SA:Rann returns early for leadership showdown

AAP General News (Australia)
08-07-2011
SA:Rann returns early for leadership showdown

Embattled South Australian Premier MIKE RANN's expected to announce his future tomorrow,
after cutting short a trade mission to deal with Labor's leadership crisis.

Mr RANN returns from India tonight, where he's been since news broke last weekend that
he'd agreed, under pressure, to step down in favor of Education Minister JAY WEATHERILL.

He's expected to say when he'll leave after being told by Labor's powerful right faction
nine days ago they'd have a better chance of winning the 2014 state election with Mr WEATHERILL
at the helm.

Mr RANN's made it clear he wants to leave at a time of his choosing and when key projects,
like ensuring the Olympic Dam expansion gets the to ahead, are finished.

AAP RTV lk/nap

KEYWORD: RANN (ADELAIDE)

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Adler case a win for corporate regulator

AAP General News (Australia)
02-17-2005
Fed: Adler case a win for corporate regulator

MPs say businessman RODNEY ADLER'S guilty plea over his part in the HIH collapse shows
he's willing to cop the consequences of his actions.

ADLER faces a possible jail term after yesterday pleading guilty to charges including
dishonesty and making false statements in his time as a director of failed insurer HIH.

ADLER'S surprise guilty plea came on what should have been the first day of an expected
four-week jury trial in the New South Wales Supreme Court.

Government MP BRONWYN BISHOP says the guilty plea shows ADLER is prepared to take his medicine.

Labor's industrial relations spokesman STEPHEN SMITH says it shows the success of the
Australian Investments and Securities Commission as a corporate regulator.

AAP RTV db/maur/jlw/rcg/jo

KEYWORD: ADLER MPS (CANBERRA)

2005 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

SA:SA police scour scrub for murder clues

AAP General News (Australia)
04-11-2011
SA:SA police scour scrub for murder clues

ADELAIDE, April 11 AAP - Police expect to spend several days searching scrub in Adelaide's
southern suburbs for clues in the murder of Andrew Negre.

Detective Senior Sergeant Phil Linton said police would not reveal exactly what they
were looking as they scoured the area at Hallett Cove where Mr Negre's body was found
on Friday.

The 37-year-old went missing on April 1 and detectives believe he was killed soon after
with his body left undetected for several days.

Sgt Linton said Mr Negre's death had been declared a major crime with a post-mortem
examination being conducted on Monday.

"We're looking for evidence that may assist the investigation into Mr Negre's murder,"

he told reporters.

"I can't specifically say what we're looking for. I don't want to say what we might
find or what we might not find.

"But we expect the search will take a number of days. We will have a presence here
until Thursday or Friday."

On the weekend police also arrested a 26-year-old man who is considered a suspect in the killing.

Michael Joseph Lindsay was taken into custody on Saturday night in relation to a parole
board warrant.

He is listed to appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday in relation to
that warrant.

Sgt Linton said detectives would talk with Mr Lindsay as the murder investigation continued.

"He will be spoken to but I can't say when that will happen," he said.

"He's regarded as a suspect but we're in the very early stages of the investigation.

"We still have a large number of people to interview."

Sgt Linton said it was too early to determine a motive for Mr Negre's murder.

AAP tjd/jnb/nb

KEYWORD: BODY

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

VIC:57th Vic parliament opened

AAP General News (Australia)
12-21-2010
VIC:57th Vic parliament opened

By Catherine Best and Edwina Scott

MELBOURNE, Dec 21 AAP - The 57th Victorian parliament has been officially opened with
all the formal pomp and ceremony that traditionally precedes the grittier business of
state politics.

Hundreds of relatives and coalition supporters gathered at central Melbourne's Spring
Street on Tuesday as a Victoria Police guard of honour, the national anthem and the Skye
Boat song kicked off preceedings.

Victorian Governor Professor David de Kretser received the Royal Salute before proceeding
up a red carpet dressed in a kangaroo skin which had been provided by Aboriginal elders,
who also gave a traditional welcome on the parliament's steps.

The Usher of the Black Rod led Upper House president Bruce Atkinson into the Legislative
Council. Members from both chambers - new and returning - squashed into the velvet benches
to officially receive the new government.

Notable faces in the crowd included former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett, police chief
Simon Overland and Plug the Pipe activist Jan Beer.

At 2.30pm (AEDT), members of both chambers were summoned to the Legislative Council
where Prof de Kretser officially opened the parliament.

The governor laid out the coalition government's legislative priorities for its first
term as hundreds of MPs, their families, friends and invited guests, watched on.

"The government's agenda will be based upon the principles of responsibility, fairness
and respect," Prof de Kretser told them.

"The government will carry out its responsibilities with stability, dignity, certainty,
and commonsense.

"This will be a government of inclusion and transparency, a government for all Victorians
and for all families."

The policy agenda was broken down into five key planks: economy and jobs growth; service
improvement, including transport, police and hospitals; community building; water and
environment; and integrity in government.

The coalition's immediate focus will be on improving community safety, with the first
bills introduced to the new parliament expected to include new laws for scrapping suspended
sentences and installing protective services officers on train stations.

The draft bills are likely to be introduced later on Tuesday.

AAP ees/mh/cdh

KEYWORD: PARLY VIC UPDATE (PIX AND VIDEO AVAILABLE)

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

QLD:Howard campaigns in north Qld

AAP General News (Australia)
08-13-2010
QLD:Howard campaigns in north Qld

BRISBANE, Aug 13 AAP - Former prime minister John Howard has made a flying visit to
north Queensland and plans to campaign in NSW and Western Australia over the coming week.

Mr Howard arrived in Cairns on Thursday night, where he was the guest at a fundraiser
for Liberal National Party candidate for Leichhardt, Warren Entsch.

Campaigning in Cairns on Friday, Mr Howard said the axing of Kevin Rudd as prime minister
was playing on voters' minds.

"It's getting to be the business end of the campaign," Mr Howard told reporters.

"This is going to be a very tight election.

"The Coalition has done very very well over the last couple of months.

"The public are utterly confused about the Labor Party in relation to Mr Rudd's removal."

Mr Entsch, who formerly held the seats for the Liberals, said Mr Howard had personally
offered to speak at the fundraiser.

Mr Howard said he planned to be in WA over the weekend and visit seats in NSW next week.

AAP pjo/it

KEYWORD: POLL10 HOWARD

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Ocean swim event halted after shark sightings

AAP General News (Australia)
04-05-2010
NSW: Ocean swim event halted after shark sightings

An ocean swimming event off Sydney's eastern suburbs has been halted after three shark sightings.

Organisers say more than 800 people .. aged 13 to 70 .. had registered to do today's
2.5-kilometre Cliffside-Odyssey swim from Tamarama to Clovelly.

Race director and surf lifesaver JOEL TURNER says after multiple sightings of sharks
.. they've decided to stop the swim and do a thorough check of the area.

The 500 people .. who'd already finished the race .. had battled big swells and rips.

AAP RTV klm/ajw/

KEYWORD: SWIM (SYDNEY)

2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

SA: Water upgrade opportunities missed: Turnbull

AAP General News (Australia)
08-22-2009
SA: Water upgrade opportunities missed: Turnbull

MELBOURNE, Aug 22 AAP - Opportunities to improve water efficiency are being thrown
away by the federal government, opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull says.

Addressing members of the party faithful at a state council meeting in Adelaide on
Saturday, the former coalition environment minister said the state founded by free settlers
had embodied the spirit of enterprise "that had made Australia great".

Mr Turnbull attacked the federal government's strategy of growing debt levels as a
misguided socialist experiment.

He stressed the nation would feel the consequences of virtually no investment in irrigation
infrastructure once the prolonged drought was over.

"The consequence of this neglect will be, that there will be no more water in the system
and we will have a dramatically reduced capacity to produce food and fibre," he said.

"We will have farmers using the same wasteful techniques, and irrigation corporations
and cooperatives using the same wasteful techniques of distributing water as they did
beforehand..."

He pledged to complete the Liberals' vision in 2007 of ensuring the Murray River has
the environmental flows it needs.

Mr Turnbull said under Liberal rule South Australia would not be treated with contempt
by the upstream states.

"We need a Murray-Darling Basin that is managed in the national interest."

AAP ees/jnb

KEYWORD: WATER TURNBULL

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

SA: Case against HIV accused is complicated say prosecutors

AAP General News (Australia)
04-14-2009
SA: Case against HIV accused is complicated say prosecutors

ADELAIDE, April 14 AAP - The case against an Adelaide man who allegedly infected sexual
partners with HIV is complicated, a court has been told.

In the South Australian Supreme Court on Tuesday, Stuart James McDonald pleaded not
guilty to eight counts of endangering life as well as one count of rape, one of threatening
life and one of assault.

It is alleged McDonald had unprotected sex with men after placing an internet advertisement.

The prosecution said McDonald failed to tell the men he had the virus or lied about
his health status.

He has been accused of threatening to kill one man.

Prosecutor Domenico Petraccaro said the Crown was not in a position to list what would
be a complicated trial.

"There are still a number of matters of preparation to be gone through," he said.

However, Justice Kevin Duggan said the court was anxious to schedule the trial as soon
as possible.

He asked both the defence and the prosecution to indicate when the trial could begin
at a directions hearing on May 1.

Justice Duggan remanded McDonald on continuing bail.

AAP tjd/jpm/bwl

KEYWORD: HIV

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

What Australian newspapers say on Tuesday, December 9, 2008

AAP General News (Australia)
12-09-2008
What Australian newspapers say on Tuesday, December 9, 2008

SYDNEY, Dec 9 AAP - Australia has no moral obligation to go it alone on an emissions
reduction target, The Australian says in its editorial today.

The government's climate change adviser has recommended Australia aim for cuts in the
nation's emissions by 2020 of 5 to 25 per cent, depending on the scope of the international
agreement. This sensible, flexible approach is appropriate.

Professor Ross Garnaut acknowledges agreement on emissions reductions will be more
difficult than arms control or free trade; it is probable the Copenhagen conference a
year away will be unable to agree on firm emissions reduction commitments.

"In such an event, neither side of Australian politics, more conscious than ever of
the need to protect jobs in uncertain economic times, would advocate deep cuts to carbon
emissions," the newspaper says. "The scheme put in place would be one readily adaptable
to a global response whenever it eventuated. Until then, flexibility remains the key."

The Sydney Morning Herald says its series about the NSW prison system is revealing
the price of successive election-time law-and-order auctions in the state.

The NSW prison population has risen in leaps and bounds but the resources available
for rehabilitation have not. Most prisoners leave jail poorly equipped for life outside,
and can easily reoffend.

A large number have mental illnesses and are not getting treated outside. Likewise,
many with heroin addiction are not covered by methadone treatment. Moreover, the prisons
are crime academies, preparing inmates for a life-long profession.

There is no sign our politicians can free themselves from the "tough on crime" and
"lock them up" slogans that are their chief response to the crime wave mostly caused by
drug and alcohol abuse.

This pointless repetition of a cycle of crime and jail is wasteful and damaging, the
newspaper says. "It is time to rethink the treatment of criminals, and for politicians
to end their facile approach to a serious problem."

Sydney's The Daily Telegraph says incredibly, some train journeys from the Central
Coast to Sydney were faster in 1960 than are their equivalent rides today.

Back then, eight years before NSW premier Nathan Rees was even born, it took just 70
minutes to travel from Gosford to Central.

Now, following timetable and station changes, some trips will take up to 94 minutes
- around the same time it takes to fly from Sydney to Melbourne.

That rail is becoming less attractive over time should concern more the whole state,
the newspaper says.

"Our transport system is such a shambles that it would improve if it went backwards.

Melbourne's Herald Sun says the grief felt by marathon runner Kerryn McCann's family
when she died from breast cancer "has become a sense of national loss".

McCann won the hearts of millions when she stopped to hug her daughter and ran a victory
lap with her son following her win at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, but her greatest
victory was as a mother.

Kerryn McCann was pregnant when diagnosed with cancer, but refused to have chemotherapy
until after her third baby - Cooper, now 14 months old - was born. She risked her life
to protect a life to come, the newspaper says.

"That must be an even greater example of an unassailable character than the marathon
triumph she shared with her older children. Mum had won again."

Melbourne's The Age says the world has a duty to rescue the people of Zimbabwe who
are trapped in Robert Mugabe's "criminal, failed state".

The opposition has been brutally oppressed and it is estimated half the people will
soon need food aid.

"One in four Zimbabweans has fled. Those left behind are trapped in a nightmare of
oppression, disease and starvation as a result of the collapse of governance and the economy."

Now a cholera outbreak threatens Zimbabwe and neighbouring South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique.

Australia and other nations that can help must provide food and medical aid speedily,
the newspaper says.

"At the same time, Australia and like-minded nations should exert maximum diplomatic
pressure to bring the matter to the UN security council in order to authorise intervention
in accord with the responsibility to protect populations from crimes against humanity."

Brisbane's The Courier-Mail says the coalition rebellion in the Senate is the tip of
the iceberg for Malcolm Turnbull.

The two occasions last week when four Nationals senators (and the second time, two
Liberals as well) crossed the floor to vote against coalition leadership positions were
a sharp reminder that there is a line which, when crossed, sparks dissent within conservative
ranks.

The first issue, tax concessions for carbon sinks, was a matter of principle for the
Nationals, not a unanimous position within their party.

The second was about an article of faith for Nationals and non-metropolitan Liberals
- the quarantining of more than $2 billion for rural and regional communications.

Mr Turnbull and the Liberals should accept there will be dissent by Nationals senators
and find ways to explain, accommodate and manage it, the newspaper says.

"The real problem for Mr Turnbull is that his own moderate politics could bring these
matters to a head more often. If Mr Turnbull and his fellow Liberals cannot manage that
issue, the price will be much dearer than the few bad headlines of the past week."

AAP jrd/rs

KEYWORD: EDITORIALS

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

WA: Widespread support for Barnett: MP

AAP General News (Australia)
08-05-2008
WA: Widespread support for Barnett: MP

PERTH, Aug 5 AAP - There's an "almost universal" view in the West Australian Liberal
Party that Colin Barnett will be elected unopposed as leader, a state Liberal MP says.

Troy Buswell yesterday quit the job after six months, throwing the Liberals into turmoil.

Capel MP Steve Thomas today said those with leadership aspirations, such as himself,
should put them aside for the sake of the party.

"The time is here for us to do our jobs and have Colin Barnett in the leadership,"

Mr Thomas said today.

"It should be done even without nominations.

"It is too late at this stage to try and elect somebody new."

Mr Thomas said while Mr Barnett had already announced his retirement, he was tried
and tested and popular with the electorate.

Mr Barnett, a former opposition leader and resources and energy minister, has held
the Liberal blue ribbon seat of Cottesloe for 18 years.

He's yet to say whether he wants the job which would make him the opposition's fifth
leader in less than four years. Reports say he could make an announcement today.

Premier Alan Carpenter can call a state election from now up until May 2 next year.

AAP jp/maur/nf/de

KEYWORD: BARNETT

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Qld: Man dead in north-Qld crash

AAP General News (Australia)
02-11-2008
Qld: Man dead in north-Qld crash

BRISBANE, Feb 11 AAP - A man has died after his utility collided with a four-wheel
drive on the Bruce Highway in north Queensland early today, police say.

The 27-year-old died at the scene of the accident, about 50km north of Townsville,
near the Toomulla Beach turn-off, about 5.10am (AEST).

The driver of the utility lost control, veered across the road and collided with a
four-wheel drive travelling in the opposite direction, police said.

Two male occupants of the four-wheel drive were taken to Townsville Hospital with non-life
threatening injuries.

Police are continuing their investigation.

AAP jmm/pjo/jl/de

KEYWORD: TOLL QLD LEAD

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Qld: Dog saves couple from housefire

AAP General News (Australia)
08-24-2007
Qld: Dog saves couple from housefire

A barking pet dog has earned his keep by waking a man and a woman in time for them
to escape a house fire north of Brisbane.

The blaze erupted in the house in Grant Street at Redcliffe just before one this morning
(AEST).. while a 44-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman were asleep inside.

The man's been treated in Redcliffe Hospital .. and police say the fire isn't suspicious.

AAP RTV rad/crh

KEYWORD: HOUSEFIRE (BRISBANE)

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

What Australian newspapers say on Tues, April 10, 2007

AAP General News (Australia)
04-10-2007
What Australian newspapers say on Tues, April 10, 2007

SYDNEY, April 10 AAP - A successful election in East Timor is a good start on a long
road, The Australian newspaper says in its editorial today.

Whatever the result of yesterday's historic election to select a president for the
newly independent country, lasting success relies on a pragmatic stance by the winner
and acceptance by those who fail to make it.

The fact that voting by the more than half a million registered voters appears to have
taken place with relatively little trouble is cause for celebration in itself, the newspaper
says.

Whoever becomes president must put the focus back on rebuilding the country to provide
security and opportunity for its people.





The Sydney Morning Herald says in its editorial that Sydney is becoming a wallflower
city when it comes to hosting sporting and cultural events.

John O'Neill, who is now a consultant to the state government, has said the city needs
to lift its game if it wants to host more events.

His criticism rings true, the newspaper says.

Sydney has basked for so long in the afterglow of the successful 2000 Olympics that
it appears to have forgotten it needs to make an effort to convince organisers of major
events to hold them here.

Hosting world-class events puts a city on the world stage.

The appointment of Mr O'Neill as an adviser to the Iemma government is a good first
step in getting Sydney back on track.





The Daily Telegraph says children need to learn about balance when it comes to eating habits.

Childhood obesity, if nutritionists and paediatricians are to be believed, is an epidemic.

In a commendable attempt to tackle the problem, NSW public schools have been urged
to sign up to the Healthy School Canteens strategy, whereby tuckshops would only stock
healthy dietary lines.

However, lots of school kids are ordering lunchtime pizza deliveries, or nicking out
to get their fried chicken or burgers.

A knock on effect is that a number of school canteens are struggling to stay profitable.

Children need to learn about balance and self-discipline.

Simply denying children the ability to make a healthy choice is unlikely to help them
learn about eating well.





The NSW Liberals have their work cut out if they are to have a shot at winning the
next state election in 2011, The Australian Financial Review says in its editorial.

The paper says the new leader of the NSW Liberals, Barry O'Farrell, is the latest hope
of a party diminished around the nation.

Liberal leaders in state after state have capitulated in the polls.

But it will be a hard slog for Mr O'Farrell to get his party into a competitive position
by the next election.

His stated commitment to policy development is welcome. This time, four years out from
the next poll, it needs to happen.





The failure of significant summer rainfall was always going to start the clock ticking
on even more stringent water restrictions for south-east Queensland, Brisbane's Courier-Mail
says in its editorial.

The difference between the curbs that residents have endured up until this point and
level 5 restrictions, which come into force today, is that the effort to save water has
shifted focus to inside people's homes.

That means that, unlike with level 2, 3 and 4 restrictions, excessive water use will
not be easily detectable.

The Queensland Water Commission is pushing what it calls the Target 140 campaign, aimed
at slashing individual water use from the current 180 litres a day to 140 litres a day.

The commission's intense efforts to convince people to cut the time they spend in the
shower to four minutes is an important means of achieving this target: each minute spent
in the shower uses 12 litres of water.

A more subtle reason for concentrating on people's washing habits is to reinforce the
message that the drought - and the drive to cope with it - are everyone's business.





Federal Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd can call on vast union resources to fund his election
campaign, the main editorial in the Herald Sun newspaper says.

Despite declining membership, Australia's top 15 unions hold combined assets of $800
million while business groups have responded less than favourably to Prime Minister John
Howard's call for them to back the government's controversial WorkChoices legislation,
the editorial said.

Unions had come from "near insolvency in the 1990s" to applying strict accounting and
wise investment principles in a hostile political environment, it said.

"This overdue internal discipline has placed the (union) movement as a major player
in the coming election," the editorial said.

"There is a valid argument to be made that there is nothing wrong with a healthy balance
between organised labour and capital in a democratic society."





How many more incidents involving the Mufti of Australia, Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali,
have to occur before he is stripped of the title and authority that still allow him to
wield power and influence, the main editorial in The Age newspaper asks today.

After a string of controversial remarks, the federal government and Opposition have
called for the sheik to be sacked after his latest reported remarks calling on Muslims
to back Iran's hardline regime.

But the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Ikebal Patel said the sheik,
who is no longer paid, has not been sacked and would stay until the end of June until
an independent board of imams decide to keep or abolish the position of Mufti of Australia.

"Under the expansive cloak of convenience his official position provides, he continues
to exercise unwarranted authority and dangerous influence, the editorial says.

"...it is imperative, for Australia's Muslims and the wider community, that Sheik Hilali
be sacked immediately."

AAP goc/

KEYWORD: EDITORIALS

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Committee - Give indigenous people their unpaid wages

AAP General News (Australia)
12-08-2006
Fed: Committee - Give indigenous people their unpaid wages

A parliamentary report has recommended wages owed to generations of indigenous people
must be immediately paid back by states and territories.

The so-called stolen wages are owed to indigenous labourers who worked for the government
in the 19th and 20th centuries .. has been a point of much grief for indigenous people
over a long period of time.

The Legislative and General Purpose Standing Committee report singled out Western Australia
says its government should establish a compensation scheme to repay the wages owed to
generations of indigenous people.

But Tasmania .. Victoria .. South Australia .. and both territories .. have all been
told to investigate the possibility that wages were withheld in their jurisdictions.

The committee wants commonwealth and state archives to be opened .. to allow researchers
full access to records which may prove further cases of unpaid wages.

AAP RTV pv/sb/wz/tm/psm/

KEYWORD: INDIGENOUS WAGES (CANBERRA)

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

1400 WSFM Headlines

AAP General News (Australia)
08-01-2006
1400 WSFM Headlines





Changing of the guard at Reserve Bank .. but homeowners shouldn't expect any relief
in int rate rises.

Karen Brown murder trial.

Drug squad seizes chemicals capable of making $60 mil worth of methamphetamine

Taxi industry blames petrol prices for fare increase.

Opposition promises more trees in school grounds - DEBNAM.

Moimoi out for 7 weeks .. Wiki 1 week .. Roberts will fight throw charge.

Lebanon pulls out of Asia Cup.

AAP RTV/bart

KEYWORD: 1400 WSFM

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

SA: Papal emissary to lead Adelaide mass

AAP General News (Australia)
02-11-2006
SA: Papal emissary to lead Adelaide mass

Papal emissary .. Cardinal JAVIER LOZANO BARRAGAN .. will lead a mass in Adelaide today
.. as the culmination to the Catholic World Day of the Sick.

More than 25 bishops will be involved in the service at St Francis Xavier's Cathedral.

Bishops have come from all parts of Australia .. and from Italy .. Papua New Guinea and Vietnam.

World Day of the Sick was inaugurated by Pope JOHN PAUL in 1992 .. to bring attention
to human suffering and the vital role of carers of the sick and the elderly.

AAP RTV tjd/ibw/jv/wz/rt

KEYWORD: SICK (ADELAIDE)

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Sydney Dawn service draws record crowd of 25,000

AAP General News (Australia)
04-25-2005
NSW: Sydney Dawn service draws record crowd of 25,000

A record 25,000 attended the Anzac Dawn Service in Sydney today.

Martin Place in the heart of Sydney's CBD was packed to capacity this morning as young
and old gathered to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in war.

The official ceremony, which began at 4.30am (AEST), held special significance, marking
90 years since the landing of the ANZAC troops at Gallipoli in 1915.

This year's service also coincides with the 60th anniversary of the end of World War
II in August 1945 and the fall of Saigon which ended the Vietnam War in April 1975.

AAP RTV ved/psm/

KEYWORD: ANZAC NSW DAWN (SYDNEY)

2005 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Post office feels squeeze

The financially troubled U.S. Postal Service is suspending its employer contribution to the Federal Employee Retirement System.

The agency said Wednesday it is acting to conserve cash as it continues to lose money. It was $8 billion in the red last year because of the combined effects of the recession and the switch of much mail business to the Internet. It faces the possibility of running short of money by the end of this fiscal year in September.

"This move underscores the need for Congress to make bold, quick and substantive reforms to the Postal Service. The USPS is hanging by a thread, along with 8 million private sector jobs that depend on the mail," said Art Sackler, coordinator for the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service, a group representing the private sector mailing industry.

The post office said it has informed the Office of Personnel Management that the $115 million retirement payment made every two weeks will be suspended effective Friday. The action is expected to free about $800 million in the current fiscal year. The post office's FERS account currently has a surplus of $6.9 billion, the agency said.

Because of that surplus the suspension should not have any effect on current retirees, postal spokesman Dave Partenheimer said.

He said no decision has been made about how long the contributions will be suspended but "it is not a long-term solution. The long-term solution is getting legislation passed."

Anthony Vegliante, chief human resources officer, said the post office will continue to send employees' contributions to the retirement system, as well as employer and employee contributions to the workers' savings plans, which are similar to a 401(k).

Over the past four years the Postal Service has cut its staff by 110,000 and reduced costs by $12 billion. The agency has also proposed eliminating delivery on Saturdays to save money and is working on closing small post offices and consolidating sorting and other operations.

The post office, unlike other federal agencies, is also required to make an annual payment of more than $5 billion as an advance contribution to future retiree medical costs.

Take a tablet in future.

Mar 5, 2002 (The West Australian

ABIX via COMTEX) -- The World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) has been held in South Australia. Microsoft Corporation chief technology officer, Craig Mundie, told those present that the Internet today is at about the same stage of development as were personal computers (PCs) in 1984. He says, though, that with the number of computers interacting with each other numbering in the billions, programmers have to begin thinking about the situation differently. He says this new outlook will be the third era of the Internet, but will only happen if people trust computers. Mundie also used the convention to unveil two new Microsoft products: the Tablet PC, which is a notepad-style computer without a keyboard, and the Smartphone 2002, which is a combination pocket PC and a mobile telephone. Special feature on the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT).

MICROSOFT CORPORATION

By Fran Spencer

All copyright subsisting under the Copyright Act 1968 (Commonwealth) resides in us. No part of the

copyright materials may be reproduced, re-used, re-transmitted, adapted, published, broadcast or

distributed for any commercial purposes whatsoever without our prior written permission.

  INDUSTRY KEYWORD: Machinery and Equipment                   Manufacturing                    Other Manufacturing                    Communication Services                    Business Services  SUBJECT CODE:     INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY - AUSTRALIA                    INTERNET                    CONGRESSES AND CONVENTIONS - SOUTH                    AUSTRALIA                    COMPUTER SOFTWARE INDUSTRY - UNITED                    STATES 

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Building a Consumer Brand.

An integrated delivery system in Southern California is relying on technology to build consumer and physician loyalty.

By Tyler L. Chin

Three years ago, when Memorial Health Services Inc. grew from a two-hospital to a five-hospital integrated delivery system, it faced a tough business climate. A number of its Southern California competitors all charged similar fees for services.

To avoid entering a competitive battle based solely on price-cutting, executives and physicians at Memorial Health Services instead decided to compete on the basis of quality. If they could prove they offered better care than their competitors, then consumers would select Memorial and pay more for quality, the organization's executives reasoned.

Memorial also bet this strategy would lead the best physicians to affiliate with and admit more of their patients to Memorial Health facilities rather than facilities owned by the competition.

So Long Beach, Calif.-based Memorial Health Services, which has more than 2,800 affiliated physicians, created a branding program. This marketing effort is designed to create consumer awareness of the organization's products and services.

The delivery system is marketing its health care services to consumers under the MemorialCare brand name. Its goal is to associate the brand with quality care in the minds of consumers.

To improve the quality and delivery of health care, and back up its branding program's claim of superior care, Memorial Health has been using information technology since January 1997 to:

* Develop clinical guidelines for caregivers. These guidelines lay out a standard care plan for physicians to follow, when appropriate, for patients with certain diagnoses.

* Implement a virtual private network on the Internet to enable physicians to access hospital-based clinical data from home.

* Post consumer health information on its Web site and on America Online.

* Streamline the patient registration process and enable physicians to collect insurance copayments more easily via a magnetic stripe card program.

A competitive edge

Memorial Health is hoping these initiatives will set it apart in an increasingly competitive market.

When a market is saturated with hospitals and physicians, providers either compete on price or attempt to differentiate themselves to give consumers a reason to pick them over the competition, says Thomas J. Collins, CEO of Memorial Health Services.

"We've opted to differentiate ourselves on the basis of quality to gain a competitive edge and position our organization in people's minds as the place to go for quality health care," he says.

To help build a reputation for quality, the delivery system is implementing clinical guidelines for caregivers.

After creating and distributing the paper-based guidelines, the organization monitors the outcomes of patients treated using the guidelines. It then benchmarks those outcomes against local and national outcomes to show whether its patients have higher survival rates, get better quicker or get sick less.

The delivery system then uses the outcomes data in marketing brochures, highlighting how its results measure up against those of local competitors and national benchmarks, Collins says.

To achieve its strategic goals, Memorial Health Services has invested $3 million in its MemorialCare program during the last three years. This investment includes marketing costs as well as the cost of acquiring online health information from Empower Health Corp., Austin, Texas, to post on its Web site and on America Online Inc., Herndon, Va.

The investment includes the purchase of 180 PCs from Dell Computer Corp., Round Rock, Texas, which enable clinicians to access the organization's e-mail system and intranet, as well as online medical libraries. It also includes the cost of magnetic stripe ID cards, encryption technology and other software for its virtual private network.

Collins believes the investment has paid for itself in new revenue because it has helped the delivery system increase the total number of admissions/discharges up to 30% over a three-year period at each of its five medical centers in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties.

Collins acknowledges it's difficult to tell just how much of the increase is due to the MemorialCare program. But he notes that the branding program has been the major strategic focus of the delivery system during the last three years.

Memorial Health's information technology strategy, particularly its Internet and online health information components, shows the organization is headed in the right direction, says Tom Ferguson, M.D., adjunct associate professor of health informatics at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. Ferguson also is a consultant specializing in Internet and online consumer health issues.

"I wouldn't be surprised to see the more I.T.-sophisticated health systems and physicians steal away market share from less I.T-sophisticated colleagues within the next five years," he adds.

Core element

Clinical guidelines are at the heart of the MemorialCare program because its success depends on the organization's ability to prove improved quality of care, says Annette Walker, a vice president at Memorial Health Services who is responsible for the branding effort and physician integration issues.

The guidelines show clinicians optimal treatments. The delivery system hopes that by steering more clinicians down a proven path, the organization will improve care and trim costs. It then can publish the outcomes of patients treated using those standardized care guidelines to "prove" quality of care, comparing their outcomes to those of other institutions.

All physicians participating in the MemorialCare program must sign a contract requiring them to help develop and use the guidelines, Walker says. They also must submit data to physician-led clinical task forces responsible for developing clinical guidelines.

To obtain the clinical information needed to create and refine guidelines, the organization has set up homegrown databases to capture data electronically from hospital-based clinical information systems, such as those used for obstetrics, open heart surgeries and breast cancer. The organization hopes to eventually collect data from physicians' offices, but no timetable has been set.

Once data is gathered in the databases, the organization uses homegrown and commercial software to enable physicians to develop, analyze and refine guidelines, and monitor outcomes.

Guidelines are printed out and mailed to participating physicians, who have admitting privileges at Memorial's five hospitals, she says. Guidelines are distributed on paper because the organization's hospitals use four different hospital information systems. "It would be a huge challenge to integrate this into only one hospital information system," Walker says.

When Memorial Health eventually installs a computer-based patient records system, it expects to incorporate guidelines into the records system so they will be easily accessible to physicians, Walker says.

So far, the delivery system has implemented 15 clinical guidelines, including guidelines for Cesarean deliveries; labor and delivery; newborn care; pediatric pneumonia; and heart attacks.

Benchmarking performance

In addition to collecting clinical data to create and refine guidelines, Memorial Health also analyzes that data to create custom reports measuring a physician's performance. The reports are designed to enable participating physicians to benchmark themselves against their peers.

During the past three years, the number of physicians participating in the guidelines program has grown from six to 600, says Walker, the vice president responsible for physician integration issues. She hopes that number will eventually increase to 1,000.

Those who sign the agreement-usually the doctors who admit many patients to Memorial's facilities-are marketed as MemorialCare physicians, which can help the doctors attract more business, executives say.

"Memorial Health has opened up a tremendous amount of communication among my colleagues at other hospitals," says David Lagrew, M.D., chair of the delivery system's information infrastructure steering committee. "What it's really doing is taking a lot of the clinical things we do at each hospital, standardizing them and making them more efficient."

To further improve clinician access to information, Memorial Health since August 1998 has been testing a program enabling physicians to access hospital-based clinical information from their PCs at home.

In the ongoing pilot, 10 physicians are accessing data over a virtual private network on the Internet, says Scott Cebula, executive director of information services at Memorial Health Services. The delivery system is using security and encryption software from a commercial vendor, he says, declining to identify the vendor.

Most of the physicians have Internet access through their local cable television companies. When they turn on their PCs, they immediately are asked to enter their user ID and password. After they enter that information, the security software in their PC authenticates them. Once the software authenticates physicians' user IDs and passwords, it automatically allows them to use a Netscape or Microsoft Web browser to access the virtual private network and hospital-based servers behind a firewall. The servers house information systems from Eclipsys Corp., Delray Beach, Calif., and McKesson HBOC Inc., San Francisco.

Microsoft's Exchange e-mail system, and laboratory information systems from Cerner Corp., Kansas City, Mo., and Sunquest Information Systems Inc., Tucson, Ariz., also can be accessed through the virtual private network.

Participating physicians must pay for their own PCs, Internet access and phone lines. The organization hopes to increase the number of physicians after the pilot is completed in the spring.

While the remote access program focuses on improving physician access to data, Memorial Health also is working to provide online health information to consumers.

One way it's doing this is through its Web site, www.memorialcare.org.

The site enables consumers to access information about the organization and the personal Web pages of more than 200 physicians.

Online information

Consumers also can access online health information about medications, illnesses and clinical trials via a hyperlink from Memorial's Web site to another site: http://drkoop.com. Information on the site comes from Empower Health, co-founded by former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, M.D. Koop's site is "co-branded," meaning that those accessing it see the MemorialCare name alongside Koop's.

Memorial Health also is packaging the Empower information in a different format and posting it on America Online's Digital Cities services. The online information available via Memorial's Web site and AOL's Digital City is part of Memorial Health's broader campaign to reach out to consumers as well as physicians.

"We have to strengthen communication with both consumers and physicians so they know about us and can distinguish between our services and our competitors'," Walker says. "Technology is helping us accomplish this strategy."

IPivot Appoints Jim Keefe as Chief Financial Officer; Experienced Finance Executive Worked Seven Years at San Diego's Applied Digital Access, Previously at Honeywell and Coopers & Lybrand.

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 21, 1999--

IPivot Inc., an award-winning manufacturer of Internet Commerce Equipment designed to enhance the performance of e-commerce Web sites, today announced the appointment of Jim Keefe as chief financial officer.

Keefe will be responsible for managing IPivot's overall financial operations and will collaborate with other members of the executive team to lead the company's future growth and expansion.

"The addition of Jim Keefe to head up our financial operations team puts an experienced professional in a key role to support IPivot's future success," said Brett Helm, IPivot president and chief executive officer. "IPivot's track record in successfully raising over $14 million dollars from our investment partners over the past two and one half years speaks for itself. With Jim's assistance, we will now increase our efforts to continue building the financial strength of the company to maintain and grow our position in the e-commerce industry."

In December 1998, IPivot raised $10.5 million in a second round of equity funding from several leading venture capital firms including Crosspoint Venture Partners, Enterprise Partners, Doll Capital Management, VantagePoint Ventures and Athena Technology Ventures. The company's first round of $4.2 million in venture capital came from Enterprise Partners and Doll Capital Management in May 1997.

"This is a dynamic and exciting time to be joining IPivot," Keefe said. "The company's involvement with the burgeoning e-commerce equipment market makes it an interesting opportunity. I'm looking forward to working with my new colleagues to enhance and maintain a solid financial structure that supports the growth of the company for many years to come."

Keefe joins IPivot from Applied Digital Access (Nasdaq:ADAX), a leading San Diego telecommunications manufacturer where he worked from 1992 to 1999, first as corporate controller and director of finance and later as vice president of finance and administration and CFO. At ADA Keefe played a key role in the company's initial public offering, led several strategic acquisitions and managed an investment portfolio that had exceeded $35 million. Prior to ADA, Keefe held financial management and accounting positions at U.S. Fiberline Communications, Scientific Computer Systems, Honeywell and Coopers & Lybrand LLP.

IPivot's Award Winning Products

IPivot's Commerce Accelerator 1000, Commerce Director 8000 and Multi-Site Director 9000 are designed to eliminate server performance bottlenecks by performing secure transaction processing with patent-pending SSL acceleration technology, regaining speed lost by e-commerce servers when decrypting secure transactions. By offloading CPU-intensive encryption processing from the server, IPivot's Internet Commerce Equipment product line can increase the speed of secure transactions by as much as 150 times.

Over the past few months, IPivot, its products, and its reseller program have received top honors at several industry conferences, including CMP's Breakaway XChange events in Florida and Quebec, Gartner Group's EnterpriseVision conference in California and Ziff Davis' NetWorld+Interop show in Las Vegas.

About IPivot

IPivot Inc. delivers solutions designed to solve Internet performance and reliability problems thus enabling the mass adoption of Electronic Commerce. IPivot markets its family of Internet Commerce Equipment through a network of premier resellers, network integrators, value-added distributors and OEMs. IPivot's management team combines experience in the Internet, network and transaction processing markets. The company's investment partners include Crosspoint Venture Partners, Enterprise Partners, Doll Capital Management, VantagePoint Ventures and Athena Technology Ventures. IPivot is headquartered near San Diego with sales offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Washington, London and Tokyo. For more information, call +1-858-679-7858 worldwide, +44-1420-80900 in Europe, or toll-free within North America at 1-877-347-4868. On the Web, visit http://www.ipivot.com.

IPivot, Intelligent Broker, Commerce Accelerator 1000, Commerce Director 8000 and Multi-Site Director 9000 are trademarks of IPivot Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

AUSTRALIAN GOVT TO LOOK INTO PROPOSED FACEBOOK LAWS.

ADELAIDE, July 22 Asia Pulse - The Australian federal government says education, rather than legislation, is the best way to protect children using Facebook and other social media.

But the government has agreed to look at proposals being prepared by South Australia, including tighter age limits on use of the social media and giving parents more rights to access their children's Facebook accounts.

The SA government will prepare a discussion paper on the issue after raising its concerns at a meeting of state and federal attorneys-general in Adelaide on Friday.

Federal Justice Minister Brendan O'Connor said the government was loath to legislate where legislation was not going to work.

"I think education is the key," he said.

"We need to make sure young people are informed about the potential risks.

"The cyber world is a magnificent place, it's a fantastic educational tool, it's a fantastic place for people to engage socially.

"But the internet is not a benign playground. There are potential threats to young people in particular."

South Australian Attorney-General John Rau said Australia was going through a revolution in the way people consumed and generated information.

"That is a technologically driven change that is way ahead of the legal system and probably the thinking of most governments around the world and certainly in this country," he said.

"We are grappling with changes that are moving more quickly than most people would have thought possible only a few years ago."

SA's proposals are likely to include a provision to raise the age for Facebook users and to also require the site to seek proof of age.

They will also consider allowing greater parental access.

Facebook currently requires users to be aged at least 13, but there is no requirement to provide proof of age.

A SA mother found recently that her teenage daughter had uploaded inappropriate pictures of herself to her Facebook page but the mother was prevented by Facebook from removing them.

Mr Rau said that case highlighted the concerns of many parents, while Mr O'Connor said more needed to be done to educate and inform young people of the dangers associated with posting material online.

"People need to think carefully about what they upload, what they put onto their Facebook and social websites," he said.

(AAP) ms 22-07 1648

Top Digital Media Executives to Gather in Washington DC at Digital Media Conference East.

Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) June 07, 2011

On June 17, 2011, the 8th annual Digital Media Conference East (http://www.digitalmediaconference.com) will bring together over 500 of the most influential decision-makers in the media, entertainment and technology industries to discuss the future of the digital media sector in 3 keynotes and 20 panels divided across 6 Tracks at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel in Arlington, VA.

The Digital Media Conference East is a full day of in-depth discussions and networking focused on the top business issues impacting digital media companies, including online video, social media, investments, online advertising, mobile entertainment, mobile apps, and law & policy. Registration starts on Friday, June 17, from 8:00am to 5:30pm. DMW has partnered with Served Fresh Media to provide social media reporting and coverage at the event.

The event includes the following keynotes and special presentations:

Steve Case is one of America's best-known and most accomplished entrepreneurs and philanthropists, and a pioneer in making the Internet part of everyday life. Steve co-founded America Online (AOL) in 1985, when the Internet was in its infancy. Under Steve's leadership as Chairman and CEO, AOL became the world's largest and most valuable Internet company. Steve created Revolution in 2005 to oversee his rapidly expanding investments. Revolution now has four divisions: Revolution Growth, which invests in high-growth consumer companies (including Zipcar, LivingSocial, and Exclusive Resorts); Revolution Ventures, which backs early-stage technology companies (including Vinfolio, Snagfilms, and UberMedia); Revolution Health, which invests in health and wellness businesses (including SparkPeople, Extend Health and Brainscope); and Revolution Places, which develops real estate and hospitality businesses (including Grove Farm and Maui Land & Pineapple in Hawaii, Cacique in Costa Rica, and Miraval in Arizona).

John Trimble serves as the Chief Revenue Officer of Pandora Media where he is responsible for all advertising revenue, strategic sales marketing and advertising operations. Pandora's diverse revenue streams tap display, mobile, audio that reach consumers on their computers, mobile phones and consumer electronic devices. Pandora advertising offerings utilize the super-specific aspects of internet radio: a medium that enables advertisers to reach any type of consumer, anytime, anywhere - based on a multitude of quantifiable data.

Gracia Martore is President, Chief Operating Officer of Gannett Co, Inc. Prior to that she served as the Chief Financial Officer of the company since June 15, 2009 till November 2010. She joined Gannett in 1985 as assistant treasurer. She was named vice president/Treasury services in 1993. She was given responsibility for Investor Relations in 1996, became treasurer and vice president/Investor Relations in 1998 and was named a senior vice president in 2001. She became chief financial officer in 2003 and was named executive vice president in 2006.

Matthew Diamond, CEO and founder of Alloy Media + Marketing, guides the company's strategic direction and oversees corporate development and management of its business units including Alloy Entertainment, creator of such popular teen books, TV series and films as "Gossip Girl", "Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants" and "The Clique". He oversees development of new media initiatives such as the recently launched Teen.com "TV" network, a premiere entertainment platform boasting a teen audience of more than 11 million online viewers..

These individuals join a top caliber speaker group that includes:

PANELISTS & MODERATORS

Shawn DuBravac, Chief Economist & Director of Research, CEA

Marina Amoroso, Director, comScore Telco and Mobile

Heather Way, Research Analyst, Parks Associates

Philip Bronner, General Partner, Novak Biddle Venture Partners

Don Rainey, General Partner, Grotech Ventures

Tige Savage, Managing Director & EVP, Revolution LLC

Thanasis Delistathis, Managing Partner, New Atlantic Ventures

Paul Sherman, Editor-in-Chief, Potomac Tech Wire

Robinne Burrell, Director, Mobile Product & Distribution, Match.com

Jon Vanhala, SVP Digital & Business Dev., Island Def Jam Music Group

Matt Callaway, CEO, apptap

Brenda Walker, Managing Publisher & VP, Marketing, The Zumobi Network

John Backus, Founder & Managing Partner, New Atlantic Ventures

Sean Casey, Founder and CEO, SocialGuide.com

Richard Fawal, Founder, WatchParty.tv

Evan Krauss, EVP, Advertising Sales, Shazam Entertainment

Paul Levine, Managing Director, Vector Media Strategies

Gary Arlen, President, Arlen Communications

Hooman Radfar, CEO & Co-Founder, Clearspring

Alex Vetter, SVP, Cars.com

Michael Winter, VP, Digital Strategy Director, Initiative

Jim Bankoff, CEO, SB Nation

Colin Gillis, Technology Analyst & Director of Research, BGC Partners

Matt Jones, VP Mobile Strategy & Operations, Gannett

Rob Pegoraro, Tech Writer/ Former Washington Post Tech Columnist

David Katz, Executive Director, Digital Media, Starz Media

Martin Ringlein, Co-founder & Senior Consultant, nclud

Daniel Odio, CEO & Co-founder, Socialize Inc.

Brian Curtis, Sr. Dir., Product Management, Search & Discovery, Comcast

Jim Louderback, CEO, Revision3

Jay Endsley, Chair, Digital Living Network Alliance / Principal Engineer/Director, Samsung Electronics

Ned Sherman, CEO, Digital Media Wire

James Nichols, VP of Strategy & Product, Jess3

Vyque White, Director of New Media, USO

Joe Chernov, VP of Content Marketing, Eloqua

Matt Spielman, GM Northeast/VP Strategic Partnerships, Eventful

Sonny Ganguly, Chief Marketing Officer, WeddingWire

Elizabeth Shea, President & CEO, SpeakerBox Communications

Jim Halling, Interactive Sales Manager, Comcast Spotlight

Richard Bloom, SVP Business Development, 5min Media

Alvin Bowles, CEO, Grab Networks

Jon Brendsel, VP, Products, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)

Rick Allen, CEO, SnagFilms

David Leibowitz, Managing Partner, CH Potomac

Mack McKelvey, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Millennial Media

Stephanie Bauer Marshall, Dir., Mobile Mktg & Ads, Verizon Wireless

Mike Lombardi, VP of Advertising Sales & Marketing, WeatherBug

Charles Curran, General Partner, Valhalla Partners

Addie Conner, Director of Advertising, SocialCode

Justin Thorp, Director of Publisher Happiness, Clearspring

Gayle Weiswasser, VP of Social Media, Discovery

Peter Cherukuri, VP & General Manager, DC bureau, Huffington Post

Paul Sweeting, Principal, Concurrent Media Strategies / Analyst, GigaOm Pro

Sandra Aistars, Executive Director, Copyright Alliance

Michael Huppe, President, SoundExchange

Michael Petricone, SVP, Gov't Affairs, Consumer Electronics Association

Joe Sabia, Co-Founder, Whirled

Jim Griffin, Managing Director, OneHouse LLC

Lee Rainie, Director, Pew Internet & American Life Project

Greg Scholl, President, Local Integrated Media, NBC Universal

Andrew Nachison, Founder, CEO, We Media & iFOCOS

Leonard Brody, President, Clarity Digital Group

Mike Vorhaus, President, Magid Advisors

Michael Tavani, Founder, Scoutmob

Winston Lord, Co-founder, Venga

Blake Hall, Co-founder & CEO, TroopSwap

Josh Greene, VP, Marketing, 1-800-PACK-RAT

Athena Polydorou, Director, Wireless Internet Dev., CTIA

Shane McGrath, VP, Head of North American Sales, RedLever

Jeff Gomez, CEO, Starlight Runner Entertainment

Marc Klatzko, Managing Director & COO, MAUDE

Rohit Bhargava, SVP, Digital Strategy & Marketing, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide

David Dudas, Vice President of Product Management, Sorenson Media

Sean Jennings, VP, Solutions Architecture, Virtustream

Jonathan King, Senior Vice President of Business Development, Joyent

Kshitij Kumar, SVP of Mobile Video, Concurrent

Stefan Bewley, Director, Altman Vilandrie & Company

Kurt Smith, Group Vice President of Sales, Verizon Digital Media Services

David Steinberg, CEO, SnappCloud

Mike West, Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder, GenosTV, the Genos Corporation

Marty Lafferty, CEO, DCIA

Peter Scott, VP, Emerging Media, Turner Sports

Kevin Yam, Director, Mobile and Interactive Products, National Geographic

Sean Glass, Partner, Novak Biddle Venture Partners

Daniel Katz, Director of Product Management, Bunchball

Jay Baage, VP of Content & Bus. Dev., Digital Media Wire

Ronald London, Of Counsel, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Daniel Sepulveda, Senior Advisor, Office of Senator John Kerry

Jules Polonetsky, Director & Co-Chair, Future of Privacy Forum / Former Chief Privacy Officer, AOL

Elizabeth Frazee, Co-Founder, TwinLogic Strategies LLP / Former VP, Public Policy, AOL TimeWarner

Jon Potter, Principal, RPG Strategies

John McCaw, CRO, Yidio

Chad Lucien, Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Hillcrest Labs

Event sponsors and media partners include: Comcast Spotlight, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, Bunchball, Badgeville, Starlight Runner Entertainment, The Recording Academy, Technology Marketing Alliance, AAPC, CEA, Mary-Margaret Networks, Fairfax County, Business Alliance, EMF, ProductionHUB, Mashable, AFTRA, BoogarLists, WITI, Eventful, UCLA Anderson, Fusicology, PRWeb and Parks Associates.

For complete agenda, registration, press pass and event details please visit: http://www.digitalmediaconference.com/east/

Other prominent Digital Media Wire events include LA Games Conference, NY Games Conference, Future of Television Forum, Digital Music Forum East & West, Digital Media Insider @ CES and Digital Media Conference East and West.

###

About Digital Media Wire, Inc:

Digital Media Wire is an events, news, and publishing company serving the digital entertainment & media industry since May 2000. Digital Media Wire produces executive forums featuring leading executives in digital media and entertainment. Digital Media Wire also publishes an authoritative daily email newsletter and industry news portal. For more information, please visit: http://www.dmwmedia.com.

Conference media contact:

Duan Li

Digital Media Wire, Inc.

duan@digitalmediawire.com

310-855-0033 X707

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/6/prweb8539681.htm

UTStarcom Launches End-to-End Internet TV Solution and Wins First Commercial Contract to Establish Internet TV Platform.

BEIJING, May 18, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- UTStarcom, Inc. ("UTStarcom" or "the Company") (Nasdaq: UTSI), a leading provider of interactive, IP-based network solutions in iDTV, IPTV, Internet TV and Broadband for cable and telecom operators, announced today that it has launched its end-to-end Internet TV solution, and also won its first commercial contract to build up an Internet TV platform in Northern China.

The new end-to-end Internet TV solution is derived from UTStarcom's core RollingStream technology system. The Company's Internet TV solution, based on cloud computing technology, has an open system structure, reliable service and flexibility to expand for large scale deployments in the future. The innovative technology of the solution can enable the customer to easily operate, manage and control the system and subscriber information. "We believe this is the best time for us to launch our Internet TV solution which will hopefully help us capture the great growth opportunity of the Internet TV market," said Jack Lu, President and CEO of UTStarcom.

The Company also won its first commercial contract to build a new Internet TV platform for a local cable operator in Northern China.

Pursuant to the contract, UTStarcom will help to build a comprehensive Internet TV operational system which includes a broadcasting control platform, content distribution network and terminal. The Internet TV platform UTStarcom is building will provide a service where subscribers can access Internet, multimedia and telecommunications, as well as interactive digital TV, video-on-demand, and many other services under one subscription. This platform will help UTStarcom's cable operator clients to further increase their revenue opportunities through an enhanced subscriber experience. Users will be able to receive rich and clear voice and data information, as well as experience high-quality video services simultaneously. This new solution could also be applied to the Internet TV platform, which is targeted to launch later this year through UTStarcom's majority-owned subsidiary, iTV Media Inc.

"We are also delighted to win our first commercial contract in the Internet TV market. This proves that our corporate strategy is in line with the development of the industry," said Mr. Lu. "This victory demonstrates the competitive advantage of our Rolling Stream system, supporting our position in China as a leading provider of interactive, IP-based network solutions in iDTV, IPTV, and Internet TV."

About UTStarcom, Inc.

UTStarcom is a leading provider of interactive, IP-based network solutions in iDTV, IPTV, Internet TV and Broadband for cable and telecom operators. The Company sells its solutions to operators in both emerging and established telecommunications and cable markets around the world. UTStarcom enables its customers to rapidly deploy revenue-generating access services using their existing infrastructure, while providing a migration path to cost-efficient, end-to-end IP networks.

Founded in 1991, listed on the NASDAQ in 2000, the Company has its operational headquarters in Beijing, China and research and development operations in China and India. For more information about UTStarcom, visit the Company's Web site at http://www.utstar.com .

Forward-Looking Statements

This release includes forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the future market of Internet TV, UTStarcom's ability to compete in the interactive, IP-based network solutions market and serve its customers in the future, the increase in revenue opportunities for UTStarcom's cable operator clients, and the anticipated launch of the new Internet TV solution. These statements are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. These risks include the failure to deploy the products in the anticipated timeframe; risks associated with delays in product development or customer acceptance; anticipated number of subscribers and traffic; economic issues in the identified geographic markets, and changes in government regulation and licensing requirements, as well as risk factors identified in its latest Annual Report on Form 10-K, as amended, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based upon information available to the Company as of the date of this release, which may change, and we assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement.

SOURCE UTStarcom, Inc.

CFPB, DATA SAFETY, NET NEUTRALITY SLATED.

Arlington, VA -- The following information was released by the National Association of Federal Credit Unions:

Bills supported by NAFCU to make revisions to the structure and authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are slated for mark-up Wednesday by the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit.

Three bills are set to be addressed in Wednesday's mark-up. H.R. 1121 would replace the CFPB director position with a five-member, bipartisan commission. H.R. 1315 would allow the Financial Stability Oversight Council to veto CFPB rules affecting financial institution safety and soundness on a simple-majority vote. A third bill, yet to be numbered at press time, would postpone the transfer of regulatory authority to the CFPB until a director is confirmed.

NAFCU testified in favor of all three proposals in a hearing last month before the subcommittee. It is continuing to press also for an increase to $50 billion in the asset-size threshold for institutions subject to direct CFPB examination and enforcement authority. Currently, that threshold is set at $10 billion, not indexed for inflation.

In other activities this week:

Today, the Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing on nominations to fill posts at Treasury and the Council of Economic Advisers. The House Financial Services capital markets subcommittee will also mark up a number of bills that would, among other things, repeal a compensation reporting requirement under the Dodd-Frank Act for securities dealers.

On Wednesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee's commerce, trade and consumer protection subcommittee will hold a hearing on threats to the safety of consumer data. (NAFCU is among those concerned about the impact on data security of the debit interchange fee-cap rule. See this recent American Banker story; login required.)

On Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on intellectual property, competition and the Internet holds a hearing Thursday on "net neutrality." The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing Thursday on the budget for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Regarding net neutrality, the House last month approved H. J. Res. 37, which would rescind a Federal Communications Commission rule requiring fairness in the provision of Internet access. The measure is unlikely to win Senate passage.

NAFCU supports of the concept of net neutrality. The FCC rule, approved in December, is aimed at preventing Internet access providers from blocking access to or making it more difficult to get certain sites, or limiting bandwidth available to specific classes of users.

Research and Markets: Direct Selling - China.

M2 PRESSWIRE-April 12, 2011-: Research and Markets: Direct Selling - China(C)1994-2011 M2 COMMUNICATIONS

RDATE:12042011

Dublin - Research and Markets

(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/d58226/direct_selling_c) has announced the addition of the "Direct Selling - China" report to their offering.

Direct selling was considered to be one of the most important retailing channels in China during 2010. This is because direct selling is a very personal retailing channel offers consumers a better understand of the benefits of the products on offer. Asian consumers, including the Chinese, tend to focus on personal relationships more than Western consumers, and they therefore have a greater affinity for direct sales than in many other countries. This has led to value sales increasing in direct...

The Direct Selling in China report offers insight into key trends and developments driving the industry. The report examines all retail channels to provide sector insight. Channels include hypermarkets, supermarkets, discounters, convenience stores, mixed retailers, health and beauty retailers, clothing and footwear retailers, furniture and furnishing stores, DIY and hardware stores, durable goods retailers, leisure and personal goods retailers. There are profiles of leading retailers, with analysis of their performance and the challenges they face. There is also analysis of non-store retailing: vending; homeshopping; internet retailing; direct selling, as available.

Data coverage: market sizes (historic and forecasts), company shares, brand shares and distribution data.

Why buy this report?

- Get a detailed picture of the Direct Selling market;

- Pinpoint growth sectors and identify factors driving change;

- Understand the competitive environment, the market's major players and leading brands;

- Use five-year forecasts to assess how the market is predicted to develop.

Key Topics Covered:

Direct Selling in China

Euromonitor International

January 2011

List of Contents and Tables

Executive Summary

Strong Growth in Retailing Due To Economic Recovery in 2010

Increasing Number of Retailers Use Internet Retailing To Reach Consumers

Non-grocery Retailers Outperform Grocery Retailers

Chained Retailers Continue To Consolidate Retailing Landscape

Healthy Growth Set To Be Maintained in A Positive Economic Environment

Key Trends and Developments

Robust Growth of China's Economy Stimulated the Retailing Industry

Internet Retailing Witnesses Dynamic Growth

Government Policies Favourable Towards Retailing

Development of Private Label Still at the Initial Stage

Retailing Becomes Increasingly Consolidated

Low Tier Cities Became the New Battlefield for Retailers

Market Indicators

Tables

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Source: Euromonitor International

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FALL AGRITOURISM ATTRACTIONS PROVIDE OUTING OPPORTUNITY BEFORE WINTER WEATHER MOVES IN.

CHARLESTON, WV -- The following information was released by the West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA):

Although school is back in session, fall is prime time for outdoor activities. Those with an itch to get out of the house should check out one of the more than 250 agritourism attractions that can be found throughout the Mountain State.

A detailed listing is available at www.visitwvfarms.com. The directory is indexed by region to help travelers plan their trips.

Besides providing family-friendly fun, a West Virginia agritourism vacation benefits the state's economy and helps keep farmers on the farm, according to Commissioner of Agriculture Gus R. Douglass.

"Agritourism provides alternative income options for West Virginia farmers. With the highest percentage of family farms in the nation, West Virginia families have the potential to lead the nation in this niche," said Commissioner Douglass. "Visitors to West Virginia - as well as natives - are attracted to our state's rural heritage, unique cuisine and world-renowned hospitality."

"Nationally, more than 52,000 farms are engaged in agritourism activities," said WVDA Marketing Specialist Cindy Martel. "Surveys suggest that more than 75 percent of travelers use the internet to find and book activities. The combination of a print publication and internet resource will provide the traveling public with up-to-date information about our state's superb attractions."

The state's agritourism initiative is funded, in part, through grants and support from the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Federal State Market Improvement Program and the West Virginia Division of Tourism's Matching Grant program..

The West Virginia Department of Agriculture protects plant, animal and human health through a variety of scientific, regulatory and consumer protection programs, as mandated by state law. The Commissioner of Agriculture is one of six statewide elected officials in West Virginia. Currently, Commissioner Gus R. Douglass is the longest-serving agriculture commissioner in the nation. For more information, visit www.wvagriculture.org.

"The Basis of All Wealth is Agriculture."

SmartCard Marketing Systems Inc (SMKG:Pinksheets) Mobile Merchant services program.

M2 PRESSWIRE-11 April 2008-SmartCard Marketing Systems Inc: SmartCard Marketing Systems Inc (SMKG:Pinksheets) Mobile Merchant services program(C)1994-2008 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

RDATE:10042008

SmartCard Marketing Systems Inc (SMKG:Pinksheets) Mobile Merchant services program for businesses and sales forces "on the go" with instant signup unlike any other financial institution offering.

San Antonio, TX -- As Stated by SmartCard Marketing Systems Inc. (SMKG:PINKSHEETS) "Velocitymoney.com is the most unique merchant service for "on the go" businesses and sales people. Our instant service signup and Pin debit encrypted solution over the internet creates the easiest and most affordable solution for under $35.00.

We are entering a market segment presently dominated by Processors such as Moneris, Chase Paymentech, Beanstream, Bank of America and many more. This is a multi-billion dollar segment yearly in the USA alone and much more significant in Europe of which SmartCard Marketing with its proprietary platform and solutions can create opportunity to gain market share with a very aggressive strategy to become a dominant player.

What creates such an impressive solution is the unique e-wallet setup with Pin debit services that are mobile and can be used worldwide with instant confirmation and the added security of card present transaction that no other method offers. This is becoming the clear choice of merchants, businesses and sales forces that Velocitymoney.com is winning over.

Velocitymoney.com generates its revenues from sales of terminals, prepaid product and transactions processed from its clients with the addition of revenues generated from transfer requests between merchants and their customers.

We seek safe harbor.

CONTACT: Max Barone, CEO, Smart Card Marketing Systems IncTel: +1 866 774 2555e-mail: maxbarone@gosmartcard.comWWW: http://www.gosmartcard.com

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Online ad spend to exceed #2bn as figures jump 40%.(online advertising expenditure)(Brief article)

Online advertising should break the #2bn barrier in 2006, according to Guy Phillipson, chief executive of the Internet Advertising Bureau UK, taking it well ahead of national press and closing the gap on TV.

Phillipson says: "We can see online overtaking TV in terms of share of total spend before the end of the decade."

UK marketers spent #917m on online advertising in the first half of 2006, an increase of 40% over the previous year. That equates to a 10.5% share of total UK ad spend. By comparison, TV spend fell by 1.3% to #1.98bn to take a 23% market share. National newspaper advertising took 11.4%.

The figures come from the latest bi-annual survey of online ad spend, conducted by the IAB, PricewaterhouseCoopers and the World Advertising Research Centre (WARC).

But the 40% growth recorded in the first half of 2006 suggests that the rush into online may be slowing down, albeit gradually - six months ago, the annual growth rate was 66%.

Phillipson says: "The rate of growth may be down, but from a higher base - we've grown at more than 60% for three years running."

The internet is now double the size of outdoor (5.1%), double the size of consumer magazines (4.6%) and three times the size of radio advertising (3.4%).

The only online advertising medium to record a fall in value was the so- called interruptive format - including "pop up" ads, which have attracted much consumer criticism - which declined by 9% to #6.8m, just 0.7% of all online advertising expenditure.

According to figures from YouGov, UK consumers spend an average of 23 hours a week online, a major driver in the switch of advertising budgets to the internet.

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