‘Nigeria ATMs are disease dispensers’. Real talk.

In Nigeria today, there are over 12,000 ATMs and this number is going to increase to over 20,000 in a few years time. The banks are desperately deploying ATMs all over the major cities, towns, villages, schools, hospitals. These ATMs are deployed with one of the most of important service, which is to dispense cash to customers whenever the customers want cash as
long the customer has the fund available in his or her account.
A low performing ATM is an ATM without cash. Most banks have deployed their ATMs without proper maintenance structure. These include maintaining the technical, aesthetic, the hygiene of the ATMs and the safety of their customers. Some ATMs are found to be worse than public toilets. There was a new study carried on ATMs in USA that found that there are more dangerous disease-causing germs and bacteria on ATMs than that found in Public latrines. If the same study is carried out here in Nigeria, these disease dispensers called ATMs in Nigeria would be far worse.
In situations where the branches are left with the responsibility of maintaining especially hygiene or aesthetics of the ATMs using existing branch cleaners, most branches do not bother about the
aesthetics or the customer as long there is cash available from the ATMs.
The bank should be thinking their ATM is a branch on its own as a customer channel. Every
point of contact with a customer should be as important as the branch itself or head office. Some banks just ignore these simple customer ethics and forget about their most important self-service channel that represents the entire bank as a whole.
For example, take a drive along Awolowo Road at Ikoyi, Lagos, most of the ATMs are filthy, covered in dust and grime especially after a heavy rain. Some banks are not even aware of the importance of the ATMs; some use the security guard houses and use dirty rags to cover their ATMs. Our Nigeria weather and surrounding presents a real challenge since there is so much dust, grit, smug and smoke in the air.
Our culinary or diet, food, habits and clothing means that we wipe our hands on whatever we see. The Cash we even collect from the ATMs are in a bad state, that’s another topic entirely.
According to a famous Microbiologist in the USA who found out that ATMs are the 3rd dirtiest among 7 dirtiest public places. It is number 3 in the list that include Restaurant Menus, Door handles, Public toilets, Soap Dispensers, Lemon Wedges, and Grocery Carts or
trolley.
In some cities such as Port Harcourt, Kano, Abuja, the ATMs are so filthy, you will need to cover your nose to use the ATM. A couple of weeks ago, I visited an ATM along Ligali Ayorinde in Victoria Island, Lagos.
I slot in my ATM card, it took a while to read, then I tried pressing my PIN, but ATM keypads were sticky, I had to force down each key. Also, the visual screen was dusty; I had to bend so close to the visual screen to read the messages on the screen. The worst came, when I had to struggle to take my cards out of the card slot.
This is common all over Nigeria among the 18 banks with functional ATMs. The irony is that the ATM was within a large bank branch complex within a city centre, I can imagine the state of ATMs in places like Ile-Ife, Abaji, Ikenne, Ilesha or Kontagora. Customers visit these ATMs without the knowledge that each key on the keypad they touch contains a concoction of disease causing germs and bacteria, which they eventually pass around.
In the United Kingdom where studies have been conducted, Experts took swabs from the numeric keypads on a string of city centre ATMs around England that are used by thousands of shoppers every day.  They then took similar swabs from the seats of nearby public lavatories and compared the bacteria under microscopes in a lab. The swabs were left to grow overnight and samples from both locations were found to contain pseudomonads and bacillus, bacterias which are known to cause sickness and diarrhoea.
Dr Richard Hastings, a microbiologist for BioCote, a built-in, antibacterial product coating, said:  interested in comparing the levels of bacterial contamination between heavily-used ATM machines and public lavatories. ”We were surprised by our results because
the ATM machines were shown to be heavily contaminated with bacteria; to the
same level as nearby public lavatories”
Some Nigerian banks use branch cleaners without proper training, who cannot differentiate between general cleaning and specialized cleaning. These cleaners use the rags for cleaning toilets, tables and chairs to clean the ATMs. The branch cleaners over time, discolour the ATMs, add more germs and act as transfer agent for external germs into the bank and vice
versa.
CBN has ignored this area but have focus more on other important areas of compliance, e.g. cashless policy, more important than the customers itself. NAFDAC, SON, NMA and other bodies have also not initiated any study on these disease dispensers. Some banks focus more on the quarterly technical support from these ATMs supplier and spend billions of Naira.
The Technical Engineers only focus on the inside of the ATM and do not concern themselves with the beautification or hygiene of the ATM. As long as the software is up to date and any electro-mechanical part is tested and functioning, their business is completed. The Engineer gets signed off from the branch manager and then maybe comes back to the ATM in 3-6 months time to perform another update. Case Studies from ATM manufacturers such as NCR, WINCOR, King Teller and others, shows that regular cleaning is an effective way to optimize the life span of magnetic strip/PIN and CHIP card readers, and exteriors of ATMs. Most CEOs are
oblivious as to why the ATM Support budget is so high and is on increase every year, yet their ATM customer satisfaction survey tells a different story.
The common sense is not common anymore. A simple cleaning schedule using tested products will reduce their ATM Support spending drastically. In the UK, USA and other Modern economy, the cleaning of ATMs are outsourced. This ensures that a high quality of service is maintained throughout the contractual period.
Salim Faroyji  – An Entrepreneur lives in Oshodi, Lagos, (faroyji@yahoo.com)

Czech invite to Uzbek leader angers human rights groups..

        

Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov makes a statement after talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir …

PRAGUE (Reuters) - A planned visit by Uzbek President Islam Karimov next week to the Czech Republic has sparked an outcry among human rights groups critical of his authoritarian rule who say he should be shunned, not courted.

However, Czech President Milos Zeman shrugged off their complaints as "hypocritical" and said he was merely renewing a decade-old invitation to the Uzbek leader to visit Prague.
Karimov, in power since 1991, keeps a tight grip over his largely Muslim central Asian nation of 30 million people. Frosty relations with the West worsened further after he used force to suppress protests in the eastern town of Andizhan in 2005.
"As the leader of one of the most repressive governments in the world, President Karimov is not someone we would expect to be invited for such meetings," said an international group of more than 30 human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, in a letter to Zeman.
"In fact, he is rightly shunned by most Western leaders, particularly after the Andizhan massacre of 2005, in which his security forces shot into crowds of mostly peaceful protesters in that city, killing hundreds."
The U.N. torture watchdog said last November that torture was rife in prisons and police stations in Uzbekistan and that activists were routinely mistreated in a crackdown on dissent.
However, Uzbekistan is a transit point for supplying U.S.-led military operations in neighboring Afghanistan and there has been some thaw in relations with the West as NATO prepares to draw down its troops from there.
CRITICISM
Karimov visited Brussels in 2011 at NATO's invitation, where he also met European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso, Human Rights Watch said. But bilateral visits to Western nations by the Uzbek leader are rare, it added.
Zeman rejected the NGOs' criticism, saying he was merely heeding an invitation to Karimov extended by his predecessor Vaclav Klaus back in 2004 - before the Andizhan shootings - and he denied that the Uzbek president was internationally isolated.
"President Karimov recently held talks with high representatives of the European Commission in Brussels. I did not notice you protest against that," Zeman said in his reply to the human rights groups.
"I wish you to be better informed and less hypocritical."

Concern for human rights was a key feature of Czech foreign policy under its first president Vaclav Havel, a former anti-communist dissident who came to power after the 1989 "Velvet Revolution". That focus became less pronounced under his successor Klaus.

The Czech president does not have extensive day-to-day powers under the constitution, but Zeman has tried to push the limits of his influence since being elected last year in the country's first direct presidential election.

Unlike many Western leaders, Zeman attended the opening of the Winter Olympics in Sochi last week, ignoring European and U.S. criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin's human rights record.

Newlywed Utah BASE Jumper Dies After Falling 2,000 Feet..

"A great American tragedy" is what some today are calling the death of a Utah woman who died in a BASE jumping accident.
Amber Bellows, a 28-year-old rising star of the extreme sport, died Saturday afternoon after falling nearly 2,000 feet due to a failed BASE jumping attempt with a wing suit at Zion National Park, park officials said.
Her husband of two weeks and BASE jumping partner, 29-year-old Clayton Butler, told officials that the couple hiked up Mount Kinesava, a rugged route in the southwestern corner of Zion, that morning.
Butler told authorities that Bellows was the first to jump while he waited behind, but when he noticed his wife's parachute failed to deploy properly, he leaped after her but failed to reach her in time. The body was recovered the following day in a remote, rugged location, park officials said.
Butler could not be reached by ABC News for comment.
Josh Lloyd, a promotional specialist who worked with Bellows and her husband, told ABC News today that Bellows had high ambitions to become a professional BASE jumper and called her "one of the premier BASE jumpers in the world."
The leap at Zion National Park would have been one of hundreds of BASE jumps for the fearless athlete, Lloyd said, noting that Bellows and her husband hired him to produce video content of the couple's jumps together as a way to boost their professional career.
"I represent athletes of all kinds and I've never come across such a horrible situation like this," Lloyd said. "Amber is probably one of the most genuine people I've ever known. She is just so lighthearted and her laugh is so infectious. You don't run into people like this every day."
Bellows' death was the first ever fatality of a BASE jumper in Zion National Park, said park officials, noting that BASE jumping is illegal within the park.
"It is just really sad and our condolences go out to her family and friends," Zion National Park Acting Superintendent Jim Milestone said in a statement. "BASE jumping is so dangerous. Even for those that are experienced, like Amber Bellows. That is one of the reasons it is not allowed in the park."
Lloyd said that while this is known by the BASE jumping community, it doesn't stop them. "Hundreds of BASE jumpers flock there every year to do it anyway," he said.
But a park spokesman who has worked there for more than a decade told ABC News that there is no indication BASE jumpers frequent the Utah park. "In my 11 years here, this is the second encounter I have heard of," he said.
He also said Mount Kinesava is not an area of the park that is regularly maintained and is rarely recommended to visitors as a park attraction.
Butler told park officials that he hiked more than two hours over what officials described as "a fairly remote location with difficult terrain." Officials said that since the mission was recovery and not a rescue, and the location of Bellows' body was unknown, Grand Canyon National Park's rescue team commissioned by Zion National Park decided to wait until the following morning to reduce risk.
Bellows body was located Sunday morning, officials said, noting that two rangers then hoisted Bellows' body a short distance to an awaiting ambulance.
"Amber will be missed, not just by the BASE jumping community, but everyone in Salt Lake City who knew her," Lloyd said.
Friends and family have posted anecdotes and photos of Bellows on social media to keep her memory and spirit alive.
"Thank you so much for remembering our sweet Amber," Kelli Bellows Pugh wrote on Facebook. "We are grateful for the thoughts and prayers from our friends and family. Your support and well wishes are truly appreciated. As a family we would like to request that the press and media refrain from contacting us while mourn our loss and heal. Thanks again to everyone for all of your love."
The incident is still under investigation, park officials said.

Obama: Choosing between Britain and France would be like picking a favorite daughter..

President Barack Obama threw a platterful of red meat to Britain’s tabloid press on Tuesday, saying that he could not judge a “best ally” contest between Britain and France any more than he could pick a favorite between daughters Sasha and Malia.

“I have two daughters. And they are both gorgeous and wonderful, and I would never choose between them,” Obama said at a joint press conference with visiting French President Francois Hollande at the White House. “And that's how I feel about my outstanding European partners. All of them are wonderful in their own ways.
“What I do believe is, is that the U.S.-French alliance has never been stronger,” Obama went on. "That's good for France. It's good for the United States. It's good for the world, because we share certain values and certain commitments and are willing to act on behalf of those commitments and values.”

Obama had been asked whether Paris had “replaced” London as Washington’s best friend on the global stage. The tight friendship between Britain and the United States is, as a rule, referred to in diplomatic circles as the “special relationship” — a kind of first among equals in world affairs.

Given a chance to answer the same question, Hollande took his answer in much the same direction. “Well, I have four children, so that makes it even more difficult for me to make any choice at all,” he said. “But we're not trying to be anyone's favorite. There are historic links. We share common values.

“And I can see that our views converge on many issues. But it's not about hierarchy; it's just about being useful to the world,” Hollande said through an interpreter.

It’s a recurring and sensitive question. Hollande’s proudly pro-American predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, irritably brushed it aside when he was asked roughly the same one in June 2008.

“The Americans and the French have had a privileged relationship for two centuries now,” Sarkozy said. “So, yes, it is a privileged relationship, but it's not privileged since I came to be elected; it's been privileged for two centuries now.”

Raids net 24 tied to mafia drug-trafficking ring 'ndrangheta..

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Raids target mafia drug smuggling in Italy and U.S.

The FBI and Italian police say they have arrested two dozen suspects in connection with a transnational heroin- and cocaine-trafficking conspiracy linking Italy's 'ndrangheta syndicate with the notorious Gambino and Bonanno crime families in the United States.

Nighttime raids carried out in southern Italy, the United States and Canada early Tuesday netted 24 people — including seven in New York: 'ndrangheta member Raffaele Valente, also known as “Lello”; Gambino associate Franco Lupoi; Bonanno associate Charles Centaro, also known as “Charlie Pepsi”; Dominic Ali; Alexander Chan; Christos Fasarakis; and Jose Alfredo Garcia, also known as “Freddy."

“The ‘Ndrangheta is an exceptionally dangerous, sophisticated, and insidious criminal organization with tentacles stretching from Italy to countries around the world,” U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement. “The defendant Lupoi sought to use his connections with both ‘Ndrangheta and the Gambino crime family to extend his own criminal reach literally around the globe. Today, thanks to the vigilance and sustained cooperation of the Department of Justice and its law enforcement partners in Italy, the ‘Ndrangheta’s efforts to gain a foothold in New York have been dealt a lasting blow.”
Using wiretaps and an undercover agent named "Jimmy," the FBI said it was able to infiltrate the Brooklyn-based mob and stop "a plot to transport 500 kilograms of cocaine, concealed in frozen food, in shipping containers from Guyana to Calabria."
Investigators estimated the street value of the cocaine after cutting would have been about 750 million euros, or $1 billion.
In Italy, 17 others were arrested in connection with the alleged drug ring. The massive joint operation targeted the breakup of a new trafficking route into the southern Italian port of Gioia Tauro.
According to CBS News, which was invited to witness the predawn Italian raids, more than 150 anti-mafia police participated in the operation, dubbed "New Bridge."

Mafia raids: Allen Pizzey describes operation as & … Play video

"Five carloads of police arrived at one location so fast, that the target only appeared to realize what was going on moments before he was placed under arrest — when the officer in charge knocked politely on his door, and said good morning," CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey wrote.
The 'ndrangheta was "determined to move deadly narcotics across international boundaries, attempting to build a bridge of criminality and corruption to stretch from South America to Italy and back to New York," U.S. Attorney Marshall Miller told reporters at a press conference in Rome. "What we see here is 'Ndrangheta attempting to gain a foothold in the New York area and the United States. We also see efforts to forge cooperation between the 'Ndrangheta and the Cosa Nostra."

Hundreds of thousands of dollars laundered through U.S. banks were seized during the operation, officials said.

Raffaele Grassi, head of the Italian police's central operative service unit, said it's clear that the 'ndrangheta "has left its territory of origin: beyond occupying areas of our country and infiltrating itself in northern Italy, the 'ndrangheta is looking for criminals beyond the borders, invading new markets to make profit."

Miller added: "This operation strikes at the heart of international organized crime."

What Africa’s Richest Man Aliko Dangote Told The World Economic Forum...

Aliko Dangote is Africa’s richest man

AFRICANGLOBE – Africa has many entrepreneurial people with the capacity to be successful in business, but access to financing for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) remains a major challenge.
So said Nigerian-born Aliko Dangote, believed to be the continent’s richest man, today during a session titled ‘Africa’s Next Billion’, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
He explained that while Africa offers a large enough market for SMEs, borrowing costs are generally too high. “If you are going to borrow money at 20% and above, it might be very, very tough for you to take a risk, because any mistake [and] you will just go under.”
Dangote is a self-made businessman and founder of the Dangote Group that has significant interests across the continent in a range of industries, from cement to sugar.
Commenting on foreign investment into Africa, Dangote said that many companies make the mistake of waiting for the results of the next election before entering a country. However, once the election is finished, they postpone their investment decision for another two years as they wait for the government to stabilise, by which time politicians are already gearing up for the next election.
“There is no government that will be against business, so you [can] go ahead and invest… The next government that will come in… they will also be pro business,” said Dangote.
He pointed out that any business venture with high potential rewards comes with an element of risk, but that many of Africa’s risks are perceived and not real. “Unfortunately for us in Africa we are not really very good at telling our own story. But things are changing and people are beginning to understand that things are going very, very well.”
Dangote said his vision is for the free movement of goods, services and people across the continent. “I need a visa in almost 38 countries, which means an American has more access into Africa than myself.”
He also called for the continent to process its mineral resources, instead of merely exporting it in raw form.

Iran says serious about long-term nuclear deal..

 

                       

MUNICH (AP) — Iran's foreign minister said Sunday his country is prepared to move ahead in negotiations over its nuclear program, assuring Western diplomats that Tehran has the political will and good faith to reach a "balanced" long-term agreement.

Mohamad Javad Zarif told a gathering of the world's top diplomats and security officials that his country and Western nations were at a "historical crossroads" and just beginning to build the trust necessary for a long-term agreement.

"I think the opportunity is there, and I think we need to seize it," he said.

The comments came after Zarif met one-on-one with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of the conference Sunday morning.
Kerry reiterated to Zarif the importance of both sides negotiating in good faith, and of Iran abiding by its commitments, according to the State Department. Zarif described it as a "good meeting."

Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency struck a deal Nov. 11 granting U.N. inspectors wider access to Iran's nuclear facilities. The deal is parallel to an agreement reached with world powers Nov. 24 in Geneva to have Iran halt its most sensitive uranium enrichment activities in return for an easing of Western sanctions over its nuclear program.

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Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, right, waits next to Director General of the Inter …

"That's an important beginning, it's not the end of the road," Zarif said of the two deals. "There are important questions and we are prepared to address them."
IAEA director general Yukiya Amano said he could report that "practical measures are being implemented as planned" by Iran, and that there would be new negotiations over the next phase on Feb. 8.
The agreement with world powers, implemented Jan. 20, will be in effect for six months while further negotiations are held aimed at reaching a permanent agreement eliminating concerns that Tehran might use its nuclear program to build nuclear weapons.
Tehran denies such aims but says it is ready to reach a deal in exchange for full sanctions relief.
Iran has agreed to a new round of negotiations on Feb. 18 in Vienna with the six-nation group of world powers, the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany.

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US Secretary of State John Kerry waves while boarding his plane at Franz-Josef-Strauss Airport in Mu …

"What I can promise is that we will go to those negotiations with the political will and good faith to reach an agreement, because it would be foolish for us to only bargain for six months — that would be (a) disaster for everybody," Zarif said.

Zarif said Iran and the international community needed to restore mutual trust, and said Tehran's end goal was "a good solution — a balanced solution." He added that "an unbalanced solution is inherently not stable."

"Believe me, you do not possess the monopoly on mistrust — there is a lot of mistrust in Iran," he told the audience. "Iranians believe, with good reason, that the West wants to deprive Iran of its ability to have access to technology."

Zarif said that "the answer at the end of the day is you need to put aside all narratives and take concrete steps."

Under the six-month deal, Iran has agreed to halt its 20 percent enrichment program, which produces uranium just steps away from military grade, but will continue enrichment up to 5 percent. It also will convert half of its stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium to oxide, and dilute the remaining half to 5 percent.

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Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, right, takes a seat next to Director General of th …

In return, the U.S. and the EU simultaneously announced the lifting of sanctions on petrochemical products, insurance, gold and other precious metals, passenger plane parts and services. They also plan to release $4.2 billion in Iranian assets of oil revenues blocked overseas, in eight installments over six months.

The defense minister of Israel, Iran's regional archenemy, made clear that his country's mistrust is undiminished.

"We should watch very carefully how this regime is going to manipulate, to deceive," said Moshe Yaalon, addressing the conference after Zarif.

"It's very important for them to improve their economy, but they will exploit this time available in the coming years to make progress at least as a military nuclear threshold state."

Handlers: Punxsutawney Phil predicts longer winter..

                          

                       

Punxsutawney Phil is held by Ron Ploucha after emerging from his burrow Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014, on Gobblers Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., to see his shadow and forecast six more weeks of winter weather. The prediction this year fell on the same day as Super Bowl Sunday. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) — Emerging from his lair on Super Bowl Sunday, groundhog Punxsutawney Phil couldn't predict the winner of the big game but his handlers said he was sure of his weather forecast: There will be six more weeks of winter.

Pennsylvania's famed groundhog was roused from slumber at 7:28 a.m. Sunday and, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, directed handler Bill Deeley to a scroll that contained the prediction — along with a Super Bowl reference.

As usual, thousands of fans turned out on Groundhog Day to see the furry rodent, the most famous of a small group of groundhogs said to forecast the weather.

Legend has it that if the groundhog sees his shadow on Feb. 2, winter will last another month-and-a-half. If he doesn't see it, spring will come early.

In reality, Phil's prediction is decided ahead of time by a group called the Inner Circle, whose members don top hats and tuxedos for the annual ceremony on Gobbler's Knob, the tiny hill in the town for which he's named about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

The prediction fell on Super Bowl Sunday for the first time. The closest the game previously came to coinciding with Groundhog Day was in 2009, when the just-down-the-road Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Arizona Cardinals 27-23 the night before Phil's forecast.

This year's NFL championship pitting the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., will be the Super Bowl's 48th installment, while Phil has been predicting the weather since 1886.

In a nod to the game, Phil's forecast came in the form of a Super Bowl-themed poem:

"A Super Bowl winner I will not predict,

But my weather forecast, you cannot contradict,

That's not a football lying beside me

It's my shadow you see

So, six more weeks of winter it shall be!"

This year's Groundhog Day celebration marks a winter that has brought extreme cold to vast stretches of the country, including areas of the South wholly unaccustomed to severe winter weather. A snow and ice storm paralyzed Atlanta and other Southern cities last week.

Phil has now seen his shadow 101 times while failing to see it 17 times, according to the Inner Circle. There are no records for the remaining years.

The National Climatic Data Center has put Phil's forecasts to the test and found them sorely lacking, declaring the groundhog has "no predictive skill."

"It really isn't a 'bright' idea to take a measure such as a groundhog's shadow and use it as a predictive meteorological tool for the entire United States," the data center says on its website, helpfully if somewhat obviously.

Other prognosticating groundhogs include Staten Island Chuck in New York and General Beauregard Lee in Atlanta.

Top Republicans say they stand by NJ Gov. Christie..

                              

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Christie Booed at Super Bowl Ceremony

High-profile Republicans were adamant Sunday that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie should not resign from his post as chairman of the Republican Governors Association after a recent claim from a former ally that there is evidence Christie knew about an apparently politically motivated traffic jam earlier than he has said.

The support from former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan put Republicans on the offensive and the Democratic chairman of a state legislative committee investigating the September lane closures near the George Washington Bridge on the defensive the day Christie's state hosts the Super Bowl.

Christie, a potential 2016 presidential contender, has been going about Super Bowl ceremonial duties and has not taken questions about the scandal in recent days. He didn't respond Saturday when some spectators booed him at an appearance in New York City's Times Square. He's scheduled to watch Sunday's game with his family from a luxury box at MetLife Stadium.

Giuliani, appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation" took aim at the credibility of two figures central to the scandal: John Wisniewski, who's leading the investigative probe, and David Wildstein, the former Christie loyalist who as an executive at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey last year ordered the lane closures, as someone with less than pure motives.

He said Wildstein "wants somebody else to pay his legal bills and he can't get them paid unless the governor is responsible."

On Friday, Wildstein's lawyer wrote a letter to the Port Authority saying evidence exists that Christie knew about the traffic jams in Fort Lee as they happened. But he did not disclose any evidence in the letter.

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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks during a ceremony to pass official hosting duties of next year …

Giuliani said Wisniewski is prejudiced and has ulterior motivations as a "guy who'd like to be governor."

Wisniewski also appeared on "Face the Nation" and defended his role and his previously stated doubts about what Christie knew and when.

"What I've said is I have skepticism about the governor's statement," he said. "I haven't said that the governor has responsibility for this. I haven't said that the governor knew when this was happening."

Democrats have taken to other forums to bash the governor. The Democratic National Committee started posted an online ad Sunday comparing Christie to a football player who seemed unstoppable before the scandal. "It's going to be a long game," the ad says.

By Saturday, Christie's allies were striking back after Wildstein's claim. The governor's team sent an email to politically plugged-in allies who might be in a position to defend Christie, bashing Wildstein and his accusations.

The message to donors, journalists and voters: Christie was not ceding ground.

And the supporters picked up those themes.

Ryan, appearing on ABC's "This Week," described Wildstein's allegations as "one person's word against the other" and said, "Nothing has been proven and you always give a person the benefit of the doubt in those kinds of situations."

Jindal, last year's RGA chairman, said Democrats who have called for Christie to step down from the RGA don't understand the organization or the role of its chairman. "The reality is within RGA, no one governor is more important than the other," he said.

Hermione should have married Harry Potter, Rowling admits...

                

 

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London (AFP) - After years of squabbling, Harry Potter's best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Grainger finally became an item -- but now their creator JK Rowling has admitted she made a mistake by marrying them off.

Hermione -- whose quick wits get the teen wizards out of many a scrape in Rowling's hit novels -- would have been better off with hero Harry, the British author said in comments published by the Sunday Times newspaper.

In fact, Ron and Hermione would likely have ended up in marriage counselling, Rowling suggested.

"For reasons that have very little to do with literature and far more to do with me clinging to the plot as I first imagined it, Hermione ended up with Ron," Rowling says in an interview with Wonderland magazine, previewed by the Sunday Times and due out next Friday.

"I know, I'm sorry, I can hear the rage and fury it might cause some fans, but if I'm absolutely honest, distance has given me perspective on that. It was a choice I made for very personal reasons, not for reasons of credibility.

"Am I breaking people's hearts by saying this? I hope not."

Rowling's interviewer in Wonderland was none other than British actress Emma Watson, who played Hermione in the blockbuster movie series based on the Potter books.

The actress agreed with Rowling, saying: "I think there are fans out there who know that too and who wonder whether Ron would have really been able to make her happy."

Rowling has sold more than 450 million copies of the Harry Potter books, which were made into eight films starring Daniel Radcliffe, Watson and Rupert Grint as Ron.

The franchise has made Rowling an estimated fortune of £560 million ($920 million, 683 million euros), according to the Sunday Times' Rich List 2013.

Breaking: Philip Seymour Hoffman Found Dead at 46..Terrible

 

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Philip Seymour Hoffman found dead at 46. (Getty Images)

Academy Award winner Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his New York City apartment on Sunday. He was 46.

The New York City Police Department have confirmed to "The Insider With Yahoo" that the actor was found dead at 12 p.m. ET in his apartment in the West Village of New York City.

The cause of death is still unknown at this point, however the police confirm to "The Insider With Yahoo" that he may have died of a suspected overdose, as he was found with a needle in his arm.

The actor's body is believed to still be in the apartment.

Hoffman struggled with a heroin addiction and most recently checked into rehab in May 2013.

In a 2006 interview with CBS' "60 Minutes," Hoffman discussed his drug use after graduating from New York University's drama school.

"It was all that [drugs and alcohol], yeah, it was anything I could get my hands on... I liked it all," Hoffman said. Eventually he chose to seek treatment. "I went [to rehab], I got sober when I was 22 years old. You get panicked... and I got panicked for my life. It really was just that."

He also revealed that his drug habit was life threatening. "I have so much empathy for these young actors that are 19 and all of a sudden they're beautiful and famous and rich. I'm like, 'Oh my God. I'd be dead.' You know what I mean? I'd be 19, beautiful, famous and rich. That would be it. I think back at that time. I think if I had the money, that kind of money and stuff. So, yeah [I would have died]."

Hoffman won an Oscar for Best Actor for his work in the 2005 film, "Capote."

Yahoo has reached out to Hoffman's rep for a statement.

Story developing.

Obama not waiting for Congress on clemency for crack offenders..

                       

Attorney General Eric Holder, speaks about the mandatory minimum policy at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's 2013 annual legislative conference in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

An unlikely alliance between tea party Republicans and Democrats in the Senate could result in relief for thousands of federal inmates imprisoned under outdated drug sentences that treated crack cocaine dealing as a far greater offense than selling powder cocaine.

But the long-awaited movement on the issue isn’t sweeping enough — or fast enough — for the Obama administration, which announced its plans to relieve crack offenders through the executive power of clemency the same day the Senate passed its bill out of committee.
The Senate bill would make the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act — which narrowed the legal disparity between crack and powder cocaine — retroactive, as well as lowering the minimum number of years drug offenders are automatically sentenced to. That means thousands of inmates hammered with lengthy sentences for dealing as little as five grams of crack under the old laws could soon qualify for release or for shorter sentences.
The harsher federal punishments for crack, a drug that’s slightly more prevalent in black than white communities, has long been seen as unfair and racially biased, resulting in far more jail time for black drug offenders than white ones. Congress corrected this in 2010, but did not make the change retroactive.
The bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, with the support of the group’s Democrats and three Republicans — Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah and Jeff Flake of Arizona, who argue that long sentences for nonviolent drug offenders are costly and unfair. More traditional Republicans such as Orrin Hatch of Utah, who served in the Senate during the heyday of harsher crack punishments, voted against the bill.
The changing politics of the issue — with red states like Texas and Kentucky leading experiments in drug sentencing reform in part to save money — means that the bill actually has a shot in the Republican-dominated House. The decades-old trend of cracking down on drug crime with longer and longer sentences is finally reversing, under the pressure of skyrocketing prison costs and growing concern about the country’s outsized inmate population. (The U.S. makes up only 5 percent of the world population but contains a quarter of its prisoners.)
But the president and his attorney general, Eric Holder, have already begun to use executive power to address the issue, and do not plan to wait on the bill to pass to provide relief for some offenders. The president said in his State of the Union speech Tuesday that he was not afraid to go it alone and use his executive power in his final term if Congress declines to act on one of his priorities.
On Thursday, Deputy Attorney General Jim Cole announced in a speech to the New York State Bar Association that the Obama administration wants the private defense bar to comb through drug cases involving nonviolent inmates who were sentenced under policies or laws that have since changed, and offer them to the president for clemency. Cole also said the U.S. Bureau of Prisons will inform prisoners that they can apply.
“We need to identify these individuals and get well-prepared petitions into the Department of Justice,” Cole said.

The deputy argued that “these older, stringent punishments, that are out of line with sentences imposed under today's laws, erode people’s confidence in our criminal justice system.”

The Justice Department program aims to help a broader pool of drug offenders than the Senate bill does.

In 2011, about 30,000 people were serving crack cocaine sentences in federal prison, more than 80 percent of them black. Only about 8,800 of these inmates would be eligible for relief under the law being considered by the Senate, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, because many have prior drug convictions or other factors that would make them ineligible under the bill’s criteria. Defenders will be combing through the thousands of other cases to see which might be eligible for executive clemency.

Margaret Love, a former pardon attorney for the Justice Department, called Cole’s announcement “unprecedented.” Love represents five clients who are serving life sentences for crack, and is planning on applying for clemency for all five. None of her clients would be helped by the Senate bill, should it pass, because they had prior drug convictions when they were sentenced to life.

“There’s some people that only the president could help,” said Michael Nachmanoff, the public defender for the Eastern District of Virginia, which was home to the most crack convictions of any district over the past 25 years. “The president needs to be willing to use that power.”

In December, Obama commuted the sentences of eight crack offenders, calling the system they were imprisoned under “unfair.” Most of the eight were serving life sentences. The president exercised his clemency power just 23 times in his first term, a far lower rate than President George W. Bush.

Holder, a former federal prosecutor and judge, has long been opposed to drug sentencing laws that punish the distribution of crack cocaine far more harshly than powder cocaine, and that imprisoned nonviolent offenders for years and years, burdening the prison system. Last August, he directed U.S. attorneys to no longer automatically push for mandatory minimums when prosecuting drug cases, saying that aggravating factors, such as violence, must be present to merit longer sentences.

Federal prisons account for just 200,000 of the country’s 2 million prisoners, but advocates say the push may have a ripple effect in the states, encouraging reforms there as well. Twelve states still punish crack cocaine offenders far more harshly than powder offenders.

Harvard Business School's Surprising Apology to Women..

Harvard Business School's all-male graduating class in 1938. (Getty Images)

On Monday night, Nitin Nohria, dean of the Harvard Business School (HBS) stood in the packed ballroom of the Ritz-Carton Hotel in San Francisco and said "I'm sorry" to a crowd gathered to honor more than 100 Harvard alumnae by the HBS Association of Northern California. Nohria was making an extraordinary public apology to female students and faculty –– past and present –– for their having been "disrespected, left out, and unloved." He continued, "The school owed you better, and I promise it will be better."

In his speech, he also committed to quantifiable changes, including doubling the number of female protagonists used in case studies (real-life situations and analyses used by the school instead of textbooks) from 9 percent to 20 percent. Harvard's case studies are used by as many as 80 percent of business schools internationally, so this change could have an impact on the perception of women business leaders around the world.

It wasn't the first time Nohria had apologized for gender issues at HBS, according to Brian Kenny, the school's communication director. "In many communications, he's acknowledged it hasn't always been a welcoming place," Kenny tells Yahoo Shine.

Still, Nohria's latest attempt has garnered widespread attention and strong reactions from both the press and alumnae. 

Commenting on an article about the event in Fortune, alumn Betsy Masar wrote, "I too am from HBS in the '80s, and I was even one of the honorees at the dinner. I think that it's a shame that the problems he's pointing out are still problems. And I am grateful that he is standing up and saying something about it. I would have liked it to be otherwise, but guess what, he's talking about it. And he's putting the resources of a great institution behind the change. Thank goodness."

Not everyone was so quick to applaud Nohria's speech, however. Writing about the event in Slate, Katy Waldman grumbled, "Frankly, I hope that any school charging $50,000 a year in tuition would be open and encouraging to everyone it admits. This whole mea culpa smacks of gesture and performance: Nohria's one concrete vow, to teach woman-centered case studies one-fifth of the time, feels underwhelming in a world where we make up half of the population."

What she's missing is that the speech comes after three years of turning around a "Wolf of Wall Street"-like culture of gender bias at HBS that once seemed intractable. Nor was she in the ballroom where the audience reacted with excitement.  "The whole evening was electric," the event's closing speaker, Cathleen Benko, class of '89, vice chairman and chief talent officer for Deloitte LLP, and author of "The Corporate Lattice: Achieving High Performance in the Changing World of Work" tells Yahoo Shine, adding, "Under his leadership over the last couple of years, the school has done a remarkable job –– a soulful and transparent job –– of looking into the gender labyrinth [that existed]."

Nohria was appointed in 2010 by Harvard's first female president, Drew Gilpin Faust, and tasked, in part, with improving the status of women and international students. A New York Times article published in September 2013 outlined some of the historical and rampant sexism at the institution, including the hazing of female students and junior faculty members (one-third of whom quit between 2006 and 2007), as wellas male students bullying women into silence in the classroom, where participation often counted for 50 percent of the grade. "You weren't supposed to talk about it in open company," Professor Kathleen L. McGinn told the Times. "It was a dirty secret that wasn't discussed."
Under Nohria's leadership, HBS tackled the gender gap by methods such as coaching female professors, monitoring classrooms for unfair grading, and addressing widespread sexual harassment (which John Byrne, executive editor of BusinessWeek, described as a "'Man Men' culture"). HBS even produced a data-driven, critical case study of itself and its failures to serve women students. While some students have chafed at what they felt was force-fed political correctness, the results achieved in the last three years have been impressive. "Women make up almost half of the incoming class," says Benko, "The gender gap for grades has closed as has that of student satisfaction." In 2009, women made up only 11 percent of Baker Scholars, students in the top 5 percent of the class. Now that number is a notable 38 percent.
This year, HBS is celebrating what it calls W50, the 50th anniversary of women being admitted into the institution. At the celebration's kickoff back in April 2013, famous alum Sheryl Sandberg spoke about the fact that, for the incoming class of eight women in 1963, "they did not take the urinals out of the restroom. That took a little time. A woman I met from that class told me, 'It was as if they were saying, we're not quite sure this whole girl thing will work out. And if it doesn't, we don't have to reinstall the urinals so we'll just leave them there.'" She went on to praise the school's current administration: "They were determined to change. They decided they would go around, classroom to classroom, and say that openly. No one ever said that when I was here," she added. "They said, 'We are going to define leadership differently. Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.'"

300,000-Year-Old Caveman 'Campfire' Found in Israel...

 

An arrow points to the Qesem Cave hearth, where hominins may have tended to fires as early as 300,000 …

A newly discovered hearth full of ash and charred bone in a cave in modern-day Israel hints that early humans sat around fires as early as 300,000 years ago — before Homo sapiens arose in Africa.

In and around the hearth, archaeologists say they also found bits of stone tools that were likely used for butchering and cutting animals.

The finds could shed light on a turning point in the development of culture "in which humans first began to regularly use fire both for cooking meat and as a focal point — a sort of campfire — for social gatherings," said archaeologist Ruth Shahack-Gross of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. [10 Things that Make Humans Special]

"They also tell us something about the impressive levels of social and cognitive development of humans living some 300,000 years ago," Shahack-Gross added in a statement.
The centrally located fire pit is about 6.5 feet (2 meters) in diameter at its widest point, and its ash layers suggest the hearth was used repeatedly over time, according to the study, which was detailed in the Journal of Archaeological Science on Jan. 25. Shahack-Gross and colleagues think these features indicate the hearth may have been used by large groups of cave dwellers. What's more, its position implies some planning went into deciding where to put the fire pit, suggesting whoever built it must have had a certain level of intelligence.
Controversial cave

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Excavators took a chunk of sediment from the Qesem Cave's 300,000-year-old hearth and cut it int …

Qesem Cave was discovered more than a decade ago during the construction of a road some 7 miles (11 kilometers) east of Tel Aviv. At the site, excavators had previously uncovered other traces of fire (scattered deposits of ash and clumps of soil that had been heated to high temperatures) as well as the butchered bones of big game like deer, aurochs and horse left their by the prehistoric cave dwellers, possibly up to 400,000 years ago.

Anthropologists have debated what constitutes the earliest evidence of controlled fire use — and which hominin species was responsible for it. Ash and burnt bone in Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa suggests human ancestors used fire at least 1 million years ago. Some researchers, meanwhile, have speculated that the teeth of Homo erectus suggest this early human was adapted to eat food cooked over a fire by 1.9 million years ago. A study out last year in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal argued that fire-builders would have needed some sophisticated abilities to keep their hearths burning, such as long-term planning (gathering firewood) and group cooperation. 

It's not entirely clear who was cooking at Qesem Cave. A study published about three years ago in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology described teeth found in the cave dating to between 400,000 and 200,000 years ago. The authors speculated the teeth might have belonged to modern humans (Homo sapiens), Neanderthals or perhaps a different species, though they noted they couldn't draw a solid conclusion from their evidence.

Nonetheless, study researcher Avi Gopher, an archaeologist from Tel Aviv University, said in an interview with Nature at the time, "The best match for these teeth are those from the Skhul and Qafzeh caves in northern Israel, which date later [to between 80,000 and 120,000 years ago] and which are generally thought to be modern humans of sorts."

That interpretation is at odds with the predominant view that modern humans, the only human species alive today, originated about 200,000 years ago in Africa before dispersing to other parts of the world.

Toddler Hears Himself Laugh for the First Time and It's Wonderful...

An adorable toddler letting out squeaky fits of laughter is pretty much guaranteed to make any reasonable human smile, but this video of 2-year-old Dylan Lipton Lesser's uncontrollable giggling just might bring you to tears, too. Turns out the little guy is laughing at something he's getting to discover loud and clear for the first time: the sound of his own voice.


When Dylan was born on Valentine's Day 2012, he was 11 weeks premature, weighed only 3 pounds and 3 ounces, had brain bleeds and an infection, and was unable to breathe without assistance. Before Dylan’s parents, Shirley Lesser and India Lipton of Richmond, Virginia, could even hold their newborn son, a doctor warned them that it was likely he would be severely disabled. But Dylan has happily defied these early predictions and is steadily on his way to having a normal, healthy childhood — especially with the help of those new hearing aids he finds hilarious.


While Dylan initially passed multiple hearing screenings as a baby, doctors discovered in October that he had developed moderate hearing loss. On Dec. 20, 2013, Dylan received hearing devices, and his reaction to wearing them for the first time — that big grin and infectious laughter — is priceless. With Dylan sitting on his mother India Lipton's lap, his other mother, Shirley Lesser, captured the cute scene on camera. “We got the hearing aids and the audiologist warned us that a lot of kids cry, so we’re not sure how he’s going to react,” Lesser tells Yahoo Shine. But Dylan, nicknamed “Chill Dyl” for his happy, relaxed, and easygoing demeanor, responded to hearing his moms' voices, as well as his own laughter, in a distinctly opposite fashion. The audiologist at Children's Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University even admitted that she had never seen a kid behave like Dylan before. 

Though many children who wear hearing aids have a hard time adjusting to the devices, Lesser says that from the start Dylan has recognized that they’re helping him. Since he started wearing them last month, Dylan said "hi" for the first time and has been playing the piano and savoring the sounds.  

Like any proud parents, Lipton and Lesser are attempting to capture every gurgle, crawl, smile, and milestone. But what makes this particular video (which has racked up about 98,000 views on YouTube) even more meaningful in Dylan’s case is what he's already overcome in his short life thus far, including a staggering 15 brain surgeries. Lesser hopes that when he’s older he can look back and think, “I lived through that, I overcame that." Dylan joins countless other children who have gotten to experience hearing for the first time a little later than most kids. Such as when 3-year-old Grayson Clamp heard his father's voice last June thanks to an experimental electrical implant that directly stimulates his brain. The video went viral and has nearly 1.4 million views to date.

Dylan turns 2 in a couple of weeks and his family knows exactly what they're going to do to celebrate. Back when a doctor delivered Dylan’s “doom and gloom” diagnosis to his parents shortly after his birth, both Lipton and Lesser told him through tears that they'd be back with Dylan on his second birthday to have him shake the doctor's hand. Knowing Dylan, he'll probably be cracking up the whole time.

We love seeing someone's first time trying something new! Film your baby or child testing something out for the first time, and then share their reaction with us here.

Military: 1 killed, 2 injured aboard Army helicopter in 'hard landing' at US airfield..

 

SAVANNAH, Georgia - A U.S. military spokesman says one member of an elite Army helicopter unit is dead and two crew members suffered injuries when their aircraft slammed into the ground while trying to land at a Georgia airfield.

Maj. Allen Hill said Thursday that the MH-60 Black Hawk was returning from a routine training flight to Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah when it made a "hard landing" late Wednesday on or near the airstrip. The names of the dead and injured soldiers were not immediately released.

The crew belongs to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, which trains to fly helicopters behind enemy lines under cover of darkness. Also called the Night Stalkers, the unit has a battalion based in Savannah.

On Jan. 8, a Navy helicopter crashed about 18 miles off Virginia Beach, killing three aboard.

Tunnelling under London.

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Crossrail, the largest infrastructure project in Europe which will provide a new link across London, has reached the half-way stage. The 15 billion pound ($25 billion) project, due to open in 2018, will connect London's Heathrow airport west of London to the county of Essex in the east in a bid to speed up connections and relieve pressure on London's crowded underground rail network. Work began in 2009 and digging the new tunnels has uncovered a range of archaeological finds including 20 Roman skulls and a graveyard which could hold the remains of some 50,000 people killed by the plague more than 650 years ago. (Reuters)

Three arrested as LA fire forces evacuations..

                    

The Colby fire that broke out near Glendora, north of Los Angeles on the edge of the Angeles National Forest, exploded in size Thursday January 16, 2014 as dry brush, steep terrain and winds made for rough firefighting conditions. Nathan Judy, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service, said the fire had grown to at least 125 acres by 8 a.m. and that it was moving quickly " going up and down the hills." The fire was reported shortly before 6 a.m. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times/Polaris)

 

Los Angeles (AFP) - Three men are in custody after a wildfire scorched forests near Los Angeles, casting a huge plume of smoke over the city and forcing nearly 900 homes to be evacuated Thursday.

Up to 2,000 people were ordered out of their homes after the fire, which ravaged about 1,700 acres in the suburbs, according to police in Azusa, just north of Los Angeles.
Several schools and colleges were also evacuated in Azusa and Glendora. The blaze damaged at least three homes, according to local media.

Glendora police detained three men who allegedly set a campfire which sparked the blaze, shortly before 6:00 am (1400 GMT). The long pall of smoke drifted across toward downtown as dawn broke.

"They are being cooperative ... one has made an admission and has admitted to setting this fire," Glendora police chief Tim Staab told reporters at a late morning press conference about the fire.

The three, one of whom is homeless, are being held on $20,000 bail each, he said.