Healthier schools: Goodbye candy and greasy snacks


WASHINGTON (AP) — Goodbye candy bars and sugary cookies. Hello baked chips and diet sodas.


The government for the first time is proposing broad new standards to make sure all foods sold in schools are more healthful, a change that would ban the sale of almost all candy, high-calorie sports drinks and greasy foods on campus.


Under new rules the Department of Agriculture proposed Friday, school vending machines would start selling water, lower-calorie sports drinks, diet sodas and baked chips instead. Lunchrooms that now sell fatty "a la carte" items like mozzarella sticks and nachos would have to switch to healthier pizzas, low-fat hamburgers, fruit cups and yogurt.


The rules, required under a child nutrition law passed by Congress in 2010, are part of the government's effort to combat childhood obesity. While many schools already have made improvements in their lunch menus and vending machine choices, others still are selling high-fat, high-calorie foods.


Under the proposal, the Agriculture Department would set fat, calorie, sugar and sodium limits on almost all foods sold in schools. Current standards already regulate the nutritional content of school breakfasts and lunches that are subsidized by the federal government, but most lunch rooms also have "a la carte" lines that sell other foods. And food sold through vending machines and in other ways outside the lunchroom has not been federally regulated.


"Parents and teachers work hard to instill healthy eating habits in our kids, and these efforts should be supported when kids walk through the schoolhouse door," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.


Most snacks sold in school would have to have less than 200 calories. Elementary and middle schools could sell only water, low-fat milk or 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice. High schools could sell some sports drinks, diet sodas and iced teas, but the calories would be limited. Drinks would be limited to 12-ounce portions in middle schools, and 8-ounce portions in elementary schools.


The standards will cover vending machines, the "a la carte" lunch lines, snack bars and any other foods regularly sold around school. They would not apply to in-school fundraisers or bake sales, though states have the power to regulate them. The new guidelines also would not apply to after-school concessions at school games or theater events, goodies brought from home for classroom celebrations, or anything students bring for their own personal consumption.


The new rules are the latest in a long list of changes designed to make foods served in schools more healthful and accessible. Nutritional guidelines for the subsidized lunches were revised last year and put in place last fall. The 2010 child nutrition law also provided more money for schools to serve free and reduced-cost lunches and required more meals to be served to hungry kids.


Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat, has been working for two decades to take junk foods out of schools. He calls the availability of unhealthful foods around campus a "loophole" that undermines the taxpayer money that helps pay for the healthier subsidized lunches.


"USDA's proposed nutrition standards are a critical step in closing that loophole and in ensuring that our schools are places that nurture not just the minds of American children but their bodies as well," Harkin said.


Last year's rules faced criticism from some conservatives, including some Republicans in Congress, who said the government shouldn't be telling kids what to eat. Mindful of that backlash, the Agriculture Department exempted in-school fundraisers from federal regulation and proposed different options for some parts of the rule, including the calorie limits for drinks in high schools, which would be limited to either 60 calories or 75 calories in a 12-ounce portion.


The department also has shown a willingness to work with schools to resolve complaints that some new requirements are hard to meet. Last year, for example, the government relaxed some limits on meats and grains in subsidized lunches after school nutritionists said they weren't working.


Schools, the food industry, interest groups and other critics or supporters of the new proposal will have 60 days to comment and suggest changes. A final rule could be in place as soon as the 2014 school year.


Margo Wootan, a nutrition lobbyist for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, says surveys done by her organization show that most parents want changes in the lunchroom.


"Parents aren't going to have to worry that kids are using their lunch money to buy candy bars and a Gatorade instead of a healthy school lunch," she said.


The food industry has been onboard with many of the changes, and several companies worked with Congress on the child nutrition law two years ago. Major beverage companies have already agreed to take the most caloric sodas out of schools. But those same companies, including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, also sell many of the non-soda options, like sports drinks, and have lobbied to keep them in vending machines.


A spokeswoman for the American Beverage Association, which represents the soda companies, says they already have greatly reduced the number of calories kids are consuming at school by pulling out the high-calorie sodas.


___


Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick


Read More..

AME church denies minister's plea









The judicial body of the African Methodist Episcopal church has denied the petition of the Rev. John J. Hunter, former leader of First AME in Los Angeles, to return to the helm of the storied black church.


Hunter, who was abruptly moved from First AME in October, challenged his reassignment to Bethel AME in San Francisco after that congregation rejected him. He maintains that his rights as a minister were violated, saying Bishop Larry T. Kirkland moved him to a smaller church without the proper 90-day notice and without reason.


The church's governing book states that a "new appointment, when available, shall be comparable to or better than the previous one." First AME has a congregation of 19,000; Bethel AME's members number 650.





The nine-person council — the denomination's equivalent of the Supreme Court — ruled Thursday that Hunter skipped steps in the judicial process by petitioning them first. They denied his appeal based on grounds that Hunter did not follow the proper chain of command.


The ruling left the door open for Hunter to pursue further action in his bid to be reinstated at the church he pastored for eight years.


"The judicial council, further, holds that it lacks jurisdiction, since the matter lacks ripeness for disposition before this body," the ruling stated.


Hunter was advised to file a formal complaint against the bishop and follow the lengthy "judicial machinery," which is similar to the U.S. court system.


Hunter's spokeswoman, Jasmyne Cannick, said he plans to exhaust his options.


"Reverend John Hunter intends to continue to vigorously pursue the matter," Cannick said in a statement.


The church has sued Hunter, his wife, and some church leaders, alleging financial mismanagement. Hunter, meanwhile, has sued Bethel AME, alleging assault and emotional distress after church leaders physically blocked him from taking the pulpit last fall. The judicial body admonished Bethel last month for congregants' actions.


At First AME, some parishioners have expressed relief over the petition denial. Archie Shackles, a church board member, said he hoped the ruling would provide closure. "He had eight years . . . and all his ministry did was brought a lot of controversy to the church."


During his tenure, Hunter faced a federal tax probe and a sexual harassment lawsuit and admitted to questionable use of $122,000 in church credit cards.


angel.jennings@latimes.com





Read More..

IHT Rendezvous: IHT Quick Read: Feb. 1

NEWS After nearly 10 months of occupation by Islamists fighters, many of them linked with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the people of Timbuktu, Mali, recounted how they survived the upending of their tranquil lives. Lydia Polgreen reports from Timbuktu, Mali.

Israel has pursued a creeping annexation of the Palestinian territories through the creation of Jewish settlements and committed multiple violations of international law, possibly including war crimes, a United Nations panel said Thursday, calling for an immediate halt to all settlement activity and the withdrawal of all settlers. Nick Cumming-Bruce reported from Geneva, and Isabel Kershner from Jerusalem.

Just as Spain’s financial troubles seemed to be diminishing, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has become engulfed in a widening corruption scandal involving payments to the leaders of his Popular Party. Raphael Minder reports from Madrid.

One day after The New York Times reported that Chinese hackers had infiltrated its computers and stolen passwords for its employees, The Wall Street Journal announced that it too had been hacked. Nicole Perlroth reports.

European antitrust officials on Thursday accused the drug giants Johnson & Johnson and Novartis of colluding to delay the availability of a less expensive generic version of a powerful medication often used to ease severe pain in cancer patients. James Kanter reports from Brussels and Katie Thomas from New York.

Across Asia and the Middle East, musicians from the Philippines are seemingly ubiquitous in bars, lounges and clubs. But they are also helping to bolster the Philippine economy. Floyd Whaley reports from Manila.

Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest lender, reported a surprise quarterly net loss of $3 billion on Thursday, as new management tallied the cost of past mistakes and tried to draw a line under the bank’s troubled past. Jack Ewing reports from Frankfurt.

Some see the central coastline of Vietnam becoming a world-class beachfront destination along the lines of Phuket and Bali, though regulations for acquisition of property by foreigners remain murky. Mike Ives reports from Da Nang, Vietnam.

ARTS World records were set for some Old Masters on Wednesday. Souren Melikian reports from New York.

SPORTS Almost six years after departing mainstream soccer to pitch camp close to Hollywood, David Beckham will join Paris Saint-Germain. Rob Hughes reports.

For rugby players from Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England, playing well in the Six Nations tournament will be the best way to ensure selection for the famed British and Irish Lions team later this year. Emma Stoney reports from Wellington.

Read More..

BlackBerry World is off to a decent start, but it’s missing some big-name apps






When BlackBerry (RIMM) announced that more than 70,000 BlackBerry 10 applications would be available when its new platform launched, users were ecstatic. That big number was too good to be true, unfortunately, as we and many others noticed in our time spent with the BlackBerry Z10. While the app store includes some big names such as Rovio’s Angry Birds and various titles from Electronic Arts (EA) and Gameloft, it still leaves much to be desired. The company is said to be “in talks” to bring popular apps such as Netflix (NFLX) and Instagram to the platform but nothing is certain. Despite all of this, BlackBerry has announced that more than 1,000 of the top app developers are developing for BlackBerry 10.


“Being able to announce 1000 of the top app partners is a testament to the strength of BlackBerry 10, the ease of developing for this powerful new platform, and the remarkable opportunity that it represents for developers and brands alike,” said Martyn Mallick, BlackBerry’s VP of global alliances and business development. “We have focused on bringing the most relevant apps to BlackBerry 10 – whether they are global leaders in their categories, or whether they are regional must-have apps. We are thrilled and want to thank all the developers that have shown such strong support of a platform before it has commercially launched. We share in their excitement and belief in BlackBerry 10.”






Some of the big-name apps that aren’t available on BlackBerry 10 include YouTube, Pandora, Spotify, Hulu and perhaps most importantly, Google Maps.


BlackBerry’s press release follows below.



BlackBerry 10 Customers Will Have a Great Selection of Top Apps in Every Category
BlackBerry welcomes more than 1000 of the top app partners with relevant, local content from every region of the globe


WATERLOO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – Jan. 31, 2013) – A phenomenal lineup of top brands and applications have committed to the BlackBerry(R) 10 platform, giving the new platform the strongest content offering of any first generation mobile platform at launch. Yesterday at the BlackBerry 10 launch event in New York, BlackBerry(R) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) announced that 1,000 of the top app partners will be making their applications available on the BlackBerry(R) World(TM) storefront. The partners range from leaders in social media to the top games, sports, productivity, lifestyle apps, and more.


BlackBerry Vice President of Global Alliances and Business Development, Martyn Mallick took to the stage yesterday to showcase some of applications committed to BlackBerry 10, and attendees were able to play with some of the applications for the new platform.


“Being able to announce 1000 of the top app partners is a testament to the strength of BlackBerry 10, the ease of developing for this powerful new platform, and the remarkable opportunity that it represents for developers and brands alike,” said Mallick. “We have focused on bringing the most relevant apps to BlackBerry 10 – whether they are global leaders in their categories, or whether they are regional must-have apps. We are thrilled and want to thank all the developers that have shown such strong support of a platform before it has commercially launched. We share in their excitement and belief in BlackBerry 10.”


Here are just some of the apps and games committed to BlackBerry 10. Many of these apps will be available at launch with others to follow:


Business and Productivity
– Bloomberg, BMC Service Desk & Remedy, Box, Cisco WebEx Meetings, Citrix Podio, CNBC, Dictionary.com, Emirates NBD, Harmon.ie, IBM Notes, Traveler, ING DIRECT Canada, Nat West, RBC, RBS, SAP, TD Bank Group and Thomson Reuters


Gaming
- 10tons: Sparkle, Joining Hands, Azkend, King Oddball, Azkend2, Ironworm, Dragon Portal and Boom Brigade 2
- Disney Mobile Games: Where’s My Water? and Where’s My Perry?
– Electronic Arts: A great selection of their top games including, Mass Effect(TM) Infiltrator, Flight Control Rocket, The Sims(TM) FreePlay and MONOPOLY Millionaire
– Fishlabs: Galaxy on Fire
– Funkoi: Alpha Zero
– Gameloft: A great selection of their top games, including Asphalt 7:Heat, The Amazing Spider-Man(TM), Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour, The Dark Knight Rises(TM)
– Halfbrick: Jetpack Joyride, Fruit Ninja
– JoyBits: Doodle God & Doodle Devil
– Rovio: Angry Birds Classic, Angry Birds Star Wars, Angry Bids Space and Angry Birds Seasons
– Square One Games: Square One and InXile
– SEGA: Sonic4(TM) Episode 1
– ZeptoLab- Cut the Rope, Cut the Rope: Experiments
Lifestyle
– AccuWeather, Air Canada, Air France, DStv Mobile, Dr. Oetker Rezeptideen, Easyjet, FlightAware, Flixster, KLM, Manulife Financial, President’s Choice Recipe Box, SkyScanner, Spotcast, StubHub, The Weather Channel, The Weather Network, Tim Hortons TimmyMe(TM), United Airlines, Wikitude, WisePilot, Yellow Pages Group and Zara


Multimedia
– Absolute Radio, Al Jazeera, Allocine, Astral Radio, BBC Worldwide- Top Gear, BubblePix, Channel 4, Corus Entertainment- Radio, Deezer, E! Online, eMusic, Europe 1, Kiss Kube, MTV Italia, Nobex Radio, NOS, N-TV Nachrichten, Occipital 360 Panorama, OxygenLive, Pacemaker, PaperCamera, Rdio, Shahid.net, SiriusXM, Slacker, Songza, SoundHound, TuneIn, and Volu.me
Published Media
– AFP News, Amazon Kindle, CBC (News, Radio, Music, Hockey Night in Canada), Economist, elmundo.es, El Pais, Grazia Italy, Handlesbaltt, kicker, Leo Dictionary, MailOnline, Maxim, News24, New York Times, NU.nl, PressReader, The Globe and Mail, The Guardian, The Independent, The London Evening Standard, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and Wirtschaftswoche
Social
– Badoo, Facebook, Foursquare, LinkedIn, ooVoo, Skype, Tuenti Social Messenger, Twitter, Viber, Whatsapp and Xing
Sports
CBSSports.com, ESPN ScoreCenter, Goal.com, L’equipe, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment’s Maple Leafs Mobile App and Raptors Mobile App, MLB.com At Bat(R), NHL GameCenter, PGA Tour, Runtastic, Sports Tracker and UFC


Continuing to build out a rich and robust content offering for BlackBerry 10 customers, on January 28, BlackBerry announced content partnerships with leading music labels, movie studios and TV broadcasters making BlackBerry World a one stop shop for all app, games and multimedia content for BlackBerry 10.



Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News




Read More..

Steven Tyler Auditions in Drag for American Idol






American Idol










01/31/2013 at 10:35 PM EST







Steven Tyler sings before the AFC Championship NFL football game, Jan, 22, 2012


Elise Amendola/AP


Former judge Steven Tyler made a surprise cameo on American Idol Thursday night – dressed as a woman. Calling himself Pepper LaBeija after the famous drag queen featured in the 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning, Tyler wore a blonde wig, snakeskin miniskirt and fake breasts that honked when squeezed. (There will be no "Dude Looks Like a Lady" jokes because, frankly, he didn't.) Looking eerily like Joan Rivers, Tyler blew kisses at the camera and reduced judge Keith Urban to hysterical laughter.

But Tyler's appearance was actually not the most over-the-top performance on Thursday's show. That distinction belonged to Zoanette Johnson, a 19-year-old Tulsa resident who performed an overblown version of "The Star Spangled Banner." It was unclear whether her audition, which featured exaggerated gestures throughout, was elaborate performance art or an authentic effort at singing. The judges looked ambivalent, too, but then unanimously (though reluctantly?) voted for her to advance to the Hollywood round.

Other odd auditions included Halie Hillburn a 26-year-old singing ventriloquist with a puppet named Oscar. He was either a bear or a dog. Whatever he was, the judges told her to lose Oscar and showcase her strong voice instead. Karl Skinner from Joplin, Mo., performed a fitful version of James Brown's "I Feel Good." His voice was pleasant, but he may be a contestant better in small doses.

There was none of the earlier drama between the judges during the show. Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj no longer interact, not even to roll their eyes when the other one speaks. It doesn't feel like polite indifference – it feels like a calculated decision to ignore each other. Either way, their lack of drama has allowed for sweeter moments to shine through.

For example: Sign language teacher Nate Tao, who was raised by deaf parents, performed a version of Stevie Wonder's "For Once in My Life" that impressed he judges. "You're unassuming," said Randy Jackson before the panel unanimously put him through. "You looked like you were going to do my taxes."

The last contestant of the night was Kayden Stephenson, a 16-year-old battling cystic fibrosis. Looking years younger than his age – with looks reminiscent of a young Aaron Carter – he performed a nice version of Stevie Wonder's "I Wish." Minaj compared him to a "baby Michael [Jackson]," which may have been an overstatement.

In total, 45 singers from the Oklahoma auditions advanced to the next round. We only got to see five of them – which means there are surely some surprises in store when the show heads to Hollywood next week.

Read More..

Hedgehog Alert! Prickly pets can carry salmonella


NEW YORK (AP) — Add those cute little hedgehogs to the list of pets that can make you sick.


In the last year, 20 people were infected by a rare but dangerous form of salmonella bacteria, and one person died in January. The illnesses were linked to contact with hedgehogs kept as pets, according to a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


Health officials on Thursday say such cases seem to be increasing.


The CDC recommends thoroughly washing your hands after handling hedgehogs and cleaning pet cages and other equipment outside.


Other pets that carry the salmonella bug are frogs, toads, turtles, snakes, lizards, chicks and ducklings.


Seven of the hedgehog illnesses were in Washington state, including the death — an elderly man from Spokane County who died in January. The other cases were in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Oregon.


In years past, only one or two illnesses from this salmonella strain have been reported annually, but the numbers rose to 14 in 2011, 18 last year, and two so far this year.


Children younger than five and the elderly are considered at highest risk for severe illness, CDC officials said.


Hedgehogs are small, insect-eating mammals with a coat of stiff quills. In nature, they sometimes live under hedges and defend themselves by rolling up into a spiky ball.


The critters linked to recent illnesses were purchased from various breeders, many of them licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, CDC officials said. Hedgehogs are native to Western Europe, New Zealand and some other parts of the world, but are bred in the United States.


___


Online:


CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr


Read More..

Cardinal Mahony relieved of duties over handling of abuse









In a move unprecedented in the American Catholic Church, Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez announced Thursday that he had relieved his predecessor, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, of all public duties over his mishandling of clergy sex abuse of children decades ago.


Gomez also said that Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Curry, who worked with Mahony to conceal abusers from police in the 1980s, had resigned his post as a regional bishop in Santa Barbara.


The announcement came as the church posted on its website tens of thousands of pages of previously secret personnel files for 122 priests accused of molesting children.





"I find these files to be brutal and painful reading. The behavior described in these files is terribly sad and evil," Gomez wrote in a letter addressed to "My brothers and sisters in Christ."


The release of the records and the rebuke of the two central figures in L.A.'s molestation scandal signaled a clear desire by Gomez to define the sexual abuse crisis as a problem of a different era — and a different archbishop.


"I cannot undo the failings of the past that we find in these pages. Reading these files, reflecting on the wounds that were caused has been the saddest experience I've had since becoming your Archbishop in 2011," Gomez wrote.


The public censure of Mahony, whose quarter-century at the helm of America's largest archdiocese made him one of the most powerful men in the Catholic Church, was unparalleled, experts said.


"This is very unusual and shows really how seriously they're taking this. To tell a cardinal he can't do confirmations, can't do things in public, that's extraordinary," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest and Georgetown University fellow.


An archdiocese spokesman, Tod Tamberg, said that beyond canceling his confirmation schedule, Mahony's day-to-day life as a retired priest would be largely unchanged. He resides at a North Hollywood parish, and Tamberg said he would remain a "priest in good standing." He can continue to celebrate Mass and will be eligible to vote for pope until he turns 80 two years from now, Tamberg said.


The move further stained the legacy of Mahony, a tireless advocate for Latinos and undocumented immigrants whose reputation has been marred over the last decade by revelations about his treatment of sex abuse allegations.


Before Gomez's announcement, Mahony had weathered three grand jury investigations and numerous calls for his resignation. He stayed in office until the Vatican's mandatory retirement age of 75. No criminal charges have been filed against Mahony or anyone in the church hierarchy.


Terrence McKiernan, president of bishopaccountability.org, said that in a religious institution that values saving face and protecting its own, Gomez's decision to publicly criticize an elder statesman of the church and his top aide was striking.


"Even when Cardinal [Bernard] Law was removed in Boston, which was arguably for the same offenses, this kind of gesture was not made," he said.


Law left office in 2002 amid mounting outrage over his transfer of pedophile priests from parish to parish, but the church presented his departure as of his own accord and he was later given a highly coveted Vatican job in Rome.


Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien of Phoenix relinquished some of his authority in a deal with prosecutors to avoid criminal charges for his handling of abuse cases, but he kept his title and many of his duties. A Kansas City bishop convicted last year of failing to report child abuse retained his position.


The Rev. Thomas Doyle, a canon lawyer and Dominican priest who has testified across the nation as an expert witness in clergy sex abuse cases, said the Vatican would have "absolutely" been consulted on a decision of this magnitude.


"This is momentous, there is no question," he said. "For something like this to happen to a cardinal.... The way they treat cardinals is as if they're one step below God."


Gomez's decision capped a two-week period in which the publication of 25-year-old files fueled a new round of condemnation of the L.A. archdiocese. The files of 14 clerics accused of abuse became public in a court case last Monday. They laid out in Mahony and Curry's own words how the church hierarchy had plotted to keep law enforcement from learning that children had been molested at the hands of priests.


To stave off investigations, Mahony and Curry gave priests they knew had abused children out-of-state assignments and kept them from seeing therapists who might alert authorities.


Mahony and Curry both issued apologies, with the cardinal saying he had not realized the extent of harm done to children until he met with victims during civil litigation. "I am sorry," he said.





Read More..

India Ink: Gandhi's Relationship With Kallenbach Focus of New Exhibition in Delhi

“My Dear Lower House,” begins one letter, from Hermann Kallenbach, to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, dated Aug. 20, 1912.

“We are to blame for all the misery in the world and therefore all the imperfections of our surroundings. They will be perfect when we are.”

In the letter, Mr. Kallenbach requests that Gandhi meet him to discuss “Tolstoy Farm,” a project that Mr. Kallenbach, an architect by profession, was financing by giving Gandhi a gift of land in Johannesburg.

It is signed “With love, your sinly [sincerely] — Upper House.”

The letter is one of dozens of documents and photos on display in an exhibition that opened Wednesday at the National Archives of India in New Delhi. The exhibition centers on the intimate and loving friendship between Gandhi and his German-Jewish friend, Mr. Kallenbach.

Wednesday was the 65th anniversary of Gandhi’s assassination in New Delhi.

The “Gandhi-Kallenbach papers,” as the documents that make up the exhibition are known, were purchased by the Indian government from the Kallenbach family for $1.1 million last year, on the back of controversy over the nature of their friendship.

In a book about Gandhi’s time in South Africa, Joseph Lelyveld, a former New York Times executive editor, detailed the relationship between the two men. The book was denounced by some in India, who believed it portrayed the man often called the “father of the nation” as a homosexual.

“It is clear from these letters, there was a deep emotional attachment that Gandhi shared with Kallenbach,” Mushirul Hasan, director general of the National Archives, said in an interview. But Mr. Hasan dismissed the idea that the two men shared a sexual relationship.

“Gandhi as a person tended to get very enthusiastic about certain relationships, and expressed the intensity in words that conveyed the impression that it is more than a normal relationship,” he said.

Most of the documents on display center on Gandhi’s life in South Africa, including the management of Tolstoy farm and the growth of the nonviolent resistance movement that Gandhi led there. The exhibition also includes correspondence between the families of the two men and letters to their acquaintances.

Gandhi was not the only one who had a special term of address for Kallenbach; his secretary Mahadev Desai in a letter dated Aug. 23, 1937, refers to Kallenbach as “dear Uncle Hanuman,” a reference to the Hindu monkey-god.

Also on display are photographs of Gandhi and Kallenbach in their younger years, life on Tolstoy farm and Kallenbach with Gandhi’s sons, grandchildren and other leaders of the Indian national movement.

Spread across two spacious halls at the National Archives, the public exhibition was inaugurated by the minister of culture, Chandresh Kumari Katoch, and will continue until Feb 15.

The Kallenbach family was originally planning to auction the papers through Sotheby’s, but then came the controversy over Mr. Lelyveld’s book, which heightened interest in what they contained.

“It cost us a lot of money,” Mr. Hasan said. “The controversy raised the price of the papers.”

Read More..

Facebook’s mobile ad revenue doubles in fourth quarter






SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc doubled its mobile advertising revenue in the fourth quarter, a sign that the No.1 social network is seeing early success in expanding onto handheld devices as more of its users migrate to smartphones and tablets.


Investors want to see evidence that CEO Mark Zuckerberg‘s 8-year-old company is delivering on promises to develop a full-fledged mobile advertising business, a challenge facing many of today’s technology leaders including Google Inc.






But the growth trailed some of Wall Street‘s most aggressive estimates. Shares of Facebook were down roughly 3 percent at $ 30.21 in after-hours trading on Wednesday, regaining ground after falling more than 8 percent immediately after the numbers were released.


Mobile revenue estimates among some analysts and investors were unreasonably high, said Sterne, Agee & Leach analyst Arvind Bhatia.


“As a result the stock was set up for disappointment,” he said. Overall, he said, Facebook’s results were encouraging.


The company’s overall advertising business grew at its fastest clip since before its May initial public offering, helping the company’s revenue expand 40 percent and surpass Wall Street targets.


Facebook has rolled out a wide variety of new services in recent months as the company seeks to stay ahead in the fast-moving Web market and to convince Wall Street that it can turn its audience of more than 1 billion users into a sustainable business.


Zuckerberg said the company plans to spend heavily to recruit talent in 2013 as the company pushes forward with new product development, particularly “mobile-first” services.


“We aren’t operating to maximize our profit this year but we’re doing what we think will build the best service and business over the long term,” Zuckerberg said during a conference call with analysts on Wednesday.


The strategy makes sense for an Internet company, said Stifel Nicolaus Jordan Rohan. But it will force Wall Street analysts to “ratchet down” their profit expectations.


“The conference call was a bit of a sobering event,” said Rohan. “The company advised analysts and investors to expect lower margins, and downplayed the near-term opportunity for revenues from Gifts,” Facebook’s recently-launched online commerce service.


FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES


Facebook shares, which lost more than half their value following a rocky IPO, have regained ground in recent months as concerns about its mobile ad business and insider selling have eased. Shares have surged roughly 60 percent since mid-November.


Zuckerberg said that recently introduced products such as Gifts, which allows Facebook users to purchase retail goods for their friends, as well as its new social search tool could become important businesses in the future. But in the near term he said that Facebook’s advertising efforts will be the core of its business.


The number of monthly active users on the social network reached 1.06 billion at the end of last year, with 618 million daily active users, Facebook said. But much of that growth again came from emerging markets like Asia, rather than the United States or Europe, where revenue per user is several times higher. For instance, average revenue per user is $ 13.58 for the United States and Canada, but just $ 2.35 in Asia.


Overall fourth-quarter revenue came to $ 1.585 billion, up 40 percent versus $ 1.131 billion a year earlier. Analysts were looking for revenue of $ 1.53 billion.


Executives said some revenue from its payments business dating back to September 2012 had been booked in the October-December quarter, inflating the number somewhat. Excluding those deferred sales, overall revenue would have been up just 34 percent in the quarter.


But it was the fledgling mobile business that dominated Wednesday’s discussion on the call. Finance Chief David Ebersman said Facebook had “basically doubled” mobile ad revenue from the third quarter to the fourth quarter.


“Two quarters ago we really had no mobile revenue,” Ebersman told Reuters in an interview. “In the course of a pretty short period of time, we’ve dramatically ramped up our ability to monetize mobile.”


Facebook said net income in the fourth quarter was $ 64 million, or 3 cents a share, compared to $ 302 million, or 14 cents a share a year earlier.


Excluding certain items, Facebook said it earned 17 cents a share, compared to the 15 cents a share expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.


Facebook expects expenses — excluding stock-based compensation for employees — to jump 50 percent in 2013, likely outpacing revenue growth. Capital investments may climb to $ 1.8 billion, up 14 percent from last year’s $ 1.575 billion.


“They’re going to have to continue to develop new products, which will cost them,” said Bhatia of Sterne, Agee & Leach.


But he said, “the market would be less happy if they were not finding enough opportunities.”


(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Ryan Woo)


Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Facebook’s mobile ad revenue doubles in fourth quarter
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/facebooks-mobile-ad-revenue-doubles-in-fourth-quarter/
Link To Post : Facebook’s mobile ad revenue doubles in fourth quarter
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

American Idol Discovers Big Talent in Texas and California






American Idol










01/30/2013 at 11:00 PM EST







From left: Randy Jackson, Mariah Carey, Ryan Seacrest, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban


Michael Becker/FOX.


It's the final week of American Idol's cross-country talent search. And as the judges head to San Antonio, Texas, a surprising lack of diva-on-diva trash-talking allowed the focus to fall squarely on the contestants who seemed like they could be serious contenders this season (or at least keep things interesting).

Case in point: 19-year-old Mississippi native Papa Peachez who described himself as "a cute little white boy and ... so much more than that. I'm really just a big black woman trapped in a trapped in a little boy's body."

After Peachez belted out an original song, Nicki Minaj immediately showed him some love. "I think that you are a superstar," she said. The other judges weren't as convinced, but Minaj managed to twist enough arms (not literally) to get the boy through to Hollywood.

Peachez is going to have some steep competition from another 19-year-old – San Antonio's Adam Sanders, who blew away the judges with his rendition of the Etta James classic "At Last."

"You shocked us all, Dawg," Randy Jackson told the singer before giving him a standing ovation along with Mariah Carey and Keith Urban.

Other notables from the Lone Star State included an Arkansas beauty queen, a vibrant mariachi singer and 16-year-old Senni M'mairura, whose rendition of the Jackson 5's "Who's Lovin You" drew raves and left Minaj sputtering about other things that apparently make her feel good: "Candy canes, strawberries, whip cream, rainbows and sunny skies," she said.

Next the judges hopped aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, Calif., to see what the West Coast had to offer. That's where Jesaiah Baer, 16, had to contend with an impromptu fire drill but still managed to blaze her way to Hollywood.

Then, after an emotional number from Iraq war veteran Matt Farmer, the episode ended with two powerful stories from young, would-be Idols who've overcome bullying.

Briana Oakley, 16, had to change schools after her classmates turned on her when she found success on a televised talent show. But she won the judges over with her performance Patty Griffin's "Up to the Mountain."

And 21-year-old Matheus Fernandes, who was quite a bit shorter than everyone else in the room, broke down in tears after getting praise from the judges for his version of "A Change Is Gonna Come."

"To me," Randy told him, "You're 10 feet tall."

Thursday American Idol heads to Oklahoma – and next week to Hollywood.

Read More..