General investigated for emails to Petraeus friend

PERTH, Australia (AP) — In a new twist to the Gen. David Petraeus sex scandal, the Pentagon said Tuesday that the top American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, is under investigation for alleged “inappropriate communications” with a woman who is said to have received threatening emails from Paula Broadwell, the woman with whom Petraeus had an extramarital affair.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in a written statement issued to reporters aboard his aircraft, en route from Honolulu to Perth, Australia, that the FBI referred the matter to the Pentagon on Sunday.

Panetta said that he ordered a Pentagon investigation of Allen on Monday.

A senior defense official traveling with Panetta said Allen’s communications were with Jill Kelley, who has been described as an unpaid social liaison at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., which is headquarters to the U.S. Central Command. She is not a U.S. government employee.

Kelley is said to have received threatening emails from Broadwell, who is Petraeus’ biographer and who had an extramarital affair with Petraeus that reportedly began after he became CIA director in September 2011.

Petraeus resigned as CIA director on Friday.

Allen, a four-star Marine general, succeeded Petraeus as the top American commander in Afghanistan in July 2011.

The senior official, who discussed the matter only on condition of anonymity because it is under investigation, said Panetta believed it was prudent to launch a Pentagon investigation, although the official would not explain the nature of Allen’s problematic communications.

The official said 20,000 to 30,000 pages of emails and other documents from Allen’s communications with Kelley between 2010 and 2012 are under review. He would not say whether they involved sexual matters or whether they are thought to include unauthorized disclosures of classified information. He said he did not know whether Petraeus is mentioned in the emails.

“Gen. Allen disputes that he has engaged in any wrongdoing in this matter,” the official said. He said Allen currently is in Washington.

Panetta said that while the matter is being investigated by the Defense Department Inspector General, Allen will remain in his post as commander of the International Security Assistance Force, based in Kabul. He praised Allen as having been instrumental in making progress in the war.

The FBI’s decision to refer the Allen matter to the Pentagon rather than keep it itself, combined with Panetta’s decision to allow Allen to continue as Afghanistan commander without a suspension, suggested strongly that officials viewed whatever happened as a possible infraction of military rules rather than a violation of federal criminal law.

Allen was Deputy Commander of Central Command, based in Tampa, prior to taking over in Afghanistan. He also is a veteran of the Iraq war.

In the meantime, Panetta said, Allen’s nomination to be the next commander of U.S. European Command and the commander of NATO forces in Europe has been put on hold “until the relevant facts are determined.” He had been expected to take that new post in early 2013, if confirmed by the Senate, as had been widely expected.

Panetta said President Barack Obama was consulted and agreed that Allen’s nomination should be put on hold. Allen was to testify at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. Panetta said he asked committee leaders to delay that hearing.

NATO officials had no comment about the delay in Allen’s appointment.

“We have seen Secretary Panetta‘s statement,” NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero said in Brussels. “It is a U.S. investigation.”

Panetta also said he wants the Senate Armed Services Committee to act promptly on Obama’s nomination of Gen. Joseph Dunford to succeed Allen as commander in Afghanistan. That nomination was made several weeks ago. Dunford’s hearing is also scheduled for Thursday.

___

Associated Press writer Slobodan Lekic in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this report.

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Lockheed says cyber attacks up sharply, suppliers targeted

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon‘s No. 1 supplier, Lockheed Martin Corp, on Monday cited dramatic growth in the number and sophistication of international cyber attacks on its networks and said it was contacting suppliers to help them shore up their security.

Chandra McMahon, Lockheed vice president and chief information security officer, said about 20 percent of the threats directed at Lockheed networks were considered “advanced persistent threats,” prolonged and targeted attacks by a nation state or other group trying to steal data or harm operations.

“The number of campaigns has increased dramatically over the last several years,” McMahon told a news conference. “The pace has picked up.”

She said the tactics and techniques were becoming increasingly sophisticated, and attackers were clearly targeting Lockheed suppliers to gain access to information since the company had fortified its own networks.

U.S. officials have stepped up their warnings about cyber attacks on U.S. banks and other institutions in recent months, warning that attackers are developing the ability to strike U.S. power grids and government systems.

Lockheed officials declined to say if any of the attacks they had seen originated in Iran, which has been linked to recent denial-of-service attacks against U.S. financial institutions.

Rohan Amin, Lockheed program director for the Pentagon’s Cyber Crime Center (DC3), said internal analysis showed that the number of campaigns had clearly grown, and multiple campaigns were often linked.

Lockheed recently wrested a $ 450 million contract to run the military cyber center away from long-time holder General Dynamics Corp.

“HUGE PROBLEM”

As the top information technology provider to the U.S. government, Lockheed has long worked to secure data on computer networks run by a range of civilian and military agencies. The company is also trying to expand sales of cybersecurity technology and services to commercial firms, including its suppliers, and foreign governments, Lockheed executives said.

“Suppliers are still a huge problem,” said Charlie Croom, Lockheed’s vice president of cybersecurity solutions, noting the large number of companies that provide products and components for Lockheed, which has annual sales of just under $ 47 billion.

Croom, the former head of the Pentagon’s Defense Information Systems Agency, said cybersecurity was a crucial area for Lockheed, but said it was difficult to pinpoint exactly how much business it generates because network security is part of nearly everything the company sells and does for the government.

He estimated that 5 to 8 percent of Lockheed’s revenues in the information systems sector were related to cybersecurity. Lockheed generated $ 9.4 billion sales in that division in 2011.

McMahon said Lockheed had seen “very successful” attacks against a number of the company’s suppliers, and was focusing heavily on helping those companies improve their security.

She said a well-publicized cyber attack on Lockheed’s networks in May 2011 came after the computer systems of two of its suppliers — RSA, the security division of EMC Corp and another unidentified company — were compromised.

“The adversary was able to get information from RSA and then they were also able to steal information from another supplier of ours, and they were able to put those two pieces of information together and launch an attack on us,” McMahon said.

She said Lockheed had been tracking the adversary for years before that attack, and was able to prevent any loss of data by using its in-house detection and monitoring capabilities.

One of the lessons the company learned was the importance of sharing data with other companies in the defense sector, and suppliers, to avert similar attacks, McMahon said.

“It’s just one example of how the adversary has been very significant and tenacious and has really been targeting the defense industrial base,” she said.

Social media, websites and malware introduced by emails remain major areas of concern, Lockheed executives said.

(Reporting By Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Paul Tait)

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¿Quién califica online a los profesionales de la salud y qué se puede hacer al respecto?

ATLANTA (Reuters Health) – “Cada médico, cada asistente,

cada enfermero de Estados Unidos está siendo calificado en este

momento. No hay nada que podamos hacer para protegernos, excepto

proporcionar atención de calidad centrada en el paciente”,

aseguró el doctor Scott Manaker durante la última reunión anual

del Colegio Estadounidense de Neumonólogos (ACP, por sus

iniciales en inglés.

Manaker y tres colegas del Sistema de Salud de University of

Pennsylvania, hablaron en una sesión plenaria de CHEST llamada

“Calificaciones Médicas: ¿quién está escribiendo sobre ti y qué

están diciendo?”.

“Sea buena o mala, precisa o sesgada, la publicación de la

información es parte de la práctica moderna de la medicina y

necesitamos ocuparnos de esos datos”, indicó Manaker por correo

electrónico.

Un informe de la Fundación Robert Wood Johnson revela que

“unos 38 millones de personas están observando en algún momento,

de alguna manera, y evaluando lo que usted está haciendo como

profesional de la salud. Y esa cifra seguirá creciendo”, dijo en

la misma sesión Ed Dellert, vicepresidente senior para

educación, informática y educación clínica de ACP.

Entre las agencias oficiales y privadas que monitorean la

atención clínica y califican a los profesionales de la salud

están los Centros para los Servicios de Medicare y Medicaid

(CMS, por sus siglas en inglés); el sitio online Hospital

Compare y, próximamente, Physician Compare, y beneficiarios

privados, entre otros.

Manaker consideró que para que un profesional obtenga una

buena calificación, deberían brindar la mejor atención y

utilizar un código preciso y completo de diagnósticos para

ajuste de riesgos.

Es “extremadamente importante que todos comprendan que como

profesional, como hospital, negociará con las empresas de

seguros de salud, que reunieron información durante años sobre

los resultados en los pacientes. A diario, les envían un detalle

de la facturación, los servicios prestados y el diagnóstico del

paciente a cambio de un pago. ¿Piensan que las empresas tiran

esa información a la basura? La usan para armar una base de

datos de qué funciona y qué no”, precisó Adrian W. Scipione en

otra presentación. Scipione es abogado y jefe operativo de

Respiratory Specialists, Wyomissing (Pensilvania).

En cambio, la calificación de los consumidores es otro

desafío, y los médicos necesitan otra estrategia para defender

su reputación online.

El doctor Burt Lesnick, de Georgia Pediatric Pulmonary

Associates (Atlanta), mencionó durante su presentación a los

sitios online US News & World Report Top Doctors, Consumer’s

Guide to Top Doctors y Super Doctors como algunos ejemplos donde

los profesionales pueden nominar colegas excelentes en su

especialidad, mientras que Vitals y UCompareHealthCare incluyen

las evaluaciones de los pacientes.

Señaló que un comentario negativo con pocos comentarios más

puede reducir la calificación. En el sitio Healthgrades, dijo

que “cualquiera puede registrarse. En teoría, deberían ser los

médicos quienes lo hagan, pero cualquiera puede fingir la

identidad”.

Agregó que “pocas empresas son independientes. Todos

comparten la información. Otros sitios compran los datos de

Healthgrades para publicar”, agregó Lesnick.

El sitio Angie’s List es independiente. Sólo los miembros

que pagan una tarifa mensual pueden leer las evaluaciones, pero

cualquier puede publicarlas.

“El sitio Superior Business Network me atribuye un teléfono

profesional que no tengo desde hace trece años en una dirección

que ya no existe, mientras que HIPAASpace publica mi código

identificador nacional de proveedores (NPI, por su sigla en

inglés) y mi número único de identificación médica (UPIN, por su

sigla en inglés)”, puso Lesnick como ejemplo.

Aun así, no todo está fuera de control. Lesnick recomendó

ser proactivos: “Tengan una cuenta de Facebook para compartir

información sobre sus servicios. Twitter es una buena

herramienta para mantener a los pacientes actualizados sobre los

servicios médicos, los riesgos ambientales, las advertencias de

la FDA, las alertas de contaminación ambiental, los retiros de

fármacos”.

Enviar un mensaje diario es una buena opción, como así

también “monitorear los sitios de consumidores (…) Busque

sitios que denigren su dirección web (…) Si uno encuentra un

sitio cuya dirección es su nombre más la palabra

sucks(apesta).com es posible que exista algún paciente

disgustado y ese sitio podría aparecer primero en la lista de

búsquedas si muchas personas lo consultan”.

“Lo mejor sería registrar esos dominios proactivamente” para

que nadie pueda utilizarlos, agregó el doctor.

Y si un sitio se niega a rechazar información imprecisa o

negativa, Lesnick sugirió contratar a una consultora

especializada que podrá ocultarla a cambio de una tarifa.

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Microsoft Shows Its Windows Chief the Door

Fresh off the release of Windows 8, Microsoft (MSFT) has decided to part ways with its Windows chief.

Microsoft issued a press release late Monday evening, saying that Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows Division, will leave the company, effective immediately. Sinofsky had spent close to 25 years at Microsoft and developed a reputation as someone who could oversee large, complex software projects and bring them in on time—or whatever counts as on time in Microsoft land. Before shepherding products such as Windows, Windows Live, and Outlook.com, he oversaw many iterations of Office.

The big knock on Sinofsky was his often-prickly nature. He wasn’t seen as a team player within Microsoft and was instead known for protecting his fiefdom. That approach doesn’t go over well at today’s Microsoft, which needs to prove that Windows is just one piece of a larger collective that includes phone software, online services, and entertainment products delivered via the Xbox. Sinofsky also proved reticent to speak with the press and was barely heard from as Windows 8 hit the market late last month.

Microsoft’s chief executive officer, Steve Ballmer, said all the standard, polite things in the statement about Sinofsky’s departure. “I am grateful for the many years of work that Steven has contributed to the company,” Ballmer said. Julie Larson-Green, a Microsoft veteran, has been tapped to run Windows software and hardware engineering and will report directly to Ballmer.

Windows 8 is Microsoft’s biggest gamble in years. The software has a radical new interface that’s equal parts beautiful, playful, and confusing. It brings Microsoft into the modern era, giving the company something that can run on tablets, smartphones, laptops, and PCs.

Sinofsky had been put in charge of Windows to make sure that Windows 8 did not end up a mess. The software has received mostly favorable reviews to date, although Microsoft has failed to drum up a ton of early interest around its application store. Critics of Sinofsky can point to this as an example of his inability to play nice with others and drive partner support. Ultimately, he was the guy who delivered big, complex software programs and did it well—and this was not seen as good enough at a time when Microsoft needs plenty of diplomacy and crafty tactics to regain consumer interest.

“It is impossible to count the blessings I have received over my years at Microsoft,” Sinofsky said on his way out. ”I am humbled by the professionalism and generosity of everyone I have had the good fortune to work with at this awesome company.”

Businessweek.com — Top News

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Canada seen needing to spell out rules for natural gas projects

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – The fate of a handful of liquefied natural gas projects planned for Canada’s Pacific coast may depend on the Canadian government‘s willingness to spell out rules for foreign investment in the country’s energy sector, according to a study released on Thursday.

Apache Corp, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Petronas, BG Group Plc and others are in the planning stages for LNG projects that would take gas from the rich shale fields of northeastern British Columbia and ship it to Asian buyers.

But the federal government’s decision last month to stall the C$ 5.2 billion ($ 5.2 billion) bid by Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas C$ 5.2 billion for Canada‘s Progress Energy Resources Corp could lessen the appetite of Asian buyers for Canadian LNG, energy consultants Wood Mackenzie said.

“Some potential off-takers of Canadian LNG like the idea … because it’s perceived as having low political risk, and another reason is because they see the potential for investment opportunities,” said Noel Tomnay, head of global gas at the consultancy.

“If there are going to be restrictions on how they access those opportunities, if acquisitions are closed to them, then clearly that would restrict the attractiveness of those opportunities. If would-be Asian investors thought that corporate acquisitions were an avenue that was not open to them then Canadian LNG would become less attractive.”

The Canadian government is looking to come up with rules governing corporate acquisitions by state-owned companies and has pushed off a decision on the Petronas bid as it considers whether to approve the $ 15.1 billion offer for Nexen Inc from China’s CNOOC Ltd.

Exporting LNG to Asia is seen as a way to boost returns for natural-gas producers tapping the Montney, Horn River and Liard Basin shale regions of northeastern British Columbia.

Though Wood Mackenzie estimates the fields contain as much as 280 trillion cubic feet of gas, they are far from Canada’s traditional U.S. export market, while growing supplies from American shale regions have cut into Canadian shipments.

Because the region lacks infrastructure, developing the resource will be expensive, requiring new pipelines and multibillion-dollar liquefaction.

Still Wood Mackenzie estimates that the cost of delivery into Asian markets for Canadian LNG would be in the range of $ 10 million to $ 12 per million British thermal units, similar to competing projects in the United States and East Africa.

($ 1 = $ 1.00 Canadian)

(Reporting by Scott Haggett; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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10 things you need to know today: November 11, 2012

Emails from Petraeus‘ mistress triggered investigation, the BBC’s chief resigns, and more in our roundup of the stories that are making news and driving opinion

1. BIOGRAPHER’S EMAILS LED FBI TO PETRAEUS AFFAIR
Paula Broadwell, the woman with whom CIA Director David Petraeus had an extramarital affair, leading to his sudden resignation on Friday, had allegedly sent harassing emails to a woman in Florida, leading the FBI to investigate the claim — and eventually uncovering the affair. Broadwell, who was Petraeus‘ official biographer, reportedly sent emails to the Florida woman inquiring about the nature of her relationship with Petraeus, prompting the unidentified woman to lodge a complaint with the FBI. The FBI began its investigation in the spring, and interviewed Petraeus in the past two weeks. During the interview, Petraeus admitted to the affair with Broadwell, who is also married. [Wall Street Journal]
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2. BBC CHIEF RESIGNS OVER GROWING SCANDAL
BBC’s director general George Entwistle resigned his post Saturday night amid growing criticism as the broadcaster deals with an alleged sex abuse scandal that implicated longtime BBC host Jimmy Savile. Savile, who died last year, was suspected of sexually abusing hundreds of young people over the decades, sometimes on BBC premises. Entwistle had most recently come under fire for allowing a false report on the BBC program Newsnight to air on Nov. 2. During the broadcast, a former Conservative Party politician was wrongly implicated in a pedophile scandal involving a children’s home in Wales. Entwistle said the report reflected “unacceptable journalistic standards” and never should have been broadcast. [New York Times]
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SEE ALSO: 10 things you need to know today: November 2, 2012

3. ISRAEL FIRES WARNING SHOT AT SYRIA
Israel fired a warning shot into Syria on Sunday after a stray mortar from Syria hit a military post in the Golan Heights. No injuries or damage were reported in Israel. Israel captured the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and subsequently annexed it. The incident was the first time Israel has been drawn into the fighting in the neighboring country. Meanwhile, the Syrian opposition, holding critical meetings in Qatar agreed Saturday to a new coalition to oppose President Bashar al-Assad. One Islamist opposition delegate said a new leader and deputy would be chosen on Sunday evening. [Associated Press, BBC]
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4. REP. ALLEN WEST WON’T CONCEDE
Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) was defeated by Democratic opponent Patrick Murphy, according to Florida’s vote count on Saturday, but the incumbent refuses to concede. The state issued complete but unofficial results showing Murphy with a lead of 2,442 votes, or 50.4 percent. That’s beyond the half-percent margin needed to trigger an automatic recount. West’s campaign alleges that in St. Lucie County, the only one of the three counties in the district that Murphy won, votes may have been counted twice and have asked to review sign-in books from the polls. West’s only path forward is through the courts. Under state law, he still could contest the election if misconduct or fraud might have changed its result. [Politico]
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SEE ALSO: The woman who named her newborn twins Barack and Mitt

5. IRAQ CANCELS ARMS DEAL WITH RUSSIA
Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, has canceled a recently signed $ 4.2 billion arms deal with Russia after suspicions of corruption surfaced. The prime minister’s adviser Ali al-Moussawi did not give any details or context. “We informed Russia about our decision, but we hope to sign a new weapons deal between Iraq and Russia,” al-Moussawi said. [CNN]
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6. BOEHNER TELLS HOUSE GOP TO FALL IN LINE
After the Republican Party’s electoral battering last week, House Speaker John Boehner insisted to House Republicans in a conference call that while they “would continue to staunchly oppose tax rate increases as Congress grapples with the impending fiscal battle, they had to avoid the nasty showdowns that marked so much of the last two years,” writes The New York Times. Many members offered subdued words of support, in contrast to a similar call last year when Boehner tried to persuade members to compromise with Democrats on a deal to extend temporary payroll tax cuts, “only to have them loudly revolt.” Both Boehner and President Obama seem to be keeping open the avenue of negotiation to address the looming fiscal cliff set to hit Jan. 1. [New York Times]
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SEE ALSO: The highest skyscraper climb with a bionic leg

7. APPLE AND HTC SETTLE PATENT DISPUTES
Apple and Taiwanese phonemaker HTC have settled all their outstanding disputes over patents, ending a fight that began in March 2010. The two companies signed a 10-year license agreement that will extend to current and future patents held by one another. HTC’s have been in decline since the second half of 2011, despite having become a major global phone company by aligning itself with Google’s Android platform. [BBC]
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8. STRONG EARTHQUAKE HITS MYANMAR
After a 6.-magnitude earthquake hit northern Myanmar on Sunday, at least 12 people were feared dead. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit near the city of Mandalay, at a depth of just 6.2 miles. The shallow quake was felt in Bangkok, the capital of neighboring Thailand, and several aftershocks followed. [Voice of America]
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SEE ALSO: 10 things you need to know today: November 3, 2012

9. CHINA TO LAUNCH NEXT MANNED CRAFT IN JUNE
A spokesperson for the Chinese space program announced Saturday that China’s next space mission will launch in June 2013. The operation is the second manned mission for the country, which completed its first manned mission — Shenzhou-9 — in June of this year. “They will stay in space for 15 days, operating both automated and manual space dockings with the target orbiter Tiangong-1, conducting scientific experiments in the lab module and giving science lectures to spectators on the Earth,” Niu Hongguang of the Chinese space program said. [Forbes]
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10. JUSTIN BIEBER AND SELENA GOMEZ SPLIT
Singer Justin Bieber, 18, and girlfriend, singer-actor Selena Gomez, 20, have gone their separate ways, a source confirms to the Associated Press. The split happened last week, and the two young stars cite distance and their busy schedules as contributing factors. The two had been dating for a year. [Associated Press] 

SEE ALSO: 10 things you need to know today: October 31, 2012

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BBC head says broadcaster must reform or die

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain‘s BBC could be doomed unless it makes radical changes, the head of its governing trust said, after its director general quit to take the blame for the airing of false child sex abuse allegations against a former politician.

BBC Trust chairman Chris Patten said on Sunday confidence had to be restored if the publicly funded corporation was to withstand pressure from rivals, especially Rupert Murdoch‘s media empire, which would try to take advantage of the turmoil.

“If you’re saying, ‘Does the BBC need a thorough structural radical overhaul?’, then absolutely it does, and that is what we will have to do,” Patten, a one-time senior figure in Prime Minister David Cameron‘s Conservative Party and the last British governor of Hong Kong, told BBC television.

“The basis for the BBC’s position in this country is the trust that people have in it,” Patten said. “If the BBC loses that, it’s over.”

George Entwistle resigned as director general on Saturday, just two months into the job, to take responsibility for the child sex allegation on the flagship news programme Newsnight.

The witness in the Newsight report, who says he suffered sexual abuse at a care home in the late 1970s, said on Friday he had misidentified the politician, Alistair McAlpine. Newsnight admitted it had not shown the witness a picture of McAlpine, or approached McAlpine for comment before going to air.

Already under pressure after revelations that a long-time star presenter, the late Jimmy Savile, was a paedophile, Entwistle conceded on the BBC morning news that he had not known – or asked – who the alleged abuser was until the name appeared in social media.

The BBC, celebrating its 90th anniversary, is affectionately known in Britain as “Auntie”, and respected around much of the world.

But with 22,000 staff working at eight national TV channels, 50 radio stations and an extensive Internet operation, critics say it is hampered by a complex and overly bureaucratic and hierarchical management structure.

THOMPSON’S LEGACY

Journalists said this had become worse under Entwistle’s predecessor Mark Thompson, who took over in the wake of the last major crisis to hit the corporation and is set to become chief executive of the New York Times Co on Monday.

In that instance, both director general and chairman were forced out after the BBC was castigated by a public inquiry over a report alleging government impropriety in the fevered build up to war in Iraq, leading to major organizational changes.

One of the BBC’s most prominent figures, Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman, said since the Iraq report furore, management had become bloated while cash had been cut from programme budgets.

“He (Entwistle) has been brought low by cowards and incompetents,” Paxman said in a statement, echoing a widely-held view that Entwistle was a good man who had been let down by his senior staff.

Prime Minister Cameron appeared ready to give the BBC the benefit of the doubt, believing that “one of the great institutions of this country” could reform and deal with its failings, according to sources in his office.

Patten, who must find a new director general to sort out the mess, agreed that management structures had proved inadequate.

“Apparently decisions about the programme went up through every damned layer of BBC management, bureaucracy, legal checks – and still emerged,” he said.

“One of the jokes I made, and actually it wasn’t all that funny, when I came to the BBC … was that there were more senior leaders in the BBC than there were in the Chinese Communist Party.”

Patten ruled out resigning himself but other senior jobs are expected to be on the line, while BBC supporters fear investigative journalism will be scaled back. He said he expected to name Entwistle’s successor in weeks, not months.

Among the immediate challenges are threats of litigation.

McAlpine, a close ally of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, has indicated he will sue for damages.

Claims for compensation are also likely from victims who say Savile, one of the most recognizable personalities on British television in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, sexually abused them as children, sometimes on BBC premises.

INQUIRIES

Two inquiries are already under way, looking at failures at Newsnight and allegations relating to Savile, both of which could make uncomfortable reading for senior figures.

Police have also launched a major inquiry into Savile’s crimes and victims’ allegations of a high-profile paedophile ring. Detectives said they had arrested their third suspect on Sunday, a man in his 70s from Cambridgeshire in central England.

Funded by an annual license fee levied on all TV viewers, the BBC has long been resented by its commercial rivals, who argue it has an unfair advantage and distorts the market.

Murdoch’s Sun tabloid gleefully reported Entwistle’s departure with the headline “Bye Bye Chump” and Patten said News Corp and others would put the boot in, happy to deflect attention after a phone-hacking scandal put the newspaper industry under intense and painful scrutiny.

He said that “one or two newspapers, Mr. Murdoch’s papers” would love to see the BBC lose its national status, “but I think the great British public doesn’t want to see that happen”.

Murdoch himself was watching from afar.

“BBC getting into deeper mess. After Savile scandal, now prominent news program falsely names senior pol as paedophile,” he wrote on his Twitter website on Saturday.

It is not just the BBC and the likes of Entwistle and Patten who are in the spotlight.

Thompson, whom Entwistle succeeded in mid-September, has also faced questions from staff at the New York Times over whether he is still the right person to take one of the biggest jobs in American newspaper publishing.

Britain’s Murdoch-owned Sunday Times queried how Thompson could have been unaware of claims about Savile during his tenure at the BBC as he had told British lawmakers, saying his lawyers had written to the paper addressing the allegations in early September, while he was still director general.

(Editing by Kevin Liffey and Sophie Hares)

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Boy Donates Bar Mitzvah Money to Fund Veterans’ Reconstructive Surgeries

At a time when he’s supposed to be celebrating himself, 13-year-old Josh Neidorf decided to make his bar mitzvah about celebrating those who serve their country. As a result, he donated most of  his bar mitzvah money to Operation Mend, a groundbreaking program out of UCLA that repairs extreme injuries and disfigurements in soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Before anyone shrugs off the gesture as a boy giving up the equivalent of his allowance for a good cause, rest assured Neidorf gave away much more than that. The Associated Press reports this child personally donated $ 13,000 to the medical facility. 

Neidorf explained his decision to local news outlet, KCAL9, “I just love knowing that it’s going somewhere to help the people who save our lives and keep us safe everyday.”

Operation Mend is a privately-funded program that was founded in 2007, by philanthropist Ron Katz. According to The Huffington Post, Katz was inspired by the news of returning vet Aaron Mankin and the dozens of surgeries he would need to repair an explosives injury to his face.  Mankin eventually became the first Operation Mend patient.

Katz told the Post, “My wife and I soon realized that there were dozens of Aarons out there. These men and women deserve not only the best that the defense sector has to offer, they deserve the best that the private sector has to offer as well.”

Though it started with plastic reconstruction, Operation Mend has expanded to include a host of other highly technical specialties including orthopedic reconstruction, airway reconstruction and mental health programs for both soldiers and their caregivers.

Veterans face some incredible odds upon their return to civilian life, chief among them being their health issues. Of the 2 million veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who’ve already returned home, the Los Angeles Times reports most endure recurring issues from physical trauma that include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), hearing loss and tinnitus, and head injuries. 

Operation Mend may be small in terms of the number of patients it can serve at any time (it will have served 72 this year), but it provides a place for our most severely injured to be treated by the nation’s most skilled medical staff using the latest in advanced techniques.

Obviously our returning soldiers are the most deserving of ample and expert medical care. But adopting veteran care as a cultural priority clearly has positive results for all of us. Children like Joshua Neidorf learn and can demonstrate real generosity and people in general come to understand we’re so much stronger when we refuse to leave any of our own behind.

Are you a veteran or the loved one of a returning soldier? What would you like to see provided for them to make the transition to civilian life smoother? 

Related stories on TakePart

• 9 Military Animals

• A Fair Education? Military Kids Struggle With New Schools, Red Tape, and High Stress

• Celebs Who Served in the Military

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A Bay Area native, Andri Antoniades previously worked as a fashion industry journalist and medical writer.  In addition to reporting the weekend news on TakePart, she volunteers as a web editor for locally-based nonprofits and works as a freelance feature writer for TimeOutLA.com. Email Andri | @andritweets | TakePart.com

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Japan’s economy shrinks 3.5 percent in 3rd quarter

TOKYO (AP) — Japan‘s economy contracted in July-September, its first contraction in three quarters, foiling hopes for a rebound and signaling to many economists it may already be in recession.

The minus 3.5 percent annual growth rate for the quarter reported Monday was in line with gloomy forecasts for the world’s third-largest economy, which has suffered as a territorial dispute with China hammered exports already weakened by feeble global demand.

Based on the most recent data, economists are forecasting a further decline in October to December, which would officially put Japan in recession, marked by two consecutive quarterly contractions.

The government also said Monday that consumer spending fell 0.5 percent as subsidies for auto purchases expired and corporate capital spending fell 3.2 percent. Spending on reconstruction from the country’s March 2011 disasters has also weakened.

The drop for the current quarter may not be as severe as that in July-September.

“How far is hard to tell,” said David Rea, an economist in London with Capital Economics, adding that the decline could be a couple of percentage points.

“If the economy does recover in any way it will be a minute rebound,” he said.

More than two decades after Japan’s asset bubble burst in the early 1990s, its policymakers have yet to devise an effective strategy to help the economy break out of its deflationary funk. Meanwhile, the Japanese yen remains stubbornly high, discouraging its companies from investing either at home or abroad and undermining its export competitiveness, especially against rivals Germany and South Korea.

Strangled by weak consumer spending and public investment, the economy grew at an anemic 0.7 percent annual pace in April-June, according to figures that were revised down by half from the originally reported 1.4 percent.

Until recently, the government was still forecasting growth at about 2 percent for the year. It earlier was predicting a turnaround late in the year, but the renewed tensions with China over disputed islands in the East China Sea, coupled with sluggish growth in Europe and other key export markets, have doused hopes for a significant rebound before 2013.

A slew of dismal recent data releases offers little encouragement.

Squeezed by surging costs for imported fuel and sinking exports, Japan’s current account surplus plunged to 2.72 trillion yen ($ 34 billion) in April-September, its lowest level since monthly data began in 1985, as the trade deficit surged.

Although Japan will likely continue to run current account surpluses for some time to come, its decline is a stark reminder of the country’s persisting reliance on exports to support its energy-intensive standard of living through massive imports of food, fuel and other resources.

Adding to the squeeze on pocketbooks from hikes in electricity rates, winter bonuses are falling by an average of 4 percent this year.

Machinery orders for September fell twice as fast as expected. Meanwhile, the job market weakened, likely hurting prospects for stronger consumer spending to help offset weak exports. Slower-than-anticipated government spending on reconstruction has further undermined demand.

Japan’s local governments are running short of funds as lawmakers dicker over legislation needed to authorize bonds to pay for deficit financing.

Though the government and opposition parties look likely to reach a compromise on financing that would avert Japan’s own version of a “fiscal cliff,” the standoff has done little to inspire confidence in the potential for a strong rebound, says Klaus Baader, a regional economist with Societe Generale Cross Asset Research in Hong Kong.

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BBC must reform or die, says Trust chairman

LONDON (Reuters) – The BBC could be doomed unless it makes radical changes, the head of its governing trust said on Sunday, after its director general quit to take the blame for the airing of false child sex abuse allegations against a former politician.

Chris Patten, chairman of the BBC Trust, said confidence had to be restored if the publicly funded corporation was to withstand pressure from rivals, especially Rupert Murdoch‘s media empire, which would try to take advantage of the turmoil.

“If you’re saying, ‘Does the BBC need a thorough structural radical overhaul?’, then absolutely it does, and that is what we will have to do,” Patten, a one-time senior figure in Prime Minister David Cameron‘s Conservative Party and the last British governor of Hong Kong, told BBC television.

“The basis for the BBC’s position in this country is the trust that people have in it,” Patten said. “If the BBC loses that, it’s over.”

George Entwistle resigned as director general on Saturday, just two months into the job, to take responsibility for the child sex allegation on the flagship news programme Newsnight.

The witness in the report, who says he suffered sexual abuse at a care home in the late 1970s, said on Friday he had misidentified the politician, Alistair McAlpine. Newsnight admitted it had not shown the witness a picture of McAlpine, or approached McAlpine for comment before going to air.

Already under pressure after revelations that a long-time star presenter, the late Jimmy Savile, was a paedophile, Entwistle conceded on the BBC morning news that he had not known – or asked – who the alleged abuser was until the name appeared in social media.

The BBC, celebrating its 90th anniversary, is affectionately known in Britain as “Auntie”, and respected around much of the world.

But with 22,000 staff working at eight national TV channels, 50 radio stations and an extensive Internet operation, critics say it is hampered by a complex and overly bureaucratic and hierarchical management structure.

THOMPSON’S LEGACY

Journalists said this had become worse under Entwistle’s predecessor Mark Thompson, who took over in the wake of the last major crisis to hit the corporation and is set to become chief executive of the New York Times Co on Monday.

In that instance, both director general and chairman were forced out after the BBC was castigated by a public inquiry over a report alleging government impropriety in the fevered build up to war in Iraq, leading to major organisational changes.

One of the BBC’s most prominent figures, Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman, said since the Iraq report furore, management had become bloated while cash had been cut from programme budgets.

“He (Entwistle) has been brought low by cowards and incompetents,” Paxman said in a statement, echoing a widely-held view that Entwistle was a good man who had been let down by his senior staff.

Prime Minister Cameron appeared ready to give the BBC the benefit of the doubt, believing that “one of the great institutions of this country” could reform and deal with its failings, according to sources in his office.

Patten, who must find a new director general to sort out the mess, agreed that management structures had proved inadequate.

“Apparently decisions about the programme went up through every damned layer of BBC management, bureaucracy, legal checks – and still emerged,” he said.

“One of the jokes I made, and actually it wasn’t all that funny, when I came to the BBC … was that there were more senior leaders in the BBC then there were in the Chinese Communist Party.”

Patten ruled out resigning himself but other senior jobs are expected to be on the line, while BBC supporters fear investigative journalism will be scaled back. He said he expected to name Entwistle’s successor in weeks, not months.

Among the immediate challenges are threats of litigation.

McAlpine, a close ally of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, has indicated he will sue for damages.

Claims for compensation are also likely from victims who say Savile, one of the most recognisable personalities on British television in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, sexually abused them as children, sometimes on BBC premises.

INQUIRIES

Two inquiries are already under way, looking at failures at Newsnight and allegations relating to Savile, both of which could make uncomfortable reading for senior figures.

Police have also launched a major inquiry into Savile’s crimes and victims’ allegations of a high-profile paedophile ring. Detectives said they had arrested their third suspect on Sunday, a man in his 70s from Cambridgeshire in central England.

Funded by an annual licence fee levied on all TV viewers, the BBC has long been resented by its commercial rivals, who argue it has an unfair advantage and distorts the market.

Murdoch’s Sun tabloid gleefully reported Entwistle’s departure with the headline “Bye Bye Chump” and Patten said News Corp and others would put the boot in, happy to deflect attention after a phone-hacking scandal put the newspaper industry under intense and painful scrutiny.

He said that “one or two newspapers, Mr. Murdoch’s papers” would love to see the BBC lose its national status, “but I think the great British public doesn’t want to see that happen”.

Murdoch himself was watching from afar.

“BBC getting into deeper mess. After Savile scandal, now prominent news program falsely names senior pol as paedophile,” he wrote on his Twitter website on Saturday.

It is not just the BBC and the likes of Entwistle and Patten who are in the spotlight.

Thompson, whom Entwistle succeeded in mid-September, has also faced questions from staff at the New York Times over whether he is still the right person to take one of the biggest jobs in American newspaper publishing.

Britain’s Murdoch-owned Sunday Times queried how Thompson could have been unaware of claims about Savile during his tenure at the BBC as he had told British lawmakers, saying his lawyers had written to the paper addressing the allegations in early September, while he was still director general.

(Editing by Kevin Liffey and Sophie Hares)

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