| Univision Battle With Televisa Places Programs in Jeopardy
A long-running feud between Univision Communications and the Mexican broadcaster that provides most of its programming is headed for a showdown in a federal court in Los Angeles. If Univision loses, it could see many of its prime-time shows yanked. While a dispute over royalty payments is the source of the current dispute, tensions between the two companies date back to bad blood between Univisions former chief, A. Jerrold Perenchio, and the late Emilio Azcarraga Milmo, who felt he got a bad deal in 1992 when the two men negotiated the original contract. If the Mexican company, Grupo Televisa, wins and pulls its programming, Univisions enterprise value could be chopped by more than $1 billion. The lawsuit centers on a program license agreement, or PLA, between Televisa, the dominant broadcaster in Mexico, and L.A.s Univision, the dominant Spanish-language TV network in the U.S.
Drive-by download menace spreading fast
Booby-trapped web pages are growing at an alarming rate with unsuspecting firms acting for nurseries for botnet farmers, according to a new study. Security watchers at Sophos are discovering 6,000 new infected webpages every day, the equivalent of one every 14 seconds. Four in five (83 per cent) of these webpages actually belong to innocent companies and individuals, unaware that their sites have been hacked. Websites of all types, from those of antique dealers to ice cream manufacturers and wedding photographers, have hosted malware on behalf of virus writers, Sophos reports. .
Wild Oats Market to Host "Local Food Producers Day"
One need not be a member to shop at Wild Oats, although membership offers several benefits. The market carries a wide selection of organic and naturally-made products, including: meats, eggs, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, breads, pastas, oils, cereals, juices and chocolate. In addition, the store offers a fresh grab-and-go deli and freshly baked breads, rolls and pastries on-site. Wild Oats Market also carries healthful supplements and body care products, as well as environmentally-friendly household supplies. .
Six years at Barcelona, Shawn Marion launches a Web site and Panic
Celebrating its 6th anniversary, the chi chi north Scottsdale mega club is hosting a winter wonderland bash with a VIP reception for 8 to 10 p.m. and a general admission party from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. A few members of the Los Angeles-based Spinal Tap-like cover band Metal School will perform as Triple Scoop. ANd while you won't be turned away for wearing otherwise, organizers have stressed that "white attire is strongly desired." .
Castro steps down as leader
I saw three consecutive stories on Fidel and Cuba on our left-leaning, biased mothercorp. Not one mentioned that Cuba is a one party dictatorship, that Castro was a dictator held in power by his brother's control of the army, that in the early days of the "revolution" they shot, imprisoned or exiled their opponents. Now they only imprison them - including a 75 year old grandfather calling for democracy. Cuba today has as little political rights and freedoms as Battista's right wing Cuba did. Fidel is no Robin Hood, they are wealthy kleptocrats with huge bank accounts in Spain and Switzerland. No one can dare criticize the Cuban state without fear of prison, loss of housing or ration cards. Canadians who vacation there blithely, not realizing that their resort lines the pockets of and props up a dictatorial regime are complicit in the Cuban people being delayed freedom.
Hackers deface Microsoft.fr
Hackers on Sunday broke into a part of Microsoft's French website, replacing the front page with online graffiti. The intruders were able to access the server that was running 'http://experts.microsoft.fr/', Microsoft confirmed on Monday. The attack was claimed by Turkish hackers using the handle 'TiTHacK', according to Zone-H, a security website that keeps an archive with screenshots of defaced websites. The attackers were likely able to penetrate the server running the website due to faulty configuration, Microsoft said in a statement on Monday. "Microsoft took the appropriate action to resolve the issue and stop any additional criminal activity," the company said. After breaking in, the attackers defaced the Microsoft website, leaving the following note: "Hi Master (: Your System 0wned By Turkish Hackers! redLine ownz y0u! Special Thanx And Gretz RudeBoy |SacRedSeer| The_Bekir And All Turkish HacKers next target: microsoft.com date: 18/06/2006 @ 19:06 WE WERE HERE...." While so-called website defacements still occur often, they have become less high-profile in recent years as other, financially motivated threats take the spotlight.
Teachers leave Houghton for classrooms on Alaskan island
Literally it is right in the middle, but it's also where people go for their recreation," Nikki Lishinski said. Movies are shown there. School carnivals are a big draw. Sometimes, the school has Pizza Hut pizzas flown in for fund-raisers and these command hefty prices. "People will pay $25 for a pizza, easily," Williams said. Crowds come out for high school basketball games, too, though the Sea Parrots have to be creative to find opponents so far from the mainland. "The high school basketball team will play the Coast Guard, they'll play the teachers," Steve Lishinski said. The big rivalry is with the Seal Pups, the team from St. George. "The competitive spirit is definitely there," Steve Lishinski said.
Kandahar governor denies torture claim
There will be little difference rotating out in two years and rotating out now. 1,000 additional troops won't be sufficient to win the day and there is no reason to continue in the Khandahar province without a greater commitment from NATO overall. Our current approach (with 1,000 extra troops) is a recipe for a stalemate at best and failure at worst. Sometimes it takes more courage to know when to quit than it does to continue. Without a much greater commitment by NATO, this is one of those times. Posted 02/02/08 at 1:07 AM EST | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment .
CM meets heads of IT companies in Bangalore
Pursuing its stated mission of making Kerala the destination for knowledge intensive and high value IT services, the Chief Minister Mr. V. S. Achuthanandan met heads of some of the leading names in IT and software development in the country at a road show held in Bangalore on the 14th of October. The road show was attended by over 50 senior professionals in some of the leading names in the IT industry. In his opening remark, the chief minister reiterated that the Government would extend all possible help to IT companies to start operations in the state and appealed to various company heads to consider Kerala in their investment plans. Earlier addressing the media, Mr. Achuthanandan said, "We are looking at a decentralized model for further developing the business environment and related infrastructure in the state.
UK MPs reject referendum on EU Treaty
Brown has been under severe pressure from opposition parties and campaign groups to hold a popular vote on the treaty ever since he signed the text last December (seeEurActiv 21/01/08). Meanwhile, parliamentary committees have already been discussing the treaty on an issue-by-issue basis for a month. Opposition leader David Cameron said the decision means "people feel cheated and cynical because promises made are promises being broken". He was referring to commitments by Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats to hold a referendum on the abandoned Constitutional Treaty in their manifestos for the 2005 general election. The issue split the Liberal Democrat party, whose leader Nick Clegg had ordered his MPs to abstain from yesterday's vote. Yet aquarter of Lib Dem MPs defied the orderand voted in favour of a referendum, with three frontbenchers resigning to do so.
Pirate Bay case unlikely to be heard before summer
The trial of four people involved in operating The Pirate Bay will likely not take place before the summer. US fashion designer makes 'plagiarized' scarf payout (4 Mar 08) Luxury hotel in pattern theft row (28 Feb 08) Pirate Bay team in fresh internet controversy (21 Feb 08) Anita Thimberg from the Stockholm district court cited the complexity of the case involving the file sharing site as one of the main reasons for the delay. It can take weeks for the parties to simply go through all the documents included in the summons, she told The Local. Thimberg also pointed to the fact that many are party to the case, including record companies that may be seeking monetary damages. Its a rather large and unusual case, she said. No specific date has yet been set for the trial, which is expected to last four to six days.
Carter ‘picks’ spots well
But Wisconsin free safety Shane Carter, who initially stopped short of Mathews, expecting a better pass, leaped backward and made a spectacular one-handed grab. It was a play that usually isn't known to be part of a defensive player's repertoire. More like a wide receiver, Carter was able to keep the ball alive with his hand-eye coordination and hold on for the early forced turnover. The pick set up the game's first touchdown and an early Wisconsin 7-0 lead, one the Badgers would never relinquish. "I don't know how he caught that," UW cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu said of Carter's pick following the Michigan game. "Shane's a ballhawk, he's always around the ball, and I'm not surprised that he made that catch. He's got great hands." Fitting, since that's the position the younger brother of former Minnesota Viking and future Hall of Fame receiver Chris Carter wanted to play.
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