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A year later, Joplin is 'on the mend'

On the blank canvas left behind by last year's tornado, new homes are slowly popping up in Joplin, Missouri. Every few blocks the buzz of power saws and the pop-pop-pop of nail guns from construction crews signal another step toward making the city whole again. "Joplin is on the mend," said Mayor Melodie Colbert-Kean. "We have a long road to travel, but the way that everyone is joining together and unifying and chipping in, we're going to make it." A year ago, the city suffered a direct hit by a massive EF5 tornado with wind speeds over 200 mph. The May 22 twister leveled homes and businesses, killing 161 people. "A third of the city got pretty much destroyed by the tornado," Colbert-Kean said. "Total devastation, a war zone, that's what it looked like to me." After the search and rescue finished, the cleanup began. Most of the 3 million cubic yards of debris left by the tornado was removed in the first few months after the storm, leaving behind an eerie, treeless tableau. In the middle of this destruction, the iconic cross at St. Mary's Catholic Church still stands, giving hope to many in Joplin. Father Justin Monaghan was in his quarters behind the church watching a golf tournament on television when the storm hit. He took shelter in his bathroom as the church and rectory were leveled. "I was praying at a high speed," said the priest, known to his parishioners as Father Justin. "I didn't expect from the noise coming at me that I was going to survive in any manner. I certainly was praying, and I was just praying to ask God to accept his will." Monaghan moved to the United States in the 1960s, but he still speaks with a lilting Irish brogue. He has been the pastor of St. Mary's for 12 years and has seen storms come and go, but nothing like the magnitude of last year's tornado. When he emerged from the rubble, he saw that one of the few things still standing was the cross. "I just looked and I thought, God is really with us, and he's letting us know he's going to take care of us," he said. "It was tremendous. It was a real gift to see that and it became a symbol all over the community, in fact all over the world." His flock has been attending services at a neighboring church while construction begins a few miles away on the new St. Mary's. The location of the old church will be the site of an electrical substation, but the cross will remain and become part of a small park. Monaghan said he still visits the cross many mornings to pray and meditate at dawn. "Your God is alive and well. And we don't always know why these things happen, but thanks for giving us a message of unity," he prays. The cross sits on high ground overlooking the mixed recovery in Joplin. Nearby Cunningham Park now holds a beautiful fountain and memorial to those lost in the tornado, along with basketball courts and playgrounds. Across the street from the park is the wreckage of St. John's Regional Medical Center, which still looks much the way it did in the days immediately after the storm, with blown-out windows and collapsed walls. Demolition is under way on the heavily damaged hospital, but it is the tallest building in the area, making it impossible to forget the epic destruction the tornado brought. A new hospital is being built on a site a few miles away. About a mile west of St. Mary's, the tornado hit Joplin High School, which is now a massive pile of rubble behind a chain link fence. The school district canceled the remainder of the 2011 school year and set to work trying to figure out what to do with its students when summer was over. School officials settled on a unique solution: They would construct a temporary school in the vacant end of a shopping mall and use it for several years until a new school could be built. After a frantic summer of planning and building, they managed to open the makeshift school on time in September 2011. It took the students and teachers awhile to get used to having classes in a mall, watching senior citizen mall walkers pass by the cafeteria doors during lunch. Now, as the seniors get ready for graduation, it feels like a real school. There is an uncommon maturity to the students at Joplin High School. Two students from the school died, many others lost their homes, and all are part of a battered and bruised community. "We get support from each other and our teachers," explained Rachel Berryhill, an 18-year-old senior. "And it just helps us grow stronger and stronger, so I think it's good we're here together." The tornado destroyed her family's home, along with all her possessions, including clothes and jewelry. "I know it's changed me a lot as a person whether I like it or not," she said. "I don't care as much about material possessions. Now it's like, whatever, and it's made me value friendships." She is excited to have President Obama speak at her graduation and, like many in Joplin, she doesn't dwell on what happened here. But, she says, when a storm approaches it's hard to forget. To ease students' minds and protect them in the event of another tornado, the school has erected concrete storm shelters in the parking lot. Each student is assigned a shelter and the school holds regular drills to be sure they can evacuate in a matter of minutes. Many Joplin residents struggle with the fear of another devastating storm striking the town. Judy Lowe lost everything in last year's tornado, salvaging only a few photos of her sons after seeing them posted on Facebook. Today, she keeps them in a concrete-reinforced closet with a steel door. "This is just like having a lock box, and I know that I'm not going to lose these photos again," she said. "I can replace anything that I can go to a store and buy, but I can never replace any of these things." Lowe now lives in a brand-new house full of newly purchased furniture. Her neighborhood is only partly rebuilt and backhoes are as common on the streets as cars. Work keeps her busy. She tries to not dwell on the tornado and all that she and her family have been through, but like Rachel Berryhill, she gets nervous when a storm rolls in. "I get tense, edgy, just kind of anxious," she said. "There's always going to be that fear of it happening again, and my biggest struggle is trying to not show fear for my children." She is eager for the anniversary to come and go and for the rebuilding to be complete. "I'm proud of Joplin. We have a long way to go," she said. "Seeing it every day you just want it over, want it done, want it fixed. Unfortunately we're not there yet, but we will be."

Published: Thu, 24 May 2012 08:42:07 GMT

Hurricane Bud forms near Mexico

Hurricane Bud formed off the southwestern coast of Mexico late Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami reported. The Category 1 storm with 75 mph winds was located about 385 miles (620 kilometers) southwest of Manzanillo, and was tracking to the north at 6 mph. "Additional strengthening is forecast during the next 240 hours," the hurricane center said. "Some slight weakening is forecast to begin by Friday." The forecast map shows the storm approaching the coast late Friday before slipping off to the southwest and away from land. Bud is the second named tropical storm of the East Pacific hurricane season.

Published: Thu, 24 May 2012 08:41:03 GMT

Business turns the dead into diamonds

Eva Wu has kept her son's room unchanged ever since he died in January of 2011. Cornald passed away from a rare form of cancer, known as PEComa, at age 17. Divorced and single, Wu recalled his optimism even in his final days. "He always comforted me. He said 'Mummy, I know what's going on. I'm not afraid of dying. I know where I'm going to. I have Jesus in my heart so don't worry about me'." To keep him close in death as he was in life, Wu had his ashes made into a diamond. "I feel peace. I feel he's near me. And it's 100% him. Nothing else but him," said Wu, who keeps the diamond on a cross necklace. "And I can recall his smiling face, and I can recall his gentle character." That peace is thanks to the Hong Kong company Algordanza, which has been making "remembrance diamonds" since 2008, said Scott Fong, local director of Algordanza. Headquartered in Switzerland, Algordanza's name comes from the local Romansch language meaning "remembrance." An engineer by education, Fong thought there could be a demand for the service after his mother's aunt passed away in 2007, and he found end-of-life services in Hong Kong to be "crude" and options for burial few. The ashes-to-diamond process is fairly straightforward, Fong said. Algordanza sends 200 grams of cremated remains to its laboratory in Switzerland. The carbon from those ashes is then filtered out to more than 99% purity and refined into silky, black graphite. A machine then applies volcano-like pressure and temperature: Nine hours later, a synthetic diamond -- which has a bluish rather than clear tint, owing to boron found naturally in the body -- is born. A quarter-carat diamond retails for about $3000, Fong said. A two-carat diamond, the biggest that Algordanza makes, costs about $37,000. This price range makes remembrance diamonds competitive with the cost of Hong Kong burials, which range from $2,000 to more than $200,000 depending on the choice of coffin, according to the city's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. Land is also scarce in Hong Kong. Just as the living complain about Hong Kong's sky-high property prices, interment is pricey for the dead, too, in the city's densely-packed cemeteries. In fact, the Hong Kong government only allows a body to stay buried for a maximum of six years before it must be exhumed and cremated. Fong says Algordanza's revenues have doubled since he opened its Hong Kong office in 2008. But Chinese traditional culture holds that the business of death is taboo. Even Fong's father, Bill, had discouraged him from starting his business at first. "He told me that all of Chinese cultural society would cut off my head for even proposing an idea like this," Fong recalled. But his father came to accept the idea after questioning if future generations would preserve family traditions, Fong said, like annual tomb visits to pay respect to the departed. His father asked, "Who would then come to visit me?" Fong said. Fong's father died a few weeks ago due to complications from liver cancer. His remains will be made into a diamond and split among his four children who live around the world, Fong said. As for Wu, acceptance from her family to create a diamond from her son's remains was slow. "They know my bonding to my child. They know we are so close," she said. "And if this is the way that can make me happy and comfortable ... (they said) just go ahead." Wu admits a remembrance diamond may not be the way everyone may want to commemorate their loved ones. But aside from the love held for the departed, a diamond can last nearly as long, she adds.

Published: Thu, 24 May 2012 07:47:21 GMT

Facebook sorting through its IPO legal mess

At this point, there's little question that Facebook's IPO was a disaster. But was it illegal? That's the question lawyers, regulators, and other observers are asking as allegations swirl that major clients of Morgan Stanley and other banks involved in the offering may have had access to privileged information ahead of the stock's debut. "We need to be assured that everyone, every investor, gets treated the same," William Galvin, the secretary of the commonwealth in Massachusetts, told CNN Wednesday. Galvin has issued a subpoena to Morgan Stanley seeking information about the bank's contacts with clients ahead of Facebook's IPO last week. Law enforcement officials have not formally accused either Facebook or the banks that underwrote its IPO of wrongdoing. On Wednesday, however, lawyers representing investors who purchased Facebook stock filed suit against the tech giant and the banks involved alleging that they withheld information that should have been disclosed in public documents. In particular, the suit claims that Facebook executives told the underwriter banks to lower their revenue projections for the company, and that the banks relayed this information to favored clients but not to the general public. If true, this would likely be in violation of federal securities law, which dictates that all "material information" -- facts that could influence investor decisions -- be disclosed by public companies and companies planning to go public in their filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Documentation to support this claim is not provided in the lawsuit, though Darren Robbins, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said his team had access to "witnesses and shareholders and other sources of information." Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs did indeed revise their revenue projections for Facebook shortly before its IPO, according to Reuters, though these revisions came after Facebook filed amended documents with the SEC. The company had previously disclosed its difficulties generating revenue from users on mobile devices, and in a May 9 filing, it said these problems had continued. Within the next two days, Reuters said, the four banks' research departments lowered their estimates. Those estimates were later communicated to major investors but not the general public. Underwriters -- the banks that handle an IPO -- have close contact with a company before it goes public, though they are subject to restrictions on what can be shared between their research divisions and bankers working directly on the IPO. This is in order to prevent conflicts of interest that could lead to misleading research. Researchers at underwriter banks are prohibited from publishing analysis about the firm until 40 days after the IPO, though they are permitted to discuss their views with clients orally under certain conditions. A crucial question is whether the banks' analysts lowered their estimates based solely on Facebook's public filings, or if they received additional information from the company that was not made public. "Those analysts didn't have a miraculous epiphany concurrently and modify those numbers," said Robbins, the lawyer for the Facebook investors. If the estimates were based only on public information, investors may have trouble prevailing in a lawsuit, said Dominic Auld, a lawyer at the firm Labaton Sucharow who specializes in litigation on behalf of shareholders. Auld's firm in not involved in the suits against Facebook but may consider joining at some point. "If they feel different about this company based on the fundamentals ... banks have the right to do that, to change their viewpoints," Auld said. "I don't think that's actionable." Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter of the IPO, has maintained that this was indeed the case. "In response to the information [in Facebook's updated public filing], a significant number of research analysts ... reduced their earnings views to reflect their estimate of the impact of the new information," the bank said in a statement this week. It added that the IPO had followed "all applicable regulations." But if there was some additional information from Facebook that prompted the banks to revise their estimates but was only shared with some investors, that could mean big problems for Facebook and the banks involved. Scott Sweet, senior managing partner at the research firm IPO Boutique, said he thinks this is indeed what happened. "I believe they had more information, and wanted to, as usual, take care of the monster funds and leave retail investors with an uneven playing field," Sweet said. The banks notified a number of his firm's hedge fund clients about their revised estimates ahead of the IPO, he added. Spokespeople for the banks named in the suit aside from Morgan Stanley either declined to comment or were unavailable for comment. Facebook has called the shareholder suit "without merit" but has declined to comment in detail. For now, all the questions of legality surrounding the IPO are far from being answered. The SEC declined to comment, while Massachusetts' Galvin cautioned Wednesday that his probe was still in the early stages. A spokeswoman for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which is also looking into the matter, offered a similar note of caution. "Until we unwind the facts and circumstances surrounding this situation, it is inappropriate to speculate about what potential violations may have occurred," she said.

Published: Thu, 24 May 2012 06:34:41 GMT

IOC selects three cities as candidates for 2020 Olympic Games

The International Olympic Committee announced Wednesday that Istanbul, Tokyo and Madrid have made it on to the short list of cities bidding to host the 2020 Olympic Games. Baku and Doha were rejected for the second time in a row after failing to make the 2016 games. "The executive board has decided that the following cities can continue to the next phase and become candidates for 2020. In the order of drawing lots: Istanbul, Tokyo, and Madrid," said IOC spokesman Mark Adams. The three remaining candidate cities will enter into Phase 2 of the selection period. Files from the cities will be submitted to the IOC by January 7, 2013. Following an official visit by the IOC Evaluation Commission between February and April of 2013, a report will be made to the 2020 IOC Evaluation Commission and candidate cities will brief IOC members. The election of the host city of the XXXII Olympic Summer Games will take place on September 7, 2013, at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires. In culling the field from five to three cities, the IOC executive board relied "on application files, the report of a working group of experts which is formed to assess the application forms of each city, the city's compliance with elements like the World Anti-Doping Code, and other criteria," said Adams. Doha, the capital of the Gulf state of Qatar, had proposed changing the games to October 2-18, to mitigate the extreme temperatures athletes would have to experience during the usual July-August summer games. Based on a 10-year average, Doha temperatures in October range from 30 to 36 degrees Celsius (86 to 96.8 degrees Fahrenheit). The working group also decided against Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, for its infrastructural limitations. The "games planning and experience," were "not sufficiently developed at this stage," according to the report. Of the five candidate cities, only Tokyo has hosted the Olympics before, in the XVIII Olympiad held in the summer of 1964.

Published: Thu, 24 May 2012 05:39:14 GMT

Fire on nuclear sub injures 4

A fire was burning Wednesday evening on a nuclear submarine docked at a U.S. Navy shipyard in Maine, and four people were injured, authorities said. The USS Miami's reactor was not operating at the time and was not affected, according to Gary Hildreth, a public affairs officer for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery. Navy spokesperson Lt. Myers Vasquez said the attack sub was in dry dock for regularly scheduled maintenance when the fire started. It is capable of carrying Tomahawk cruise missiles and Mark 48 torpedoes, but no weapons were on board, Vasquez said. State, local, and federal authorities were notified of the incident. Fire crews responded at 5:41 p.m. to a report of a fire in the forward compartment of the Miami. Four people were injured , Hildreth said. One was treated and released at the scene. Three people were taken to a medical facility and later released. The USS Miami is a fast-attack submarine of the Los Angeles class, according to Vasquez. According to Hildreth, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard was established on June 12, 1800, and is the oldest continuously operating shipyard operated by the Navy.

Published: Thu, 24 May 2012 04:16:57 GMT

Silicon Valley shrugs off Facebook IPO woes

While Wall Street freaks out about an IPO it views as a disaster, the view of Facebook's rocky public debut is much sunnier in Silicon Valley. Some in the tech trenches are shrugging off the problems -- Nasdaq's meltdown, the stock's volatility, the questions about whether Facebook tipped some analysts off about its dimming financial prospects -- as Wall Street business as usual. "That's the third IPO I watched closely for a startup," said Gordon Gooch, the founder of New York-based 'sell your skills' marketplace Zoondy. "All of them had something weird and shady going on. It doesn't surprise me." At TechCrunch Disrupt, a three-day New York tech conference that opened Monday morning, much of the cocktail chatter focused on Facebook's IPO. The general mood was upbeat. Tech investors and entrepreneurs are confident that Facebook -- and its stock price -- will be just fine in a few months. Outbid chief product officer Bob Lee, who purchased Facebook stock, says he's investing and holding. "I didn't care what price I bought it at," Lee told CNNMoney. "For the long term, it's a good buy. You've got such a high percentage of the worlds' eyeballs on Facebook." Several people said they see Facebook's stock stagnation as a good sign. An IPO raises cash for the company selling the shares -- Facebook collected more than $6 billion -- but the company gets its payout based on its actual IPO price. If its share price soars in later trading, the profits from that rise go to the investors who bought the stock, not the company itself. "I think they priced it really well in that they didn't leave much value for investors," Ark.com CEO Patrick Riley said of Facebook's underwriters, including lead banker Morgan Stanley. "They found what demand was and maximized it. That's their job." Romil Patel, the founder of video messaging app maker SayClip, echoed that view. "Facebook not popping on IPO day just means that they priced the shares correctly, which rarely happens, and raised the fair amount of cash the company was aiming for," he said Patel points to Amazon's 1997 IPO as a similar example. Priced at $1.50 (after adjusting for later stock splits), Amazon's shares closed at or below their offering price for 6 of their first 14 days of trading. They now trade at around $216. "Look at the company now," Patel said of Amazon. "Facebook has the power to do the same." On stage at the conference, tech pundit and investor Michael Arrington asked Sequoia Capital's Roelof Botha whether Facebook was overvalued. Botha skirted the question, calling Facebook's impact "tremendous." "Ultimately, it's up to Facebook's management team," Botha said. Count AOL founder Steve Case, now an active tech investor, as one of that team's fans. "Facebook is a terrific brand, and Mark [Zuckerberg] and Sheryl Sandberg have done a terrific job," he told CNN's Erin Burnett this week. He thinks the concerns about Facebook's post-IPO prospects are overblown. "The markets go up and down," Case said. "As long as you keep focusing on the product and keep innovating, that's really what matters. You can't pay too much attention to the stock price." How much is Facebook really worth? Nasdaq's errors and trading maneuvers by stock flippers contributed to the company's stock swoon, but analysts have warned repeatedly that Facebook's financial fundamentals don't support a sky-high valuation. Facebook closed Tuesday at $32, giving the company a market cap of around $66 billion. Techies think there's plenty of room for that to grow. As former Microsoft engineer Idan Beck put it: "I think that Facebook has brought a very interesting value to the world that perhaps traditional markets are not ready to ascertain. Over time, people will understand." The company is frequently compared to Google, which drew similar skepticism around its 2004 IPO for its seemingly lofty valuation. The criticisms aimed at Facebook -- that its best years are behind it -- sound eerily familiar. Here's one financial analyst's view of Google, conveyed to the New York Times in 2004: ''You can't hide the fact that this thing is slowing down. There was a year of hyper-growth, and then it rolled over.'' So what happens next? In five years, will Facebook be worth more than Google? Arrington popped that question on Botha during their discussion. Botha couldn't say. "I don't know," the veteran investor replied after a long pause. Arrington admitted he wouldn't know how to answer the question either. For most who work at Facebook, the past week's stock roller-coaster has little direct impact on them. The heavy majority of Facebook employees hold stock warrants that will vest six months after the IPO. The price they care about is the one Facebook will be at in November, not now. Posters around Facebook's campus last week encouraged employees to "stay focused & keep hacking." That's what many are doing. At this week's Webby Awards -- a tech event known for its five-word acceptance speechs -- CNNMoney asked Serkan Piantino, a Facebook engineering manager, for his thoughts on Facebook's IPO. His reply: "No comment, lots to do."

Published: Thu, 24 May 2012 02:27:33 GMT

Band members say FAMU drum major gave in to hazing

A Florida A&M University drum major who died after enduring a school hazing ritual aboard a bus decided to go through with the rite in order to earn respect, band members said in court documents released Wednesday. "It's like a respect thing," said defendant Jonathan Boyce, who noted that Robert Champion "was wanting to do it all season." Champion, 26, died last year because of "hemorrhagic shock due to soft tissue hemorrhage, due to blunt force trauma," the Orange County medical examiner said. More than 2,000 pages of police interviews with witnesses and defendants who were aboard the bus on the day of Champion's death paint a picture of a darkened bus where three band members, including Champion, were hazed. Multiple witnesses say that Champion was forced to walk, shirtless, from the front of the bus to the back while being beaten with drum sticks, bass drum mallets, punches and kicks. Champion is thought to have died after taking part in a rite of passage called "Crossing Bus C," in which students "walk from the front of the bus to the back of the bus backward while the bus is full of other band members." Florida A&M band fraternity charter revoked after hazing investigation "You get beaten until you get to the back," one band member said on the condition of anonymity. But Champion's parents said Wednesday that their son had advocated against hazing. "It doesn't sound like my son at all," Pam Champion told reporters at a news conference in Atlanta. "He was a stickler for the rules." Boyce and other defendants are only trying to "save themselves," she said, by claiming that Champion wanted to participate in the ritual. "It certainly wasn't (just) hazing," she added, describing the incident as a "brutal assault." As for the future of FAMU's Marching 100, Pam Champion said, "Until you clean house, you can't ... consider putting that band back on the field." After the incident, Boyce said he asked Champion if he was alright. Initially, he said "yeah I'm OK," according to Boyce. But later, he said Champion began panicking. "He was having trouble breathing," noted Boyce, who carried the drum major shortly before he lost consciousness. "He couldn't see, but his eyes were like wide open." Boyce's attorney could not be immediately reached for comment and CNN cannot independently verify his account. Band member Harold Finley, who has been charged in connection with Champion's death, and Evan Calhoun, then a second-year percussion student who has not been charged, noted that the hazing ritual wasn't obligatory. "If you want to be there, you're there; if you're not, you're not," Calhoun said in the deposition. "Nobody forces you." Band member Kerian Cox, who was a percussion section leader, told investigators that the more intense hazing can come when a student is identified for senior-level positions. "I guess they know I was going to be like a (band) leader in the future," Cox said, recalling his own earlier experience with the ritual. But he noted that the band's trombone section had been "cut in half" due to suspensions for alleged hazing prior to the November incident. On the day that Champion died, drum major Keon Hollis told investigators, he had endured the same ritual. "I did it for the same reasons everybody else do it," he said. "Get the respect." Hollis -- who went before Champion -- said they had to fight their way through a fury of punches and slaps, while other band members swung with sticks and straps. "(Robert) really didn't want to do it, but he was kind of like, I'm just going to do it," said Hollis. "You know, I told him, I said, if you don't want to do it, don't do it." Hollis said Champion seemed fine immediately after the ritual. "He was fine. ... He asked me, he's like, 'man, I need something to drink.' And I had a bottle of water and I gave it to him," Hollis said in an audio interview with investigators released Wednesday. Soon afterward, Champion began having trouble breathing, according to witnesses and police reports. "He was sitting on the bus at the steps. ... He said he can't breathe, so I checked him," said band member Darryl Cearnel, who is not charged in the case. "He wasn't saying anything. He wasn't responsive or anything. They was calling his name and (he) wasn't saying anything." Cearnel told investigators that he performed CPR until paramedics arrived. The medical examiner who conducted the autopsy ruled the death a homicide. The autopsy found "extensive contusions of (Champion's) chest, arms, shoulder and back," as well as "evidence of crushing of areas of subcutaneous fat," the fatty tissue directly under the skin. He did not have any bone fractures or injuries to his internal organs. There was also no any evidence of "natural disease except for a slightly enlarged heart," nor did toxicology tests reveal signs of drugs or alcohol. Four students were expelled from the school, and another 30 were dismissed from the band soon after Champion's death. A law enforcement investigation resulted in charges being brought against 13 people. Eleven individuals each face one count of third-degree felony hazing resulting in death. Each one also is accused of two counts of first-degree misdemeanor hazing. State law provides a prison term of up to six years for those facing the more serious charges. Two people each face a single count of misdemeanor first-degree hazing. Sentences in such cases typically call for up to a year in jail. Champion's death brought renewed public scrutiny to hazing, a practice that some say has gone on for years. Other band members had come forward previously with allegations of hazing and some had been hospitalized for injuries allegedly suffered in the practice. FAMU said it has taken steps to eradicate the problem, and after Champion died the university's board of trustees approved an anti-hazing plan that includes an independent panel of experts to investigate hazing allegations.

Published: Thu, 24 May 2012 02:03:27 GMT

Iran, world powers offer proposals at nuclear talks

Western nations and Iran broached solutions over Tehran's controversial nuclear program Wednesday, the latest push to end the saber-rattling over the Islamic republic's atomic aspirations. Both sides, negotiating in Baghdad, delivered proposals in the latest round of talks between Iran and six nations -- the United States, France, Russia, China, Britain and Germany. The talks, a followup to negotiations last month, come amid a backdrop of tensions across the Middle East over Iran's nuclear efforts. Western powers fear that Iran may be trying to build nuclear weapons, despite its insistence that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. The West has been using sanctions and diplomacy to try to stop Iran from producing nuclear arms. Tehran threatened this year to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil shipping lane, if sanctions were imposed on its exports of crude oil. Israel, which is believed to have its own nuclear arsenal, has said it may attack Iran to try to stop Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. The six nations are "putting forward a detailed proposal, which will include confidence-building measures that can begin to pave the way for Iran to demonstrate that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and for it to comply with UNSC (U.N. Security Council) resolutions," said a Western official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions. "This approach includes concrete step-by-step, reciprocal measures aimed at near-term action. We are looking to have detailed and serious discussions in Baghdad that strive to make progress towards these concrete steps," the official said. Asked whether relief from the tough Western sanctions imposed on Iran will be on the table, the official said, "There is no expectation it will happen as a result of this meeting. Iran would need to take significant concrete action first." The Western official said bilateral talks between European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, had concluded. A closing plenary session will be held Thursday morning. When asked if there were a chance of a deal, another Western official, who requested anonymity because of sensitive diplomatic discussions, said, "We're not talking final deals, but solid progress." Iran has submitted a package to the nations, with some, but not all, of the points addressing the nuclear issue, said a member of the Iranian delegation who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the talks. Details were not immediately available. A British Foreign Office spokesman said world powers are offering support for Iranian economic and agricultural development and the country's civilian nuclear program in exchange for cooperation. Another idea on the table is an updated version of an earlier offer to swap enriched uranium for nuclear fuel, European Union officials said. There had been a proposal to swap most of Iran's low-enriched uranium for fuel rods to power a medical research reactor in Tehran. The proposals address the world community's "concerns about the nature of their nuclear program," said Michael Mann, a spokesman for Ashton. "Obviously, you have various U.N. Security Council resolutions and reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that have found suspicions that they may be developing a military program, so our proposals on the table address those concerns," Mann said. "We hope that they will come back and react positively to those proposals that we've made and that we can really talk about the substance and get things moving." Mann said 20% uranium enrichment "is one of the issues that's addressed" in proposals Ashton put on the table. Uranium enriched at 20% is typically used for hospital isotopes and research reactors, but is also seen as a shortcut toward the 90% enrichment required to build nuclear weapons. The Baghdad meeting takes place a day after the head of the IAEA said he would soon sign an agreement with Iran, a sign that Tehran may have agreed to broader inspections of its nuclear facilities. The talks come at a critical time for Iran. The country's economy has been crippled by sanctions imposed by the United Nations, the United States and the European Union. Because 80% of Iran's foreign revenues are derived from oil exports, an embargo by the EU set to go into effect in July will put further pressure on its economy. Jalili was welcomed by the Iraqi foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, on his arrival Wednesday at Baghdad International Airport, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has repeatedly raised alarms about Iran's nuclear development, said Monday that the world powers "must show determination, not weakness" in the talks. "They do not need to make concessions to Iran," he said in remarks distributed by his office. "They need to set clear and unequivocal demands before it." Israel wants Iran to halt all uranium enrichment, give up all nuclear fuel it has enriched so far and dismantle the Fordo enrichment plant it built into a mountainside. "Only thus will it be possible to ensure that Iran will not have a nuclear bomb," Netanyahu said. On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak urged other countries to intensify the pressure on Iran. "Without a tightening of the sanctions, Iran will not stop nuclear program development," he said. Leaders of the so-called Group of Eight -- the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Russia -- called Saturday on Iran to comply with the requirements of the IAEA and open its doors to nuclear inspectors. In a declaration, the G-8 leaders said they welcomed the resumption of talks. The IAEA has been demanding access to sites where Iran could be doing weapons-related testing. The agency's director-general, Yukiya Amano, met with Iranian negotiator Jalili in Tehran on Monday. "During the meeting, we discussed a wide spectrum of different issues, including nuclear disarmament, peaceful use of nuclear energy and strengthening (the position of) the agency," Amano said Tuesday in Vienna after returning from the visit to Iran. "During my stay in Tehran, there was an important development on the structured approach document on which we were working since January," he said, adding that a "decision was made by me and Mr. Jalili to reach the agreement on the structured approach." Amano told reporters he raised the issue of access to Parchin, the military complex believed to have been the site of high-explosive tests related to nuclear weapons research. "This issue will be addressed as part of the implementation of the structured approach document," he said. Amano said differences remained, but Jalili said they would not pose obstacles to signing the agreement. The "decision was made to conclude and sign the agreement," Amano said. Iran's state-run Islamic Republic News Agency said that in meetings, both sides "discussed present problems more candidly, providing each other with proposals to remove ambiguities and expand cooperation." Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi "welcomed the new IAEA approach toward Iran's nuclear issue based on mutual understanding and bilateral respect," IRNA reported Tuesday. The United States, France, Russia, China, Britain and Germany are called the P5+1, a reference to Germany and the other nations, permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Another name for the group is the E3+3, a reference to the European countries of Germany, France and Britain and the others.

Published: Thu, 24 May 2012 01:52:04 GMT

HP to cut 27,000 jobs

Hewlett-Packard announced Wednesday that it is slashing 27,000 jobs in a widely expected maneuver aimed at slimming down the struggling tech giant. The company expects the layoffs, which amount to 8% of its worldwide workforce, to save $3 billion to $3.5 billion by the end of 2014. The majority of those savings will be reinvested in research and development, HP said. Shares of HP jumped by nearly 11% in after-hours trading as investors cheered the company's restructuring efforts and positive outlook. The changes "will further streamline our operations, improve our processes, and remove complexity from our business," Meg Whitman, HP's CEO, said in a prepared statement. "While some of these actions are difficult because they involve the loss of jobs, they are necessary to improve execution and to fund the long term health of the company." HP said it expects the job cuts to "yield significant improvements in efficiency and customer service" over the next several years. The company plans to revamp its slumping PC and printing businesses and to invest in building up its cloud-based services for corporate customers. Meanwhile, Whitman said on a conference call with investors on Wednesday that she remains "cautiously optimistic" about the future of the company. HP is recovering from a tumultuous 2011, in which then-CEO Leo Apotheker sought to shed the company's PC business, continually reduced financial estimates and was subsequently fired. Whitman said the company is seeing "early signs" of a turnaround. "While I wouldn't say we're turning the corner, we are making real progress," she said. "We're streamlining and removing complexity at every turn." For the past quarter, HP reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit and sales. Though it offered a downbeat business outlook for the near future, it raised its forecast for the full year. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company said its net income for the fiscal second quarter, ended April 30, fell 31% to $1.6 billion The results included one-time charges of 18 cents per share. Without the charges, HP said it earned 98 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, who typically exclude one-time items from their estimates, had forecast earnings of 91 cents per share. PC sales were flat as unit sales fell another 1%. HP said it is rethinking its branding strategy across all product lineups, but particularly PCs. It plans to take a $1.2 billion write-down on the Compaq brand -- further diminishing former CEO Carly Fiorina's costly legacy. The company is also in the process of restructuring its printing business, sales of which declined by 10% over last year. The unit was folded into its PC division last month. Services sales declined 1%, and servers fell by 6%. The company's software business grew by 22%, but it remains a proportionally tiny part of HP's business. Overall, sales fell 3% to $30.7 billion, edging past the nearly $30 billion analysts expected. The investment in research and development should help sales down the road, Whitman said. "As a world-class innovator, we should have excellent quality products," she said. "I think we have very good products, but I also think they can be better." The company said that it expects to earn between 94 cents and 97 cents per share this quarter, excluding one-time charges, coming in well below analysts' median estimate of $1.02 per share. But HP said its cost-cutting will start to pay off soon: It now expects to earn between $4.05 and $4.10 per share for the full year, up from previous guidance and higher than analysts' forecasts."

Published: Thu, 24 May 2012 00:34:02 GMT

Baby spinach recalled over salmonella concerns

Consumers need to check their refrigerators because some organic baby spinach is being recalled after random testing found possible salmonella contamination in a finished package of spinach, according to a recall alert published on the FDA website on Tuesday. The sample was taken at a distribution center in Terrel, Texas, by the Texas Department of Agriculture on behalf of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA has a cooperative agreement with states to conduct regular random testing of fruits and vegetables. "They [Texas Department of Agriculture] shipped the three randomly selected samples to the Ohio Department of Agriculture labratory," Mike Jarvis, a spokesman with the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service said. "The lab in Ohio has confirmed that it's salmonella and now we're waiting for the characterization - what kind of salmonella it is." The organic baby spinach came from Taylor Farms in Salinas, California. The grower initiated the cautionary move even though no illness has been linked to the recalled products which are sold under the names Private Selections and Marketside. The specific products being recalled are: Private Selections Organic Baby Spinach 5 oz clamshell with a "best by" date of 5-25-12, which was distributed to stores in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Marketside Baby Spinach Organic 10 oz clamshell with the same "best by" date went to stores in Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. All were distributed on May 9th and 10th. According to the Taylor Farms press release on the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website the company is cooperating with the FDA and no other products are affected. "Taylor Farms is working with FDA to ensure that any products that could be harmful to the public are removed from the marketplace," said FDA spokesperson Pat El-Hinnawy. "Consumers are urged not to buy or eat organic baby spinach from any of these labels... No illnesses have been associated to date with Taylor Farms products. She says, illnesses or adverse events related to use of these products should be emailed to the FDA at CAERS@fda.hhs.gov or by calling 240-402-2405." Salmonella is a bacteria that can cause infection. Symptoms normally begin 12 to 72 hours after infection and typically last four to seven days. While most people recover without treatment, some experience diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever. But in some cases, if not treated quickly, there can be serious complications and even death. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about 42,000 cases are reported each year in the U.S., but because many cases go unreported, it could actually be 29 times greater or more. Efforts to reach Taylor Farm were unsuccessful, but the company voluntarily recalled spinach and various salad blends last October after random testing of packaged spinach found possible salmonella contamination.

Published: Wed, 23 May 2012 23:55:53 GMT

Bride who faked cancer ordered repay donors

A New York woman who pretended to have terminal cancer to pay for an extravagant wedding and honeymoon has been ordered to give back thousands of dollars she received from sympathetic donors. Jessica Vega, 25, pleaded guilty last month to the scheme and was indicted on fraud and grand larceny charges as well as one misdemeanor. After spending eight weeks in jail, Orange County Court Judge Robert Freehill ordered Vega to return the $13,368.48 she gained in gifts and donations while posing as terminally ill. She was also sentenced to 300 hours of community service and five years of probation, according to a statement from the New York Attorney General's Office. "I am pleased that the community members, who felt so compelled to generously help a neighbor in need, will be given back their hard earned money," Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement. Victims of Vega's scam are expected to begin receiving compensation in the coming weeks. Officials say the scheme lasted from January 2010 to June 2010 and involved eliciting gifts from a bridal couture shop and a high-end restaurant. Vega was married in May 2010 after claiming she only had a few months to live. She allegedly "went to Aruba for her honeymoon with expenses paid for by people touched by her story," according to the indictment. The man Vega married, who was not named in the indictment, is not facing charges. Attorney General's Office spokeswoman Jennifer Givner said the man says he was not involved in the scheme.

Published: Wed, 23 May 2012 22:29:25 GMT

Powell favors same-sex marriage

Gen. Colin Powell said Wednesday on CNN's "The Situation Room" that he supports legal same-sex marriage, either at the state or federal level. "I have no problem with it," he said in the interview, which will air at 5 p.m. ET. "In terms of the legal matter of creating a contract between two people that's called marriage, and allowing them to live together with the protection of law, it seems to me is the way we should be moving in this country. And so I support the president's decision." President Barack Obama announced his support of same-sex marriage, a change in his position, in early May. Powell's statements on Wednesday also represented a turning point in his own public statements on the matter. The former secretary of state was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when the military "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" position was implemented. "It was the Congress that imposed 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' it was certainly my position, my recommendation to get us out of an even worse outcome that could have occurred," Powell told CNN's Wolf Blitzer, recalling former President Bill Clinton's support of overturning a ban on military service for gay individuals. After public opposition, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," was seen as a compromise. Powell said he is aware of religious objections to same-sex marriage, but spoke primarily about it as a matter of public policy. "I respect the fact that many denominations have different points of view with respect to gay marriage and they can hold that in the sanctity in the place of their religion and not bless them or solemnize them," he said. He said he has "a lot of friends who are individually gay but are in partnerships with loved ones, and they are as stable a family as my family is and they raise children. And so I don't see any reason not to say that they should be able to get married under the laws of their state or the laws of the country." In 2010, Powell said he favored a military repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and was in "full support" of Congressional action which resulted in the policy's repeal. Powell, a moderate Republican who served as secretary of state under former President George W. Bush, sent shockwaves when he endorsed President Barack Obama for president in 2008. He said Wednesday that he is undecided who he will support this November -- and as a private citizen, feels little pressure to announce his decision. But Powell also voiced his disapproval over Romney's previous assertion, in an earlier CNN interview, that Russia is the United States' "number one geopolitical foe." "I don't think that's the case," Powell said. "Foe means enemy. Now, will we have differences of opinion with the Russians? Yes. Will they get mad at us from time to time, and we get mad at them? That's part of the normal diplomatic relations."

Published: Wed, 23 May 2012 21:11:02 GMT

Secret Service scandal: systemic problem or abberation?

Time after time Wednesday, Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan insisted last month's prostitution scandal in Colombia was an aberration -- just poor choices by a dozen agents under the influence of alcohol. "This is not a cultural issue, this is not a systemic issue," Sullivan told the Senate Homeland Security Committee, arguing that similar misconduct hasn't occurred on thousands of other overseas trips by Secret Service agents. "On this particular trip, we had individuals who made very bad decisions." He maintained that view when Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, noted the agents used their own names when signing in prostitutes as overnight guests in their hotel rooms. Doesn't that show the agents lacked any fear of disclosure or discipline, Collins asked. Sullivan responded that "between the alcohol and I don't know, the environment, these individuals did some dumb things," adding that he did not believe they acted because they thought their behavior would be tolerated. In his own Secret Service career spanning decades, Sullivan noted, he never witnessed such behavior. To Collins and other senators on the panel investigating the night of heavy drinking and consorting with prostitutes in Cartagena, Sullivan's personal dedication and loyalty to the agency he heads might be preventing him from accepting what seems obvious to them. "I continue to believe that the problem is broader than you believe it to be," Collins said to Sullivan at the end of Wednesday's hearing. She later told reporters: "I think he has a difficult time coming to grips with the fact that he has a broader problem than just this one" episode. The hearing was the first by a congressional committee on the April incident that embarrassed the nearly 150-year-old agency and raised security concerns. In Colombia as part of the advance details before President Barack Obama arrival to attend the Summit of the Americas, a dozen agents hit the clubs of Cartagena for a night of drinking that ended with them bringing women back to their hotel rooms. A morning-after dispute between one agent and a woman over payment led to a dozen Secret Service members being sent home and the resulting media coverage and investigations. Collins and committee chairman Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut who caucuses with the Democrats, called an announcement at the hearing that the Department of Homeland Security's acting inspector general will launch an independent investigation of the Colombia incident "a big change" and "significant." Previously, the acting inspector general, Charles Edwards, was going to review the internal investigation by the Secret Service. In addition, at least two other congressional panels are looking into the scandal, and the military is investigating 12 members also allegedly involved. In his opening statement Wednesday, Lieberman said it was hard to believe that on one night, the agents involved "suddenly and spontaneously did something they and other agents never had done before." Lieberman and Collins provided new details of the incident, describing how the Secret Service agents went out on the town in groups of two or three to four different strip clubs and night clubs and returned to their hotel with foreign women who were signed in as overnight guests. Collins said the circumstances suggested that "different rules apply on the road." Sullivan, however, repeatedly argued the incident reflected misconduct by a few bad actors in an otherwise professional and exemplary agency. He apologized for what happened and declared himself "dumbfounded" when word of what happened first reached him the next day. "When many of these people were interviewed, I don't think they could explain why they exhibited the behavior they did," he said, adding that "there is no excuse for that type of behavior from a conduct perspective and a national security perspective. That type of behavior was reckless." Sullivan also revealed that two of the Secret Service agents who initially said they would resign over the scandal now are seeking to challenge their ouster. He said the agency will seek to revoke the security clearances of the two, which would effectively prevent them from continuing to work for the Secret Service. Under respectful but persistent questioning by the panel members, Sullivan said the misconduct never compromised the security plan for the Obama trip. The incident involved roughly 20 alleged prostitutes and has resulted in the dismissal of nine Secret Service members. Three others were cleared of serious misconduct. The military is investigating the alleged involvement of 12 service members, but has yet to announce any results. Collins noted that "it is basic 'counterintelligence 101' that Secret Service personnel and others holding sensitive positions of trust in the U.S. government should avoid any situation that could provide a foreign intelligence or security service or criminal gangs with the means of exerting coercion or blackmail. Yet two of the primary means of entrapment -- sexual lures and alcohol -- were both present here in abundance." While preliminary findings are that no weapons or classified material was in the agents' rooms, those involved "could easily have been drugged or kidnapped, or had their liaisons with these foreign national used to blackmail them," she said. "They willingly made themselves potential targets not only for intelligence or security services, but also for groups like" drug cartels. Sullivan said in his opening statement that "at the time the misconduct occurred, none of the individuals involved in misconduct had received any specific protective information, sensitive security documents, firearms, radios or other security related equipment in their hotel rooms." In addition, Sullivan noted that allegations of similar misconduct by Secret Service personnel in El Salvador in March 2011 appeared to be untrue. "After several days in San Salvador and conducting 28 interviews with hotel managers and employees, individuals from the U.S. Department of State, other government agencies and contract employees assigned to assist the Secret Service ... no evidence was found to substantiate the allegations," he said. The alleged incident was reported by CNN affiliate KIRO in Seattle. The station cited an unnamed U.S. government contractor who worked extensively with the Secret Service advance team in San Salvador before an Obama visit. The source said he was with about a dozen Secret Service agents and a few U.S. military specialists at a strip club in the city a few days before Obama arrived. The men drank heavily at the club, the source said, and most of them paid extra for access to a VIP section where they were provided sexual favors in return for cash. Sullivan said Wednesday that the owner of the business was interviewed and provided a sworn written statement saying "he had no knowledge or any other information that any Secret Service personnel had been to his business or information about misconduct by Secret Service personnel." He outlined previously reported steps being taken to prevent future instances, including enhanced supervision on such assignments and a reinforced code of conduct. Sullivan also encouraged agents to blow the whistle on any misconduct by peers that they encounter. "I don't think that our men and women need these guidelines because we have men and women of character, we have men and women of integrity," he said. Collins remained unpersuaded, telling reporters after the hearing she was disturbed by Sullivan's repeated insistence that the Colombia scandal was an isolated incident. Meanwhile, three Drug Enforcement Administration agents are under investigation for allegedly soliciting sex in Cartagena. One of them had a long-term relationship with a prostitute, two government sources familiar with the investigation said. The DEA agents were not involved in security for the president's trip, the government sources said. The DEA agent's relationship with the prostitute came to light after a Secret Service agent voluntarily reported to his superiors that he was at a party at the agents' Cartagena apartment on April 13 where the three agents and several women were present, the government sources said. The Secret Service agent is the 13th employee to be caught up in the Colombia scandal. He is on administrative leave, according to several sources, but is not expected to lose his job because he came forward on his own to report the incident.

Published: Wed, 23 May 2012 21:08:12 GMT

Jury finishes fourth day of Edwards trial deliberations

The jury in former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards' corruption trial finished its fourth day of deliberations Wednesday without reaching a verdict. The eight-man, four-woman jury is scheduled to continue deliberations Thursday morning. Jurors began weighing the former North Carolina senator's fate Friday after four weeks of testimony. On Monday afternoon, jurors asked to review exhibits related to two of the six counts against Edwards, the 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee. On Tuesday, they asked to see two more exhibits. They made no requests for exhibits on Wednesday. Prosecutors charged Edwards with accepting illegal campaign contributions, falsifying documents and conspiracy to receive and conceal the contributions. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine. Prosecutors said Edwards "knowingly and willingly" accepted almost $1 million from two wealthy donors to hide former mistress Rielle Hunter and her pregnancy, then concealed the donations by filing false and misleading campaign disclosure reports. Defense attorneys argued that Edwards was guilty of nothing but being a bad husband to his wife, Elizabeth, who died in 2010. They also argued that former Edwards aide Andrew Young used the money for his own gain and to pay for Hunter's medical expenses to hide the affair from Edwards' wife. Neither Edwards nor Hunter testified during the trial. The affair occurred as Edwards was gearing up for a second White House bid in 2008, and he knew his political ambitions depended on keeping his affair with Hunter a secret, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Higdon told jurors in closing arguments. "There is no question it would destroy the campaign of John Edwards," Higdon said. Prosecutors argued that Edwards knowingly violated campaign finance laws by accepting the large contributions from Rachel Mellon and Fred Baron that went to support Hunter. Edwards "knew these rules well," Higdon said, and should have known that the contributions violated campaign finance laws. Edwards accepted $725,000 from Mellon and more than $200,000 from Baron, prosecutors said. The money was used to pay for Hunter's living and medical expenses, travel and other costs to keep her out of sight while Edwards made his 2008 White House run, prosecutors say. Defense attorneys argued that the donations cannot be considered campaign contributions. Prosecutors said Edwards manipulated Young and others to help keep his affair out of public view. Young testified that he allowed Hunter to move in with him and his wife at Edwards' request after newspapers began looking into a possible affair within the Edwards campaign. Young initially claimed to be the father of Hunter's baby girl and testified that Mellon was already funding Hunter's living expenses when he called Baron to complain about the situation. Baron offered to help out, telling Young to write up Hunter's expenses so that Baron could reimburse them, the aide testified. Neither Baron nor Mellon appeared to know that the other was reimbursing Young for the same expenses, raising questions about whether and how much Young may have profited from the situation. Young acknowledged during the trial that he had used some donations for his own personal benefit, including paying for the construction of a home. Another former Edwards aide, speechwriter Wendy Button, testified that Edwards knew Baron was supporting Hunter and her child in 2009. And defense lawyer Abbe Lowell urged jurors to focus on Young's role in the case, saying he was a biased and unreliable witness with a financial and legal interest in the outcome. "There is nothing he won't lie about, nothing," Lowell said. Young, the author of a tell-all book about the Edwards scandal, testified under an agreement with the government in hopes that he will not be prosecuted. Prosecutors agreed that Young made several mistakes over the years, including keeping some of the money, failing to confront Edwards earlier about his behavior and falsely claiming paternity for Edwards' child with Hunter. But David Harbach of the U.S. Justice Department's public integrity section told jurors in a rebuttal argument that Lowell was merely trying to distract jurors from focusing on the charges against Edwards. "The defense is overplaying their hand," Harbach said.

Published: Wed, 23 May 2012 21:04:05 GMT

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