Man arrested for murdering his mother and 7-year-old half-sister ...

Police say 20-year-old David Scott Rodenbarger stabbed his mother, Michelle Hankins, and his sister 7-year-old sister, Jillian Hankins, to death.

The Indiana State Police, Monticello Police and the White County Sheriff?s Department responded to a 911 call from the family?s house on East Richey Park just before 1:30 a.m. Saturday.

Michelle Hankins was able to call authorities for help before succumbing to her injuries. Jillian was taken to White County Memorial Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Rodenbarger was taken to White County Jail where he was charged with murder. Further charges may be pending.

Source: http://fox59.com/2013/02/02/double-homicide-in-monticello/

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FTC: Make mobile privacy info clearer to users

Suzanne Choney , NBC News ? ? ? 7 hrs.

The Federal Trade Commission said Friday it wants???but is not mandating???makers of mobile operating systems, app developers and advertisers to be provide "timely, easy-to-understand disclosures about what data they collect and how the data is used."

In a new report, "Mobile Privacy Disclosures: Building Trust Through Transparency," the commission?said that most consumers are concerned,?but confused, about how mobile privacy works???or doesn't.?

"More than other types of technology, mobile devices are typically personal to an individual, almost always on, and with the user," the FTC said in the report. "This can facilitate unprecedented amounts of data collection."

Making its point hit home, also on Friday, the commission said it reached a settlement with social app?Path to pay an?$800,000 fine?related to violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act,?and to "establish a comprehensive privacy program and to?obtain independent privacy assessments every other year for the next 20 years."?The?FTC?said?the?app's?interface?was?misleading,?giving?consumers?"no meaningful choice regarding the collection of their personal information."

In its mobile privacy report, the FTC cited a nationwide survey that found 57 percent of all mobile app users have "either?uninstalled an app over concerns about having to share their personal information, or declined to install an app in the first place for similar reasons. Similarly, in a 2011 survey of U.S. smartphone users, less than one-third of survey respondents reported feeling in control of their personal information on their mobile devices."

Morgan Reed, executive director of the Association for Competitive Technology,?a Washington-based trade group that represents small and mid-size software development companies,?in a statement,?called?the?FTC's?recommendations?a?"sensible?step,?and?one that ACT has been advocating to its members for some time."

Among the FTC's recommendations for mobile operating system platforms, such as iOS, Android, Windows and BlackBerry to consider:

• Provide "just-in-time disclosures" and get "express consent for other content that consumers would find sensitive in many contexts, such as contacts, photos, calendar entries or the recording of audio or video content."
  
• Develop?a "one-stop 'dashboard' approach" that would let consumers review the "types of content accessed by the apps they have downloaded."
• Develop icons that "depict the transmission of user data," such as those used now by Apple and Google. Below, for example are the icons used by the two companies to show users that?geolocation data is being?transmitted:

Consumers should also be provided a "Do Not Track (DNT)?mechanism,"?the?FTC?said,?something?that?a?majority?of?the?commission?has?endorsed?and?"would?allow consumers to choose to prevent tracking by ad networks or other third parties as they navigate among apps on their phones."

App developers, the FTC said, should have a privacy policy, and "make sure it is easily accessible through the app stores," and obtain "affirmative express consent" before they collect and share sensitive information "to the extent the platforms have not already provided such disclosures and obtained such consent."

Reed, of the?Association for Competitive Technology,?said?that?app?developer?education?is?a?"very?important?element?in?this?process."

You can read the FTC's?full report here.?

Check out Technology, GadgetBox, Digital?Life and InGame on?Facebook,?and on?Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/ftc-wants-mobile-privacy-disclosures-made-clearer-consumers-1B8211203

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Report: FAA lags on fulfilling airline safety law (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/282242809?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Drought pushes cattle ranching north and west

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) ? The severe drought that scorched pastures across the Southern Plains last summer helped shrink the nation's herd to its smallest size in more than six decades and encouraged the movement of animals to lusher fields in the northern and western parts of the U.S., a new report shows.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported Friday that the U.S. inventory of cattle and calves totaled 89.3 million animals as of Jan. 1. That was down by 1.5 million cattle, or 2 percent, compared with this time a year ago.

The agency says this is the lowest January cattle inventory since 1952. It does two counts per year, in January and July. The January report had been anxiously awaited because it shows the impact of the drought as it spread across the nation last summer and provides a state-by-state breakdown documenting the shift of animals north.

Texas, the nation's largest cattle producing state, saw its herd shrink 5 percent to 11.3 million head amid a multi-year drought. Nebraska's herd shrunk 2 percent to 6.3 million animals as the drought spread north this summer. In Kansas, another hard hit state, the number of cattle shrunk 4 percent to 5.8 million animals as ranchers sold off animals as pastures dried up and the price of hay skyrocketed.

By contrast, North Dakota ranchers expanded their herds by 6 percent to nearly 1.8 million head, while South Dakota's cattle numbers grew 5 percent to 3.8 million head. Montana, Idaho and Washington also boosted the size of their herds.

Glenn Tonsor, an Extension livestock specialist at Kansas State University, said the shift away from drought-stricken areas only makes sense.

"It doesn't surprise me that the southern Plains continue to have a pullback in the number of cows, and it doesn't surprise me that the Northern Plains has been increasing," he said.

The growth in the north didn't make up for losses elsewhere, however, and the repercussions are being felt in the meatpacking industry. Cargill Beef, one of the nation's largest processors, announced in January that it will idle its slaughterhouse in Plainview, Texas, and lay off all 2,000 workers because there's less work.

For consumers, fewer cows will mean less beef and higher prices down the line, particularly as demand from overseas increases, Tonsor said.

As "the United States and global population continues to increase ... There is less beef around for them to argue over, bid for," he said.

Among those already feeling the pain is Kansas rancher Nathan Pike, who has sold off 600 cows over the past couple of years. With just 130 pregnant cows left, he considered trying to buy back a few animals this winter in the hopes of better weather next spring, but cows cost significant more now than when he sold his animals because there are fewer left.

"We are gambling," said Pike, 80. "We are just trying to figure out a way to make a living."

In New Mexico, cattle numbers are down for the third straight year and the number of ranchers looking to sell off their herds and get out of the business continues to grow. The overall herd is down to 1.3 million animals, the fewest since 1991.

"It's trite, but it is the perfect storm," said Caren Cowan, executive director of the New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association. "We have no rain, there's no feed readily available, what is available costs too much and the cost of transportation has increased. We're just in a bad place."

Despite the hardships many ranchers are facing, Cowan said the selling off of herds by longtime ranching families could open an opportunity for younger ranchers who can't afford to buy land to work with those who still own property.

"We continue to look for the silver lining," she said.

___

Associated Press writer Susan Montoya contributed to this report from Albuquerque.

Source: http://weather.yahoo.com/cattle-ranching-moves-north-west-amid-drought-225658149--finance.html

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UK cost agency rejects drugs from AstraZeneca, Bristol and Roche

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's healthcare cost watchdog NICE said on Friday it was not able to recommend a new diabetes drug from Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca, and has asked for more information from the companies.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has been considering Forxiga, or dapagliflozin, as an add-on therapy for use with other medicines, including insulin.

NICE, which decides if drugs should be paid for on the state health service, also said it had issued draft guidance not recommending Roche's Avastin for ovarian cancer. The agency has already rejected Avastin in other tumour types.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-cost-agency-rejects-drugs-astrazeneca-bristol-roche-001403744--finance.html

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Exclusive: Venezuela seeks $4 billion China loan, $2 billion Chevron credit - sources

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's government and state oil company PDVSA are in urgent talks over a long-expected $6 billion in loans from China and U.S. energy giant Chevron that would help relieve the nation's strained finances, sources close to the discussions said.

Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said this week that PDVSA had no plans to issue any more dollar-denominated bonds, confounding widespread speculation that one was planned to address a chronic shortage of dollars for local businesses.

That has left the government in the OPEC member seeking other forms of financing, amid pressure to order a devaluation of its currency that would ease the pressure on its cash flow by providing more bolivars for every dollar of oil sales.

Its top priority is a deal agreed last year with China Development Bank for a $4 billion loan this year.

Venezuela has borrowed $36 billion from China in recent years - repaid with oil shipments - making Beijing the single biggest foreign source of funding for the country's socialist government, according to finance ministry data.

But a source close to the talks told Reuters that the Chinese team wanted to toughen the terms of the deal.

"The Chinese have introduced a clause that the Venezuela team decided to reject," the source said, without describing the proposed change. "That was holding things up until recently, but they are coming to an agreement on the amendment."

Meanwhile, a PDVSA team is negotiating a private loan of $2 billion with U.S. oil company Chevron , the source said, adding that the proposed credit is intended to be used to increase crude production at the two companies' joint venture, Petroboscan, in western Venezuela.

Another source with knowledge of those discussions said PDVSA had proposed to Chevron that the deal reached in 2012 - a 13-year repayment term with an interest rate of Libor plus 4.5 points - be substantially revised. That suggestion met strong resistance from Chevron, the source said.

PDVSA and the government declined to comment on the talks, and Chevron didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The Chinese embassy in Caracas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

PRESSURE ON PARTNERS

A lack of investment, especially in western regions of South America's biggest crude exporter, has led to falling output at the mature fields since 2009.

Since the end of 2010, the government has been putting pressure on partners in some 20 joint ventures to find extra funding to raise output, and threatening to cancel their permits if they fail. Petroboscan is 60 percent controlled by PDVSA and pumps 115,000 barrels per day.

The current debt negotiations may be more fraught than they would have been, due to the uncertainty around the absence of President Hugo Chavez, who has not been seen since having cancer surgery in Cuba on December 11.

PDVSA and the government declined to comment on the talks, and Chevron didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The Chinese embassy in Caracas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In 2011, Venezuela and PDVSA issued a combined $17.5 billion in global bonds, adding to the high-performing notes that are among the world's most widely-traded emerging market debt.

But issuance dropped to $3 billion last year as Venezuela boosted sales of local-market bonds and lawmakers voted to double the arrangement with China Development Bank so that the government could borrow up to $8 billion at any one time.

Venezuelan business leaders complain about growing economic imbalances that they say have been caused by insecurity, bad policies and the uncertainty surrounding Chavez's absence.

Many argue that a currency devaluation is long overdue, to make exports more competitive and spur domestic industries.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro said last weekend that Chavez had taken a series of major economic decisions "to strengthen exports", feeding rumors that a devaluation was imminent.

Instead, the government has unveiled a series of moves that boost the amount of dollars available to the central bank, as well as make it easier for local businesses to access the hard currency they need to buy imports.

(Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Kieran Murray and W Simon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-venezuela-seeks-4-billion-china-loan-2-175654734--business.html

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Science cafes offer a sip of learning

By Barbara Liston

ORLANDO, Florida | Fri Feb 1, 2013 11:34am EST

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Americans may be turning away from the hard sciences at universities, but they are increasingly showing up at "science cafes" in local bars and restaurants to listen to scientific talks over a drink or a meal.

Want a beer with that biology? Or perhaps a burger with the works to complement the theory of everything?

Science cafes have sprouted in almost every state including a tapas restaurant near downtown Orlando where Sean Walsh, 27, a graphic designer, describes himself and his friends as some of the laymen in the crowd.

"We just want to learn and whatever we take in, we take in. But we're also socializing and having a nice time," said Walsh, who a drank beer, ate Tater Tots and learned a little about asteroids and radiation at two recent events.

Others in the crowd come with scientific credentials to hear particular scientists lecture on a narrowly focused field of interest.

But the typical participant brings at least some college-level education or at least a lively curiosity, said Edward Haddad, executive director of the Florida Academy of Sciences, which helped start up Orlando's original cafe and organizes the events.

"You're going to engage the (National Public Radio) crowd very easily here," said Linda Walters, a marine conservation biologist from the University of Central Florida who has lectured twice at the Orlando-area science cafes.

Haddad said the current national push to increase the number of U.S. graduates in science, technology, engineering and math, or the STEM fields, is driving up the number of science cafes.

In Orlando, an Orange County STEM Council consisting of business, government and educational leaders recently asked Haddad to help two interested parties launch new science cafes in the downtown library and in a large new town development.

The U.S. science cafe movement grew out of Cafe Scientifique in the United Kingdom. The first Cafe Scientifique popped up in Leeds in 1998 as a regularly scheduled event where all interested parties could participate in informal forums about the latest in science and technology.

Traditionally held in pubs and restaurants, the Cafe Scientifique would start as a short lecture, followed by a short break to re-fill glasses, and then an open discussion, according to the organization's website.

The American movement of independent cafes is loosely organized at the sciencecafe.org website created by public broadcaster WGBH's NOVA science program. Haddad said NOVA several years ago provided a few hundred dollars of seed money to groups around the country that wanted to start a cafe.

However, anyone with a venue, a speaker and a marketing plan can start one. On the sciencecafes.org website, an interactive map shows the location of cafes across the United States and around the globe from Islamabad, Pakistan, to Antwerp, Belgium, to the Hawaiian islands.

Some cafes have cropped up in bookstores, theaters and high school campuses.

In Viera, Florida, about 60 mostly retirees regularly pack a pizzeria to hear speakers from the well-regarded Brevard Zoo or NASA's nearby Kennedy Space Center. In Daytona Beach, scientists from the internationally known Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University draw standing-room-only crowds at a local coffee shop.

Haddad said his hope for the cafes is to engage the public and generate excitement about the STEM fields that might filter down to the next generation.

"My feeling is STEM begins at home, with students who are being brought up by parents or relatives who have some interest in science and may encourage them to do that," Haddad said.

Attending a cafe does not guarantee a speaker as engaging as the popular host of television programs Bill Nye the Science Guy, as Walsh learned when he got lost in the extensive jargon of one lecture.

"I don't know that every scientist is gifted with the ability to work a crowd as well as deliver a lecture on targeted radiation therapy for tumors," said Walsh. "If you can find one that hits both those things, they should have their own television show."

(This story corrects web address in the 13th paragraph to sciencecafes.org from sciencecafe.org)

(Editing by Kevin Gray and Kenneth Barry)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/QfOePs_4cjA/us-usa-science-cafes-idUSBRE90T0WR20130201

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