Yahoo CEO’s comeback plan hones in on technology, not media

October 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Marissa Mayer, who earned a reputation for decisive action and intensity during her 13-year stint at Google Inc, has spent her first months as Yahoo Inc CEO quietly moving the Internet pioneer back to its roots in technology.

Long torn between

whether it should focus on media content or on tools and technologies, Yahoo under Mayer is being positioned firmly in the latter camp, according to sources inside and outside the company.

Her hires, acquisition musings, and other early moves hint at an ambitious, technology-driven comeback plan designed to revitalize aging but well-trafficked properties such as Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports.

Yahoo has been criticized for allowing these sites to stagnate – they look very much like they did five years ago, and do not have many bells and whistles to encourage users to spend more time on them.

Mayer, 37, wants to make Yahoo’s properties much more interactive, on PCs and on mobile devices, using social media tools to personalize the user experience and new technology to boost advertising sales. Her well-known focus on user design is expected to result in a simpler, less-cluttered email and home page, one source said.

Yahoo declined to comment for this article. Mayer, who gave birth to her first child weeks ago, will unveil details of her comeback plan when Yahoo reports quarterly results on Monday.

Mayer’s focus on technology in many ways reverses a course set by her predecessors, who had concentrated on media content deals, such as those that gave prime billing to Walt Disney Co’s ABC News or CNBC, or to bring an original program starring actor Tom Hanks to its website.

The new strategy is not without risks: it positions Yahoo squarely against Facebook Inc and Google. It also risks alienating a large, media-focused contingent that is already weakened by the departure of Ross Levinsohn, who had championed a media-centric approach when he was interim CEO before Mayer’s arrival in July.

Mayer has been meeting with Internet gurus including AOL Inc CEO Tim Armstrong, another ex-Googler; Silicon Valley lawyer Larry Sonsini; and Wall Street investment bankers, according to people familiar with the matter.

Bankers have pitched Mayer and her team on a slew of potential acquisitions, and they appeared to show interest in restaurant reservation site OpenTable Inc and advertising technology companies PubMatic, Turn and Millennial Media, one of the people said.

Caterva, a small start-up whose technology analyzes social media activity, has also been in low-level talks with Yahoo, said another source familiar with the situation.

OpenTable and PubMatic declined comment. Millennial Media and Caterva did not respond to requests for comment.

With more than $2 billion in cash and short-term securities, Yahoo has the money to acquire engineering talent or bolt-on services. Two types of deals are under consideration: companies that will increase user engagement, including on mobile, and those that will boost advertising returns, source said.

“What they’ve signaled so far is that the deals will be more niche in nature, smaller deals that maybe have a lot of promise,” said Ken Allen, a director at Blackstone Advisory Partners.

TALENT HUNT

Many industry insiders believe Mayer is Yahoo’s final hope for reversing a years-long decline from the pinnacle it once attained as the leading gateway to the Internet. Four of her predecessors have tried in vain to right the ship – Yahoo’s market value of $19 billion, is less than half its $44 billion value in 2005.

Mayer, who earned a masters degree in computer science from Stanford University specializing in artificial intelligence, has moved quickly on the personnel front, shelling out rich pay packages to attract ex-colleagues from Google and elsewhere.

She brought in ad technology systems guru Henrique de Castro as chief operating officer; a new finance chief in Ken Goldman, who also has tech chops, to replace Tim Morse; and Jacqueline Reese to assume the dual role of hiring and acquisitions, suggesting the start of a train of “acqui-hires” or buying small companies for their engineering talent.

“She’s spending almost all her time with the product folks. She’s spending it on technology. She’s talking about engineering hires,” a person close to Yahoo said about Mayer’s early days.

Yahoo’s advertising technology products, headed for the auction block before Mayer’s arrival, are back in favor. De Castro, her highest-profile hire, is known for a deep-understanding of the complex advertising landscape, where dozens of businesses and technology providers are interlinked.

Mayer has also shown an interest in the company’s ad tech platform, including Right Media, an automated exchange that allows marketers to blast ads across a network of websites.

The group has been a long-standing source of division among Yahoo’s management, including with Levinsohn, who was keen on divesting the unit, according to two sources close to the matter. But shortly after Mayer’s arrival, Yahoo told AdAge that it had no intention of selling Right Media.

Yahoo’s advertising salesforce, responsible for signing splashy home-page ad deals and premium marketing campaigns, has received scant attention from the new CEO, say people close to the company. Michael Barrett, Yahoo’s chief revenue officer hired by Levinsohn shortly before Mayer’s arrival, recently announced his resignation, according to a source familiar with the matter.

FOCUS ON MOBILE

Roughly 700 million users visit a Yahoo website every month – putting it in the top ranks globally. But the amount of activity people engage in on many sites is steadily declining, and its smartphone offerings are deemed lackluster.

“The largest change is to be deadly serious about mobile,” said a former Yahoo manager who remains in touch with people at the company.

Yahoo faces tough competition from Facebook and Google, two companies that have taken consumers’ time, engineering talent and market value from Yahoo. They are also trying to make the transition to mobile, but it has been difficult.

Some say the direction signaled by Mayer is not so different than strategies espoused by previous CEOs that Yahoo has consistently struggled to implement. A fragmented culture in which short-term finances usually trump product plans is to blame, according to those who know the company.

The recent departure of CFO Tim Morse could signal a change in approach, said several former Yahoo employees.

Morse was considered the force behind Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group and Yahoo’s $7.6 billion deal over the summer, which saw Yahoo sell about half of its 40 percent stake in Alibaba after years of wrangling over terms.

But now Yahoo’s Asian partners, including Yahoo Japan Corp, are not on the front burner for Mayer, one source familiar with the situation said.

Whether Wall Street has the patience for yet another Yahoo revival plan remains to be seen.

“Every CEO needs time to have their full vision articulated and understood,” said Dan Rosensweig, a former Yahoo chief operating officer, who now serves as CEO of online textbook rental company Chegg.com. “To count Yahoo out would be an enormous mistake, because the users have not counted Yahoo out,” he said. “It’s not like MySpace, where all the users went away.”

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Kidnapped at 11, raped for 18 yrs: US victim tells all

July 11, 2011 By

A California woman kidnapped as a schoolgirl and repeatedly raped over 18 years in captivity described graphic details of her ordeal, in a first ever TV interview aired on Sunday on ABC.

Jaycee Dugard, who was 11 when she was seized and kept in a back yard compound by Phillip and Nancy Garrido in 1991, described how she gave birth to two daughters of her own, and how that helped her survive. Giving birth, alone in a backyard and aged 14, was the most painful experience of her life, she said, describing her thoughts about when she first saw her baby daughter.

“She was beautiful. I felt like I wasn't alone anymore. (I) had somebody else who was mine…and I know I could never let anything happen to her. I didn't know how I was going to do that, but I did,” she told ABC news.

Phillip Garrido was given a prison sentence of 431 years in June, while his wife was jailed for 36 years to life, after the pair agreed a plea bargain over the crimes which shocked America and the world. Dugard, whose book about her ordeal “A Stolen Life” is published this

week, said the process of recounting her ordeal in full, harrowing detail has helped liberate her mentally.

“Why not look at it? You know, stare it down until it can't scare you anymore. I didn't want there to be any more secrets…I hadn't done anything wrong. It wasn't something I did that caused this to happen. And I feel that by putting it all out there, it's very freeing,” she added.

She describes the moment she was kidnapped, while walking to school from her home in South Lake Tahoe, California on June 10, 1991 as “like the most horrible moment of your life times ten”. Describing how she coped with the repeated rapes to which she was subjected, she said: “There's a switch that I had to shut off. I mean, I can't imagine being beaten to death. And you can't imagine being kidnapped and raped. So, it's just, you just do what you have to do to survive.”

She recalled her rescue in August 2009, she said,”The light came back … it was very dark for so long … but that light finally came back on,” she said.

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Iraq combat mission on track for August end: Biden

July 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Vice President Joe Biden said on Sunday the end of U.S. combat missions in Iraq was on schedule for August and would not be delayed if the country failed to form a new government by that deadline.

“There is a transition government. There is a government in place that’s working. Iraqi security is being provided by the Iraqis, with our assistance. We’re going to have — still have 50,000 troops there,” Biden told ABC News’ “This Week” program in an interview.

Iraq’s political parties have been deadlocked since an inconclusive March election over who should form the coalition government and serve as prime minister and president.

“I don’t have a doubt in my mind that we’ll be able to meet the commitment of having only 50,000 troops there and it will not in any way affect the physical stability of Iraq,” Biden said.

U.S. troops intend to end combat operations on August 31 before a full withdrawal by the end of 2011.

Iraqis had hoped the election would lead to stability and economic recovery seven years after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. But coalition talks could last several more months, exposing Iraq to a risky vacuum as it emerges from sectarian war but struggles to contain a stubborn insurgency.

The sectarian war between once dominant Sunnis and majority Shi’ites that kicked off after the 2003 invasion has largely subsided but a Sunni Islamist insurgency persists.

Suicide bombers killed 43 people on Sunday in two separate attacks against government-backed Sunni militias, Iraqi security sources said.

(Reporting by Alister Bull, Editing by Stacey Joyce)

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Biden says no hard feelings toward McChrystal

July 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 18 (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Sunday it was too soon to judge if a surge of U.S. troops into Afghanistan was winning the war and insisted he bore no ill will toward General Stanley McChrystal.

President Barack Obama fired McChrystal last month after a magazine interview in which members of a team led by the top U.S. general in Afghanistan belittled Biden and called Obama’s national security adviser a “clown.”

“I wasn’t the clown. I was the guy who, in fact, was their problem, they thought. I’m not their problem,” Biden told ABC News’ “This Week” program.

McChrystal’s interview with Rolling Stone magazine exposed divisions between the White House and the military on how to conduct the Afghan war.

A member of his team joked about the vice president. “Biden?” the aide was quoted as saying. “Did you say: ‘Bite me?’” Another aide called national security adviser Jim Jones a clown who was “stuck in 1985.”

“I didn’t take it personally at all. I really, honest to God, didn’t. Compared to what happens in politics, this is — that was a piece of cake,” Biden said.

But Biden said the situation left McChrystal in an untenable position and that six four-star generals had advised the vice president that he must go.

“I met with McChrystal. The president met with McChrystal. He was — he was really apologetic. He knew they had gone way beyond. But we also knew that if a sergeant did that, if a lieutenant did that — I mean no one could stay,” Biden said.

Obama replaced McChrystal by putting General David Petraeus in charge of the war in Afghanistan.

U.S. troops are encountering stiff resistance and mounting casualties from a resurgent Taliban, despite a six-month buildup in U.S. forces. But Biden said it was too early to say if the strategy was working or not.

“We knew it was going to be a tough slog. But I think it’s much too premature to make a judgment until the military said we should look at it, which is in December,” Biden said, adding that it would take until August to complete the troop surge.

(Reporting by Alister Bull; Editing by Eric Walsh)

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Biden: Iraq combat mission on track for August end

July 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 18 (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Sunday the end of U.S. combat missions in Iraq was on schedule for August and would not be delayed if the country failed to form a new government by that deadline.

“There is a transition government. There is a government in place that’s working. Iraqi security is being provided by the Iraqis, with our assistance. We’re going to have — still have 50,000 troops there,” Biden told ABC News’ “This Week” program in an interview.

Iraq’s political parties have been deadlocked since an inconclusive March election over who should form the coalition government and serve as prime minister and president.

“I don’t have a doubt in my mind that we’ll be able to meet the commitment of having only 50,000 troops there and it will not in any way affect the physical stability of Iraq,” Biden said.

U.S. troops intend to end combat operations on Aug. 31 before a full withdrawal by the end of 2011.

Iraqis had hoped the election would lead to stability and economic recovery seven years after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. But coalition talks could last several more months, exposing Iraq to a risky vacuum as it emerges from sectarian war but struggles to contain a stubborn insurgency.

The sectarian war between once dominant Sunnis and majority Shi’ites that kicked off after the 2003 invasion has largely subsided but a Sunni Islamist insurgency persists.

Suicide bombers killed 43 people on Sunday in two separate attacks against government-backed Sunni militias, Iraqi security sources said. (Reporting by Alister Bull, Editing by Stacey Joyce)

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Texas man indicted for being in contact with al Qaeda leader Awlaki since 2008

June 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Jun 4 (ANI): Barry Walter Bujol from Texas has been indicted on two counts for allegedly attempting to support al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and communicating with one of its top leaders Anwar Al Awlaki.

Awlaki, a Yemeni-American cleric, has been by US officials at the center of several recent terrorist plots targetting Americans, including last year’s deadly Ft. Hood shooting, which left 13 dead.

Bujol, 29, allegedly was in contact with Awlaki going back to 2008, when he gained the attention of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Houston, ABC News reports.

Officials said that Bujol, who used aliases like Abdul Bari, Abyu Najya, Pat Lex and Abdul-Bari Al Ameriki Al Aswad, was in e-mail communication with Awlaki.

The cleric allegedly provided Bujol with a document entitled, “42 Ways of Supporting Jihad”, ABC News reports

Bujol also allegedly asked Awlaki for guidance on how to provide materials and funds to foreign fighters overseas.

The two-count indictment charging him with providing material support to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and aggravated identity theft was unsealed late on Thursday.

The identity theft charge involves Bujol being in possession of a controlled identification card for transportation workers called a TWIC card (Transportation Workers Identification Card), which can be used to gain access to sensitive locations at ports and at other areas of critical infrastructure, ABC News reports.

According to federal law enforcement officials, Bujol allegedly tried to leave the United States on several occasions.

In February 2009, as he was attempting to fly to Yemen, according to law enforcement officials, Bujol was arrested on an outstanding traffic warrant, ABC News reports. (ANI)

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Indian American booked for sexually assaulting female passenger on 15-Hour flight

May 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New Jersey, May 26(ANI): A 63-year-old Indian American, Ramesh Advani, has been accused of sexually assaulting a female passenger sitting next to him during a 15-hour flight from Hong Kong to New York.

According to reports, federal authorities arrested Advani, of Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, for allegedly reaching under the unnamed woman’s blanket and sexually abusing her as she slept on the Continental Airlines flight that landed at Newark Liberty International Airport last week.

A FBI affidavit said that two passengers sitting behind the woman and Advani witnessed him allegedly touching her around her inner thigh, among other things.

The passengers also told the FBI that the touching lasted for “a period of time”, and they had kicked the woman’s seat “in an attempt to alert her”, ABC News reports.

Judge Michael A. Ship, in a federal court in Newark, has restricted Advani’s travel to New Jersey, and made him surrender his passport.

Meanwhile, Advani was released on a 100,000-dollar bond secured by his home. He has also been ordered to have no contact with the victim or the witnesses.

If convicted of the charge of abusive sexual contact, Advani could face a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a 250,000 dollar fine. (ANI)

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Somalia-based American jihadist using Rap music to attract Western recruits

May 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New York, May 20 (ANI): Abu Mansoor al-Amriki, the American jihadist based in Somalia, has reportedly developed a new and unusual approach to attract Western Muslim recruits — Hip-Hop.

Over the past year Amriki, whose real name is Omar Hammami, and who was born to a Syrian father and Southern Baptist mother in Alabama 26 years ago, has released a series of five rap songs over the Internet extolling the virtues of jihad and condemning America”s presence in Muslim countries, reports ABC News.

Hammami has emerged as the star of jihadi videos, praising Islamic militancy in Somalia and is believed to be a member of al Shahab, a Somali Islamic militant group aligned with Osama bin Laden”s al Qaeda that is currently fighting the fragile civilian government of Somalia.

While snippets of the five songs appeared in the background of a video released last year, the songs are now all available in their entirety on the Internet.

They represent a crude attempt to reach young, Western Muslims who may prefer to listen to music rather than a religious preacher.

His most recent release, “First Stop Addis,” however, named after the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, appears to be a few years old. The song, which emerged earlier this month and speaks of a love for “slaughter[ing] Crusaders,” references ex-president George W. Bush and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

In a better known title that emerged last year, “Blow by Blow,” Hammami softly invites American military strikes in Afghanistan and Somalia, “Bomb by bomb/Blast by blast/Only going to bring back the glorious past.” The song lasts about two minutes and 30 seconds.

The track is aimed at an English-speaking audience with a history lesson for those sympathetic to Islamic holy warriors.

According to the strict interpretation of Islam current in al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, music is forbidden. (ANI)

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US firm fights back at LiLo’s $100M lawsuit over ‘milkaholic’ baby ad

May 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 12 (ANI): The financial services firm E*trade has struck back against Lindsay Lohan who filed a 100-million-dollar lawsuit against them for allegedly defaming her over an advertisement.

E*Trade”s lawyers filed hundreds of papers in New York”s Nassau County Supreme Court, detailing Lohan”s dalliances with drugs and alcohol, purportedly to prove she lives in Hollywood and not Long Island, where her lawsuit was filed. E*Trade”s aim: to change the court fight from Long Island to Manhattan, where its headquarters is located.

“This is the whole reason we are suing them — for demeaning Lindsay.

“They are just proving how they operate — they play dirty,” ABC News quoted Lohan’s mother, Dina, as telling the New York Post.

Lohan alleged that a “milkaholic” baby girl who appeared in a recent commercial was modeled after her, also named ‘Lindsay’. She claimed that the ad invoked in her “likeness, name, characterization and personality” without permission, violating her right to privacy.

E*Trade”s ad unrolled during the Feb. 7 Super Bowl. In it, a baby boy apologizes to his girlfriend through a video chat for not calling her the night before, saying he was on E*Trade. The camera switches to the girl, who asks suspiciously, “And that milkaholic Lindsay wasn”t over?”

The camera then switches back to the boy, who replies, with apparent unease, “Lindsay?” before another baby girl, presumably Lindsay, moves into the frame and asks, “Milk-a-what?” (ANI)

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Joaquin Phoenix docu ‘packed with scenes of sex, drugs and nudity’

May 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, May 12 (ANI): Casey Affleck”s documentary film on Joaquin Phoenix could shock fans as it narrates the tale of the actor”s bid to become a rap star, packed with controversial scenes of sex, drugs and nudity.

The ‘Walk The Line’ star announced plans to quit acting last year (09) and concentrate on making music.

He grew a straggly beard and waded through a string of bizarre public appearances, which led many to believe his career-change was little more than a practical joke.

Then, Phoenix”s brother-in-law Affleck announced he would be filming his friend”s burgeoning hip-hop career for a documentary.

This further fuelled rumours of an elaborate hoax – even though the Oscar-nominated actor insisted he was serious about becoming a rapper.

Affleck has now completed his film, titled ‘I”m Still Here: The Lost Year of Joaquin Phoenix’, and has previewed the footage in a bid to find a distributor.

Reports indicate that the tell-all tale features shocking scenes of the star apparently snorting cocaine, ordering call girls and having oral sex with a publicist – fuelling gossip the film is in fact a ”mockumentary”.

But Affleck is adamant the footage is real.

“I wanted to explore what I thought would be an interesting period in his life. He said he didn”t want to act anymore, he wanted to try doing music, and that, right there, says something”s going to happen…” the Daily Star quoted him as telling America”s ABC News.

“I had no idea what exactly was going to happen and all that would unfold and every day I spent with him on this journey. It ended up being more and more fascinating, more and more things happened that were both in the public spectacle and a very private internal implosion that I got to witness. It made for this unbelievable, one-of-a-kind movie. You”ll find out what was happening in his life in that period – what was going on before he went on (sic), what was going on afterwards,” he added. (ANI)

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Pak man detained for explosive residue on hands at US Embassy in Chile

May 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 12 (ANI): A Pakistani man, who was recently added to a US terror watch list, was detained at the American Embassy in Chile for having explosive residue on his hands and personal items.

The US State Department identified the Pakistani origin man as Muhammad Saif-Ur-Rehman Khan, aged 27.

Khan’s American visa was in the process of being revoked in accordance with US law, and he was at the embassy to discuss the matter, ABC News quoted an official, as saying.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said that the man came to the embassy for a “consular issue.”

“We have information on this individual. We had brought him — invited him to come to the embassy, you know, to clarify the information that we have on this individual. And as he came into the embassy, our explosive detectors went off,” Crowley said.

Sources said that the individual was then subjected to further swabs and searches, which also tested positive. The suspect was detained and turned over to Chilean authorities for further investigation.

Additional, more definitive testing is being done to make sure the field tests did not create a false positive for explosive residue, which is common.

“We don’t think this was a spurious hit on our detection system,” meaning it was likely an accurate detection of explosive residue, Crowley said.

The FBI is looking into what connections the suspect may have with terror groups, and, if the tests prove positive, from where he obtained the explosive material. (ANI)

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Obama urges Hampton students to use education for public good

May 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Hampton, Virginia, US, May 10 (ANI): US President Barack Obama told students at the historical African-American Hampton University, to utilize their education not just to secure gainful employment but also contribute towards the greater public good.

“Now that your minds have been opened, it”s up to you to keep them that way, and it will be up to you to open minds that remain closed,” ABC News quoted Obama as saying during his Commencement speech.

Using the fast-paced world of 24-hr news where the line between reality and conjecture is often blurred, as a model, the President urged students to use their education in sifting truth from spin.

Taking up the issue of rising unemployment rates, he said he could see a silver lining.

“The unemployment rate for folks who”ve never gone to college is over twice as high as it is for folks with a college degree or more,” he told the graduates.

He also asked them to remember civil rights activist Dorothy Height by remaining vigilant in public discourse and holding the government accountable. (ANI)

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Ageing alone doesn’t cause poor sleep in elderly

May 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Melbourne, May 10 (ANI): It’s not just ageing that cause poor sleep in older adults, says a Chinese study with the largest-ever cohort of the very elderly.

Centenarians in China were 70 percent more likely to report good quality sleep than younger seniors age 65 to 79, according to Danan Gu, of Portland State University in Portland, Ore., and colleagues.

All other factors being equal, good sleep quality was 19 percent more common among respondents in their 80s and 38 percent more likely among those in their 90s, compared to those from age 65 to 79.

“These findings may support the argument that sleep problems at old and oldest-old ages likely arise from a variety of physiological and psychosocial factors rather than aging per se,” ABC News quoted Gu”s group as saying.

Another possibility is that people change their perception of “acceptable” sleep with advancing age, they said.

The researchers analysed a nationally representative, population-based survey dataset from mainland China, which has the world”s largest population of nonagenarians and centenarians.

The 2005 wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey included interviews with 15,638 individuals age 65 and older (43 percent men, 57 percent women).

Their ages broke down as follows: 5,047 age 65 to 79; 3,870 in their 80s; 3,927 in their 90s; 2,794 age 100 or older.

Overall, 65 percent reported good sleep quality, with 7.5 to 8 hours being the most common duration.

They found that sleep quality didn”t appear to decline with age, but there were trends for better sleep.

Men were 42 percent more likely to report good sleep than women.

Those of Han ancestry were 34 percent more likely to report good sleep than ethnic Chinese minorities, and those in rural areas were 9 percent more likely to report better sleep than urban dwellers.

After adjustment for socioeconomic condition, family or social support, smoking and drinking habits centenarians were 13 percent more likely to report good sleep quality than their 65- to 79-year-old counterparts.

The study has been published in a recent issue of SLEEP. (ANI)

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Mums’ psychological abuse could ruin kids’ self-esteem, career, romance

May 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New York, Mar 8 (ANI): If your mother has a habit of berating you all the time, it could take a toll on your future self-esteem, career and romantic relationships.

Many studies have showed that when mothers criticize, humiliate and withhold their affection, the toll it takes can last for a lifetime, revealed ABC News.

Women comprise 56pct of all abusers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the most common form of abuse is psychological.

“It happens a lot. Neglect and emotional abuse are every bit as damaging as sexual abuse,” the New York Daily News quoted Columbia University clinical psychiatry professor Dr. Philip Muskin as saying.

Such psychological scars can last for a lifetime because kids look to a mother for a reflection of themselves, said psychiatrist Carole Lieberman.

“If the mother is mean, the message to the child is that he is bad, worthless and unlovable. So that child grows up with this identity and expects the rest of the world to treat him like that, too. It affects them in their career and in their love life,” she explained.

Having an abusive mom has a terrible effect on self-esteem, said psychologist Daniela Schreier of the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

“You internalize the abuse and don’t trust yourself. It can affect your self concept. There is also a heightened level of anxiety in a person who was abused by their mother. And they may doubt themselves in their relationship choices,” she said. (ANI)

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US does not rule out Headley-Shahzad connection

May 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 8 (IANS) The United States has not ruled out a connection between two Pakistani Americans, key Mumbai terror plotter David Coleman Headley and failed Times square bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad, as it probes all angles of the case.

‘Well, it could be – there have been multiple plots that have involved the United States and Pakistan, citizens on both sides who have chosen to take these actions,’ a State Department spokesman said Friday when asked if there was any connection between the two cases.

‘I’m not aware that there’s any specific connection, but clearly, we are looking to see, while this individual was in Pakistan, who he met with, what support, if any, was provided,’ spokesman Philip J. Crowley told reporters.

‘And that is the reason why we are working so closely with Pakistan on this investigation.’

Asked whether the US was in touch with India about the Times Square incident, Crowley noted the two countries have a regular dialogue on counter-terrorism issues, but could not say at this point if there was an Indian link.

‘I mean, we have regular dialogue with India, including on counter-terrorism issues,’ he said. ‘I can’t say at this point there’s an Indian link to this case, but we do have dialogue with India on a regular basis on terrorism issues.’

Earlier, ABC News citing unnamed sources traced Shahzad’s links to another Pakistani militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad and suggested he was a childhood friend of one of the alleged masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai massacre.

However, the television network did not identify the Pakistani mastermind.

The Pakistani Taliban are denying any role in the failed car bombing, but have praised Shahzad for a ‘brave job done’, ABC said noting the suspected bomber was also in contact with former Tehreek-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud who was killed in a US missile strike in 2009.

‘The Mehsuds had been family friends of Shahzad, who is a son of a former high ranking Pakistani military officer,’ ABC News said quoting Pakistani sources.

Shahzad was reported to be in touch with a man named Mohammad Rehan, a suspected Jaish militant who helped him to travel to Peshawar and then to Waziristan and introduced him to Taliban.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)

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Failed Times Square bomber was 26/11 mastermind’s childhood friend: Officials

May 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 7 (ANI): Sources close to the investigations concerning confessed Times Square bomb plotter Faisal Shahzad have revealed that he has claimed that he was childhood friends with one of the masterminds of the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, in which 166 people were killed by Pakistani terrorists.

According to ABC News, intelligence sources privy to investigations into the botched bombing plot, Shahzad has claimed that he had contacts with many top notch extremist leaders, such as killed Pakistan Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, radical American-born Muslim cleric Anwar Awlaki and others.

However, the name of the Mumbai attacks mastermind with whom Shahzad is said to have close relations were not revealed.

Shahzad is also said to be linked to a man named Muhammed Rehan, who is believed to be a Jaish-e-Muhamed (JeM) operative and is in the custody of Pakistani authorities at present.

According to sources briefed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) probe, Shahzad, during his interrogation has revealed that he was angry over the continuous US drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas, and that he had suffered a personal crisis in his life.

Shahzad has reportedly said he carried out the attempted bombing because he was under duress and that he feared for his family’s safety if he didn’t fulfill the mission, sources added. (ANI)

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US”, Iraq, Afghan policies changed Shahzad from liberal to terror suspect

May 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New York, May 6 (ANI): What was the turning point that transformed him into an alleged terrorist? That is the question that has loomed large ever since Monday’s arrest of 30-year-old Pakistani American Faizal Shahzad for the attempted car bombing of Times Square.

Accordingly, an ABC News team traveled to Peshawar to speak with his acquaintances and find the beginning of the trail to a potential bombing.

What emerges is that Shahzad was by local standards from a wealthy family and friends described him as a “mama””s boy” who hated violence when young.

However, one of his cousin’s says he can””t believe Shahzad had a role to play in the foiled Time Square bombing plot.

“He wasn””t that type of person,” he says.

His family was apparently not religious. Family friends say they were never seen praying.

Faisal Shazad’s family are a professional, educated family.

Friends say two of his siblings moved to Canada, and one of his sisters is a doctor.

According to people in Pakistan who knew him, his shift to the United States 11 years ago changed him.

Villagers in Mohib Banda told ABC News, “before his marriage he was liberal, even cosmopolitan. After, he changed.”

This change also turned him against the United States of America, people who knew him said.

“We talked about the American policies toward Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan,” a childhood friend of Shahzad, Nasir Khan, told ABC News. “He was very much angry at that.”

Khan said he last saw his former friend 18 months ago. (ANI)

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Doubt cast over Watson’s record attempt

May 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The manager of teenage adventurer Jessica Watson has dismissed talk in sailing circles that she will complete her 200-day journey without achieving her goal – to become the youngest person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world.

The website Sail-World has published an article saying when Watson arrives in Sydney she will not take Jesse Martin’s record nor will she have even been “around the world”.

Sail-World quoted John Reed, the secretary of the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC), as saying Watson’s journey does not comply with the definition of around the world and bears no comparison with the achievement of Martin.

But when asked to confirm this was the case, Mr Reed told ABC News Online he made no such statement concerning Watson.

“The WSSRC does not know what route Jessica Watson has taken during her recent voyage,” he said.

“But the WSSRC course for a RTW (round the world) claim is clearly described in rule 26.1.a.”

The website has since removed Mr Reed’s comments and replaced it with a bold section highlighting the council’s rule, which states in part that:

“To sail around the world, a vessel must start from and return to the same point, must cross all meridians of longitude and must cross the equator.

“The shortest orthodromic track of the vessel must be at least 21,600 nautical miles in length calculated based on a perfect sphere.”

Watson will be more than 2,000 nautical miles short of an official record, according to Sail-World editor Rob Kothe.

But Watson’s manager, Andrew Fraser, has dismissed any suggestion she will not break a world record when she arrives in Sydney.

Mr Fraser says the concerns are ludicrous.

“Jess has ticked all those boxes, sailed under the four capes and crossed the equator twice, so in our opinion she will have sailed around the world non-stop, solo, unassisted and travelled almost 23,000 nautical miles in the process,” he said.

“If people want to get caught up with the technical component of a body that doesn’t recognise the record, that’s fine. We can accept that.”

Mr Kothe says by expert calculations, Watson will not break Martin’s record set in 1999 because she did not sail far enough north of the equator.

“We’ve discussed it with her PR team, who weren’t able to give us an exact number, but we gave them a figure of using those calculations of about 18,500 to 19,000 miles,” he said.

He says that leaves her short by 2,500 nautical miles.

“That’s what the WSSRC set up as the definition and that’s the basis on which our records are counted, and that’s the basis on which Jesse Martin sailed around the world,” Mr Kothe said.

“He sailed some 75 miles beyond the minimum distance. And to meet that record – and Jessica could possibly have been the fastest Australian ever to sail around the world, she’s been sailing very quickly – but to meet that, to go into the record books, the official record books of sailing, she would have to sail that distance.”

Mr Kothe says Watson will not be able to claim any officially recognised records.

“What she can claim and everyone will agree, is that she has done, she sailed amazingly well. She’s been a very tough little girl and all Australians should be proud of her,” he said.

Negative publicity

Mr Fraser says he is annoyed about the negative publicity.

“I don’t think anybody can dent her campaign,” he said. “I’m just annoyed that people try and discredit the achievement.

“And that’s OK. We are quite used to that now. She’s had to overcome a lot worse adversity since she started the voyage, so I guess the only positive is that it’s come out now, we can address it and move on.”

He says the WSSRC do not recognise any voyages from sailors under the age of 18, so Watson could never have challenged Martin’s record in the context of the WSSRC criteria.

He says as a result of the WSSRC decision to discontinue recognition of age-related journeys, there is no official body to recognise Jessica’s feat and therefore no official body’s rules that need to be adhered to.

“Jessica actually approached the WSSRC early last year about it and the advice she was given was quite simple. They said they don’t recognise the records,” Mr Fraser told Neil Mitchell on Fairfax Radio.

“It was on her website before we left and everybody knew about it before she left and everything that’s been alluded to was on the website before she left.

“But the particular organisation you’re referring to have decided two weeks out to make some noise probably to drive some traffic to their website.”

Watson is expected to sail into Sydney Harbour on May 16, two days before her 17th birthday.

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Sex ‘not the equivalent of a cardio workout’

April 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New York, Apr 29 (ANI): A steamy sex session is not the same as an intense workout at the gym, says a health expert.

“You”re not going to get the same [physical health] benefit as going out for a 2-mile jog,” Jamie Feldman, associate professor at the University of Minnesota Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, told ABC News. “Sexual activity provides some degree of modest exercise. But it”s not the same as getting moderate exercise for 30 minutes a day.”

Sex, however, can lower the blood pressure over time, says Israel Helfand, sex therapist and marriage counselor, reports The New York Daily News.

“But for this to happen, it must be done vigorously,” he adds.

Sex also increases the body”s “happy” hormones such as dopamine and cortisol, Helfand says.

“And it counteracts depression, improves energy and improves people”s mood,” he adds.

Consultant sexologist Eric Garrison points out its calorie-reducing benefits.

“And studies show that sex is known to relieve headaches and sinus pressure since it increases blood flow in the head,” he adds. “So the ‘not tonight, I have a headache,” excuse doesn”t really work.”

Ian Kerner, Ph.D., a certified clinical sexologist, said: “People who have healthy sex lives are likely to have healthier lives overall. People who have sex more often are more likely to go to the gym, eat healthy and take care of themselves. But if you are sedentary and have high blood pressure, this definitely has an effect on libido.” (ANI)

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Historical importance of Brighton bypass confirmed

April 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Melbourne, April 27 (ANI): The Brighton bypass, an Aboriginal site in the path of a major Tasmanian highway, contains the oldest evidence of human habitation in the southern hemisphere, it has been confirmed.

Nearly 3 million indigenous artefacts were found at the Jordan River levee north of Hobart.

The State Government of Tasmania asked archaeologists to examine the site after the Aboriginal community expressed concerns that construction of the Brighton bypass could damage it.

Rob Paton, the site”s archaeological director, said the final report on the dig confirms some artefacts are nearly 40,000 years old.

“They”re stone artefacts, they”re used for day to day living, cutting and sharpening. It”s that day-to-day stuff that really is rarely found,” ABC News quoted him, as saying.

Paton added: “That”s why to get a snapshot of what life was like 40,000 years ago is really quite unique, not just for Australia but for hunter-gatherer sites anywhere in the world.”

Tasmania”s Department of Infrastructure says the site will be protected.

Department Secretary Norm McIlfatrick said: “Our view is, and has always been, that we won”t carry out any work on that site until we have a full permit from the Minister for Heritage.

“Now that Minister will receive the report from us and our management plan and will also have the view of the community before he makes the decision.”

He supports the government”s alternative of building a bridge over the site.

McIlfatrick said: “Most of the heritage, or all of the heritage that we”re aware of, that is significant is under the ground.”

However, Nala Mansell-McKenna from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre is not impressed with the plan.

She said: “Building a bridge across it, removing the artefacts, is definitely not an option.”

The archaeologists” report will now be considered by new Heritage Minister David O”Byrne. (ANI)

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