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Reuters - China becomes world's largest Internet population

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China becomes world's largest Internet population

Thursday, Apr 24, 2008 10:17AM UTC

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has surpassed the United States to become the world's largest Internet-using population, reaching 221 million by the end of February, state media said on Thursday.

The number of Internet users in China was 210 million at the end of last year, only 5 million fewer than the U.S. Internet users then, Xinhua news agency said, quoting the China Internet Network Information Centre.

"Despite a rapidly increasing Internet population, the proportion of Internet users among the total population was still lower than the global average level," Xinhua quoted the Information Ministry as saying.

The proportion was 16 percent at the end of 2007, compared with 19.1 percent for the world average.

Internet censorship is common in China, where the government employs an elaborate system of filters and tens of thousands of human monitors to survey surfing habits, surgically clipping sensitive content.

But the Internet has most recently become an important tool in countering anti-China protest dogging the Olympic torch relay with an outpouring of nationalism and indignation.

(Reporting by Nick Macfie; Editing by David Fox)

CNN - Texas tries to ease polygamist kids' culture shock

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Texas tries to ease polygamist kids' culture shock

Many of the children have seen little or no television. They have been essentially home-schooled all their lives. Most were raised on garden-grown vegetables and twice-daily prayers with family. They frolic in long dresses and buttoned-up shirts from another century. They are unfailingly polite.

The 437 children taken from the polygamist compound in West Texas are being scattered to group homes and boys' and girls' ranches across the state, plunged into a culture radically different from the community where they and their families shunned the outside world as a hostile, contaminating influence on their godly way of life.

The state Child Protective Services program said it chose foster homes where the youngsters can be kept apart from other children for now.

"We recognize it's critical that these children not be exposed to mainstream culture too quickly or other things that would hinder their success," agency spokeswoman Shari Pulliam said. "We just want to protect them from abuse and neglect. We're not trying to change them."

The children were swept up in a raid earlier this month on the Yearning for Zion Ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a renegade Mormon splinter group that believes in marrying teen girls to older men. State child-welfare authorities said there was evidence of physical and sexual abuse at the ranch.

The youngsters are being moved out of the crowded San Angelo Coliseum and will be placed in 16 temporary facilities around Texas -- some as far away as Houston, 500 miles off -- until individual custody hearings can be held.

Those hearings could result in a number of possibilities: Some children could be placed in permanent foster care; some parents who have left the sect may win custody; some youngsters may be allowed to return to the ranch in Eldorado; and some may turn 18 before the case is complete and will be allowed to choose their own fates.

Several attorneys for FLDS children called Wednesday for custody cases to be spread out among family law courts across Texas -- venue changes that, they acknowledged, would likely require authorization from the Texas Supreme Court.

"It's one court that's bogged down with 437 children. There is no possible way that my client's needs ... can be addressed in a timely fashion," said attorney Laura Shockley at a Dallas news conference.

Children raised on the FLDS compound wear pioneer-style dress and keep their hair pinned up in braids, reflecting their standards of modesty. For the same reason, they have little knowledge of pop culture. They pray twice a day. They tend vegetable gardens and raise dairy cows, and eat fresh food. And they are exceedingly polite, always saying "please" and "thank you."

In contrast, many other children in foster care have a certain worldly swagger, and are there because they have used drugs or committed other crimes.

Experts and lawyers say foster care will change the sect children.

"These children who have lived in a very insular culture and are suddenly thrust into mainstream culture. There's going to be problems," said Susan Hays, who represents a toddler in the custody case. "They are a throwback to the 19th century in how they dress and how they behave."

Ken Driggs, an Atlanta, Georgia, lawyer who has long studied and written about the FLDS, said if kept away from their parents' culture long enough, the children may begin to emulate those around them.

Pulliam said the temporary foster care facilities have been briefed on the children's needs. "We're not going to have them in tank tops and shorts," she said.

Authorities will try to obtain the youngsters' traditional clothing from their parents, and also arrange for visits from some of the adults, state attorney Gary Banks said.

In addition, CPS has sent instructions to the foster homes to feed the youngsters fresh fruits and vegetables, chicken, rice and other foods that may have been grown on the 1,700-acre ranch.

"They don't eat a lot of processed food and we're not going to encourage that," Pulliam said, but noted that if the children want to eat processed or junk food, no one is going to stop them.

Those who cling to the old traditions may pose another problem for the state -- they might run away. Driggs said polygamists' children have fled foster homes before because "they want to go home, and they want to go to people and circumstances they're used to."

The children have been educated in a schoolhouse on the compound using a home-school curriculum and may be ahead of public-school students their ages, lawyers said.

Hays and Pulliam said the children will continue to be home-schooled by the temporary foster-care providers instead of being thrown into big schools, where they could be bullied because of their differences.

While their diets, dress and prayers can be accommodated with a little planning, other experts said their emotional needs may be trickier to deal with.

Dr. Bruce Perry, a child psychiatrist who testified for the children last week, said FLDS children may be easily taken advantage of by outsiders because of the strict control church leaders have had over their daily lives.

People who have left the sect "felt emotionally incapable of decision-making," he said.

USA TODAY - Beetle outbreak is altering carbon balance in forests

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DENVER
By Catherine Tsai, Associated Press Writer

An outbreak of mountain pine beetles in British Columbia is doing more than destroying millions of trees: By 2020, the beetles will have done so much damage that the forest is expected to release more carbon dioxide than it absorbs, according to new research.

The study, led by Werner Kurz of the Canadian Forest Service, estimates that over 21 years trees killed by the beetle outbreak could release nearly 990 megatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere roughly equivalent to five years of emissions from Canada's transportation sector.

The outbreak has affected about 33 million acres, or about 51,562 square miles, of lodgepole pines. Bark beetles also have killed huge swaths of pines in the western USA, including about 2,300 square miles of trees in Colorado.

INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC: How global warming occursRELATED STORY: Greenhouse gases continue increase

"When trees are killed, they no longer are able to take carbon from the atmosphere. Then when dead trees start to decompose, that releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere," Kurz said.

That could exacerbate global warming that contributed to the outbreaks in the first place. Warmer temperatures have allowed beetles to survive farther north and at higher elevations.

"This is the kind of feedback we're all very worried about in the carbon cycle a warming planet leading to, in this case, an insect outbreak that increases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which can increase warming," said Andy Jacobson, a carbon cycle scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colorado.

Boreal forests in Canada generally have been steady "carbon sinks," absorbing more carbon dioxide than they emit. Kurz's team expects the forest it studied to recover, but says that even by 2020 it may not be the carbon sink it previously was.

"This long-term effect, personally I find it frightening," said Jacobson, who was not involved in the study, which is being published this week in the journal Nature.

Using computer models, Kurz's team estimated that the maximum annual beetle impact in the study area in south-central British Columbia was 20 megatons of carbon. Forest fires in all of Canada produce an average of 27 megatons per year.

Kurz's team says the effect of pine beetles and other insects is significant and should be included in models of how much atmospheric carbon the world's forests can store.

"Many other insects also impact the forest carbon cycle," Kurz said. While outbreaks of other insects such as spruce beetles may be much smaller, their cumulative effect is significant, he said.

"If events such as this occur in other geographic parts of the world, then they really ought to be accounted for," Kurz said.

Website address: http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2008-04-23-beetle-carbon_N.htm

CNN - Lawmakers back bill to ban genetic discrimination at work

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Lawmakers back bill to ban genetic discrimination at work

Lawmakers have agreed to make it illegal for employers and insurance companies to deny applicants jobs and health care coverage because DNA tests show they are genetically disposed to a disease.

Supporters of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act said Wednesday that the Senate planned to vote on it Thursday. The House also is likely to give quick approval to the bill, sending it to President Bush for his signature.

A similar bill passed the House by a 420-3 vote a year ago. The White House, at the time, indicated its support for the legislation.

Sponsors reached an agreement Tuesday with Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, who had been blocking Senate action on the bill.

The compromise tightens language to ensure there is a "firewall" between the part dealing with health plans and the section regarding employment so as to discourage inappropriate claims.

It also makes clear that, while individuals are protected from discrimination based on genetic predisposition, insurance companies still have the right to base coverage and pricing on the actual presence of a disease.

Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts; and Reps. Mike Enzi, R-Wyoming, and Louise Slaughter, D-New York, have been pushing the issue for years, asserting that dramatic advances in genetic research make it crucial that people are protected from discrimination.

Snowe noted that nearly 32 percent of women offered a genetic test for breast cancer risk by the National Institutes of Health declined because of concerns about health insurance discrimination.

"Like discrimination based on race and gender, genetic discrimination is based on the unchangeable and -- because the information must be sought out by the offender -- is equally offensive," she said.

Kennedy said the bill will "unlock the extraordinary potential of this new era of the life sciences."

The legislation forbids sponsors of health coverage from requesting or using genetic information to adjust premiums or to determine eligibility.

It would prohibit employers from using genetic information in hiring, firing, assignment or promotion decisions.

The Senate unanimously passed versions in 2003 and 2005, but the House didn't take up the issue until last year, when Democrats took control of both houses.

Slaughter said she had introduced the first version of the legislation 13 years ago. "Since no one is born with perfect genes, each one of us is a potential victim of genetic discrimination," she said.

Sharon Terry, president of the advocacy group the Coalition for Genetic Fairness, said that when she started working on the issue 13 years ago, there were only a few single-gene disorders in play. Now, she said, genetic information is essential to research major diseases such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease or afflictions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

She said there are many people, such as those with colon cancer in their families, who want to enroll in clinical studies but don't because of fear of discrimination. "They call us with lots of heartbreaking stories, and they are not willing to go public with those stories," she said.

Reuters - Justice Dept looking at Google/Yahoo test

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Justice Dept looking at Google/Yahoo test

Wednesday, Apr 23, 2008 11:9PM UTC

By Diane Bartz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is investigating possible antitrust implications of Google's two-week test with Yahoo to combine some of their Web search and advertising business, a source informed about the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

Google and Yahoo separately told Reuters they had informed the Justice Department about their test before it was launched.

In the test, which ends this week, Yahoo uses Google's advertising system to show ads to Yahoo users based on their searches.

The Justice Department is concerned the test may violate antitrust law, the source said, adding that authorities "have initiated an investigation" of it.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said some of the government's concern focused on a telephone call from Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt to Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang to offer help in thwarting Microsoft's bid worth around $44 billion.

The test was one of a series of efforts by Yahoo to fend off Microsoft's unwelcome bid.

A second source said the Justice Department was concerned about a longer-term deal between Google and Yahoo, and had an initial inquiry underway into the matter.

A Justice Department spokeswoman would only say that the department was "aware of the collaboration."

Neither Google nor Yahoo has said whether the two-week test will be extended.

"We informed the Justice Department before we launched this test and we have been responsive to their questions about it," said Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich.

Yahoo spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said: "Yahoo proactively kept the Department of Justice informed of its intentions to conduct this limited test with Google and have provided information to DOJ on the nature of the test."

Microsoft declined to comment.

Google shares closed down 1.5 percent to $546.49 in regular trading on Wednesday, while Yahoo, which posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday, finished down 1.6 percent to $28.08, both on Nasdaq.

Microsoft shares gained 4 percent to $31.45.

INDUSTRY CLOUT

The initial Google and Yahoo test is small, covering only 3 percent of Web searches performed on Yahoo, the companies have said.

Google is the top search engine with 63 percent of searches, and No. 2 Yahoo has 17 percent, a combined 80 percent of the market, according to ratings company Hitwise.

Philip Bromiley, who teaches law at the University of California at Irvine, said that kind of clout meant that companies could sharply raise prices.

"Any industry, when you start to see that kind of figure, you're going to have antitrust arguments," he said.

Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday that Yahoo was still in separate talks with News Corp and Time Warner Inc about other types of deals -- all designed to avoid a Microsoft takeover.

Microsoft is prepared to walk away from its bid for Yahoo Inc if the two sides can't agree on a price, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said in Italy on Wednesday.

"We think the best way to move forward quickly is to come together with Yahoo," Ballmer said. "Hopefully that works. But if it doesn't, we go forward."

Ballmer has set a Saturday deadline for Yahoo's board to accept a deal with Microsoft or face a lower bid that Microsoft would take directly to Yahoo's shareholders. Yahoo's board of directors says Microsoft's cash-and-stock offer is too low.

Yahoo President Susan Decker told Wall Street analysts in a conference call on Tuesday that it was too early to say whether Yahoo would reach a deal to turn over some part of the company's Web search advertising business to rival-turned-Microsoft-counterweight Google.

"It's premature to speculate on what options we may ultimately pursue or whether some form of arrangement might result," Decker said.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz and Eric Auchard; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

Reuters - IBM to unveil new computer for big data centers: report

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IBM to unveil new computer for big data centers: report

Wednesday, Apr 23, 2008 1:26PM UTC

NEW YORK (Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp <IBM.N> plans to unveil a new type of computer for big data hubs operated by so-called Web 2.0 companies, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

IBM's iDataPlex line is due for sale next month and is meant for companies that buy vertical racks with dozens of servers based on Intel microprocessors, the report said.

The line is aimed at fewer than 1,000 customers worldwide, according to the Journal report.

Early testers of the unit include Yahoo Inc <YHOO.O> and Tencent QQ, a Chinese company. IBM has deployed about 300 units for testing, and the vice president for its enterprise systems group, Jim Gargan, told the Journal he expected large sales.

An IBM representative was not available immediately for comment.

(Reporting by Aarthi Sivaraman, editing by Will Waterman)

Reuters - Microsoft links data on phones, PCs in "Live Mesh"

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Microsoft links data on phones, PCs in "Live Mesh"

Wednesday, Apr 23, 2008 6:9PM UTC

By Daisuke Wakabayashi

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp has begun testing technology that brings together a person's pictures, documents and other data scattered across a growing number of machines with the goal of allowing people to access their information from anywhere and at any time.

Microsoft's "Live Mesh" program, which uses the Internet as a data hub, synchronizes files across computers, phones and other devices so a digital picture frame at home could show a picture minutes after it was taken by a cell phone.

Initially the program will be limited to 10,000 U.S. testers and computers running its Windows operating system, but Microsoft said it plans to extend Live Mesh over the next few months to mobile phones, computers from Apple Inc and other devices connected to the Internet.

The project is the brainchild of Ray Ozzie, who replaced Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates as chief software architect, and underscores the company's carefully balanced online strategy, which aims to capitalize on the reach of the Internet without cannibalizing its cash cow software business.

Microsoft, the dominant force in software that runs on a computer's local hard drive, has seen rivals like Google Inc and Salesforce.com encroach on its turf with competitive offerings delivered over the Internet.

"As our industry has evolved because of this Web-catalyzed services transformation, so too has Microsoft," Ozzie wrote in a memo being sent to the company's employees on Wednesday.

Live Mesh embraces the industry trend toward "cloud computing" in which information is centrally stored on Web sites rather than on local devices, giving users easy access from any computer.

Industry analysts said the product may signal a watershed moment within Microsoft to embrace a technology that the company viewed as a threat in the past.

"We may be seeing signs of a Microsoft that is newly focused," said Jonathan Yarmis, a vice president and analyst at AMR Research. "This is exciting because it has as much to do with who is doing it as what Microsoft is doing."

The software will also let friends and colleagues collaborate and share documents more easily. For example, if a shared document is changed on a work computer, those changes will be instantly updated and available on any device or computer that the user has registered with Live Mesh.

Microsoft plans to release Live Mesh in a widely-available test, or "beta" version before the end of 2008.

(Editing by Louise Heavens)

The darknet

Reuters - Web criminals fuel big rise in "trojans"

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Web criminals fuel big rise in "trojans"

Wednesday, Apr 23, 2008 6:49PM UTC

By Peter Griffiths

LONDON (Reuters) - Cyber-criminals are behind a dramatic rise in stealthy programs called "trojans" that infect computers to sell rogue software, send unwanted email or steal personal data, a study has found.

In a report released in London, Microsoft said the number of trojans removed from computers around the world in the second half of 2007 rose by 300 percent from the first half.

The figure has risen so sharply because more computers are fitted with software that detects malicious programs and because criminals had come to see trojans as their "tool of choice", the report said.

"The numbers have simply exploded, it's huge," said Vinny Gullotto, general manager of the Microsoft Malware Protection Center. "There is a lot of criminal intent there."

Trojans can log keystrokes to gather passwords, send spam from private computers or harvest email addresses or personal information for criminal purposes.

The most common family of trojans last year was "Win32/Zlob", a piece of malicious software, or malware, that people unwittingly download from the Internet.

Its designers trick people into saving it by telling them they need a new piece of software to watch video online.

Once installed, it bombards people with pop-up messages and bogus flashing warnings that their computer is infected.

The messages say: "Your computer is infected! Windows has detected spyware infection. Click here to protect your computer."

The trojan then sends adverts offering to sell rogue anti-spyware on sites that could expose customers to credit card fraud. Microsoft said the problem is global and linked to organized criminal gangs.

"The majority (of trojans) come from the (United) States, China, Russia and South America," Gullotto said on the fringes of the Infosecurity Europe trade conference on Tuesday.

Microsoft said the number of computers around the world that were made safe after being infected with trojans rose from one million in the second half of 2006 to 19 million in the second half of 2007.

The report is online: http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/sir.aspx

(Editing by Steve Addison and Paul Casciato)