Sprint, SoftBank reach deal with U.S. over security concerns

By Alina Selyukh and Nathan Layne

WASHINGTON/TOKYO (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp and Japan's SoftBank Corp have reached an agreement with U.S. authorities on the national security aspects of the Japanese firm's pending $20.1 billion deal to win control of the U.S. wireless carrier, people familiar with the matter said.

As a part of that agreement, the U.S. government will have a veto over new equipment purchases by Sprint in certain circumstances if the two companies merge, one source said.

The government will also establish a four-member oversight committee to make sure the companies abide by their national security promises. A Sprint board member will sit on that committee, said the source, who did not want to be named because the information was not public.

Formal announcement of the highly unusual agreement - drawn up amid fears of Chinese espionage - is likely to come early on Wednesday in the United States, four sources told Reuters.

Japanese mobile operator SoftBank agreed to buy a 70 percent stake in Sprint last October. That deal faces a challenge from Dish Network Corp, a U.S. satellite TV provider which last month launched a rival $25.5 billion bid for Sprint.

No one at Sprint was immediately available to comment, while SoftBank declined comment on Wednesday.

DISH WARNING

Dish has taken out full-page ads in Washington newspapers warning that a SoftBank-Sprint merger would threaten U.S. national security.

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer expressed strong concern last Friday about the proposed SoftBank-Sprint merger, warning it could expose the United States to Chinese cyber attacks.

Sources said SoftBank agreed with U.S. authorities to remove equipment made by China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd from Sprint and Clearwire Corp's networks if the Japanese company completed its deal by the end of 2016. SoftBank President Masayoshi Son has said he will pull equipment made by China's ZTE Corp if asked by U.S. regulators.

The House Intelligence Committee last year urged U.S. telecoms firms not to do business with Huawei and ZTE because it said potential Chinese state influence on the companies posed a threat to U.S. security. SoftBank uses equipment made by ZTE and Huawei in Japan.

Last week, Clearwire's board recommended Sprint's sweetened buyout offer for the company after Sprint raised its bid to $3.40 per share, from $2.97 per share, for the 50 percent it doesn't already own. Clearwire shareholders will vote on the deal on Friday.

Dish reiterated its warnings on Tuesday that a SoftBank-Sprint tie-up posed national security risks.

"We believe the U.S. government should proceed with deliberation and caution in turning over assets of national strategic importance - such as the Sprint fiber backbone and wireless networks - to a foreign-controlled entity with significant ties to China," spokesman Bob Toevs said. "Oversight and accountability for our national network infrastructure is critical at a time when offshore attacks on that infrastructure continue to rise."

"POLITICS, PROTECTIONISM"

In an email, Huawei's U.S.-based spokesman William Plummer said: "No matter who wins the bid for Sprint, the future Sprint network will be sourced, in part, from China, just as are the networks of AT&T and Verizon and every other carrier. Every telecom infrastructure vendor, regardless of geography of headquarters, conducts R&D, codes software and manufactures gear ... in China.

"Suggestions that networks and data will somehow be made safer by blackballing vendors based on geography of headquarters are either uninformed or dissembling," Plummer added.

"Anyone who truly wants more secure American networks and data should focus instead on establishing apolitical geography-agnostic global and industry-wide supply chains and operational standards to raise the cyber-security bar for everyone. Anything else is just politics and protectionism," he said.

Industry experts say the U.S. Federal Communications Commission is unlikely to rule before Sprint makes a final choice of buyer and the inter-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) completes its own review. Sprint shareholders are due to vote on the SoftBank offer on June 12.

CFIUS reviews are highly secretive and weigh whether foreign ownership of a U.S. company poses threats to or increases vulnerability of the nation's infrastructure and assets. Although technically voluntary, foreign bidders prefer asking the CFIUS to review their deals before completing them.

"This is SoftBank clearly doing whatever it takes to satisfy the U.S. government they are not posing any national security risks. It's a pretty smart move on their part to diffuse that aspect of the problem," said Neil Juggins, a regional telecoms analyst for Hong Kong-based JI Asia, an affiliate of Societe Generale.

SoftBank shares last traded 2.1 percent higher in Tokyo, outperforming the broader index's 0.5 percent gain.

(Additional reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore, Liana Baker and Nicola Leske in New York, Mari Saito in Tokyo and Chyen Yee Lee in Singapore; Editing by Anthony Kurian, Eric Beech, Stephen Coates and Ian Geoghegan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sprint-softbank-reach-deal-u-over-security-concerns-000123768.html

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First quarter GDP revised slightly lower; austerity bites

By Jason Lange

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A drop in government spending dragged more on the U.S. economy than initially thought in the first three months of the year, a sign of increasing pain from Washington's austerity drive.

Another report on Thursday showed the number of new jobless claims rose last week, and together the data reinforced the view that the U.S. economy may be entering yet another soft patch.

Gross domestic product, a measure of the country's total economic output, expanded at a 2.4 percent annual rate during the first quarter, down a tenth of a point from an initial estimate, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. Analysts had forecast a 2.5 percent gain.

That is much faster than the prior quarter's pace, but likely still too weak to fuel faster improvements in the labor market.

"We are dramatically under-spending in Washington," said Michael Strauss, a market strategist at Commonfund in Wilton, Connecticut.

Investors took the data as a sign of weakness in the economy, and futures for U.S. stock indexes trimmed gains while yields on U.S. government debt fell slightly.

Growth in the first quarter was held back as government spending fell across all levels of government and as businesses outside the farm sector stocked their shelves at a slower pace.

Washington has been tightening its belt for several years but ramped up austerity measures in 2013, hiking taxes in January and slashing the federal budget in March.

Still, economic growth has been surprisingly resilient, supported by the Federal Reserve's low interest rate policies which have helped families buy homes and cars.

Thursday's data could add to the case that the economy still needs a lot of monetary stimulus, although policymakers at the central bank have been talking up the possibility of easing back on their bond buying program this year.

Most economists expect growth will slow around the middle of 2013 as budget cuts bite across the public sector. But growth is seen picking up by year end, propelled by consumer spending and an apparently entrenched housing market recovery.

Government spending has now fallen sharply in two straight quarters and economists believe agencies have pulled back in anticipation of budget cuts that were initially due to begin in January but which took effect in March.

In the first quarter, government spending dropped at a 4.9 percent annual rate, faster than the 4.1 percent rate initially estimated. Spending fell at federal, state and local government offices, though the majority of the downward revision in Thursday' report came at the state and local level.

Washington has been trimming deficits for several years as programs enacted to fight an economic crisis have wound down. This year, the federal government is on track to slash its budget shortfall by the most in nearly a half century.

In the first quarter, the drag from government and inventories was partially offset by an upward revision to consumer spending, which rose at a 3.4 percent annual rate, up two tenths of a point from the government's previous estimate.

However, a cloud hung over that category, as most of the upward revision was due to higher sales of gasoline. Higher prices at the pump are a burden on consumers, leaving them less money to spend on other things. Consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.

Excluding the volatile inventories component, GDP rose at an upwardly revised 1.8 percent rate, slightly higher than analysts had forecast.

MORE JOBLESS CLAIMS

A separate report showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 354,000, above analysts' expectations, Labor Department data showed.

A Labor Department analyst said claims for five states, including Virginia, Minnesota and Oregon, were estimated since state offices had less time to prepare data because of the national holiday on Monday.

This could have the distorted the readings, making last week's claims a less useful gauge of labor market trends.

The four-week moving average for new claims, which irons out week-to-week volatility, edged up 6,750 to 347,250.

Despite the rise last week, claims remained in the middle of their range for this year and below levels economists normally associate with modest job gains.

Steady improvement in labor market conditions and rising house prices are helping to sustain consumer spending, limiting the impact of the drag from fiscal policy on the economy.

(Additional reporting by Richard Leong in New York; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/first-quarter-gdp-revised-slightly-lower-austerity-bites-123522067.html

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Op-Ed Contributor: Ecology Lessons From the Cold War

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Biodiversity was a survival strategy for the next global conflict.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/30/opinion/ecology-lessons-from-the-cold-war.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Creating a Meaningful Home: House on the Way - SAS Interiors

Today?s guest post for the Creating a Meaningful Home Blog Series is Leslie of House on the Way. Welcome Leslie?

*******************

Hello! I?m Leslie from House on the Way and I?m so excited to be a part of Jenna?s Creating a Meaningful Home Series. It?s an honor to be here! I love the idea of exploring what it means to create a meaningful home.

When Jenna invited me to join in the series, I stopped and thought about my home and how I?ve tried to make it a meaningful place for my family. As I looked around my home I realized that it?s filled with things I love. It?s filled with things we all love. I came to the conclusion that a truly meaningful home centers around the people who live there. It?s about the family?their lives?and the things they love.

Use Colors That You Love

We all have colors that speak to who we are. Personally, I love red. Red is bold and makes a statement. I love the way it draws your eye right to it, saying, ?look at me!? It makes me happy. When you walk into your home, it should make you smile.

Use Family Heirlooms

Family heirlooms do not have to be worth millions. They do not even have to be worth hundreds. They just need to be meaningful to you and your family. For example, I have this wooden knitting needle holder that belonged to my great-grandmother. It?s simple and small, but it means something special to me.

When I was a child, I loved my grandmother?s antique phone that she had hanging on her wall. One christmas, I received one from her for myself. I love antiques and my antique phone is one of my favorite pieces. My phone is not the one she owned, but it was a gift from her, which makes it very special.

Use Decor That Symbolizes A Special Time In Your Life

That same grandmother was an antique dealer. When my youngest son was born, she gave me this beautiful antique portrait of a mother and child. It was one of her favorite pieces and she literally took it from her home to give to me. What a wonderful thought?she wanted me to have something that was very precious to her. It?s absolutely beautiful and when I look at each day, I?m reminded of not only his birth, but her generous gift.

Use Pieces That You Have Created

I love using my handcrafted pieces in my home. It?s not only satisfying to know that I created a certain piece, but also that I?m providing a little something of myself to pass down to my children. This hand painted Wooden Swan Artwork is one of my favorite pieces.

Use Family Photos

Using family photos is a must to create a meaningful home. I love using photos of my children throughout my home and gallery walls are one of my favorite ways to display them. This gallery wall in my basement is my favorite wall in the house! Every picture is black and white and not one picture is a ?posed? professional shot. I specifically chose photos that were somewhat abstract. For example, there?s a photo of the back of my children?s heads as they are looking out the window of a double-decker bus in London. There?s also a picture of my father and daughter walking hand in hand down a hospital hallway. Each picture is unique and special. I could stare at that gallery wall all day! The pictures hanging on that wall are TRUE portraits of my children.

Use Collections as Decor

Throughout the years, I?ve been slowly collecting rolling pins. One of my favorites is an antique rolling-pin that has the date and the name of the person whose house provided the wood to carve it, handwritten on the handle. I love it because there?s a bit of a story to tell. How wonderful to know whose it was and where it came from.

Use Themes and Decor That Your Children Love

As a decorator, I always want everything to be beautiful. As a parent, I want to make my children happy. So I?ve always tried to create a space for them that speaks to who they are as a person. It?s very important to create a meaningful space for them. I have a son who loves music, specifically he loves to play the guitar. Naturally, his personal space reflects his passion and provides him an area to develop and explore his talent.

My youngest son loves camo and anything to do with the army. Now while he loves camo, personally I do not. I decided to meet him in the middle with arctic camo. The blue worked great with his existing furniture and I was still able to give him the look he wanted. I created a gallery wall above his bed, mixing various things that he loves and enjoys. His map wall art is one of his favorites.

Make it Meaningful?Make it You

Whatever your style, whatever your budget, you can create a meaningful home by incorporating things you love. Your home should show who you are and the love that is shared within your family. Your home should be your favorite place in the world to be?then it?s truly meaningful.

Thank you so much for allowing me to spend some time with you today and a special thank you to Jenna for the amazing opportunity!

Thank you Leslie for opening your home to us.? I adore that you?ve created a meaningful home by surrounding yourself with the things you AND your family love.

Leslie has such a great blog filled with DIY projects, crafts, makeovers, and so much more.? One of my favorite projects of hers are the creative bamboo shades she made using placemats.? Can?t find something you?re looking for, then make it yourself. What a great idea.

Head on over to House on the Way and give Leslie a BIG HELLO!

Check out all the Bloggers that have contributed to this series on
Creating a Meaningful Home.

If you liked this post, share it!

Source: http://www.sasinteriors.net/2013/05/creating-a-meaningful-home-house-on-the-way/

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Memorial Day warning: Americans too distant from those they send to war (+video)

The number of Americans who serve in the US military?? especially those sent to combat?? has gone down dramatically in recent years. Critics say civilians need to assume more responsibility for the moral burden of war as well as for the other costs of fighting.

By Brad Knickerbocker,?Staff writer / May 27, 2013

President Obama greets Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran Eilene Henderson in the Arlington National Cemetery during his Memorial Day visit there Monday.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

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At Arlington National Cemetery today, President Obama laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns, calling upon the nation to keep in mind those fighting in Afghanistan and elsewhere, especially as nearly 12 years of war winds down.

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?Regardless of reason, this truth cannot be ignored that today most Americans are not directly touched by war,? Mr. Obama told a crowd of dignitaries and military families gathered to mark Memorial Day. ?As a consequence, not all Americans may always see or fully grasp the depths of sacrifice, the profound costs that are made in our name, right now, as we speak, everyday.?

?Made in our name? may be the most relevant phrase here ? especially as the percentage of Americans serving in uniform declines in the decades following the end of the Vietnam War and an end to military conscription.

?Fewer Americans are making the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan and that?s progress for which we are profoundly grateful,? Obama said. ?This time next year, we will mark the final Memorial Day of our war in Afghanistan.?

Still, he noted, more than 60,000 GI?s still serve far from home in Afghanistan.

?They?re still going out on patrol, still living in spartan forward operating bases, still risking their lives to carry out their mission,? he said. ?And when they give their lives, they are still being laid to rest in cemeteries in the quiet corners across our country.?

For better or for worse, ?their mission? is really ?our mission,? at least in terms of national policy crafted and carried out in a democracy with elected leaders. This was Obama?s implied message, not only on Memorial Day but in his commencement speech Friday at the US Naval Academy and a day earlier in his comprehensive address at the National Defense University outlining continuing (and new) efforts in fighting terrorism.

In a piece headlined ?Veterans need to share the moral burden of war? in the Washington Post last Friday, war correspondent, author, and documentary filmmaker Sebastian Junger argues that the entire nation shares that burden.

?Soldiers face myriad challenges when they return home, but one of the most destructive is the sense that their country doesn?t quite realize that it ? and not just the soldiers ? went to war,? Mr. Junger writes. ?The country approved, financed and justified war ? and sent the soldiers to fight it.?

?This is important because it returns the moral burden of war to its rightful place: with the entire nation,? he goes on. ?If a soldier inadvertently kills a civilian in Baghdad, we all helped kill that civilian. If a soldier loses his arm in Afghanistan, we all lost something.?

?When soldiers come home spiritually polluted by the killing that they committed, or even just witnessed, many hope that their country will share the moral responsibility of such a grave event,? Junger writes.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/YHV77nbzj9I/Memorial-Day-warning-Americans-too-distant-from-those-they-send-to-war-video

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Umeox X5 handset gets photographed, shows off its 5.6mm-thick body

Umeox isn't exactly a household name in the smartphone market, but the company's apparently getting ready to introduce the world to its most recent creation: a handset with an extremely slim profile. And while other details about the Umeox X5 remain light, rumors on the interwebs peg this 5.6mm-thick device as one that's running a pretty fresh version of Android -- Jelly Bean, to be precise. Unfortunately, things like screen size and more info on the X5 internals are still unknown, but, if all plays out as GizChina reports, we'll find out all there is to know on that front when Umeox officially launches it "sometime in July." For now, you'll have to make do with the extra pics at the source below -- and, if you have some time, perhaps you could even compare it with other slabs looking to take home the "world's slimmest" title.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: GizChina

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/n91Wta2KEr4/

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Rob Lowe cast as JFK in National Geographic film

NEW YORK (AP) ? Rob Lowe will portray President John F. Kennedy in a National Geographic film about the former president's 1963 assassination.

The National Geographic Channel said Tuesday that filming for "Killing Kennedy" would begin next month in Richmond, Va. The film is expected to air around the 50th anniversary of the shooting later this year and is based on the book by Bill O'Reilly.

National Geographic already had a hit earlier this year with an adaptation of another of the Fox News Channel anchor's books, "Killing Lincoln."

In addition to Lowe, the movie will feature Ginnifer Goodwin as the first lady and Michelle Trachtenberg as Marina Oswald.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rob-lowe-cast-jfk-national-geographic-film-182426122.html

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