The Woman Who Earns ₩1 Billion Teaching English

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/08/28/2009082800352.html

Yoo Soo-youn has risen from nothing to become a popular English teacher of a string of crammers preparing students for English proficiency tests and earn a yearly income of about W1 billion from her crammers, outside lectures and media appearance. Now, she has published a book in which she tells her story and explains her belief that by giving her best every day, she overcame her lack of degrees from a top-notch university, wealthy family background, or, as she believes, good looks.

Yoo graduated from Kangnam University in 1995 with a BA in business and received a master's degree in business at Aston University in England. Afterwards, she returned to Korea and began teaching preparation for the TOEIC English proficiency test, which is still widely taken in Korea. "I leave home around six-thirty in the morning and give TOEIC lectures from 7 a.m to 2 p.m. I teach about 1,000 people, 200 in each of the five classes," she says. "After the lectures, I head over to the Yoo soo-youn English Center, which I established, around 2.30 p.m. When I'm done there, I head back to my classes and lecture from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. I usually handle three classes of 200 people. My day officially ends when I get home around 11 p.m. I usually go to sleep at 1.30 a.m. in the morning after I check online posts and comments related to my lectures. I haven't slept for more than five hours a day since I became an adult."

Constantly juggling a busy schedule, Yoo has no time to put on makeup. "I always give lectures without wearing any. Some students are confused when they see me for the first time, since I look so different from the pictures. That's why I always tell them on the first day, 'Anyone seen my headshot in the advertising materials?When you start to think I'm pretty without makeup, you'll score over 950 on the TOEIC.'"

She also gets many middle school and high school English teachers in her classes. "Because the competition in the education sector is so fierce, they constantly need to develop new teaching methods over a short period of time. That's why they come here to learn from my lecturing skills."

Yoo believes the only way to learn English is through pure effort. "To improve my English speaking skills, I would decide on a subject and talk about it with my friends only in English," she said. "To improve my listening skills, I picked out a movie and watched it over and over for more than two months. Sometimes, I would end up confusing the movie with reality."

She declined to speculate about the future. "I often say 'I do not have a dream,' because I want to be faithful to what is happening in the present," she said. "Opportunities don't come knocking on your door one day out of the blue. But only people who constantly try to better themselves despite their failures can discover them by chance."

Tomato-armed revelers turn Spanish town red

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/08/26/tomatina.festival/index.html#cnnSTCText

(CNN) -- Up to 50,000 revelers descended on the small Spanish town of Bunol near Valencia Wednesday, collectively throwing, squishing, and pummeling 100 metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes in what has grown to be the world's biggest annual food fight.

A participant at the annual Tomatina festival in Spain dives for cover amidst an intense volley of over-ripe tomatoes

more photos »

The Tomatina festival began in 1945, but there is no official explanation of how it started.

Theories of its origins range from a practical joke on a bad musician to the anarchic aftermath of a lorry spillage to a local food fight among friends.

Nowadays all the action takes place in the space of one hour on the last Wednesday of every August.

The beginning of the fight is signaled by the firing of water cannons. Then it's every man for himself and the only rule is that tomatoes must be squished in the hand before thrown to avoid excessive injuries.

Top Tomato Facts

• 60 million tons of tomatoes are produced each year, making it the world's favorite fruit.
• Americans obtain more of their vitamins from tomatoes than from any other fruit or vegetable.
• There are at least 10,000 varieties of tomatoes
• Tomatoes contain Lycopene, a carotenoid (plant pigment) that protects against cancer.
• The word tomato derives from a word in the Nahuatl language (indigenous to central Mexico), "tomatl"
• When they first appeared in English print in the early seventeenth century, tomatoes were referred to as "love apples."

North Korea Releases Fishermen

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/world/asia/30korea.html?_r=1&ref=asia

By CHOE SANG-HUN

Published: August 29, 2009

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Saturday released four South Korean fishermen it had held for a month, in another move to reach out to its rivals after months of bellicosity.

The North returned the four-man crew and its 29-ton fishing vessel at the sea border off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast. The South Korean boat was seized on July 30 after it strayed into North Korean waters when its satellite navigation system malfunctioned.

The North’s recent barrage of conciliatory gestures has been surprising, even to South Korean officials familiar with the fickle pattern in North Korea’s diplomacy. Analysts say the overtures indicate that the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, has regained confidence about his health and grip on power. He was reported to have had a stroke last August.

“North Korea has suddenly become a nice guy, reaching across the table to grab South Korea’s hand,” said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior fellow at the Sejong Institute near Seoul. “South Korea fears it might be dragged into a relationship it doesn’t want. So it’s balking, pushing back its chair from the table.”

North Korea’s charm offensive began when former President Bill Clinton visited Pyongyang, the North’s capital, on Aug. 4 to secure the release of two American journalists held there on charges of illegal entry. Mr. Clinton’s visit, billed in North Korea as a diplomatic coup for the government, provided Mr. Kim with the momentum to shift his tone, analysts said.

Since then, North Korea has released a South Korean worker held for five months on charges of denouncing Communist rule, lifted restrictions on border traffic and promised to resume South Korean tours to scenic spots in the North.

It also sent a high-level delegation to the funeral of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. When President Lee Myung-bak balked at meeting the group, the delegates extended their stay to win an audience with him and relay Kim Jong-il’s wish to improve ties. A year ago, the North called Mr. Lee a “traitor” and a “pro-U.S. sycophant.”

On Friday, the two Koreas agreed to resume reunions of elderly Koreans separated by the Korean War.

The mood is worlds apart from that of only three months ago. In April, the North launched a long-range rocket, quit six-nation nuclear disarmament talks, expelled nuclear monitors and restarted a plutonium plant. In May, it tested its second nuclear device.

“The change in Pyongyang’s approach means that Kim Jong-il has now become confident about his health,” said Kim Yong-hyun, an analyst at Dongguk University in Seoul.

His hard-line military had grown bolder as uncertainty deepened about the North Korean leader’s health, heightening tensions with the outside world. Analysts said that helped Mr. Kim tighten his grip at home while he reportedly began grooming Kim Jong-un, the youngest of his three sons, as his heir.

Mr. Kim looked gaunt after the stroke. But by meeting Mr. Clinton and later Hyun Jeong-eun, the chairwoman of the South’s Hyundai conglomerate, in Pyongyang, and increasing his visits to factories and military units by 50 percent in the first half of this year, Mr. Kim showed he was healthy enough to remain in charge.

“Kim Jong-il got the power elite to support his son,” said Mr. Cheong, the analyst at the Sejong Institute. Now he must get his people to accept the son. To do that, he needs food for the hungry people and breakthroughs in external relations that can be attributed to his son.”

But the North’s “tactical appeasing gestures” disguise its “strategic goal” of both improving ties with the United States, South Korea and other neighbors and being accepted as a nuclear power, according to Park Hyong-joong, an analyst at the government-run Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.

Washington has been mustering international support for United Nations sanctions intended to strangle the North’s arms trade, which is an important source of hard currency for the North’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

United States and South Korean officials fear the North may be using its current overtures to undermine international consensus for the need to enforce sanctions. They say they are determined to break the old pattern of rewarding the North’s on-again, off-again nuclear strategy with aid and diplomatic incentives.

South Korea says it will not repeat the old format of dialogue with the North that had provided aid but failed to dismantle the North’s nuclear program. On Thursday, the State Department said it had no immediate plan to send an envoy to North Korea. Such a trip would allow North Korea to open the bilateral discussions it has long sought while continuing to shun six-nation talks, a forum Washington prefers.

Analysts say they expect the North to continue its recent tack. Mr. Kim has promised his people that he will rebuild the economy by 2012. That achievement would make the dynastic transfer of power to his son more popular domestically, but require better ties with the outside world.

“North Korea doesn’t have much time,” said Kim Yong-hyun, the analyst at Dongguk University.

Madonna Booed In Bucharest For Defending Gypsies

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/27/madonna-booed-in-buchares_n_270176.html

BUCHAREST, Romania — At first, fans politely applauded the Roma performers sharing a stage with Madonna. Then the pop star condemned widespread discrimination against Roma, or Gypsies – and the cheers gave way to jeers.
The sharp mood change that swept the crowd of 60,000, who had packed a park for Wednesday night's concert, underscores how prejudice against Gypsies remains deeply entrenched across Eastern Europe.
Despite long-standing efforts to stamp out rampant bias, human rights advocates say Roma probably suffer more humiliation and endure more discrimination than any other people group on the continent.
Sometimes, it can be deadly: In neighboring Hungary, six Roma have been killed and several wounded in a recent series of apparently racially motivated attacks targeting small countryside villages predominantly settled by Gypsies.
"There is generally widespread resentment against Gypsies in Eastern Europe. They have historically been the underdog," Radu Motoc, an official with the Soros Foundation Romania, said Thursday.
Roma, or Gypsies, are a nomadic ethnic group believed to have their roots in the Indian subcontinent. They live mostly in southern and eastern Europe, but hundreds of thousands have migrated west over the past few decades in search of jobs and better living conditions.
Romania has the largest number of Roma in the region. Some say the population could be as high as 2 million, although official data put it at 500,000.
Until the 19th century, Romanian Gypsies were slaves, and they've gotten a mixed response ever since: While discrimination is widespread, many East Europeans are enthusiastic about Gypsy music and dance, which they embrace as part of the region's cultural heritage.
That explains why the Roma musicians and a dancer who had briefly joined Madonna onstage got enthusiastic applause. And it also may explain why some in the crowd turned on Madonna when she paused during the two-hour show – a stop on her worldwide "Sticky and Sweet" tour – to touch on their plight.
"It has been brought to my attention ... that there is a lot of discrimination against Romanies and Gypsies in general in Eastern Europe," she said. "It made me feel very sad."
Thousands booed and jeered her.
A few cheered when she added: "We don't believe in discrimination ... we believe in freedom and equal rights for everyone." But she got more boos when she mentioned discrimination against homosexuals and others.
"I jeered her because it seemed false what she was telling us. What business does she have telling us these things?" said Ionut Dinu, 23.
Madonna did not react and carried on with her concert, held near the hulking palace of the late communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
Her publicist, Liz Rosenberg, said Madonna and other had told her there were cheers as well as jeers.
"Madonna has been touring with a phenomenal troupe of Roma musicians who made her aware of the discrimination toward them in several countries so she felt compelled to make a brief statement," Rosenberg said in an e-mail. "She will not be issuing a further statement."
One Roma musician said the attitude toward Gypsies is contradictory.
"Romanians watch Gypsy soap operas, they like Gypsy music and go to Gypsy concerts," said Damian Draghici, a Grammy Award-winner who has performed with James Brown and Joe Cocker.
"But there has been a wave of aggression against Roma people in Italy, Hungary and Romania, which shows me something is not OK," he told the AP in an interview. "The politicians have to do something about it. People have to be educated not to be prejudiced. All people are equal, and that is the message politicians must give."
Nearly one in two of Europe's estimated 12 million Roma claimed to have suffered an act of discrimination over the past 12 months, according to a recent report by the Vienna-based EU Fundamental Rights Agency. The group says Roma face "overt discrimination" in housing, health care and education.
Many do not have official identification, which means they cannot get social benefits, are undereducated and struggle to find decent jobs.
Roma children are more likely to drop out of school than their peers from other ethnic groups. Many Romanians label Gypsies as thieves, and many are outraged by those who beg or commit petty crimes in Western Europe, believing they spoil Romania's image abroad.
In May 2007, Romanian President Traian Basescu was heard to call a Romanian journalist a "stinky Gypsy" during a conversation with his wife. Romania's anti-discrimination board criticized Basescu, who later apologized.
Human rights activists say the attacks in Hungary, which began in July 2008, may be tied to that country's economic crisis and the rising popularity of far-right vigilantes angered by a rash of petty thefts and other so-called "Gypsy crime." Last week, police arrested four suspects in a nightclub in the eastern city of Debrecen.
Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia also have been criticized for widespread bias against Roma.
Madonna's outrage touched a nerve in Romania, but it seems doubtful it will change anything, said the Soros Foundation's Motoc.
"Madonna is a pop star. She is not an expert on interethnic relations," he said.

Apple: Snow Leopard Goes On Sale Friday

http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2009/08/24/apple-snow-leopard-goes-on-sale-friday/

Apple (AAPL) announced this morning that Snow Leopard, the new version of Mac OSX, will go on sale Friday at Apple stores and authorized resellers. The online store is now taking pre-orders. The software will be available as an upgrade for OSX Leopard users for $29; a family pack for up to five users will be $49. Snow Leopard Server goes on sale the same day for $499.

Apple says the new software “delivers a wide range of enhancements, next-generation technologies, out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange Server, and new accessibility features.”

Customers who bought Macs since June 8 can get an upgrade for just a $9.95 shipping and handling fee.

3,900 stimulus checks went to prison inmates

http://search.finance.yahoo.com/news/Stimulus-checks-not-boosting-apf-2542694170.html?x=0&.v=2

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The federal government sent about 3,900 economic stimulus payments of $250 each this spring to people who were in no position to use the money to help stimulate the economy: prison inmates.

The checks were part of the massive economic recovery package approved by Congress and President Barack Obama in February. About 52 million Social Security recipients, railroad retirees and those receiving Supplemental Security Income were eligible for the one-time checks.

Prison inmates are generally ineligible for federal benefits. However, 2,200 of the inmates who received checks got to keep them because, under the law, they were eligible, said Mark Lassiter, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration. They were eligible because they weren't incarcerated in any one of the three months before the recovery package was enacted.

"The law specified that any beneficiary eligible for a Social Security benefit during one of those months was eligible for the recovery payment," Lassiter said.

The other 1,700 checks? That was a mistake.

Checks were sent to those inmates because government records didn't accurately show they were in prison, Lassiter said. He said most of those checks were returned by the prisons.

"We are currently reviewing each of those cases to determine whether or not the recovery payment was due," Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue said in a statement issued Wednesday evening. "Where we determine payment was not due, we will take aggressive action to recover each of these erroneous payments."

The Boston Herald first reported that the checks were sent to inmates.

The inspector general for the Social Security Administration is performing an audit to make sure no checks went to ineligible recipients, spokesman George E. Penn said.

The audit, which had already been planned, will examine whether checks incorrectly went to inmates, dead people, fugitive felons or people living outside the U.S., Penn said.

The $787 billion economic recovery package included $2 million for the inspector general to oversee the provisions handled by the Social Security Administration. The audit is part of those efforts, Penn said. There is no timetable for its conclusion.

The federal government processed $13 billion in stimulus payments. About $425,000 was incorrectly sent to inmates.

Kennedy's passing like a death in family

http://www.masslive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/08/kennedys_passing_like_a_death.html

For many Americans the passing of Edward M. Kennedy, the liberal lion of the U.S. Senate, represents the end of an era in U.S. politics - but here in Massachusetts it seems more like a death in the family. When the nation woke Wednesday morning to learn that Kennedy had lost his yearlong battle with brain cancer at the age of 77 at his home in Hyannis Port, the sense of loss was most palpable here in the Bay State where he was not only the standard-bearer of a political dynasty, but a familiar and beloved figure. During his 47 years office, Kennedy served the commonwealth with steadfastness in the face of triumph and tragedy. He looked out for our interests in the nation's capital and he had the skill and political clout to win support across the Senate aisle. He was our advocate, our friend and our neighbor.
He was no stranger to Springfield and Western Massachusetts where he was a frequent visitor to city and town halls, senior centers and colleges and universities. Every federally funded project in the Pioneer Valley - and there are hundreds - bear his imprint. And he connected with people. "He loved the common person," said West Springfield resident Donald J. Dowd, a close campaign aide of Kennedy's. When Kennedy entered the Senate in 1963, he was little more than a political freshman filling the seat vacated by his brother, President John F. Kennedy. His experiences were limited to a year as an assistant district attorney in Suffolk County and working on his brother's presidential campaign.
But over the years he achieved a status that his senator brothers John and Robert F. Kennedy never attained. He became a master senator, learning the ins and outs of bill writing, committee meetings and compromise. His humor, compassion and graciousness earned him respect and love from Democrats and Republicans alike. "Of all the Kennedys," the late Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield once said, "the senator is the only one who was and is a real Senate man." But his schooling was hard, and the forces that made him the "Senate man" were his own weaknesses and indiscretions. Chief among them was the Chappaquiddick incident in July 1969 when he drove a car off a bridge into a tidal pool. Mary Jo Kopechne, a former campaign aide to Robert F. Kennedy, drowned in the accident that Kennedy did not report promptly. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received two months probation. Not long afterwards, Kennedy lost the Senate majority whip's post to West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, but the loss gave him the opportunity to concentrate on issues such as health care and civil rights that turned him into effective senator. When he challenged Jimmy Carter in 1980 for the Democratic presidential nomination, Chappaquiddick returned to haunt him as voters questioned whether Kennedy had the mental and moral toughness to be president. He lost to Carter badly and returned to the Senate to work on the issues important to him. "The pursuit of the presidency is not my life - public service is," he said. After his diagnosis, Kennedy returned to his Cape Cod home where he gathered strength for a last hurrah that included a triumphant speech at the Democratic convention, attendance at President Barack Obama's inauguration and a critical vote in support of the new president's financial overhaul plan. Kennedy called health care for all Americans "the cause of my life." As the debate on this issue heats up in Washington, the loss of his voice will be keenly felt. The nation will remember Kennedy - the last surviving brother of the Massachusetts-bred political dynasty - as a passionate champion for the downtrodden and the man who carried the family torch with a passion and intensity that his brothers would not live to realize. We will also remember him as our native son and brother. A statement issued by the Kennedy family sums up what many are feeling today: "We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light of our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever . . . He always believed that our best days were still ahead, but it's hard to imagine any of them without him." We can't imagine life in Massachusetts without him either.

Naro Satellite Destroyed

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2009/08/133_50747.html

GOHEUNG, South Jeolla Province ― Engineers and officials say that the cone of the Korean rocket that contained the satellite opened later than it was supposed to, causing the satellite to miss the designated orbit.

However, they say the exact cause can't be determined until further investigations are carried out.

The initial conclusion acquitted the Russians, the provider of the first-stage rocket and related technologies, of any responsibility in the failed deployment.

Officials are trying to confirm whether an object which fell near Darwin, Australia, was debris from the upper stage of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle 1 rocket, which carried the satellite and was intended to push it into proper position.

In a video session disclosed only to a limited number of reporters Wednesday, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), the country's space agency, revealed footage taken from two built-in cameras planted on the KSLV-1 second stage.

The images show that the pair of "nose fairings," a cone which covers and protects the satellite, did not separate properly, with one of the fairings remaining attached 216 seconds after the 5 p.m. launch.

The second fairing fell off only 540 seconds after the launch, which was when the satellite was programmed to separate itself from the second-stage of the rocket.

The fairings weighed 300 kilograms each, compared to the 100-kilogram satellite. The extra 300 kilograms was enough to prevent the second-stage of the rocket from achieving the desired speed, causing the satellite to miss its planned position, KARI officials said.

Data indicates that the second-stage and satellite crashed back to Earth, with most of the debris likely to have burned up in the atmosphere.

However, heat-resistant materials made from carbon-carbon composites, which were used to protect the nozzle of the second-stage rocket engine, would have survived the crash, KARI officials said. This may explain the space junk that landed near Darwin.

A team of engineers from KARI and Russia's Khrunichev State Space Science and Production Center, which provided technology for the Korean rocket project, has yet to confirm what caused the rocket malfunction.

KARI refused to release the images publically, citing confidentially issues.

"The second-stage tumbled back to Earth, and the satellite soon followed, as the remaining fairing was heavy enough to prevent the rocket from achieving desired speed and pushing the satellite to a speed faster than 8 kilometers per second that was required for the spacecraft to remain in orbit," Park Jeong-joo, who heads KARI's KSLV systems unit, said.

"The second fairing stayed until the satellite separated from the second stage. The satellite likely knocked off the fairing in the process," he said.

KARI officials are reluctant to get deep into a guessing game over what prevented the fairings from separating properly, but Tahk Min-jae, a KAIST rocket scientist who worked as an advisor for the KSLV-1 project, says the problem is likely related to the set of explosives used to break the fairings from the rocket.

The KSLV-1 second-stage uses an "explosive bolt" technique whereby a dozen or more bolts stitching the fairings with the rocket are ignited and popped, he said.

There were eight bolts circled around the bottom of the fairings, the part that is attached to the rocket, Tahk said. Four other bolts, probably more, are positioned to cut the fairings in half.

He pointed out that a misfire on just one or two of the explosive bolts would be enough to keep the fairing attached to the rocket, disrupting the whole plan.

The explosive bolts were produced by Hanwha, a Korean conglomerate involved in explosives among many other business areas, based on KARI design.

"The separation of fairings account for nearly 10 percent of failed space missions. There could be a lot of problems, including turbulence or electricity malfunction, but I think that this is likely to be a case of the explosives misfiring," Tahk said.

The 13.6-billion-won (about $10.8 million) satellite, jointly developed by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), was expected to have a space life of two years and be used to observe the Earth's radiant energy and satellite orbits.

The satellite was programmed to send back signals to a Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) research center in Daejeon starting early Wednesday. It did not send any signal.

Lee Sang-mok, who heads the science and technology policy department at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, said the government will cooperate with local authorities to identify the debris found in Darwin, after being first informed by the Korean embassy in Australia late Tuesday.

U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy dies at 77

this story is 3 pages long. i will not post the entire thing but i hope that people will read it.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32491712/

Liberal lion loses yearlong battle with brain cancer at Massachusetts home

BOSTON - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the liberal lion of the Senate and haunted bearer of the Camelot torch after two of his brothers fell to assassins' bullets, has died at his home in Hyannis Port after battling a brain tumor. He was 77.
In nearly 50 years in the Senate, Kennedy served alongside 10 presidents — his brother John Fitzgerald Kennedy among them — compiling an impressive list of legislative achievements on health care, civil rights, education, immigration and more. ...

His family announced his death in a brief statement released early Wednesday.
"We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever," the statement said. "We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all." ...

A barrel-chested figure with a swath of white hair, a booming voice and a thick, widely imitated Boston accent, he coupled fist-pumping floor speeches with his well-honed Irish charm and formidable negotiating skills. He was both a passionate liberal and a clear-eyed pragmatist, unafraid to reach across the aisle to get things done.
Over the decades, he managed to put his imprint on every major piece of social legislation to clear the Congress. In fact, for all his insecurities, he ended up perhaps the most influential liberal voice of his time. ...

US ranks 28th in Internet connection speed

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/afp/20090825/tc_afp/ustelecombroadbanditinternet_20090825230334
WASHINGTON (AFP) -
The United States ranks 28th in the world in average Internet connection speed and is not making significant progress in building a faster network, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The report by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) said the average download speed in South Korea is 20.4 megabits per second (mbps) -- four times faster than the US average of 5.1 mbps.

Japan trails South Korea with an average of 15.8 mbps followed by Sweden at 12.8 mbps and the Netherlands at 11.0 mbps, the report said.

It said tests conducted by speedmatters.org found the average US download speed had improved by only nine-tenths of a megabit per second between 2008 and 2009 -- from 4.2 mbps to 5.1 mbps.

"The US has not made significant improvement in the speeds at which residents connect to the Internet," the report said. "Our nation continues to fall far behind other countries."

"People in Japan can upload a high-definition video in 12 minutes, compared to a grueling 2.5 hours at the US average upload speed," the report said.

It said 18 percent of those who took a US speed test recorded download speeds that were slower than 768 kilobits per second, which does not even qualify as basic broadband, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

Sixty-four percent connected at up to 10 mbps, 19 percent connected at speeds greater than 10 mbps and two percent exceeded 25 mbps.

The United States was ranked 20th in broadband penetration in a survey of 58 countries released earlier this year by Boston-based Strategy Analytics.
South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, Denmark and Taiwan were the top five countries listed in terms of access to high-speed Internet.

US President Barack Obama has pledged to put broadband in every home and the FCC has embarked on an ambitious project to bring high-speed Internet access to every corner of the United States.

According to the CWA report, the fastest download speeds in the United States are in the northeastern parts of the country while the slowest are in states such as Alaska, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

U.S. Raises Estimate for 10-Year Deficit to $9 Trillion

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/26/business/economy/26deficit.html?hp

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, citing an economic downturn that has been deeper than it had first thought, raised its estimate on Tuesday of the government’s deficit over the next decade to $9 trillion from $7.1 trillion.

Despite the shortfalls, White House officials said they saw no reason to back away from President Obama’s ambitious and costly goal of overhauling the health care system. The new amount includes the cost of the health care overhaul as well as about $600 billion in additional revenue that the administration hopes to raise, two initiatives Congress has yet to approve.

“A lot of people will look at this deficit and say we cannot afford health care reform,” said Peter R. Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget. But Mr. Orszag said the opposite was true: the only way to control spiraling Medicare costs, he said, was to get control of overall health care costs by overhauling the system.

“The size of the fiscal gap is precisely why we must enact fiscally well designed health care reform now,” he said.

Republicans are certain to attack that argument. Indeed, they are already doing so.

White House officials predicted that the budget deficit this year will peak at $1.58 trillion, though they said the 2009 shortfall will be about $261 billion lower than they had predicted in May. The main reason is that officials have decided that they will not need another round of bailout money for the nation’s banks.

In the earlier budget forecast, administration officials had created a “placeholder” of $250 billion to cover possible costs of a additional bank bailouts. They also assumed higher costs for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s expansion of deposit insurance and debt guarantees.

Even so, the administration is projecting that annual deficits will remain above $1 trillion through 2011 and will be bigger than any since World War II, even when measured conservatively as a share of the nation’s economic output.

The government’s total debt would roughly triple by 2019 to $17.5 trillion under the new estimate, almost $2 trillion more than the White House estimated in May. Measured as a share of the nation’s economic output, public debt would hit 76.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2019 — by far the highest percentage in the past half-century — from about 56 percent this fiscal year. This year will be the first time the number has exceeded 50 percent since World War II. The previous estimate was about 67 percent.

The biggest reason for the additional red ink is the administration’s recognition that the recession has been deeper and unemployment has been much higher than White House forecasters assumed in their first budget estimate in May.

The added depth of the downturn is expected to increase payouts for unemployment benefits and other safety-net programs, while reducing tax receipts more than originally expected.

The administration had originally assumed that the economy would shrink 1.2 percent and that unemployment would average about 8.1 percent this year. Instead, the economy is expected to shrink almost 2 percent while unemployment is expected to average 9.3 percent in 2009 and 9.8 percent in 2010.

For the first time, administration officials officially predicted on Tuesday that unemployment would climb above 10 percent by early next year, from 9.4 percent in July.

The costs of the additional unemployment and the slower growth extend beyond the next year or two, not just because the economy will take longer to return to normal but also because the government’s interest expense will be compounding more rapidly.

Mr. Orszag estimated that, by 2019, interest expenses will account for more than 80 percent of the projected deficit of $917 billion.

Without offering any details, the White House budget director said that President Obama will soon unveil plans to reduce long-term deficits tied to soaring costs of Medicare, Social Security and other entitlement programs.

THREE PERSPECTIVES!!!

This Best Friends Blog has opened up to include a new contributor, a Twitter Best Friend if you will. Welcome, Ryan.

N Korea 'invites envoy for talks' - US ENVOY!

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/08/2009825414765890.html

The JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported on Tuesday that Stephen Bosworth, the US special representative on North Korea, had accepted the invitation and would make the trip next month.
But the Yonhap news agency, which also quoted diplomatic sources in Washington, said it was unclear if the Obama administration would accept the offer.
US officials have not commented directly on reports, but if the meeting went ahead it would be the first direct formal contact between North Korean and the Obama administration.
In its report the JoongAng Ilbo quoted a source as saying that Bosworth's team may visit South Korea, China and Japan in early September and then head to Pyongyang where he was likely to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
The itinerary would reinforce Washington's frequently repeated claim that it is willing to hold bilateral talks with Pyongyang but only within the framework of the six-nation dialogue, which groups together the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the US.
The paper also said that Bosworth would offer a previously-announced "comprehensive package of incentives" in return for North Korea's denuclearisation.
Among these, the paper said, the US would give North Korea a "security assurance", promising it would not intervene in Kim's gradual transfer of power to one of his sons.
The reported offer of direct talks is the latest in a series of possibly peacemaking gestures by the North that analysts say may have been prompted by the enforcing of tough UN sanctions on the country.
Pyongyang recently freed a South Korean worker held for more than four months and has agreed to lift restrictions on border crossings.
Family reunions
On Tuesday North Korea said it had agreed to resume talks this week with South Korea on arranging reunions for families separated during the Korean War.
The reunion of families separated during the Korean War began in earnest in 2000 [EPA] The reunion programme, organised by the Red Cross in each country, was almost two years ago as relations between the North and South deteriorated.
But Pyongyang has now accepted Seoul's proposal to hold a three-day preparatory Red Cross meeting from Wednesday at the North's Mount Kumgang resort, officials in Seoul said.
Last week, North Korean media said that Kim Jong-il had agreed that reunions should resume around the Korean Thanksgiving holiday on October 3.
The last such event was held in October 2007.
The family programme - which arranges meetings but not permanent reunions for families divided by the 1950-1953 war – began in earnest after the first inter-Korean summit in 2000 eased tensions between the two neighbours.
But the programme was shelved amid a worsening of relations after the current conservative government took power in South Korean in early 2008.
More than 16,000 Koreans from both sides of the border have been allowed face-to-face reunions while thousands of others have communicated through video links.
But tens of thousands of family members remain separated and in many cases do not even know if loved ones are still alive.

Punters change channel on Jones’ $40 million TV

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-jimlitke-082409&prov=ap&type=lgns

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had 75,000 paying guests and a few dozen freeloaders over to his new house the other night to watch football. Punters for the visiting Tennessee Titans immediately showed their gratitude by using his $40 million TV set for target practice.
“I hit it probably a dozen times in pregame,” veteran kicker Craig Hentrich(notes) said.
“I guess,” he added a moment later, “they should have tested things out before they put that thing in place.”
“That thing” is the 1.2-million pound, four-sided video board hanging from the rafters exactly 90 feet above the field in the new Cowboys Stadium, the centerpiece of Jones’ $1.15-billion shrine to himself.
The big screens along either sideline are 160 feet wide—stretching from one 20-yard line to the other—and 72 feet tall. Throw in the “smaller” screens above the end zones and you’d need almost 5,000 52-inch flat screens to cover the same surface.
So it’s not like Jones can ring up the “Geek Squad” at the local Best Buy and ask them to raise it. Nor would he.
Jones said the league had approved its location, even though his own punter, Mat McBrier, sent at least one kick more than 100 feet high when the Cowboys conducted tests at the Alamodome in San Antonio two years ago. The owner decided 90 feet was plenty, reasoning that most punters angle kicks toward the sidelines rather than straight up. He insisted the Titans punters went out of their way to hit it, both before and during Dallas’ preseason home opener.
“I’m very comfortable that our height on our scoreboard is OK,” he said.
It’s been almost 15 years since Jones’ last serious run-in with his NFL brethren, so maybe he needs a reminder: The problem with building an empire is that sooner or later, you run into someone else’s.
The last time, Jones was upset that Cowboys merchandise accounted for one-quarter of the league’s $3 billion annual licensing sales—divided equally among the teams—and cut his own side deals with Pepsi and Nike. One measure of how peeved his colleagues were at the time was apparent when legal papers for their $300 million damage suit were served on Jones while he was midway through a bowl of clam chowder.
The matter was resolved without any legal bloodletting, and judging by the league’s measured response—“We are reviewing the situation,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in an e-mail Sunday—this one will be, too. But not simply by Jones waving it off.
“It is an issue,” said Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher, who also serves as co-chair of the league’s competition committee, which could order Jones to raise the video board. “Something has to get worked out.”
Fisher was unhappy because he had to throw a challenge flag after backup Titan punter A.J. Trapasso hit the scoreboard with 8:07 left in the third quarter, and the refs missed it.
“Now, it’s not necessarily their responsibility,” Fisher continued. “Once a fair catch signal is given, then there are no eyes on the ball anymore. So they don’t see it. … It can become a problem.”
Even though the video board will have to be raised when U2 plays in Cowboys Stadium on Oct. 12—the band’s stage gimmickry includes something called “The Claw,” which is 164 feet high—Jones insisted he won’t budge when it comes to football.
“You don’t need to move it. You gotta be trying to do it,” he said about punters hitting the TVs. “The rule is very clear. You just kick it over.”
Yet the clock wasn’t reset after Trapasso clanked a punt off the underside in the game; unless the NFL changes the rule, and fast, a team could run plenty of time off the clock simply by banging the ball off the video board as often it likes. And even a team that wasn’t intentionally wasting time could do it, which is one more delay the games don’t need.
“It does not matter where you kick it from, it is just right there in the middle of the field,” Trapasso said. “It’s always something that you’re going to be thinking about.”
Jones is deservedly proud of his new emporium, which opened to rave reviews. Some fans will find $60 pizzas hard to swallow. And those sitting in the last row might not be thrilled that after shelling out $20,000 or more for seat licenses—plus $170 for each game—that the people looking on just over their shoulders paid $30 for standing-room tickets. But in terms of griping, that was about it.
Jones called his opening night for football “an event we will remember for a long time.”
And if he wants to keep it that way, he’ll change his mind in a hurry and move the TV. He should know better than most that in a league built on one-upmanship, the last thing you do is tempt guys with strong legs to see if they can change the channel with their feet.

Reports: NKorea's Kim wants summit with SKorea

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090824/ap_on_re_as/as_koreas_summit


SEOUL, South Korea – North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has sent word that he wants to hold a summit with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in the latest sign of easing tensions between the divided nations, news reports said Monday.
Kim's envoy proposed the summit during a rare meeting Sunday, and Lee told the envoy that he would be open to a summit if it is discuss North Korea's nuclear program, the South's mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo daily reported, citing an unidentified government official.
Another leading newspaper, the JoongAng Ilbo, carried a similar report.
However, the South's presidential Blue House denied the reports, saying that Lee and the North's envoy had general discussions on improving relations between the two sides, but that nothing related to a summit was mentioned.
North Korea has significantly softened its stance toward the South in recent weeks, freeing a South Korean worker held there for more than four months, lifting restrictions on border crossings and agreeing to resume suspended joint projects.
The North's envoy, senior ruling Workers' Party official Kim Ki Nam, visited Seoul from Friday until Sunday, leading a four-member delegation to pay Pyongyang's official respect for late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. The team also included Pyongyang's spy chief, Kim Yang Gon.
They were the first North Korean officials to visit the South since the conservative Lee took office early last year with a pledge to get tough with the communist neighbor and put a stop to unconditional aid. Lee's hard-line stance angered the North, prompting it to suspend reconciliation talks and major joint projects.
The two Koreas are technically in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

England win back Ashes with Oval triumph

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SPORT/08/23/cricket.ashes.england.australia.harmison.hussey.swann.strauss/index.html

THE OVAL, LONDON, England -- England regained the Ashes with a 197-run victory over Australia on the fourth day of the fifth and deciding Test to spark scenes of joyous celebration at The Oval on Sunday.

Strauss and his men hold the Ashes aloft after completing a 2-1 series win over Australia.

Michael Hussey scored a defiant 121 to hold up the home side, who had been strong favorites after setting Australia a near-impossible 546 for victory.

But he was the last wicket to fall, caught by Alastair Cook at short leg off the bowling of Graeme Swann to give England a 2-1 series victory with two matches drawn.

A special day at The Oval in pictures

England had regained the Ashes on home soil in a classic series in 2005, but the world's top-rated Test team won them back in Australia 18 months later.

Australia had been 80 without loss overnight, but England kept plugging away as wickets fell at regular intervals.

Swann took four wickets for 120 in a marathon spell and paceman Steve Harmison claimed three wickets.

There were also two decisive run outs, with Andrew Flintoff throwing down the wicket to send back Australian captain Ricky Ponting for 66.

It was the key dismissal and a fitting end to Flintoff's international Test career as he retires at the end of the match.

The other run out involved Michael Clarke, Australia's leading run scorer in the series.

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He clipped a ball from off-spinner Swann that deflected off the boot of Cook at short leg to England captain Andrew Strauss at leg-slip, who hit the stumps with a sharp under-arm throw.

After Clarke's departure, England closed remorselessly on victory and two wickets in successive balls from 2005 Ashes hero Steve Harmison left Australia nine wickets down and teetering on the edge.

Swann supplied the finale, claiming the first and last wickets to fall on a historic day.

His initial breakthrough saw Simon Katich sent back for 42 and in the next over Stuart Broad trapped fellow opener Shane Watson for 40.

Broad was named man-of-the-match for his decisive five-wicket haul in Australia's first innings as they were skittled for 160 to leave England with a lead of 172 which gave them a stranglehold on the match.

After being thrashed in the fourth Test at Headingley by an innings and 80 runs, England went into The Oval showdown needing a victory to win back the Ashes with Australia merely needing to avoid defeat.

"This is a very special moment for all of the players," said Strauss, who took over the England captaincy at the start of the year when Kevin Pietersen resigned after a public row with then coach Peter Moores.

"They have had to dig very deep in a very hard series and they have showed character, determination and fight."

The two teams will now take part in a Twenty20 and one-day international series, but Flintoff will be missing after the England and Wales Cricket Board announced later on Sunday that the all-rounder is to have an exploratory operation on his troublesome right knee.

Flintoff will also be ruled out of the Champions Trophy and reports suggested he could face another lengthy layoff.

South Korea Agrees to Visit by North

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/world/asia/21korea.html?_r=2&hp

HONG KONG — The South Korean government has agreed to allow North Korean diplomats to travel to Seoul on Friday to bring a funeral wreath for the former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung.

Multimedia

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Kim Dae-jung, Former South Korean President, Dies

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Kim Dae-jung, Ex-President of S. Korea, Dies at 83 (August 19, 2009)

Several North Korean envoys are due to fly to Seoul on Friday and depart on Saturday, according to Seon Mi-kim, a press official with South Korea’s Unification Ministry.

The timing of the trip suggests the North Koreans will not attend the state funeral, which has been scheduled for Sunday afternoon. Instead, they are expected to meet with Mr. Kim’s widow, Lee Hee-ho, and other relatives, and perhaps visit a memorial altar at the National Assembly.

Following a series of recent conciliatory gestures, including a personal message of condolence from the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, the North floated the idea of a cross-border trip on Wednesday. The South agreed to the proposal on Thursday.

Kim Dae-jung, who died Tuesday at age 85, had traveled to North Korea for a landmark summit meeting in 2000 — including a now-famous handshake with Kim Jong-il. As president from 1998-2003, his “sunshine policy” achieved a rare rapprochement with the North.

Those policies have essentially been reversed by the current South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak.

South Korea canceled the first satellite launching from its own territory on Wednesday only seven minutes before the planned liftoff, momentarily averting new friction with North Korea. The North, which was widely denounced for launching a rocket this year, was angered by subsequent United Nations sanctions and has said the same punitive standards should be applied to the South.

But North Korea has taken steps in recent weeks, including releasing two American journalists and a South Korean worker, that have calmed tensions somewhat with the United States and on the Korean Peninsula.

In the last several days, North Korea declared its intention to reopen its highly militarized border to groups of tourists and to pursue possible new business ventures with the South.

In the latest sign of a thaw, two diplomats from North Korea met Wednesday with Gov.Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who twice went to North Korea in the 1990s to secure the release of Americans. Mr. Richardson declined to comment on the substance of the talks or say why North Korea requested the meeting, but he called it a “hopeful sign” of improving relations, The Associated Press reported.

South African teen wins 800 amid gender-test flap

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-worlds-gendertest&prov=ap&type=lgns


BERLIN (AP)—Facing questions about her gender, South African teenager Caster Semenya easily won the 800-meter gold medal Wednesday at the world championships.
Her dominating run came on the same day track and field’s ruling body said she was undergoing a gender test because of concerns she does not meet requirements to compete as a woman.
Semenya took the lead at the halfway mark and opened a commanding lead in the last 400 meters to win by a massive 2.45 seconds in a world-leading 1 minute, 55.45 seconds. Defending champion Janeth Jepkosgei was second and Jennifer Meadows of Britain was third in 1:57.93.
After crossing the line, Semenya dusted her shoulders with her hands. Semenya did not speak to reporters after the race or attend a news conference.
About three weeks ago, the international federation asked South African track and field authorities to conduct the verification test. Semenya had burst onto the scene by posting a world-leading time of 1:56.72 at the African junior championships in Maruitius.
Her dramatic improvement in times, muscular build and deep voice sparked speculation about her gender. Ideally, any dispute surrounding an athlete is dealt with before a major competition. But Semenya’s stunning rise from unknown teenage runner to the favorite in the 800 happened almost overnight. That meant the gender test—which takes several weeks—could not be completed in time.
Before the race, IAAF spokesman Nick Davies stressed this is a “medical issue, not an issue of cheating.” He said the “extremely complex” testing has begun. The process requires a physical medical evaluation and includes reports from a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, internal medicine specialist and gender expert.
South Africa team manager Phiwe Mlangeni-Tsholetsane would not confirm or deny that Semenya was having such a test.
“We entered Caster as a woman and we want to keep it that way,” Mlangeni-Tsholetsane said. “Our conscience is clear in terms of Caster. We have no reservations at all about that.”
Although medals will be awarded for the 800, the race remains under a cloud until the investigation is closed, and Semenya could be stripped of the gold depending on the test results, IAAF general secretary Pierre Weiss said.
“But today there is no proof and the benefit of doubt must always be in favor of the athlete,” Weiss said.
Semenya’s rivals said they tried not to dwell on the issue before the race.
“I’ve heard a lot of speculation, but all I could do was just keep a level head and go about my business,” Meadows said. “If none of it’s true, I feel very sorry for her.”
One thing not in doubt was Semenya’s outstanding run.
“Nobody else in the world can do that sort of time at the moment,” Meadows said. “She obviously took the race by storm.”

Ex-S. Korea President Kim Dae-jung dead at 85

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32456603/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

SEOUL, South Korea - Kim Dae-jung — who survived assassination attempts and a death sentence during his years as a dissident to become president of South Korea, and whose unflagging efforts to reconcile with communist North Korea earned him the Nobel Peace Prize — died Tuesday, hospital officials said. He was 85.
Kim, who had been hospitalized with pneumonia since last month, died shortly after 1:40 p.m., said Lee Sung-man, a spokesman for Severance Hospital in Seoul. The hospital did not cite an exact cause of death.
South Korean leaders, from friends to former foes, had been paying their respects for days at the hospital to a man whose epic career spanned South Korea's political upheaval, from the decades of harsh authoritarian rule to its transformation into a full-fledged democracy.
As a pro-democracy opposition lawmaker, Kim built a reputation as a passionate champion of human rights and democracy who fought against South Korea's military dictatorships.
He survived several suspected assassination attempts, including a dramatic 1973 abduction at a Tokyo hotel, allegedly by South Korean agents.
‘Sunshine Policy’And as president from 1998-2003, he was architect of the "Sunshine Policy" of reaching out to wartime rival North Korea as a way to encourage reconciliation.
His efforts led to an unprecedented thaw in relations with the North and culminated in a historic North-South summit — the first on the divided peninsula — and a jubilant meeting in Pyongyang with leader Kim Jong Il in 2000.
His successor, the late President Roh Moo-hyun, maintained the Sunshine Policy but Kim Dae-jung saw his work unravel with the election of conservative President Lee Myung-bak in 2007, who conditioned aid to the North on the regime's commitment to nuclear disarmament.
North Korea cut off nearly all reconciliation ties last year and suspended most of the joint projects that had sprung up in the wake of warming relations, though it announced its intention this week to restore some of them, including reunions of families divided for decades after the 1950-53 Korean War.
Over the past year, as international tensions rose over Pyongyang's continued nuclear defiance, Kim rallied up until the end for Seoul to find a way to engage the North.
He said in January that Koreans on both sides of the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone must be mindful of their "painful and tragic" history and work together to establish peace and security on the Korean peninsula.
"The South and North have never been free from mutual fear and animosity over the past half-century — not even for a single day," he told reporters. "When we cooperate, both Koreas will enjoy peace and economic prosperity."
Born under colonial rule Kim was born to a middle-class farming family on a small island in South Jeolla Province in Korea's southwest when Korea was still under Japanese colonial rule.
He was schooled in Mokpo, a port city in the southwest, in a region that later became the base of his political support. He went into business after World War II ended Japanese rule.
Kim survived the three-year war that left the Korean peninsula divided, but as South Korea's fledgling government veered toward authoritarianism, he resolved to go into politics.
He won a seat in the National Assembly in 1961. A decade later, he ran for the presidency — and nearly defeated strongman President Park Chung-hee. That close call prompted Park to tinker with the Constitution to guarantee his rule in the future.
Just weeks after the elections, Kim was in a suspicious traffic accident that he believed was an attempt on his life. For the rest of his life, he walked with a limp and sometimes used a cane.