Factbox: States wrestle with immigration policy

July 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – A judge on Wednesday blocked the most controversial parts of a new Arizona immigration law coming into effect on Thursday.

Parts of the law put on hold would require police to determine the immigration status of a person they have stopped or detained — for example for a traffic offense — and make it mandatory to always carry immigration registration papers.

Arizona, which has a border with Mexico, is not the only state to address the issue of undocumented workers through its legislature. “State lawmakers are forced to have to pick up the pieces of a broken federal immigration policy,” said Virginia State Senator John Watkins in a statement.

Below are some key facts about immigration and the states.

* As of June 30, bills similar to Arizona’s law had been introduced in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Rhode Island and Michigan.

* In the first half of the year, 44 state legislatures passed 191 laws and adopted 128 resolutions relating to immigrants and refugees, with governors vetoing five of the bills. This was a 21 percent increase in enacted laws and resolutions from the same time period in 2009.

* Most of the state legislation addresses employment, law enforcement and identification.

* In all of 2009 more than 1,500 bills were introduced in state legislatures related to immigration, compared to 300 in 2005.

* Immigrants made up more than 12 percent of the U.S. population in 2008 and the foreign-born share of Arizona’s population was 14.3 percent that year. In California, which is also on the border, foreign-born residents make up more than a quarter of the population. Latinos make up the biggest group.

* The Latino share of Arizona’s population was 30.1 percent in 2008. In neighboring Texas, Latinos made up 36.5 percent of the population and in California they made up 32.4 percent. In New Mexico, they represented nearly 45 percent of the population.

SOURCES: National Conference of State Legislatures, The Immigration Policy Center

(Compiled by Lisa Lambert in Washington, Editing by David Storey)

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Factbox: Key facts in U.S.-Pakistan relations

July 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Islamabad on Sunday, hoping to bolster shaky U.S. relations with a close ally in the struggle against militant insurgents in both Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan.

Here are some facts about the importance and problem areas of the relationship, what aid has been given, what Pakistan wants and what is to come:

STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE

Pakistan is of huge strategic importance and a main ally for the United States as it seeks to defeat al Qaeda and cripple the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the September 2001 attacks on the United States, is believed to be hiding somewhere along the lawless border with Afghanistan. The leaders of the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan are also believed to be hiding in Pakistan.

Washington is also pressing for Pakistan to step up the fight against its own homegrown Taliban militants, which U.S. officials believe were behind the attempted bombing in New York’s Times Square on May 1.

Washington needs Pakistan as it seeks to stabilize Afghanistan as U.S. President Barack Obama sends in an extra 30,000 troops in the coming months.

SECURITY COOPERATION

Much of Clinton’s meetings will focus on how to improve security cooperation, from intelligence-sharing to more equipment from the United States for its ally.

The two sides held an earlier round of talks in March and agreed to fast-track pending Pakistani requests for military equipment including helicopters, fighter jets and pilotless drones.

Washington has also pledged to deliver 1,000 laser-guided bomb kits to Pakistan and is considering more weapons sales to help Pakistan with insurgents in the Afghanistan border region.

KEY IRRITANTS

There is mistrust on a range of issues, from security cooperation to how aid is delivered. Most opinion polls show a majority of Pakistanis hold an unfavorable view of the U.S. government and are suspicious of its intentions. Pakistan’s government bristles when Washington complains it has not done enough to tackle militants in a war that has killed more than 2,000 soldiers and weighed on the economy.

Civilian deaths from drone strikes are also unpopular in Pakistan, although the civilian government is believed to privately support them.

A recent source of U.S. irritation has been delays in granting visas for U.S. officials wanting to audit how aid is spent while Pakistan complains about increased security checks for its citizens visiting the United States.

Clinton, in a visit to Pakistan in October, publicly expressed puzzlement that its government had been unable to find scores of al Qaeda leaders including Osama bin Laden who are believed to be hiding in rugged border territory that divides Pakistan and Afghanistan.

AID PROGRAMME

The United States is Pakistan’s biggest aid donor and has given about $15 billion in direct aid and military reimbursements since 2002, about two-thirds of it security related.

While Pakistan is being propped up by an $11.3 billion International Monetary Fund loan, a new U.S. aid package triples non-military assistance to Pakistan to $1.5 billion a year over the next five years.

The flow of money is being held up, however, as the Obama administration changes how it distributes that aid. Instead of largely using U.S. contractors and non-governmental organizations, it wants to funnel much of the aid via the Pakistani government and domestic NGOs in the hope this will bolster local capacity.

NUCLEAR COOPERATION

Pakistan would like a civilian nuclear cooperation deal with the United States, similar to the one Washington has with India, but there were scant signs of progress on this front during the March meetings.

The United States is leery of such a deal out of concern for how it might affect ties with New Delhi.

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari recently visited China amid signs that Chinese companies were ready to move ahead with plans to build two nuclear reactors for Pakistan, which could raise concerns in both Washington and New Delhi about nuclear proliferation.

(Editing by John O’Callaghan and Chris Allbritton)

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FACTBOX-Russia’s energy tsar: who is Igor Sechin?

June 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Following are key facts about Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin who oversees the oil, gas and metals industries of the world’s biggest energy producer.

Stocks | Global Markets

Sechin, a close ally of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and chairman of Russian oil giant Rosneft (ROSN.MM), gave a 90-minute interview to Reuters at the weekend.

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UPDATE: Cisco Introduces Smart Storage to Help Small Businesses Address Growing Storage Needs

June 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

SAN JOSE, CA, Jun 09 (MARKET WIRE) —
To help small businesses respond to the dramatic growth of electronic
information and meet their evolving storage needs, Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO)
today announced the launch of Cisco Smart Storage, a family of
affordable, easy-to-use desktop network storage solutions with integrated
business applications. Cisco Small Business NSS 300 Series Smart Storage
provides end users with an integrated, highly secure method to store and
share critical business data. Designed specifically for small businesses
with fewer than 100 employees, Cisco Smart Storage further highlights
Cisco’s focus on delivering the affordable, easy-to-use technology small
businesses need to drive productivity and growth.

KEY FACTS / HIGHLIGHTS:

Broad Technology Portfolio: With the addition of a new family of desktop
network storage devices, Cisco has expanded the industry’s broadest
portfolio of solutions to help small businesses connect, secure and
communicate.

– Cisco Small Business NSS 300 Series Smart Storage: The new family
consists of two-bay, four-bay and six-bay desktop network storage
units and provides small business users with a single storage solution
with integrated business applications.
— High performance: The network attached storage device provides an
efficient and manageable way to centralize, protect and share
information. Cisco Smart Storage delivers class-leading
performance, speeding backup and facilitating information sharing.
The devices can provide up to 12 terabytes of capacity with 2
terabytes drives. Higher capacities can be achievable as larger
disk drive capacities are qualified.
— Integrated business applications: Cisco Smart Storage extends
usage beyond storage with built-in applications and the ability to
add new applications in the future. Built-in applications include
a user-configurable Web server with an integrated WordPress
publishing platform, and built-in servers help simplify user
authentication and management of the network.
— Security: Security measures on Cisco Smart Storage deliver highly
secure remote and Web access while helping preventing unauthorized
access. On-disk data encryption helps protect critical business
data even if the hard drives are stolen, a business-class feature
that most small business storage solutions do not provide.
— Simplified configuration and management: Cisco Smart Storage
devices can be set up in minutes and are easy to configure and
manage with a straightforward browser-based interface.
— Flexibility: Cisco Smart Storage supports file sharing across all
popular operating systems or can be configured as an iSCSI target
for virtualized and clustered environments.
— Energy-efficient operation: The storage devices allow small
businesses to schedule power on/off according to working hours. It
also conserves power with an Energy Star V-rated power adapter and
hard disk drives that spin down on inactivity.

Partner Profitability: Cisco continues to invest in helping its
small business partners create opportunities to increase their profits,
compete more effectively, and build profitable, sustainable small
business practices.

– The Cisco Smart Storage Family provides partners with an opportunity
to wrap professional services around the deployment of business
applications while delivering additional value to customers.
– Simplified configuration and management helps partners serve their
customers faster and more efficiently. Cisco Smart Designs provide
network design and implementation best practices to further boost
partner efficiency and profitability.
– Cisco Partner Design Support offers partners additional assistance
through access to a team of engineers focused on Cisco Small Business
technology best practices.

Services and Support: Cisco is committed to offering unique services
and support to help partners sell and deliver technology solutions that
build customer loyalty.

– The Cisco Small Business Pro Service can be purchased with the Cisco
Small Business NSS 300 Series Smart Storage. The Cisco Small Business
Pro Service provides small businesses with three years of technical
support, including:
— Software updates, online chat support 24 hours a day, next
business-day hardware replacement as necessary, call support
during local business hours and extended access to the Cisco Small
Business Support Center.

Product Pricing and Availability

– Cisco Small Business NSS 300 Series Smart Storage list prices range
from $913 to $5,625 USD, depending on the model. The solution is
available worldwide.
– The Cisco Small Business Pro Service is $149 USD for most NSS 300
Series configurations.

Supporting Quotes

– Ray Boggs, vice president, SMB Research, IDC:
“Over half of small
businesses expect their storage needs to increase in the next 12
months, and about a third of those expecting growth identify expanding
storage capacity or improving storage management is one their top IT
priorities.”

– Ian Pennell, co-chair, Small Business Council, Cisco:
“To help small
businesses effectively manage the explosion of electronic information,
we’ve built an innovative new family of storage solutions. The
addition of these new devices further emphasizes Cisco’s commitment to
providing small businesses with affordable, easy-to-use technology
they require to optimize productivity and drive growth.”

– Andrew Sage, vice president, Worldwide Small Business Sales, Cisco:

“Partners are an essential ingredient in Cisco’s small business
strategy. To help Cisco small business partners hit the ground running
with our network attached storage solution, we are making available
the full suite of tools, training, support and profitability programs
partners need to grow their business.”

Supporting Resources

– Read the News@Cisco Feature: “The Importance of Network Storage for
SMBs”
– Visit Cisco Small Business website
– Visit Cisco Small Business U.S. Spanish website
– Visit Cisco Partner Central website
– Become a fan of Cisco Small Business on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/CiscoSmallBusiness

– Follow Cisco Small Business on Twitter @CiscoSmallBiz
– Visit the Cisco Small Business Innovators Forum, a community for small
business owners
– Visit the Cisco Small Business Support Community
– Visit the Cisco blog, The Platform
– Visit the Cisco Channels blog

Technorati Tags: Cisco Small Business, Cisco Smart Storage, small
business technology, Cisco Small Business Technology Group, Cisco Small
Business Series, small business networking, small business services,
small business storage, network storage, NAS, network-attached storage,
data storage

About Cisco Systems
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in
networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and
collaborate, this year celebrates 25 years of technology innovation,
operational excellence and corporate social responsibility. Information
about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news,
please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.

Cisco, the Cisco logo, and Cisco Systems are registered trademarks,
trademarks, or service marks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates
in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks
mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.
The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship
between Cisco and any other company. This document is Cisco Public
Information.

For direct RSS Feeds of all Cisco news, please visit “News@Cisco” at the
following link:

http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/rss.html

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Cisco Press Contact:
Katie Taylor
Cisco
(408) 525-8289
katitayl@cisco.com

Industry Analyst Contact:
Laura Irwin
Cisco
(408) 853-8876
lirwin@cisco.com

Investor Relations Contact:
Matt Tractenberg
Cisco
(408) 525-3170
matthew2@cisco.com

Copyright 2010, Market Wire, All rights reserved.

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EffectiveUI Unleashes Creativity for the Apple iPad Through Ideate Sketching Application

April 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

DENVER, CO, Apr 02 (MARKET WIRE) —

News Facts

– EffectiveUI today launched Ideate(TM), a sketching application for
the iPad(TM) that helps people collaboratively bring their ideas to
life.
– Ideate is one of the first applications created specifically for the
iPad.
– The application is unique because of the templates and the library of
clips and icons it offers for several different audiences:
— Physicians: Diagrams of different systems and body parts help
medical professionals illustrate diagnoses
— Fashion Designers: Model templates help bring next season’s
hottest fashions to life
— Coaches: From hockey to basketball to soccer, field templates help
team leaders visualize their plays
— Landscape Architects: Easily demonstrate how shrubs, trees and
rocks will beautify a landscape
— Musicians: Scores provide a quick way to capture a tune before
it’s forgotten
— User Interface Designers: Interface templates provide a starting
point for application development
— Doodlers: Blank slates, grids and even tic-tac-toe templates
beckon the best scribbles and sketches
– Photos and other images can be uploaded from the user’s photo album or
the Web and used as templates or additions to sketches.
– Sketches can be shared with others via e-mail or by uploading to
Flickr.

Other Key Facts About Ideate

– Ideate was created by designers and developers who were seeking a way
to capture their ideas digitally.
– As the development progressed, user research brought to light several
other professions and audiences that could benefit from the ability to
turn ideas into visuals.
– EffectiveUI created the application with a goal of showcasing the
power and functionality of the iPad and giving users a glimpse into
the future of collaborative computing.
– The application is available on the App Store(SM) for $3.99.

Supporting Quotes:

– “This application will meet so many different needs for people to
better capture and share their ideas,” said Rebecca Flavin, CEO of
EffectiveUI. “The Apple iPad is a perfect platform for this kind of
collaboration, and the developers at EffectiveUI were able to leverage
the device’s unique features to develop this useful tool. We are
invested in Ideate and are using it internally to better communicate
our ideas and concepts. We’ll continue to enhance the feature set to
provide even more opportunities to share ideas.”

Additional Resources:

– Learn more at www.ideateapp.com
– Follow Ideate updates on Twitter: @ideateapp
– Buy the application:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ideate/id364169711?mt=8

About EffectiveUI
Founded in 2005, EffectiveUI is an award-winning,
user experience agency that specializes in the creation and
implementation of custom Web, mobile and desktop applications.
EffectiveUI merges innovative technologies with expertise in user
experience strategy, design and development to help today’s most
respected brands deepen customer engagement through more exceptional
software experiences. The company’s applications deliver competitive
advantages, increase customer satisfaction and loyalty and produce
measurable results. EffectiveUI has developed groundbreaking applications
for organizations such as National Geographic, eBay, NBC Universal,
Viacom and Discovery Channel. It has earned an Adobe Gold Partner
distinction and membership in Microsoft’s Global 20 Agency Partners. In
September 2009, Inc. magazine ranked EffectiveUI No. 55 on its 28th
annual list of America’s fastest growing private companies — the Inc.
500.

Apple, the Apple logo, and iPad are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered
in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.

Media Contacts

Jill Petersen
Director of Public Relations, EffectiveUI
206-683-5225
Email Contact

Aaron Wessels
Point-Bl_nk Communications for EffectiveUI
415.378.8090
Email Contact

Copyright 2010, Market Wire, All rights reserved.

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Factbox: Key facts and figures about Afghanistan

March 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Barack Obama arrived unannounced in Afghanistan on Sunday, his first visit to the war zone that could define his presidency since his election as commander-in-chief.

Barack Obama

Following are key facts and figures about Afghanistan:

PROFILE

* Afghanistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia which shares borders with Iran, Pakistan, China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

* Hamid Karzai has led the country since 2001, when U.S.-backed Afghan militia ended the five-year rule of the austere Islamist Taliban movement. He was re-elected for a second term in October 2009 after a highly contested vote which was mired in allegations of fraud.

* Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world. Its population is almost 30 million. Life expectancy for both men and women is about 45 years.

* Some 42 percent of Afghans are Pashtun and 27 percent are Tajik. Hazaras and Uzbeks each account for 9 percent.

* There are two national languages, Pashto and Dari. Pashto, the language of the Pashtuns, is spoken in many parts of the south and east. Dari, a Persian language, is spoken mainly in the north and center.

* Only 28 percent of Afghans are literate.

SECURITY AND VIOLENCE

* Violence has escalated in the past year as tens of thousands of additional foreign troops, mainly Americans, have been deployed in response to an escalating Taliban insurgency.

* Last month a United Nations report said the number of civilians killed in the war increased by 40 percent last year to a record 2,118 deaths — 1,160 were killed by insurgents and 828 were killed by foreign forces.

* Violence is concentrated in the south and east of Afghanistan — Helmand, one of the deadliest provinces, has been the target of two major U.S. Marine-led operations since U.S. President Barack Obama was elected. The latest, Operation Moshtarak, was launched last month to push the Taliban out of the town of Marjah.

* A total of 1,703 foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan since the war started in November 2001. A record 520 were killed in 2009, the deadliest year so far in the war.

* The United States has lost 1,029 servicemen, Britain 278 and other NATO contributors 396, according to the iCasualties website (www.icasualties.org).

INTERNATIONAL FORCES

* There are nearly 120,000 foreign troops from 42 countries working under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), established in December 2001.

* The United States has by far the most troops, with about 80,000, rising to 100,000 by the end of this year, triple the number when Obama took office.

* Other NATO allies have about 40,000 troops in total. Some countries have pledged thousands more, but some are withdrawing, including the Netherlands and Canada with about 5,000.

* Britain, with 9,500 troops, is the second largest ISAF contributor. Germany is next with 4,335 and France with 3,750, according to the most recent NATO figures.

* Last year, Obama said he wanted U.S. forces to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan from July 2011. U.S. officials say the withdrawal will be gradual, with the pace determined by conditions on the ground.

ECONOMY

* According to the United Nations Human Development rankings for 2009, Afghanistan is ranked 181st out of 182 countries.

* Devastated by 30 years of conflict, Afghanistan’s economy is dependent on foreign aid. International donors contribute seventy percent of the government’s operating budget, which itself has been dwarfed by billions in aid spent directly by the donor states.

* Afghanistan’s economic growth has also been stunted by high levels of corruption, which prevents aid from reaching ordinary Afghans.

* Public sector corruption in Afghanistan is seen as more rampant than any other country except Somalia, according to Transparency International.

DRUGS

* Afghanistan produces 92 percent of the world’s opium, a thick paste from poppy used to make heroin, according to the latest U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime report.

* Helmand province in southern Afghanistan produces most of Afghanistan’s opium poppy crop.

* About two thirds of the opium is turned into heroin before it leaves Afghanistan and goes on to feed some 15 million addicts, mainly in Russia, Iran and Europe.

* Opium cultivation in Afghanistan is directly linked to the Taliban insurgency. Since 2005, the Taliban have made up to $160 million a year from taxing cultivation and trade of the crop.

Sources: NATO, U.S. Forces, Reuters reports, U.N., World Bank, iCasualties.org; CIA World Fact Book, Transparency International.

(Compiled by Golnar Motevalli; Editing by Peter Graff)

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