Verizon strike enters second week

The first week of a strike at Verizon ended Friday with thousands of employees walking picket lines at facilities in the northeastern United States.

Officials with the Communication Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers say the telecommunications company is demanding concessions that would cost their members as much as $20,000 a year, The New York Times reported. Verizon says that figure is "bogus."

Verizon wants employees to contribute more for health insurance coverage, although the company and union disagree on how much money is involved. The company also wants to freeze pensions, reduce the number of sick days and completely do away with contractual job security provisions.

"We see this as a definite attack on the middle class, and there's no justification for it from a company that's so profitable," Pam Galpern, a field technician in New York, told the Times.

The strike by 45,000 employees began last Sunday. The two sides have spent little time talking to each other.

Marine to receive Medal off Honor

A former corporal is to be the first living Marine to receive the Medal of Honor for actions in Afghanistan or Iraq, the White House announced.

Dakota Meyer, now a sergeant in the inactive ready reserve, is to receive the highest U.S. military honor from President Barack Obama at a White House ceremony Sept. 15, the press officer announced Friday. Meyer was nominated for the honor after he retrieved the bodies of three Marines killed by insurgents in Kunar province Sept. 9, 2009.

Meyer was born in Columbia, Ky., and enlisted in the Marines after graduating from Green County High School in 2006. He was deployed to Iraq in 2007 and to Afghanistan in 2009 and completed his active duty service in 2010.

Too many women get HPV tests, study says

Doctors are testing women for human papillomavirus, or HPV, more often than guidelines recommend, suggests a new study.

Not only is that a waste of money, researchers say, it also means that women who test positive may be getting extra treatment that won't necessarily help them, but comes with a risk of complications and side effects.

Doctors use the HPV test in addition to Pap smears to screen women for signs of cervical cancer. But researchers say that in young women, a positive test gives doctors very little information, since HPV is common in women in their 20's and probably won't lead to cancer.

Still, "there's a much greater emphasis on avoiding a single cancer versus literally thousands of women being over-screened and over-treated," said Philip Castle, an HPV expert at the American Society for Clinical Pathology in Chicago, Illinois, who wrote a commentary on the new study in Obstetrics & Gynecology.

There are about 40 different kinds of sexually transmitted HPV, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- and at least half of sexually active people will get HPV at some point. The virus can't be cured, but often goes away on its own without treatment.

Some types of HPV have been linked to cervical cancer in women, whereas other types cause genital warts.

HPV tests, which start at about $30 but can cost much more, look for HPV in cells taken from a swab of the cervix.

For the current study, Dr. Mona Saraiya of the CDC and her colleagues analyzed data from a national survey of doctors and clinics that used Pap tests. In total, 376 individual doctors and another 216 outpatient clinics responded to survey questions about whether and how they performed HPV testing.

Three-quarters of doctors and clinics had ordered an HPV test at least once. Of those, more than half said they used HPV testing regularly alongside Pap smears in women less than 30 years old -- a use not recommended by the American Cancer Society and other organizations.

The majority also reported using HPV tests as a follow-up to a questionable Pap smear when the tests may not have helped doctors with much more information.

Finally, almost one-third of doctors and clinics who did HPV testing used two different kinds of HPV tests, the so called "high-risk" and "low-risk" HPV tests, even though the low-risk test tells doctors nothing about cervical cancer, researchers said, because it screens for the types of HPV that don't cause cancer.

Doctors may be confused about which tests to order if they aren't keeping up with current evidence, Castle told Reuters Health. "The low-risk test really has no business being on the market at all," he added.

And with regard to testing in women less than 30, "cancer is really rare in that group," Castle said. Routine HPV testing at that age, he said, could lead to biopsies and cancer treatments that aren't really necessary -- along with a lot of stress and worry.

"There's a lot of HPV and very little disease" in women in their 20s, he said. "And the disease that's found there is generally about 10 to 15 years away from becoming invasive. There's no good justification for using" the HPV test routinely.

Castle said the findings are particularly troubling given how clear the guidelines are regarding use of the HPV test, and how united experts are about which instances call for the test and which don't.

"It's quite clear that HPV testing can be used in a very beneficial way," he said, including for routine cancer screening in older women and to clarify some types of "equivocal" Pap smears. "But misuses of it just have no place in medical practice," he said.

Saraiya said that women can do their homework -- including on the CDC website, http://www.cdc.gov/cancer -- and be aware of when they should or shouldn't get an HPV test and discuss that with their doctors.

"Doctors are all over the map right now in terms of the recommendations," she told Reuters Health.

Some questions women might want to consider and ask their physicians, Saraiya said, include: "What is the test they're going to be giving to me for screening? Is it a Pap test, an HPV test, or both?"

And for young women: "I've heard I do not need an HPV test for screening under age 30 -- why are you giving it to me?"

"The whole field of HPV and cervical cancer is a fast-changing field. For a clinician to be keeping up with the literature, especially outside of the OB/GYN field, is quite difficult," she said.

"A well informed patient does go a long way."

X-rays provide nano views

A new lens-less microscope that harnesses X-rays is able to see details at the scale of a single nanometer and could help usher in an era of smaller computer hard disks that hold more memory, researchers report in a new study.

The technique is also scalable, and as X-ray sources are improved, the technique should allow researchers to resolve down to the subatomic scale, Oleg Shpyrko, an assistant professor of physics at the University of California at San Diego, told me today.

The X-ray microscope uses a computer algorithm to generate the images. It does this by converting the diffraction patterns produced by the X-rays bouncing off the nanoscale structures into resolvable images.

While various other microscopes, such as atomic force microscopes, can see at the nanoscale, they are only able to see through thin samples. "The advantage of X-rays is they can see through materials," Shpyrko said.

The technique, for the first time, also allows scientists to see magnetic structure at the nanoscale level without the aid of a lens. This is important because it enables researchers to more easily manipulate the sample being studied, he noted.

The computer algorithm that serves as the lens is similar to the technology that sharpened the Hubble Space Telescope's initially blurred images before its mirrors were repaired in space. A similar concept is employed by astronomers who use adaptive optics to remove distortion from their images.

To test the microscope, Shpryko and colleagues made a layered film composed of the magnetic elements gadolinium and iron that are being considered for the development of higher capacity, smaller, and faster computer memory and disk drives.

When combined, these materials self assemble into a series of magnetic stripes that look akin to the repeating swirls of the ridges in fingerprints. Being able to see these patterns will enable researchers to make and see smaller and smaller fingerprint patterns, known as magnetic domains, which will allow more data to be stored in a smaller space within a material, according to the researchers.

"We want to be able to make materials in a controlled fashion to build magnetic devices for data storage or, in biology or chemistry, to be able to manipulate matter at nanoscale," Shpryko said in a news release. "And in order to do that, we have to be able to see at the nanoscale. This technique allows you to do that."

Currently, the technology is "still somewhat a conceptual proof of principle," Shpryko told me, but given advances in technology, he can envision a future when the microscope technique finds uses in chemistry and biology, for example imaging cells and viruses with a spatial resolution higher than that available with visible light.

Teen charged for inciting riots using BlackBerry

An 18-year-old girl has been charged for using her BlackBerry smartphone to intentionally encourage rioting in the United Kingdom. Yes, her case specifically lists the BlackBerry Messenger service as the tool used to incite the criminal behavior.

According to The Telegraph, the girl sent a message to her friends encouraging them to "copy [the] scenes of violence and looting that were spreading across England." Thanks to the Serious Crime Act 2007, this move left her vulnerable to criminal prosecution.

While the girl's case is one of the first to specifically cite the BlackBerry Messenger service, it is certainly not the only one. A 27-year-old man is also facing similar charges.

It's worth noting that these charges are being announced after Research In Motion, the maker of BlackBerry technology, vowed to cooperate with authorities — who blame the BlackBerry Messenger service for enabling rioters to quickly and easily organize themselves.

Use your real name on Google+ or get minused fast

OK, Google's done foolin' around with you folks who don't want to use your real name on Google+. From here on out, if Google learns the name you're using is not your real name, you've got four days to make amends. After that — you're kicked off of Google+. That's how the hottest new social networking site rolls.

A not-very-happy looking Saurabh Sharma, product manager on the Google+ team, made the announcement late Thursday in a video shared on YouTube (above) and on Google+. He must have sensed how well this was going to go over with users.

It was presented as an "update to how we handle potential violations of our common name policy."

One of the things we strive for on Google+ is to make connecting with people on the web more like connecting with people in the real world. So as part of this effort, we’ve asked that those signing up for the service use the name they commonly go by in the real world.

In the past, when we found a profile that was not in line with our Names Policy ... we used to suspend the profile and then let the user appeal.

No more appeals. Effective immediately, "if we find that your profile name does not adhere to our policy, we’ll give you a 4-day grace period to fix your profile name before we take further action." Taking action means your account gets dumped. But you will be allowed to "take all your content with you, even after your profile is suspended. Visit Google Takeout for more details."

Angry comments poured in in response o Sharma's posting and on YouTube (which Google also owns):

"I will be removing Google+ from my online activities. There are many reasons for the use of pseudonyms, including personal safety. For years, we have instructed children and others to not use their "real names" online for privacy and safety concerns. Now Google, in its INFINITE UNwisdom decrees that only "real names" will be used," said "gwyddonaid" on YouTube. "Goodbye, Google. So much for 'do no evil.' "

Emilio Osorio wrote: "What about the necessity of those involved in risky political environments and the use of Google+ as a reach out medium? How's google+ going to handle those real needs of the rest of us that are living in unsecure places (like Mexico)? Or google+ just needs to be considered as a "linkedin/facebook" thing with only rosy politically correct content?"

And said another: "No. I'll gladly give you my real name, you can keep it, give it to advertisers, I really don't care, that's OK with me, its part of the service and I understand that, but, I will not have my display name as my 'real' legal name, I just simply don't use that name with people, I don't use it on the web, its not me, I don't like it, I won't do it."

HP cuts tablet price in bid to challenge iPad

US technology giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) on Thursday cut the price of its freshly-launched TouchPad tablet computers in a bid to gain traction in a market dominated by Apple's iPad.

TouchPads with 16 gigabytes of memory were offered on the HP website for $400 and models with 32 gigabytes were available for $500 in what amounted to lopping $100 off the original prices.

"HP continually evaluates pricing for its products and is pleased to permanently extend its back-to-school promotion on the HP TouchPad," a company spokesman said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.

TouchPads made their US debut in early July as HP took on iPad and Android devices in the fast-growing tablet market, and are sold by major US retailers such as Best Buy and Walmart as well as on Amazon.com.

Unlike the iPad, the TouchPad supports Adobe's Flash video format. It runs the webOS operating system, developed by Palm, the mobile-device pioneer that HP acquired last year for $1.2 billion.

The TouchPad debuted to mixed reviews, suggesting it will face an uphill climb against the iPad and other devices.

Apple touts having sold 25 million iPads since releasing the first version of the device in April 2010. It released its next-generation iPad 2 in March.

Besides the iPad, the market for tablet computers now includes the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the BlackBerry PlayBook, the Motorola Xoom and dozens of devices running Google's Android operating system.

HP's stock has slumped since the beginning of the year amid investor concerns that the Palo Alto, California-based company is being overtaken by younger, nimbler rivals such as Apple and Dell.

Inventive Metals clads your iPhone in aluminum

There might be plans on the drawing board—somewhere—for phone cases that deploy airbags in the event a phone goes into freefall, but the rest of us tend to need more practical solutions that are available today. Although there’s no lack of iPhone cases on the market, Inventive Metals has a new twist on the idea with its new line of iPhone cases that are constructed from solid aluminum. The cases provide access to all ports and controls, and Inventive Metals says they do not interfere with reception.

“Aluminum cases provide the iPhone with a great deal of drop protection,” said Inventive Metals product manager Ron Benditt. “Most of our competitors who have tried this really haven’t put enough engineering into the signal-loss problem. We’ve studied this extensively and have tested and refined many prototypes before we were satisfied that our cases would out-perform our competitors and provide a good user-experience to our customers.”

The cases are available for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3G/3GS in six different powder-coated finishes: black chrome, silver vein, rust, gold rush, neon pink, and wilder red. While in the case, users have full access to the phone’s touch screen, along with the headphone jack, and dock connector—and the cameras, mic, and speaker get their own ports too. Customers will need to engage in a little assembly (“Enclosing a phone in metal is a challenging endeavor,” noted Benditt), but the cases come with a torx wrench for fitting the four recessed screws.

The cases are available now from Inventive Metals for $69.

Will Apple Launch Next iPhone September 7?

When most companies hold a product launch event it's almost impossible to avoid hearing about it months in advance -- and nearly as impossible to care. When Apple holds an event nobody knows what's going to happen -- and everybody cares. The latest rumor: Apple will hold a product launch event September 7 to unveil its next iPhone.

One possibility: a stripped down iPhone that relies on Apple's new iCloud Internet-based services for much of its storage, blogger Trevor Sheridan asserts, citing unnamed sources. Getting rid of much of the phone's flash memory could help bring down the costs of building an iPhone enough that carriers could offer them for free with a two-year contract. Interesting theory.

New York City schools to make sex education mandatory

New York City public schools will teach mandatory sex education classes to all middle- and high school students, part of a citywide initiative to help reduce teenage pregnancies, officials said on Wednesday.

The required classes, the first mandated sex education in nearly two decades, will be taught to children as young as 11 years old and tackle such topics as the proper use of condoms and ways to resist unwelcome sexual advances.

Public schools will be required to teach a semester of sex education to sixth or seventh grade classes and again to ninth and tenth graders, Chancellor Dennis Walcott said in a letter announcing the plans.

The move is part of an effort by the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg to improve the lives of black and Latino students who are disproportionately undereducated and unemployed, and far more likely to have unplanned pregnancies, according to city officials.

Research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has shown that 41 percent of New York City youth said they were sexually active by 9th grade and 58 percent by 12th grade.

"We must be committed to ensuring that both middle school and high school students are exposed to this valuable information so they can learn to keep themselves safe before, and when, they decide to have sex," Walcott said.

Opposition from conservative groups and some school board members defeated a city mandate approved in the 1980s for a sex-education curriculum.

Separately, in 1987, New York state mandated an HIV/AIDS curriculum in every school from kindergarten through 12th grade which is still in effect.

New York state also requires middle and high school students take one semester of health education classes. But some schools do not include sex education in health classes.

"While many of our schools have already voluntarily taken steps to include sex education in their curriculum, some have not, leaving us with an uneven system that I believe does not serve our students well," Walcott said.

Walcott said parents can choose to take their children out of classes on birth-control methods if they want.

The New York Civil Liberties Union praised the plans, saying in a statement: "There is a consensus among public health experts and the public that age-appropriate, medically accurate comprehensive sex education is essential for providing teens with the tools to become healthy adults."

Judge weighs request to block Ind. voucher program

Students who have signed up for Indiana's broad new school voucher program could be jerked out of private schools midsemester or forced to scramble to re-enroll in public school unless it's allowed to proceed pending the outcome of a legal challenge, state officials argued Thursday.

Marion Superior Court Judge Michael Keele said he would rule early next week on a request from a group of teachers and religious leaders backed by the Indiana State Teachers Association to issue a preliminary injunction keeping the law from taking effect.

The program, which allows even middle-class parents to use taxpayer money to send their children to private secular and religious schools, violates the state constitution because it provides public money to schools whose main purpose is to promote religion, John West, an attorney for the group suing to stop the program, argued in Marion Superior Court.

"What we're talking about here finally is a program that provides state funds to send children to religious schools," West said.

Solicitor General Tom Fisher argued that the voucher system is legal because the state isn't directly funding parochial schools directly. Instead, it gives scholarship vouchers to parents, who can choose which school to use them at.

He likened a parent using vouchers to send children to religious schools to a state employee donating part of his paycheck to a church. Any benefit to religious institutions from vouchers was merely incidental, Fisher said.

West disagreed, saying that vouchers helped religious schools recruit new students — and potentially new members — they otherwise wouldn't have reached.

After listening to two hours of arguments, Judge Michael Keele said he will rule early next week on whether to grant an injunction halting the program until the lawsuit is resolved.

About 2,800 Indiana students have been approved for the state-funded scholarships, and Attorney General Greg Zoeller said more than 150 of them used the vouchers to enroll in private schools that started this week.

"Any injunction would be extremely disruptive to their education while this litigation is pending," Zoeller said.

Teresa Meredith, a Shelbyville teacher and teachers union vice president who is the main plaintiff, said any disruption should be minimal if the judge rules early next week before most school systems have resumed classes.

The voucher program takes a portion of the money that would have gone to a public school system and converts it into a scholarship for use at a private secular or religious school approved by the state. The plaintiffs, who are backed by the Indiana State Teachers Association, say 90 percent of the roughly 250 eligible schools are religious.

Unlike other systems that are limited to lower-income households, children with special needs or those in failing schools, Indiana's voucher program is open to a much larger pool of students, including those already in excellent schools. Families have to meet certain income limits to qualify, with families of four making up to about $60,000 a year getting some type of scholarship.

The U.S. Supreme Court has given its backing to voucher programs, ruling they don't violate the Constitution. But West pointed out that courts in several states have overturned voucher laws on the grounds that they went further toward supporting religious institutions than their state constitutions allowed.

Bert Gall, an attorney with the libertarian Institute for Justice who is representing two families who want to use the Indiana's new vouchers, argued that courts in Ohio and Wisconsin have upheld their state voucher laws, and that their laws regarding the matter are similar to Indiana's.

Gall said after the hearing that if the preliminary injunction is granted, it would mean hardship for families whose children had already used vouchers to enroll in private school.

"You're literally yanking people out of their seat at private school because of the preliminary injunction," he said.

One of the parents Gall is representing, Heather Coffy, said she joined the suit because her children attend parochial school and that without the vouchers, it would require at least half of her income to send her children to the schools she's chosen

Monica Poindexter, who also joined the suit, said her 5-year-old son is in his second year at Holy Angels Catholic School and her 12-year-old daughter is starting junior high at Cardinal Ritter High School.

While a scholarship helped her pay part of the tuition last year, her daughter is now in junior high and the cost is going up, she said.

"Without a voucher, I don't foresee how I could do this too much longer," she said.

Woods heads home after missing cut in Atlanta

Once identified by either his No. 1 ranking or his 14 majors, Woods missed the cut Friday at Atlanta Athletic Club with a performance that was even more shocking because of the numbers he compiled.

He hit into 22 bunkers. He put four balls in the water. His five double bogeys were the most he ever made in one tournament.

With one final bogey for a 3-over 73, Woods finished out of the top 100 for the first time ever in a major. He was 15 shots behind Jason Dufner, who has never won a PGA Tour event, and Keegan Bradley, playing in his first major.

"I got some time off again," said Woods, who doesn't expect to tee it up again until the Australian Open in November.

Based on the last two days, he has a lot of work to do.

Dufner, who hasn't made a cut since the last week in May, holed a 25-foot eagle putt on the fifth hole and threw in five birdies for a 5-under 65 that put him atop the leaderboard for the first time in a major. Bradley, a tour rookie and the nephew of LPGA great Pat Bradley, did even better with a bogey-free round of 64.

They played a game with which Woods is no longer familiar.

Even as Steve Stricker followed up his record-tying 63 with a 74, and as Rory McIlroy made it through another round with a heavily taped right wrist, Woods captivated the crowd on another steamy day in Atlanta.

There were times the fans wanted to cover their eyes.

Woods blasted out of a bunker and went into the pond on the other side of the green for a double bogey. On his next hole, he hooked his drive into the trees, chipped out sideways, then hit a snap-hook back into the trees for another double bogey.

At least he went out in style — one more bunker off the tee at No. 18, one more shot into the pond fronting the green.

He was angry Thursday when he opened with a 77. He looked numb when he left.

"Obviously frustration, disappointment that I'm not contending in the tournament," Woods said.

Now the only question is when — and where — he will play next.

Woods failed to qualifying for the FedEx Cup playoffs, which he has won two of the last four years, meaning he is ineligible for any PGA Tour event for the next six weeks. The next tournament on his schedule is the Australian Open, starting Nov. 10, although he would not rule out playing somewhere — perhaps a Fall Series event — before then.

Meantime, it's back to practice.

"Now I'll have nothing to do but work on my game," he said. "That's going to be good."

It was only the seventh time he has failed to qualify for the weekend in 227 tournaments worldwide, and the third time in a major. He completed only one major this year, a tie for fourth at the Masters.

Woods left behind a championship that has 16 players under par, all of them separated by only four shots, even if the mainstream sporting audience might not be familiar with the some of the names.

Bradley, who won the Byron Nelson Championship in May and contended last week at Firestone, and Dufner were at 5-under 135. They will be in the final group, playing behind D.A. Points (67) and John Senden (68), who were in the group one shot behind.

"These guys are all great players," Bradley said. "It's not like they just kind of stumbled up there. They've been out here a long time. Probably tomorrow ... it will be a little more relaxing than if I was playing with Tiger or Phil, but they're great players, and I'm sure they're good guys."

Phil Mickelson, who finished one shot behind on this course 10 years ago, was moving closer to the lead until he dumped his approach on the 18th hole into the water and took double bogey for a 70. He was still only six shots behind.

The leaderboard is not devoid of experience.

Jim Furyk, the 2003 U.S. Open champion having his worst season since he was a rookie, emerged from his slump with a 65 and was in the group at 4-under 136 that included Scott Verplank, a former U.S. Amateur champion.

Verplank has been coping with wrist and elbow injuries longer than he cares to remember, but he's always been a good putter and that carried him to the outright lead for much of the afternoon. He couldn't cope with bunkers and rough along the back nine, though he left the course in good spirits after laying up on the 18th and scratching out a par.

Another shot back was Stricker, who was 11 shots worse than his record-tying start, but still in the mix.

Stricker opened this major by going 20 straight holes without a bogey until he started missing putts on the edge of the cup. He still was in good shape, tied for the lead, until dropping two more shots at the end of his round, including a shot into the water on the 18th for bogey. He had a 74 and was in the group at 3-under 137.

"I was on the other end of the spectrum today where it was tough going all the way around," he said. "But if we would have shot 2 under yesterday and 1 under today, we'd be feeling pretty good. The way we got there wasn't ideal, but we're still in there, only a couple back, and anything could happen on the weekend."

Woods is gone, but his ex-caddie will have a late tee time. Adam Scott, who hired Steve Williams for his bag, made a strong move into contention until a blunder on the last hole. Trying to lay up with a punch shot under the trees, it came out too hot and went into the front of the water. Scott finished with a double bogey for a 69 and was still only three shots behind.

Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, Nos. 1 and 2 in the world and both trying to win their first major, are still very much in the picture. Westwood quietly pieced together a 69 and was at 1-under 139, while Donald shot 71 and was only six shots out of the lead.

"I thought at the start of the week, 6 under was going to win the tournament," Westwood said. "It may still do. I'm sort of cruising into position."

McIlroy still thinks he has a chance, too.

It was big news when the U.S. Open champion showed up on the range about 30 minutes before his tee time, his right wrist taped from his decision — a bad one, he conceded — to hit a 7-iron through a tree root on Thursday. McIlroy only strained a tendon — tests did not reveal even a partial tear — and the 22-year-old from Northern Ireland did not want to stop playing the final major.

His wrist looked fine. His putting was another story.

McIlroy three-putted three times on his way to a 73, the most untimely of those coming on the par-3 17th after he hit into the water. That gave him a triple bogey and killed his momentum, but not his optimism.

"If I don't think I could contend, I probably wouldn't be playing," he said.

Woods isn't the only one headed home early. Defending champion Martin Kaymer was among three players from the top 10 in the world to miss the cut — the others were Jason Day and Dustin Johnson.

But even after being gone for three months until last week at Firestone, and expectations lower than they have ever been for Woods in a major, no one expected this.

In his 13 previous appearances in this major, Woods made only 11 double bogeys in 936 holes. He made five double bogeys in the opening 30 holes at Atlanta Athletic Club.

Barring another start, he will have finished only 22 rounds of stroke play on the PGA Tour this year.

Noted law enforcer Bratton to advise UK

Former New York Police Commissioner William Bratton will advise the British government on gangs in the wake of rioting in London, Prime Minister David Cameron's office said Friday.

Downing Street said in a statement that Cameron had spoken with Bratton earlier in the day and thanked him for agreeing to make himself available for a series of meetings in the U.K. this fall to share his expertise tackling gang violence.

Bratton "will be providing this advice in a personal capacity and on an unpaid basis," it added.

Bratton told The Associated Press on Friday evening, however, that he's giving a free consultation that he hopes will turn into a paid contract.

Cameron told British lawmakers earlier this week that he would welcome Bratton's input following a flurry of criticism over police response to rioting in London.

Bratton — who gained fame by fighting crime with innovation and bravado as he headed police departments in New York, Boston and Los Angeles — confirmed to the AP in a phone interview that Cameron had called him Friday seeking his expertise.

"We can definitely take some of the lessons here and apply them there," Bratton said. During his conversation with Cameron, Bratton said, "he thanked me for my willingness to work for them, and I thanked him for the opportunity."

Bratton — who is now a prominent security consultant — said that disturbing scenes of police overwhelmed by rioting in London show a need for more minority officers and other long-term solutions that have worked in New York and other U.S. cities,.

"This is a prime minister who has a clear idea of what he wants to do," Bratton said. "He sees this crisis as a way to bring change. The police force there can be a catalyst for that. I'm very optimistic."

Bratton, 63, left the Los Angeles police in 2009 and is now chairman of Kroll, a Manhattan-based private security firm.

More than 1,700 people have been arrested after a week of violence in London and other British cities after a protest demanding justice over a fatal police shooting under disputed circumstances devolved into a riot.

Hundreds of stores were looted, buildings were set ablaze and five people died amid the mayhem that broke out Saturday in London and spread over four nights across England.

Police have been outmaneuvered by mobile gangs of rioters, and the unrest has stirred fears of heightened racial tensions.

Bratton said he believes British police need to focus on quelling racial tensions by collaborating more with community leaders and civil rights groups. He also said social media sites can be a useful tool for law enforcement trying to monitor gang activities.

"The idea is to get ahead of the violence rather than just react to it," he said.

Another part of the potential long-term solution for London's Metropolitan Police, widely known as Scotland Yard, is to become more racially diverse, Bratton said.

"Part of the issue going forward is how to make policing more attractive to a changing population," he said.

Los Angeles and New York have benefited from police forces that "reflect the ethnic makeup of the cities," he said.

Over the past two decades, Bratton has gained a reputation as a bold leader who refocused police departments in cities struggling with spikes in gang and other violence.

When Bratton stepped in as Boston's police commissioner in 1991, the city was still being rocked by the violence that gripped many U.S. cities in the late 1980s as potent and addictive crack cocaine flooded urban neighborhoods. The ensuing gang turf wars forced a dramatic spike in the city's murder rate, hitting a high of 153 people in 1990.

One of the steps Bratton took to curb the violence was to deliver a list of about 400 of the city's gang and drug kingpins to then-Mayor Raymond Flynn, who had appointed him police chief.

Flynn said Bratton wanted direct indictments for as many as possible, sweeping some of the city's most violent criminals off the street for up to a decade.

"That's what he was good at; he was able to get those ringleaders off the streets," Flynn said.

Throughout the decade, Boston's murder rate steadily fell to 35 in 1998. Soon top political figures, including former President Bill Clinton, hailed the "Boston Miracle" with a good portion of the credit going to Bratton.

Although the city's murder rate has fluctuated since then, local leaders credit the legacy of community policing with helping keep the city relatively safe.

"When police are out in the neighborhood on an ongoing basis, there's a trust relationship that's built up," said Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, whose district includes Jamaica Plain, one of the city's most racially and ethnically diverse neighborhoods. "It's a strong model."

In 1993, then-New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani recruited Bratton to help him pursue his administration's law-and-order agenda.

Bratton soon won admirers on Wall Street by applying corporate management techniques to big-city policing: A new set of chiefs "re-engineered" the department to track lesser crimes by computer and thwart them before they evolved into anything worse.

In his first two years with the New York Police Department, reports of serious crime dropped 27 percent, matching levels not seen since the 1960s. Homicides alone fell nearly 40 percent.

But Bratton resigned in 1996 amid persistent rumors that Giuliani was fed up with all the media attention the commissioner was getting.

In Los Angeles, Bratton again displayed a politician's deft touch with the city's diverse communities while showing his formula for knocking down crime rates was portable: When Bratton left the West Coast in 2009 after seven years on the job, crime in the nation's second-largest city had dropped to levels not seen since the 1950s.

He became chief of the Los Angeles Police Department in 2002, when the agency was struggling to recover from a corruption scandal, under federal oversight and saddled with a tarnished image from the 1991 videotaped attack on Rodney King, a black motorist whose beating by four white police officers led to a riot after the officers were acquitted in a criminal trial.

Bratton left widely credited with ushering in an era of safer streets and improved relations between police and the people they protect.

Civil rights attorney Connie Rice says she considers Bratton a transformative figure in the history of the LAPD.

"He has a racial-justice vision that is married to effective law enforcement," Rice said. "He knows how to carry out both."

US ports spend big on post-9/11 security

About $2.5 billion in federal grants paying for 10 years of security upgrades have made a huge difference at America's seaports in the decade since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The Port of Savannah, Ga., is the fourth-busiest container port in the U.S. Every day tractor trailers haul more than 4,000 cargo containers through radiation detectors. Similar scanners are installed at ports from coast-to-coast to look for nuclear bombs hidden in shipments.

Georgia's port security chief Kevin Doyle says before 9/11 there were wasn't even a complete fence surrounding Savannah's main terminal.

Susan Monteverde of the American Association of Port Authorities warns Congress could make deep cuts to port security grants in the 2012 budget.

Amazing Black Wallpapers

funny pictures queen elizabeth

funny pictures queen elizabeth

Animals funny pictures

Animals can be so cute and funny. Here’s one collection of funny animal pictures and photos. Enjoy!

Jean-Paul Gaultier to launch lingerie line

Jean-Paul Gaultier is launching a lingerie line. The French designer - famed for developing Madonna's Conical bra for her 1990 Blonde Ambition Tour - has developed a "provocative" lingerie collection Italian brand La Perla.

He told Wedding Style magazine the collaboration "was bound to happen", adding: "Lingerie is part of my DNA: I have always used it in my collections. With La Perla, I have found a perfect partner."

The designer added the collection will continue to enforce his strong view of female empowerment. He added: "I would like to give women freedom to be who they are. I personally think women are the stronger sex; that they are more intelligent and much stronger than us men, and I always wanted to show a strong woman who seduces because she wants to."

Jean-Paul also recently opened retrospective of his work at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in Canada, where he admitted he made his first designs of his iconic bra for his stuffed toys. He said: "I made my first cone-shaped bra out of newsprint for my teddy bear Nana. I was always alone, doing my own story. It was my world, one in which I was very happy, dressing my teddy bear."

Jean-Paul's underwear collection will be sold at La Perla and Jean-Paul Gaultier boutiques across the world

Kim Kardashian releasing wedding perfume

Kim Kardashian is releasing a limited-edition of her perfume to coincide with her wedding.

The reality TV star is set to wed basketball star Kris Humphries later this month so has decided to create Love by Kim Kardashian to celebrate the upcoming nuptials.

Only 1,000 bottles have been produced and Kim has already taken one so she can wear it on her big day and she also gave an additional 200 bottles to friends and family at her recent bridal shower. Speaking about the romantic scent, Kim said: "I used to think falling in love was the most incredible feeling, but now I see there's nothing more special than the enduring beauty of building a life with your other half and watching your love grow, each and every day."

Following the release of her debut self-titled perfume, Kim said she wanted the fragrance to remind her of success and bring back memories of working hard with her sisters, Kourtney and Khloe. She said: "I collect fragrances so when I smell one that I haven't worn in years it'll bring me right back to that time. This will remind me of success, working really hard and also my sisters. We were all together so much when I was making the fragrance that it reminds me of my TV show."

Magazine admits it did alter picture of Duchess

The fashion magazine Grazia has admitted that it did indeed alter a picture of the former Kate Middleton on her wedding day to make her look slimmer.

In its 9 May edition, the weekly magazine showed the Duchess of Cambridge standing alone and appearing almost impossibly thin.

The magazine, owned by Bauer media, said it doctored the original image of William and Kate leaving Westminster Abbey after their wedding ceremony.

First Prince William was removed from the photo and then Kate's right arm was reattached by using a mirror image of her left, to give the impression she was posing on her own. But the editing process also sizeably reduced her already svelte waistline.

After investigating a complaint, the Press Complaints Commission said: "The magazine explained how the image had been altered to remove the arm of Prince William so that the Duchess could be featured on the cover alone. This involved mirroring one of the Duchess's arms and an inadvertent result of the change was the slimming of her waist."

Grazia said it had wanted "a great image of the Duchess on her own, but all the photographs had the Duke in too... so we asked our reproduction house to remove him from the picture (common practice among glossy magazines). This would have left the Duchess with only one arm, so they copied over her arm to complete the picture."

Grazia said it "would like to reassure all our readers that we did not purposely make any alternation to the Duchess of Cambridge's image to make her appear slimmer and we are sorry if this process gave that impression".

The statement added: "Grazia takes the issue of women's body image very seriously and we would never 'slim down' a picture of a female role model."

The airbrushing of the Duchess comes after L'Oréal was last month forced to pull adverts for foundation creams featuring Pretty Woman star Julia Roberts and supermodel Christy Turlington after admitting the images had been digitally retouched.

Magazine admits it did alter picture of Duchess

The fashion magazine Grazia has admitted that it did indeed alter a picture of the former Kate Middleton on her wedding day to make her look slimmer.

In its 9 May edition, the weekly magazine showed the Duchess of Cambridge standing alone and appearing almost impossibly thin.

The magazine, owned by Bauer media, said it doctored the original image of William and Kate leaving Westminster Abbey after their wedding ceremony.

First Prince William was removed from the photo and then Kate's right arm was reattached by using a mirror image of her left, to give the impression she was posing on her own. But the editing process also sizeably reduced her already svelte waistline.

After investigating a complaint, the Press Complaints Commission said: "The magazine explained how the image had been altered to remove the arm of Prince William so that the Duchess could be featured on the cover alone. This involved mirroring one of the Duchess's arms and an inadvertent result of the change was the slimming of her waist."

Grazia said it had wanted "a great image of the Duchess on her own, but all the photographs had the Duke in too... so we asked our reproduction house to remove him from the picture (common practice among glossy magazines). This would have left the Duchess with only one arm, so they copied over her arm to complete the picture."

Grazia said it "would like to reassure all our readers that we did not purposely make any alternation to the Duchess of Cambridge's image to make her appear slimmer and we are sorry if this process gave that impression".

The statement added: "Grazia takes the issue of women's body image very seriously and we would never 'slim down' a picture of a female role model."

The airbrushing of the Duchess comes after L'Oréal was last month forced to pull adverts for foundation creams featuring Pretty Woman star Julia Roberts and supermodel Christy Turlington after admitting the images had been digitally retouched.

Co-sleeping Safety Products for Your Baby

Co-sleeping refers to the practice of sharing the bed with your baby while sleeping. Though quite controversial in the Western culture, it is a norm in most countries around the world. This practice was widespread till the last century, but with the advent of the crib, and the notion that kids should sleep independently in a room of their own, co-sleeping took a backseat. A lot of parents and even medical professionals are not comfortable with the idea of co-sleeping, but this concept is slowly changing, with parents opting to co-sleep with their infant. There are various safety products for the baby available nowadays, which facilitate co-sleeping. Let us take a look at some of them.



Co-sleeping Safety Products for Your Baby



Bassinets

Bassinets, with barriers on three sides, and the fourth side open, which can be attached to the parent's bed facilitate co-sleeping. This is ideal since the baby is right next to you, but in a separate little bed for itself. One of the best and most popular bassinet of this sort is the 'Arm's Reach Co-sleeper'. It comes in many sizes, and you can pick one depending on your choice, and the size of your room and bed. The 'Arm's Reach Original' can even hold twins, and can store toys and also convert to a stand-alone bassinet. The 'Arm's Reach Mini' and 'Arm's Reach Euro-Mini' are smaller versions, and suitable for a smaller bedroom. The 'Arm's Reach Clear-Vue' bassinet is unique in a way that it allows you to see your baby at all times. The 'Arm's Reach Sleigh Bed' is another bassinet you can use. Made from wood, it is very sturdy, and is more suitable for beds with heights of 18-24 inches.



Bed Top Infant Enclosures

These co-sleeping products can be placed directly on your bed, and are equipped with side barriers, which ensure the baby does not roll off into the adult bed. Parents who want to co-sleep with the baby in their bed can try the 'First Years Close and Secure Sleeper', which can be secured to the adult bed with a flap. It is portable and can be easily folded.



Another bed top product is the 'Baby Delight Snuggle Nest'. It's suitable for premature babies as well. It has sturdy barriers, which prevent adult bedding from disturbing your baby's sleep. Another infant enclosure available is the 'Summer Infant Rest Assured Sleeper'. It has mesh barriers, which allow for better air circulation and parents to view their sleeping infant at all times.



Bolsters

The 'Humanity Family Bed Co-sleeper' from Bean Products is a large bolster that can be placed on to the bed, and along with promoting co-sleeping, prevents babies from rolling off on to the floor. Being heavy, it's better than the regular pillows, as it does not shift or move around on the bed.



Advantages of Co-sleeping

• Co-sleeping gives working mothers extra time with their babies, fostering the mother-child bonding. It also allows mothers to attend to their babies' needs quickly. Mothers do not need to get up and fetch the baby for night-time feedings, which saves time and breastfeeding can go on for longer duration. This helps to synchronize the mother and baby's sleep cycle.
• Babies nestled close to their mothers fall asleep faster, stay asleep for longer duration and get more sleep, which in turn means that the parents also get more hours of uninterrupted sleep.
• Co-sleeping advocates believe that babies who co-slept had higher self-esteem, and were more confident. They also say that parents used to co-sleeping are so aware of the baby's presence next to them in the bed, that they will not roll over or hurt the baby in any way.

Disadvantages of Co-sleeping

• If you are not used to co-sleeping with your baby, it will be some time before you can adjust to a squirming, kicking, and crying infant sharing your bed.
• Once the baby gets used to co-sleeping, transitioning him or her to the crib can be a lengthy process.
• Some parents feel co-sleeping can affect their love life. Having a sleeping baby between you and your partner is not the perfect idea of romance!

Safety Concerns Associated with Co-sleeping

• When you co-sleep, sleep facing the baby. Chances of the baby falling down are thus, greatly reduced.
• Never co-sleep with pets or toddlers.
• Parents who smoke, or are under the influence of drugs and heavy medications, or are heavy drinkers should never co-sleep with their infant.
• Never use a couch or a water bed when co-sleeping. Use a firm mattress.
• Covering the baby with heavy blankets can lead to overheating. Use lightweight, fleece blankets or soft sheets, which are enough to keep the baby warm and cozy.

Co-sleeping is purely a personal choice. Do not get influenced by what other people have to say in this regard. Keep yours and your infant's needs in mind when deciding whether to co-sleep or not. What bedtime arrangements work best for you is something you have to work on. Weigh the personal benefits against the safety issues, and then make up your mind.

Bathing Your Baby Safely and Easily

Baby bath time brings fun for both the baby and the mother. It brings you closer to your baby, and produces warmth, skin to skin contact and joy. The baby loves to be in the bathtub and play with water. But, being in the water for very long time can be harmful for the baby's health. Therefore, as a mother or even a father sometimes, one has to be careful while bathing the little one. Some of you might feel that it is easy to bathe your baby but, let me tell you that it is not that easy as the behavior of the baby at the time of bathing is unpredictable. He/she becomes excited and can go out of your control leading to severe consequences. Even the accidents occurring in the bathroom because of electricity, slipperiness, etc., are common and should be taken into consideration. To make you aware and guide you in bathing your baby properly and safely, there are some tips in the following paragraph.



Tips for Bathing a Newborn Baby



The most difficult task is to bathe a newborn as the skin is soapy and slippery and there is no head control achieved yet by the baby. Follow the tips listed below to make the bathing easy and safe.

• Decide the number of baths you want to give the baby in a week and also the time of the bath. Plan it in the morning because, warm water will relax the baby and make him/her sleepy. Newborns are supposed to sleep for maximum hours in a day. Generally, it is recommended that bathing a newborn once or twice in a week is more than enough. Between the baths, you can just wipe the body with warm water once in a day and clean the genitals at regular intervals.
• The time chosen should be such that there are no interruptions in between the bath like doorbells or phone calls. I know, it is difficult to find lots of free time but, you can consider the frequency of the interruptions and plan accordingly.
• Make the arrangement of the bathtub and other required materials like soap, oil, warm water, towel, etc., beforehand. Clumsiness at the time of bathing might result in an accident.
• The bathtub must be suitable for the size of the baby. It should have a rubber mat at the bottom to avoid slipperiness.
• Bring the baby to the bathroom after everything is ready and remove the clothes in the bathroom. Remember, the baby needs as much warmth as he/she had in the womb because the newborn takes time to adjust to the temperature outside the womb.
• Hence, the temperature of the bathroom should be around 75ºF and the bathwater should have a temperature of around 90 to 100ºF.
• It is advisable to be with the baby in the tub, if it is a bigger size tub, to give the baby a cozy and comfort feel like the womb and prevent the baby from crying. You can hold him/her to your chest with one hand and wash the body slowly with the other.
• If the above guideline cannot be followed, don't worry. You can still give your baby a proper bath. When the bathtub is ready with water, check the temperature of the water by putting your finger into it. Otherwise it can cause burns to the child. Slide the baby inside the tub carefully and hold your hand under the baby's neck.
• Make sure that the level of the water is not more than 2-3 inches, which means it should reach only till the baby's belly.
• Apply unperfumed soap on the baby's body except the face as it might go into his/her eyes and cause irritation. It is convenient to use disposable washcloths instead of soaps and shampoos as they are chemical free. You can wipe the face just once, at the end of the bath.
• Cover the baby with a towel immediately after the bath to keep the warmth intact.
• It is always better to take help from someone else for initial bathing sessions as it will be convenient and less stressful.

Tips for Bathing Toddlers and Older Kids



To give a bath to a toddler or even a kid older than that, is much easier than bathing a newborn only when you have control over the child. These children love to stay in the tub for hours. Hence, only a few general tips to follow while bathing toddlers and other children, are coming your way.

• The water temperature matters here as well because, the requirement of hot water of a newborn and a toddler are different.
• You should be careful with the time span of the bath.
• Make your child sit in the tub and not stand, to prevent falling. You can also sit inside and keep the child on your stretched legs.
• Do not allow the kid to play in the soap water for long as it can cause rashes and skin irritation. It can also affect the genital organ severely. You can allow the child to play in the plain water for some time and then make it soapy.
• In case of a rebellious child, keep talking to him/her to give comfort and make the bath longer and enjoyable.
• Arrange some bright colored toys to engage the child to clean him/her with some ease.
• Never keep the child unwatched in the bathtub.

Once you give bath to your baby a couple a times, your fear will be over and you will not need a maid for bathing your baby. I hope, I was able to make you realize the satisfaction that you get by bathing your child. Follow the above guidelines and make the bath time enjoyable for the baby and memorable for yourself.

Android tablets have eroded 20 pct of iPad share

For most of the last year, the mobile industry has been forecasting an “iPad-killer”—a media tablet that would be able to confront and defeat Apple’s now-iconic iPad tablet in the marketplace on the basis of features and/or price. According to a new report from ABI Research, Android-based media tablets managed to capture some 20 percent of the iPad’s dominant market share in the last 12 months…but the iPad-killer is nowhere to be found, with no single device or vendor mounting a significant challenge.

“Many vendors have introduced media tablets, but none are separating themselves from the pack to pose a serious threat to Apple,” said ABI Research mobile devices group director Jeff Orr, in a statement. “In fact, most have introduced products at prices higher than similarly-configured iPads.”

ABI cites fragmentation as one of the main factors hindering the development of an Android media tablet industry. Three different iterations of the Android platform are deployed on media tablets at the moment (there’s a fourth on the way), making it difficult for developers and device makers to choose a target platform. ABI also notes the benefits of a supposedly-open software platform have yet to give Android a significant edge in tablets.

“De-featured, low-cost media tablets are being introduced by more than fifty vendors in 2011,” Orr noted. “This will certainly help bolster year-over-year growth for the category, but it also creates a negative perception in the minds of the mass consumer audience about the readiness of media tablets to be fully functional within the next several years.”

Acer Iconia Tab A100: 7 inches and Android 3.2 Honeycomb

Computer gear maker Acer is expanding its Iconia line of Android tablets with the new Iconia Tab A100, a half-inch thick, 7-inch touchscreen device running Android 3.2 Honeycomb. Acer is betting the 7-inch form factor will be a hit with consumers, families, and moms (who get mentioned no fewer than seven times in Acer’s official press release): the Iconia Tab A100 is big enough for video and doing actual work, but small enough to use comfortably with one hand.

“The Acer Iconia Tab A100 tablet delivers the ultimate combination of portability and performance for fun and gaming as well as staying in touch,” said Acer America’s VP of marketing Sumit Agnihotry, in a statement. “Families are spending more time social networking and enjoying Web-based digital media, so a highly portable tablet like the Acer A100 will let them get more done and stay connected on-the-go to enjoy their lives more fully.”

The Iconia A100 Tab features a 7-inch touchscreen display with a 1,024 by 600 resolution and is powered by a 1 GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor and Nvidia GeForce graphics. The tablets sport 1 GB of RAM, a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera with autofocus and single LED flash (it can handle 720p video capture), along with a front-facing 2 megapixel camera for video chat. Also on board the A100: microSD card removable storage supporting up to 32 GB cards, a microUSB 2.0 port, a micro-HDMI output for pushing video and media to an HDTV, a 3.5mm combination mic/headphone jack and a docking station port, and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. The Iconia Tab A100s will be available with either 8 or 16 GB of onboard flash storage, and sport 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi connectivity—Acer hasn’t announced any plans for a 3G or 4G option, so Wi-Fi may be as it gets.

Of course, hardware is only part of the story: the Iconia Tab A100 also supports Acer’s clear.fi media sharing technology that enables the tablet to hook in with any other DLNA-enabled device, including Acer’s own clear.fi enabled smartphones, notebooks, and media players. Acer says the tablets should get about five hours of use on a single battery charge—although we’re betting extensive use of the included Adobe Flash 10.3 player might bring that down a bit. The tablets also feature Acer’s Social Jogger, which offers a unified interface for Twitter and Facebook.

The Iconia Tab A100 is available today in the U.S., with the 8 GB edition going for a suggested price of $329.99 and the 16 GB version bumping up to $349.99. Acer also plans to offer a Walmart-exclusive version, and expects the A100 will be available in Canada in September.