U.S. B-2 bombers sent to Korea on rare mission: diplomacy not destruction

By Warren Strobel

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The stealthy, nuclear-capable U.S. B-2 bomber is a veteran of wars in Iraq and Libya, but it isn't usually a tool of Washington's statecraft.

Yet on Thursday, the United States sent a pair of the bat-winged planes on a first-of-its-kind practice run over the skies of South Korea, conducting what U.S. officials say was a diplomatic sortie.

The aim, the officials said, was two-fold: to reassure U.S. allies South Korea and Japan in the face of a string of threats from North Korea, and to nudge Pyongyang back to nuclear talks.

But whether North Korea's young new leader, Kim Jong-un, interprets the message the way the White House hopes is anybody's guess. His first reaction, according to North Korean state media, was to order his country's missiles ready to strike the United States and South Korea.

A senior U.S. official said Kim's late father, Kim Jong-il, was at least more predictable: He would issue threats that got the world's attention without provoking open conflict, and then use them as leverage in subsequent diplomatic negotiations.

This time, U.S. intelligence analysts are divided over whether Kim Jong-un is pursuing the same strategy. "It's a little bit of an 'all bets are off' kind of moment," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity,.

The official said the idea for the practice bombing run, part of annual U.S.-South Korean military exercises named Foal Eagle, emerged from government-wide discussions over how to signal to Seoul and Tokyo that Washington would back them in a crisis.

It is less clear whether Washington informed China, North Korea's neighbor and only major ally, in advance.

The plan was approved by the White House and coordinated with South Korea and Japan, the official said.

REASSURING ALLIES

While the 20-year-old B-2 often flies for long durations - 44 hours is the record - Thursday's flight of approximately 37-1/2 hours was the plane's first non-stop mission to the Korean peninsula and back from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, Air Force officials said.

With Pyongyang threatening missile strikes on the U.S. mainland, as well as U.S. bases in Hawaii and Guam, the flight seemed designed to demonstrate how easy it would be for the United States to strike back at North Korea.

It is far from clear that Pyongyang, which has had mixed success in its missile tests, can make good on its own threats.

"This is useful reminder to the South Koreans that the U.S. nuclear arm can reach out and touch North Korea from anywhere. We don't need to be sitting there at Osan Air Base," south of Seoul, said Ralph Cossa, president of the Hawaii-based Pacific Forum CSIS think tank.

"This also reminds the Chinese that North Korean actions have consequences. It tells them that the U.S. is taking North Korean threats seriously but we're not panicking," he added.

The senior U.S. official said that once the Foal Eagle exercises are concluded, the Obama administration hopes to pivot to a diplomatic approach to North Korea, and hopes Pyongyang will reciprocate.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to travel to East Asia in about two weeks, the first of a parade of senior Washington officials headed toward the region.

45-MINUTE NAPS

Thursday's drill was a rare moment in the limelight for the B-2 "Spirit" bomber, which began life with a slew of cost and development troubles for manufacturer Northrop Grumman Corp but has become a mainstay of U.S. nuclear deterrence.

Long-duration missions, in which the bomber is refueled in midair, are "a challenge on your body and mind, staying sharp," said an Air Force captain and B-2 pilot. Under the service's security rules, the pilot could only be identified by his radio call sign, "Flash."

The captain, who did not participate in Thursday's practice mission over South Korea, said flight doctors have devised special regimens to keep the plane's two-man crew sharp.

They include 45-minute naps, on a cot in the back of the plane, that end a half hour before "critical events" such as in-air refueling or dropping ordnance, he said.

All 20 of the United States' B-2 bombers are based at Whiteman, and they saw combat during the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the NATO mission that led to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's overthrow.

In the 1980s, the Pentagon had planned to buy 132 of the bombers, whose main mission was to penetrate the Soviet Union's airspace undetected. The program was drastically cut back after the Berlin Wall collapsed in 1989.

So elite is the B-2 pilot corps that more people have been in outer space than have flown the aircraft, "Flash" said.

(Reporting by Warren Strobel; Additional reporting by Phil Stewart and Paul Eckert; Editing by Tiffany Wu and Eric Beech)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-b-2-bombers-sent-korea-rare-mission-044010739.html

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Bank of Cyprus big savers to lose up to 60 percent

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) ? Big depositors at Cyprus' largest bank may be forced to accept losses of up to 60 percent, far more than initially estimated under the European rescue package to save the country from bankruptcy, officials said Saturday.

Deposits of more than 100,000 euros ($128,000) at the Bank of Cyprus will lose 37.5 percent in money that will be converted into bank shares, according to a central bank statement. In a second raid on these accounts, depositors also could lose up to 22.5 percent more, depending on what experts determine is needed to prop up the bank's reserves. The experts will have 90 days to figure that out.

The remaining 40 percent of big deposits at the Bank of Cyprus will be "temporarily frozen for liquidity reasons," but continue to accrue existing levels of interest plus another 10 percent, the central bank said.

The savings converted to bank shares would theoretically allow depositors to eventually recover their losses. But the shares now hold little value and it's uncertain when ? if ever ? the shares will regain a value equal to the depositors' losses.

Emergency laws passed last week empower Cypriot authorities to take these actions.

Analysts said Saturday that imposing bigger losses on Bank of Cyprus customers could further squeeze already crippled businesses as Cyprus tries to rebuild its banking sector in exchange for the international rescue package.

Sofronis Clerides, an economics professor at the University of Cyprus, said: "Most of the damage will be done to businesses which had their money in the bank" to pay suppliers and employees. "There's quite a difference between a 30 percent loss and a 60 percent loss." With businesses shrinking, Cyprus could be dragged down into an even deeper recession, he said.

Clerides accused some of the 17 European countries that use the euro of wanting to see the end of Cyprus as an international financial services center and to send the message that European taxpayers will no longer shoulder the burden of bailing out problem banks.

But German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble challenged that notion, insisting in an interview with the Bild daily published Saturday that "Cyprus is and remains a special, isolated case" and doesn't point the way for future European rescue programs.

Europe has demanded that big depositors in Cyprus' two largest banks ? Bank of Cyprus and Laiki Bank ? accept across-the-board losses in order to pay for the nation's 16 billion euro ($20.5 billion) bailout. All deposits of up to 100,000 are safe, meaning that a saver with 500,000 euros in the bank will only suffer losses on the remaining 400,000 euros.

Cypriot officials had previously said that large savers at Laiki ? which will be absorbed in to the Bank of Cyprus ? could lose as much as 80 percent. But they had said large accounts at the Bank of Cyprus would lose only 30 to 40 percent.

Asked about Saturday's announcement, University of Cyprus political scientist Antonis Ellinas predicted that unemployment, currently at 15 percent, will "probably go through the roof" over the next few years.

"It means that (people) ... have to accept a major haircut to their way of life and their standard of living. The social impact is yet to be realized, but they will be enormous in terms of social unrest and radical social phenomenon," Ellinas said.

There's also concern that large depositors ? including many wealthy Russians ? will take their money and run once capital restrictions that Cypriot authorities have imposed on bank transactions to prevent such a possibility are lifted in about a month.

Cyprus agreed on Monday to make bank depositors with accounts over 100,000 euros contribute to the financial rescue in order to secure 10 billion euros ($12.9 billion) in loans from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund. Cyprus needed to scrounge up 5.8 billion euros ($7.4 billion) on its own in order to clinch the larger package, and banks had remained shut for nearly two weeks until politicians hammered out a deal, opening again on Thursday.

But fearing that savers would rush to pull their money out in mass once banks reopened, Cypriot authorities imposed a raft of restrictions, including daily withdrawal limits of 300 euros ($384) for individuals and 5,000 euros for businesses ? the first so-called capital controls that any country has applied in the eurozone's 14-year history.

The rush didn't materialize as Cypriots appeared to take the measures in stride, lining up patiently to do their business and defying dire predictions of scenes of pandemonium.

Under the terms of the bailout deal, the country' second largest bank, Laiki ? which sustained the most damaged from bad Greek debt and loans ? is to be split up, with its nonperforming loans and toxic assets going into a "bad bank." The healthy side will be absorbed into the Bank of Cyprus.

On Saturday, economist Stelios Platis called the rescue plan "completely mistaken" and criticized Cyprus' euro partners for insisting on foisting Laiki's troubles on the Bank of Cyprus.

____

AP business correspondent Geir Moulson in Berlin and APTN reporter Adam Pemble in Nicosia contributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bank-cyprus-big-savers-lose-60-percent-135608668--finance.html

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Taking a Sabbatical from Social Media ? Why it's a Bad Idea - Birds ...

Last week I let out a bit of a rant on social media sabbaticals. You might not have found it funny? you just might have seen yourself in the characters ? maybe you?ve had your own social media sabbatical.

You might have asked yourself, ?Why is Yolanda so mean and angry about social media sabbaticals??

Well to be fair it?s not just social media sabbaticals?

But today I?m just going to talk about social media sabbaticals.

I see these happening all over the Internet. Sabbaticals from a website, from email, from twitter, etc. Here?s why I think it?s ridiculous? because most of the people taking these sabbaticals are online business owners. If you are primarily an online business then you get your customers from online sources.

If you go off-line how are you going to communicate with your customers? How are you going to get new customers? How are you going to engage? If you plan to spend the month going local that?s great but there?s still no reason to ignore your primary source of marketing leverage.

If you are taking a sabbatical because you just ?don?t have the time? well I?m here to tell you this ? get out of business now. If you don?t spend time marketing your business you won?t have a business. The reality is that most of what you should be doing in your business is talking about your business, engaging with potential customers and reaching out to existing customers. Businesses don?t operate in a bubble. If they did we?d never see another television ad for BMW? ever again.

Repetition works, getting your name and face out there works, that?s why it?s done.

If you feel like using social media is too overwhelming then you need to step back and assess.

Here are some questions you should be asking:

• Why isn?t it working for me?
• Why does it feel overwhelming?
• Why does it take so much time?

And be specific and honest.

If you get ?stuck? sitting on Facebook then the problem isn?t Facebook. If you keep checking your RSS feed reader the problem isn?t the feed reader. If you stay on Twitter too long? it?s you not the media.

Now, how do you fix it?

Step one is to figure out the problem through assessment as we covered above.

Step two is to create a process for dealing with issues that come up in your assessment. For instance, if you are spending ?too much time? using social media then, for business purposes, you?re doing it wrong. The right way includes:

• Carving out specific times that you will use the media and stick to those times.
• Setting specific amounts of time to engage with the media. This could be getting on Twitter for 10 minutes two times a day. Or checking Facebook at lunch only.
• Using apps to help you share faster. Buffer is the best thing out there for me. I read something share-worthy and I can instantly add it to Buffer and Buffer does the rest. PostRocket is another great share platform for Facebook.
• Have a system and stick with it. My system involves doing my social media work first thing. As soon as I get to my desk I skim my email. During the evening before while scanning blogs on my iPad I send anything share-worthy to my email so in the morning I can quickly open the links and add them to Buffer, I?m done in less than 10 minutes. I try to share 3-5 items using that method. Then I spend 10 minutes skimming my ?favorites? feed in Tweetdeck, anything shareable I add to Buffer. Then I move to Facebook. I skim down the newsfeed and quickly ?like? things. Share-worthy stuff gets added to Buffer. Then I head over to PostRocket and add something for the day. I generally share only one item on my Facebook page per day. In about 30 minutes I?m done. Then when I have or need a quick 10-minute break during the day, like during lunch, I skim Twitter and Facebook, do some engaging and move on.

The key here is all about how you think about social media. Sure you can spend all day on it but why? If it?s for your business, who has that kind of time? If it?s just because you are avoiding work? then put systems in place to prevent that practice.

There are countless online timers and apps that block sites. If that?s what it?s going to take then do it.

The reality is that willpower is easily enhanced through deliberate practice. First, figure out why you are using the social media platforms you are using. Eliminate the ones that don?t make sense and keep the ones that do.

Beyond that practice makes perfect. Denial by using a sabbatical corrects nothing. When you come back to it you are exactly where you left it. And if you?ve taken more than a week off? you are going to be working twice as hard to re-engage your audience. If that audience is comprised of customers? you?re definitely going to need to step it up to keep them coming back for more.

Ignoring your customers, and that?s what you are doing when you ignore your sources of customer communication, is a recipe for disaster.

Growing your business means taking constant action towards marketing your business. You?ve got to talk to your people.

And that?s why I don?t like social media sabbaticals? but that?s just me.

Source: http://www.birdsontheblog.co.uk/taking-a-sabbatical-from-social-media-why-its-a-bad-idea/

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Judge: Ind. senators can't defend immigration law

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - A federal judge on Friday rebuffed three Indiana lawmakers who asked to defend parts of the state's immigration law in court after the attorney general declined to do so.

U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker, who has barred the 2011 law from taking effect until she can rule on its constitutionality, said allowing the senators to intervene would violate the state Constitution's declaration that the attorney general's office is state government's sole legal representative.

"Allowing the three individual legislators to intervene here in their official capacities as State Senators not only would conflict with this well-settled state law, but would provide the legislators a trump card with respect to the Attorney General's statutorily derived discretion in this context," Barker wrote.

Republican Senators Mike Delph, Brent Steele and Phil Boots ? who authored the immigration law ? had asked Barker to let them defend parts of the law Attorney General Greg Zoeller would not.

Zoeller's office has said it would recommend Barker strike down most of the portions of Indiana's law that would allow police to make warrantless arrests based on certain common immigration documents. The office said last year's U .S. Supreme Court decision striking down similar sections of an Arizona law rendered those parts of Indiana's law invalid. However, the office said it would defend a provision allowing for local police to arrest immigrants for whom federal authorities have issued a 48-hour detention order.

The senators, who are represented by lawyers from the Immigration Reform Law Institute in Washington, had argued the warrantless arrest provisions in Indiana's and Arizona's laws are "vastly different," and that Indiana's law is consistent with the Supreme Court's decision. They also argued they have a right to intervene as defendants because the law won't be allowed to take effect if it isn't defended, which they say effectively robs them of the votes they made in the Legislature.

"I take my responsibility to defend the statutes the Legislature passes from legal challenge as an important role of the office I hold. The court recognized that the Office of the Attorney General has faithfully defended all provisions of this statute until the U.S. Supreme Court last June said that state-level warrantless arrest laws are preempted as unconstitutional," Zoeller said in a statement Friday. "We are pleased that Judge Barker's ruling has underscored and reiterated the responsibility of my office to defend state statutes as is our solemn obligation."

The three senators did not immediately return phone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment. A Reform Law Institute spokeswoman said the attorney who represented the senators was unavailable to comment.

Source: http://www.wlfi.com/dpp/news/judge-ind-senators-cant-defend-immigration-law

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BlackBerry makes makes $94 million on revenue of $2.7 billion, ships 1 million BB10 devices in 2013 Q4

This isn't quite the BlackBerry earnings story you're waiting for -- after all, the US figures covering the success (or otherwise) of the Z10 won't arrive until the next quarter. Instead, we're looking at the company's results from the end of the financial year to March 2nd, which show that BlackBerry made $94 million in GAAP income on revenues of $2.7 billion -- in contrast to the $125 million net loss it made in the same quarter last year. More importantly, it shipped out almost one million BlackBerry 10 devices during the three weeks of the quarter that they were available. In addition, it managed to push five million of its older smartphones and 370,000 PlayBook tablets out of the door, but saw user numbers fall from 79 million last quarter to 76 million now.

It's important to notice that as revenues have remained relatively flat, the surge in profits is more than likely down to Thorsten Heins' cost-cutting measures, with the CEO remarking that "We have implemented numerous changes at BlackBerry over the past year and those changes have resulted in the Company returning to profitability in the fourth quarter."

At the same time, the company let slip that Mike Lazaridis will retire from his position as vice-chair and director of the company he helped found the better part of three decades ago. He'll exit the business on May 1st so that he can concentrate on his new enterprise, Quantum Valley Investments.

Developing...

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Blackberry

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Amazon to buy Goodreads for undisclosed sum

NEW YORK (AP) ? Amazon, the world's biggest online retailer that got its start in bookselling, is agreeing to buy book recommendations site Goodreads.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Amazon said Thursday that it "shares a passion for reinventing reading," with Goodreads.

In addition to recommending books to read based on what other books people have liked, Goodreads also serves as a social network for bookworms. It has 16 million members.

The deal is expected to close in the second quarter. Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. says Goodreads headquarters will remain in San Francisco.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/amazon-buy-goodreads-undisclosed-sum-211250545.html

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Salt Sugar Fat

Michael Moss explores how food companies market the title ingredients to the American public.

March 28, 2013

Salt Sugar Fat By Michael Moss Random House 480 pp.

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Reviewed by Barbara Spindel for Barnes & Noble Review

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The demise ? at least for now ? of New York mayor Michael Bloomberg's large-soda ban captures the dilemmas involved in addressing our nation's obesity crisis. The measure, which was struck down by a state judge just as Michael Moss's Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us was published, would have prohibited the sale of sugary drinks in containers larger than sixteen ounces at restaurants, theaters, and stadiums. Bloomberg defended the ban, which was passed by the city's Board of Health, by arguing that soda and other sugary drinks are a leading cause of obesity. Meanwhile, beverage industry groups accused the government of trampling on consumers' rights, a view apparently shared by the slight majority of New Yorkers who, according to polls, oppose any limits on their prodigious soda habits. The judge, in blocking the measure, called it "arbitrary and capricious."

I wonder whether the judge might have been tempted to rule differently had he read "Salt Sugar Fat" first. (One of Moss's chapters covers soda, and it's framed by the remarkable story of Jeffrey Dunn, a former higher-up at Coca-Cola who is now "doing penance" by marketing baby carrots to kids.) The author's meticulous examination of the processed food industry is alarming, and it could have the potential to be galvanizing were there any clear way out of our salty, sugary, fatty mess. It's dispiriting to finish the book feeling that solutions are elusive, but Moss, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for The New York Times, does an excellent job of explaining how unhealthy processed food, originally "imagined as occasional fare," came to completely dominate the American diet.

Our family structures have changed, of course, with more women working outside of the home, more single-parent households, and, as a result, less time for home cooking. In the 1970s, market researchers began to find that for consumers, convenience was key, and executives at some of the food companies Moss spoke to still rationalize that they are giving the people what they want: inexpensive, easy sustenance. What's problematic is how dependent that sustenance is on the ingredients of Moss's title, from sugary breakfast cereals to Oscar Meyer's meat- and cheese-based Lunchables to frozen microwavable Hot Pockets, which contain more than 100 ingredients and close to a day's recommended limits of saturated fat and salt. Indeed, as the processed food industry has expanded, salt, sugar, and fat have become its three pillars, cheap components that serve many other functions beyond the obvious ones: adding bulk to food, stimulating overeating, and covering up the tastes of chemical additives, to name a few.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/fcmOSxCTDRg/Salt-Sugar-Fat

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