Israeli victims' families protest prisoner release

BRUKIN, West Bank (AP) ? Mustafa al-Haj expected to die in an Israeli prison for killing an American-born settler hiking in the West Bank in 1989. Now lights decorate his home to celebrate the planned release of the 45-year-old and more than 100 other Palestinian convicts in a deal that revived Mideast peace talks.

While the Palestinians are joyful, the decision to free the inmates has stirred anger in Israel where victims' families say it is an insult to their loved ones.

Israel published the names of 26 men, including al-Haj, to be freed before the first round of talks Wednesday. In all, 104 prisoners have been slated for release in four tranches over a period of nine months that the U.S. has set aside for negotiations. But their freedom is contingent on progress in the talks.

The Israelis have granted early release to Palestinian prisoners in the past, including in swaps. The upcoming round, however, has sparked particularly high-pitched debate because it was linked to resuming talks and many of those to be freed were involved in deadly attacks.

Gila Molcho said the release of one of three men involved in the stabbing death of her brother in 1993 was opening old wounds. Her brother, Ian Feinberg, was killed in the European aid office in Gaza City where he was working as a lawyer.

"My brother's blood is being sold for nothing, as a gesture," Molcho said. "On a very personal level, there is pain."

Palestinians argue that those slated for release were acting during a time of conflict, before the two sides struck their first interim peace agreement in 1994, and that Israel should have freed them in previous rounds of negotiations.

"We used violence and the Israelis used violence," said Kadoura Fares, who heads an advocacy group for prisoners and, like many of those to be released, is a member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement.

Fares noted that the number of Palestinians, including civilians, who were killed by Israeli troops in wars and uprisings over the past two decades far outstrips the number of Israelis killed in Palestinian attacks.

In the first and second Palestinian uprisings, more than 1,200 Israelis and just under 5,000 Palestinians were killed.

The two sides are now making their third major attempt since 2000 to agree on the terms of the Palestinian state alongside Israel. The Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in 1967, but are willing to make some adjustments.

The last round of substantive talks was held in 2008, but a dispute over settlements kept the two sides away from the table until now.

The Palestinians are entering Wednesday's talks with renewed distrust, after Israel promoted Jewish settlements on war-won lands the Palestinians want for their state in three major announcements over the course of a week.

Abbas had insisted on a construction freeze in settlements, deemed illegal by most of the international community, before going back to negotiations. However, U.S. mediators failed to get Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to comply and Abbas relented.

As compensation, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry brokered the prisoner release and, according to Abbas aides, assured the Palestinians that the U.S. views Israel's pre-1967 lines as a starting point for border talks, even if Netanyahu does not.

Abbas is returning to talks amid widespread skepticism among Palestinians, but the prisoner release ? an emotional consensus issue ? could make up for that.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have spent time in Israeli prisons since 1967, on charges ranging from throwing stones and membership in outlawed organizations to involvement in attacks. Palestinians tend to view prisoners as heroes, regardless of their acts, arguing they made personal sacrifices in the struggle for independence.

In Israel, many consider those involved in the killings as terrorists, and some of the attacks are engraved in the nation's collective memory.

This includes the death of Amnon Pomerantz, a 46-year-old Israeli reserve sergeant who in 1990 made a wrong turn and ended up driving into Gaza's Bureij refugee camp with his car marked by yellow Israeli license plates.

Pomerantz was stoned and tried to drive away in a panic, but his car rammed into a donkey cart and injured two youngsters. This was followed by another barrage of stones and gasoline-soaked rags that set his car on fire. Pomerantz burned to death.

Another victim is Isaac Rotenberg, who survived the Nazi death camp of Sobibor, fought alongside partisans and made it to Israel after World War II. In 1994, at age 69, the contractor was killed with an ax from behind while at a construction site, his son Pini said, adding he finds it difficult to fathom that one of his father's killers is going free.

"It's painful to pay such a heavy price just as a concession for talks," he said.

In the summer of 1989, al-Haj ? who made the first list of those to be released ? was with two friends when they encountered 48-year-old Frederick Rosenfeld, during a West Bank hike, chatted with him and even posed for pictures before stabbing him to death.

Rosenfeld had immigrated to Israel from Washington, D.C. in the late 1960s and eventually moved to the Jewish settlement of Ariel, near the West Bank town of Brukin.

In Brukin, al-Haj's family did not want to speak in detail about Rosenfeld as they decorated his West Bank home with chains of lights ahead of his anticipated homecoming.

"I wish he hadn't killed that man and that he hadn't gone to jail for those long years, but this is God's will," Hamza al-Haj, 55, said of his younger brother. "This was a war time, in which people kill each other. You can't define one as a criminal and one as a victim."

Hamza said his brother was an activist in the first Palestinian uprising, which lasted for six years and ended with a historic accord of mutual recognition between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1993.

The family now hopes Mustafa, who earned a bachelor's degree in political science in a correspondence course, can start a family and find a job.

In Gaza's Bureij refugee camp, Fatima Nashabat, 48, said she is counting the hours until the release of her husband, Mohammed, 52, who has spent 23 years in prison as an accessory in the killing of Pomerantz, the reserve soldier.

"Last night, when they said he will be in the first group, our house turned into a big dance floor," said the mother of four. "We were cheering and singing."

___

Laub reported in Jericho, West Bank. Associated Press writers Ian Deitch and Max J. Rosenthal in Jerusalem and Ibrahim Barzak in the Bureij refugee camp in Gaza contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-victims-families-protest-prisoner-release-190756895.html

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French Drug Maker Sanofi (SAN), Maker Of Ambien, Subject Of Chinese Anti-Bribery Investigation; Accused Of Bribing Over 500 Doctors

Paris-headquartered Sanofi SA (EPA:SAN), the maker of the Ambien brand of insomnia treatment and numerous vaccines, has been accused of bribing 503 doctors and 79 hospitals in four Chinese cities to the tune of 1.69 million yuan, or $276,000. Beijing?s municipal authorities have launched an investigation.

Source: http://www.ibtimes.com/french-drug-maker-sanofi-san-maker-ambien-subject-chinese-anti-bribery-investigation-accused-bribing

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Which Kitchen Appliances Should Wise Up?

If you think about it, meals are kind of absurd because they have to happen every day. I love eating and I really love cooking, but three or more times a day every day? That just seems like a lot. Yet somehow it happens, because we need to sustain ourselves. Or whatever. Giz posts a lot of awesome and/or hilarious kitchen gadgets to help things along, but I'm wondering which appliances in your kitchen would be more useful if they were "smart." What would you want from a sensor-laden, wifi-enabled stove? Could a fridge with an onboard computer change your life? Or is everything fine the way it is? Dice and chop below.

Read more...

Source: http://gizmodo.com/which-kitchen-appliances-should-wise-up-1100763520

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London's Dustbins 'Mine' Passing Smartphones for User Lifestyle Data

Special hi-tech dustbins that?access the information of passers-by and sell it on to brands for targeted advertising?are being trialled?in London.

The technology is still in its early days, and the legality of the scheme is still uncertain.

Renew, the company that builds and sells the pod-like recycling bins, first installed them during the build-up to the 2012 Olympics . It currently has 200 units around the City of London, kitted out with wi-fi and LCD screens. The bins also offer live updates to displayed content.

Advertisers buy time on the screens, with local councils and charities receiving around 30% of screen time.

Renew has a 21-year contract to run the bins and each unit costs ?30,000 to build and install.

The potentially lucrative scheme is driven by seizing a niche market - broadcasting directly to affluent professionals.

The technology in the bins can identify the phone's manufacturer and MAC address. Over the course of a week Renew reports "4,009,676 devices captured with over 530,000 uniques acquired".

The potential for new advertising methods is being scrutinised by many companies in a fiercely competitive market. For example, a coffee company can track an individual's iPhone and know they usually stop around 8am for a coffee and a croissant.

But if the individual changes habits and stops in at a rival company, then the first company could pay to flash an advert on a relevant bin just as the individual is approaching, with a reminder of a loyalty scheme or special offer.

The scheme has raised concern over personal privacy, and Renew has even faced accusations that it is breaking UK law. The company denies this. "The gist of it is that we are collecting anonymised, aggregated MAC details. ?We're not really collecting a personal piece of data: we don't know who anyone is," Renew CEO Kaveh Memari told The Independent.

To report problems or to leave feedback about this article, e-mail:

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Source: http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/498127/20130810/smartbins-remew-smartphones-iphone.htm

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Three Big Ten players named to Sports Illustrated's Preseason All-American team

Written by Andrew Coppens on 09 August 2013.

The Big Ten has hit hard times as of late, or so the narrative goes in the college football world writ large. Proof of that? Try just three Big Ten players named to the Sports Illustrated Preseason 1st team All-American list. The three players on this years list match the same number on SI's preseason list from a season ago, although there are no repeat players from 2012 to 2013.?

Not surprisingly the three representatives come from "The Game" rivals Michigan and Ohio State. UM's Taylor Lewan (OT) is joined by OSU's Bradley Roby (CB) and Ryan Shazier (LB) on the list. Things got a bit better when SI moved to their 2nd team All-America list, as four Big Ten players were named to that team.?

Michigan State's Max Bullough was joined by Wisconsin's Chris Borland as two-thirds of the 2nd team linebackers, while Nebraska's Spencer Long (perhaps our biggest overlook on the Preseason Top 25 list) represented for the offense and Northwestern's Jeff Budzien (kicker) had the honors for special teams.?

Anyone notice something glaringly missing from the above named list of B1G players? Ya, a lack of any skill position players on offense - no Braxton Miller at QB on either the 1st or the 2nd team? Sorry, that's a slap in the face to our preseason No. 1 player in the Big Ten.?

But, hey, that's why they play the games right? As they say, sometimes in order to get respect you have to take respect and it sure looks like that's exactly what the Big Ten will have to do in this case.?

For what it is worth, only one Big Ten player made 1st team All-American by SI last season and that was OT Taylor Lewan, who somehow was left off the preseason list all together. Yes, not even a 2nd team mention for one of the best lineman the Big Ten produced over the past two years.?

So, perhaps in the end we should take these things with a grain of salt and tell SI as a conference and fanbase where they can shove their over hyped list??

Source: http://www.theb1gtime.com/teams/big-ten/three-big-ten-players-named-to-sports-illustrated-s-preseason-all-american-team.html

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Elise Stefanik wants to go to Congress | The Daily Caller

• 

Elise Stefanik thinks Congress could use more women ? including her.

A former aide to President George W. Bush and policy director for Tim Pawlenty?s presidential campaign, the 29-year-old Stefanik declared her candidacy for New York?s 21st District congressional seat Tuesday.?Stefanik?told The Daily Caller that her post-college Washington experience impressed upon her the need for change in the nation?s capital.

?I?ve learned that Washington is broken and desperately needs new ideas and new leadership,? she said. ?I think no matter what side of the aisle you are on, we need people to step up to the plate to shake things up.?

After graduating from Harvard University in 2006, Stefanik went to work for the Bush White House, first for the Domestic Policy Council and then for the chief of staff?s office. Stefanik?s post-White House career included working on Pawlenty?s ill-fated presidential campaign, working as communications director for the hawkish Foreign Policy Initiative and running debate prep for Paul Ryan during his campaign for vice president. After Romney-Ryan failed to take the White House, Stefanik moved back home to upstate New York to work for her family?s plywood business.

If Stefanik wins the Republican primary, where she faces at least one Republican challenger, she has a real shot of winning the seat from incumbent Democratic Rep. Bill Owens, according to Kyle Kondik of the University of Virginia?s Center for Politics.

?We have it rated as leans Democratic, which is a step up from it being a toss-up 50-50 race, so I have Owens as kind of a slight-favorite,? he told TheDC. ?It?s one of the 35 most competitive House races in the country just based on the kind of fundamentals of it.?

In 2012, Owens won re-election by less than 2 percentage points.

?If the environment is very good for the Republicans next year, this is one of the seats you could imagine the Republicans winning,? Kondik said.

Stefanik defines herself as a ?big-tent conservative.? As she tours the district, she says the issues voters express concern for mainly relate to the economy.

?The issues that I?m focusing on the most that I?ve heard from virtually every voter that I met with in the district are creating jobs and promoting economic growth,? she said. ?It?s been getting harder and harder for small businesses to make ends meet in the north country in upstate New York. So I?m looking to bring some new ideas to the forefront to change that.?

In the ad accompanying her entry into the race, she made clear that Obamacare is also an issue she intends to run against.

?Obamacare is causing health care costs to increase and quality to decrease, and I think we need to repeal and replace Obamacare with common sense reforms that people have a say in and that lower costs and increases quality and access for everyone,? she said.

Source: http://dailycaller.com/2013/08/07/elise-stefanik-wants-to-go-to-congress/

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Old-School Printing Company All-State Legal Acquires Vizibility To Get Into Mobile Business Cards

Vizibility, the mobile business card platform, today announced that it has been acquired by All-State Legal. Now All-State Legal isn’t exactly the kind of company we usually write about here. The engraving and printing company was founded in 1946 and its digital services don’t go beyond offering an online store. Clearly, though, even All-State legal has seen that traditional business cards won’t last forever and given that it probably has very little expertise in mobile, the company decided to acquire Vizibility. ?As the nation?s premier engraver and printer for professional services firms, we see business cards as the first form of mobile marketing,? said Joe Fuzak, President of All-State Legal in a statement today. ?But with sales of smartphones outselling PCs by 2-to-1, it is time to marry print and pixels.” Vizibility launched in 2009 and had raised $2.58 million, though earlier this year, it tried to do a $500,000 convertible note round and only managed to sell $242,500 of it. Chances are then, that things weren’t going so well for Vizibility and that it was actively looking to be acquired. All of its previous investors participated in the debt round. Update:?after we published this story,?a Vizibility spokesperson told us that All-State Legal Vizibility’s largest reseller. “When presented with the opportunity to participate in the debt round as a strategic investor, they moved quickly to buy.” All-State Legal will continue to offer Vizibility’s services and will now allow its customers to print Vizibility’s QR codes on their business cards, for example. All-State Legal users will also “receive a unique URL to embed in email signatures, text messages and other online sites that will bring up their digital business cards on any device.” The URL, of course, will lead to Vizibility’s mobile business cards online. The service will be available for free for All-State Legal business card customers. Users who also want access to Vizibility’s NFC-enabled cards and other advanced features have to pay an extra $79.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Io2bgL5jIoA/

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TogetherAZ Blog: Commitments ? Are You In or Out?

You said it. You meant every word, and you intended to do what you said that you would do. But, it didn?t happen. What did happen? What is the most important behavior to building trust and creating long-term successful relationships of any kind? Keeping your commitments!
This is the one key factor that sets the highly successful people and relationships in a category of being honorable. Ninety percent of our personal and the world?s problems and divorces result from people failing to keep their commitments. Politicos, heads of state, family members, partners and friends can point to the moment a relationship became skewed and doomed, due to a broken commitment.

So can you.

When you break enough promises to yourself, it won?t be long before you don?t believe in yourself any longer and others no longer believe you either. Keeping commitments to yourself is the reference point for doing the same with others. ?That?s not selfish- it?s self-loving.
When you fail to keep a commitment, your brain immediately starts looking for excuse or scapegoat. You didn?t have enough time to commit to complete the project. It?s just you, how or who you are. You had to buy that television at such an incredible bargain. That is an incredibly disempowering attitude that is void of any personal responsibility.

The truth is that you are responsible for EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS IN YOUR LIFE and when you get that, you have stepped into a mighty place of empowerment. The problem with this reasoning is it doesn?t really solve any problem. No, you can?t single-handedly make the stock market crash, but you are in charge of your response to everything that happens to you.

Acknowledge that keeping commitments to yourself is very important to you. Because we?re each individuals, we are the only ones who know what?s best or special, in our life. Don?t trick yourself with comments like ?Well that?s just how I am or who I am.?

It?s not!

When you cannot keep your commitments, that is simply a red flag telling where your work is. Failing to keep your commitments, large or small, will cause those you love to question whether or not you can be trusted about anything. Be impeccable with your word. ?
When you agree to do something ? do it as agreed. When you agree to meet someone, be there on time. When you fail to keep a commitment, you fail yourself first and the other person second. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Your loved ones and professional partners are measuring your actions against your words because your ability to keep your commitments, following up and following through on your word, is the single best indication as to what people should expect from you regarding future commitments. It tells them whether or not; you can be trusted to care for them and the relationship.
Be careful what you agree to because many people find it easier to say yes than no. It is better to only agree to what you can do. If you disappoint someone because of being over-committed or because you have difficulty saying no, you appear to be an unreliable people pleaser who frequently disappoints, rather than one who sets and respects his own good boundaries.
Don?t hold committing back because you feel it means you are locked in without any options. Not to worry, there is a way out: it is called renegotiating commitments. Your loved ones and your friends know that life sometimes gets in the way of your best intentions. When you are genuine and authentic, there is always a way to renegotiate an agreement that works for everyone. Being honest and direct about change leaves the other feeling respected and not abandoned or betrayed even when he or she does not get what they want.
So why do you think you came here at this time to this planet? Do we really think it was to buy and sell houses, go on vacations, dance in and out of relationships and shop the racks of Needless Markup and Saks? You came to stop playing small and start stepping into your power. That is why at a deeper level, we create all these experiences with rich, meaningful opportunities to grow.
Ethical process is more important than the end result or goal. Process is the grand teacher ? reaching your goal is the gift. You win if you are truthful and change commitments you must change, with compassion and understanding.

Source: http://stories.togetheraz.com/2013/08/commitments-are-you-in-or-out.html

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U.S. House passes Iran sanctions bill to slash oil exports

By Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON | Thu Aug 1, 2013 9:16am BST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives easily passed a bill on Wednesday to tighten sanctions on Iran, showing a strong message to Tehran over its disputed nuclear program days before President-elect Hassan Rouhani is sworn in.

The vote also highlighted a growing divide between Congress and the Obama administration on Iran policy ahead of international talks on the nuclear program in coming months. Iran insists the nuclear program is purely for civilian purposes.

The bill, which passed 400 to 20, would cut Iran's oil exports by another 1 million barrels per day over a year to near zero, in an attempt to reduce the flow of funds to the nuclear program. It is the first sanctions bill to put a number on exactly how much Iran's oil exports would be cut.

The legislation provides for heavy penalties for buyers who do not find alternative supplies, limits Iran's access to funds in overseas accounts and penalizes countries trading with Iran in other industrial sectors.

Existing U.S. and EU measures have already reduced Iran's oil exports by more than half from pre-sanction levels of about 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd), costing Tehran billions of dollars in lost revenue a month.

Most of the OPEC member's exports head to Asia, where the United States has worked with Iran's top four customers China, India, Japan and South Korea to push them towards alternative suppliers. The four have cut purchases from Iran by more than a fifth in the first half of this year, over and above the reductions made last year.

Oil prices have remained relatively steady, which has allowed the efforts to continue, but some analysts say further sanctions risk pushing up prices and damaging the economies of U.S. allies.

"This is almost like an embargo on Iranian oil imports. It is like giving Iran an ultimatum," a Seoul-based refining source said, after the vote. "I think we can find alternatives but we prefer Iranian crude as the economics are better. If very little Iranian crude is available, overall oil prices would rise."

The bill still has to be passed in the Senate and signed by President Barack Obama before becoming law. The Senate Banking Committee is expected to introduce a similar measure in September, though it is uncertain whether the language to cut exports by 1 million barrels a day will survive.

Critics of the bill said it shows an aggressive signal to Iran that last month voted in Rouhani, a cleric many see as more moderate. He will be sworn in on Sunday.

NO HIGHER PRIORITY

Rep. Ed Royce, a California Republican and Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee who introduced the bill with Rep. Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat, said the United States has no higher national security priority than preventing a nuclear-armed Iran.

Royce said the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's drive to develop a nuclear arsenal was evident. "New president or not, I am convinced that Iran's Supreme Leader intends to continue on this path," he said.

The vote showed a growing disagreement between the White House and Congress on Iran policy. A senior administration official said on Wednesday the White House is not opposed to new sanctions in principle, but wants to give Rouhani a chance.

The Treasury Department last week partially eased sanctions on Iran by expanding a list of medical devices that can be exported there without special permission.

One of the 20 lawmakers to vote against the bill, Jim McDermott, a Washington-state Democrat, said shortly before the vote that the rush to sanction Iran before Rouhani takes office could hurt efforts to deflate the nuclear issue.

"It's a dangerous sign to send and it limits our ability to find a diplomatic solution to nuclear arms in Iran," McDermott said.

A supporter of harsher sanctions disagreed.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "doesn't see our flexibility and good faith efforts as a sign of good intentions, he sees it as a sign of weakness," said Mark Dubowitz, the head of Foundation of Defense of Democracies, an advocate of sanctions.

"If anything, it's only going to be massively intensified sanctions that get him to blink."

But Trita Parsi, the president of the National Iranian American council, said the House action undermines the U.S. strategy which has long been one of good cop - bad cop.

The White House has taken a softer stance toward Iran's nuclear program and Congress has taken a tougher one. But now there are signs that the good cop cannot control the bad cop, he said.

"The impression on the Iranian side is not that it's good cop bad cop, but complete chaos and mayhem," Parsi said.

'TOO MUCH'

The bill also further denies Iran's government access to foreign currency reserves, and targets Iranian efforts to circumvent international sanctions against its shipping business.

"I think it's too much. Asian countries don't have much oil resources and they need to import a lot from the Middle East," said a trader with a North Asian buyer of Iranian crude. "If the United States keeps pushing further, it would be a big burden for Asian refineries."

While the bill has more steps to clear before becoming law, Asian buyers have already begun voicing their inability to reduce dependence on Iranian oil much further.

"Cuts in our imports from Iran have been the maximum as compared to other Asian countries," an Indian industry executive said. "At this moment there is no scope for further reduction."

India cut its Iranian oil imports by 43 percent over the first half of the year. That's more than the 27 percent cut by South Korea, 22.5 percent by Japan and about 2 percent by China.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner, additional reporting by Warren Strobel, Meeyoung Cho in Seoul, Florence Tan and Manash Goswami in Singapore, Nidhi Verma in New Delhi; Editing by Philip Barbara, Ron Popeski and Tom Hogue)

Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/08/01/uk-usa-iran-sanctions-idUKBRE96U1J620130801?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

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Video: Diageo reports strong full-year results

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Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/52629238/

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Apple CEO Tim Cook talking iPhone with the world?s largest telecom, China Mobile, Chairman confirms

January File Photo

We broke the news yesterday that Tim Cook was in China talking to the local telecoms about upcoming iPhones. It was speculated that along with the confirmed China Telecom, Cook would also likely be going after the big kahuna, China Mobile.

Today,?Reuters got a confirmation from China Mobile?Ltd Chairman Xi Guohua that Tim Cook did meet?in Beijing on Tuesday?to discuss the iPhone. The?Chinese telecom confirmed the meeting in an emailed statement saying only ?matters of cooperation? [iPhone]were discussed.

China Mobile is the largest carrier on earth with nearly 700M subscribers (about U.S.+W. Europe in scale) and is the only carrier in China not to have a distribution deal with Apple. Just getting a conservative 5% of China Mobile?s huge base would net Apple 35M additional iPhone sales.

A deal with China Mobile would likely spur significant additional iPhone sales, especially the widely-rumored cheaper plastic version coming online later this year. The talks come after Apple reported??overall flattening growth?in China, Apple?s second biggest market after the U.S.

Apple said last week that its April-June sales in Greater China, which includes Taiwan and Hong Kong, slumped 43 percent from the previous quarter. Greater China accounted for 13 percent of Apple?s quarterly sales, or $5 billion, down from nearly 19 percent in January-March.

It is Cook?s third known trip to China since he took over as CEO almost two years ago. Other things that may come up include?Pegatron?s supposed worker violation issues?and perhaps even?another Beijing scalping problem.

Update: The WSJ confirms the meeting and notes that Cook also met with China Unicom, the nation?s third largest carrier and current apple distributor.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/9To5Mac-MacAllDay/~3/BLXol_-2aSw/

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SEC sues ex-Santander executive, ex-Spanish judge for insider trading

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a former Banco Santander SA executive and a former Spanish judge with insider trading over a proposed takeover of Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Inc on which the Spanish bank had given investment banking advice.

In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New York, the SEC is seeking to recover nearly $1 million of alleged illegal profit by Cedric Ca?as Maillard, a former adviser to Banco Santander's chief executive, and Julio Mar?n Ugedo, the former judge.

According to the SEC, Ca?as, 40, had learned on August 5, 2010, that Santander was helping Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd prepare a bid for Potash, a fertilizer company based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

The SEC said that Ca?as, a Harvard Business School graduate, then tipped the acquisition to Mar?n, 42, a close friend with whom he had grown up and still talked to by phone, text message or email dozens of times a month.

According to the SEC, Ca?as soon bought the equivalent of 30,000 Potash shares through contracts-for-difference (CFD), which are leveraged securities not traded in the United States, and Mar?n bought 1,393 Potash shares. It said Mar?n has admitted to discussing Potash with Ca?as before making that purchase.

On August 17, 2010, Potash rejected an unsolicited $38.6 billion takeover from BHP Billiton, but the news caused Potash's share price to shoot up more than 25 percent that day.

The SEC said Ca?as and Mar?n quickly sold their securities, realizing respective net profits of $917,239 and $43,566. It seeks to recover those sums and impose civil fines.

"Ca?as used his position as an insider at an investment bank to trade CFDs based on confidential information," Daniel Hawke, chief of the SEC's market abuse unit, said. "To those who think they can mask their insider trading by trading CFDs rather than the underlying equity security, this case demonstrates our resolve to detect such trading and hold them accountable."

The SEC said Ca?as left his job at Santander in 2011 and now lives in Madrid, while Mar?n lives in Badajoz, Spain.

It is unclear whether the defendants have hired lawyers. Neither could immediately be reached for comment. Santander spokeswoman Julia Hayley declined to comment.

In April 2011, the SEC said former Santander analyst Juan Jose Fernandez Garcia agreed to pay more than $626,000 in disgorged profit and fines to settle insider trading charges relating to Potash. He did not admit or deny wrongdoing.

Canada ultimately blocked the Potash takeover on the ground that it did not provide a "net benefit" to the country.

The case is SEC v. Ca?as Maillard et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 13-05299.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Bernard Orr)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sec-sues-ex-santander-executive-ex-spanish-judge-210303078.html

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