Ashna Mallowe blog

Inception, Harry Potter come to Facebook in expanded Warner Bros partnership

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Earlier this month,entered into a deal that brought the movie studios -directed hit,to the social network as a streaming rental. The move was apparently successful enough to encourage the two companies to expand the partnership, as a new press release reveals that another five movies from the studio have been added as Facebook streaming rentals.

The newly added movies are:, , ,and . Onlyseems to be up right now, though all five were set to launch last night.

Rentals cost 40points, which amounts to $4. Rented movies are available for a 48 hour period, and users are able to make use of Facebook social features like chat and comments as they watch. Its pretty simple, though Facebook rentals continue to be a tough sell because of the larger selection and subscription-based pricing available through services likeand its Watch Instantly streaming. That said, Harry Potter and Inception both have massive followings on the Internet, andmade a good choice in including them.

3 Vegas airport techs accused of equipment theft

Three employees at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas are facing criminal conspiracy, burglary and theft charges alleging they stole electronic equipment and an air compressor motor from their workplace, officials said Friday.

Information systems technicians Matthew Charniga, 39, and Joseph Cordova, 34, were fired after a four-month criminal investigation led to charges they pilfered about $2,800 worth of items including touchscreen universal electronic remote control devices and a music mix deck ordered through airport accounts, airport spokeswoman Elaine Sanchez said.

The men's supervisor, 34-year-old Chad Norton, also faces charges and was on paid leave pending a resolution of the criminal case and an airport investigation, Sanchez said.

The men were arrested Feb. 3 and freed from jail the next day pending arraignment Monday before a Las Vegas justice of the peace. Each faces misdemeanor conspiracy and felony burglary and theft charges, according to court records.

Charniga's lawyer, John Momot, declined comment. Attorneys for Norton and Cordova didn't immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal first reported the case Friday. The report said investigators found evidence the men tampered with a surveillance camera in the building where they worked and that some video had been erased.

McCarran's information systems department has about 80 employees who provide a wide range of computer and technical assistance to various airport divisions, Sanchez said. Among many other duties, the technicians worked on cameras in the baggage claim area and outside the airport.

Clark County District Attorney David Roger declined Friday to talk about details of the investigation, but said officials were continuing to probe whether security was breached. The airport ranked eighth in the nation in passenger traffic in 2010, handling just under 40 million travelers.

"Because these individuals have been alleged to have stolen items from the airport and had access to surveillance, we're very concerned," Roger said.

A regional Transportation Security Administration official, Carrie Harmon, said the federal agency was not investigating.

"None of the cameras in question were used to monitor the security checkpoint or secure areas of the airport, so TSA is not conducting an investigation," Harmon said in a statement to The Associated Press. She said the agency couldn't comment on the police investigation.

Sanchez told the AP that airport officials also were investigating, but don't believe security was compromised.

"Security monitoring is handled by a separate division within the airport and the TSA, and not the information technology employees," she said. "They have security clearance to do their job. The scope of their job is to install and fix equipment. Their job does not include monitoring those systems. Others monitor those systems."

Sun exposure, vitamin D linked to MS risk: study

NEW YORK (Reuters) – People who have spent more time in the sun and those with higher vitamin D levels may be less likely to develop multiple sclerosis, according to an Australian study.

Previous studies have shown that people living close to the equator are less likely to get multiple sclerosis (MS) than those at higher latitudes, a difference that may be explained by more sun exposure and higher vitamin D levels.

According to a report in "Neurology," Robyn Lucas of The Australian National University and colleagues studied 216 adults who has just started having the first symptoms of MS between 2003 and 2006.

They also found a comparison group of nearly 400 people from the same regions of Australia, who matched the subjects in age and gender, but had no signs or symptoms of MS.

Participants in both groups were asked how much time they had spent in the sun and where they had lived at different points in their lives, with skin damage from the sun and the level of vitamin D in their blood also checked.

On average, people with the first signs of MS had been exposed to a smaller "UV dose" -- based on how much time they had spent in the sun and how close to the equator they had lived -- over the course of their lives.

People with early MS were also less than half as likely to have high levels of skin damage caused by sun exposure, with vitamin D levels 5 to 10 percent lower than those without MS.

"Our study is the first to be able to look at both sun exposure and vitamin D status right at the very first symptoms that might precede development of MS," Lucas told Reuters Health in an e-mail.

The latest study does not prove that being exposed to very little sunlight or having low vitamin D levels causes MS, and while the authors tried to show that both sun exposure and vitamin D levels influence risk of MS on their own, some experts were doubtful that this was possible.

"They may have independent roles, but the reality is it's extremely difficult to sort them out," said Alberto Ascherio, who studies the link between vitamin D and MS at the Harvard School of Public Health and was not involved in the current study.

He noted that the authors didn't know the participants' blood levels of vitamin D over the course of their lives, and that it's possible that measuring somebody's sun exposure over the years is really just another way of measuring how much vitamin D they had at those times.

Since sun exposure is associated with a higher risk of skin cancer, more time outside is not always better. Nor do the results mean that everybody should load up on vitamin D, health experts said.

The main message of the study, Lucas said, is that "small amounts of sun exposure... occurring frequently, are probably optimal both for maintaining vitamin D levels and for other health effects."

(Reporting by Genevra Pittman at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies)

House rejects GOP-effort to make UN repay funds

WASHINGTON – The House on Wednesday rejected a Republican-led effort to force the United Nations to give back $179 million in overpayments, falling short in the face of Obama administration arguments that much of the money already had been designated to boost security around an international headquarters susceptible to terrorist attack.

The vote was 259-169, short of the two-thirds necessary for the bill to pass. It was the third straight embarrassment for the new House Republican leadership, which lost votes on the Patriot Act extension Tuesday night and was forced to pull a trade bill or suffer defeat.

Determined to cut spending, Republicans had pushed for the legislation that would recoup $179 million from the U.N. Tax Equalization Fund, which was established to pay American employees of the U.N. who have to pay taxes when their foreign counterparts do not. The measure also would have required the Unites States to withhold an equivalent amount from future U.N. dues if the money were not repaid.

The State Department said the money simply can't be returned, as $100 million had been set aside for the New York City police department to upgrade security around the building, which overhangs the heavily trafficked FDR Drive.

"This train is already rolling down the tracks in providing the security on the United Nations," Esther Brimmer, assistant secretary of State for international organization affairs, said in an interview.

One Republican argued that it wasn't a budget issue but rather a matter of national security in New York, a target in the deadly Sept. 11 terrorist attack that toppled the two World Trade Center towers. Rep. Peter King of New York, the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said the issue affected the safety of New Yorkers and the thousands of tourists who visit the landmark building.

"The fact is this is a disaster waiting to happen," said King, who broke with his GOP colleagues in opposing the bill. So did another New York Republican, freshman Rep. Michael Grimm.

Asked Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., "Why do this? Only a radical, wild-eyed obsession with taking a pound of flesh out of the U.N. — which at times deserves it — and to do so no matter what the cost to our national security."

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said the measure was necessary because the U.N. had collected more from the United States than it had paid out and American taxpayers should get their money back.

"This is not about security," said Ros-Lehtinen, who argued that the U.N. and the administration were looking for another excuse to avoid making tough choices.

Ros-Lehtinen has been a critic of the United Nations and has sponsored legislation to make U.S. payment of its dues largely voluntary.

Rep. Howard Berman of California, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, said the Congressional Budget Office, the non-partisan scorekeepers, had said the return of the money would have no effect on the federal budget.

"We're not saving money, were spurning an important security request and we're going back into a pattern of arrearages that undermines our role," Berman said.

Republicans brought up the measure as part of their YouCut program, the legislative equivalent of "American Idol" in which the public votes online for the bill it wants the House to consider. It was unclear whether they would try to pass the measure again on a straight up-or-down vote.

At the United Nations, spokesman Martin Nesirky declined to comment on the House vote. He noted that the United States was obliged to provide security as host country of U.N. headquarters, but said ultimately it was up to the U.S. to decide how to spend the money in the fund.

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Associated Press writer Anita Snow at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Toyota shares gain as US report clears electronics

TOKYO – Toyota shares jumped more than 5 percent to a nine-month high in Tokyo on Wednesday, following a U.S. government report that ruled out electronic flaws in runaway Toyota vehicles.

The world's biggest automaker welcomed the findings as confirming the reliability of its cars.

Toyota Motor Corp. stock finished at 3,670 yen ($45) on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, its highest close since April 30, buoyed by the results of the 10-month investigation. Overnight on Wall Street, Toyota gained by more than 4 percent to close at $88.57.

Also a perk for the shares was Toyota's announcement Tuesday that it had raised its full-year earnings and sales forecasts because of booming sales in China and other high-growth markets.

After recalling more than 12 million vehicles around the world for a range of defects since late 2009, the big lingering question was whether there was a problem with the electronic systems in Toyota cars.

That would signal a huge problem, possibly resulting in additional massive recalls, as such systems are in every Toyota vehicle. It would further shatter the once sterling image for quality production that Toyota had boasted for decades.

"We believe that the results of the U.S. Department of Transportation's investigation confirms the reliability of our electronic throttle control systems," Toyota said in a statement. "We intend to continue to listen to our customers even closer and to offer not only safe vehicles but vehicles that provide peace of mind."

Toyota executives have repeatedly said they have tested the vehicles many times, trying to find possible electronic problems, and have never found any.

In Washington, the Department of Transportation said its investigation with NASA found that electronic flaws weren't to blame for the reports of sudden unintended acceleration that led to massive Toyota recalls.

Some of the cases could have been caused by mechanical defects — sticking accelerator pedals and gas pedals that can become trapped in floor mats — that have been dealt with in recalls, it said.

Some of the cases may have been caused by driver errors, such as hitting on the gas when they meant to brake, it said.

"We feel that Toyota vehicles are safe to drive," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Toyota has promised to beef up quality controls and be quicker in responding to consumer complaints. But analysts say it is likely to take some years before Toyota can hope to fully win back the trust of American buyers.

Toyota may still be held liable in class-action lawsuits in the U.S. because accidents could have been caused by the mechanical problems that the study has found, and doubts can continue to be raised about electronic problems.

Toyota paid the U.S. government a record $48.8 million in fines for its handling of three recalls.

Still, Toyota is on a roll in markets outside the U.S. like Asia, South America and Africa, where the number of vehicles sold is still relatively small but growth potential is huge.

Toyota raised its projection for global vehicle sales Tuesday to 7.48 million vehicles in the year through March, up from an earlier forecast of 7.1 million vehicles, and marking a 3 percent increase from 7.24 million in the previous fiscal year.

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Associated Press writer Ken Thomas in Washington contributed to this report.