about 10.50 (AEST) this morning.

Rural Ambulance Victoria says at least one person is dead.

Four have been injured .. two seriously .. with one victim still trapped in the wreckage.

An ambulance helicopter's flown to the crash site.

The death takes Victoria's Easter road toll to three .. last year three people died
on Victorian roads over Easter.

The national toll is now 11 with 5 dead in NSW .. two in Queensland and one in the ACT.



(EDS: AAP's Easter road toll figures are for the period 0001 April 5 to 2359 April
9. Some states and territories may have different periods.)

AAP RTV cmb/bart

KEYWORD: TOLL VIC (MELBOURNE)

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

2UE 0100 (AEDT) Headlines

AAP General News (Australia)
12-06-2006
2UE 0100 (AEDT) Headlines



- Fiji police commissioner Australian Andrew Hughes says growing opposition to the
coup says it's likely to fail.

- Investigations are underway into a fatal housefire in Victoria in which two small
children died. Arson squad detectives are still trying to determine the cause of the blaze

- Milk recall over contamination concerns in NSW and ACT

- A young Sydney boy has escaped after being threatened with a knife on the way to school

- Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard will go on a 10 day tour of the country to promote their
new team and policies

- Iraq is calling on the US to approach Iran and Syria to help Iraqi crisis

-



SPORT

- Ashes Aust 2-nil

- Warne says it was a big team effort

- Swimming results in Brisbane





AAP RTV cp

KEYWORD: 2UE 0100 (AEDT)

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

Fed: Costello hints at more money for coastal watch

AAP General News (Australia)
04-30-2006
Fed: Costello hints at more money for coastal watch

Treasurer PETER COSTELLO has hinted there'll be more money for surveillance of Australia's
northern coast in next month's budget.

He's told the Ten Network .. protecting our fisheries is a priority.

There's increasing anger among fishermen across the top end over Indonesian fishermen
stealing stock from Australia's territorial waters.

Mr COSTELLO says investing in look-outs .. particularly in the indigenous community
.. would be a very positive move.

He says the government's also determined to destroy apprehended vessels.

AAP RTV pv/jmt

KEYWORD: BUDGET06 FISHING (CANBERRA)

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

NSW: Mobile phone could help identify bashing victim

AAP General News (Australia)
02-01-2006
NSW: Mobile phone could help identify bashing victim

SYDNEY, Feb 1 AAP - Police have ruled out a racial motive for the bashing of a teenager
they believe is Sudanese, who was left for dead on a street near a mosque in Sydney's
west last night.

Police today said the victim was aged between 16 and 18, and the names listed in his
mobile phone led them to believe he might be Sudanese.

"There's a mosque in the street but police don't believe that's connected to the assault,"

a NSW Police spokeswoman said.

"There's nothing they know of to link the two."

Officers went to Harrow Road, Auburn, shortly before midnight (AEDT) after reports
of a male youth being assaulted by as many as three men.

The victim, whose identity is not known, was found unconscious and admitted to Westmead
Hospital with critical head injuries.

"(Investigators) are going through his mobile phone and trying to contact the names
listed in it to try to find out who he is," the police spokeswoman said.

The victim was not carrying a passport but was not thought to be in the country illegally,
she said.

The teenager's attackers were described as being of Middle Eastern or Mediterranean appearance.

AAP dcr/nf/jm

KEYWORD: BASHED LEAD

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

NSW: Man faces court after seizure of fake documents=2

AAP General News (Australia)
08-27-2005
NSW: Man faces court after seizure of fake documents=2

An AFP spokesman later said a fifth man, a 31-year-old from Bankstown, was arrested
over the same incident late today.

He will face Parramatta Bail Court tomorrow.

AAP kjd/cjh/bwl

KEYWORD: FORGE 2 SYDNEY (REOPENS)

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

Vic: Govt defends secret AFL deals

AAP General News (Australia)
04-22-2005
Vic: Govt defends secret AFL deals

Victoria's Acting Premier JOHN THWAITES has defended government secrecy around the
Transport Accident Commission's AFL sponsorship.

A report by parliament's financial watchdog has criticised the 15-year tradition of
secrecy over the commission's support for Collingwood and Richmond.

It says public entities' spending should be subject to the same level of scrutiny as
other areas of government.

The commission's deal with Richmond was abruptly terminated this season when a player
was charged with drink-driving and speeding.

The commission's support for Collingwood also came under pressure last season when
a player lost his licence for speeding.

Mr THWAITES has told ABC radio the undisclosed sponsorship amounts are value for money.

He says the deals are not a secret and have aired in the media.

AAP RTV nl/ce/lm/wf

KEYWORD: TAC (MELBOURNE)

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

Coatlicue

Coatlicue America Literal meaning: ‘the serpent lady’. She was the Aztec earth goddess, and the mother of Huitzilopochtli, the tribal god of the Aztecs. Although one of the wives of the cloud serpent Mixcoatl, who was also the god of hunting, Coatlicue was magically impregnated with Huitzilopochtli. One day while she was sweeping a feathery ball descended to her like a lump of thread, and she took it and put it in her bosom. After the housework was done, she looked without success for the ball, from which legend says she became pregnant without sin. This miraculous conception awakened the fury of her existing offspring, 400 sons and daughters aggrieved by the apparent slight on the family honour. They would have killed their earth serpent mother had not Huitzilopochtli emerged fully armed from her womb and set about his brothers and sisters, many of whom he slew.

Coatlicue was the earth serpent goddess. She was of especially horrible aspect: her skirt was of writhing snakes, her necklace of human hearts and hands supported a skull pendant; her hands and feet were clawed; her breasts were flabby; and her diet was the corpses of human beings. Coatlicue represented the devouring mother who was at once the womb and the grave. Under the Aztecs land was not owned by anybody. The earth was Coatlicue: she freely gave to men her fruits but no person could expect to cultivate a specific portion of the goddess in perpetuity. Officials would rightly declare after two or three years that the goodness of a plot was exhausted and the time had come for it to be left fallow.

Pepsi To Invest 1.2 Billion Dollars In Mexico.

MEXICO CITY, Feb 4, 2002

PepsiCo. (NYSE:PEP) during the current Mexican presidential administration will invest 1.2 billion dollars in developing the nation's market, with the goal of continuing to increase its competition against rival Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO). The plan is to increase market share for its Gatorade, Quaker, Gamesa and Sabritas product lines, reported Mexico City daily el Economista. The PepsiCo. board of directors visited Mexico for the first time, and ratified its commitment to develop in the country, considering it to the PepsiCo.'s most important market after the United States. During the visit, company directors held a private meeting with Mexican President Vicente Fox, where head Chairman Steve Reinemund told Fox the company invested 250 million dollars in Mexico last year.

URL: www.securities.com

Copyright 2002 Internet Securities, Inc., all rights reserved. A Euromoney Institutional Investor Company.

  SUBJECT CODE:     Indbev 

News Provided by COMTEX (http://www.comtexnews.com)

Microsoft Selects RAVISENT For Xbox; RAVISENT and Microsoft Enter Five-Year Software Licensing Agreement.

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

MALVERN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 22, 2000

RAVISENT Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:RVST), a provider of digital audio and video software solutions, announced today that Microsoft(R) Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has selected RAVISENT to be the provider of DVD playback software for its eagerly awaited Xbox(TM) video game system.

Under the terms of the five-year agreement, Microsoft is licensing RAVISENT's CineMaster DVD engine for DVD playback on the Xbox. Scheduled for launch in the Fall of 2001, Xbox is designed around an Intel processor and a custom chipset from NVIDIA(R) Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA). Utilizing RAVISENT's CineMaster DVD engine optimized for the Xbox graphics processing unit, the Xbox is expected to provide users with the highest quality video and audio performance on the market today.

This product offering is part of an emerging effort by RAVISENT to capitalize on its extensive consumer electronics and PC entertainment technology experience, in order to bring the latest video innovations to the gaming community. Video gaming is a growing market, and video game consoles are quickly becoming a standard part of home entertainment centers.

"Xbox not only raises the bar for game consoles, but has the opportunity to greatly impact and redefine the world of home entertainment," said Alan McCann, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Digital Media Group for RAVISENT. "This agreement provides RAVISENT with a tremendous opportunity to leverage our extensive experience in both the PC and consumer electronics markets, bringing the best of both worlds to this innovative platform."

"With Xbox, we have set out to provide consumers with unquestionably the best entertainment experience available, and RAVISENT's DVD playback software and consumer electronics expertise allows us to deliver on this vision. CineMaster is the ideal software solution for the Xbox, providing the best DVD viewing experience available in the market today," commented Todd Holmdahl, General Manager of Xbox Hardware at Microsoft Corporation.

RAVISENT's CineMaster DVD engine is also available for licensing to system designers and platform builders in PC, consumer electronics set-top box, and game console configurations.

About CineMaster DVD

RAVISENT's CineMaster DVD Engine is a cross-platform, high-performance DVD and MPEG-2 decoding solution designed to decode and playback DVD-Video, MPEG Video and Broadcast MPEG Video content. CineMaster DVD can be integrated with a variety of digital media processing components to deliver decoding capabilities, as well as support cutting-edge HDTV (High Definition Television) decoding.

The CineMaster(R) DVD Engine components are in use by major CE OEMs, PC OEMs, video graphics companies, and video game manufacturers. CineMaster digital media components meet the requirements of the DVD Forum, the Content Scrambling System (CSS), Dolby, and Macrovision, and assist OEMs to meet rapidly changing consumer preferences in record time at a low cost.

Key components in the CineMaster DVD Engine include:

 -- DVD Navigation Engine  -- DVD Presentation Engine (including trick mode playback)  -- MPEG-2 Video Decoder  -- Dolby Digital (AC-3), MPEG-2, LPCM Audio Decoder  -- Closed Caption/Sub Picture Decoder 

About Xbox

Scheduled for release in fall 2001, Xbox (http://www.xbox.com/) is Microsoft's future-generation video game console that delivers superior graphics, better audio and the most intense, action-packed gaming experiences available. All this is possible because Xbox has at least three times the graphics performance of the newest generation of game consoles.

About RAVISENT Technologies Inc.

RAVISENT provides digital video, audio and Internet appliance technology to industry leading PC, Consumer Electronic and Internet Appliance OEMs, empowering them to deliver highly competitive, cost-effective products with a strong time-to-market advantage. RAVISENT software and intellectual property is contained in products from Compaq, Dell Computer, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, Micron, Elsa, Matrox, Iomega, Fujitsu, Quantex, Sony, Tottori-Sanyo, Vestel, ATi Technologies, C-Cube, STMicroelectronics, Telecom Italia, Met@box, Formenti and IPM.

Founded in 1994, RAVISENT is a global company, headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, with offices in San Jose, Seattle, Canada, Germany and Japan. More information about RAVISENT is available at www.ravisent.com.

All companies and product names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements that relate to RAVISENT's future business and financial performance. Such statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual events of future results to differ from those discussed herein.

Such factors include, among others: RAVISENT's recent change in its business model, its limited operating history, fluctuating quarterly operating results, expectation of future losses, anticipated price declines in products, dependence on its current product lines, dependence on a small number of customers, lack of long-term commitments with customers, dependence on manufacturers and strategic relationships, product delays, the difficulty of protecting proprietary rights, the ability to manage growth and attract and retain additional personnel, the potential for defects in its products, risks from international operations, its ability to raise capital in the future, its dependence on the personal computer and consumer electronics industries, competition, its ability to manage technological change and respond to evolving industry standards, government regulation and Year 2000 software issues.

Investors are advised to read RAVISENT's Annual Report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly those sections entitled "Factors Affecting Operating Results," for a fuller discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties.

Copyright(c)2000 RAVISENT Technologies. All rights reserved.

Physicians Health Services Joins ChannelPoint Commerce Internet Exchange for Insurance.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 21, 1999--

Leading Tri-State Insurance Carrier Provides Brokers with Access

to Comprehensive Plan information on the Web

Physicians Health Services (PHS), the third largest health plan in the northeast with one million members in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, today announced its participation in the ChannelPoint Commerce Internet Exchange. The agreement with ChannelPoint, the world's only Internet exchange provider for insurance, allows PHS to offer complete health plan information, options, products and services through the ChannelPoint Commerce Broker(TM) electronic marketplace (e-market).

"Today's announcement is good news for any insurance broker seeking to use the Internet for a competitive advantage. The ChannelPoint Internet exchange is ideal for our industry, streamlining the sales process and improving the speed at which products can be provided to their customers," said Tammy Tucker, senior vice president, sales at PHS. "ChannelPoint's e-commerce solution will provide immediate lift to PHS's small group product portfolio, Healthcare Solutions, expanding reach and accessibility to brokers."

"The ChannelPoint Internet exchange strongly complements PHS' desire to develop new ways to sell their products," said Jeff Bork, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for ChannelPoint. "By participating in the ChannelPoint Commerce Internet exchange, PHS can take a first mover advantage by leveraging the Internet to grow their business "

ChannelPoint Commerce Broker is an advanced e-market enabled by the ChannelPoint Commerce exchange and designed specifically for brokers and agents to sell insurance and benefits products on the web. Unlike simple, internet-based referral services and product catalogs, the tools and information available at www.commercebroker.com enable brokers to electronically compare benefits and premium costs among numerous insurance companies 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Brokers can specify benefit configurations, with co-payment levels, deductibles and other factors, then run comparisons, download a completely formatted proposal and ultimately, submit the business for processing with the carrier over the web.

Brokers and insurance agents throughout the New York tri-state market will be able to access Physicians Health Services product and service information through the free service located at www.commercebroker.com.

About Physicians Health Services

Physicians Health Services is a full service health plan that serves close to one million members in the tri-state area. With a physician network consisting of 55,000 health care providers, Physicians Health Services is the third largest health plan in the northeast, offering a full array of open access products, women's health initiatives and coordination for multi-region employers. Additional information about Physicians Health Services is available on the Internet at www.phshmo.com.

About ChannelPoint, Inc.

ChannelPoint is the global leader in reinventing how businesses buy, sell and service insurance and benefits products via the Internet. Leading insurance companies, brokerages and financial institutions use ChannelPoint's `straight-through processing' solutions to maximize sales and efficiency by streamlining their entire distribution cycle. The ChannelPoint Commerce Internet exchange enables complete web-based marketing, buying and selling for businesses and consumers. The ChannelPoint Insure software suite automates carrier and broker activities including proposals, rating, underwriting and renewals. ChannelPoint is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo. For more information, visit http://www.channelpoint.com.

This release contains forward-looking statements, which may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results and performance to be materially different from any future results or performance suggested by these statements.

Note to editors: ChannelPoint, ChannelPoint Commerce and ChannelPoint Insure are trademarks of ChannelPoint, Inc. All other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners and are mentioned for identification purposes only.

Attack of the clones; Internet companies.(American web firms are battling foreign clones)

American web firms are battling foreign hordes that look remarkably similar

ON AUGUST 1st Airbnb, an online marketplace that helps people rent rooms, admitted that it had mishandled a complaint from someone whose apartment was ransacked by one of its renters. Brian Chesky, the firm's boss, begged forgiveness and announced that from August 15th Airbnb would cover up to $50,000-worth of damage caused by its customers, subject to certain (as yet unannounced) conditions. Soon afterwards 9flats, a rival based in Berlin, said it, too, would offer insurance.

An Airbnb executive gripes that such behaviour is typical of 9flats, which he says copies much of what Airbnb does. (9flats admits to being "inspired" by American e-commerce, but insists that its website and pricing model differ from Airbnb's.) Other American web superstars, such as Groupon, a discount firm, and Kickstarter, which crowdsources funding for arts and technology projects, have also been attacked by "clones" (services set up in foreign markets that are almost identical to the American originals). As the cost of computing power plummets and the prices of hot start-ups soar--Airbnb was recently valued at an eye-watering $1.3 billion--the clone wars will get bloody.

One battleground will be China. There, opaque rules have kept many American firms at bay, leaving the field open for Chinese ones to develop similar services. Diandian, for example, resembles Tumblr, an American blogging platform. Zhihu, a question-and-answer service, looks a bit like Quora, an American firm.

Another battleground will be Germany, where three brothers, Alexander, Oliver and Marc Samwer, have become the copycat kings of Europe. The brothers have a knack for spotting good business models in Silicon Valley, and then quickly starting something similar in Europe. They later sell these "clones", sometimes to the firms on which they were modelled.

The Samwers scored their first success in 1999 with Alando, an online auction house which they sold to eBay. They have notched up several other big deals since then (see table). In 2007, beside their investment vehicle, European Founders Fund, they set up Rocket Internet, an incubator that uses its own pool of experts--now around 90 people--to help launch several start-ups a year. Kinnevik, a Swedish investor, has a stake and also invests in its portfolio.

Airbnb is now firmly in the Samwers' sights. In June, the American firm bought Accoleo, a start-up in Hamburg, as a way into the European market. It faces stiff competition not just from 9flats but also from Wimdu, a clone backed by the Samwer brothers and staffed with experienced hands. Arne Bleckwenn, the boss of Wimdu, is on his third start-up for the Samwers. Gamegoods, his first, was a rare flop. The second, GratisPay, a virtual-currency platform for internet games, was sold last year to SponsorPay, a German rival.

Wimdu is no shoestring operation: in June it raised $90m from its core investors. In July the Samwers raised more money for Zalando, an online shoe-shop that resembles Amazon's Zappos. Both Wimdu and Zalando may ultimately be snapped up by other firms, though the Samwers could choose to hang on to them or to take some equity in the buyer--a strategy Rocket Internet adopted when it sold CityDeal, an online-discount firm, to Groupon last year. Rocket Internet has been helping to develop Groupon's international business, along with two of the Samwer brothers. It stands to make more money from Groupon's planned stockmarket listing.

Florian Heinemann, the boss of Rocket Internet, is unrepentant about cloning. Internet ideas are rarely patented and rightly so, he says: patents create a temporary monopoly which tends to stifle competition. Mr Bleckwenn at Wimdu also defends copying good ideas: "BMW didn't invent the car," he observes. German mechanical engineers are brilliant at improving existing inventions. From their perspective, the Samwer brothers are simply applying that same genius to the internet.

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but some of the imitatees can't take a compliment. They hate having to buy back their own ideas at a hefty premium. And they gripe about the clone troopers' aggressive tactics. Airbnb claims that clones have sent people to rent its properties so they can give owners a sales pitch. Such tricks make Silicon Valley types choke on their freshly squeezed mango juice. But they are perfectly legal.

Fred Destin, a venture capitalist at Atlas Venture who has worked in both Europe and America, sees a double standard. "When something works in America", he says, "eight companies immediately go after the same opportunity and venture capitalists fund them. But nobody calls them clones." The fact that Groupon has been willing to work with the Samwers on building its business is another sign that some of the outrage is overdone.

Still, start-ups do need to think about the threat. Suing clones is hard, says David Goldstone, an intellectual-property specialist at Goodwin Procter, an American law firm. Registering patents in many countries is both costly and time-consuming, and they may prove hard to enforce. A better bet is to out-innovate the opposition. Firms that can harness powerful network effects, in which users encourage friends and family members to join them on a particular service, may be best placed to fight off the clones. Others will just have to draw their light sabres and hope that the Force is with them.

Packaged Facts: Mobile Payments Driving Force in $62 Billion U.S. Alternative Payment Market.

Several key trends will keep the $62 billion American market for alternative payments dynamic through the next five years, with emerging mobile payment options ranking as the most important, according to market research publisher Packaged Facts.

In its report, "Alternative Payment Systems in the U.S., 2nd Edition," Packaged Facts noted that alternative payments are consumer-to-business purchases and person-to-person (P2P) payments that are entirely electronic and predominantly conducted over the internet or mobile phones.

Packaged Facts reveals total U.S. dollar volume of online alternative payments rose 25 percent to reach $62 billion in 2010, more than double the level seen in 2006. The total U.S. alternative payment market is expected to reach $127 billion by 2015.

"The mobile payments market is set to explode, perhaps as early as this year," said David Sprinkle, research director and publisher of Packaged Facts. "PayPal alone announced $750 million in total mobile payment volume worldwide in 2010 and expects to reach $2 billion for 2011. Though PayPal may be the only player recording that level of mobile payments, several major initiatives either rumored or announced indicate that interest in mobile payments is hitting critical mass. The old school payments paradigm will start losing more and more of the playing field."

Packaged Facts singles out three mobile payment announcements or possible launches as most significant:

- Google, in partnership with point-of-sale (POS) mobile device makers and mobile payments enablers VIVOtech and Verifone, is expected to launch a mobile payments trial in several large cities in the summer of 2011, bringing Google Checkout out of cyberspace and into brick-and-mortar retail.

- Wireless carriers AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon formed the Isis partnership with Discovery Financial and Barclays Bank to combine mobile payments and wireless carrier billing into a retail mobile payments solution.

- Apple is rumored to be working on its own iPhone and mobile payments platform based in part on its popular iTunes application and service. The company filed several software patents related to mobile payments, shopping, POS, and point-of-purchase (POP) that hint of a possible launch in 2011 or 2012.

In addition to the impact of mobile payments, overall growth will be driven both by total number of active accounts, and by total spending per account as more and more consumers use alternative payments to shop at a range of traditional and virtual merchants. Growth will also be driven in part by a strengthening economy, resulting in generally higher consumer spending.

Report Information:

https://www.packagedfacts.com/Alternative-Payment-Systems-2739664/.

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

Dr. Condoleezza Rice Keynotes George W. Bush Institute Conference on Understanding and Applying the Lessons of the Arab Spring.(Conference news)

The George W. Bush Institute today brought together leading voices in the conversation around freedom movements for a conference entitled, "The Wave of Freedom: Early Lessons from the Middle East," which examined how recent lessons learned in Egypt and Tunisia can help inform freedom movements in authoritarian regimes in countries like Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, Syria and Burma.

"It is clear that it takes time for freedom to take root," said President George W. Bush in his opening remarks. "One of the dangers for the freedom movement around the world is that the United States grows weary and grows isolated from the march of freedom. The spread of free societies makes our country more secure and makes the world more peaceful. It's important to recognize the spread of free societies upholds the idea that all human beings have worth and dignity."

Following opening remarks from President Bush, Dr. Condoleezza Rice delivered a keynote address in which she provided her perspective on the status of the freedom movement in individual countries throughout the Middle East and what the United States can continue to do to foster freedom and democracy.

"We need to strengthen the seedlings of democracy that are in the Middle East already in Iraq, Lebanon and the West Bank of Palestine, help support healthy forces in Egypt and Tunisia, and press friends to reform faster than they might in places like Jordan and Morocco with reformist young kings," said Dr. Rice. She predicted "it's going to be a rocky time" ahead in the Middle East, but "it's better than the silence of tyranny" and "it's no time for the United States to lose its voice in advocating for freedom. Our message to the people of the Middle East should be that freedom is worth it. It's hard. You've begun your journey and we will be with you."

The George W. Bush Institute is the innovation policy arm of the George W. Bush Presidential Center. The Bush Institute's mission in human freedom is to foster democracy and support freedom advocates around the world. The conference brought together leading activists, technology experts, government leaders and scholars with the hope of emboldening and equipping dissidents and freedom advocates that have come forward during these current times of turbulence. "In today's 24-hour news cycle we see ourselves moving all too quickly from one sensational event to the next," said James K. Glassman, the executive director of the Bush Institute. "The Bush Institute conference on human freedom gives us the opportunity to dive deeper into the impact and implications these uprisings will have on the future of democracy."

Conference attendees also heard a firsthand account and analysis of recent events in Egypt from Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Professor of Political Sociology at The American University in Cairo, via videoconference.

He said, "I appeal to democrats around the world to prevail on those in power to postpone the election for at least six months or a year until the new forces of young people can organize themselves." He warned, "The only organized groups that are ready for such an early and premature election are two: the remnants of the outgoing national democratic party and the Muslim brothers." Ibrahim ended with a hopeful note, saying "Revolution does not happen by itself. Democracy does not happen by itself. It needs continuous nourishing and feeding. The dawn of freedom will always break through."

The conference also included three robust panels. The first panel, "What Really Happened?," discussed the role of social media and the uprisings in the Middle East and included Minnie Ingersoll, Principal, Business Operations, Google, Inc.; Philip N. Howard, Associate Professor, University of Washington; Oscar Morales, Visiting Fellow, Human Freedom, George W. Bush Institute; Maajid Nawaz, Co-Founder and Director, Quilliam Foundation, Founder, Khudi; Ian Schuler, Senior Program Manager, Internet Freedom Programs, U.S. Department of State; and via Skype, Yassine Ayari, Activist and Blogger.

The second panel, "The Future of Freedom in the Middle East," moderated by Bush Institute executive director Jim Glassman, featured stories from the frontlines told by Ammar Abdulhamid, Founder and Director, Tharwa Foundation; Khadija Arfaoui, Retired Professor, American Studies, Women's Studies, English and Human Rights Activist, Environmental, Human Rights and Women's Rights Issues; Esraa Abdel Fattah, Projects Manager, Egyptian Democratic Academy; Ahmed Salah, Veteran Egyptian Activist, Director, New Future House Center Coordinator, The Coalition of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution; Bassem Samir, Executive Director, Egyptian Democratic Academy; and Mouheb Ayari, President, I Watch Organization.

The final panel, "Beyond the Arab World," moderated by Lorne Craner, President, International Republican Institute, was a discussion on the impact on other undemocratic regimes. The panel featured Elliott Abrams, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies, Council on Foreign Relations; Frank Calzon, Executive Director, Center for a Free Cuba; Victor Cha, Professor and Director of Asian Studies, Georgetown University; Roya Hakakian, Writer and Journalist; and Joshua Muravchik, Fellow, Foreign Policy Institute, SAIS Johns Hopkins University.

To watch the conference via live web feed, visit http://www.bushcenter.com/human-freedom/wave-of-freedom-live. About the George W. Bush Institute: The George W. Bush Institute seeks to improve the human condition through human freedom, education reform, global health, and economic growth. In all its programming, the Institute integrates initiatives that empower women and military servicemen and women. The Bush Institute is the innovation policy arm of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, which includes the Presidential library, located on the campus of SMU in Dallas. For more information, please visit www.bushcenter.com or follow us Facebook and Twitter. For more information about the George W. Bush Presidential Center, visit: www.bushcenter.com

Keywords: Democracy, Democratic, Economic Growth, Economics, George W. Bush Institute, Government, Human Rights, Politics, Republicans, Technology.

This article was prepared by Economics Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2011, Economics Week via VerticalNews.com.

HISTORY OF SCIENCES IN ARCHITECTURE SUBJECT OF MELLON FOUNDATION WINNER'S STUDY.

Davis, CA -- The following information was released by the University of California Davis:

For centuries, nature has inspired architectural design, but recent computer-based technologies are giving architects new tools to mimic nature.

To explore this transformation, Christina Cogdell, an associate professor of architectural and design history at the University of California, Davis, has received a $225,000 New Directions Fellowship from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The prestigious grant will enable Cogdell to study for 15 months at UC Berkeley, the Architectural Association in London, and UC Davis. She will also conduct independent studies with professors associated with Tel Aviv University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At UC Davis, she will be working with evolution and ecology professor Rick Grosberg, philosophy professor Jim Griesemer, and physics professor Jim Crutchfield.

She will examine specific collaborations between architects and scientists and also explore the desire of some architects to grow living buildings out of cells, using computer-based design and production allied with technologies of genetic and tissue engineering.

"The Mellon Foundation is allowing me to receive training in the areas of computational architecture, computational modeling of self-organizing complex systems, and evolutionary science, which will allow me to build on my knowledge of past influences of popular scientific theories upon the history of art, architecture and design," said Cogdell, who is a member of the UC Davis Design Program faculty. "It is an amazing opportunity, because not only is the foundation allowing me to go back to school, but they are allowing me to go where I need to study with the best people in my research area."

"Self-organization" is a theory used to explain patterns that arise in nature without any external controls, from thunderstorms to termite mounds. Some social scientists use the theory to study such patterns in human culture as urban traffic, the form and function of the Internet, and the ebb and flow of financial economies. Architects are integrating its principles into contemporary buildings, such as China's Bird's Nest National Stadium, built for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

"This training will bring multiple benefits to UC Davis and its students by furthering cross-disciplinary inquiry between the humanities and the sciences," Cogdell said. "It will allow me to challenge students to think critically about developments on the technological cutting-edge of design and to become involved with cross-disciplinary collaborative research."

Cogdell is the author of "Eugenic Design: Streamlining America in the 1930s," which won the 2006 Edelstein Prize from the Society for the History of Technology. In the book, she defines eugenics as "controlling evolution towards a desired end," and characterizes it as a scientific design strategy for society that produced appalling historical consequences worldwide. Exploring the popularity of eugenics in American culture of the 1930s, she documents how prominent industrial designers infused theories of streamlined design with evolutionary and eugenic principles and argues that these designers approached products the same way eugenicists approached human beings: Both considered themselves to be reformers advancing evolutionary progress through increased efficiency, hygiene and the creation of a utopian "ideal type." Her analysis also reveals the extent to which eugenics and our commonplace beliefs about good design share fundamental values that to this day permeate American culture.

In addition to the Mellon Foundation grant, Cogdell has received fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal, the Penn Humanities Forum at the University of Pennsylvania, the Wolfsonian Design Museum at Florida International University, the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Research Center for the Study of American Modernism in Santa Fe, and the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia.

Cogdell earned a Ph.D. and a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. from the University of Notre Dame.

About The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that awards grants in higher education and scholarship, scholarly communications and information technology, museums and art conservation, performing arts, and conservation and the environment.

Xplode Conference Announces Powerful Real Estate Video Partnership with Vscreen.(Conference news)

Atlanta, Ga (Vocus/PRWEB) April 19, 2011

Xplode Conference announces a strategic partnership with Vscreen, the leading provider of real estate video services. As part of this alliance, Vscreen will record all Xplode Conference content for distribution on the web and elsewhere. Conference content streaming is also planned for late 2011.

Xplode Founder Matt Fagioli says "Vscreen & Xplode will provide a complete library of real estate technology & marketing information for all industry professionals that covers video, mobile, social media, consumer search, IDX, CRM and a host of other must-have technologies"

In addition, Xplode is proud to welcome VScreen's Stephen Schweickart as a featured video marketing speaker. Schweickart joins our roster of nationally recognized experts for the ongoing series of Xplode! real estate technology conferences in 2011.

"The power of video in real estate marketing is unparalleled," said Fagioli, "Vscreen's expertise and cutting edge technology will be an invaluable addition to our efforts to equip and train conference attendees."

VScreen, located at Universal Studios Florida, specializes in custom video content for B2B and B2C applications within the real estate industry, including video for websites, social media, and mobile applications. Schweickart welcomed the invitation to be part of Xplode!'s conference team, as well as the exclusive video services provider for Xplode's series of national conferences. According to Schweickart, "We're honored to become part of this powerful team of industry experts, and believe it's a perfect fit to address the expanding need for professional video within the real estate industry."

About Xplode

The Xplode Conference Series on Real Estate Technology is coming to a city near you!

The Xplode Conference is a product of Helives, LLC based near Atlanta, Ga.

Xplode builds great conferences for real estate in partnership with local associations & MLS organizations. After a super-successful launch event in Austin Texas on February 10, 2011, Xplode is featuring real estate conferences on technology in a host of US cities in 2011.

The spring series includes Destin (Fl) on May 19th,Orlando (Fl) on June 9th and Washington DC on June 23rd

Xplode plans fall 2011 events including Dallas (Tx), Chicago (IL) & Atlanta (Ga)

Xplode Conference also highlights the most powerful real estate technology & marketing products. Sponsors include Market Leader, Mobile Real Estate ID, vScreen, RPR, Realtor.com, Zillow, Homefinder, Exit Realty, NCI, Diverse Solutions and more.

For more information, please visit XplodeThis.com

About VScreen

VScreen is a leading Internet video strategy firm and cutting-edge production studio, offering turnkey video solutions for companies looking for the latest in syndicated consumer video content, custom video production and video search engine optimization (SEO). Specializing in vertical markets such as real estatea[bar]VScreen is the trusted video source for the most reputable national brands and dot coms within their respective industry, serving clients such as Yahoo! Real Estate, REALTOR.com, Zillow.com and many others.

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Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/RealEstateConference/12/prweb8315482.htm

buySAFE Shopping Advisor Launched.

Easy-to-use Downloadable Desktop Application Provides Consumers Comprehensive Safe and Secure Internet Shopping

ARLINGTON, Va. -- buySAFE, Inc. today announced the public beta launch of the buySAFE Shopping Advisor, a new Internet shopping tool that enables consumers to shop online safely and securely. The buySAFE Shopping Advisor provides objective ratings on every U.S.-based eCommerce website -- so consumers have the information they need to make safe and informed online shopping decisions - and it provides exclusive access to a unique safe shopping channel where every purchase is automatically guaranteed up to $25,000 and identity theft protected - at no cost.

The buySAFE Shopping Advisor is a free desktop application that can easily be downloaded and installed at http://www.buySAFE.com. It integrates directly into the Web browser and provides two important security features: the Safe Shopping Rating and the Safe Shopping Portal.

Safe Shopping Rating

The Safe Shopping Rating instantly identifies the finest online businesses in the search results of every major search engine (Google, Yahoo, MSN and eBay) so that shoppers know which merchants they can trust before they click on the site links. Consumers face four primary trust and security threats when buying online: 1) theft of personal information during transmission to a merchant's website, 2) theft of personal information stored at the merchant's website, 3) the merchant's misuse of the personal information provided and 4) the merchant not delivering on the stated terms of sale (merchant non-performance). The Safe Shopping Rating objectively assesses each merchant's use of the best practices that address these four serious trust and security threats to which every online shopper is exposed. When a merchant has adopted these best practices, a shopper can buy with complete confidence.

The Safe Shopping Rating specifically looks at these four cornerstones of shopper protection and summarizes the merchant's use of them in an easy-to-understand rating:

 [TABLE OMITTED] 

Safe Shopping Portal

The Safe Shopping Portal provides shoppers with the world's first comprehensively safe and secure shopping experience across the Internet.

Consumers can buy any product via the Safe Shopping Portal confident that each and every purchase will automatically be guaranteed with a bond of up to $25,000, and be protected with comprehensive identity theft insurance for 30 days, all at no cost.

The Safe Shopping Portal also features product inventory exclusively from Bonded Merchants, which are inspected, monitored daily and committed to providing their customers an outstanding online shopping experience. These are merchants that shoppers can trust to deliver as promised, every single time - guaranteed.

The Safe Shopping Portal is accessible by clicking on the buySAFE Shopping Advisor in the Internet browser.

"buySAFE's mission is to make every internet shopping experience safe, reliable and trusted. Achieving this lofty goal requires arming internet shoppers with better information so they can make smart and safe buying decisions and eliminating major types of risk, like merchant non-performance through bonding," said buySAFE CEO Jeff Grass. "buySAFE Shopping Advisor marks the beginning of a new era in online shopping as the Safe Shopping Rating is the only trust rating solution available today that comprehensively addresses all of the trust and security threats internet shoppers face. And the Safe Shopping Portal provides the world's only virtually risk-free shopping channel where shoppers can buy from thousands of online merchants with complete confidence, knowing every purchase is fully guaranteed and ID Theft protected."

About buySAFE, Inc.

Backed by the strength of underwriters Liberty Mutual, Travelers, and ACE, buySAFE partners with online merchants to provide their buyers trusted, risk-free shopping. buySAFE inspects online merchants, monitors their performance and bonds their shoppers' purchases up to $25,000. Over 17 million guaranteed purchases from over 3,000 merchants prove that Bonded Merchants enjoy increased sales and profitability by providing their customers a more confident online shopping experience. buySAFE's browser-based Shopping Advisor provides Internet users virtually risk-free shopping across the Internet.

For more information: http://www.buysafe.com/

Hands On Video Relay Service and Four Other VRS Providers Petition FCC to Declare Interpreter Non-Compete Agreements Unreasonable.

ROCKLIN, Calif., June 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Hands On Video Relay Services ("Hands On") of Rocklin, California, along with four other Video Relay Service providers (listed below) have petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to declare the practice of imposing non-competition agreements on video interpreters unreasonable.

In a filing made today, the petitioners asked the FCC to declare invalid non-compete agreements that a competitor, Sorenson Communications, Inc., of Salt Lake City, Utah, imposes on its video relay service interpreters. The agreements prohibit the interpreters from working for one year in any capacity for a competing VRS provider, or entity contracting with a competing VRS provider.

VRS is a service designed to allow deaf and hard of hearing people the ability to use telephone services in a manner equivalent to how hearing people use the telephone. To make a call, a deaf or hard of hearing person would sign into a video camera or videophone connected to an interpreter via the Internet. The interpreter then completes the call to a hearing person using the telephone network.

VRS is part of the Telecommunications Relay Service ("TRS") program, administered by the FCC pursuant to Section IV of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Sorenson is reported to be the largest of 11 VRS providers.

Hands On Founder and Chief Executive Officer Ronald E. Obray comments, "The supply of certified interpreters is very limited in the United States, so it is important for the VRS industry to manage this scarce resource responsibly and wisely in order to best serve the deaf community."

The petition demonstrates that the effect of Sorenson's restrictive employment covenant is to artificially limit the supply of video interpreters, and therefore raise the cost to recruit and hire interpreters. This, in turn, results, in higher costs for each VRS minute, thereby raising the overall funding costs for the TRS program, and reducing the services available to serve the deaf community.

Mr. Obray added, "Our goal at Hands On is to provide the highest quality interpreting services in each and every community in America. We believe this anti-competitive practice by Sorenson hurts those members of the deaf community who rely on quality interpretive services like this. Sorenson's non-compete practice restricts interpreters (who may have only worked one day for them) from working for any other VRS provider - even if they were terminated or wish to work for another provider in non VRS settings. The restriction applies at least on a state-wide basis, so an interpreter who worked for Sorenson in El Paso, Texas would be prohibited from working for AT&T in Houston, Texas, some 750 miles away."

"We strongly believe that the FCC should take action for three simple reasons: (1) to protect the right of interpreters to work anywhere they want for anybody who will hire them; (2) to protect the deaf community by ensuring that this scarce resource is managed wisely; and (3) to promote a competitive VRS industry which will provide customers with the possible service."

Four other providers have signed on to the petition. They are Communication Access Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, located in Flint, Michigan; CSDVRS, LLC, headquartered in Clearwater Florida; Snap Telecommunications, Inc., of Pearl River, N.Y, and GoAmerica, Inc. of Hackensack, N.J.

About Hands On Video Relay Services, Inc.

Based in Rocklin, California, HOVRS is a recognized leader in Video Relay Services and the second largest VRS provider in the country. The company has experienced over 50% growth in the last year. It is the only provider to provide video relay services on Macintosh, PC and videophones. The company has been serving the needs of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community since 1992 when it first established Hands On Sign Language Services, Inc., a community based sign language services agency. The company is committed to removing communication barriers for Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals while providing quality services they can rely on. Hands On is a linguistically diverse company that employs both Deaf/Hard of Hearing and hearing employees. For more information, visit our website at http://www.hovrs.com/.

CONTACT: Kurt Schusterman of Hands On Video Relay Service, 800-900-9478 kschusterman@hovrs.com

Web site: http://www.hovrs.com/

Secure voice communications.

Military units require a full spectrum of communications capabilities to ensure that all elements of command and control (C2), (battle orders, planning, logistics, medical, personnel, etc.) are communicated effectively. Secure communication systems may be considered the lifeline of C2 on the battlefield and must be available to U.S. forces at all levels, from strategic to tactical.

FORCEnet will enable the integration of secure voice with data and sensor networks within the Global Information Grid (GIG). Integration of secure voice within FORCEnet is enabled by the rapidly maturing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). In the last decade, circuit-switched technologies (used for voice communications) are transitioning to packet-switched integrated networks that support both data and voice.

The need for secure data and secure voice is increasing dramatically with new threats and the global war on terrorism. Today's warfighter must be able to use both secure voice and secure data simultaneously for effective collaboration. The future of end-to-end secure communications will be driven by Department of Defense (DoD) requirements, including joint and coalition collaboration, and the growing need to interoperate through the full range of federated operations involving U.S. government organizations such as the Department of Homeland Security, state and local government and others as directed. The convergence of voice and data in secure VoIP is a cost-effective enabler for these missions.

The Navy Secure Voice Team of the PEO C4I and Space, PMW 160, with technical expertise from SPAWAR Systems Center San Diego Code 2877, St. Julien's Creek, Va., is developing the Naval Advanced Secure Voice Architecture (NASVA) that identifies the future of secure voice communications in the sea, land and air warfare missions of the Department of the Navy. The NASVA describes an acquisition process that will leverage the spiral development process. It also provides the guidance necessary to integrate policies, requirements and technologies to successfully move from today's "as is" architecture to the future "to be" secure voice architecture.

The Secure Voice Team will leverage industry technologies and innovations, and rely on a comprehensive assessment of capabilities required by users. The team will also conduct continuous, in-depth examinations of emerging technologies that may deliver those capabilities. It is hoped that this approach will energize the development of technology to achieve immediate gains in capability under a rapid insertion scenario.

The Navy secure voice team is using a four-pronged approach to capture user requirements and help guide development efforts to meet users' needs:

[check] Review the Joint Mission Essential Task List (JMETL) and Naval Mission Essential Task List (NMETL) to determine documented requirements.

[check] Develop a Web-based questionnaire for recently deployed fleet, Marine Corps, joint and special warfare forces to collect a continuing flow of anecdotal or empirical information about equipment and user desired improvements or features.

[check] Follow up with interviews of returning strike groups and special warfare units to capture the "real story" of system performance and solicit new ideas. Candid feedback to the online survey and fleet liaison visits are critical to the collection and analysis of requirements.

[check] Consult industry to leverage emerging communications and network technologies. Selected technologies will be tested during Sea Trial events (e.g., Trident Warrior series exercises) for suitability.

Requirements gathering starts below decks with interior communications systems and extends through the "last mile" all the way to the "foxhole" in support of Army and Marine Corps units. The Secure Voice Team is investigating the full spectrum of technologies with an eye toward future net-centric requirements.

Major technological issues, technology mandates, security concerns, and integration and interoperability requirements all provide a catalyst for close partnership with industry to produce the next generation of secure communication devices.

The technological challenges of secure voice integration are many and complex. The convergence of voice and data presents a significant challenge for the prioritization of packets and managing traffic flow over an IP network while also meeting the quality of service requirements for voice, combat systems and other mission critical systems.

Interoperability issues are driven by DoD mandates, compelling the adoption of new features or security schemata that can cause interoperability problems (in particular with legacy equipment). For instance, the Joint Tactical Radio System has been mandated as the joint standard for the future of radio frequency (RF) communications in DoD, and secure voice devices must accommodate this emerging standard. Another mandate is for IP migration to an IPv6 capable architecture for all communications and data systems by 2008.

In order to meet the net-centric secure voice requirements, the Secure Voice Team is pressing for the following initiatives:

[check] Secure Communication Interoperability Protocol (SCIP, previously known as Future Narrowband Digital Terminal, FNBDT) Voice Gateway compresses voice signals to enable transmission over tactical links. This gateway is crucial to ships underway due to limited bandwidth on the battlefield and aboard ship.

Voice is critical for reach back to headquarters and remote medical and technical expertise--even more critical as manpower is reduced. In addition, the SCIP Voice Gateway will convert traditional telephony voice into IP packets that can be routed by the Advanced Digital Network System from and to the tactical links, maximizing use of available tactical bandwidth rather than requiring dedicated voice links.

[check] Variable Data Rate (VDR) Voice Encoder enables 28 instantaneous data rates (2.4 kbps to 32 kbps) to optimize use of IP bandwidth while maintaining voice quality. It also provides narrowband to wideband interoperability. The dynamic VDR arbitrator enables the VDR voice encoder to set the data rate on the fly based on the network traffic conditions.

[check] Secure Voice Core Technology supports voice encoding, encryption and instantaneous variability (using VDR) over a wide range of data rates, ensuring best voice quality over a challenged network. The encryption will include Type-1 and Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithms.

[check] Universal Voice Terminal (UVT) is a multifunctional, software configurable voice terminal that uses Secure Voice Core Technology. It will interface with VoIP and telephony systems, support new waveforms to meet future requirements, be compatible with existing RF components, and interoperate with legacy equipment via gateways. Land-based UVT can be used as a relay hub for the Personal Secure Telephone to provide worldwide secure voice coverage. The UVT could replace all current tactical secure voice crypto devices, dramatically reducing integrated logistics support, training and maintenance costs.

[check] Personal Secure Telephone (PST) is a small, lightweight, multimedia, rugged, handheld wireless terminal that uses Secure Voice Core Technology. It will provide short-range tactical secure voice communications, interface with the UVT to extend tactical secure voice over the horizon and provide the Global Positioning System (GPS) reporting and targeting. Furthermore, the PST will use access controls, biometrics and a personal identification number (PIN) for authorization and authentication.

An important lesson learned from Operation Iraqi Freedom was that many situations preclude the use of Type-1 devices, and that the Navy required a small, wireless AES device for secure communications. A device supporting both Type-1 and AES encryption can also be used for DoD and homeland defense first-responder personnel.

[check] Tactical Shore Gateway (TSG) is being installed at Naval Computer Telecommunications Area Master Stations to provide wire-line/wireless telephone to tactical radio interoperability.

[check] TSG for VoIP interoperability will combine the TSG and VoIP systems to provide an interface to an external connection that merges legacy secure voice systems, commercial telephony systems and IP networks with a tactical capability for Secure Voice over IP (SVoIP). This effort paves the way for tactical SVoIP capability, the first step toward integrating legacy secure voice systems and modern commercial telephony.

A comprehensive secure voice architecture, well-defined fleet requirements, industry involvement and implementation of the secure voice initiatives are essential to ensure the superiority of secure voice communications. Furthermore, benefits extend beyond the Navy, supporting the joint services and homeland defense missions.

Secure voice technologies will continue to evolve to integrate voice and data within FORCEnet into the GIG. Implementation of the planned architecture described in the Naval Advanced Secure Voice Architecture will extend superior situational awareness, which is heavily dependent on secure voice and data--all the way to the tactical edge.

The PEO C4I &Space, Networks, Information Assurance and Enterprise Services Program Office (PMW 160) provides all common network services and commodities used by multiple programs. PMW 160 consolidates network services in all classified domains to support cross-domain and coalition operations.

For more information about the PEO C4I &Space go to the SPAWAR home page at http://enterprise.spawar.navy.mil/.

Yuh-ling Su is the assistant program manager for the Navy Secure Voice Team (PEO C4I & Space, PMW 160).