Americans fed up with Washington, Obama, Republicans and Democrats: Poll

Washington, May 26(ANI): A new poll has revealed that Americans are frustrated with nearly everyone in Washington, including President Barack Obama, Congress, and the Democratic and Republican parties, and have become increasingly pessimistic about what the future holds.

According to the CBS News poll, seven in ten Americans are dissatisfied with the way things are going in Washington, including 22 percent who say they are “angry” about the situation.

The poll further highlighted that the president’s job approval rating has fallen to 47 percent, and Americans no longer say he shares their priorities for the country.

The percentage that says Obama shares their priorities has fallen to 45 percent, a drop of 13 points from October, while the percentage who say that he ‘does not’ has risen to 47 percent, up from 38 percent seven months ago.

It also found that just 15 percent overall approve of the job being done by Congress.

Meanwhile, opinions about the Republicans and Democrats are at or near historic lows, as 55 percent of those surveyed hold unfavorable views of Republicans, and 54 percent hold unfavorable views of Democrats. (ANI)

Study shows ‘female Viagra’ works

Washington, May 19 (ANI): A pill called Flibanserin can boost sex drive in women. It”s being called ‘female Viagra.’

A new paper from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists reports that after a 6-month treatment with the pill, women found improvement in their decreased sexual desire.

The FDA has not yet approved the drug, which was originally meant to be an anti depressant.

A survey conducted by a drug manufacturer, amongst 1,378 women who were suffering from a lack of sexual desire, revealed that the drug improved sex drive by 18 per cent, after a usage of 24 weeks.

Another study notched this number to four weeks.

Unlike the Viagra used by men, which increases bloody supply, this pill may affect a female”s mind and the neurotransmitters in the central nervous system, with minor side effects like dizziness, nausea, fatigue and insomnia.

For now Ashton suggests couples therapy and consulting a sexual therapist for these problems.

“You want to get at the root problem,” CBS News quoted her as saying.

“If it”s something like depression or a medication side-effect, deal with those things and hopefully you”ll see an improvement in your sex life.” (ANI)

Obama 2009 financials include $1600 pet Bo

Washington, May 18 (ANI): US President Barack Obama raked in a lot of moolah in 2009 – millions of dollars in book royalties and a 1600-dollar worth dog which was listed as income on annual financial disclosure forms released by the White House.

The Portuguese water dog, which was a gift from the late Senator Ted Kennedy, has been officially listed as the President’s income.

According to CBS News, apart from an inheritance worth 1,000 dollars or less from his grandmother, Obama earned between 1 million dollars and 5 million dollars each, for his two books “Dreams From My Father” and “Audacity of Hope”.

The other chunk of his finances include jointly held funds with wife Michelle, that were worth between about 2.2 million dollars and 7.5 million dollars in 2009, 1.4 million dollars from winning the Nobel Peace Prize, which the president donated to charity and of course, his salary which is 400,000 US dollars.

Vice President Joe Biden, however, received just one academic literature – a first-edition copy of “Anna Livia Plurabelle” signed by the author, James Joyce, and valued at 3,500 dollars, according to his financial disclosure report.

The giver was Margaret Spanel, a donor to Democratic candidates. (ANI)

Shahzad used “Hawala” system to get money: Sources

New York, May 14 (ANI): Law enforcement sources have told CBS News that Times Square bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad used the “hawala” system to collect money for his attack.

They said that he concealed the movement of money by using couriers and bypassing banks or other financial institutions.

The hawala system is a courier system used by terrorists and criminals to conceal the flow of money without raising red flags among law enforcement. It”s a type of informal banking system frequently used by family and tribes – at times legitimately.

Law enforcement sources said it”s unclear whether Shahzad used the hawala system in part or totally in obtaining financing for the attack.

As investigators probe a possible link between Shahzad and the Pakistani Taliban, one of the critical aspects is confirming the flow of money – who handled the money, who were the facilitators, to determine if they were associates or members of the Pakistan Taliban. (ANI)

US officials believe Shahzad used “Hawala” system to finance Times Square plot

New York, May 14 (ANI): US officials probing the bungled Times Square bombing plot, have established that Faisal Shahzad, the American civilian of Pakistan origin accused of masterminding the terror plot, had used the “Hawala” system to get money for his nefarious plans.

The Hawala system, which is famous in South Asia, is a courier system used by terrorists and criminals to conceal the flow of money without raising alarms among the law enforcement agencies.

CBS News quoted officials involved in the probe as saying that it was unclear whether Shahzad used the Hawala system in part or totally in obtaining financing for the botched attack, including the purchase of the SUV, and his ticket to Dubai from Kennedy Airport to escape the US agencies.

Meanwhile, in another major development in the case, US security agencies detained three suspicious men, all from Pakistan, in connection with Times Square bombing plot in raids conducted across several locations in Boston suburbs.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Customs Enforcement agents executed search warrants in various locations in the Northeast.

Raids were conducted in Boston suburbs, where two suspects were apprehended while the third arrest was made from Maine.

Another man having links with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who claims that he assisted Shahzad, was nabbed by Pakistani security agencies earlier. (ANI)

US officials believe Shahzad used “Hawala” system to finance Times Square plot

New York, May 14 (ANI): US officials probing the bungled Times Square bombing plot, have established that Faisal Shahzad, the American civilian of Pakistan origin accused of masterminding the terror plot, had used the “Hawala” system to get money for his nefarious plans.

The Hawala system, which is famous in South Asia, is a courier system used by terrorists and criminals to conceal the flow of money without raising alarms among the law enforcement agencies.

CBS News quoted officials involved in the probe as saying that it was unclear whether Shahzad used the Hawala system in part or totally in obtaining financing for the botched attack, including the purchase of the SUV, and his ticket to Dubai from Kennedy Airport to escape the US agencies.

Meanwhile, in another major development in the case, US security agencies detained three suspicious men, all from Pakistan, in connection with Times Square bombing plot in raids conducted across several locations in Boston suburbs.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Customs Enforcement agents executed search warrants in various locations in the Northeast.

Raids were conducted in Boston suburbs, where two suspects were apprehended while the third arrest was made from Maine.

Another man having links with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who claims that he assisted Shahzad, was nabbed by Pakistani security agencies earlier. (ANI)

Prostitutes give a thumbs-down to French brothel opening proposal

Washington, May 13 (ANI): A French lawmaker has suggested reopening brothels, outlawed in France since 1946, in order to protect prostitutes from predatory pimps and exploitation. But the sex workers have refused.

“All of the prostitutes are against the reopening of the brothels,” CBS News quoted Janine Mossuz-Lavau, a sociologist and expert on sexuality and prostitution, as saying.

A 2003 law introduced by then-Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy criminalized all activities around prostitution – which was legal for anyone aged above 18, has ‘rendered exercising this profession much more dangerous’ since workers found themselves isolated, Mossuz-Lavau said.

Chantal Brunel, a member of Sarkozy”s UMP party, wants to reopen the brothels as spaces where workers would be safe from human trafficking and violence, treated with dignity and would even receive medical care – a suggestion that 59 percent of French citizens support, according to a poll.

However, Tiphaine Besnard, a union spokeswoman for the sex workers” union, said that the matter hadn’t progressed in a long time. In any case, the workers rarely participate in political discussions or decisions involving them.

“Our elected officials … are doomed to repeat the same failures if they do not consult the people who live prostitution daily and know all the consequences of their policies.”

“We alone possess the expertise on our lives,” the union said in a March press release.

The reasons for the refusal are that brothel keepers who want to receive a cut of their proceeds would exploit the workers and mandatory testing for sexually transmitted diseases could lead to discriminatory policies that might bar those infected from working. They are also against a system that might divide workers into camps of regular brothel workers and others who refuse to work within that system.

Alain Plumey, a 62-year-old erotic art collector has said that the debate resurfaces every few years. His Museum of Eroticism contains substantial documentation on the brothels of the 19th and 20th centuries. By 1946, the brothels had closed indefinitely after experiencing years of stricter police controls.

He rubbished the government’s thought of criminalizing activities around prostitution, and that if it goes ahead and reopens the brothels, it would be on the wrong side of the law, for pimping.

No government has ever been able to eradicate prostitution, a profession most people practice out of necessity and not out of choice. Stamping out poverty or at least devoting more time to analyzing the subject in the press might be a step in the right direction, he said.

“We have to treat the causes, not the effects,” Plumey said. “Politicians pretend to treat the effects without taking care of the causes.” (ANI)

Outcome of US-led ‘War On Terror’ hinges on ‘Battle Of Kandahar’ success

New York, May 12 (ANI): The slated US offensive against Taliban in Kandahar could be the defining moment in the US-led war on terror in Afghanistan. More than 20,000 US troops are being mobilized for the do-or-die operation that will see the US go all out to reclaim the nerve center of the Afghan Taliban.

According to Stephen Biddle, a civilian adviser to Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the outcome of the entire war is riding on it.

“If we fail to secure this population, it”s hard to see how the campaign could succeed,” CBS News quoted Biddle as saying.

The operation is already under way with more than a hundred Taliban operatives being reportedly captured or vanquished.

Operation Cooperation for Kandahar, the official name for the operation, is unprecedented in scale and far outstrips previous US attempts at weeding out the Taliban militia from Marjah.

Right now there are only 12,000 U.S., Canadian and Afghan troops in and around Kandahar, and according to Michael Semple, an Irish EU official who has spent more than two decades in Afghanistan and is a Taliban expert, that”s not enough to stop the Taliban”s reign of terror, the report said.

Between now and July, the number of troops will essentially double. American and Canadian troops will set up bases in the districts surrounding Kandahar and spread out into the villages where the Taliban have their safe havens, the report said.

At the same time, U.S. and Afghan forces will establish checkpoints – 40 in all – on roads leading into Kandahar. Inside the city, U.S. troops will man every police station alongside Afghan police, though Semple has his reservations about the Afghan Police’s ability.

“The weak point in the strategy is the Afghan police. They have yet to prove themselves,” Semple said.

“The operation in Kandahar is 100 times more important than the operation in Marjah, that was a sideshow; Kandahar is the real thing,” he added

The Marjah operation is still not over and U.S. officers do not expect the Kandahar operation to produce results until the end of the year. (ANI)

Pals says new US Supreme Court judge Kagan no lesbian

Washington, May 12 (ANI): A close friend of newly appointed Supreme Court judge Elena Kagan has refuted allegations and rumors that she is a lesbian.

POLITICO quoted Sarah Walzer, Kagan’s roommate in law school and a close friend, as saying onTuesday: “I’ve known her for most of her adult life and I know she’s straight. She dated men when we were in law school, we talked about men — who in our class was cute, who she would like to date, all of those things. She definitely dated when she was in D.C. after law school, when she was in Chicago – and she just didn’t find the right person.”

Walzer, half amused and half appalled to be discussing her friend’s sexual orientation, agreed to be interviewed after Kagan’s supporters decided they should tactfully put an end to the rumor, which White House officials had already tried to squelch in background interviews with reporters.

She said she decided to talk to POLITICO because the discussion of Kagan’s personal life has become a “distraction.”

“It’s taking away from substantive discussion of the issues from a really substantive person who deserves to be given the opportunity to address the substantive issues,” she said.

Another friend, former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, a member of Kagan’s social circle at Princeton University, said: “I did not go out with her, but other guys did. I don””t think it is my place to say more.”

The rumor about Kagan has circulated for months on gay blogs and became a matter of controversy when it was cited as fact by a conservative blogger on the website of CBS News, drawing a sharp White House rebuttal. (ANI)

Hillary did not warn Pak of ‘severe consequences’: US

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not warn Islamabad of “severe consequences” if a terrorist attack inside the US were to be have its foot print in Pakistan, two top officials of the State Department have said.

“I don’t think she said that,” Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley told reporters when asked about such a statement given by Clinton in an interview to the CBS news on Sunday.

“I think she (Clinton) was responding to a hypothetical question that the United States, would take seriously any link to a foreign country where there are successful terrorist attacks. She’s not singling out any one country in particular,” Crowley asserted.

U.S. Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke, while addressing the media at Washington Foreign Press Centre, said that CBS edited the interview and did not show the entire portion of its interview with Clinton.

“As a result, the quotes appeared to be different than what the Secretary of State actually meant.”

Holbrooke also said US aid to Pakistan would be impacted as a result of recent developments; consequent of the investigations according to which Pakistani Taliban was responsible for the failed Times Square bombing attempt.

“She herself praised the Pakistan government for what it has done. And so, I urge you not to react to a misrepresentation of what she said, although I think that happens from time to time,” Holbrooke said asking journalists to get in touch with the State Department spokesman for full unedited transcripts of the interview.

According to an as-aired transcript of the interview released by the State Department, Clinton was asked: “Even in light of the Times Square bomber, you are comfortable with the cooperation you’re getting from the Pakistani Government?”

Clinton answered: “Well, no, I didn’t say that. I said that we’ve gotten more cooperation and it’s been a real sea change in the commitment we’ve seen from the Pakistani Government. We want more. We expect more. We’ve made it very clear that if, heaven forbid, an attack like this that we can trace back to Pakistan was to have been successful, there would be very severe consequences.”

Observing that Clinton’s quotes were not been taken in proper context, Holbrooke said: “I think that perhaps it was not fully understood for what she was saying by some people who didn’t see the full text or didn’t appreciate what she was saying. And of course, it was an edited interview.”

Meanwhile, a top Pentagon General strongly denied that he had ever told General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani that Pakistan was not being tough with the terrorists.

“Yes, there was an unfortunate news story that came out that was completely inaccurate that represented that I had expressed to General Kayani US policy on doing more, and that just didn’t happen. It was a one-on-one meeting and it did not occur. And I’d made it clear to General Kayani that I did not represent it that way,” General Stanley McChrystal, US and NATO Commander in Afghanistan told reporters at White House.

“I think that it is important that we understand that the insurgency faced by Pakistan, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), is an essential threat. I mean, it’s a significant threat to their country. And it’s complimentary to what Afghanistan faces. So it puts the two nations with a common problem,” he said.

“The Afghan Taliban and TTP are distinct, but they are not completely unrelated, and therefore it’s important we sync our two campaigns together. And that’s why I spend a lot of time with General Kayani, who’s a good partner working that,” McChrystal said.

Five hidden dangers of Facebooking

Washington, May 10 (ANI): An expert in online privacy has drawn attention to the five dangers of sharing information on social networking site Facebook.

Joan Goodchild, senior editor of CSO (Chief Security Officer) Online, claims marketing efforts by the company often results in a compromise on account holders’ privacy, reports CBS News.

Goodchild noted five risks of using Facebook on ‘The Early Show on Saturday Morning.’ They are:

1.Your information is being shared with third parties

2. Privacy settings revert to a less safe default mode after each redesign

3. Facebook ads may contain malware

4. Your real friends unknowingly make you vulnerable

5. Scammers are creating fake profiles

Earlier this week, 15 privacy and consumer protection organizations filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, alleging that the site manipulates privacy settings to make users” personal information available for commercial use. (ANI)

The Pill one of the most significant medical advances of last 50 years: US poll

Washington, May 8 (ANI): Over half of Americans think that the birth control pill has been one of the most significant medical advances of the last half century, a new CBS poll found.

Most Americans say “the pill” has had an impact on American society and on women’s lives in particular, and credit it with helping women enter the work force.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the birth control pill in 1960 and today 52 percent of Americans consider it as one of the most significant medical developments of the last 50 years.

According to the poll, conducted on May 4th and 5th, four in five Americans think the birth control pill has had at least some effect on American society overall, including 41 percent who say it’s had a great deal of impact.

Even more, 54 percent, think the birth control pill has had a great deal of impact on women’s lives in particular, reports CBS News.

Most Americans say women’s lives were changed for the better because of the birth control pill.

Only a quarter think it made no difference, and even fewer say the pill made women’s lives worse.

Men (59 percent), women (54 percent), and women who have ever taken the pill (54 percent) say that women’s lives were improved as a result of the birth control pill.

In fact, Americans think the birth control pill helped women enter the work force— 57 percent say the pill made it easier for women to have jobs and careers outside the home.

On the other hand, 53 percent of younger Americans say the birth control pill had no effect on the ability of women to work outside the home.

Among working women, 55 percent say the birth control poll has made it easier for women to enter the workforce.

The poll finds public concerns about the safety of the birth control pill have diminished over time. (ANI)

Iowa senator demands Congress probe on how Shahzad became U.S. citizen

Washington, May 7 (ANI): The Republican Senator from Iowa, Charles Grassley, has sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano asking for the “Alien” file on Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad and his family members and for everyone who has been a reference or a sponsor for the terror suspect.

Keen to know how Shahzad was granted American citizenship, Senator Grassley wants to know if this file was in the hands of the official who approved Shahzad”s citizenship.

An Alien or “A” file includes visa and travel history, financial and personal information as well as any derogatory information from law enforcement.

According to CBS News, Grassley also wants Shahzad”s arrival forms that he filled out each time he re-entered the United States and whether or not he sponsored other individuals to become citizens.

CBS news reported Wednesday that Faisal Shahzad had appeared on a Department of Homeland Security watch list between 1999 and 2008 because he brought 80,000 dollars of cash into the United States.

Grassley wants the documents by May 11, 2010. (ANI)

Family photo shows Shahzad posing near scene of Times Square terror attempt

New York, May 6 (ANI): Accused Times Square terrorist Faisal Shahzad posed for photos like a typical tourist during a 2008 visit with family and friends to the site of his attempted car bombing.

A photo obtained by CBS News shows the suspect standing with a group of people less than 100 yards from the W. 45th St. spot where he parked an explosives-laden Pathfinder.

According to the New York Daily News, the picture was taken between 18 and 24 months ago, and shows Shahzad with wife Human Mian and a half-dozen other unidentified people.

CBS News says the suspect is easily identifiable amidst the neon lights of Times Square, standing on a traffic island just a short distance north of the NYPD”s Times Square station.

The photo surfaced as the Taliban denied any ties to the Times Square car bomber. (ANI)

Times Square bombing is a reaction to US drone attacks: Qureshi

Islamabad, May 5 (ANI): Pakistan Foreign Minister Mahkdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi believes the attempted Times Square bombing is a reaction to U.S. drones targeting Taliban followers along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

“This is a blow back. This is a reaction. This is retaliation. And you could expect that. Let”s not be naive. They”re not going to sort of sit and welcome you eliminate them. They”re going to fight back,” CBS News quoted Qureshi, as saying.

Qureshi was speaking as police in Pakistan police confirmed the arrest of two people, one of whom, Tauseef Ahmed, is believed to have travelled to the U.S. to meet Faisal Shahzad. Both were arrested in Karachi, Pakistan.

CBS News has also learned that Shahzad may have spent at least four months training at a terrorist camp – raided in early March by Pakistani forces.

Though Pakistan is a key ally to the U.S., the country is still seen as a fertile training ground for militants.

Faisal Shahzad comes from a wealthy and educated family. His father is a retired high-ranking Air Force officer. But the failed plot will no doubt put new pressure on Pakistan to crack down on insurgents within its borders. (ANI)

Pak downplays involvement of Tehreek-e-Taliban in Times Square bomb attempt

Washington, May 3 (ANI): The claim made by the Tehreek-e-Taliban of being involved in an attempted car bomb attack in New York’s Times Square has been downplayed by Pakistani intelligence officials, as lacking in credibility.

An Internet video purportedly from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the failed car bomb attempt, the US monitoring service SITE said Sunday.

Posted on YouTube, the video said the attempted bombing was an act of revenge for the recent killing of two top Al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq, US drone strikes in Pakistan and US treatment of a Pakistani neuroscientist, SITE said.

“There is no credible way to prove that the Taliban have this kind of capacity to attempt such an attack in the heart of the United States,” said a Pakistani intelligence official.

“A claim is far easier to make than to be carried out in real life,” CBS News quoted a Pakistani intelligence official, as saying.

The intelligence official was responding to a statement on a website commonly used by Islamists in which the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attempt.

A Western diplomat in Islamabad said: “The Taliban have no demonstrated ability to strike in distant places. Structurally, they are far from being a global organization like al Qaeda.”

Taliban News apparently posted the video on YouTube early Sunday, but a service message said it had been removed because of a “use violation”.

SITE said the video contained an audio message from Qari Hussein Mehsud, a Tehreek-e-Taliban official that was played over anti-American images with English subtitles. (ANI)

“Smart drugs” use by US college students to illegally boost brainpower

Washington, April 26 (ANI): A US survey has suggested that college students are illegally boosting their brainpower by using ”smart drugs” like Ritalin and Aderall.

The college campus survey revealed the drugs are meant for those with attention deficit disorders.

Alan DeSantis, professor of Communications at the University of Kentucky, decided to study the use of drugs like Ritalin and Adderall because he was surprised to hear so many of his students talking about taking them.

He found that among nearly 2,000 U. of K. undergrads surveyed, 34 percent said they had taken them without a prescription and that the percentage rose, as students got closer to graduation.

“If you were to ask what percentage of juniors and seniors are using ADHD stimulants, the number is well above 50, pushing 60 percent,” CBS News quoted him as telling “60 Minutes” correspondent Katie Couric.

“Add in juniors and seniors who are in fraternities and sororities, the number is up [to] 80 percent,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis says nearly all the respondents said the drugs improved their scores by one or two letter grades.

According to DeSantis, 4 percent of undergrads at the University of Kentucky have legal prescriptions for ADHD stimulants and those students often have leftover pills they give or sell to their fellow students, like Lauren, a junior at the University.

“I”ve taken them to study for tests and write papers….If I”m not on Adderall, I”ll read something and I”m not really interested at all,” she explained how the drugs work for her.

“But then you take an Adderall and you…all of the sudden are just totally consumed in what you are doing,” she told Couric.

Scott, another U. of K. student, who says he does not take these drugs, understands why others do.

“Everybody”s trying to get an edge…if you can take a pill that will help you study all night to get that grade you need…a lot of people don”t see why they wouldn”t do it,” he said.

Scientists, like Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, point out that stimulants like Adderall and Ritalin can cause heart trouble and raise blood pressure.

She says the long-term effects of people without attention deficit disorder using such drugs are not known and she has another concern.

“The reality is there are side effects of these drugs,” Volkow said.

“One of them is addiction, but another one can be psychosis, so it”s not worth the risk,” she stated.

U. of K. student Catherine, who says she does not use smart drugs, raises another question.

“I feel that it”s an unfair advantage,” she told Couric.

“If the person next to me…can stay up the entire night and know the material and come in and make a better grade than me,” she added. (ANI)

Things you should never mention in your resume

Washington, Apr 26 (ANI): You might be a self-motivated worker and even a team player, but writing these on your resume does more harm than good to your chances of getting a job.

There are five popular catch phrases that should never make it into your resume, reports CBS News.

Talking on ‘The Early Show on Saturday Morning’, career adviser Liz Ryan, CEO of AskLizRyan.com, spotlighted the things you shouldn””t call yourself on a resume – at least, not without backing up the description with concrete examples.

In fact, she said that those examples could speak for themselves, without your actually using the terms you should avoid.

Ryan said that the underlying idea in writing a resume is to stand out, and using terms everyone else does hardly accomplishes that.

Revealing some of the typical or cliche phrases used in resumes, Ryan said: “’Results oriented professional’ is probably the biggest one used, and it””s meaningless! You””re talking about yourself, so why go into this weird robotic language that doesn””t describe much about yourself? For example, you might say, ‘I got into journalism, because l like to tell compelling stories’. But you wouldn””t say ‘I have a proven track record in the newsroom.’”

“Lines such as: ‘Bottom line-orientated,’ ‘proven track record of success” (as opposed to a proven track record of failure?!) are SO redundant. Yes, employers are looking for qualities like those, but it””s not telling them this. ‘Proven track record?’ It””s proven because it””s a track record and of course it””s successful, because why boast about failures? So they don””t describe you.

“Don””t just tell someone you””re special, give examples of what you do and what you enjoy. Anyone who says he or she has ‘excellent communication skills’ evidently doesn””t! Because, if you had them, you wouldn””t use trite words to describe those skills,” she added.

When asked how should one better describe his or skills, she said: “It should be done in teeny-tiny mini-stories. Instead of saying strong communication skills, say you built the company””s newsletter from scratch. That fits within a bullet point and it says a lot about you. And the phrase built from scratch is colloquial, so employers like that because it says you””re comfortable in your skin. It””s better to tell a little story that is more colourful than just a regular cliche. It””s grabbier than the common and trite phrases.”

“Saying you ‘work well under pressure’ as a journalist in a newsroom isn””t as smart as saying ‘kept calm during daily coverage of earthquake crisis’ – that way, prospective employers see it in their head, and that makes it graphic, visual, and they want to meet you. You””re coming through the language on the page. So again saying you””re ‘financially savvy’ won””t be as effective as saying ‘spent four days tracking down a financial leak’. Using that approach is more of a right brain approach (as opposed to the left brain): It makes your heart beat faster and gets an emotional reaction to your skills,” she added.

Ryan further said: “Instead of saying mundane lines like ‘excellent working with customers,’ we can say ‘saved our biggest client who was ready to leave’ It””s not stating you have potential ability, it””s giving concrete examples of when your skills have worked. Don””t say you have ‘strong negotiation skills’— give examples of things you have already done.

“You really have to do the work make the world””s shortest story about yourself. It cannot be a paragraph, but it starts by not standing back and saying what you think of yourself. Employers read all the time: ‘My friend says “I use my time effectively, I””m a team player,’ etc. ‘Tell what you did already’. (ANI)

Cyber attack targeted Google password system

Washington, Apr 20(ANI): The mysterious cyber attack against search engine giant Google last year reportedly included an attempt to hack a vital company-wide password system, which controls user access to most of Google’s web services, e-mail and business applications.

The program, code named Gaia, was attacked in a lightning raid, taking less than two days last December, CBS News quoted a source, saying.

However, Gmail users’ passwords do not appear to have been stolen, and the company quickly initiated security changes to its networks, the source added.

Gaia is intended to enable users and employees to sign in with their password just once to operate a range of services.

The new details seem likely to increase the debate about the security and privacy of vast computing systems such as Google’s, which store personal information of millions of individuals and businesses.

When news of the attack initially became public, it led to a row between Google and China, ultimately resulting in a decision by the company to reroute search queries to its Hong Kong site. (ANI)

Steven Seagal once asked Jenny McCarthy to strip

New York, April 17 (ANI): After being slammed by his former employee Kayden Nguyen, Steven Seagal is facing fresh allegations from Jenny McCarthy.

Actress McCarthy has come forward to claim that she experienced unacceptable behaviour at the hands of the action star.

The actor holds a long history of inappropriate behavior and former playboy playmate McCarthy said that she had suffered an uncomfortable situation with the “Under Siege” star.

She said in a 1998 interview Movieline magazine, unearthed by CBS News” Crimesider, that Seagal asked her to strip during a casting call for “Under Siege 2,” and then threatened her not to tell anyone.

“I go inside [Seagal''s] office, which has shag carpet and this huge couch, and he”s by himself and says, ”Sit on my couch,”” McCarthy, now 37, said. “[He says] ”So, you were Playmate of the Year?”

“Then he said, ”Take off your dress.” I just started crying and said, ”Rent my Playboy video, you a——!” and ran out to the car,” Jenny said in the interview.

“Actress did make those statements at the time and does not wish to comment further,” said Jenny’s publicist.

Nine other women also admitted to Penthouse magazine of their harassment case against the actor in 1998.

Nguyen has sued Seagal for 1 million dollars for sexually assaulting her and hiring her to replace one of two “attendants” who were “available for his sexual needs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” The New York Daily News reports. (ANI)