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Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Instant View: private sector adds 162,000 jobs in September - ADP

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Private employers added 162,000 jobs in September, topping economists' expectations, a report by a payrolls processor showed on Wednesday.

COMMENTS:

SCOTT BROWN, CHIEF ECONOMIST, RAYMOND JAMES, ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA

"This is a big enough of surprise that it might influence expectations for Friday's payroll report. There's pretty good growth among smaller firms. There are improvements in construction and autos. This is consistent with a moderate pace of job growth and we still haven't made much headway with the losses during the downturn. We would like to see growth on the order of 200,000 to 250,000. We are still facing headwinds from the fiscal cliff and Europe."

FRED DICKSON, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, D.A. DAVIDSON & CO. LAKE OSWEGO, OREGON

"ADP and the monthly non-farm payroll numbers have been tracking apart for several months. Slightly better, we'll see what happens on Friday, given the spreads in recent months it's kind of hard to draw any definitive conclusion that Friday's number is going to be better than expected. It's a nice pointer but not a whole lot of weight (towards Friday's number)."

OMER ESINER, CHIEF STRATEGIST, COMMONWEALTH FOREIGN EXCHANGE, WASHINGTON

"A pretty good number. Not great but certainly better than expected. The main reaction appears to be in dollar/yen which is near highs of the session now. I am a little uncertain about what to do with euro/dollar given that the focus remains very much on Spain. Overall, the number is consistent with a slowly improving job market."

JOHN BRIGGS, DIRECTOR, MARKETS, RBS, STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT

"At 162,000, the ADP employment report was pretty close to expectations, though the number has done terribly at predicting anything. I expect no reaction."

MARKET REACTION:

STOCKS: U.S. stock index futures added to their gains.

FOREX: The dollar edged higher versus the yen.

BONDS: U.S. Treasury debt prices held onto their earlier gains.

(Americas Economics and Markets Desk; +1-646 223-6300)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/instant-view-u-private-sector-adds-162-000-122255977--business.html

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Three views on whether states should require voter ID

Voter ID laws enacted recently in several states have taken center stage this election cycle, with proponents claiming they protect against against voter fraud and opponents calling them a political ploy that unfairly keeps poor and minority voters from the polls. Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson ruled Tuesday that the state could not implement its new voter ID law until after this year's November elections, effectively halting it for now.

As the fifth installment of our One Minute Debate series for election 2012, three writers give their brief take on whether US states should require voter ID. The "no" case is argued by Wendy Weiser of the Brennan Center for Justice. Jonathan Tobin, editor and blogger at Commentary magazine, argues the "yes" case. And Richard Hasen, professor at UC Irvine School of Law, suggests "a middle way."

1. Yes: States must preserve the integrity of each vote, especially in an era of close elections.

Assuring the integrity of the voting process is something that most citizens instinctively understand is the right thing to do. In the America of 2012, you need a picture ID to get on a plane, ride Amtrak, open a bank account, perform any transaction with most businesses and government, as well as buy alcohol or tobacco.

Why is voting less important? States must preserve the integrity of the ballot process, especially in an era of close elections. Given the potential for long, disputed outcomes (Florida in 2000 and several state elections since then), there is a need for zero tolerance in voting fraud. A recent Washington Post poll shows nearly three-quarters of Americans support requiring people to have photo IDs to vote. Since 2011, eight states have passed voter ID laws. Minnesotans vote on the issue in November.

Yet opponents of voter ID laws paint them as racist, meant to suppress the minorities as well as other groups that are supposedly unable to comply with these simple regulations. That?s a canard. There?s nothing racist about a procedure that can help prevent people who aren?t citizens or who aren?t legally registered from committing fraud. What is racist is the notion that African-American and Hispanic voters who don?t have an ID are incapable of getting one.

Acquiring a voter ID is not complicated. In states that have passed such laws, one may be obtained from the government free of charge, though costs such as for transportation are incurred.

As for liberal assertions that there is no voter fraud in the United States, most Americans respond with a snicker. To believe that the parties and their supporters don?t try to cheat requires us to ignore American political history ? as well as just about everything we know about human nature.

Voter ID laws are constitutional and make sense. Arguments to the contrary are partisan hot air.

Jonathan S. Tobin is senior online editor and chief political blogger of Commentary magazine. He can be reached via e-mail at jtobin@commentarymagazine.com. Follow him on Twitter at @TobinCommentary.

ALSO BY THIS WRITER: Voter ID laws are inherently reasonable, not racist or Republican

2. No: Restrictive laws that require photo ID are an attempt to manipulate the election.

Americans should be skeptical of the sweeping changes to state voting rules that will make it harder for many eligible citizens to vote.

According to research here at the Brennan Center for Justice, as many as 11 percent of voting-age American citizens do not have the kinds of government-issued photo IDs required by the highly restrictive voter ID laws passed since last year in Pennsylvania, Kansas, Tennessee, and elsewhere. That includes longtime voters who are seniors, veterans, and minorities.

These citizens face hurdles of access, time, and costs in obtaining such IDs. The timing of these laws, passed in a major election year, also makes them suspect. Indeed, Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson ruled Tuesday that the state could not implement its new voter ID law until after this year's November election, effectively halting it for now. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court had asked the lower court to review whether voters would be disenfranchised in the rush to implement the state?s new ID law.

OPINION: In Pennsylvania, the Rosa Parks of voter ID faces down GOP voter suppression

There is no way to get the new state-issued photo IDs into the hands of all eligible Americans covered by the new laws before the election, especially given the rickety condition of the ID-issuing operations in many states.

So why are politicians hastening to put in place these requirements? Could it be they don?t want certain Americans to vote? In Pennsylvania, House majority leader Mike Turzai bragged to his Republican colleagues that the state?s new voter ID law would ?allow Governor Romney to win the state.?

Restrictive voter ID laws like the one passed by Mr. Turzai and his colleagues help determine winners only by excluding legitimate voters who might not vote the way the politicians want.

That?s not right. Politicians should not be able to manipulate election rules for political gain.

Of course it is important to protect the integrity of elections and prevent voter fraud. But our country was founded on the principle that we are all created equal. Living up to that promise means we cannot stand for new rules that block large numbers of eligible Americans from voting.

Wendy Weiser is the director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.

3. A middle way: National voter ID card would restore trust, reduce costs in a fair way.

America needs to move toward a more rational way of administering elections ? and beyond the stale debate in which Republicans complain about voter fraud and Democrats yell about voter suppression.

The primary kind of voter fraud that state ID laws could prevent ? impersonation voter fraud ? is rare and does not seem to have affected an election outcome in at least a generation. And Democrats exaggerate the number of people likely disenfranchised by state ID requirements.

This partisan fight over fraud versus suppression plays out not just among voters, but in the very way elections are run: Controversial rules like voter ID laws are enacted in most places on party-line votes in state legislatures. Further, state and county election rules are often administered by partisan elected officials (often without adequate training or resources). Partisanship and decentralization raise the risk of unfair and uneven treatment of voters.

We need a national solution. For federal elections, a nonpartisan US agency should register every eligible voter to vote and provide each one with a photographic identification card to be used for voting anywhere in the United States.

It would be up to the federal government to pay for the documentation, such as birth certificates, needed to verify identity. Voters would have the option to provide their thumbprint with the ID card, which could be used instead of the card at the polling place, or if the card is lost. When a person fills out a change of address card at the post office, voter registration would move automatically.

This solves a lot of problems: It minimizes voter registration fraud. It also eliminates the high costs for parties to register voters and for states and local government to maintain voter rolls and check for fraud. It prevents double voting across state lines. National registration and identification tackles fears of fraud and suppression in a fair, rational way.

Richard Hasen is a professor at the School of Law at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of ?The Voting Wars: From Florida 2000 to the Next Election Meltdown.?

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Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Supreme Court may narrow law in human rights cases

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court seemed skeptical on Monday of allowing victims of human rights abuses to sue in American courts against the foreign corporations accused of aiding in the atrocities.

But in oral arguments in one of the court's biggest human rights cases in years, some justices suggested they might not close U.S. courts to similar claims against individuals, including those who take refuge in the United States, or to claims involving U.S. companies.

In the case, the first of the court's new term, 12 Nigerians accused Anglo-Dutch oil company Royal Dutch Shell Plc of complicity in a violent crackdown on protesters by military ruler Sani Abacha from 1992 to 1995.

Esther Kiobel filed her suit in 2002 on behalf of victims including her husband, Barinem, who was executed in 1995.

Her case was based on a 1789 law known as the Alien Tort Statute that had been dormant for nearly two centuries before lawyers began using it in the 1980s to bring international human rights cases in U.S. courts.

The Supreme Court heard arguments in February over whether the Alien Tort Statute could apply to corporations, and later expanded the case to consider whether the law could be invoked in similar cases against anyone.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, often a swing vote, asked Kiobel's lawyer Paul Hoffman whether there was a connection between events in Nigeria and matters "that commenced in the United States or that are closely related to the United States."

Kennedy expressed concern that if U.S. courts were to assert jurisdiction, this could expose U.S. corporations to similar lawsuits in other countries.

Hoffman countered: "It is possible the plaintiffs could have sued in other places. They sued here because this is where they live."

But Justice Samuel Alito questioned, as he had in February, why that was appropriate, after Hoffman agreed that British and Dutch courts could have fairly judged the Nigerian plaintiffs' claims.

"Well, if that's so," Alito said, "why does this case belong in the courts of the United States when it has nothing to do with the United States other than the fact that a subsidiary of the defendant has a big operation here?"

Kathleen Sullivan, a lawyer arguing for Royal Dutch Petroleum, stressed Alito's concern.

"This case has nothing to do with the United States," she said. By opening U.S. courts to similar lawsuits regardless of the place of alleged misconduct, other nations might see fit to use their courts in the same manner.

PIRACY

Several justices questioned whether Shell's position, supported by other companies including Coca-Cola Co and mining giant Rio Tinto Plc, might rule out the use of U.S. courts for other types of crimes, such as piracy.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor said piracy would have "without question" been considered a violation of international norms in 1789.

Sotomayor also appeared receptive to an argument by the European Commission that the United States could be the court of last resort in cases known as "foreign-cubed cases" involving actions by a foreign corporation conducted outside the United States in the aid of a foreign country.

"It seems to me like a fairly simple set of rules clearly defined and limiting the application of this statute in a way that sort of makes sense," she told Hoffman.

More than 150 lawsuits accusing U.S. and foreign corporations of wrongdoing in more than 60 foreign countries have been filed in U.S. courts in the last two decades, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Many companies settle to avoid costs and publicity.

The Obama administration argued that the Alien Tort Statute would not apply in foreign-cubed cases, but could apply elsewhere.

Solicitor General Donald Verrilli said limiting the law's use would help the United States balance interests including avoiding friction with foreign companies, helping U.S. companies avoid possible liability abroad, and promoting human rights.

Justice Antonin Scalia, however, observed that prior administrations had taken more expansive views of the protection and future administrations might also adopt a different view.

HIGH-PROFILE CASES

A tearful Esther Kiobel attended the court session and was among 20 protesters outside the courthouse on Monday.

Now 48 and living in Dallas, she had first brought the case in 2002, two years before she said she became a U.S. citizen.

"My situation is terrible," she said in an interview. "This country brought me here as a refugee. They saved me from being killed. That's why we want our case here. Right now, I don't feel safe in Nigeria."

The Kiobel case is the first high-profile case for the court in its new nine-month term, and there was no reference to the fireworks that ended the last term, when the court in June upheld most of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

Next week, the court will hear a challenge to affirmative action at the University of Texas at Austin. It is also considered likely during the current term, which ends in June, to review cases involving same sex marriage and voting rights.

Still, of the cases the court has taken so far, Pepperdine University law professor Douglas Kmiec said, "Kiobel raises perhaps the largest question of them all: the relationship between America and the world."

The case is Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 10-1491.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Additional reporting by Joan Biskupic and Ian Simpson; Editing by Eddie Evans)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/human-rights-focus-u-supreme-court-060109012--finance.html

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Your Digital Safety - The Workings of Digital Forensics ~ Tech Insect

What is Digital Forensics? Digital forensics is an investigative art that allows skilled technicians to get crucial information about a crime from a computer. When a computer has been used for criminal behavior -- or when it has been attacked in a criminal manner -- traces of data are left behind that can help lead investigators to the source of the problem. Of course, criminals do their best to cover their tracks even in the digital world; identifying a perpetrator means uncovering some personally identifiable information on a target computer. This can require a forensic specialist to?decode complex files?and restore lost data.

How Do Digital Forensics Professionals Work?

Digital forensics is built upon the investigator's keen ability to seek out patterns within the data on a computerized device. This often requires them to interact with both the hardware and the software side of any given machine. Generally speaking, criminals make an effort to destroy incriminating data - but simplistic methods are rarely enough to confound a digital forensics professional. Scouring the contents of a hard drive using sophisticated software tools may yield valuable information. Physically examining the interior "plates" of a hard drive can allow damaged data to be restored. For more information on how digital forensics works, visit Dell here.

Who Employs Digital Forensics Professionals?

Digital forensics professionals are employed by law enforcement agencies all around the world. However, joining an investigative agency is not the only way to practice in digital forensics. Private companies also employ data forensics professionals to protect their data from outside intrusion. Rather than handle criminal cases, these technical experts will monitor an organization's network to maintain awareness of data theft attempts as they happen. They work to root out the "back doors" that hackers create, stopping them from building larger intrusions upon smaller ones.

How does it relate to Your Windows 7 Upgrade?

If you are thinking about upgrading Windows 7 to the new Windows 8, digital forensics might be valuable to you. When preparing a computer for a new operating system, it is a good idea to ensure that everything possible has been done to make the software run correctly. Although you may not need formal digital forensics for this task, you can improve your computing environment by thinking like an investigator. Look for ways to eliminate unneeded programs and files, for example. Try to discover more efficient ways to organize the data you need and hunt down issues that drain performance.

What is the Outlook for Digital Forensics as a Field?

Digital forensics is an exciting new field with a lot of growth potential. Those with a strong background in digital forensics can become general digital security experts who command six figure salaries. Excellent digital forensic technicians will consistently be in demand among agencies like the FBI and Homeland Security. Fortune 500 companies also hire digital forensics experts. That said, it is important to note that the number of digital forensics job openings is not huge; skill and education are important factors in determining who is best suited for a limited number of attractive job offers.

What's Next?

Millions of Americans routinely carry a cellular phone and many of these cell phone owners use smartphone technology. Because of the vast differences between wireless and wired devices, wireless equipment is much more likely to be targeted in criminal activity. Digital forensics will increasingly focus on and discover the ways in which law enforcement figures can determine the source of unlawful wireless device use. As computer technology continues to become more personalized and sophisticated at a rapid clip, the discipline of digital forensics will continue to evolve. Brian Jensen works with Dell. In his spare time he enjoys traveling, cooking and spending time with his family. He has a passion for learning and writing about all things technology. He is currently researching Cloud Computing and recommends following this link for more information.

Source: http://www.techinsect.com/2012/10/your-digital-safety-workings-of-digital.html

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Monday, October 1, 2012

South Africa: Union official hurt in petrol attack

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers says one of its officials was seriously injured in a petrol-bomb attack on his house amid ongoing unrest in the country's vital mining industry.

The victim, who is now in intensive care, is the union's top official at Anglo American Platinum's Khomanani branch, the union said in a statement received Monday.

The union believes the attack on Friday was carried out by a hit squad that is deliberately intimidating its members in the platinum belt. Anglo American Platinum, whose workers have been striking for weeks, is the world's largest producer of the precious metal used in jewelry.

Strikes demanding higher salaries began at a Lonmin Platinum mine in August and have since spread to several others in the mining sector.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-africa-union-official-hurt-petrol-attack-091450841.html

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Judge could rule Monday on Pennsylvania voter ID law (reuters)

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Schwarzenegger kept many secrets from wife Maria

FILE - In this Jan. 22, 2011 file photo, Maria Shriver, right, and her husband, actor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, stand amid family members and other mourners as they leave the funeral Mass for her father, R. Sargent Shriver, at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic church in Potomac, Md., just outside Washington. Schwarzenegger says his lifelong penchant for secrecy and ability to put his emotions "on deep freeze" led him to keep many secrets from his wife Maria Shriver, eventually causing the dissolution of their marriage when he was forced to admit he fathered a child with the family's housekeeper years earlier. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) ? Arnold Schwarzenegger says his lifelong penchant for secrecy and ability to put his emotions "on deep freeze" led him to keep many secrets from his wife Maria Shriver, eventually causing the dissolution of their marriage when he was forced to admit he fathered a child with the family's housekeeper years earlier.

Throughout their strained 25-year marriage, Schwarzenegger says he did not want to tell Shriver about crucial life decisions such as major heart surgery and running for California governor because he feared she would overreact and tell her well-connected family and friends.

In his new autobiography, "Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story," and in an interview airing Sunday on "60 Minutes," the former California governor acknowledges that his inability to be honest with people has hurt those closest to him.

"That's the way I handle things. And it always has worked. But, I mean it does not ? it's not the best thing for people around me because I sometimes ? some information I just keep to myself," Schwarzenegger tells reporter Lesley Stahl on "60 Minutes."

The former Mr. Universe traces his detachment to his bodybuilding days, where he says emotions make athletes lose.

"So I became an expert in living in denial," says the Hollywood action star and former governor.

Schwarzenegger praises Shriver throughout the book as a partner and friend who was essential to his success, but also admits to keeping her in the dark about many career decisions. Shriver filed for divorce in July.

Although he had been toying with the idea of running for governor for more than a year, Schwarzenegger waited until just days before the filing deadline for the 2003 recall to discuss it with Shriver, writing in the book that he "didn't want endless conversation about it at home."

Shriver opposed the idea, but was persuaded to soften her stance by her mother, Eunice Shriver, who told her to support her husband's ambitions, or he might resent her for the rest of his life. Despite that struggle, he also didn't inform her when he decided to seek a second term, writing that she had to read about it in the newspaper.

"Total Recall" will officially be published Monday. The Associated Press purchased an early copy.

But Schwarzenegger's biggest secret, the child he had with the family's housekeeper, became tabloid news last year after he left office. Shriver confronted him during a January 2011 counseling session and he finally acknowledged the boy, Joseph, was his. Schwarzenegger says he kept the secret from his wife for years because he was worried "it would get out."

He tells Stahl he never even had a conversation with the housekeeper, Mildred Baena, about the son. Instead, after he began noticing the boy's strong resemblance to him, around age 8, he just began giving Baena extra money.

"I kind of put it away and just said to myself, 'OK, I'm going to put this away. I'm going to fulfill my responsibilities,'" he tells Stahl.

He declined to say whether he has a relationship with the child, who is now about 15, and he said he didn't want to go into any more details about his relationship with Baena because he's already caused Shriver and their four children enough pain.

"I don't want to reawaken and kind of talk about it because it's not going to help them. And I just want to protect them as much as I can," he says.

There were other deceptions, too, including a "hot affair" with actress Brigitte Nielsen while filming the 1985 film "Red Sonja," when he and Shriver were living together. He admits to other affairs, but tells Stahl they are "something that's obviously between Maria and me."

Schwarzenegger says in the interview that his marriage and his family were the most important things in his life, but he caused them tremendous pain.

"So the thing that really meant the most to me kind of fell apart because of my doing," he says in the "60 Minutes" interview. "That is something that I will always look back and say, 'How could you have done that?'"

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-10-01-Schwarzenegger%20Book/id-f8a01d8a252b426485527a7a35007b49

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