India, Pakistan peace necessary for growth, stability: World Bank

Peace between India and Pakistan is not only necessary for sustaining economic growth but also vital for building pluralistic democracies and sustaining the integrity of both states, says a new World Bank report.
"South Asia today stands suspended between the hope of a better life and fear of cataclysmic destruction," says the report noting "it is not only the poorest region in the world but also one whose citizens live in constant danger of a nuclear holocaust".
"The arms race between India and Pakistan (two countries that account for 93 per cent of the total military expenditure in South Asia) is responsible for this cruel irony," says the report "Promoting Economic Cooperation in South Asia".
India, which is ranked at 142 in terms of per capita income, ranks first in the world in terms of arms imports. Pakistan is not far behind, being ranked 119 in terms of per capita income and 10th in the world in terms of arms imports, it notes.
"The deadly nuclear dimension that since 1998 has been added to the India-Pakistan arms race is seen by the respective governments to reinforce national security through a presumed 'deterrence'."
Apart from the danger of an accidental nuclear war, the current structure of the India-Pakistan tension is such that a terrorist attack can induce military mobilisation and repeatedly bring both countries to a point at which the nuclear button could be deliberately pressed by one, then the other side, the Bank report said.
"Peace and economic cooperation with Pakistan are necessary for India not only to secure its strategic economic interests but also to maintain its secular democratic polity," argues the report.
"A high-growth, open economy framework for India today is inseparable from a liberal democratic political structure," it says, noting "the existing social forces of Hindu nationalism, intolerant of minorities, will undermine India's secular democratic structure as much as its economic endeavour".
Continued tension between India and Pakistan will only fuel extremist religious forces in both countries, to the detriment of their economy and polity, the report said.
"Pakistan, by contrast, is faced with an economic crisis whereby it is unable to sustain high GDP growth due to an aid-dependent economic structure, inadequate export capability, and recurrent balance-of payments pressures."
The persistent high levels of poverty in Pakistan and continued tension with India fuel the forces of religious extremism, it said, noting: "Armed militant groups have now emerged as rival powers to that of the state within its territorial domain, thereby threatening the structure of the state as well as the fabric of society."
"Peace with India will mean a substantially improved environment for the much-needed foreign and domestic investment," the Bank said. "This could play an important role in accelerating and sustaining GDP growth and poverty reduction in Pakistan."
"It is clear that through peace, both India and Pakistan can reap economic benefits for their people and secure their respective democratic structures against the forces of religious extremism," the report said.
"The national security of both countries is threatened not by the neighbour across the border but by internal social forces of intolerance, violence, and poverty," it said.
"A new structure of peace would reduce the danger of cataclysmic destruction from nuclear war and also provide the two nations with economic and political stability."
"Thus, by providing increased security of life and livelihood to both countries, national security in their respective nations will be enhanced," the report concluded.

Obama defies China and meets with Dalai Lama

U.S. President Barack Obama met the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, at the White House Thursday despite intense protests from China.

In a statement, the White House says the president commended the Dalai Lama's commitment to nonviolence and his pursuit of dialogue with the Chinese government. It said the president and Dalai Lama agreed on the importance of a "positive and cooperative" relationship between the United States and China.

The Dalai Lama told reporters he spoke with President Obama about the promotion of religious harmony and human values, as well as the increased role of women in leadership roles.

The talks took place in the Map Room of the White House, and not in Mr. Obama's official office, the Oval Office.

The meeting has drawn angry comments from China, which said it "firmly opposes" it. China last week called on the U.S. to "immediately withdraw" the invitation.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets with the Dalai Lama later Thursday.

The White House meeting was closed to the press, but the administration is to release an official photograph.

A spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry said last week the meeting could further damage U.S.-China relations, which have recently been strained by a planned U.S. weapons sale to Taiwan, disagreements over China's currency exchange rate and U.S. concerns over Chinese Internet censorship.

The Dalai Lama was in the United States last year, just before Mr. Obama traveled to China. But the president decided not to meet with him until after that trip.

Previous U.S. presidents have received the Dalai Lama, including George W. Bush, who presented him with the Congressional Gold Medal in 2007.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. He says he is not seeking independence for Tibet, just greater autonomy. China considers him a separatist.

American Idol 9: Top 24 Revealed

American Idol 9’s Hollywood session finally came to close Wednesday night, when the remaining members of the season’s Top 24 contenders was slowly, painfully revealed. How close is the reality to the spoilers that were released weeks and weeks ago? There’s only one way to find out.
Michael Lynche, Aaron Kelly, Didi Benami, Casey James, Todrick Hall, Lee Dewyze and Katelyn Epperly were all revealed as Top 24 contestants at the end of Tuesday’s two-hour marathon episode. Wednesday would narrow the remaining 37 would-be Idols down to a mere 17.
Janelle Wheeler was the first to be featured on the episode. The pretty blonde auditioned in Orlando and won her shot to Hollywood on a split decision from the judges. Wheeler was disappointed in her final solo performance in Hollywood, admitting that she “couldn’t take the pressure” once it was all over. Ellen DeGeneres led Wheeler’s interview. “It’s hard to tell somebody that has a great voice that they’re not going to go through,” she said, then surprised Janelle by giving her the good news - Wheeler is indeed in the Top 24.
Tyler Grady, who has something of a Jim Morrison vibe, was the next to face the judging panel. Kara DioGuardi remarked on his 70s-ish performance style, then smilingly welcomed him into Top 24.

Lacey Brown, who was rejected at the end of Hollywood Week last season, was the next to walk into the Kodak Theater to find out her fate. Would the second time be the charm for Lacey? “I think it was the right decision. I think I needed to wait a year,” Brown told Simon Cowell when she finally sat before the judges. “It’s really good news. You’re through,” he announced, making Lacey the next Top 24 Idol for the season.
Ashley Rodriguez, Alex Lambert and Joe Munoz were then very quickly welcomed into the elite group to join Lacey, Tyler, Janelle and all the others.
Crystal Bowersox was an early attention-getter this season. With her unique sound and look, she could go pretty far on the show - or, alienate too many of the voters. “I definitely can’t deny that this is huge,” Crystal told the cameras. “We were all in agreement on this decision. I want you to know that,” Simon Cowell delivered the words a little grimly, but the news was very positive. Bowersox was the next to join the Top 24.
Only ten spots remained in the competition at this point, but they would be quickly filled.

Katie Stevens caught the eye of the cameras during her audition, mostly by virtue of her back story (something about a grandmother). She has a powerful voice for one so young (only 19), and a pretty face to go with. It seemed obvious from the word go that Katie was going far in the competition, but the show chose to draw out the suspense and give her a lengthy video package anyway. By the way, you’re supposed to be forming favorites and quickly forgetting the faces Idol doesn’t really want you to care about. “It’s the worst thing in the world for me to ever deliver bad news,” Ellen DeGeneres told Katie, finally adding “So, you’re going through.” Nine spots left.
But they would not all hear good news that day. Many more contestants faced the judges only to hear bad news. The ones who have made it to this final elimination all have true singing talent, which makes the final cut the deepest of all.
Angela Martin gained attention several times during her audition path. Martin is a three-time contestant with such a dramatic back story, she was a lock to catch the producers’ eyes. Martin was in tears before she completed the walk to the stage, which drew out Kara DioGuardi’s sympathetic side. Pushing the younger girl to the side, Kara sat in the chair next to Angela to speak quietly to her, offering praise. “It has been so difficult to pick twelve girls,” Kara explained regretfully. “I’m sorry. Listen, you are a great singer.” Martin’s elimination was emotional and filled with hugging, not all of which seemed genuine.

Lilly Scott easily drew attention in Hollywood for her unique look and strong singing voice. “I wouldn’t say you have the biggest voice of all the girls,” Kara DioGuardi explained, but her speech ended on a smile. “You’re going through to the next round!”
Paige Miles, Siobhan Magnus, Michelle Delamor, Jermaine Sellers and John Park were all quickly welcomed into the ever-growing group of Top 24 contestants after Lilly Scott’s video package came to a close. If you blinked, you might have missed it.
With only three spots left in the Top 24, the holding room grew much more tense at the Kodak Theater.

Haeley Vaughn and Tori Kelly remained in the contest, but with only one spot left for females one would be forced to hear bad news. Simon Cowell told Haeley that she is “fantastic” at some times, and “annoying” at others. “But you are super, super talented,” he added. Randy Jackson questioned Tori Kelly, then gave her the grim news. Cowell had the honor of welcoming Vaughn into the group of Top 12 girls, which was now been fully revealed.

Thaddeus Johnson and Andrew Garcia were the next to compete for the same spot. Which one of them would be moving forward in the contest? Thaddeus made a big impression during his solo performance when he had a bit of a mix-up with the band. “I’m nervous,” he admitted to Simon Cowell as he sat before the panel. “You didn’t make it,” the judge delivered the bad news. “Come on, chin up,” Simon stepped forward to offer a handshake - a genuinely kind gesture from the stoic Brit. Johnson was extremely tearful following his rejection, and perhaps rightly so. He is a very talented singer, and received no real reason for being dismissed. That’s the business, kid.
Andrew Garcia unknowingly walked up to the judges, purportedly dim to the news of Johnson’s rejection. Ellen DeGeneres reminded Garcia that there are “only twenty-four people” being let through in the contest. “We can’t wait to see you. You made it!”
You might have noticed that Tim Urban’s name was shoved in at the end of the broadcast, when all of the Top 24 Idols were re-introduced individually. According to reports from the media, Urban is a last-minute sub for Chris Golightly (listed in the original spoilers). Golightly had to be replaced due to a preexisting contract which was thought to be in effect during his time in Hollywood.
As such, the list of the Top 24 is as follows:
Aaron Kelly, Andrew Garcia,Alex Lambert, Todrick Hall, Casey James, Tim Urban, Jermaine Sellers, John Park, Joe Munoz, Lee DeWyze, Michael Lynche, Tyler Grady, Ashley Rodriguez, Crystal Bowersox, Didi Benami, Haeley Vaughn, Janell Wheeler, Katelyn Epperly, Katie Stevens, Lacey Brown, Lilly Scott, Michelle Delamor, Paige Miles and Siobhan Magnus.

Samsung Would Launch a Chrome-Based Netbook This Year

Samsung is about to make public a new chrome-based netbook by this year. This netbook runs the Google Chrome OS, having integrated 3G, WiFi, and a battery that is good for 12 hours of run time. It looks like the Samsung N210 with a 10.1-inch LED backlit screen. 2GB of RAM is expected with at least 64GB of storage. The Chrome Os is free of charge and unlocked source.
At what platform the machine would run is still a moot point. Snapdragon from Qualcomm running 1.5 MHz is being expected the CPU in the machine.
The manufacturers are not providing the full specifications. It has storage memory less than 160GB that is really very surprising. Samsung already has a number of netbooks and notebooks that it put on the market.

Hands on pictures – Samsung Beam projector phone

While many of the Samsung-related MWC headlines may have focused around the company's new bada OS, the Android-boasting, pico-projector-packing Beam made a quiet entrance on the Samsung stand.

The phone is understandably thicker than a regular phone due to its added dose of projector functionality, but at least all the tech is hidden within the shell rather than having to be connected like LG's Expo offering from CES.

Unlike Sony Ericsson's newest phones, the Beam packs the latest Android 2.1 under the hood, as well the the new and improved TouchWiz 3.0 UI, which offers up to 10 homescreens.

It also features a large 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera, 720p video recording and playback, Wifi, 3G and 16GB storage on board – not specs to be sniffed at.

However, obviously the big selling point for this phone will be the projector, and as it can handle DivX and Xvid playback, as well as Powerpoint documents you can set up your own cinema or meeting room on the fly.

We had a quick go with the projector – you can project content from your phone, or even directly from anything you place in front of the phone's camera for a live view projection.

As you'd expect, as the picture gets bigger by moving the phone away from the wall, the picture loses brightness. This is when it will benefit most from properly darkened conditions .

It's not going to rival a fully-featured projector, but for what it'll probably be used for, it should work just fine.

Check out our hands on snaps above and let us know if you'll be buying when it comes out in the summer.

Microsoft says rootkit caused Windows blue screens

Users may have to reinstall Windows to eradicate the malware

Computerworld - Microsoft late on Wednesday confirmed that a rootkit caused Windows PCs to crash after users applied a security patch issued last week.

Only systems infected with the Alureon rootkit were incapacitated with Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) errors that prevented booting, said Mike Reavey, the director of the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC), in an announcement on the center's blog. "Our investigation has concluded that the reboot occurs because the system is infected with malware," said Reavey.
He added that the MS10-015 update was not at fault. "We have not found quality issues with security update MS10-015," Reavey maintained.
Microsoft's conclusion that malware was to blame was not unexpected. Last week, the rootkit -- also called TDSS, Tidserv and TDL3 -- had been named by security researchers as the likely culprit.
Within hours of the Jan. 9 release of MS10-015 and 12 other security updates, users reported that their computers wouldn't restart. Two days later, Microsoft halted automatic distribution of MS10-015 and launched an investigation, which revealed that malware might be the cause.
Yesterday, Reavey echoed independent researchers who earlier had blamed an address conflict between MS10-015 and the rootkit for the debacle. "Malware writers modified Windows behavior by attempting to access a specific memory location, instead of letting the operating system determine the address," explained Reavey. "MS10-015 was downloaded and installed, during which the location of Windows code changed. On the next reboot the malware code crashed attempting to call a specific address in Windows code which was no longer the intended OS function."
MS10-015 patched a 17-year-old bug in the kernel of all 32-bit versions of Windows.

Mozilla fixes Firefox with new release

Mozilla fixes Firefox with new release. (IMG:J.Anderson)

Mozilla has released an update for Firefox that addresses three critical and two moderate security issues. One interesting note is that Tuesday’s patch releases from Mozilla extend Firefox 3.0.x’s shelf life for at least another month, as the patches will move that branch up to 3.0.18.
Firefox versions 3.5.8 and 3.0.18 address three critical flaws in the browser’s rendering engine, including one that centers on the HTML phaser and the fact that it incorrectly frees used memory when insufficient space was available to process remaining input.
“Under such circumstances, memory occupied by in-use objects was freed and could later be filled with attacker-controlled text. These conditions could result in the execution or arbitrary code if methods on the freed objects were subsequently called,” Mozilla noted when discussing the flaw in an advisory.
The other critical flaws deal with potential code execution, due to browser crashes. One such crash was reported in Mozilla's implementation of Web Worker. Web Worker contained an error in the way it handled array data types when processing posted messages. If exploited, an attacker can “corrupt heap memory and crash the browser, potentially running arbitrary code on a victim's computer,” Mozilla said.
Two Cross Site Scripting (XSS) flaws were also addressed in Tuesday’s updates, one of which, according to an advisory, was reported by a researcher working for Microsoft.
For those using Firefox 3.6, you have no need to worry about updates. The flaws fixed on Tuesday were already corrected when Mozilla released it in January.
Security details are here.. Most users should have the proper patch thanks to the update system; it can also be downloaded from the Firefox website.

Microsoft Unfairly Blasted for Charging for Windows Phone OS

Microsoft is right--and well within its rights--to expect handset manufacturers to pay for its new Windows Phone 7 Series operating system. Have you seen it? The OS is gorgeous, putting even the iPhone to shame on looks alone.
Silicon Alley Insider has a post calling Microsoft's decision to charge for the OS the "joke of the week." The item says that since the OS isn't likely to generate more than $300 million-a-year in revenue than Microsoft shouldn't bother charging at all. (Ars Technica is also writing about this issue today.)
I think the real joke isn't Microsoft, rather those blowing this issue out of proportion. If handset vendors are willing to pay, as they seem to be, Microsoft should charge for the OS. If the smartphone makers were not willing to pay, Microsoft would, presumably, have made a different decision.
Yes, $300 million may be a mere one-half-of-one-percent of the company's $66 million annual revenue. But, skip $300 million there, another $400 million in another place, and pretty soon it starts adding up. I think the suggestion that not charging would have a noticeable effect on hardware pricing--making a Windows Phone 7 handset less expensive than competitors--isn't likely to play out in the real world.
Sure, Google's Android and now Symbian are both open source, but Apple and Research In Motion don't license their operating systems at all. I think an estimated $8-to-$20-a-handset is not too much to ask for Windows Phone 7. Neither would it be outrageous for consumers to pay a bit extra for Android, if Google had wanted to charge.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer addressed the license fee issue with reporters this week at the Mobile World Congress, where Windows Phone 7 was introduced on Monday.
"I think there's something clean and simple and easy to understand about our model: We build something, we sell that thing," Ballmer said.
The Microsoft CEO challenged the assumption that all major smartphone platforms, except Microsoft, are now free.
"I would say today we have two kinds of competitors, what we refer to as vertical competitors who make hardware, software and service. I think their model is actually also reasonably clear: They sell devices. We sell software to people who make devices."
Ballmer also took a predictable swipe an open source, generally.
"I think we really only have one or two competitors you could say who are on a model of free. My parents, like most other parents, said if something is free, you should take a look and find out where the real cost is."
Microsoft's charging for its smartphone OS is not a major burden on customers, and has the benefit of making it very clear where Microsoft's interests lie. While the OS license fee isn't how Microsoft hopes to make most of its smartphone revenue, it is consistent with Microsoft practice.
Most of the profits, to be clear, will come from content sales, app sales, and enterprise infrastructure sales. Also from the protection a successful smartphone gives other Microsoft products, including its Bing search engine.
To me sure, Ballmer, a trained economist, has done the math. If Microsoft really thought not charging for Windows Phone 7 would, perhaps, double its sales, the OS would be free. But, since the impact of the OS license fee is so slight, Microsoft will stay with the pricing model it knows can work.
Joke of the Week? Only for those who don't get Ballmer's point, and leave well-earned money on the table.

Google and Wikipedia — Separated at Birth?

In one of the few multimillion-dollar donations to be disclosed via a tweet, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales confirmed late Tuesday that Google had donated $2 million to the Wikimedia Foundation, the not-for-profit entity that runs Wikipedia and several other sites including WikiNews (board member Mitch Kapor actually blabbed about it first on Twitter). The foundation itself eventually put up a press release at the Wikimedia site describing the donation, which comes on top of the $7.5 million that the encyclopedia managed to bring in through donations last year.
The $2 million cements a kind of symbiotic relationship that has existed between Google and Wikimedia — and specifically Wikipedia — for some time. As most people have probably noticed, when you do a search for almost any topic, there is usually a Wikipedia link high up in the results (the site apparently gets about 60-70 percent of its traffic from Google searches, according to a recent estimate by Jimmy Wales). But is that just good content winning, or is it preferential treatment?
Google and Wikipedia maintain that pages from the user-edited encyclopedia show up high in search because the site has a large amount of particularly high-quality content, gets linked to a lot, and therefore ranks highly based on the criteria that Google uses for PageRank and sorting of search results. As one Wikipedia editor put it in a discussion about the issue on the encyclopedia’s site, pages at Wikipedia “suck less than most of the Web.”
Others complain, however, that Google is giving Wikipedia preferential treatment over other sites with high-quality content. Why would the search engine do that? One theory is that Google does this because it is effectively acting as Wikipedia’s advertising partner — since the site itself doesn’t carry any ads, Google gets to monetize that traffic using its AdWords and AdSense programs. Wikipedia gets lots of traffic and attention, and Google gets to keep the ad revenue. A marriage made in heaven?
The only sign of any friction between Google and Wikipedia came when the search engine launched a new service called Knol, which sounded very much like the open-source encyclopedia — pages that anyone could edit, with an added feature: an expert curator who would make sure the information was high quality. Despite much fanfare about the launch and the competition with Wikipedia, however, Knol has failed to make much of a splash, and its pages rarely show up in Google searches.
In a statement about Google’s donation to Wikipedia on Tuesday, co-founder Sergey Brin called the site: “one of the greatest triumphs of the internet” and “an invaluable resource to anyone who is online.” For better or worse, it sounds like Wikipedia and Google will be joined at the hip for some time to come — not just because of the money, but because the relationship benefits both sides equally. So is this symbiotic relationship a good thing? Let me know what you think in the comments.

Microsoft, Yahoo deal cleared in battle against Google

BRUSSELS-Microsoft Corpand Yahoo Inc said Thursday they have won unconditional approval from regulators in the United States and Europe for a planned search deal that would challenge market leader Google Inc.

Under the terms of the partnership struck in July last year,
Microsoft’s Bing becomes the search engine for both, while Yahoo focuses
on attracting big advertisers.
The deal was approved without restrictions by both the U.S.
Department of Justice and the European Commission. The companies said
they plan to begin the partnership in the coming days and be completed
by early 2012.
Google had 90 percent of the global search market compared with 7.4
percent for a combined Yahoo and Bing, according to November data from
Web research firm StatCounter.
“The (European) Commission’s first phase market investigation has
indicated that scale is an important element to be an effective
competitor in search advertising,” the EU executive said in a statement.
It said the companies expected their partnership to strengthen
Microsoft against Google.
The Commission said the deal would not significantly impede competition in Europe. Sources told Reuters last week the deal would be cleared without the companies offering any concessions.

Wireless power

You won't have to plug in your TV, and your iPhone will charge in your pocket.
For all of the progress we’ve made in developing wireless phones and Internet, we still depend on wires for one thing: when our devices run out of juice, we have to plug them into the wall. The more devices, the more tangled that mess of wires becomes. But Massachusetts-based WiTricity is working to free humanity from the tyranny of cords.
The company is developing a device that can be placed in the ceiling or on the wall of a room and wirelessly power just about anything that depends on electricity, ranging from lights to televisions to laptops. The prototype device can even recharge a cellphone while it’s in your pocket.
WiTricity, a spinoff from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was co-founded by physics professor Marin Soljacic in 2007. He began investigating wireless electricity transmission after being awakened one too many times by his wife’s phone, which began beeping whenever it needed to be recharged. Soljacic looked to the principle of magnetic induction for the answer. The trick was to run a current through electromagnetic coil, which converts the energy into a magnetic field. That field, in turn, could induce small coils embedded in wireless devices to generate electricity. WiTricity has improved the technique to allow for transfer over longer distances, meaning you could have a central coil in your ceiling powering all your devices, with secondary coils in your electronics to receive the power. The problem was the massive amount of power that can be lost through the process, but WiTricity claims to have invented technology that permits 90% efficiency in some cases, compared to using a cord.
WiTricity is now trying to convince manufacturers to include induction coils in their devices so they can be charged wirelessly. The company says that some such devices could be released by the end of this year. For now, the chargers will work at a distance of only up to one metre, but over the next five years, WiTricity hopes to sell chargers that will work over greater distances, and eventually produce systems able to silently power multiple devices wherever they are located in a room. “People take wireless communications for granted,” says David Schatz, the company’s director of business development. “The same thing will happen with charging. It will become an afterthought.”
WiTricity has competition, however. Devices are already hitting the market that employ magnetic induction over shorter distances. Powermat USA and Fulton Innovation, both firms in Michigan, sell pads that recharge phones and other gadgets that are placed directly on top. But they also are struggling with the fact that few phones and laptops come with induction coils built in. For now, an iPhone, for example, needs to be slipped into a special case (purchased separately) that contains the secondary coil required to recharge the battery. “One of our primary goals is getting into devices,” says Dave Baarman, Fulton’s director of advanced technologies. His company has already collaborated with Dell to release the Latitude Z last year, a laptop that can be powered wirelessly — assuming you’re willing to shell out US$349 for the wireless charging stand.
But while the technology for wireless charging is largely ready, a brewing standards war may slow its release. An iPhone in a Powermat case can’t be recharged on a Fulton pad, for example. To solve this problem, the Wireless Power Consortium — which counts Fulton as a member, along with Research in Motion and Nokia — is developing compatibility standards for wireless electricity.
The group is also working hard to make sure there are plenty of convenient places to charge devices in the future. Baarman says furniture makers are interested in creating tables and desks with built-in charging pads. Car companies are also looking into built-in charging pads, allowing you to power up on your way to work.
All of this suggests that one day soon, adaptors will be a thing of the past. “I picture in a couple of years being able to walk into a coffee shop, set down my phone, and leave with it being fully charged,” says Vlad Grodzinskiy, assistant product manager at Powermat. Considering how quickly wireless communication became the norm, cutting that final cord can’t be far behind.

Arizona Tech Council debuts medical expo with Johnny Bench

Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench will keynote the Arizona Technology Council’s first annual Health & Medical Expo March 25 — an effort by the group to broaden its focus.
“By launching our first annual Health & Medical Technology Expo, we are broadening our focus on health care and life sciences because ultimately, technology can help manage cost and efficiency and improve patient care,” said Steven G. Zylstra, president and CEO of the Arizona Technology Council, in a statement Thursday.
The 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. program at the Renaissance Hotel & Spa in Glendale will include breakout sessions, free health screenings, networking and exhibits.
“As a former professional athlete that has undergone joint replacement, I can testify to the importance of doing your homework and staying on top of the trends in health care,” said Bench, who will speak at the luncheon. “This unique expo is a prime opportunity to hear firsthand how technology is changing the way we take care of our bodies inside and out.”
Stryker Orthopaedics is presenting the event along with sponsors, CORE (Center for Orthopedic Research and Education) and Grandview Terrace lifecare community.
“The work of our member companies encompasses a wide range of products and services, and we felt it was important to share the latest health care innovations with the Arizona community at large,” said Zylstra.
Admission to the expo is $10, cost for the luncheon and expo is $40 for council members, $50 for nonmembers. For more: http://bit.ly/b1HqkX.

Politics this week

Coalition troops in Afghanistan mounted their biggest offensive against the Taliban since the start of the eight-year war. Centred on Marja, a Taliban stronghold in Helmand province, it involved foreign and Afghan forces. The coalition said early stages had gone well. But there were fierce firefights, and its advance was slowed by a vast network of bombs and booby-traps. Twelve civilians were killed in an American rocket attack. See article
It was revealed that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s deputy leader, had been captured in Karachi, Pakistan’s commercial hub. Analysts in America hoped this signalled a shift in strategy by Pakistan, which has long tolerated and even supported a Taliban presence on its soil.
Eleven people were killed in a bombing in the Indian city of Pune—the first such attack since the onslaught on Mumbai in November 2008. Senior diplomats from India and Pakistan are to resume formal negotiations in Delhi on February 25th for the first time since that attack. See article
The European Union suspended the preferential trade terms it has offered Sri Lanka over the government’s human-rights record. Sri Lanka has six months to allay the concerns.
USS Nimitz, an American aircraft-carrier, dropped anchor in Hong Kong, despite recent tensions between China and America. The port call began the day before Barack Obama was to meet the Dalai Lama in Washington, to China’s fury.
Tin Oo, the deputy leader of Myanmar’s main opposition party, was freed after nearly seven years in detention. His release came just before a visit to Myanmar by a UN envoy. See article
The birthday of Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s dictator, was marked with synchronised-swimming displays and a flower festival. He turned 68, or perhaps 69; the exact year of his miracle birth on the holy slopes of Mount Paektu is unclear.

Sticks and stones

The Democrats were dealt another political blow ahead of this year’s mid-term election when Evan Bayh became the latest senator to decide to step down, making his Indiana seat open to a Republican challenge. Mr Bayh is a moderate Democrat. He blamed legislative gridlock for his decision and later lambasted a “dysfunctional” Congress that suffered from “brain-dead partisanship”. See article
Patrick Kennedy said that he would not run for re-election as a congressman from Rhode Island, marking the first time in more than 60 years that a member of the Kennedy dynasty will not hold federal office. Mr Kennedy is a son of the late Ted Kennedy.

Debt burden

Sceptical European Union finance ministers meeting in Brussels set a deadline of March 16th for the Greek government to show that its deficit-reduction plan was taking effect. Failure to convince would, the ministers said, be met with demands for further austerity measures. See article
Following an American proposal to base parts of a missile defence system in Romania and Bulgaria, Transdniestria, a Russia-leaning province of Moldova, said that it had offered to host Russian missiles on its territory. Moscow said it wasn’t interested. See article
Meanwhile, Russia signed a deal with Abkhazia granting it the right to establish a military base. The independence of the breakaway Georgian region was recognised by Russia after its short war with Georgia in August 2008. The Georgian government said the deal with Abkhazia violated the terms of its ceasefire agreement with Russia.
Disputes over Ukraine’s presidential election rumbled on. Yulia Tymoshenko, the losing candidate in a vote internationally recognised as fair, presented Ukraine’s administrative court with evidence of what she said was widespread electoral fraud. The court suspended recognition of the election result, in which Viktor Yanukovych had emerged as the winner.

Eighteen people were killed and 170 injured in a train crash in Belgium, disrupting rail services, including the London-Brussels Eurostar.

Shorn identities

Dubai released film footage that, it claimed, shows a hit-squad at least 11 strong stalking Mahmoud al-Mabhouh before he was killed in January. Suspicion has fallen on Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service. Israeli reports suggest that Mr Mabhouh was in Dubai to buy weapons for Hamas from Iran. The assassins travelled on European passports, including six from Britain, prompting an inquiry there.
America nominated its first ambassador to Syria in five years and a senior American official visited Bashar Assad, Syria’s president, for “candid” talks. Diplomatic relations were broken off by America in 2005, but are being restored as it seeks Syrian help in the Middle East peace process.
In Kenya’s power-sharing government, Raila Odinga, the prime minister, sacked two ministers from the cabinet over alleged corruption, only for Mwai Kibaki, the president, to reinstate them claiming that Mr Odinga had exceeded his powers. One of the ministers, William Ruto, launched a bitter attack on Mr Odinga. See article

Recovery efforts

The Inter-American Development Bank estimated that rebuilding Haiti after last month’s earthquake could cost between $8 billion and $14 billion. Relief workers said that the immediate priority now is issuing tarpaulins to 1m people in makeshift camps before the start of the rainy season. See article
Argentina’s government said it would take measures to stop a rig hired by a British company from exploring for oil off the Falkland Islands. It issued a decree requiring ships crossing Argentine waters to reach the islands to obtain a permit. Argentina claims the islands, which it calls the Malvinas, as its own. See article
Police held José Roberto Arruda, the governor of Brazil’s Federal District, over allegations that he accepted bribes in connection with public-works contracts. Mr Arruda says the piles of cash that he was filmed receiving were for food and toys for the poor.
The Vancouver Winter Olympics got off to a bad start when a Georgian athlete was killed while training for the luge event; other competitors had denounced the track as dangerous. Canadians were cheered by their athletes winning several medals.

Dein to bolster England's 2018 World Cup bid

LONDON — Former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein was on Thursday appointed "international president" of England's bid to stage the 2018 World Cup.
Bid chairman Lord David Triesman, also the chairman of England's governing Football Association (FA), has come under fire for not devoting enough time solely to bringing the World Cup to England in either 2018 or 2022.
And an FA statement said on Thursday: "Dein will share with the chairman, David Triesman, a key role in the international promotion of England's campaign to host the FIFA World Cup. His appointment begins immediately."
Triesman added: "David (Dein) has a huge amount of experience in world football and an excellent network of contacts. We are very pleased that he will be joining the team in such an important role for the crucial final ten months.
"We are happy with the way the bid is progressing but it is important to keep the momentum building in any campaign, and to peak at the optimum moment, and we are sure David can achieve that with us."
Dein, an FA vice-chairman and former president of the now-disbanded G14 group of leading European clubs, said: "I am delighted to be part of the 2018/2022 bid and look forward to an exciting campaign.
"Having had 25 years in English, European and world football this was a challenge I could not refuse. Now the hard work begins."
Dein has already given assistance to the bid informally at the recent African Nations Cup in Angola, as well as at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Nigeria and on other occasions.
"We are now entering a critical phase of the bid both domestically and internationally," said England bid chief executive Andy Anson.
"During this time we need to continue to concentrate on our message to the FIFA executive committee of why England is the right country to be awarded the honour of hosting the World Cup.
"David (Dein) is able to give this international role his full focus and will play a key role in that advocacy within the campaign team."
A joint bid from Spain and Portugal is considered the main opposition to England, while Russia and Australia are also among leading contenders. The host country for both 2018 and 2002 will be chosen by FIFA in December.
England have only staged the World Cup once, in 1966, when they won the competition for the only time in their history by defeating West Germany 4-2 after extra time in the final at London's Wembley Stadium.

Pakistani PM plays down crisis; opposition pounces

Pakistan's prime minister sought to defuse tension Sunday over a Supreme Court decision to strike down a presidential order appointing two top judges, saying the dispute would not threaten political stability.
But the country's leading opposition figure, Nawaz Sharif, sought to play up the issue to pressure President Asif Ali Zardari, saying his decision to appoint two judges opposed by the court showed he was "the biggest threat to democracy."
Zardari has clashed with Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry in the past, and the court's decision to reject the appointments late Saturday, only hours after they were announced, sparked fears that the conflict could destabilize Pakistan at a time when it is battling a raging Taliban-led insurgency.
"Today, if there is really a danger to democracy, it is through these kinds of acts by Zardari," Sharif told reporters. "The government is attacking the judiciary to protect its corruption."
Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira responded by saying Sharif had spoken in anger and would "certainly correct his position."
The president's push for judges opposed by the court came about two months after it struck down an amnesty protecting Zardari and several other senior politicians from graft charges.
But Prime Minister Yousaf Reza Gilani denied the appointments had anything to do with the court's previous ruling and seemed to take a moderate stance on working through the latest disagreement.
"I want to give a message to the nation that the country's institutions are strong, and we will work within our domains," Gilani told reporters. "Let the court interpret."
The government is scheduled to present its case before the court on Feb. 18.
"If our stand is accepted, that is perfect. If not, we will accept that," said Kaira, the information minister. "What is there to fight over?"
Saturday's ruling came after Zardari appointed a new Supreme Court judge and chief of the Lahore High Court, going against the recommendation of the Supreme Court. Pakistan's constitution says the president must consult with the Supreme Court over the appointment of new judges.
The court order said no consultation had taken place and Zardari's appointments "appeared to be in violation of the provision of the constitution" _ a position disputed by the government.
Zardari has had a tense relationship with the court's chief justice, and refused to reinstate him for many months after he was fired by former President Gen. Pervez Musharraf despite promising to do so. Zardari was eventually forced to relent last year after demonstrations that exposed his political vulnerability and the clout of the judiciary.
Some local media speculated Sunday that Zardari would similarly have to back down this time and agree to the court's recommendations on the appointments, while also criticizing the court for escalating political tension in the country.
"Historically, clashes between these two institutions have led to disastrous consequences for democracy and constitutional continuity in the country," the respected Dawn newspaper said in an editorial. "The fate of a high court judge here or a retired Supreme Court judge there should not hold the country's political future hostage."
The tension will concern Pakistan's Western allies who want the country to concentrate on battling al-Qaida and Taliban militants in the northwest. The stability of the nuclear-armed nation is also key to Washington's hopes of defeating the insurgency just across the border in Afghanistan.
The U.S. has pressed Pakistan to target militants launching cross-border attacks against coalition troops in Afghanistan, but the government has resisted, saying it has its hands full battling local fighters waging war against the state.
In response, the U.S. has stepped up its use of drone missiles strikes in Pakistan's northwest, including one Sunday that struck a house in the North Waziristan tribal area, killing five people, Pakistani intelligence officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Also Sunday, a homemade bomb exploded in a busy intersection in southern Sindh province, an area that has mostly avoided violence in the past, regional police Chief Fayaz Leghari said.
There were conflicting reports about the death toll from the blast in Dadu city. Leghari said one person was killed, but local hospital official Rafiq Kolachi said three died and nine were wounded.
Attacks in Sindh have been rare outside the provincial capital of Karachi. The migration of violence beyond Pakistan's northwest, where most Taliban militants are located, has been a growing problem for the country.
Meanwhile, a top Pakistan Taliban commander, Qari Hussain, claimed responsibility Sunday for twin suicide bombings last week outside a police station in the northwestern town of Bannu that killed 15 people. It was the latest of numerous attacks by militants on security forces over the past several years aimed at undermining the public's confidence in the already-weak state.