'Virginity tests' on Egypt protesters are illegal, says judge

Samira Ibrahim, who says she was humiliated and tortured by the military, flashes a victory sign after the court ruling in Cairo yesterday. Photograph: Ahmed Ali/AP

Forced "virginity tests" on female detainees were ruled illegal in Egypt on Tuesday, after a court ordered an end to the practice.
Hundreds of activists were in the Cairo courtroom to hear the judge, Aly Fekry, say the army could not use the test on women held in military prisons in a case filed by Samira Ibrahim, one of seven women subjected to the test after being arrested in Tahrir Square during a protest on 9 March.
Fekry, head of the Cairo administrative court, decreed that what happened to Ibrahim and six other detainees was illegal and any similar occurrence in the future would also be considered illegal.
The court is expected to issue a further injunction against such tests and decree that the test was completely illegal, opening the door for financial compensation.
After the verdict Ibrahim, 25, posted on Twitter: "Thank you to the people, thank you to Tahrir Square that taught me to challenge, thank you to the revolution that taught me perseverance."
The 25-year-old marketing manager, who said she faced death threats for bringing the case, told CNN: "Justice has been served today.
"These tests are a crime and also do not comply with the constitution, which states equality between men and women. I will not give up my rights as a woman or a human being."
Ibrahim said her treatment showed the tests were intended to "degrade the protesters.
"The military tortured me, labelled me a prostitute and humiliated me by forcing on me a virginity test conducted by a male doctor where my body was fully exposed while military soldiers watched."
After the verdict she and others, including the presidential candidate and former broadcaster Bothaina Kamel, marched to Tahrir Square. Ibrahim was later photographed at Kaser el Nil bridge flashing the victory sign.
Egyptian academic and columnist Amira Nowaira gave a cautious welcome to the ruling. Speaking from Alexandria she said: "Nobody had heard of the virginity tests before so it is good a court has said they cannot be used. People should be prosecuted but it's going to be hard, even assigning blame will be difficult. Who is ultimately responsible?"
"The military had been denying they were doing the tests, then they said it was a standard procedure and came up with lots of excuses about why they were doing it."
The head of the judicial military authority, General Adel Morsy, was cited in state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper as saying that the administrative court ruling could not be implemented because there was nothing in the statutes that govern military prisons about permitting the carrying out of virginity tests. Ibrahim will return to court in February, to appeal against the one-year suspended sentence she received for insulting authorities and participating in an unauthorised assembly in March.
The case brings to the fore protester complaints against military actions during the transitional period.
There is a long list of violations attributed to the military, with some 12,000 civilians being charged and sentenced in military courts, and numerous incidents that have led to deaths of protesters.
Almost in conjunction with the administrative court ruling, it was announced that the military doctor who undertook the tests would be referred to a military court on 3 January.
He is being charged with public indecency and disobeying military orders, but not sexual assault.
Hossam Bahgat, the head of Egyptian initiative for personal rights (EIPR), said: "To call it a medical checkup is disingenuous. It was torture and sexual assault.
"It wasn't conducted in a medical clinic, but in full view of the soldiers, hence why the charge is one of public indecency, which is incorrect?
"The military doctor being charged is a scapegoat, because these soldiers follow orders and what happened to the detainees is the responsibility of those running the prison."
Ibrahim, in recounting her ordeal to Human Rights Watch, said two officers had entered the prison cell, where the women were detained, and asked which of them were married.
The officers informed them they would be subjected to virginity tests to confirm they were not lying.
"They took us out one by one … they took me to a bed in a passageway in front of the cell. There were lots of soldiers around and they could see me.
"I asked if the soldiers could move away and the officer escorting me teased me.
"A woman prison guard in plainclothes stood at my head and then a man in military uniform examined me with his hand for several minutes. It was painful. He took his time."
The case was heard in the first circuit of the administrative court, known as the rights and freedoms circuit, and was filed by three Egyptian rights advocacy groups – EIPR, the Hisham Mubarak law centre and the Nadeem centre for the rehabilitation of victims of torture.However, the court ruling is an administrative one only, and because of the provisions of the military penal code the chances of pursuing criminal liability against the transgressors lies only within the jurisdiction of military courts.Campaign groups have been documenting the escalation in sexual violence towards female demonstrators and claim brutal tactics are used are to deter, intimidate and humiliate those taking part in political activities.
Last week Nadya Khalife, from Human Rights Watch, said: "Images of military and police who strip, grope, and beat protesters have horrified the world and brought into sharp focus the sexual brutality Egyptian women face in public life. At this crucial stage in Egypt's history, women need to be able to take part in demonstrations and elections without fear. "Security forces' disgraceful attacks and the government's broader failure to address sexual violence and harassment do not bode well for Egypt's women."
The New Woman Foundation, in Egypt, said at least nine women were arrested during a protest in November, with some accusing security forces of physical and verbal assault.

Humiliation and violation claims

Samira Ibrahim was one of seven female protesters subjected to the "virginity test" after being arrested in Tahrir Square during a protest on 9  March. The demonstrators were among almost 200 detained that day, 20 of whom were women.
The following day the female detainees were separated into two groups, the married and unmarried. The seven unmarried women were given a medical checkup during which the "virginity test" was done.
The incident occurred a month into the handling of the country's affairs by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, their authority granted by the deposed Hosni Mubarak before his ousting on 11 February.
The military was by then losing patience with Tahrir protesters, already having forcibly dispersed protests against the government of the then Egyptian prime minister, Ahmed Shafik, Mubarak's final cabinet appointment.
The case of Ibrahim and the other six female detainees is one of a litany of abuses that occurred that night on the night of 9 March, with many protesters who were held being tortured and beaten on the site of the Egyptian museum that lies off the square. Other protesters were subjected to whipping and electric shocks throughout the night.
Ibrahim was one of those transferred to the military prison known locally as the Haykestep, referring to its location off the Cairo-Ismailia road.
The virginity tests were carried out in full view of soldiers and other detainees present at the prison, according to the human rights lawyer Ahmed Hossam, who was representing Ibrahim in the case and is attached to the Egyptian initiative for personal rights.

Kobe Bryant's Wife Files for Divorce

 

Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant reacts during their NBA basketball loss to the Sacramento Kings in Los Angeles, California, January 28, 2011.

Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

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(ORANGE, Calif.) — Kobe Bryant's wife, who stood by her husband when he was charged with sexual assault in 2003, filed for divorce on Friday from the Los Angeles Lakers star, citing irreconcilable differences after a decade of marriage.
Vanessa Bryant signed the papers on Dec. 1. Kobe Bryant signed his response on Dec. 7 and it was filed Friday, according to the documents. "The Bryants have resolved all issues incident to their divorce privately with the assistance of counsel and a judgment dissolving their marital status will be entered in 2012," according to a statement from a representative for the couple.
In the filing, Vanessa Bryant asked for joint legal and physical custody of the couple's two daughters, Natalia, 8, and Gianna, 5. Kobe Bryant asked for the same in his response. Vanessa Bryant also requested spousal support. (Watch TIME's basketball lesson with Kobe Bryant.)
The Bryants "ask that in the interest of our young children and in light of the upcoming holiday season the public respect our privacy during this difficult time," according to the statement.
Bryant met his future wife in 1999 on a music video shoot when Vanessa Laine was 18 years old. Six months later, she and the then-21-year-old Bryant became engaged. They married on April 18, 2001.
The Bryants have been through trying times together. Vanessa Bryant appeared at a news conference with her husband when he was charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman who worked at the exclusive Lodge & Spa at Cordillera near Vail, Colo., in 2003. She held his hand and stroked it tenderly as the NBA star admitted he was guilty of adultery — but nothing else. Earlier she had issued her own statement to the media, vowing to stand by her husband. "I know that my husband has made a mistake — the mistake of adultery," she said in the statement at the time. "He and I will have to deal with that within our marriage, and we will do so. He is not a criminal."
A year later, prosecutors dropped the criminal charge against Kobe Bryant because the woman did not want to go ahead with a trial.
Last year, Kobe and Vanessa Bryant settled litigation with a former maid who accused the NBA star's wife of harassment. The Bryants countersued Maria Jimenez for violating a confidentiality agreement by talking to reporters about the family.

Facebook Threatens to Sue Mark Zuckerberg — No, Not That One

Facebook has threatened to sue Mark Zuckerberg, an Israeli entrepreneur who recently took the social network founder’s name. The new Zuckerberg, born Rotem Guez, legally changed his name Dec. 7.
Zuckerberg II’s website, MarkZuckerbergOfficial.com, states that he first filed a lawsuit against Facebook in January, after the social network refused to give him access to his profile, which it had shut down.
Zuckerberg (all further mentions refer to the Israeli entrepreneur) co-founded Like Store, a social marketing company, which sells companies Likes for their brand pages. The site states (translated), “Are you sad no one’s visiting your Facebook Page? We have a solution! Need 1,000 Likes? We’ll get them for you. Need 5,000 Likes? We’ll get them for you. Need 10,000 Likes? We’ll get them for you.”

In September, Facebook’s law firm Perkins Coie threatened to sue against Zuckerberg, claiming the Like Store violated the social network’s Terms of Service, by selling brands fans. The threat instructed Zuckerberg to shut his company and never return to the social network for any reason.
Zuckerberg officially changed his name Dec. 7. In the below video of his trip to the Interior Ministry to make the switch official, he says he plans to change his family’s names as well. One week later, Facebook again threatened a lawsuit against Zuckerberg’s still existing Like Store. Little did they know, they were threatening someone with the name of their own founder.
Though legally Facebook can, of course, sue someone named Mark Zuckerberg, it makes for quite the funny tale.

Perhaps anticipating the media attention he would receive, Zuckerberg has set up an Internet campaign for his new persona, including a Facebook Page and Twitter account, @iMarkZuckerberg, suggesting that he’s ready to make a splash with his new identity. His Facebook Page includes photos of his new identification card and passport.
Do you think the new Zuckerberg was ridiculous to change his name or has he pulled off a brilliant marketing stunt for his startup? Let us know what you think.

Physics Of The Future': How We'll Live In 2100?

How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100
Imagine being able to access the Internet through the contact lenses on your eyeballs. Blink, and you'd be online. Meet someone, and you'd have the ability to immediately search their identity. And if your friend happens to be speaking a different language, an instantaneous translation could appear directly in front of you.
That might sound farfetched, but it's something that might very well exist in 30 years or less, says theoretical physicist Michio Kaku.
"The first people to buy these contact lenses will be college students studying for final exams," he tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "They'll see the exam answers right in their contact lenses. ... In a cocktail party, you will know exactly who to suck up to, because you'll have a complete read out of who they are. President Barack Obama will buy these contact lenses, so he'll never need a teleprompter again. ... These already exist in some form [in the military]. You place [a lens] on your helmet, you flip it down, and immediately you see the Internet of the battlefield ... all of it, right on your eyeball."
But Internet-ready contact lenses aren't the only futuristic item we're likely to see. Kaku describes some of the inventions that may appear throughout the coming century — based on developments currently taking place in nanotechnology, astronautics, medicine and material science — in his book Physics of the Future. Kaku details some of these inventions, including disposable computers, space elevators and driverless cars — which will likely be ready in the next decade and will completely eliminate the need for high school driver's ed classes.
"In the future, you'll simply jump into your car, turn on the Internet, turn on a movie and sit back and relax and turn on the automatic pilot, and the car will drive itself," he says. "Unlike a human driver, it doesn't get drunk, it doesn't get distracted and certainly does not have road rage."
The cars will be equipped with radar in the fenders that will communicate with road signs and sensors along highways.
"When the car comes to an intersection, the GPS system will alert the computer [inside the car] that there is an intersection coming up," he says. "[The GPS system] will look onto the [roadside] sensor and then slow down."
Kaku also explains how, in the future, our brains might be able to interface with artificial intelligence. He describes one study in which computer chips were placed into the brains of paralyzed stroke patients at Brown University. The patients learned that by thinking certain thoughts, they could manipulate a cursor on a computer screen.

Enlarge Andrea Brizzi/Doubleday Michio Kaku is an author and the Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics at the City University of New York. His books include Hyperspace, Visions and Beyond Einstein.

Michio Kaku is an author and the Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics at the City University of New York. His books include Hyperspace, Visions and Beyond Einstein.

"It takes awhile — it takes a few hours — but after a while, you realize that certain thoughts will move the cursor in certain directions," he says. "After a while ... [the patients] were able to read email, write email, surf the Internet, play video games, guide wheelchairs — anything you can do on a computer, they can do as well, except they're trapped inside a paralyzed body."
Similar technology could be used in the future to control robots that can go places where humans can't, says Kaku.
"It's very dangerous to put astronauts on a moon base where there's radiation, solar flares and micro meteorites," he says. "It'd be much better to put robots on the moon and have them mentally connected to astronauts on the Earth. So you'd go inside a pod, you mentally make certain thoughts, which then [could] control the robots on the moon."
Kaku, a professor of theoretical physics with the City College of New York, also talks about his childhood, his work with Edward Teller, a member of the Manhattan Project, and his work on the development of string field theory. He is the author of several books, including Physics of the Impossible, Parallel Worlds and Beyond Einstein. He has also hosted scientific documentaries for the Discovery Channel, the BBC and the Science Channel.

Kentucky church bans interracial marriage

A small Kentucky church has chosen to ban marriages and even some worship services for interracial couples. The Gulnare Freewill Baptist Church, located in Pike County, made the vote in response to a longtime member who is engaged to a man whose birthplace is in Zimbabwe.
Other pastoral leaders in the area were quick to denounce the church's vote. "It's not the spirit of the community in any way, shape or form," Randy Johnson, president of the Pike County Ministerial Association, told the Lexington Herald-Leader.
The small congregation, which usually hosts about 40 members each Sunday, held the vote after longtime member Stella Harville, brought her fiancé Ticha Chikuni to church with her in June. The couple performed a song together at the church in which Chikuni sang "I Surrender All," while Harville played the piano.
Chikuni, 29, who works at Georgetown College, is black--and Harville, who was baptized at the church but is not an active member, is white. Dean Harville, Stella's father, said he was told by the church's former pastor Melvin Thompson that his daughter and her fiancé were not allowed to sing at the church again. However, Thompson recently stepped down and the church's new pastor, Stacy Stepp, said the couple was once again welcome to sing.
Stepp's decision prompted Thompson to put forth a recommendation saying that while all members are welcome at the church, it does not "condone" interracial marriage, and that any interracial couples would not be received as members or allowed to participate in worship services. The only exception? Funerals.
The Harville family has formally requested the congregation to reconsider the interracial ban, and Thompson has also said he would like to resolve the issue, the area CBS affiliate WYMT has reported.

A copy of the recommendation, obtained by WYMT, reads in part:

That the Gulnare Freewill Baptist Church does not condone interracial marriage. Parties of such marriages will not be received as members, nor will they be used in worship services and other church functions, with the exception being funerals. All are welcome to our public worship services. This recommendation is not intended to judge the salvation of anyone, but is intended to promote greater unity among the church body and the community we serve.

Members of the church held a vote on Thompson's proposed language, with nine voting in favor and six voting against. The other members in attendance chose not to vote.
Gawker notes that Pike County is 98 percent white and home to the infamous Hatfield-McCoy feud.
The Harville family doesn't see Gulnare's new policy promoting anything like unity or civil peace. "They're the people who are supposed to comfort me in times like these," Stella Harville said.
And Stella's father was much more forceful in his denunciation of the interracial ban. "It sure ain't Christian," Dean Harville said. "It ain't nothing but the old devil working."

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American green card? No thanks

A USCIS sample green card from 2010 (AP)

Half as many people applied to enter a diversity lottery to receive an American green card this year than last. Last year, 15 million people around the world entered the State Department-run "diversity lottery," which gives out up to 55,000 green cards each year to people who live in countries with low immigration rates to the United States. (To enter the lottery, applicants must have at least a high school education and two years' recent work experience.)
The Department says the number of entrants plummeted to 8 million this year because Bangladesh--which last year was home to more than 7 million visa lottery applicants--was taken off the list of qualifying countries. That's because it now sends more than 50,000 immigrants to America each year.
But Muzaffar Chishti, the director of NYU law school's Migration Policy Institute office, says he thinks the Department's much-publicized computer glitch last year might have also lowered participation.
"I think that event discouraged a lot of people from applying," Chishti said. Even though Bangladesh was taken off the list, other countries--Poland and South Sudan--were added to the list, suggesting that there should have been more visa applications.
Last May, the State Department mistakenly told 22,000 people all over the world that they had won the visa lottery. Nearly two weeks later, the Department told those people were that they were not in fact able to live and work in the United States, blaming a computer error. "I can't believe that this happened ... It was the most beautiful time of my life for me, my husband and our 4 months baby ... I was happy because i had something beautiful to dream about," wrote Anisa Tane of Albania on one of the many online forums where the 22,000 would-be immigrants congregated to complain. Some of them tried to sue in a class action, but a judge denied their claim.
Chishti says the high unemployment rate in America may have also discouraged applicants."This has been happening with all our immigration streams," he said. "Given the nature of the economy and the labor market, less and less people feel confident that if they come to the U.S. they'll find a job."
Recent data highlighted in the New York Times finds that the sour U.S. economy has also dramatically driven down illegal immigration from Mexico. More than 500,000 illegal immigrants from Mexico entered each year between 2000 and 2004, but that number plunged to 100,000 by 2010, according to estimates.
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Obama Admits to Being Born in Asia?

During a news conference for the 19th annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation leader's summit on Sunday, the president gave birthers the answer they have been waiting for, that Obama was not born in America.

The media seemingly focused on the "magic beans" statement Obama made during the speech but completely glossed over the part where the president said of his birth state of Hawaii, "Here in Asia."

If Hawaii is in Asia, then the president was not born in the U.S. You win, birthers.

This is not the first gaffe the president has made regarding his birth state and the U.S. in general. During his campaign, Obama claimed to have visited 57 states, not including Alaska and Hawaii.

Compounding these gaffes with others such as when he stated his approval ratings were dropping but are still "very high in the country of my birth," one can almost hear the wheels grinding back to life in the birther movement.

Obviously, this is not the first presidential gaffe of the Obama administration. It's not even the first gaffe this month.

On Nov. 9, Reuters reported Obama complaining of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the G-20 summit earlier this month. The president complained, "You're fed up with him, but I have to deal with him even more often than you," not realizing that his microphone was still turned on, according to the report.

What the president's record is beginning to reveal, in addition to his anti-Israel sentiment is the likely reason he will not release his school records, he is not educated on U.S. nor world history, geography or ethics.

In 2009, Obama advised that the Constitution was written more than 20 centuries ago during his news conference on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.

During the 2008 presidential debates, then-Sen. Obama stated, "Sen. Clinton, I think, is much better known, coming from a nearby state of Arkansas. So it's not surprising that she would have an advantage in some of those states in the middle."

Illinois, Obama's home state, shares a border with Kentucky. To get to Kentucky from Arkansas one would have to travel through Missouri or Tennessee.

Add to this his disparaging comment about the Special Olympics on the "Tonight Show" that his health care reform would bring greater inefficiencies to health care and many others, it is becoming increasingly clear that Obama is not the amazing orator he is made out to be.

Speech is not the only area where Obama is clumsy. A video from Fox News show "Redeye" shows Obama attempting to enter the White House through a window he thought was a door. Another video, this time from CNN, shows Obama bouncing his face off of Marine 1, the presidential helicopter in 2009.

Doodle 4 Google

Google Doodle celebrates Stanislaw Lem with giant robot animation

Today's Google Doodle, celebrating the 60th anniversary of Stanislaw Lem's first book, is one of the most impressive yet

doodle

The doodle is one of the most impressive graphics yet created by the search engine giant and involves an animated character interacting with a giant robot which acts as a bizarre calculator.

A message within the doodle confirms the animation is to mark the ‘60th anniversary of Stanislaw Lem's first book publication’ and adds the art work was inspired by illustrations from The Cyberiad - a series of short stories by the Polish author – created by Daniel Mroz.

The graphic itself does not click through to a search page like the majority of previous doodles but instead plays out the animation and interaction with the giant robot instead.

As a result, terms ‘Today’s Google’ and ‘Stanislaw Lem’ have both been trending heavily on Twitter as UK users try and find out more information about the striking doodle.

Lem is best known for his 1961 novel Solaris, which was made into a film starring George Clooney in 2002.

Over 27million copies of the Polish writer’s work are believed to have been sold around the world and translated into some 41 different languages.

Born in September 192, Lem passed away in March 2006 at the age of 84.

HISTORY

Over the years, doodles on the Google homepage have made searching on Google more fun and enjoyable for its users worldwide. When doodles were first created, nobody had anticipated how popular and integral they would become to the Google search experience. Nowadays, many users excitedly anticipate the release of each new doodle and some even collect them!
Doodles are known as the decorative changes that are made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists and scientists. Whether it is the beginning of Spring, Albert Einstein's birthday, or the 50th anniversary of understanding DNA, the doodle team never fails to find artistic ways to celebrate these unique events.
Having a little bit of fun with the corporate logo by redesigning it from time to time is unheard of at many companies but at Google, it is a part of the brand. While the doodle is primarily a fun way for the company to recognize events and notable people, it also illustrates the creative and innovative personality of the company itself.

How did the idea for doodles originate?

In 1998, the concept of the doodle was born when Google founders Larry and Sergey played with the corporate logo to indicate their attendance at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert. A stick figure drawing was placed behind the 2nd "o" in the word, Google and the revised logo was intended as a comical message to Google users that the founders were “out of office.” While the first doodle was relatively simple, the idea of decorating the company logo to celebrate notable events was well received by our users.
A year later in 2000, Larry and Sergey asked current webmaster Dennis Hwang, an intern at the time, to produce a doodle for Bastille Day. Pleased with the result, Dennis was then appointed Google’s chief doodler and doodles became a regular occurrence on the Google homepage. In the beginning, the doodles tended to celebrate largely visible holidays; nowadays, doodles represent a wide array of events and anniversaries from the Winter Games to the Mars Rover landing.
Over time, the demand for doodles quickly rose both in the U.S. and internationally. Creating doodles is now the responsibility of a team of talented designers. For them, creating doodles has become a team effort to enliven the Google homepage and bring smiles to a myriad of Google users worldwide.

How many doodles has Google done over the years?

The doodle team has created over 300 doodles for Google.com in the United States and over 700 have been designed internationally.

Who chooses what doodles will be created and how do you decide which events will receive doodles?

A group of Googlers regularly get together to decide the events and holidays that will receive doodles. The ideas for the doodles themselves are gathered from numerous sources including Googlers and the general public. The doodle selection process aims to celebrate interesting events and anniversaries that reflect Google's personality and love for innovation. We are aware that the list of doodles is not exhaustive, but we try to select doodles that show creativity and innovation.

Who designs the doodles?

There is a team of designers that are behind the doodles you see on Google.com.

How can Google users/the public submit ideas for doodles?

The doodle team is open to user ideas; requests for doodles can be sent to proposals@google.com. The team receives numerous requests so even if we do not get back to you about your request, please know that we do look at and consider all the requests that are submitted.

I love Google and have designed my own doodle. Where can I submit my fan logo?

You can submit your fan logos to proposals@google.com.

Where can I see all the Google doodles that have been done over the years?

All doodles can be found at www.google.com/logos.

Think twice before getting tattooed

If you’ve been debating whether or not to get inked, you might want to consider this new trend. City doctors report a rise in tattoo removal procedures after the festive season.
“We receive several cases of tattoo removal after Diwali and Navratri. Since getting a tattoo done has

become common during the festive season — especially among youngsters — a lot of them also choose to get them removed once the good times end,” says Dr Jaishree Manchanda, cosmetologist, Berkowits Skin and Health Clinic, Andheri (W).

However, the treatment for removal may prove to be more complicated than getting inked. “On an average, it takes about two to five sittings depending on the depth and size of the tattoo,” says plastic and cosmetic surgeon Dr Meenakshi Agarwal, director, Face & Figure clinic, Mahim. She adds, “After each sitting, an abrasion or scabs forms around the tattoo. It heals in two to three days. The procedure involves multiple sittings, and an interval of at least six weeks is needed in between these sessions.”
Twenty-six-year old Vaijanti Patra had a tattoo on her forehead, which she had got done around six years ago. But post marriage, she decided to get it removed. “My husband didn’t approve. It was a one-and-a-half inch tattoo and took me around six to seven sittings for the treatment,” says Patra.

Doctors also reveal that since a lot of people tend to get inked on an impulse, they have to face repercussions later. “Several young girls and boys get tattoos of their boyfriends’/girlfriends’ names. And we frequently get cases where they want to remove these tattoos after a break-up or before they marry someone else,” says Dr Manchanda.
Dr Agarwal adds that dark-coloured tattoos are easier to remove, with the treatment showing 100 per cent results. “However, yellow, pink or red coloured-tattoos may pose some difficulty as they don’t respond well to laser. Thus, even after the removal procedure, one may find remnants,” she explains

Your daily cup of coffee may be aging your skin

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Maybe you take all the right steps — all 17 of them , even — to care for your skin. But simple, seemingly innocuous habits like a daily cup of coffee may be undermining your best efforts, explained New York City dermatologist Dr. Deborah Wattenberg this morning on TODAY. Here's what to avoid to keep your skin looking young and healthy.

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1. Seriously, stop smoking.
"Smoking is probably the worst thing you can possibly do for your body, including your skin," Wattenberg explains — yet 20 percent of Americans are still lighting up.
Here's just one reason to consider kicking the habit: Nicotine and other chemicals found in cigarettes destroy the skin's elastin and collagen, leading to wrinkles and fine lines. Smoking also takes a toll on the skin's blood vessels, restricting oxygen flow and subsequently causing your skin to appear dull and sallow. Habitual smoking can also lead to those pucker lines around the mouth, Wattenberg says.
2. Wine, candy and coffee are aging your skin.
Turns out, all of your favorite vices — alcohol, junk food and caffeine — are wrecking your skin, too. "Alcohol and caffeine ... act like a diuretic and prevent you from holding on to water, so your skin looks sort of prune-like. It can get dry and get washed out," Wattenberg says. "Junk food contains a lot of preservatives and that will do the same thing."
So if you're drinking a lot of caffeine or alcohol, remember to stay hydrated. We need about six to eight glasses of water per day, anyway, but if you're drinking a lot of lattes to get through the day, you'll need to drink even more water to keep your skin looking pretty.
3. Your lack of sleep is written all over your face.
Actually, if you're drinking caffeine to stay alert throughout the day, we need to talk about that, too. You may think you're getting away with six hours of sleep a night, but your skin tells the real story.
"When you don't sleep, stress causes the release of the hormone cortisol, (which) makes your skin oily (and) causes acne, which makes your skin look less attractive," Wattenbergy says.
4. Be nicer to acne-prone skin.
This is counterintuitive, but Wattenberg says when your skin breaks out, make sure you don't scrub your face too aggressively. "The worst thing you can do when you have acne is to try to scrub away your acne," Wattenberg says. "People try to do that all the time, and come in with irritated faces as a result of scrubbing or overwashing."
Acne, she explains, isn't caused by dirt or uncleanliness — it's hormones that are more likely making you break out. So instead of rubbing your face raw, wash gently, using products that are going to target the acne like salycilic acid. "And you don't want to pick and squeeze — it causes scarring, pigmentation and makes it worse because you can drive the bacteria deeper into the skin and create infections," Wattenberg says. Yikes.
5. You're not wearing enough sunscreen.
Yes, we know it's winter. But you still need to apply sunscreen — several times a day, Wattenberg insists. "Once a day is probably one of the worst things you can do for your skin, because the sun is still really strong, and people spend a lot of time outdoors," she explains.
Especially in parts of the country where the weather is turning snowier and icier, remember to reapply your sunscreen — the sun reflects off the snow and ice, and you can get burned easily. "Sunscreen is the key to youthful skin," she says.
OK, now we know what not to do. But let's focus on the positive here — what do you do to keep your skin looking healthy and youthful? Tell us about your skin secrets on our Facebook page.
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The Dirty Details of Facebook's Porn Attack

Adam Clark Estes 17,013 Views Nov 15, 2011

On Thursday afternoon, Facebook confirmed that a "coordinated spam attack" has been sending a torrent of hardcore porn and gore into Facebook users' news feeds. It's not pretty. Scattered reports say that images of everything from besitaliality to graphic violence and dead babies to Justin Bieber have been taking over entire feeds for the past two days. Facebook says it's managed to contain the damage. Next, the company plans on crushing the hackers who caused it in court.
"During this spam attack users were tricked into pasting and executing malicious javascript in their browser URL bar causing them to unknowingly share this offensive content," Facebook's Andrew Noyes explained in a statement. "Our efforts have drastically limited the damage caused by this attack, and we are now in the process of investigating to identify those responsible."
So far bloggers have a pretty good idea. Adrian Chen at Gawker was one of the first to cover the attack and suggested that the full-on assault of nasty images "is definitely one of Anonymous' trademark moves," noting that the hacktivist announced an attack on Facebook with something called the "Guy Fawkes virus." ZDNet's privacy blogger Violet Blue reiterated that the "style of images is very much along the lines of 4Chan's /b, which is where the genesis of Anonymous occurred," and added that the content suggested "a much more direct attack on Facebook — the company — rather than an attack on its users." (If you think you've been hit, ZDNet put together a handy how-to-fix-it blog post, too.) Graham Cluley at the Sophos Naked Security blog stopped short of guessing who the perpetrators might be but noted that Facebook users were threatening to flee the site in scores, after seeing the images. "Facebook needs to get a handle on this problem quickly, and prevent it from happening on such a scale again."
Which brings us to Facebook's so far stern-sounding response. Thought the social network stayed quiet about the attack until Tuesday afternoon, they didn't reserve any hesitation in threatening to hunt down and throw the book at the spammers responsible for the gross flood of filth. "In addition to the engineering teams that build tools to block spam," Noyes told The Atlantic Wire, "we also have a dedicated enforcement team that has already identified those responsible and is working with out legal team to ensure appropriate consequences follow."

Just last year, Facebook helped hunt down self-annointed "Spam King" Sanford Wallace in relation to three separate attacks on the social network. Having compromised 500,000 accounts and sent an estimated 27 million spam messages, Wallace earned himself various charges of fraud and intentional damage to a protected a computer. A judge eventually ordered Wallace to pay Facebook a total $711 million in damages. Wallace, who is considered the inventor of spam, had already racked up hundreds of millions of dollars in fees from other sites and is unlikely to pay the fine, though he faces 16 years in prison. Similar cases have yielded similarly jaw-dropping figures, including a $360.5 million judgment against spammer Philip Porembski earlier this year and an $873 million judgment in 2008 against Adam Guerbuez and Atlantis Blue Capital. For spamming.

Sources

• Facebook Is Investigating the Huge Cocks Spamming Your Newsfeed, Adrian Chen, Gawker
• Facebook Porn and Gore Exploit Spiraling Out Of Control, Violet Blue, ZDNet
• Facebook users hit by hardcore porn, violence and animal abuse images, Graham Cluley, Naked Security

Laptops to Sell for Under $200 on Black Friday

Heavily discounted PCs and tablets will be sold by top retailers on Black Friday, which marks one of the most active shopping days in the U.S. Walmart and Best Buy will offer fully equipped laptops for under $200, continuing a promotional price battle they have engaged in for years.
The sub-$200 laptops have slow processors and may lack key components, but could be effective desktop replacements for basic tasks like office productivity applications, Web surfing and video.
[Read: 10 Awesome Black Friday Laptop Deals Under $500]
Faster and better-equipped laptops with more storage are also being sold for between $300 and $400 by retailers including Office Depot. Analysts have predicted a rise in laptop prices over the coming quarters with hard drive shortages due to extensive flooding in Thailand, so this may be a good time to buy. (See also "Black Friday Doorbuster Deals Preview.")
Walmart and Staples are offering tablets starting at $99. Depending on the store, the laptops and tablets could be on sale on November 24 or 25, or both days.

Laptops Under $200

Walmart is offering Hewlett-Packard's Compaq laptop with a dual-core AMD C-50 processor for $198, according to a Black Friday circular posted on the retailer's website. The laptop has a 15.6-inch screen, 2GB of memory, 250GB hard drive and a webcam. The C-50 processors integrates a graphics processor and is able to handle high-definition video.
Not to be outdone, Best Buy is offering a Lenovo laptop with a 15.6-inch screen for $179.99 starting on Thursday next week into Friday. The laptop has a dual-core AMD E-300 processor, but no further details are available. The E-300 processor is faster than the C-50 processor in Walmart's $198 laptop, so applications and multimedia will run quicker. But Walmart's laptop has a webcam, which sometimes are not included in laptops under $200, so make sure to check Lenovo laptop's feature list. Nevertheless, at $179.99, this could the best laptop deal on a full-size laptop this Black Friday.
No details are available yet, but it's worth watching for deals at Fry's Electronics, which usually offers the best laptop pricing. The store has carried sub-$200 laptops over the last few years on Black Friday. It may also be worth searching the forums on Slickdeals.net, which is actively updated by users who find the hottest deals. Also scour sites like Dealcatcher or Dealnews, which brings users the best discounts.

Laptops Under $300

Walmart is selling an HP laptop with a 15.6-screen and AMD's E-350 processor for $248. It has impressive features, with 3GB of memory and a 320GB hard drive. For $50 more, Best Buy is offering a Samsung laptop with 4GB of memory, Intel's Pentium processor, 320GB hard drive and a 15.6-inch screen. Office Depot will offer a Gateway "exclusive" laptop for $299.99.

Other Laptop Deals

For those who need serious processing power, Walmart is offering an Acer Aspire laptop with Intel's Core i5 processor for $498. The laptop has a 17.3-inch screen, 4GB memory and a 640GB hard drive. Office Depot will offer a Toshiba laptop with 500GB storage for $399. Also, don't be surprised to see laptops with quad-core chips from AMD for sale under $500.

Tablets

Some tablets are also being heavily discounted on Black Friday. The most attractive is Velocity Micro's Cruz tablet, which is already on sale for only $99 on Walmart. The tablet has a 7-inch capacitive screen, Google's Android 2.0 that is upgradable to 2.2, and 4GB of storage expandable to 32GB. The tablet has a 528MHz MIPS processor, which is not blazing fast like dual-core processors on the latest tablets, but Cruz reviewers have said the tablet is useful for basic activities like e-books and web surfing.
Staples will offer the BlackBerry Playbook for $199, and Acer Iconia Tab tablet for $299, according to their Black Friday circular. The Iconia Tab offers the latest hardware and software, including a dual-core processor and Android 3.x, code-named Honeycomb.

25 Worst Passwords of 2011

Pro tip: choosing “password” as your online password is not a good idea. In fact, unless you’re hoping to be an easy target for hackers, it’s the worst password you can possibly choose.
“Password” ranks first on password management application provider SplashData’s annual list of worst internet passwords, which are ordered by how common they are. (“Passw0rd,” with a numeral zero, isn’t much smarter, ranking 18th on the list.)
The list is somewhat predictable: Sequences of adjacent numbers or letters on the keyboard, such as “qwerty” and “123456,” and popular names, such as “ashley” and “michael,” all are common choices. Other common choices, such as “monkey” and “shadow,” are harder to explain.

As some websites have begun to require passwords to include both numbers and letters, it makes sense varied choices, such as “abc123″ and “trustno1,” are popular choices.
SplashData created the rankings based on millions of stolen passwords posted online by hackers. Here is the complete list:

• 1. password
• 2. 123456
• 3.12345678
• 4. qwerty
• 5. abc123
• 6. monkey
• 7. 1234567
• 8. letmein
• 9. trustno1
• 10. dragon
• 11. baseball
• 12. 111111
• 13. iloveyou
• 14. master
• 15. sunshine
• 16. ashley
• 17. bailey
• 18. passw0rd
• 19. shadow
• 20. 123123
• 21. 654321
• 22. superman
• 23. qazwsx
• 24. michael
• 25. football

SplashData CEO Morgan Slain urges businesses and consumers using any password on the list to change them immediately.
“Hackers can easily break into many accounts just by repeatedly trying common passwords,” Slain says. “Even though people are encouraged to select secure, strong passwords, many people continue to choose weak, easy-to-guess ones, placing themselves at risk from fraud and identity theft.”

The company provided some tips for choosing secure passwords in a statement:

• 1. Vary different types of characters in your passwords; include numbers, letters and special characters when possible.
• 2. Choose passwords of eight characters or more. Separate short words with spaces or underscores.
• 3. Don’t use the same password and username combination for multiple websites. Use an online password manager to keep track of your different accounts.

10 Really Unusual Sick Day Excuses

If you think you've heard every bad sick excuse, think again. Career Builder recently released results to an annual survey, in which one-third of employers say people call in sick the most during the Winter. Perhaps more people are getting sick because of the weather changes or maybe it's just harder to get out of your toasty bed on a cold and gloomy day.
The poll also found that 29 percent of employees admitted to playing hooky this year. Here are some of the strangest sick day excuses they found in their poll:

• "Bats got in her hair."
• "Got a cold from a puppy."
• "Hurt his back chasing a beaver."
• "Had a headache after going to too many garage sales."
• "Brother-in-law was kidnapped by a drug cartel while in Mexico."
• "Ate too much at a party."
• "A refrigerator fell on him."
• "Got his toe caught in a vent cover."
• "Drank anti-freeze by mistake and had to go to the hospital."
• "Deer bit him during hunting season."

Top 10 Excuses for Calling in Sick

By Alison Doyle, About.com Guide   October 23, 2011

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There are lots of excuses employees use when they call in sick or otherwise take a day off from work. Some of the excuses are more creative than others and some work - and some don't. When it doesn't work you could be in trouble.
A CareerBuilder survey reports that 15% of employers have fired a worker for calling in without a legitimate reason. 28% have checked up on the employee, even driving by their house, to be sure they really are sick.
In the questionable excuse category, employers listed the most unusual excuses workers gave when they called in. Here are the top 10 unusual excuses given for calling in sick:

1. Employee's 12-year-old daughter stole his car and he had no other way to work. Employee didn't want to report it to the police.
2. Employee said bats got in her hair.
3. Employee said a refrigerator fell on him.
4. Employee was in line at a coffee shop when a truck carrying flour backed up and dumped the flour into her convertible.
5. Employee said a deer bit him during hunting season.
6. Employee ate too much at a party.
7. Employee fell out of bed and broke his nose.
8. Employee got a cold from a puppy.
9. Employee's child stuck a mint up his nose and had to go to the ER to remove it.
10. Employee hurt his back chasing a beaver.

If you're looking for a more reasonable excuse for calling into work, here are excuses to use when you need to miss work and you don't have a legitimate excuse to give your boss. If you have a good excuse for taking time off for an interview, add it to our collection of interview excuses.

No Basketball Anymore? Never Ballin' Again?

I guess one of those could be the new definition of the NBA is after the two sides seem very far apart on a new collective bargaining agreement. It makes me sick that these two sides can't figure it out and get their butts on the court. The NHL tried this a few years ago and wound up on a deserted island known as the Versus network! The NBA is, or should I say was, at the top of their game unlike the NHL was at the time of their canceled season, but it still is something that makes fans turn away. We don't care who are the millionaires and who are the billionaires, we care about who is on TV when we get home from a hard day's work. I am not taking sides in this battle at all. I think both sides are at fault here, but the more I see David Stern talk the more I am growing to hate him. Is there a more condescending person in interviews? The way he talks about the players makes me think he doesn't respect them at all and let's call it like it is, we watch for the players and that's it! They are the ones who have made the NBA so popular, not Daniel Gilbert or Jerry Buss. There are plenty of replacement owners out there, but there is no substitute for the quality of play of NBA players.
I feel bad for the fans, especially the ones who shell out the thousands of dollars every year to support their teams. They are the ones who are being affected the most. Sure they will have some extra spending cash, but to have that game to look forward to means a lot to most of these people and they would gladly pay the money just to see their guys play.
Finally I feel bad for the Phoenix Suns fans...oh wait maybe I feel glad for the Phoenix Suns fans. I say that kiddingly as the Suns are one of the old teams in the league that will feel this the most if the season is indeed lost. Is this the last year for Steve Nash, what will Grant Hill do? These are questions we will have to deal with if the two sides don't pull their heads out of their backsides soon. Most experts say this thing has to get done in the next 48 hours in order for their to be a season. I don't see that happening. I hope am I wrong!

Facebook 'to seek consent for privacy changes'

Facebook's founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has defended its privacy policies

Privacy campaigners have welcomed a report that Facebook is to ask users to opt into any changes in the way it uses their personal information.

The social network previously announced alterations to its members' settings without asking for fresh consent.
The website is changing its policy after an investigation by the US Federal Trade Commission, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
Facebook is not commenting on the story at this time.
The report suggests the site has also agreed to privacy audits by an independent organisation over the next 20 years.
However, it says the FTC does not prescribe how consent should be obtained.
Suspicion "Facebook has historically been extremely resistant to transparency in its own operations, so we welcome measures that would force the company to obtain express consent of its users," said the London based advocacy group Privacy International.
"However, it seems likely that the FTC's demands will only present a temporary obstacle in the path of Facebook's ambitions to collect its users' information.
"Faced with reams of small print, most users are likely to automatically agree to policy changes, with each change bringing us one step closer to Zuckerberg's vision of a privacy-free future."
The website's founder, Mark Zuckerberg, was questioned about the firm's privacy policies on the US television network PBS' Charlie Rose show earlier this week.
"You have control over every single thing you've shared on Facebook," he said, "You can take it down."
He also said other search engines and advertising networks gathered "huge amount of information" about internet users through cookies, which he claimed was "less transparent than what is happening at Facebook".

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

Users are not social networking sites' primary customers, advertisers and marketers are”

End Quote Andrew Charlesworth University of Bristol

Complaints

The FTC's intervention is being linked to the Washington-based campaign group, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).

It filed a complaint with the commission in December 2009 claiming that privacy setting changes "violate user expectations, diminish user privacy and contradict Facebook's own representations".
EPIC noted that the website's users, security experts and others had voiced opposition to the change.
The organisation filed a follow-up complaint in 2010 claiming the social network had violated consumer protection law.
This year, EPIC also asked the FTC to investigate Facebook's use of facial recognition software on users' uploaded photographs and changes that gave the firm "far greater ability to disclose the personal information of its users to its business partners".
Knock-on effects Facebook says it has more than 800 million members who have used the site at least once in the past 30 days.
The Reuters news agency recently reported that the site's revenues totalled $1.6bn (£1bn) in the first six months of the year thanks to its popularity with advertisers.
Facebook does not release detailed results as it is not a publicly traded company, although there is speculation it will float its stock in 2012.
Legal experts say any settlement with the FTC is likely to have implications for other internet firms.
"Users are not social networking sites' primary customers, advertisers and marketers are," said Andrew Charlesworth, director of the centre for IT and law at the University of Bristol.
"While the FTC settlement indicates sites must be more open about the ways they make personal data available, and provide users with greater control, Facebook and others will already be rethinking the techniques they use to persuade users to keep their personal data publicly accessible."

Related Stories

• Should we do away with privacy? 05 OCTOBER 2011, MAGAZINE
• Clarity call for consumer privacy 24 MAY 2011, BUSINESS
• Facebook 'should allow under-13s' 24 MAY 2011, TECHNOLOGY

World's first man 'functionally cured' of HIV

A total of 744 HIV/AIDs cases have been reported in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, US: In a first, a San Francisco native has apparently been cured of the deadly HIV virus.
Timothy Ray Brown, 45, had tested positive for HIV, the virus symptomatic of AIDs , back in 1995. However, he has managed to eliminate the virus from his body with what doctors describe as a “functional cure”.
Dubbed the “Berlin patient”, Brown received a stem cell transplant in 2007 when he was suffering from leukemia and HIV, both. The transplant carried an immunity gene which cured Brown of his disease.
“I quit taking my HIV medication the day that I got the transplant and haven’t had to take any since,” said Brown in a CBS report.
However, doctors are cautious not to take Brown’s story as a generic cure for AIDs. A lot of questions were still unanswered in his case to determine the exact cause of ‘cure’.
Many research organisations have  been working for decades in a bid to find a cure to HIV, and thereby AIDs.
The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation donated $10 billion last year to fund a 10 year research program looking for a cure to AIDS.
Almost 100,000 people in Pakistan are affected by the disease with Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa the worst affected. 744 cases of HIV/AIDs were reported from the north western Pakistani province last year.

Feds: Cyber Criminals Hijacked 4 Million Computers

• Feds: Cyber Criminals Hijacked 4 Million Computers (ABC News)

An Eastern European pack of cyber thieves known as the Rove group hijacked at least four million computers in over 100 countries, including at least half a million computers in the U.S., to make off with $14 million in "illegitimate income" before they were caught, federal officials announced today.

The malware allegedly used in the "massive and sophisticated scheme" also managed to infect computers in U.S. government agencies including NASA and targeted the websites for major institutions like iTunes, Netflix and the IRS -- forcing users attempting to get to those sites to different websites entirely, according to a federal indictment unsealed in New York today.

The accused hackers, six Estonian nationals and a Russian national, rerouted the internet traffic illegally on the infected computers for the last four years in order to reap profits from internet advertisement deals, the indictment said. The FBI busted up the alleged international cyber ring after a two-year investigation called Operation Ghost Click.

"The global reach of these cyber thieves demonstrates that the criminal world is... flat," said Janice Fedarcyk, the FBI Assistant Director in charge of the New York field office. "The Internet is pervasive because it is such a useful tool, but it is a tool that can be exploited by those with bad intentions and a little know-how."

Though they operated out of their home countries, the alleged hackers used entities in the U.S. and all over the world -- including Estonia-based software company Rove Digital from which the group apparently gets its name -- to carry out the plot.

According to the indictment, the suspects entered into deals with various internet advertisers in which they would be paid for generating traffic to certain websites or advertisements. But instead of earning the money legitimately, the FBI said the defendants used malware to force infected computers to unwillingly visit the target sites or advertisements -- pumping up click results and, therefore, ill-gotten profits to the tune of $14 million.

The malware was also designed to prevent users from installing anti-virus software that may have been able to free the infected computers.

The six Estonian nationals have been arrested on cyber crime charges while the Russian national remains at large.

"Today, with the flip of a switch, the FBI and our partners dismantled the Rove criminal enterprise," Fedarcyk said. "Thanks to the collective effort across the U.S. and in Estonia, six leaders of the criminal enterprise have been arrested and numerous servers operated by the criminal organization have been disabled."

How the Fraud Worked, According to the FBI

The indictment describes several examples of alleged cyber fraud including two principle strategies: traffic redirection and ad replacement.

In the first case, if a user searched for the websites of major institutions like iTunes, Netflix or the IRS, the search results would return normally. However, if the user tried to click on the link to the websites, the malware on the computer would force a redirect to a different website where the criminals would profit in their advertisement deal.

In the second, when an infected computer visited a major website -- like Amazon.com -- the malware would be able to simply replace regular advertisements on that page with advertisements of their own making.