5th person arrested in Megaupload case

AUCKLAND?? A fifth person has been arrested in the Megaupload file-sharing case, a U.S. official confirmed Wednesday.

The U.S. Justice Department official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity because the case is still pending, said Dutch police have arrested Andrus Nomm, 32, a citizen of Estonia and a resident of both Turkey and Estonia.

Police in New Zealand last week arrested Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom and three other Megaupload employees on U.S. accusations they facilitated millions of illegal downloads of films, music and other content, costing copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue.

On Wednesday, a judge in New Zealand denied bail to Dotcom pending his first extradition hearing on Feb. 22, saying he poses a flight risk.

Dotcom, 38, insists he is innocent and poses no flight risk.

In all, U.S. authorities have charged seven men in the conspiracy case and are still seeking the arrest of the remaining two men.

Authorities in the U.S. are seeking to extradite the four men arrested in New Zealand and are also expected to seek Nomm's extradition.

Dotcom, a German national also known as Kim Schmitz is accused of masterminding a scheme that made more than $175 million in a few years by infringing copyrighted content without authorization. His lawyer has said that the company simply offered online storage and that his client is innocent.

The prosecutor said he was a "flight risk at the extreme end of the scale" because it was believed he had access to funds, had multiple identities, and had a history of fleeing criminal charges.

Three other men charged with Dotcom will also be remanded, but their lawyers have said they will contest the decision.

? 2012 msnbc.com

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46122134/ns/business-world_business/

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Obama's top 5 successes (The Week)

New York ? The president will surely boast of his accomplishments during Tuesday night's State of the Union Address. So what exactly are they?

President Obama gives his State of the Union address on Tuesday night. But let's call it what it is: A campaign speech. The president is looking at an uphill battle to keep his job, and the SOTU is the ultimate bully pulpit. Last year it drew an audience of 42.8 million people. Obama will tout his accomplishments, of course, and make the case for another term. But what are those accomplishments? Here they are, in descending order. (And before all you Obama detractors bombard me, at least wait until my next column, when I'll take the opposite side and point out President Obama's top five mistakes.)

5. Getting out of Iraq
Keeping one's promise is good currency for any politician, and this was a big one that Obama delivered on. The numbers: 4,484 Americans killed, 32,200 wounded, $806 billion spent (with an estimated $1 trillion needed for future medical care for war veterans through 2050, says a Brown University study) ? all for a war that began under a pretext (finding weapons of mass destruction) that never panned out. Instead, it evolved into a costly 105-month grind that damaged America's image in the world and, it could be argued, strengthened Iran's standing in the region. On top of all this, the war wasn't paid for. Yes, it toppled Saddam Hussein. But other Mideast dictators have been overthrown pretty much on their own during the Arab Spring; historians can only ponder how Saddam might have fared. Obama opposed the war all the way back in 2002 ? and promised repeatedly on the campaign trail in 2008 that he'd end the conflict. Mission accomplished.

SEE MORE: President Obama's rising approval rating: 4 theories

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Obama's economic policies may not be popular, and are surely imperfect. But they unquestionably forestalled disaster.

4. Improving America's image abroad
America was showered with goodwill after the September 11 attacks. A few years and a couple of wars later, that goodwill had largely vanished. The war in Iraq led to brutal coverage around the world that screamed of secret U.S. prisons, torture, and images from Abu Ghraib. Fair or not, the Bush administration was perceived in some quarters of the globe as a unilateralist, my-way-or-the-highway bully. By 2008, America's standing in the world had fallen, sometimes sharply. Even staunch American allies were unhappy: Just 53 percent of Britons had a favorable opinion of the U.S., along with 46 percent of Australians, and just 31 percent of Germans. Today, those numbers are up in every region of the world ? thanks in no small part to President Obama's effort to treat our allies as true partners.?There is one important and ironic exception to this uptrend, however: The Muslim world. Just 12 percent of Pakistanis, 20 percent of Egyptians and 13 percent of Jordanians had a favorable opinion of us last year ? all down in the Obama years, despite opponents who accuse him of tilting toward the Muslim world (if not actually being a secret Muslim).?

SEE MORE: Obama's recess dilemma

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3. Passing health-care reform
"I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president," candidate Obama said in 2008. He certainly made good on that pledge ? at considerable political cost to himself and his party. In some ways, the true success of this accomplishment is hard to judge, since most major provisions of the president's Affordable Care Act don't go into effect until 2014. Plus, the constitutionality of the law's central provision ? a government mandate that all Americans have health insurance ? will be debated by the Supreme Court this spring, with a decision coming as early as June. Until then, though: Promise made, promise kept. This is one of the most consequential pieces of legislation since LBJ's Great Society. Among the provisions of this piece of legislation already in place is a rule prohibiting insurance companies from rescinding coverage based on the flimsiest of pretexts, and lifetime limits on insurance coverage ? which have sent many a citizen to the poorhouse ? have been eliminated.

SEE MORE: The 'creepy' Barack Obama mannequin

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2. Getting Osama bin Laden
"Victory has a thousand fathers," John F. Kennedy said after his humiliation at the Bay of Pigs, "but defeat is an orphan." Had the bin Laden raid failed, it would have been completely on the president. Yet in the wake of its stunning success, Obama did not gloat. He gave credit where credit was due: To the many thousands of unknown men and women of America's intelligence agencies who spent years painstakingly piecing together minute scraps of information that led to the raid on bin Laden's Abbottabad compound ? and to the heroes of SEAL Team Six who carried it out. This alone is one definition of true leadership. And the president deserves credit for bravely giving the order. The Defense secretary at the time, Robert Gates ? who served eight presidents, including Ronald Reagan ? called it "one of the most courageous calls... that I think I've ever seen a president make." Former Vice President Dick Cheney applauded Obama, too. "You've got to give him a lot of credit for making the decision," Cheney said. "It's no question that was his responsibility and I think he handled it well."

1. Preventing a depression
Republicans like House Majority Leader Eric Cantor point out that the unemployment rate has increased dramatically on Obama's watch. Cantor is right: It was 7.8 percent in January 2009, and three years later, it is 8.5 percent (down from the October 2010 peak of 10 percent). Yet three years before Obama was sworn in, the unemployment rate was 4.7 percent. Republicans are also right when they say economic growth has been weak under Obama. But this still beats the two quarters before Obama was sworn in, when GDP fell at annualized rates of -3.7 percent and -8.9 percent. So let's be honest: The economy was in free fall when Obama was sworn in. The house was burning down, Republicans got out by the scruff of their necks ? and now don't like the way Obama put out the fire. One of Obama's firefighting tools was the much-maligned stimulus. Was part of the stimulus a mismanaged boondoggle? Absolutely. But part of it was also tax cuts that went into the pockets of 95 percent?of working families. Without the stimulus, the Congressional Budget Office and other independent analysts estimate that the unemployment rate and the U.S. economy as a whole would have been far worse off than it was. Obama's economic policies may not be popular, and are surely imperfect. But they unquestionably forestalled disaster.

SEE MORE: The many failures of Obama's Teddy Roosevelt speech

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Again, stay tuned: Next week, I'll point out the president's top five mistakes.

Follow Paul Brandus on Twitter: @WestWingReport.

View this article on TheWeek.com
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Opinion Brief: Obama on 'The View': Unpresidential?

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Narisetti leaves DC to join Wall Street Journal (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The Wall Street Journal says it has hired the managing editor of The Washington Post to head its online news properties.

Raju Narisetti joined the Post three years ago in a reorganization of the newspaper's top management. The announcement Friday marks a return to the Journal for the 45-year-old Narisetti. He had been deputy managing editor at the newspaper and editor of its Europe edition.

He leaves the Post on Feb. 1 and starts at the WSJ on Feb. 15. In a newsroom announcement, Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli credits Narisetti with building a team that increased the Post's online traffic.

In his new role, Narisetti will become managing editor of The Wall Street Journal Digital Network and deputy managing editor.

Before joining the Post, Narisetti was founding editor of the India-based Mint business newspaper.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_hi_te/us_wall_street_journal_editor

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The $35 Raspberry Pi Can Stream Video From iPad to TV Using AirPlay [Video]

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Brooks chokes up testifying about hospital gift (AP)

CLAREMORE, Okla. ? Country singer Garth Brooks told jurors Friday that he believed he had a "done deal" to honor his late mother with a women's health center in his Oklahoma hometown, and said he still doesn't understand how he received nothing for a $500,000 gift.

Brooks is suing Integris Canadian Valley Regional Hospital in Yukon, accusing it and its president of reneging on a pledge to build the center and name it after his mother, Colleen, who died of cancer in 1999. The center was never built, and Brooks wants his money back, plus punitive damages.

In tearful testimony, Brooks said he thought he had a solid agreement with the hospital's president, James Moore. Brooks said Moore initially suggested putting his mother's name on an intensive care unit, and when Brooks said that wouldn't fit her image, Moore suggested a women's center.

"I jumped all over it," Brooks told jurors. "It's my mom. My mom was pregnant as a teenager. She had a rough start. She wanted to help every kid out there."

Brooks said he gave $500,000 to the hospital anonymously, which he said was his custom when giving to charities. The singer said he, his family and the hospital wanted to keep things quiet until a ribbon-cutting ceremony to announce the center.

He was eventually shown architectural drawings of a proposed center bearing his mother's name. "That's why I thought it was a win-win for everybody," Brooks said.

But nothing happened. The center was never build and his mother's name wasn't attached to anything.

"How this thing went wrong, I don't know," Brooks testified.

"I'm the last of six kids. I was her favorite," Brooks added. "She was my buddy. I was her biggest fan. She was a pistol. All of the parties were at her house. She was just a doll. If anybody met her, (they) would have gotten to love her."

Moore testified earlier this week that a women's center was not among the hospital's plans, though Brooks testified Friday that Moore never told him that while they were negotiating a gift.

The singer donated the money in 2005. Three years later, he exchanged emails with Moore after the hospital president wrote saying the money would be used to help fund new construction, Brooks said.

"As nicely as I can, I'm trying to give him an opportunity to say why he's spending the money and there's no women's center going up," Brooks testified.

Brooks said he sent his accountant to investigate, but that nothing came from the ongoing correspondence.

By March 2009, he'd asked the hospital to either refund his money or give it to another charity. In September 2009, Brooks sued.

"I thought this was going to be mom's chance to bring a women's center to my hometown," Brooks testified.

Brooks' accountant, Cheryl Harris, testified earlier Friday that she wasn't aware of any conditions on Brooks' donation, which was listed as a tax deduction. Asked by Integris lawyer Terry Thomas how she believed the money would be used, she said, "He didn't receive anything physical."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_en_mu/us_people_garth_brooks

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Paul's place in SC uncertain given lighter effort (AP)

GRANITEVILLE, S.C. ? Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul didn't seem to mind Friday that he has campaigned less aggressively in South Carolina than he did in other early voting states.

But it was far from clear during a whirlwind circuit around the state the day before the crucial Southern primary whether the libertarian-leaning Texas congressman would send a message here as his outsider candidacy did in Iowa and New Hampshire.

"I took a day off of the campaign trail," Paul told an audience of about 200 in a packed banquet hall outside Aiken. "I wanted to make sure I was recorded voting against the national debt limit."

The remark, explaining Paul's temporary departure in the campaign Wednesday to vote in Congress, ignited cheers from the audience in southwestern South Carolina.

Paul drew a crowd of several hundred in Greenville despite heavy rain and frigid temperatures.

"When we were flying and the weather was getting bad, I thought, is anyone going to show up?" Paul said, clearly buoyed by the turnout. The audience cheered.

It was a far different scene early Friday, before Paul began a six-city tour of South Carolina in a small plane. He drew fewer than 100 people to a cavernous airplane hangar in North Charleston, although the audience did include some die-hard supporters.

"When you hear the word principle, you think of Ron Paul. He's the embodiment of that," said Derek Smith, a 26-year-old engineer for the Navy in Charleston. "If he were to run as a third-party candidate, I would vote for him unconditionally."

Paul finished in a strong third place in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3, and claimed a distant second to Mitt Romney in New Hampshire. Paul's aides have tried to lower expectations in South Carolina, where he has less invested and where his opposition to military intervention sows doubts among the state's many military hawks.

"There's no authority for our president to go to war without a declaration of war, and I think that it's crucial to avoid these wars that aren't doing that much for us," he told the North Charleston audience.

Paul advisers said they originally expected his share of the vote to reach only the single digits in South Carolina, but they said were sensing enough momentum to make them guardedly optimistic the Texas congressman would finish ahead of former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. Polls showed a tight contest for first place between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

The Paul campaign, which has spent about $1.5 million on television advertising in South Carolina, has already signaled it would all but skip Florida, citing the prohibitive cost of campaigning there and the likelihood that the state would not field a full slate of delegates. Florida defied Republican Party rules by moving its primary to Jan. 31, and as punishment the party has threated to strip the state of some of its delegates.

Instead, the campaign is looking ahead to states holding caucuses ? following the Obama campaign model of focusing on lower-cost states that can yield a significant number of delegates. Paul's advisers believe his campaign, like Barack Obama's in 2008, is organic and Internet-driven and its supporters are likely to organize themselves in caucus states if they are given the tools to do so.

The Paul campaign's targets include Nevada on Feb. 4 and Colorado and Minnesota on Feb. 7. Colorado and Nevada in particular have a large number of tea party voters, and the Paul campaign believes he can do well there. The campaign announced Friday it would begin a heavy round of advertising in Nevada and Minnesota.

Paul continued during his series of short campaign stops in every corner of the state Friday to breeze through the talking points familiar to his fans, calling for sharply reduced spending, strict adherence to the Constitution, eliminating the Federal Reserve and strictly limiting international military involvement.

Paul has taken to critiquing Santorum in speeches, albeit gently compared to the increasingly barbed back-and-forth between Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Santorum. However, Paul's campaign is running a stinging advertisement referring to Santorum's voting record in Congress as "a record of betrayal."

Paul took an indirect jab at Romney, criticizing his reliance on donations from the banking industry, while pointing to his own campaign's support from U.S. service members drawn to his call for fewer foreign engagements.

"There's a supposed leader in this race and his top three donors are banks, including Goldman Sachs," he said, as many in the audience grumbled.

"Our campaign has a top three donors. First it's the Army, the Air Force and then it's the Navy," he added, prompting a burst of cheers.

___

Follow Beth Fouhy on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bfouhy

Follow Thomas Beaumont on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TomBeaumont

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_el_pr/us_paul

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Ken Ishii, out of dance clubs and into daydreams (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) ? Japan's trail-blazing techno king Ken Ishii has rocked massive crowds the world over with his dance floor beats, but for his latest album he drew inspiration from what some may think an odd choice much closer to home -- a luxury Tokyo shopping mall.

Ishii, 41, is nothing if not unconventional and even as his popularity has grown -- he has risen from playing clubs to the MTV Video Music Awards, made the cover of Newsweek magazine and composed the theme song for the 1998 Winter Olympics -- the master music mixer has tried to remain true to his roots even as his songs make their way into spaces as common as elevators.

"I didn't want to become commercial but music always does," Ishii told Reuters. "I'm an old-school techno kind of guy."

His new project "Music for Daydreams" has the formal title "Ken Ishii presents Metropolitan Harmonic Formulas" and is released in February, almost 20 years after Ishii cut his first track.

The 11-song album marks a small departure for the soft-spoken producer and DJ with a delicate shift in pace from his staple, techno voodoo. He collaborated with jazz musicians, and took two years to complete the record that grew from his work mixing music for the Tokyo Midtown Galleria, a trendy shopping, restaurant and hotel complex in Roppongi, Tokyo.

"I wanted to do something for daytime," Ishii told Reuters. "I always DJ at night so I wanted to do something different. Something for day people."

He said the songs cross many genres and have a timeless feel, but are "still my kind of electronic music."

Ishii burst onto the music scene in the early 1990's, tearing up dance floors in Europe before Japan knew what techno music was.

"Techno changed my life. In the late 80's I was into electronic music like Kraftwerk," said Ishii, who was heavily influenced by Detroit's underground techno scene. "'Space Invaders' got me into electronic noises as a kid."

His big break came from Belgium's R&S Records, a major techno label, when he was still at university.

"I just wanted to be on their label so I sent a tape. It started as a way of killing time as a bored student," he said.

STUDENT TO MASTER MIXER

A No. 1 hit on the techno chart of British music magazine NME in 1993 was followed in 1996 by an MTV video award for the single "Extra" -- both firsts for a Japanese artist.

"It all exploded in Europe very quickly. I thought it was very strange," said Ishii. "I was just a student and all these faxes kept pouring in from European record companies."

He played his first ever live set to 20,000 people in the Netherlands that year. His seminal album, "Jelly Tones," came out in 1995 and featured "Extra," boosting his fame further.

Then came the call from the Japanese Olympic committee.

"Producing the theme track for the Nagano Olympics was a huge thing for me," said Ishii. "But some people don't want to be recognized on the street."

Struggling to stick to his roots as an underground sensation and avoid becoming mainstream eventually led to a key career decision for the artist who so shuns glitz that he is still driven to gigs in his manager's old Toyota even today.

"At the end of the '90s my record labels in Japan and Belgium wanted me to play more commercial," he said.

"I said 'Okay, sorry, this is finished. This is not what I want to do.' I became independent."

And success kept coming. Ishii formed his own label in 2002, and in 2004 he was voted best techno DJ at the "Dance Music Awards" on Ibiza, Spain's clubbing island.

His 2010 dancefloor smash hit "Right Hook" proved Ishii could still strip paint from the walls before he turned his hand to the multi-textured "Music for Daydreams."

"What I do keeps me energized," said Ishii. "When I play my old tracks of 20 years ago on the dancefloor and the crowd are cheering and mad for it still, it's so special.

"That's when I feel I created something timeless."

(Editing by Elaine Lies and Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120119/en_nm/us_japan_kenishii

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